There are basically 6 reasons why alcohol consumption and hangovers make many people anxious and I’m going tell you what they are. I want to share this with you so that you can be more informed and avoid becoming alcohol’s punching bag.
Ever since I became sick with nervous illness I’ve heard a lot of people say that anxiety sufferers should not drink alcohol because it makes you more nervous than you already are.
I’ve always found this to be ironic because there are so many anxiety sufferers that drink alcohol to cope with their anxiety, but true it is.
Now, the fact that alcohol can cause anxiety is just that, a fact. It is a scientifically based understanding, so this is not simple conjecture on my part.
Will alcohol affect all people this way? Probably not, but as an anxiety sufferer you should be aware of the possible pitfalls of alcohol consumption, so pay close attention.
Scientists believe that alcohol causes or at least increases anxiety in 6 basic ways and here they are.
1. Mood
Alcohol can affect our mood because it can affect the level of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a feel good brain chemical that when in short supply can cause feelings of anxiety and depression.
A drop in blood sugar can cause dizziness, confusion, weakness, nervousness, shaking and numbness. These symptoms can most certainly trigger a bout of anxiety.
3. Dehydration
This has been known to cause nausea, dizziness, fatigue, light-headedness and muscle weakness. These symptoms wouldn’t cause anxiety per say but they add to a sense of illness which fosters anxiety.
4. Nervous System
The nervous system is affected because in order for the body to fight off the sedative effects of alcohol it puts the body into a state of hyperactivity in order to counteract this effect. This hyperactivity can lead to shaking, light/sound sensitivity and sleep deprivation.
5. Heart Rate
Your heart rate can become elevated as a result of consuming alcohol which can cause a palpitation false alarm and put you into a state of anxious anticipation. Is it a heart attack or isn’t it you might ask. This “what if” questioning can increase your general state of anxiety.
6. Concentration
A hard night of drinking can also make you hazy, bring on headaches and create a sense of disorientation.
So if you’re going to have a glass of wine with dinner I don’t think you should be concerned. On the other hand, if you’re a heavy drinker, or binge drinker, then this might cause a real problem for you.
According to The Times Online, scientists don’t know exactly why all this happens but they do suggest that you eat before drinking, drink water in between drinks, and stay in bed if you are hung over to avoid all the problems I outlined above.
Some would say that maybe you shouldn’t drink at all if you have an anxiety disorder – that’s debatable. Do you think that alcohol should be avoided at all cost when someone has an anxiety disorder?
I don’t think that alcohol should be avoided if drinking is part of your social repertoire, however, I also know that moderation and good sense should be your guide.
In addition, although alcohol does have a sedative effect it should not be used as a coping tool. This type of behavior can lead to alcoholism and worse yet, more anxiety.
So if you know that you’re a light weight, or if you already know that alcohol makes you anxious, don’t bother. Maybe I don’t need to say it, but really some people just don’t know when to say no.
Note: I want to hear your opinions. Let me know what you think about this issue – comment below.
Update
After waiting forever I finally completed a podcast for this article. Press play to listen now.
Hi Todd,
Good advice. Your experience is exactly the same as mine. It’s amazing how much difference a little self control can make. Moderation is the ONLY way.
It’s therapeutic to read everyone’s experiences here, I think it benefits us all.
Hi Bridget
You are in a difficult situation there. Peer pressure at work etc and it is so hard, if not impossible, when a partner is a frequent drinker too and when habitual drinking is such a part of your ‘norm’.
I drank a LOT when I had an office job way back as the tab always got picked up by the rich corporation and it would have been frowned upon to not go out to the bar/pub most days. Three pints of beer for lunch was normal and made the afternoons go faster. My boss and I used to drink after work as well and take clients out for drinks after signing contracts. It would have been hard not to drink.
BUT, that was when I was 23; I’m 44 now and things are way different. I have LONG since been a social drinker and have LONG since found it fun. It would be interesting to hear from others how many of you find that as you get older, anxiety and drinking are more pronounced.
I never used to think about the amount consumed. I kept up with the boys. I’d get drunk fast too being very small and I probably had an eating disorder… really limited calorie intake, skipping meals, counting calories, always on a diet when I didn’t need to, always thinking I was fat when I was not…
I’d say, try to cut back to at least minimize the vicious circle. Doing ’rounds’ in bars in a no-no. Try at least to cut back a bit, even if it means filling your wine glass with water instead here and there, slow it down to smaller sips. I bet you won’t notice that much and anyway, other people are more concerned with their own intake than yours. Try and drink a BOOST or an ENSURE drink when you wake up in the morning. It’s calories but not ‘food’ to reduce your hangover. Both contain lots of minerals and vitamins. Calcium is really important to help your body absorb magnesium more effectively. B12 makes you feel better too and alcohol depletes B, which is essential. I hate swallowing large pills (which supplements often are) but you can get powder and liquid forms. Have you tried Kava Kava? That might help you. Google Calms Forte for sleep and PureCalm for anxiety. The first is a homeopathic remedy. PureCalm is herbal remedy, is non-addictive and isn’t a sedative so you aren’t at risk of side effects.
I would never in a million years thought that I would take a medication. I mean NEVER. However on a trip to Chicago I ran into an old friend who told me she took did… for anxiety. I was COMPLETELY against it. But when we had a good talk, her words wouldn’t leave my brain. She said, “Why continue to suffer?” and after a bad attack some time after, I did go and see a Dr.
I’ve tried herbal and homeopathic remedies myself, but my anxiety was really really bad, with severe attacks lasting all night long, unable to sleep, so I needed something else. I lost the ability to handle large groups of people, could not handle stress and had to give up driving, that’s how bad it got for me. I dreaded big cities, small spaces, heights, anything remotely scary. Anxiety makes all my senses run on overload so small things would get escalated a hundredfold and I would get terribly paranoid too. I have never been addicted to Xanax and only take the lowest dosage and only take them as needed, which these days is not often. But then the only thing in the world I have been addicted to is alcohol. Not even taking one but knowing they are there IF I need one, has been helpful. Like people who are very very occasionally asthmatic and have an inhaler by the bed but never use it.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the involuntary actions. Anxiety causes repetitive behavior. It sounds like it’s your body trying to get some tension out.
Good luck to you, I hope some of this is useful. Keep us all posted.
Hi Bridget,
That’s some good advice from Ruth. I wouldn’t worry much about your involuntary actions either. Anxiety is well known to cause such repetitive behavior, most notoriously as OCD. Doesn’t mean you have OCD, but almost all sufferers of anxiety exhibit such repetitive behavior in a mild form at least.
I can understand your aversion to medication, and that is your choice. However, I would urge you to at least look into natural remedies for anxiety such as 5-HTP, St. John’s Wort, GABA etc. I have used these before (even though I take Prozac regularly) and they really are very effective.
As for your social drinking, I know how hard that can be to curtail. I (thankfully) have a very large social circle, but everyone loves to drink which makes it hard for me. As always, self control and moderation are KEY!
Good luck!
Todd, your words really ispire me to want to cut down greatly if not quit drinking….I wonder, you said you used to binge really bad on the weekends, but did you drink during the week also at all? I usually drink alot “more” on the weekends, but then i have a few beers nitely(about 5-6) during the week, to try to get over feeling like such crap from a rough weekend….but i notice when i have even a few beers during the week after a rough weekend, that it kind perpetuates the “feeling like crap” as well as anxiety…or did you not drink at all during the week, even before?
J – I used to drink during the week a few years ago. Those were the end of my vodka days. I was spiraling down the drain and FAST. What started out with a pint on vodka on the weekends ended up a half gallon in a real hurry. After one drunken (week) night (I wasn’t working, my wife was), I got the ultimate ultimatum. Give up the hard stuff or it’s over. It was very easy to give it up at that point.
However, my withdrawals were through the roof and back then, I had NO idea it was due to alcohol! Like most of us here, hangovers used to be the next day, not two, three, FOUR days after the last drink!
So even though I gave up my favorite booze (vodka), it wasn’t long before wine became my knew favorite poison. I don’t get trashed on wine like I did with vodka so it’s easier to hide it (which I hate and adds to my convictions of slowly tapering it from my life). Yet the withdrawals came back once I began increasing my drinks on the weekend. Today, I stand before you with CLARITY concerning my drinking and how it directly impacts my body, mind and overall health.
Increase your drinking and increase your anxiety/panic, it’s a simple equation. The more you drink and then stop (for however long), the more your body goes into withdrawal until you satisfy it’s hunger. Most of us don’t just quit altogether, we start the drinking cycle again to ease the symptoms. For some it’s a matter of hours. For others it’s a matter of days, weeks or even months. For most, it’s a matter of breaking the cycle and that will only come once you’ve put down the bottle/glass for the last time.
My neighbor and his wife are full blown alcoholics. His co-workers have smelled the booze on him, his BP is through the roof (even though he is on BP meds), he’s on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety and he’s not even 40 yet. On top of that his wife enables it by joining him for their several beers and wine drinking daily. I cannot tell you how bad of shape I would be in today if my wife was a drinker. I know for a fact that she is the reason I am not down the drain.
Sorry for the long post…Feeling good today. Hope everyone is as well.
Todd, dont be sorry for a long message!! your messages truly inspire me…….it seems honestly like we have so much in common…would it be possible for me to email you directly?? i think you would be a very good almost “sponsor” for me at this point..lol….honestly.
Hi all,
No booze since July 15th! Things are great. It’s so good to be clear in the head, a welcome relief to actually get back to myself again. My skin looks a whole lot better and I’m actually sleeping again, wowee. I thought I was destined to be an insomniac my whole life. What is really nice is the freedom I feel from not having to think about alcohol on and off throughout the day. Like Todd, my partner is a non-drinker and we aren’t major social creatures so being sober isn’t so much of a challenge, whereas in the past I’ve resented partners drinking when I have given up for short stints.
I didn’t realize till today but I’ve haven’t needed to take a Xanax for the past two days, that is a first for a LONG time. Didn’t even occur to me even to think about anxiety. Definitely feeling that a promising future is ahead if I manage to stay on track. At the moment its not that hard as I’m still in the first throws of sobriety. Standing the test of time is the harder part. I can’t say I’ll never drink again and don’t want to. But sober for now is really really great. This is a relief as I thought it was only a choice of AA or yet another glass of wine in my hand.
Thanks for this forum for allowing me to vent. Hope you are all doing okay.
Ruth i am so happy for you! Its pretty amazing to realize that the conscious thought of alcohol goes away isn’t it? Sleeping is probably my favorite part of this whole process. I told people for years, “I sleep terribly, always have” and once I stopped drinking, I started sleeping well. I NEVER put those two together.
Does anyone have long term plans to stay off alcohol? I am afraid to ever drink again…that i’ll slip back into my habits and lose all the headway i’ve made. I miss the buzz of beer, i really do. But i dont miss having to schedule my life around it. I like turning down beers now when they’re offered, its self empowering.
day 47 for me 🙂 Congrats everyone and Good luck!!!
Tobiano,
Congratulations on Day 47!!! That’s fantastic!
I miss the buzz too but it is really nice to wake up feeling healthy. I’m afraid to drink again as well. When I was in my 20’s I had a bf who did NOT like drinking, so we went out for almost a year and a half and I never drank at all. Right after we split up, I went on a trip to Ireland and I had a Guinness on the ferry. My, I felt really light headed and tipsy. That was all I had on the ferry but it got me back into drinking again, just that one drink, and it wasn’t until I got to my 40’s that I really considered giving up completely and was my first time going to AA (which didn’t work for me, personally). During that time of sobriety, I wrote more poetry than ever, was really super fit and consider it one of the happiest times in my life.
The best way for me to stay sober is to keep it all really simple: keep reminding myself that the pros far outweigh the cons and (for now) stay away from people and places that will tempt me.
You guys are really inspiring. I MUST either outright quit or at least majorly taper it down. I’m officially missing appointments and making too many excuses to cover.
For me, it’s stress. It’s like a mission to drink so much at night in order to erase my shitty days. I have really tried to eliminate the stressors in my life.
Someone posted about tobacco and drinking making it worse. YES. It’s funny, I used to smoke cigarettes about six years ago. It really creeped up to 2 1/2 packs a day! And I was young. I never thought I would quit, but I got really sick once, coughing alot and still smoking. Docs said I ripped my lungs from coughing. I quit cold turkey. Since I have been drinking these last two years every day (I only drink at night), I started smoking at night as well.
I really want to have less stress in my life, be able to catch a very small buzz and be satisfied with that, and not this all or nothing approach. Once a catch a buzz, it seems I can’t control myself afterwards…I won’t stop until I’m really out of it. Now I have to stop.
I have been following this forum for some time — this is my first comment. I had my first stress attack in about eight years. It came right after my good friend tried to kill himself with alcohol and pills. Plus, there were a lot of stresses with work and money. Whatever, life has a lot of stress and I figured I need to learn to deal with it, so I stopped smoking and drinking all at once.
Whew, that was TOUGH. Yikes. The cigarettes were the easy part. I had been down to five a day at the time and quitting was the next logical step. Once I visualized cigs as disgusting and evil, I have no desire to ever touch one again. Seriously.
And, yes, nicotine is a huge contributor to stress, at least for me. When I was about to quit cigs forever, I would have none until after work and then that first smoke would send me reeling. Dizzy, trouble walking for about five minutes, then general anxiety for an hour afterwards.
The best cure for cig anxiety was of course a few drinks, but then I started waking up with horrible anxiety, weakness, dark thoughts. I decided that I am not going back down the rat hole I was in eight years ago. Last time I had panic attacks, I took medication and got “better,” but never really cured the anxiety and never quit drinking. In fact, the meds made it so I could drink a lot more without getting attacks, which was the opposite of the intended effect.
Anyhow, that’s my story. I’ve been off cigs for a month and no alcohol in ten days. I am still struggling. Not that I want a drink, but I think my blood sugar is whacked and my adrenalin is out of control because it was used to fighting the alcohol in order to keep me awake when I was drunk.
My friend said NEVER quit alcohol without help especially if you were a heavy drinker. I didn’t listen to him mainly because I had to stop NOW and help wasn’t around. It has been really tough, but from what I read, it takes about two weeks to detoxify and then you start reaping the benefits of no more booze. I hope that is the case.
thanks everybody for sharing your stories.
JimK,
Hang in there, every day will get better. I was irritated that my detox had to last 2 weeks, whereas I thought I’d be fine after about 4 days. It depends on how much you’ve been drinking and of course you have to figure in age as well as the cigs. I am only sober since July 15th (17 days) but it has meant amazing changes. I no longer need anxiety pills or sleeping pills. I was using both every day and more often than not, they didn’t work. When I was briefly in AA many moons ago, one piece of advice I remember was to eat sugar for withdrawals. Your body is wondering where it is, hence the blood sugar issues you have. Eat sugar every day until you feel better. Try some of the suggestions on previous posts for helping the detox with supplements, since your body has been leaching out nutrients. You might be sleep deprived as well. It took me a long time to sleep after I first gave up, but it will get better and you may find you sleep better than you ever did in your life. I hope you feel good soon. Giving up both cigs and alcohol at once definitely deserves congratulations.
Ruth,
Thanks. I needed some encouragement. Yesterday was up and down. I had to skip out on a band gig, but that was okay. We had an agreement that once our CD was done and the band started playing out heavily (more than twice a month,) that I was going to move on. There was this drummer Brent who offered to back up for me and the rest of the band was very understanding. I spent about an hour sleeping on a sidewalk behind the Safeway under an ash tree. There was a nice breeze and it was very peaceful.
I think the best thing I’ve done in the past ten days is be honest with people about what I’m going through. It seems that alcoholism has touched almost all my friends’ families and I didn’t know it. They opened up with dozens of stories. Some of the stories are pretty grisly, but maybe those will help keep me going.
Congrats to you, also. I am forty seven next month and have two kids and my own small business. Hopefully this ends the fight with the butts and the booze. I’m totally sick of the games, especially lying to myself about how much I actually drank. At some point, I would like to be able to throw back a beer here and there, but I can assure you it won’t be for a while. Although, I didn’t throw out the thirty pack of Rolling Rock in the garage fridge.
JimK,
Welcome to the blog, i’ve found this site so incredibly helpful to my “recovery” and the process of quitting drinking b/c of anxiety. Its very nice to have a group to bounce your feelings off of, and get advice. The correlation between the alcohol and anxiety is unbelieveable, and I have felt so good since quitting drinking. I had to stop lying to myself about how much i was drinking too, i knew in the back of my mind I was addicted and abusing, I just ignored it. Until I met my pyschiatrist. I have yet to quit cigs, I just dont want to let go of that crutch for some reason… I used to smoke “only when i drank” but now i pretty much do whenever i’m in the car, or at home relaxing on the deck with a NA beer or soda. I’m not sure what I need to do to quit smoking…i’ve tried it once before, made it 9 months but a stressful time (buying a house) put me right back on them….to “deal with the stress”
Regarding the 30pack of Rocks in your garage, it might be an interesting test for youself to see if you can abstain. My husband keeps a case of Yards Brawler in our kitchen, and i find myself looking at them saying “see me? i’m ignoring you! i’m not falling back on you!” and it feels good 🙂 However, I’m 50 days sober now…right when i first quit drinking, i had to get all the miller lite out of the house b/c i wanted it so badly.
Good luck JimK, and keep us posted 🙂
@Ruth, i’m jealous you’re not on any anxiety pills, you’re lucky. I think i’m going to be on Celexa for life… or something like it. I used to think “oh i’m better now, my anxiety is under control, i can stop the pills” but inevitably, I’d have a massive panic attack and have to go back on them. Its just time i stop lying to myself. I dont mind them so much b/c the side affects are minimal, except sleepiness. I could sleep for days…something I need to bring up to my doctor when i see him again.
Welcome aboard JimK, I think you’ll find a lot of help here as there are so many other people going through the same thing that you are.
Congratulations on getting off the booze and cigarettes.
Also, congratulations to Tobiano and Ruth, you are doing great!
I only have one other thing to say, at A.A. meetings they always have lots of coffee and sugary things to eat.
I was reading a book at one of the times I was in A.A. (I’ve forgotten the name of it now). The book was written by a nutritionist and this person said that all the sweets that people eat at A.A. meetings or anywhere else just perpetuates the craving for alcohol.
Remember, alcohol turns to sugar in your body therefore the craving for alcohol is more difficult to manage if you’re still eating sugar.
Sugar is very bad for you, it’s basically just empty calories and cause a whole host of health problems.
You’re better off eating whole grains, high quality protein, yogurt, nuts, legumes, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. You can’t believe everything they tell you in A.A. I know this from experience!
Just wondered if anyone could give me any advice. Basically i have had the hangover/anxiety problems the following day after binge drinking for years and put up with it. However my anxiety/panic can now last for a few days after drinking. After a while can alcohol make your anxiety last longer or do you think it maybe something else? I only drink once a week but have noticed that my anxiety is increasing. I think my nervous system might be getting fed up with the binge drinking. Anyone got any info on this? many thanks chris
Hi, this is my first time on this site and everything that I have been reading has brought me to tears. I realized that I am not alone, although I havent felt alone for the past 9 years. I have suffered from anxiety for so long and had recieved help in the past but stopped because I felt better. My attacks have recently began about 2 and 1/2 years ago after not having an attack for about 2 years. My attacks have been more aggressive than ever before and I feel lost and can no longer take it. I am drained emotionally, physically and of course mentally. I realized after reading that my anxiety is also worse when I drink, I am a binge drinker on the weekends and I know for a fact that my anxiety is far worse after a night of binge drinking. I realize that I must stop drinking the way that I do, especially if I want or choose to get better. I have tried to open up to my fiance but I am afraid that he will not understand me and may leave me because he might think that I am insane or something. I have been crying for the past 2 days because I am tired of feeling this way and I have to do something about this anxiety for once. I have 3 children and I hate that this condition interferes with taking care of my children 100 percent when an attack is in effect. I pray that I can fight this and become cured so that I can be the mother, wife that I should be. I know that I am not alone but I cant help but feel alone especially when I have no one to turn to here in my home nor in my life that completley understand what I am going threw. I pray that this will help and that I can find someone to talk to and who needs someone to talk to as well. Thanks for reading and listening…:)
Chris B…
Yes, I think your anxiety attacks can last for days after drinking, I know mine can, now that I’m on an anti-depressant that actually works I don’t feel like drinking more than three beers (I used to drink between nine and twelve), and my anxiety is completely gone.
I do know that the anti-depressant is helping with the anxiety and also the fact that I’m not drinking as much. Even when I would binge drink it was only once or twice a month in social situations…now I feel much more comfortable socially therefore I don’t have the desire to drink as much. I hope this helps a little…and good luck!
Monica…
I feel so bad for you but I can completely identify with what you’re saying…I went through what you’re going through years ago with extreme anxiety which turned into a severe depression so then I had two things to deal with…it finally went away on it’s own but I didn’t drink at all and I ate a very clean diet.
These incidences have happened to me approximately ten times over the course of thirty five years.
Finally after about the sixth one I decided I needed some outside help and got myself to a shrink…and fast. I was put on Zoloft and within a month I was fine…but I also put on fifty pound in nine years!
Now I’m on a new anti-depressant called Viibryd. I’m not having any side effects whatsoever…and it is weight neutral…with no sexual side effects.
What I’m trying to tell you is you need some outside help! Also, talk to your fiance…he may be more understanding than you think.
Show him some information on the internet about anxiety and tell him how very common it is…believe me when I say you are certainly not crazy…your suffering from anxiety.
Your fiance may not understand what it feels like to have anxiety (my husband doesn’t as he has never had anxiety) but he should still understand that you are going through something that you can’t help…it’s probably in your genes…or some kind of stressful event could have set it off or whatever…it’s really a moot point…you’ve got it so now you have to fix it…with some help…don’t try and walk this road alone…I never got better that way for long.
Anyway… even though my husband doesn’t know what it’s like to have anxiety he has tons of empathy for me and is very understanding…if your fiance can’t be there for you when you’ve explained all this to him and have shown him the data and statistics on anxiety then I hate to say it but maybe he’s not the one for you…he probably will not be understanding in other areas. Sorry for being so blunt but I just want you to give it some thought. Good luck… get yourself to a shrink right away… and let us know what’s happening!
Another thing, the reason I’m telling you to see a Psych Doc is because most family physicians are really bad at diagnosing and prescribing the right medication if that’s the route you decide to go.
I don’t understand why so many people (me included at one time) are against meds., they can save your life! They saved mine!
Take care everyone,
Minnie
Minnie, everything you said was perfect and exactly what i would have said as well. I used my family practicioner for my anxiety meds for years, and finally went to a pyschologist, who specializes in the medication for anxiety, depression, etc…not that my family doctor wasn’t right, but he is a generalist…not a specialist in this area.
I have gone off and on the meds for years b/c i hated the side affects, but the medications have gotten a lot better in the last year, with hardly any side affects (paxil made me gain 20 lbs in two years, and killed the sex drive). I finally gave up the fight against them b/c they DO HELP!
If your family memebers don’t have anxiety, talking and trying to be as open and honest as you can is the best thing you can do, b/c they will have some semblance of an idea, and empathize with you when you’re struggling. My husband does not have anxiety, and it has been such a struggle for me when i have an attack b/c he doesn’t understand, so after each attack, after i “come down” I sit and talk with him. I am also going ot have him come along with me to a pyschiatrist appt.
if you only learn one thing from this blog, i hope that it is there IS a correlation between your anxiety and your alcohol intake. What my Dr told me was “the amount of alochol you are drinking is NEGATING your medication, PLUS its increasing your anxiety, dont you feel worse/more anxious the morning after a bender?”…my answer was, yes. He told me to stop drinking for 30 days, and because I knew in my heart i had a drinking problem (6 or more beers every night without fail)…so i did it, i quit drinking. Within a week i noticed i wasn’t shaking, or having rolling panic attacks, and the constant anxious feeling dissapated…now 52 days in, i feel “normal”. The medication is working as it should, holding back the “full on panic” that my brain wants to go into when i’m feeling stressed, or scared.
No one but yourself can make you stop drinking. I know that some of you are probably holding onto “your friend alcohol” b/c you aren’t sure if it will really help….i can honestly say, alcohol makes your anxieties worse. If you give it a chance, you will see for yourself.
-T
Minnie,
Thanks for the advice, I am in the process of finding a doctor in my area that can help me. I am feeling better than I have these past few days and my fiance is definetley worried about me and I am glad that he is on my side. I know that he will eventually understand the situation and what I am going threw. He truely is a wonderful man but I have such strong pride that it is hard for me to ask for help from anyone. I decided to quit drinking and I know that this is going to be a long road considering that my fiance and I are binge drinkers as well as are friends. I know that I can do this for me and if not for me for my family so that I can take care of them like I need to. Thank you for reading and thanks so much for responding. I will keep ya’ll updated with my progress and with my days free of alcohol. 🙂
Thanks Tobiano and Monica…hang in there!
My entire social life used to involve work and drinking. To meet people i would go to the pub. Then i lost my job and anxiety kicked in. Then anxiety made me give up drinking, and i had no social life. Loneliness made me depressed, and the isolation made me more anxious. I’m in this evil circle and finding it hard to get out.. Any words of advice?
Welcome dew,
I’m sorry to hear that you lost your job…that can be a major stressor therefore that is probably why your anxiety kicked in…it may have been lurking just waiting for something bad to happen. Have you had any anxiety in the past…before losing your job?
Many times as I mentioned previously anxiety it brought on by some kind of stressor.
Maybe losing your job can be an opportunity for you to do something you’ve always loved.
I know in this economy it’s going to be difficult for you to find a new job but in time I’m sure you will.
It may not be the exact job you want at that moment but you can always keep looking until you find one you really want.
Can you go to the pub without drinking? I know that’s a stupid question…it’s like saying can you go to f—ing Walmart and just come out with one item.
Just know, which I’m sure you’re already aware of that drinking is going to exacerbate the problem.
I don’t know if I have any advice for you…you’ve got to decide on your own whether or not you want to take a chance and go to the pub…are there any other places you can go that don’t serve alcohol?
Good luck dew…let us know what’s happening and I hope you get a job soon!
Minnie
Hi everybody, just checking in. I’m on day fifteen w/no booze and no cigs. My GP put me on Zoloft a week before I quite smokes and drinks. All in all, my brain is doing somersaults from all the changes within such a short period of time. I expected this somewhat except for the sugar cravings in the morning. I have still been able to work, in fact, work is a good thing to occupy my over-busy mind.
Zoloft is a tough one because it takes so frikkin long to start working. I took it eight years ago for a while. It worked great w/some exceptions, notably it takes about a month to do anything positive — in fact, it makes most people slightly worse when they first start taking it. This seems to be the consensus, and also, it seems that if you drink, you need to stay on it forever unless you quit drinking.
Question for the board, which is worse, nicotine withdrawal or alcohol withdrawal? Since I quit both on the same day, I’m not sure which one will nag me the longest. I have no interest in picking up a cigarette ever again. Beer, on the other hand, is tempting, but I am resisting because I know in my heart that it will mess me up if I start again.
Anyhow, thanks to everybody here for the support. My goal is in six months to be the calm voice of reason helping newbs get off the sauce.
Hi JimK,
Congratulations for quitting both drinking and smoking at the same time.
Of course you’re going to feel screwed up for a while…
you quit to very addictive substances at once
I really can’t say which withdrawal would be worse…I quit smoking 35 years ago and can’t remember much about it.
I took Zoloft for nine years…they kept upping my dose as it would stop working…it finally stopped working for good at 200mg. that was enough for me…of course then I was put on another drug.
Also, I put on fifty pounds with Zoloft and my emotions were totally flat. Nothing seemed to bother me at all! That is not good…I hope you have better luck with it…you said you were on it before so hopefully you won’t have any problems!
Good luck with all that you’re doing.
Minnie
If you went that long w/out cigs, you are fine, trust me. I quit cold-turkey alcohol that seemed ok bc I went on health kick, but kept smoking. Quitting smoking…the worse. Horrific the first few days. Nicotine withdrawal is absolutely horrible. But if you could survive two weeks you will be ok.
i would think nicotine would be worse. i’m still not tackling that task….i know i need to.
good job with 15 days JimK 🙂
I have been following the comments on this particular article for about three weeks now, and was able to make a couple of major changes in my life in part from what I have read from everyone. My immediate family all have anxiety issues, and mine were really starting to interfere with my daily life. Alcohol intake had ramped up to two beers and at least one bottle of wine daily, and cigarette smoking was up to about 12-15 per day. For the past year or so I was taking .125 mg of Xanax on the mornings where I felt really out of it, but that became .25 mg nearly every day this past spring. I knew it was not good, but didn’t make the time and effort to change anything while trying to keep up with a small child, three jobs and massive amounts of stress.
In February, during a trip to the ER for an animal bite wound, my normally stellar blood pressure of 120/60 was 140/110. It was attributed, in part, to the infection from the puncture, but I was advised to follow up with my PCP to make sure it wasn’t still high later on. Well, didn’t go to the doctor until June, and sure enough, it was still high (like 148/100). Wake up call!!!!
Here it is August 9th…..and I have not had a cigarette, a beer or any Xanax since August 1st. I am using the nicotine patch for the cigarettes (it’s what has actually worked for me in the past), so for now I am just dealing with the mental aspects and will gradually wean down the mg’s of nicotine. I have no idea why all of sudden beer doesn’t even sound good…have always loved good beer, but ever since I quit smoking I have no desire. Still have some wine at night, but not nearly the amount I was consuming. Invested in a Wii over the weekend and have been trying to exercise more and also keep busy while I get over the nicotine “triggers” in my daily home life.
I really don’t know if all of this has to do with the disappearance of the nearly-daily anxiety I was experiencing, since it’s pretty recent that the changes were made, but thought I would share. I truly was motivated to make these changes for some time, but reading all of your comments, advice and familiar stories really gave me a good kick in the butt to do it. So thank you all!!!!!
Hilly, good going!
I’m on day eighteen now, if I’m counting right. No cancer sticks and no booze. No craving for smokes, but a beer still sounds inviting. However, I know what will happen if I choose either in this frame of mind. Maybe when the smoke clears a couple months down the road, which is what happened last time I used Zoloft.
Best of luck to you. One thing about exercise is it gets the phlegm out of your throat and cures the gag reflex. That’s one thing I learned about being a smoker, I always exercised a lot to keep my throat clear and if I missed exercise, I would feel as if I were choking in my sleep and that’s all part of the panic reflex, just like fast heartbeat.
Take care and check in on occasion. I’m new here, too.
Hi Hilly
Congratulations! And good going Jim too!
Hilly, do remember the expression ‘white coat pressure’ – the fact that BP at hospitals and at Dr’s is nearly always higher as these are stressful places in general. However, alcohol can also spike BP.
I’m on Day 26 of no drinking. I gave up drinking ALOT of white wine on July 15th. I was under an enormous amount of stress and my intake had reached an all time high. I was buying wine by the box and drinking it all day every day (like starting when I woke up and carrying on for hours) and got to the stage where I never even got drunk and since I was drinking by the box would lose count of how much I was drinking. I was on three Xanax a day (.25mg) and 2 Costco sleeping pills every night as well. My nerves were a wreck, I had constant anxiety attacks with sometimes bad hyperventilating and had the shakes, agoraphobia, dreadful insomnia with sweats… I stopped driving on freeways (knowing I was over the limit stopped me as I didn’t want to end up in prison and also I was too anxious), felt paranoid, had terrible depression, constant stomach aches, would throw up a couple of times a week and had awful issues with self confidence and self esteem. I felt like I had literally built myself into a self imposed prison. My creativity was non-existent, my business thankfully JUST ticking over by itself and I was having suicidal thoughts and felt angry with myself and life.
26 days in, I have lost 6lbs, even though I am eating more (wine was my food and would kill my appetite). My skin is clear, I can drive again without fear, my diet is excellent and mostly organic, my BP is pretty normal when it was really high before, I have no cravings and haven’t taken a Xanax for about three weeks and have had no anxiety attacks at all. I’ve taken 4 sleeping pills in 3 weeks. My emotional state is calmer, I often sleep an almost perfect for me 7 hours straight and I wake up much happier and at peace with myself. I’m glad not to be thinking about alcohol all the time. My partner and I are starting a new business which I’m really excited about and I go out much more in public places which I began to dread so much before.
My fear is that I can’t keep this up. AA told me that willpower won’t work and that without ‘working the program’ I was simply a dry drunk and would eventually go back to it. All I can say is that AA did not personally work for me and I’m just glad to today be happier with who I am as a sober person to feel so much freer. The stress and then alcohol consumption and then anxiety was for me such a repetitive vicious circle and I dreaded the future. This group has helped me enormously as I haven’t felt ashamed to talk about how bad things got, since it is anonymous (AA is supposed to be but is often not I found to my disappointment and annoyance).
I hope you feel better. I’m almost sure you will. Thanks for the post and the best of luck to you.
Ruth…….a very big congratulations to you;)….Every time i read yoru posts it gives me inspiration…..not only of how much EXACTLY ALIKE our symptoms and behavior are, but since i “havent’ quit drinking yet it gives me something to look forward to…. Dont ever listen to those IDIOTS at AA who tell you that you “cant do it yourself”……Its not many, but i do KNOW of people who dranks nitely for many years and just gave it up “cold turkey” and never went back to drinking, so you CAN DO IT if YOU choose to…You just have to remember that IF you do falter or get drunk again, it does NOT NEGATE all the progress you have made, and it does NOTTTTTTT put you back at “day one”….Thats psycho bullsh*t brainwashing that AA wants you to think… But I think of it THIS way……Think of it as climing a ladder , you start at the very bottom, and every day your one rung up the ladder, well there are going to be days where you slip back one or two rungs on the ladder, but that doesnt NEGATE all the other rungs you’ve climbed right?? Be proud of yourself and belieev that the accomplishments you haev so far CANNOT be wiped away, even if you got totally drunk for the next week straight….Thats AA BullS*it saying that you have to start from “day one” again….AA is a joke, its about brainwashing people into believeing “their way” is the ONLY way….Sure it might get some people off the bottle, but it replaces alcohol with other forms of brainwashing.(not to mention coffee, cigarettes, donuts, and forced religeon).thats just my opinion..
PS, where is TODD? anyone hear from him? I am wondering how your progress is going Todd, please write when you can..
Hey Ruth, awesome going for you on 26 days!!! I’m so glad you’re doing well 🙂 I wish i would start losing more weight, i’ve only dropped 4lbs so far i’ve got about 5 more to go, but i’ve also started eating lucky charms for b-fast haha.
I met with my psychiatrist yesterday and he dropped me from 20mg Celexa to 10mg, with the hopes i can get off it entirely soon! The sleepiness of the medication was killing me, i’m tired all the time. I honestly think that yes my genetics gave me anxiety, but alcohol was making it worse. I haven’t had a drink in 60 days, and i’ve only had two little “flare ups” of anxiety, hardly close to the rolling attacks i was used to having. I also met with a Rehab specialist, she read to me the definiton of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency. I am coming to grips with the fact that I am an alcoholic, because i was dependent on it. But I made a conscious effort to quit and have continued to do so.
Ruth i’m so sorry to hear about your experience with AA, that sounds so counterproductive, why wouldn’t they praise you for not drinking?? I am not going to join AA because the groups in my town are skeevy looking men, and I have an issue with giving my control up to a “higher power” I dont have faith, and nothing will convince me to start (my parents have tried). I do believe there’s a God, but i dont believe he controls my life. I usually need tangible evidence to start believing something. I have already made a few phone calls to the “Women for Sobriety” group in my town and hope that with some support I’ll feel better about staying sober. My family is a huge part of my life, and they are all struggling with accepting my situation, I’m sure b/c they are taking a look at their own drinking habits and wondering.
I’ve been going back and forth in my mind about how i feel, from being accepting of it and then thinking “I’m only 29, life is going to be really long if i have to struggle to NOT drink”…but I have to keep reminding myself that I am not drinking b/c i want to maintain my SANITY…to be anxiety free. Thats the underlying reason. Anxiety was ruining my life, and alcohol was causing my anxiety to be worse.
Good luck to you all, and I’m so glad to have this blog, even if i dont post, i feel better reading your posts knowing i’m not alone. thx guys.
-T
Hi J and Tobiano,
Thanks for the kind messages. My note was so long, I wasn’t sure if anyone would get to the end! About AA… I have a lot of mixed feelings. There was a group I went to that got me sober for a month. I was abroad so I ended my travels and couldn’t keep going. A friend I was staying with for a week got me into it and I do have to say the group was well run (if quite military) and encouraged us to mix with our own gender and exchange a lot of contacts and I appreciated the daily gratitude list.
During that time I needed some outside help as I was clueless as to how to go about being sober by myself. I was on two bottles of Chardonnay a day and hiding the empties. But AA was so hard core! I don’t recall a single person ever addressing the link between alcohol and anxiety at all so I didn’t know the correlation. So my thinking was if I felt anxious, a few drinks would clear that up straight away. I didn’t know it was only going to continually come back and bite me. The big group I attended had keynote speakers at every meeting and we were heavily encouraged to go there one hour before the actual meeting to ‘mingle’. Smoking and drinking tea and coffee were encouraged. Better than the ‘other’ addiction. I can’t smoke cigs and caffeine gives me anxiety. I met with a few women during the week at coffee houses but got tired of all conversations being about drinking. I thought the idea was to get on with life instead of harping on about it. Even my very nice sponsor who I had to call daily, would giggle on the phone about her crazy jaunts with men in her drinking days. I felt the steps were there to shame us… esp Step 4, to ‘renounce’ your drinking and apologize to absolutely everyone and ask forgiveness for your wrong doings as a result of being an alcoholic. I found this inappropriate.
My first foray into AA started years ago when I was sitting in my place one afternoon, on my way to getting drunk and decided I had had enough. So I called a number for government help. I was eligible for counseling. I went to a place called “Mental Health Clinic” and got told by the man who was an ex-AA’er that because I drank through boredom, I was definitely an alki and should start group sessions. I didn’t want to but agreed to go at least once. Found myself in a room with 19 year olds all forced to be there on probation for crystal meth abuse. I was old enough to be their mother and felt like I was in school. It was a lecture with a white board and total indoctrination. But on the advice, I went to local AA meetings.
While I was away on that trip to my homeland, I visited my sisters and b/c I was staying with them told the three of them I would need to slip away for meetings. One sister didn’t approve (she drinks heavily and frequently but is in denial that she is anything other than a social drinker), the other two were good about it and supportive. However, they all told their partners and one of them told my brother as he sent an email saying he ‘hoped I was laying off the booze’ which irritated me since I rarely see him, he lives abroad too, and he would have had no idea I had an issue with it. I made it clear AA was anonymous but got told, “Oh of course it’s not.”
I did feel it was brainwashing and even though I haven’t been for 2 or more years, buzz phrases still stick in my mind, like “It works if you work it (the program) and it won’t if you don’t.” I sort of felt it was too black and white. I wanted to quit to have a better life and not be plagued with constant thoughts of alcohol. But in the groups I was constantly reminded that I was an alcoholic and there was a limit to how many times I could stomach twice daily reads of the Big Book. I didn’t want to live and breathe it 24/7 and feel like an ill victim. I would rather just see it that I let a dreadful habit spiral out of control and address it to make a decision to get it behind me and do other more productive things with my time, personal relationships, money and health.
My friend went to great lengths with his sponsor to find out if I was ‘sober’ due to my Xanax intake while I first weaned myself off it back then. It made me mad to be told I could not be on Day 1. So I hear you J. And Tobiano, skeevy looking men? I had an inward giggle with that expression. Women only groups are the way to go if you are in a group. I’ve heard all sorts of stories about couples getting together and then splitting up and both want to stay with the same group and it causes a lot of grief and complications.
AA didn’t work for me because I have found that the main reason my life was awful with drinking was not the embarrassment due to things I did, as while I made my fair share of bad choices in relationships and lied about my consumption and hid alcohol (all good enough reasons alone)it is really because it TOTALLY makes me highly anxious and therefore dysfunctional. I cannot keep living that way as anxiety and panic attacks (my rock bottom) are so absolutely unbearable that I can’t go back to the bottle any time soon. It just isn’t worth it to live a life of fear and sheer misery as well as self hatred.
Thanks so much for the space here to say all this. I’ll try and make my posts a bit shorter next time! Hope you are all doing well.
Ruth, please keep writing your posts here, and make the posts as long or as short as you’d like……Its because of your posts and people that are brave enough and take the “effort” enough to share with us others, that it truly helps and inspires us……The more detail you provide about your experiences , the better it helps (at least me) “relate”…..I dont think i will ever everrrrrrrr be 100% “sober”, as i dont choose to “never’ drink again……I do however believe i can, and in time can cut down to “normal” drinking patterns–meaning have 3-4 beers on a friday nite among friends, but CUT OUT the “weekday” drinking of 10 beers a nite….The KEY KEY KEY KEYYYYY point (cant emphasize ENOUGH) is that if ANY of you/us/me gets to feeling better or quits drinking for any length of time, and if we DO relapse and have a few drinks, or even get drunk one nite, just make it a POINT to stay away from alcohol for a period of time again, and most importantly DO NOT EVERRRRRRRRRRRRR go back to the 10 beers, or 2 bottles of wine, or half a bottle of whiskey a nite….Its all about moderation folks, and i dont think ANY of us would be on this board if we just practiced moderation, even with alcohol…..Hey, everyone loves going to the Chinese Buffet once in a while right? But NO ONE can hit a buffet everynite, right? Moderation is the key, and if you cant moderate, then stay away completely from alcohol……
J, you’re just making excuses for your addiction. Alcoholics CAN’T drink in moderation. Thats why we’re alcoholics.
Those who are alcohol dependent meet all of the criteria of alcohol abuse, but they will also exhibit some or all of the following:
Narrowing of the drinking repertoire (drinking only one brand or type of alcoholic beverage). Drinking LITE beer does not make a difference.
Drink-seeking behavior (only going to social events that will include drinking, or only hanging out with others who drink).
Alcohol tolerance (having to drink increasing amounts to achieve previous effects).
Withdrawal symptoms (getting physical symptoms after going a short period without drinking).
Drinking to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms (such as drinking to stop the shakes or to “cure” a hangover).
Subjective awareness of the compulsion to drink or craving for alcohol (whether they admit it to others or not).
A return to drinking after a period of abstinence (deciding to quit drinking and not being able to follow through).
You dont want help, you want validation for your own drinking habits.
Hey Tobiano, kiss my a$$, and take your advice and shove it…..Just because you’ve been BRAINWASHED by AA, and your therapist, dont bunch me in with your bananas…..I CAN drinkin moderation, because many times i DO…Sometimes i go couple days a week without drinking, OR drinking 1-2 beers a nite….And then again, sometimes i drink too much…But the fact remains i DONT WANT to ever stop drinking entirely…I dont like labels either of “alcoholic”…Would i fit that descprition technically? yes, but i consider myself just someone who drinks “too much” and who needs to cut down big time…Ya know what you remind me of? One of those people that used to be a “heathen” in your younger days, then found god, and pushes your overbearing opinion on others..and your totally OBLIVIOUS to who you were, and what you used to be, but because you have gone 60 days without drinking your the SECOND COMING?? give me a break….I welcome all supportive , understanding posts from others here, but Tobiano is truly misguided and been brainwashed…
PS, i never asked for help here, and especially not “your” misguided advice or opinions…So keep them to yourself where i’m concerned..
PS….AA is a COMPLETE sham…you might as well join one of those texas cult followings before joining AA (they do the same thing–BRAINWASH you into thinking your a sick person). They replace alcohol with caffeine and nicotene so they are replacing one crutch with two more…whatever….
Friday the 29th of July i was binge drinking, this was my first time to drink in such a way, today it is the 12th of August, it has been 2 weeks and i am still suffering from Hangover, i went to the emergency 4 times, they did every possible thing to help me but without any result. finally they said it is Anxiety but i dont know if i should believe them or not, maybe ”Anxiety” is just a door where the doctor can escape from when he fails to give a logic explanation, could hangover last for that long?? i am dizzy..sleepy…weak…dont know how to find my way out…i had Vitamins and Sport drinks and lots of water and food…the thoughts that i might never recover is just killing me…please advice
John, the problem you have is that you are trying everything possible to stop this feeling and trying your hardest to repel it. Although this seems logical, it is completely the wrong thing to do. Imagine you have a stranger at the door who desperately wants to speak to you, you wont go to the door because your too scared but the stranger wont go away. The only way he will go away is if you let him in and hear what he has to say. This is exactly the same with anxiety. Lie down on your bed for half an hour each night and feel all of the energy whizzing around your body, let it happen. Whatever you do, dont label the energy as negative or horrible, its just an energy, your brain is responsible for deciding if its good or bad, dont let this happen just ‘feel’ the energy and dont stop even if it gets uncomfortable. Gradually your body starts to become use to everything and you will start to stop subconsciously predicting the worst all the time when you feel an energy. If you practice this method, I swear to you all that you will reduce/stop anxiety, I would know. Good Luck Guys, let me know if you need any advice.
John
You said you were still suffering from a hangover but you did not tell us exactly how you were feeling.
What are your symptoms? When the average person tells me they have a hangover I think, upset stomach, headache, dehydration, maybe some dizziness, and usually being very tired. Let us know exactly what’s going on with you.
Thanks
Minnie
I feel the need to defend myself here, but as I have experienced through the flood of emails I previously received from J where I am called an real idiot and super defensive after he reached out to me, its obvious rational will probably not make a difference.
But for the rest of you,
I am not in AA, have never been in AA. I’m not an older person who is looking on my younger days with disdain. I’m 29. I don’t have God in my life. I have logic. And I have anxiety, and the willingness to stop it from controlling my life. And I have will power, for once in my life, I used it in a good way.
I don’t want to shove my opinion down anyone’s throats, and if i had been doing so before, I will be sure to stop. I am just so excited about experiencing how my anxiety has diminished since quitting drinking. I came to grips with the truth of having a drinking problem, and that it was in fact making me more anxious.
that’s all.
Good luck again to everyone.
Craig, Minnie, John,
What resists, persists. I believe Craig’s comment is spot on. Minnie is also correct in looking for more information. I think we all know what a hangover feels like, looks like. After 2 weeks of not drinking anything John, It’s doubtful that you have a hangover. I have experienced anxiety and confused thinking for days/weeks after drinking. Still not sure why, but the details don’t matter. John, can you explain in more detail how you feel? are you sleeping through the night?
My 2 cents worth on AA.
I have never attended AA as a member, but have visited some of their meetings. My impression is that it’s like, “being in the military.” There are undoubtedly good chapters and bad ones. Just like being a chopper pilot in Germany is different from being a cook at Fort Hood or a rifleman on the DMZ in Korea.
One thing I have noticed about AA is they seem to push coffee and cigarettes. That seems insane to me. Seems like lots of AA members are heavy smokers. With me, smoking pushed my anxiety through the roof. I could never understand how recovering alcoholics could smoke so much, or drink gallons of coffee like they do.
See? I told you it was only 2 cents worth.
Tobiano……first of all, you were the one who posted your email here and offered it for anyone who would like to talk off the forum……It was not a “flood” of emails, it was a FEW emails…….And just as on here, you talked down and disrespected me in emails saying that i obviously “didnt want help” or to change?? I wouldnt be here if i didnt want to understand, and change ……..However your theory of “all or nothing” does not, and will not work for ANYONE in the long run……..I also believe FIRMLY that about 3/4’s of the people on here would LOVE to be able to have drinks every other week or so, and be able to keep it in check….We all agree here that we drink TOO much, and drink too often, but i think if we could have 2 glasses of wine on a weekend, or 3-4 beers, that it would something we’d prefer?? as opposed to NEVER having a drink again, and being labeled an “alcoholic” even though someone doesnt have a drink for 2 years?? thats REDICULOUS……The goal here should be to have 2 or so drinks every weekend, NOT to say “i can never have a drink again”……I’m realistic about things, and just could never see myself not having a drink again…..I ENJOY the buzz, i ENJOY having a few beers……My problem is that i usually dont (NOT cant, but dont) stop after 2-3 beers……Last nite i did have 2 beers though, the nite before i had nothing….the night before that i had 4……So moderation CAN BE achieved, if that is the goal….For others you may choose to believe that you “must” cut out alcohol 100%, and i applaud you if thats Your goal…..
J, I have a thirty pack of Rolling Rocks in the garage fridge that I fully intend to revisit. For me, cutting out alcohol 100% for a certain period of time is important so I can judge what it’s like, then I’ll figure out if I want to try moderation. For now the Rocks are nice and cold (and still full.)
After suffering severe anxiety after nights out for the past year I finally decided to look on the internet to see if it was normal. I am so grateful to find this page where I am not the only one. It got so bad that I would have to phone everyone in my phone book to make sure they were ok, I’ve also sat and contemplated if it was possible for the sky to fall down!
Mind you, the anxiety only occurs if it has been a binge drinking night and does not occur when I have only had a couple! The longest it has lasted is two days. I have came to the conclusion that I can go out and only have a few and I intend on starting this asap 🙂
Thanks everyone for your help!
Guys…thanks a lot for your replies…what i feel is what i usually feel with Hangover, i sleep the normal 8 hours which i used to, i wake up and go to my table but i cannot hold my head, if i tried to hold it i start shaking/trembling, i go out and i almost hit everyone in the shoulders, objects are falling from my hands, i cannot walk in a straight line, i can feel the flow of blood across my head like Ants crawling all over, now i sleep 10 hours because i dont want to wake up everyday and face this, i am trying to escape what i am having, i visited 4 Doctors so far and have normal blood picture, drug screening and urine analysis, i am sure that this happened only after the binge drinking but dont know how to convince Doctors….2 weeks now i cannot go to work and don’t know if this will end or not…i cannot believe that my life has stopped at that day…by the way i am not drinking Alcohols anymore…i stopped it 2 weeks ago but the effects are still following me everywhere.
Just checking in…I’m still fighting the good fight, still have my good weeks and my bad weeks. This last time I binged over the weekend I had a new symptom which is furthering my resolve to not just talk about it but actually start making binge drinking something for my rear view mirror.
On Monday I felt just like I would expect to feel after drinking way too much wine on Saturday AND Sunday. In conjunction with the usual “feel like crap-ness” I had an overwhelming sensation/awareness of my liver. It felt achy, warm (like an isolated fever in that region) and sometimes crampy-dull pain. It really freaked me out. Due to my anxiety I decided not to self diagnose by Googling “liver hepatitis” or the such. I didn’t need panic disorder on top of the symptoms so I just put myself on a 3-a-day dosage of Milk Thistle, drank TONS of water, took my vitamins, ate broccoli and other liver-happy foods and waited it out. Each day felt better and better and today I feel normal again.
Without diagnosis I KNOW that was my liver yelling at me. “Dude, seriously?” I could hear it saying to me. “Either you shut down this binging BS and I mean NOW or I’m not just going to ache and have a little fever pal, I’m going to cash in my chips. See how you like THAT!”
Message received.
Day 5 and it’s a weekend and I could honestly care less about booze right now. I’m so focused on getting off the binge cycle and feeling good all the time it’s not even a hard thing to do. I’m so happy to hear about those of you fighting the good fight and staying clean for those of you who want it.
As for AA, I agree with a lot of the commentary. AA has never sounded good for me for many of the reasons stated here. I’m very spiritual but not religious. I don’t go to church but I see God everywhere, in everything. I can’t drink caffeine or coffee nor do I smoke. Nor would I want to “pick up” any of those things as pacifiers from alcohol avoidance. To me, AA is a form of cult. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t use the word cult like it’s a bad word, it’s just a word to describe a group that has very specific beliefs that you either believe in or do not. Very much like organized religion.
At the end of the day AA is great if it helps you. It’s not if it doesn’t. I would never tell someone to avoid AA just like I would never tell someone to avoid a particular religion or faith. It’s up to the individual to decide for themselves if it is something they can use as a tool to self healing and discovery.
This forum has become a form of AA for many of us. There are many tools that can help a person get beyond their suffering. For me, I choose individual therapy, meditation, hobbies, music, reading, laughing, friends and family and so forth to get my head right. Hey, I’m not saying I’m even halfway there yet but I do know I am on the right path. Today, that is good enough for me.
I also despise labels. Whether I am an alcoholic or not really depends on other’s perceptions of what constitutes an “alcoholic”. For me, I don’t play that game. Labels may be useful for some but they don’t work for me. Without getting too philosophical, I am a spiritual being having a human experience trying to grow and learn from my lessons. That, also, is good enough for me.
As for John, I feel what you are going through could possibly be your first bout with anxiety brought about by alcohol withdrawal. But if I were a doctor my checking account would sure look better than it does so please continue to seek alternate opinions from medical professionals. Especially if your symptoms are not easing up after a couple weeks.
Continued peace to all of you, however you define it in your lives.
Todd, its always inspiring when i hear from you, because i can relate the most to you since your symptoms and experiences mirror mine the most…..I dont think i “binge’ as much as you do on the weekends, but i certainly DONT take a full week off of drinking either…I have my 2-3-4-5 beers nitely….and on weekends maybe 2 or 3 more on top of that….So its definitely “enough” alcohol to constantly keep me feeling like crap, and on that rare occasion(not that rare) when i do really overdo it on the weekend, then i feel the anxiety etc. the next day(to the point i need half a xanax cuz i just dont feel “right”)…I know you said you binge alot on the weekend, but how the heck do you just not drink a drop during the week?? I think thats great, and would love to get to that point myself, and then maybe a “few” beers on the weekend….Does the panic/anxiousness/nautious really go away almost completely after a week of not having a drop??
You know, I’m not really sure why it’s easy for me to not touch a drop of alcohol during the week. If I had to guess, I think it’s because I have setup alcohol as a kind of reward system in my brain. If I know I can drink “whatever I want” on the weekends, this pacifies my reptilian brain during the week, knowing it will be “rewarded” on the weekend, so I don’t seem to “crave” it. I joke (although I understand it’s not really funny and what I said before about labels) that I am a Weekend Alcoholic. I exhibit many of the symptoms a lot of people would classify as classic alcoholism on the weekends but show none of them during the week.
For over two decades, this cycle never bit me in the rear. But know that I am smack dab in middle age, my body is always discovering new ways to tell me to knock it off. So I am really committed to focusing on weening myself off the cycle of binging. Whether it takes me weeks, months or even years. I don’t try to pretend I am going to suddenly wake up one day and the light switch turns on and I never touch the stuff as long as I live, although anything’s possible.
I can’t speak for anyone else obviously as the way alcohol metabolizes in our bodies varies from person-to-person, but for me, my symptoms peak between day 3-4 after my last glass and are almost completely gone by day 6, depending on how wicked my binge was the weekend before. Some weeks I feel hardly any symptoms at all, while other weeks the panic/anxiety is through the roof. Not really sure why as it doesn’t always seem to correlate with X-amount of drinks over that weekend.
As a general rule however, the more you drink, the more potential for withdrawal syndrome with the accompanying anxiety. In this case 2+2 usually equals 4.
I will be going on a hiatus for a while. Not sure how long it will last. I try to stay away from predictions as we know how easy it is to slip. This is one powerful chemical and we all see in the news how it continues to destroy lives. Like I’ve said in the past, fear is a valid tool for me to help keep me from sinking down the drain. I may slip up here and there but one of my assets is that I am ALWAYS aware of what I am doing to myself and how alcohol is effecting my life. That is the fuel to ultimately motivate me to that healthier life I would like to have for myself.
Todd, i don’t think it is Alcohol withdrawl because what i had this night was only 2 shots of Vodka + 2 shots of Whisky + 2 shots of Red wine, and it has been 2 weeks now, i am not drinking Alcohols anymore but suffering from their effects, and believe me i trust you more than Doctors simply because you have the enough experience which is hard to find in books, i don’t want to visit Doctors again, last time the Doctor was confused and he asked me what do you want me to do for you?? i didn’t have a logic answer, i wanted to know, did anyone here face a Hangover for that long time?? for a month? i sleep and wake up but nothing changes…i am afraid that the Alcohols might have caused a permanent damage to the brain, one more question, if you are suffering from Hangover, what can bring you back?? ok, let’s say it is not Hangover, let’s say that i am ouy of sorts..but the real thing i cannot go back to work…i am so weak…i don’t have any experience with Anxiety, this Xanax, is it an on shelf or i have to have a prescription to get it?? thanks Todd..thanks Minnie..Craig…everyone who spent time reading my message…
John,
I dont see how there is absolutely anyway possible that you still have the affects of alcohol after two weeks…And so little at that. If you truly feel in your mind something is wrong, i would goto the doctor again and tell him you insist he runs more tests…..If he says everything is fine, then i would not worry and attribute it to something else…..I really dont think its the alcohol in this case…You cannot get xanax over the counter, but try maybe some other over the counter relaxers or even ibuproferin…..What are your symptoms exactly? is it a headache,? any pains? are you nautious?? you need to explain your symptoms better in order for us to get an understanding of what it might be..
My question to you would be have you ever drank before? have you ever drank as much as you did prior to this happening?
J, i used to drink but a very little, you can say that this time i drank as 5 times as i used to drink, my main symptom is : Sleepiness…severe Sleepiness which i cannot resist…whatever hours i sleep i wake up to be so sleepy, day or night i just want to go to bed, i have other symptoms like dizziness and headache..etc. but they are all secondary symptoms, my main and primary symptom is sleepiness and the first time i suffer from this was the night of drinking and since that night and for 2 weeks now i am so sleepy that i cannot wake up in the morning and go to work, i tried to do it but i cannot resist the sleepiness…
You’re right John, this isn’t alcohol withdrawal. That amount of alcohol would not create the symptoms you describe two weeks later. If I were you I would insist on a CAT scan to make sure there isn’t something brain-related. Who is to say the excessive (by your standards) alcohol didn’t create some odd bio-chemical process in the brain? It’s not normal to feel extreme lethargy for two weeks straight regardless of sleep. Keep insisting on tests ESPECIALLY if the dizziness, headache and lethargy isn’t subsiding. Those are potentially very serious symptoms. I know this is an anxiety forum and all and I don’t mean to scare you but you should seriously consider what I am saying.
Todd..everyone even the Doctors are telling me that the Alcohol cannot cause a permanent damage to teh Brain unless you are talking about years and years of excessive drinking and they refuse even to listen, i am thinking of a CAT scan but there are minimum symptoms that have to exist before a Doctor is convinced to send me to a CAT scan, MRI is almost impossible due to the very high cost, i hate the idea that the Alcohol affected my brain but deep in my heart i believe it, Todd, i would just like to change the way i am describing my symptoms and summarize it in ”sleepiness”, all other stuff are just secondary symptoms resulting from sleepiness…only sleepiness is my main concern but not a normal kind of sleepiness…no…it is sleepiness which couldnt be resisted.