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Title: Girlfriend with BPD has turned to drug use Post by: Bpdsoulmate on May 28, 2020, 11:58:00 PM :help: :help: Recently my girlfriend has taken up the use of drugs not as a way to have fun, but to “help” with things that have been troubling her recently (Empty feelings, general stress of life). This has bothered me in a way because I don’t know how substance abuse and BPD work together, and most of all what role do I take? She hasn’t been seeing a counselor, her parents are completely oblivious to her engaging in this, so she will likely not tell her counselor even if she was seeing one. I need to know what I can do to help her provide a healthy way of coping, or if I even should at all.
Title: Re: Girlfriend with BPD has turned to drug use Post by: Naughty Nibbler on May 29, 2020, 10:56:58 PM Hi Bpdsoulmate:
How long have you been with this girlfriend? Does she have an official BPD diagnosis from a medical professional? What drugs are she using/abusing? Sounds like you are describing her as anxious & depressed. Does that sound accurate? Has she ever taken an antidepressant? Title: Re: Girlfriend with BPD has turned to drug use Post by: Bpdsoulmate on June 01, 2020, 07:41:58 PM We have been together 2 years and she has had a diagnosis since we started.
She has taken up marijuana and tobacco nothing too serious, but I’m still worried about the substance abuse side of it. And yes she is very anxious/depressed and she was recently referred to the hospital by her therapist to be placed on watch, but was not admitted because of the virus And she is actively taking antidepressants but says they do not help.. Title: Re: Girlfriend with BPD has turned to drug use Post by: Naughty Nibbler on June 01, 2020, 11:04:18 PM She has taken up marijuana and tobacco nothing too serious, but I’m still worried about the substance abuse side of it. Hi Bpdsoulmate:And yes she is very anxious/depressed and she was recently referred to the hospital by her therapist to be placed on watch, but was not admitted because of the virus And she is actively taking antidepressants but says they do not help.. Per the quoted information below from Pharmacy Times (full article at the link below), cigarette smoking can have a negative impact on antidepressants. From what I understand in the article, it's not the nicotine, but other components of cigarettes that affect some medications. So, if nicotine helps her depression, perhaps using nicotine patches or gum might be an option. The cigarettes could be invalidating the antidepressants, whereby she would need to take a higher dose to get whatever benefit she received prior to cigarette smoking (or with less cigarette smoking). Perhaps it's something to discuss with her doctor. Quote from: Pharmacy Times Psychiatric medications such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, hypnotics, and anxiolytics are widely affected by cigarette smoking. For these classes, the drug concentration in the blood can be decreased with smoking, and reduction in efficacy may lead to inappropriate higher dosage adjustments. Tobacco smoke induces many of the CYP450 enzymes in the liver, which play an important role in medication absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination. Drug interactions are caused by components of tobacco smoke itself, rather than nicotine. This means nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) can be used without concern of drug interactions and medication changes." https://www.pharmacytimes.com/contributor/shivam-patel-pharmd-candidate/2016/05/how-smoking-affects-medications [/quote] What else is going on with her - any issues with Covid-19 and staying home? Is she making any effort to stay active (exercise, hobbies, etc.)? Title: Re: Girlfriend with BPD has turned to drug use Post by: once removed on June 02, 2020, 02:54:13 AM most of all what role do I take? what role have you been taking? how has it gone when the two of you have been talking about all this? Title: Re: Girlfriend with BPD has turned to drug use Post by: GoblinMom on June 02, 2020, 09:22:29 AM soulmate
Actually, marijuana increases BPD symptoms. "long-term cannabis use induces an increase in borderline symptomatology. Results of the regression analyses suggest that the borderline symptomatology is highly linked to frequency of use and cannabis dependence. This may be due to the increase in borderline symptomatology induced by both acute and chronic effects of cannabis." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15107716/ |