Corvus

I've been trying to stop drinking lately and I thought I might have been able to stop cold turkey. At first, I had insomnia, which was annoying for me but I felt I could handle it.

However, what I really couldn't handle were the panic attacks. I would wake up and my heart would race, my adrenaline would be pumping through my body and I felt terrified, as though something bad was going to happen or that I might be dying. The same thing would happen when I was trying to sleep. It happened every day.

Just wondering if anyone else experienced them while stopping alcohol? The quickest way I've found to stop it is to start drinking again [I know, not ideal at all].

hypochondriac

I had really bad panic attacks all the time from drinking, maybe it was a withdrawal thing. All I know was that drinking perpetuated it. They got better very quickly once I stopped completely. Have you seen a doctor Corvus? x

Dee74

I think most of us have suffered from them.
If they're bad, the best recommendation is see a Dr, like hypo said.

D

Corvus

I saw my psychiatrist who told me to stop drinking, but he didn't tell me about these things and also didn't give me anything to help. Perhaps he didn't realise these symptoms might occur either. I'll try and see my GP but I think she's a bit leery of doing anything without consulting my psychiatrist.

Matterhorn

I had the same problem...it was awful. I found that exercise and quitting alcohol stopped anxiety... in a couple of weeks, I was sleeping great and had no problems with this during the day. I think it has to do with your body becoming addicted to alcohol...I too would drink to stop the pain, but that was just a short quick fix. I have been well over a year sober and have had no anxiety problems. I spent 20 years drinking and it eventually caught up to me...I had a bad case of the shakes and anxiety problems to the point it was difficult to function. I spent a couple of days in detox and then started an exercise program...I don't miss drinking at all.

hypochondriac

How long after you stopped drinking were they happening Corvus? It might be that they don't last that long. There will always be some unpleasant side effects when quitting. But it is definitely worth just checking in with a doctor x

Corvus

I can't be precise with the timeline but it was a few days after stopping alcohol. I'll see if I can contact my psychiatrist today, fingers crossed he's around.

mytime66

I used to get them as well. They have gone for the most part, since I stopped drinking. I do find that when I get stressed out I start to get a less impactfull one. Good luck I wish you well.

TrixMixer

Call your regular doctor, he can prescribe something for the anxiety/

justanother1

I think it is the part of the withdrawal, had them too, usually when I was trying to sleep. First few days were terrible, got some prescription drugs for anxiety. I don't know if they helped, or was it just the detox. Now I am on day 18 and panic attacks are gone, just mild anxiety.

FBL

I had them quite often. The last one put me in the ER, questioning my own sanity. That was the incident that finally got me to quit. I haven't had another attack (or a drink) since that day, over 3 1/2 years ago.

paul99

Same thing here - had them all the time whenever I withdrawals happened. Had my lorazepam, xanax and anything with valerian root in it. Fun times indeed. First time I had a panic attack I called 911 and was in hospital for the day - thought I was having a heart attack. The next full blown attack and I thought jumping off a bridge was a good idea - thought I was going mad. Then I was able to catch them as they creeped up. Walking around, exercising, talking it out with someone, etc. But since I stopped drinking, I haven't had any panic attacks. Wonderful.

But you are right - it's adrenaline, fight or flight stuff. Just super sized

ZombieAttack

Yeah, like everyone else, I suffered from these.

Towards the end of my drinking 'career', I would be constantly in a mess with anxiety; it felt like this over-powering sense of dread with everything, that I knew was to do with alcohol, but the only medication that worked was, you guessed it, more alcohol...

The withdrawals I had (and am still having) involved a lot of this coming to the surface, so you will also be experiencing this for some time to come I imagine.

But yeah, get in touch with a doctor and see what they say.

TSDD

Sounds like a pretty clever doctor.

soberlicious

Yeah...the drinking again stops it momentarily, but also actually greatly increases the anxiety/panic. Like others have said, I too literally lost my mind to this cycle. It is never-ending and for some of us can result in thinking dying is a good idea just to get some peace from it. The only thing that stops the cycle is not drinking. Lets your doctors help you. If after a period of time you are still left with anxiety, you have a better chance of working out proper treatment with your doctors when no alcohol is interfering. One can never be properly treated for any mental illnesses when they are drinking.

I lied to my doctors about drinking. Nothing "was working" for my depression/anxiety. As a result, my doctor just prescribed more klonopin, xanax, added seroquel, trazadone for sleep, lexapro for depression...couple that with blackout drinking every night and it's not a surprise I literally went mad.

The strongest thing I have taken in years is motrin 800 last month when I cut the end of my finger in half. I have not had crippling depression/anxiety since quitting alcohol.

Have you been able to get some answers/help from your doctors?

TrixMixer

Corvus,

How about getting new doctors? think about it, a PSYCHIATRIST who tells you "stop drinking"--but offers no solutions DUH!.... and a GP, so fearful , she defers to this idiot.

Sorry to say but it sounds like they share the same brain.....and not in a good way.

Corvus

Well, to be fair - neither my psychiatrist nor me expected any of this to happen. I think we both though I hadn't relapsed long enough to get any withdrawals or the like. Plus, this did not happen the first time I quit so this was all very new to me. I got in contact with him last night and he mentioned that I could go on Ativan until they subside.

GP isn't fearful, just that I'm on various psychiatric medication and she doesn't want to add anything that might destabilise it.

Anyway, thanks for the responses. I think I'm understanding the mechanics behind the panic attacks now. It took me a bit to even link the panic attacks to the drinking because it seems most literature doesn't explicitly say they occur when you stop.

dotboston

These are DEFINITELY linked to alcohol withdrawal. I had terrible anxiety and panic attacks during the end of my drinking. Daily alcohol consumption changes the glutamate systems in our brains, when we aren't sedated after a period of heavy drinking the system become hyper excited, which causes many of the withdrawal symptoms such as the shakes and anxiety (horrible, horrible anxiety for me). The same system controls some of our systems such as heart rate, blood pressure, etc. which is why detoxing alone is very dangerous.

It's a terrible cycle. You get horribly anxious, drink to calm down, then get even more and more anxious, so you drink even more. It gets worse and worse.

When you do talk to your Doctor, be very honest about your alcohol intake. Many of the drugs prescribed, such as Xanax work on the brain very much the same way as alcohol does, and are dangerous to use if you are still drinking. They are also very addictive and come with a slew of problems of their own.

The good news is that once I went through a professional detox safely, I have yet to have another panic attack. Some anxiety in life is to be expected, it's a normal emotion.

If, even when sober, you still have an underlying anxiety disorder, you can address it then. Keep tabs on it and work with a professional if it's a problem.

Sulu1

I get them quite often whilst withdrawing. I spent christmas day on my own in bed as I was so anxious, teary and upset, but the fact i've now gone two days sober and feel a bit better is worth it

DJN

Last year I had a bad hangover from the night before, went out for a smoke, felt ok until I finished, then went inside and had a panic attack so bad I thought I was having a stroke as I could not move my face or hands. Ambulance was called and it took me a hour to recover. Sitting there with 3 ambulance crew and telling them I had been out drinking all day before , which is why this had happened, was one of the most shameful days of my life. I've had episodes like this in the past after a heavy night of drinking, but this was the worst, and thankfully the last time it happened.

But after drinking a lot, the next day I can always sense it waiting to happen again, only way to stop it is to breath deep and don't allow your mind to start getting worked up. Go out for a walk or do something to take your mind off it and just hope it doesn't erupt into a full blown panic attack. It has only ever happened after I've been drinking. Maybe 6 times. Each time it felt like I was about to drop dead. Not nice at all.

I think it's triggered by withdrawal or your system just being under stress from all the booze. It's one of the reasons I am stopping drinking, along with the crippling hangovers that wreck me for most of the week. 2012 was the worst year of my life, and I blame it all on drink. I simply cannot do another year like this, I refuse to go through it again, so stopping for me is not that hard, I think I would rather die than drink again. I spent most of this year sick or in pain or crippled in bed or depressed because of drink. It will not happen again. Simple as that. 2013 is going to be different, and so is every other year after that.