Alcoholism and Anxiety
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 2,308
Gotta life, great post. I agree 100%! All the relapses I've had just create more anxiety - the things I've done and said while drinking, the people who think I'm a party girl, the pretending I have to do when I'm hiding a hangover, the skimming over of what I did last night or over the weekend when the truth was I'd been drunk.
Not drinking removes all of that needless anxiety.
Not drinking removes all of that needless anxiety.
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 464
I think its difficult for someone like me, who never experienced anxiety like this while I was drinking.
I know alot of what all of you are saying that you drank to hide your anxiety, well I drank because I thought it was fun!
For people like me who drank because they thought their experience was an enhancement rather than a cover-up, I experienced the sharp reality that perhaps I am actually covering up anxiety as other people do, I just never noticed it.
Like I said previously, I was numbing my emotions since I turned into an adult and now its all hitting me at once. So at first I never recognized any of this as anxiety, I never even knew that any of this could actually happen until I researched it a bit and had some relief that other people go through this too, some worse, some not so bad.
So in the end for me to understand that not drinking helps my anxiety, does not reach my brain as good as others. In other words, I drank, I had no anxiety because I masked it with drinking, when I stopped, I wasn't masking this anxiety anymore and am now feeling the full force of it. Does this make sense to anybody?
I understand now that not only just drinking but any other method to mask anxiety rather than deal with it in a healthy manner makes it worse. I only hope to get over this in a healthy way.
Still looking at counseling options, with work its so difficult to get away some days. But eh sometimes I made miracle efforts to be able to get my alcohol so I think I'll be okay!
I know alot of what all of you are saying that you drank to hide your anxiety, well I drank because I thought it was fun!
For people like me who drank because they thought their experience was an enhancement rather than a cover-up, I experienced the sharp reality that perhaps I am actually covering up anxiety as other people do, I just never noticed it.
Like I said previously, I was numbing my emotions since I turned into an adult and now its all hitting me at once. So at first I never recognized any of this as anxiety, I never even knew that any of this could actually happen until I researched it a bit and had some relief that other people go through this too, some worse, some not so bad.
So in the end for me to understand that not drinking helps my anxiety, does not reach my brain as good as others. In other words, I drank, I had no anxiety because I masked it with drinking, when I stopped, I wasn't masking this anxiety anymore and am now feeling the full force of it. Does this make sense to anybody?
I understand now that not only just drinking but any other method to mask anxiety rather than deal with it in a healthy manner makes it worse. I only hope to get over this in a healthy way.
Still looking at counseling options, with work its so difficult to get away some days. But eh sometimes I made miracle efforts to be able to get my alcohol so I think I'll be okay!
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 25,373
Holds, it really will get better on its own, too. Lots of physical healing going on with your nervous system - it's trying to reach equilibrium. If you can distract your thoughts away from the negative, that will help a lot.
Not judging my thoughts, but allowing them to come and go like the waves is what is most helpful to me. Have you done any meditation? There are lots of guided meditations on the internet.
Not judging my thoughts, but allowing them to come and go like the waves is what is most helpful to me. Have you done any meditation? There are lots of guided meditations on the internet.
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 464
Yes, I have tried meditation and its beneficial when I can get to it, deep breath in, hold breath out, not major gasps of air but just a more controlled breathing and focusing on that alone. The thoughts do rush in and I take no judgement at that time, however that takes a ton of practice.
The judgement part of thoughts is tricky because its like my mind wants to convince me that they are my own justified thoughts and I must take action otherwise I may not avoid the worst.
To be honest the best times I've actually meditated were in the middle of the night when I wake up from a nightmare, I lay flat on my back, breathe, speak rationally to myself and then the anxiety lifts minutes later and I am able to sleep again.
The judgement part of thoughts is tricky because its like my mind wants to convince me that they are my own justified thoughts and I must take action otherwise I may not avoid the worst.
To be honest the best times I've actually meditated were in the middle of the night when I wake up from a nightmare, I lay flat on my back, breathe, speak rationally to myself and then the anxiety lifts minutes later and I am able to sleep again.
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
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Originally Posted by Holds1325 
. In other words, I drank, I had no anxiety because I masked it with drinking, when I stopped, I wasn't masking this anxiety anymore and am now feeling the full force of it. Does this make sense to anybody?
Obviously there's some gray area and overlap between the two, but Anxiety is a diagnosable, treatable condition that you can learn to live with and minimize.
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 25,373
The thing with the breathing is you can do it any time.
I used to hold my breath a lot. It is a fear response, and it just makes anxiety worse. I have to make a conscious effort to actually breathe. I think the breath-holding came as a response to PTSD/trauma, and it became a habit...a bad habit.
If you can remember to take some deep breaths any time you feel anxious, it will help. It changes your thinking and your response to thoughts. (And it's a distraction and a physiological treatment.)
I used to hold my breath a lot. It is a fear response, and it just makes anxiety worse. I have to make a conscious effort to actually breathe. I think the breath-holding came as a response to PTSD/trauma, and it became a habit...a bad habit.
If you can remember to take some deep breaths any time you feel anxious, it will help. It changes your thinking and your response to thoughts. (And it's a distraction and a physiological treatment.)
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 464
I don't get as anxious as I used to but when I did I wouldn't hold my breath but breath short quick breaths. I figured this out because I'd get a sore dry throat and mouth and my voice would be hoarse.
The breathing exercise is great. I heard once that you may not be able to control how you feel during anxious times. But you can control how you breathe.
Never in all my years of drinking did I ever think that it would cause anxiety, I always thought it just made you relaxed. My naivety caused me to pay the consequences!
The breathing exercise is great. I heard once that you may not be able to control how you feel during anxious times. But you can control how you breathe.
Never in all my years of drinking did I ever think that it would cause anxiety, I always thought it just made you relaxed. My naivety caused me to pay the consequences!
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,229
i think when we drink we end up establishing a new base line of what "normal" feels like then we quit and obviously we are way off that baseline in one direction or another and we gotta settle into some new baseline of what "normal" is and it takes forever..
I also recall when i sobered up it was like aaa now i dont drink problems solved and it was like i found i was horrified with all the other new problems i suddenly now had even tho they where there all along i had to suddenly face them all at once. its like waking up from a dead sleep only to find yourself stareing into the headlight on a freight train headed right at you. thats how i felt anyhow for months on end too *sigh*.
I also recall when i sobered up it was like aaa now i dont drink problems solved and it was like i found i was horrified with all the other new problems i suddenly now had even tho they where there all along i had to suddenly face them all at once. its like waking up from a dead sleep only to find yourself stareing into the headlight on a freight train headed right at you. thats how i felt anyhow for months on end too *sigh*.
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