Originally Posted by
Delilah1 
I have taken meds for anxiety in the past as well. My doctor currently has me taking nortriptalin at night to prevent migraines, but is also antidepressant. I also have a prescription for xanax which I take as needed. I think as long as you are working with your doctor and monitoring how you are feeling you are good.
Do you have a plan in place to help you with sobriety?
I have been making several attempts this year to stay sober. I feel that I am making progress in that fact that each relapse offers a new lesson to be learned. I am trying to focus on the positives. I absolutely realize at this point that alcohol has no place in my life anymore. I completely go off the rails as soon as i start and now even with relatively small amounts of alcohol consumption my anxiety and panic go off the charts to the point where i end up going into the ER. Once i start i just cant stop. So out of control! All of this happened in Seattle and getting treatment for the withdrawal was very hard due to my insurance.
When I have gone to the ER my heart rate and blood pressure are crazy high.
I finally was able to make it back to Denver which is where i live. I got a primary care doctor with Kaiser and let him know my struggles this past 13 months. I had blood work and was called back in the next day as he was super concerned about my liver. This is what came back i was like 10 times normal levels. Not sure exactly what this means but its not good. I was prescribed Prozac that day.
ALT 657 IU/L 5 - 50 IU/L
AST 403 IU/L 5 - 40 IU/L
They retested my liver a day later and said its still high but trending down.
At this point I have no idea how much I have run up in medical bills. I have insurance but they do not seem to be covering hardly any of the cost and my first ER visit back in August has run up 3,000 in costs after what my insurance covered. Crazy! I was there for 3 hours got an iv and two prescriptions.
I was attending AA meetings for months probably 4 to 6 per week. Because I travel for work 95% of the time i just found meeting wherever i was working. I starting working the steps but did not get very far. I have taken a medical leave from work and told them that i would let them know as soon as i got back into condition to resume new contracts.
Medication just seems like a last resort for me at this point. If i continue these relapses It is no doubt going cause me major medical issues. I am staying in Denver so I guess that going back and starting over in AA is an option. Maybe someone there can help me find resources.
As others have recommended seeing a Psychologist or seek some sort of counseling is something that I am open to. I just do not know where to start? How do I find someone that will not cost me a fortune and help me work through the underlying issues that I have? Again I'm in Denver so anybody that can point me in the right direction i would appreciate. There is not doubt that alcohol is something that i have been using to self medicate some kind of underlying issue.