Severe anxiety started for me when my body finally made the change over to becoming physically dependent on alcohol. My anxiety would start around 3-4am when I started going through "mini-withdrawals". This was the beginning of the end for me. Alcoholism is progressive, and you will eventually get there if you keep drinking. In the end, my anxiety was debilitating. A drink would always cure it, which is the devilish thing about alcoholism. It was a lot of years before I became dependent, but once it happened, there was no going back to how it was before.
All the best to you,
Methodman