Welcome richie. I drank for about the same amount of time as you and quit around the same age. I too developed some pretty bad anxiety the last couple years of my drinking, come to find out the alcohol was really the cause, not the solution. It takes some time for it to get out of your system, but mine improved dramatically once I had some sober time under my belt.
There are many here who understand, and you can find a lot of information about the different ways people go about getting and staying sober - hope you can join us.