Euc

Hello! I am new here and I sincerely hope someone will help me.
I have always been aware of the danger of alcohol drinking and I try to drink in moderation. Over the last couple of months, however, I ended up drinking more - I had two-three glasses of whisky usually twice a week for the last month and half, on and off. Yesterday I got an anxiety/panick attack, and could not sleep at night. The anxiety may have been caused by my worrying if I may be drinking too much recently. In fact, I have been worrying if I'm going through a minor alcohol withdrawal. I do not know if I can expect withdrawal symptoms right now after such an alcohol intake, or if it's just plain anxiety and fear over nothing? Please help!

Dave36

My drinking lead directly to severe anxiety and its progressive too. Long term alcohol use will change your brain resulting in things like anxiety. I was in denial for years about it trying to find any other cause for my anxiety but drinking. Because I didn't want to quit. I've been through it and it'll only get worse. It is withdrawl but eventually at least in my case it became constant. No matter how much I drank I always had at least some anxiety. I'm almost 2 months sober and it's just starting to get better. To put it bluntly that anxious feeling is called alcoholism. That feeling will force you to drink just to feel better.

Dee74

hi Euc

Unfortunately none of us are doctors here and we can't give you medical advice or diagnose you.

The best anyone could do for you here is maybe yes, maybe no anyway....

can you maybe try not drinking for a while - like a month - and see if the anxiety fades or not?

D

Euc

Thanks a lot for your quick reply!
I have had this anxiety since yesterday, it is completely new to me. Before that, I used to feel fine. I do not feel the need to drink alcohol at the moment, and I wouldn't say I ever feel such a need. It just occurred to me that maybe even an occasional drinking may be dangerous and lead to addiction and since that moment of realisation, I've had anxiety and couldn't sleep. Do you honestly believe it is alcoholism?

Euc

Hi Dee74

I got really scared yesterday. Sure, my plan is to stop drinking altogether, it has never been a problem for me not to drink for months. It's just the recent couple of months that worry me. I am really stressed now and, well, anxious, but I have no idea if it is a symptom or just stress and fear..

Dee74

Either way it's not good for you.

I think your mind and body are definitely trying to tell you something, Euc

D

Euc

Yes, that's definitely true.
I got pretty scared and I plan to stop drinking. I did a few online calculators, which would acces my alcohol intake over the last couple of weeks (from memory) and they usually say I'm either at no risk or at low risk. But that's just algorithms, so I started thinking and worrying myself into more anxiety and fear.
I guess my question would be - what other symptoms should I expect if it was withdrawal? I know the general symptoms, but they usually apply to all stages of alcoholism. I do realise there are probably no doctors here, but I imagine there must be a lot of collective experience at this forum
Again, thank you all very much for your help!

Dee74

What I'm trying to get at is, whether it's withdrawal or not, I think the sensible thing to do is to stop drinking.

Online calculators have their place, I guess.... but if the amount you're drinking either leads to withdrawal (of which anxiety is a part) or just plain unvarnished anxiety...it's still too much for you..yeah?

D

Euc

Yes, apparently it is. Even though I know I may probably be just worrying myself into anxiety and, as a result of it, sleep problems, it is not worth it and I'll stop drinking.

zjw

i dunno what to tell you. anxiety and panic are both symptoms of alcohol withdrawel. I myself had to quit booze mainly because the panic attacks got so bad.

If this is he case for you or not I"m not sure. But i've read stories of people just simply having a martini each day at 4pm then one day missing it and having panic attacks and withdrawels.

So the point is it may not take much for folks to have issues. It seems lke the quantity of intake doesnt always have to be tons. Some folks once the regular intake pattern is disturbed the body goes into withdrawel.

But I'm not a doc either. So take it with a grain of salt.

Crossfitdad

When I was drinking a lot I had very bad anxiety and panic attacks. First, I lnew my drinking wasn't good, but I didn't think it was anything crazy, plus it was only beer, right? Second, I had no idea that drinking led to anxiety, etc. Every day was like this: wake up either slightly hungover or pretty hungover, go to work nervous as hell, by noon the real effects were gone, by afternoon be so anxious and waiting to get home. I never chalked it up to the beer, but rather to stress. So, I'd drink beer to make the stress go away. Repeat.

Since I've cut down, I don't have that ever present weight on me. Sure I have days where I'm worried, but those years were miserable. I wish I had known sooner what was causing it.

thomas11

Hi Euc, I can only offer you my experience. I went through withdrawals after a serious bender a year ago. No idea what it was, just was knew that loud noises would scare the crap out of me, panic attacks, difficulty breathing, sweats, some shaking, it is very unpleasant. But after about 4 days it went away. The funny thing is, now that I have had time to reflect on that dark period, i realize that the panic attacks etc...are completely irrational. To me, there was nothing (realistically) to be afraid of, but the fear of impending doom was overwhelming. If I'm every foolish enough to get myself in that situation again, I will likely go to a hospital. I come here daily to read. It helps.

Euc

Thanks for the response. I don't know the reason for the anxiety, I am worried that it may be alcohol related, but it may very well not be. I have not been drinking that much, but then again, how would I know if it is too much or nor. I am hoping for it to go away soon. It has been roughly 48 hours since my last drink and the only thing that troubles me is the anxiety.

MyShadow

How are you doing, now? Have the symptoms passed. Are you sober. For me it took a several days to get the alcohol out, then the anxiety kicked in for just a few days. Staying away from sugars and carbs, helped a lot. Then about 2 weeks for everything to crash and burn, depression and large insomnia cycles. Hang in there.

Euc

The symptoms have passed, I think it may have just been stress-related anxiety. I had two months of work that were just packed with stress and no relax at all, and that caused me to drink more than usual - hence my concern. I feel pretty good right now, I slept again and the anxiety is gone, so it might just have been that. In any case, I'm going to refrain from alcohol, take it easy for the next couple of days and see how it is.

skg

My experience with anxiety/worry is that it arises when I start predicting outcomes--whaddiffing--and find fear of those outcomes in my future--real or imagined. Alcoholism exacerbates that thinking, and pretty soon I am spending all of my today's worrying about the future--and I miss out on today. Or I drink to still the committee of thought that's convened in my head. Stinkin' Thinkin' is what it's called in recovery...
If it's bad enough to ask a group of complete strangers, it might be a good idea to seek help. Just sayin'... Insanity = doing the same thing over and over expecting different outcomes...