I was anxious and paranoid at the end of my drinking. I could barely say anything in a public speaking setting without getting extremely anxious, feeling my heart beating out of my chest, getting sweaty and even hyperventilating.
I was paranoid and thought people were talking about me at work every time they had a private meeting.
It was quite hellish, in hindsight.
When I quit, I felt much better. But after about 6 months of sobriety, the public speaking anxiety returned. Not all the time but often enough that I became anxious about whether it would surface every time I spoke up, which was just as bad!
After some reflection, I realised that this particular form of anxiety had been with me in my late 20s / early 30s at the time my alcoholic career was just taking off. I medicated it with alcohol but it caught up with me.
Alcohol is a terrible strategy for dealing with anxiety, obviously.
I began to do deep breathing exercises in public speaking settings. I also run regularly, use float tanks weekly and do yoga, and all of that helped.
After a couple more years sober, the public speaking anxiety disappeared. For now, I don't regard myself as having anxiety issues. I feel like, with a long enough period of sobriety and healthy living, I have resolved it.