Bimini, I drank every day for over twenty years and the last five, the equivalent of a litre of vodka a day, so that's not particularly great. I have not disclosed how bad I was physically and mentally when I quit, on this site.
I decided to drag my bootstraps up and throw myself back into life after joining SR and learning RR/AVRT. Just a few weeks after stopping drinking (on my own, after a taper, of sorts) I spent all day down the deepest cave/mine system in the UK, where the other participants were mostly previous Olympic competitors at their leisure. I was Miss Blobby, thought I'd be refused entry; yet I completed the challenge, as well as them. It was gross stupidity on my part, but I was determined and the organisers allowed me to do it. It was do or die for me. That challenge epitomised my future non-drinking life. So I'm sorry if I sound hard-core, I'm not, but I was lost and basically, I'd consigned myself to an alcoholic death. Until I joined SR last year.
So please don't tell me that I was one of the lucky ones, in that I didn't experience PAWS. I was one of the lucky ones, in that I didn't die due to the abuse I inflicted upon my body by drinking alcohol, for so long and so hard. Therefore I view any PAWS like symtpoms as negligible, if they arise, because I feel so grateful to be alive! I hope that makes sense, I'm not trying to denigrate anybody. Mind over matter is medically proven (where there aren't genuine medical symptoms).
I too, have experienced anxiety attacks, so I use the no more than 8 to 10 breaths a minute, in order to engage the anxiety reducing system in my body/brain and I also 'detach' from the anxious thoughts, in the same way I use AVRT to detach from the desire to drink alcohol: also scientifically proven.
I'm not saying PAWS doesn't exist, I suppose I'm saying minimise it by the medical advice route, supplements and excercise. But for me, I welcomed any post-alcohol symptoms, as a sign I'd stopped drinking, which made a huge difference.