chrissp

A note on anxiety disorders/panic and alcohol:

I'm beginning to wonder if some people (me) are SERIOUSLY sensitive to ANY alcohol. My anxiety began when I did two things: started drinking, even occasionally, and started drinking coffee daily (just a cup in the morning). Before that, I went through 4 years of college confidently and competently enough to get into science grad school. By the time I sought treatment for anxiety (and well before I was drinking anything more than socially), I couldn't even go into a grocery store or drive without gagging with panic. I just got back from a supermarket, six days sober with no medication in me besides my antidepressants and felt no panic, no agitation, nothing. It wasn't until I walked out that I began to wonder if I'm just that sensitive.

Fernaceman

Could very well be. My depression and subsequent anxiety lifted soon after I stopped using alcohol or drugs regularly and started working a solid recovery program.

trent333

The grocery store part I can relate to. Normally I am very outgoing will talk to strangers with ease and can ask an attractive woman out without a problem. When I was drinking too heavy I found the same thing you describe. It was a fear that had no meaning. Very strange I couldn't explain why I was feeling anxious deciding what type of salad dressing to get. The supermarket should be fun or even entertaining to go to considering the vast amount of characters there who also rely on food to survive. It will get better don't worry.

chrissp

This all being said, I quit caffeine from a multi-coffee a day habit as well.

2granddaughters

I only drink one small coffee a day at the AA meeting. AA coffee is soothing for the mind & body

All the best.

Bob R

Sasha4

If I take a cough medicine or cold medication and it has alcohol in it, I feel really anxious the next day. I have all the mental feelings of a hangover that I used to get when I drank - a sense of unease, a sense of dread and that something bad might happen.

I also feel anxious even if I have had no alcohol in any form most mornings.
I think this is probably from years of drinking and not wanting to open my eyes in the morning because of what I might have done the night before whilst drunk. I think my mind is just conditioned that way now. Its not nice but I try and work through it. Beta blockers are a big help too.

So yes I do agree that you can have extreme sensitivity from any alcohol.

deeker

I didn't have real anxiety until I crossed over from being a weekend drinker to an alcoholic. Like someone else said the anxiety came on as a result of memory loss and fear of what went on the night before. That came on becasue of the higher quantities I was taking in I imagine.

Makes sense we would be sensitive to alcohol as it is basically poison.

Acetaldehyde is toxic. AA has an interesting explanation that we have an allergy to alcohol.

This comes from a link called Barefootsworld.net

Alcohol is a poison because it destroys human tissue. The two organs that alcohol damages the most are the liver and the pancreas. So the more the alcoholic drinks as time passes (or doesn't drink, because the liver and pancreas also deteriorate naturally as we age), the less their body is able to processes the acetate. THAT is why alcoholism is a progressive, fatal illness.
__
That sounds like a good reason for our bodies to be stressed or anxiety ridden..

Mattcake

I can totally relate chris. Back when I was drinking, I developed panic disorder, to the point where I was house-bound due to multiple attacks each day. I drank at night. Going to work was a nightmare.

And drinking an entire pot of black coffee in the AM did *not* help matters.

Long story short, I quit drinking a few years ago, with the disastrous state of my mental health being my main motivator. My anxiety attacks literally vanished; I did need help for my severe depression, but it's over now, and I'm currently looking to taper off my meds.

Yet I know other addicts who plowed through their drinking career without developing a psychiatric disorder.

So yeah, your hunch seems accurate, at least to me. Congrats on 6 days sober Well, hopefully 8 days by now ;-)