aust72

I panic when I drink more than the capacity. When I drink more I feel to sleep and when I go for sleep my omitting start. This time is really worst for me.

bigred95

I feel the anxiety and panic attacks you are having. I fear them. I fear withdrawal, and helps tons to keep me sober. Whenever i see a bottle now and think about drinking i am reminded of the anxiety and panic attacks i will be feeling.

Carpediem1

I too was very anxious in the mornings. My body felt so out of sorts, my heart would feel as though it was coming out of my chest, I would sweat like crazy and the more I focused on it the worse I got. I'm not so sure if it was anxiety or panic attacks "after" drinking the night before as it may have been withdrawal symptoms. Once I had something to drink everything was fine and the anxiety immediately went away.

You may want to see your doctor. I'm very holistic and normally take herbs for healing most of the time however your doctor might suggest an anti-depressant as this is not an addictive drug. Good luck and hang in there.

Carpe Diem,
"Seize the Day"

Primrose

This thread is truly amazing. Thank you all for sharing. I have suffered from anxiety attacks for so many years now. Looking back I am sure a majority of the anxiety and panic resulted from drinking. I now have hope that without alcohol my anxiety may lessen or even completely go away.

RecoveringChris

I remember one night after a hard day off from drinking, I was just sitting there, getting over my hangover and the usual mess that I made, when all of the sudden I got a sickness in my stomach, my heart began pounding, and then I began to sweat. I ran to the toilet, and sat on the ground, but nothing ever happened.

Genie

Pizzafan:

I never realized that my panic/anxiety was tied to my drinking. I never realized that I was self medicating. I did have a major panic attack that landed me in the ER (while I was holidays) - I thought I was dying. Still - I never associated drinking with that - and while in the ER the doctors never asked me about drinking. I went on another couple of years having episodes of major panic (but never landed in the ER again) and had xanax to help. Then I no longer had the xanax. For the last couple of months of my drinking I was having about 5 to 6 terrible anxiety episodes per day. Heart palpations, fear and just feeling lousy. I saw my doctor and was having tests done to determine if something was wrong with my heart. Again, I never mentioned drinking. Then I found out my blood pressure was very high. This scared me silly. That's when I went back home and started googling about anxiety/panic and alcohol and realized that all my symptoms were most likely related to my alcohol consumption.

I quit cold turkey on Jan. 28th. Now - maybe I should have consulted my doctor about this, but I didn't. I have been faithful with my work outs and since Jan. 28th have managed to get my blood pressure down within normal levels. And as an added bonus - I've lost 10 pounds and have toned up my body :-) Now, I still don't know whether I have to go on bp meds - I have a doctors appointment in 2 weeks to find out the results of all my tests. I am hoping that I don't have to go on meds.

I do take an antianxiety (very low dose) med. My panic/anxiety levels are down and I can cope very well now. I may have a bit of anxiety at night but nothing like I used to.

It took about 3 weeks before my anxiety levels came down. to me - the scare of the high blood pressure - the horrible anxiety and the thought of having a heart attack or stroke was enough of an incentive to stop drinking.

When my addictive voice kicks in and suggests that perhaps a drink would be a great idea - I recognize what it is and ignore it. It wants to kill me.

We only have life - I want to enjoy what's left of mine without the self-induced anxiety. I just hated that feeling - the feeling of dread and impending doom. That feeling is not worth the drink.

All I can share with you is that in my experience, quitting drinking has only had positive effects and the anxiety/panic is now managable and no longer crippling me.

WatchTheSky

I've had that exact experience. I sure don't miss it!

tigerlilly619

The anxiety from hangovers is the main reason I want to quit drinking. I tend to binge drink each and every time I decide to have a drink. Not intentional, it just always ends up happening. It doesn't matter what importand task I have the next day, all responsibilites go flying out the window as soon as I crack open that first beer. I always end up waking up in the middle of the night (usually only a few hours after I pass out). As soon as I wake up I am struck by overwhelming chaos in my mind. I hear music, annoying music that plays faster and faster by the second and then fragments of other peoples conversations that make no sense at all (mind you, the voices are only in my head but i can not get them to stop) I shake like crazy with my head pounding and vomiting uncontrollably. I'm always blacking out but become consumed with shame, embarassment and fear of what inappropriate shenanigans I got into or what non-sense I told. I literally do not go back to sleep until almost 24 hours later even though I am so tired and delirious. I feel panicked at the sound of my phone ringing or door knocking. I can't drive, it feels too intense and I don't feel like I am in control. The whole day is beyond miserable. I pray and then I feel ashamed for praying when I've repeated the same stupid cycle for almost 2 decades now. The only time I feel a little relief is when I get ahold of one of my sisters and they deliver me some xanax or klonopins. Then the anxiety lightens up to a more manageable level but I still feel like a total trashbag for the rest of the day. I have been sober for 2 weeks. I one time (last year) made it for almost 10 months. My anxiety, shame, cloudy mind, illness, etc had completely faded away. I never felt better. The only problem was I was still obsessed with the thought of being able to drink again like a normal person. My obsession resulted me in a relapse 2 weeks before my wedding and here I am 8 months later trying to pick myself back up. My advice to any of you going through this is to surrender and start going to meetings, speak (as awkward as you may feel, still do it- trust me it helps), start working the steps, avoid all your triggers (people, places you usually party with or at). Most importantly pray to God and ask him for strength and a peace of mind.

JesseJe

Thanks for sharing this. Reminded me why I want to stay sober! I used to get the worst anxiety after a night of drinking. Usually when I had the most fun was when I paid for it the most the next day with what we would call 'The Fear'. That dark cloud over everything. Zero motivation, suspicion, paranoia, self loathing, panic... It was part of the reason I wanted to stop. Such a waste of beautiful days.

I would normally 'get through it' by eating constantly and watching movie trailers. Because a movie took to much emotional involvement.
Also coca cola helped bring my blood sugar back up.

No more though thank you.

Time4change22

This really is a great thread.. Help me a lot to read through it.
I have been having the wake up in the middle of the night anxiety when I have a binge. I also seem to get really self conscious and paranoid about how others feel about me the next while before I am able to get a bit more emotionally 'stable' again.
On day 2 right now.. about the millionth day 2 of my quitting efforts. I feel more confident with every effort though.
My goal right now is to make sure that If I slip one night, I don't continue the next day. I seem to throw in the towel if I slip even a bit and then just go all out. If I can control the slip I think I can start to win this fight!

Panache

I started suffering from panic attacks when I was 18 and (idiotically) used to drink when I felt I was going to have one to calm me down. I would get palpitations, depersonalisation, feeling like my arm wasn't my arm (that ,ay not make sense, but it does to me haha)

Now when I have an exceptionally bad hangover, I get horrific panic attacks, convince myself I'm about to have a stroke and feel my arm go numb, so much so that I will pinch/scratch my arm to test I can feel it, so hard that it will break the skin!
I've even had a panic attack because I couldn't remember how to write a capital 'N', I then convinced myself I was getting dementia - SPIRALLED.

The best thing for me, as cliche as it sounds, is to concentrate on my breathing and tell myself it will pass. But, nasty things those panic attacks

Time4change22

Yup they are awful! I go through phases where I cant talk to people witb out starting to get flush and sweaty. When im sober for a long period of time I am able to control my emotions so much better.. but after a long time of altering my consciouness (weed or booze) , even if its just a small amount, the generalized anxiety comes back.. by using booze and weed to self medicate im messing up my emotio ally stability because drugs mess with brain chemistry.. I find even a nightly habit of a small amount of either drug for an extended period affcts me

SpanishJohnny

Seems like there's a bunch of (former and current) anxious, anxiety ridden alcoholics here. Well...add me to the list...and god do I not miss that feeling.

I feared the morning...and if for some reason I couldn't wake up and start drinking immediately...I would swallow Xanax until I could semi-function. Not surprisingly...I ended up having seizures also.

It was such a vicious, seemingly endless cycle...that I wasn't sure I would ever return to any resemblance of normality....but amazingly...things improve...and like they say, the improvement is beyond my wildest dreams. I can't even recall the last time I felt that type of anxiety...I get anxious...but I know how to handle those emotions now...but I will never forget that feeling the original poster brought up...that was my life.

It always reminded me of the song "Lua" by Bright Eyes...

"And I'm not sure what the trouble was that started all of this
The reasons all have run away but the feeling never did
It's not something I would recommend, but it is one way to live
Cause what is simple in the moonlight, by the morning never is
What's so simple in the moonlight, now is so complicated"

Time4change22

Does anyone else get paranoid and feel like everyone is judging you ? I feel like im so sentive to what I thinm people are thinking once I get off a bender..

Dee74

welcome to all the newcomers in this thread

I think anxiety and even paranoia can be common feelings for a lot of people to varying degrees.

The thing is, as counter intuitive as it might seem, the solution, is to put the bottle down and keep it down...alcohol actually works to make us more anxious. It certainly made me paranoid.

it's a rough period of readjustment when we stop for sure, but in the majority of cases the anxiety will get better...and you're not alone here - there's a ton of support

D

DarkDays

My hangovers where ridiculous horrible things, the following couple of nights after a heavy session I would not sleep my heart would race I would jump out of bed numerous times convinced I was going to have a heart attack . I was alway anxious edgy and generally morose. Thank god that's all in my past , stopping drinking is the most liberating thing one can do for ones self. Simplicity ,life is raw real and amazing.

Panache

DarkDays that's me to a tee. That's exactly what I experience after a heavy session. This is my first sober day and going to be my first sober weekend, so I'm more than expecting a few of the night terrors and "heart attack" jolts but it has to be done to get better.

DarkDays

Stay of alcoHELL and believe me this all goes I have never felt so good, do not waste any more time with it. Good luck.

Toeachtheirown

I was thinking of starting a thread similar to this one, as anxiety is one of the worst side effects for me. It started last summer, when working at a bar, I would wake up hungover and barely be able to attempt to get out of bed. I had very extreme anxiety.. I was emotionally anxious and paranoid, about my health and my life. I have been drinking for years, so I was sure I had done some crazy internal damage. I was also terrified that I was going to drink myself to death and no one would be there to help/find me. All of these things were dominant in my mind until I finally had another drink - what seemed to be the only solution. Eventually all of the mental anxiety started manifesting physically, like many other people have said, and I was having sweats, heart palpatations, aches and pains in my limbs - and to no benefit, googling every symptom and imagining the worst. Now that I type this out, it sounds slightly psychotic that I let this behavior and feeling last for so long. I eventually confided in a friend who is a nurse and got some Ativan to use so that I could calm myself, but like you Pizzafan, Ive got quite the ability to find reliance on things and so cannot rely on those anymore. I was terrified of running out of them, so I always kept one or two around just in case the panic attacks got too bad. Eventually, I ended up taking the last of my 'batch' and was left with nothing but reality.

It was when I considered asking my friend again for more that I realized I was subsidizing my addiction to alcohol with the pills, that made me feel better about my drinking. My anxiety, I think, was my bodys way of letting me know that it was NOT okay with what I was doing to it every night. It was telling me that whatever I was doing, simply was not working.

Throughout the past few months I wasn't committed to being sober, but stayed away from the pills, and adjusted my understanding of my anxiety, with some real soul searching. The result of this has led me to today, and my sobriety from both the pills and alcohol. Although Im a preemie in terms of sobriety, Im already so happy I've decided to make the decision. I dont think the anxiety has subsided completely, but from what I gather it is a very common result of withdrawl from alcohol.

Along with mental changes, it seems, physical changes are a big part of abstaining from alcohol. What I guess Im saying, is please dont lose faith and do NOT feel alone in your anxiety. You certainly are not. I dont know that the anxiety will subside without leaving alcohol behind, but I dont think its impossible. Although the idea for most of the people here is sobriety, maybe you are not ready for that, or it isnt something you want. Either way you don't have to suffer from the pain and terror that's involved with anxiety and panic attacks. I think if you aren't willing to take medication, the only thing is work on some calming techniques. I spend alot of time focusing on breathing, I've taken up yoga. I love going outside into the chilly air and just breathing deeply. Anything that relaxes you will ultimately lead to the symptoms subsiding, I think. Not in any way a professional opinion, but just giving you my perspective from someone who has suffered from panic attacks and severe anxiety.
Hope it was even a little bit of help!

Best of luck in your quest for calmness!

Time4change22

I have been battling with the anxiety and panic attacks for at least 9 years. I have medicated with weed and booze.
It's a tricky beast. I feel like I am always making progress with it. However, I didn't make any progress until I quit weed, cigarettes and booze. Booze is the last crutch that I keep fighting. The anxiety and panic at night or the day after of heavy drinking is awful. After an extended binge, I am in a fog for at least a week.
I've started to be able to manage my anxiety by not going right back to the booze after I feel good, and just have to suffer it out. I always tell myself, 'you can't cheat the hangover' . It's going to happen whenever you stop your binge. The longer the binge, the worse the hangover. I have tried to apply that to my anxiety, I have to let it happen, and just suffer through it instead of avoiding it with drugs or even just avoiding the situation. I have found that I get used to the situations and because I allowed to to happen (like the hangover), it goes away. A bit.