I think it is all about self-medicating. I really believe that more often than not, even if a person is yet to be diagnosed, people know that they are "not normal" and do things so that they feel right. Whether is it to bring you up or down, help you sleep, keep you "balanced", make you feel in control, yada yada yada. I have seen people with bipolar have problems with eating disorders, cutting, pot, coke, alcohol, anti-anxiety meds, pain pills, sex, gambling, etc.

It's usually self medicating. My husband is an alcholic, almost 9 years sober now, and it wasn't until he stopped drinking that he was diagnosed as bipolar. The two top drugs of choice among bipolars is alcohol and marijuana. I am bipolar myself but I don't have an addictive personality so it is sometimes difficult for me to understand the alcohol use. Marijuana is another story, I tried it as a teenager but it didn't really thrill me so I rarely used it. As I grew older and my bipolar got worst marijuana helped me out. I'm probably going to see alot of comments to what I am about to say but oh well, I'm going to say it anyway. For me marijuana elevated my mood when I was depressed and it slowed down my thoughts to something managable when I was rapid cycling or manic. I went through alot of years of more medicines than I can count and through it all I could count on the marijuana to bring my thoughts and actions to something managable. I believe in the medicinal use of marijuana and I am quite open and honest about it. Polls show that 70% of American voters believe a doctor should have the freedom to prescribe medicinal marijuana if they feels it is in the best interest of his/her patient.

Cocaine, meth, alcohol, crack, heroin and many more can and will kill you so they are needless to say a bad choice for self medication. Seek help if you or someone you love is abusing these drugs.

I wasn't diagnosed with bp until after I quit drinking.  I quit drinking because I pulled out into oncoming traffic with my daughter in the car when we were leaving a wedding.  I feel into a deep depression and ended up in the psych ward for the first time.  I was put on 100 mg Zoloft and within two days I was flipping out.  Skipping, laughing at nothing, so much energy and nothing to do.  So what does the hospital do - discharges me.  It wasn't until I got in for follow-up care at the county mental health clinic that I was put on trileptal to balance the zoloft and I have been pretty stable since then.  During an extreme emotional event last year I ended up in the hospital again but I kind of just needed the rest and the quiet.  I think the intake nurse knew that I wasn't a real danger but I had racing thoughts, etc. and I walked off a job after telling the boss to f*** you.  I am now on 4 meds for bipolar and fibromyalgia and they all work together to keep me in pretty good shape but I still self-medicate a little when I am feeling stressed or can't sleep.  I smoke a little pot now and again.  It's not every day and when I do it's only at night to just calm me down if I had too much to do during the day and I'm still wound up.  My past history includes cocaine (that almost killed me), any kind of pill that I could get my hands on, pot, alcohol, and indiscriminate sex.  Not a pretty picture and one I wish I could forget.

When I was a teen I did drugs everyday, especially pot, and danced until I was 25 for 4-6 hours/day until I was 25 & came down with bad asthma & arthritis and had to quit. Sex HAD to come into the picture several times a day. I was a raging female cat in heat.

I kept up the pot and drinking until I was about 45 & it was scary & I got a DUI. That was also about the time I went into menopause & the judge made me go to counseling, and they diagnosed me as bipolar. Still not sure. But I'm glad my life had calmed down on the meds they give me.