Anxious
 

Hello again,
I posted earlier saying it was my first night without wine. Thank you so much for all the kind words.
It is 3am where I am and I haven't slept. I had genuinely forgotten how bad my night time anxiety was (perpetuated no doubt by the lack of alcohol).
I drank a bottle of wine of an evening to make sure I slept peacefully - rather than tossing and turning all night worrying.
Without booze that's exactly what I'm doing. When my anxiety was really bad I had this fear I was losing my mind and was terrified I might start hearing voices. (I never heard any voices but would check to verify noises had actually happened and I wasn't imaging them - crazy I know!)
Tonight reminds me of that time because I'm very worried about experiencing withdrawal symptoms. My heart is pounding and I keep feeling I can't breath - which I think is my anxiety more than anything. How long will it take for me to be out of the woods and know that I'm not in danger of experiencing withdrawal symptoms (by that I mean seizures and hallucinations). I drank a bottle of wine a night for a year and a half - I didn't think I would get seizures or hallucinations on that amount. Thank you for any advice! (At least I'll only be tired and not hungover too at work tomorrow!)

I drank that much. I didn't have any horrible withdrawals. But, I did feel for a while like I have having some panic. It subsided very quickly - meaning a day or two.
Can you watch some TV or read to distract your self? Have a snack, hot tea, etc?
The best thing I did was be nice to myself. No worrying about laundry, cleaning house, etc. No rushing to get anything done that wasn't necessary for the first week. I just kept busy with small tasks and tried to avoid any stress.
One night down - You've made it!

Thank you very much for your sharing your experience with me - that's very reassuring to hear. I will listen to a podcast and hopefully drift off. I will also stop reading so much about alcohol dependence - after burying my head in the sand for so long I've been researching it all day. Think I've fried my brain and stressed myself out!

Withdrawals are no fun and the anxiety can be pretty miserable. The good news is they are only temporary, and 100 percent preventable once they are done. Please be safe and have help nearby if you need it.

I was also drinking about that much. Our bodies are all different when it comes to withdrawals, so if you aren't feeling well head to the doctor.

My anxiety has lessened since I have stopped drinking. Check in and let us know how you are doing tomorrow.:-)

According to our national health service, in New Zealand, only about 1 % of alcoholics require medical detox, so they only allocate a few beds for that purpose. It can take anything upto about 5 days for the alcohol to clear your system, and after 5 days, the worst of any withdrawal should be past.

It never hurts to have a friend standing by to call for medical assistance if required.

From your post I was wondering if you were self medicating your anxiety. Which came first, the anxiety or the drink problem. Once you have the booze out of your system, it may help to have that anxiety looked at by the professionals.

Just bear in mind that anxiety is also part of alcholism, and if it is alcoholism you are suffering from, treating that will also help the anxiety. You will need to be very honest with yourself about this, or you risk getting hooked into a whole new addiction.

Thank you for that Mike. I do intend to work on my anxiety - I had sort of forgotten about it/thought it was cured because I'd been self medicating for so long.
I think the anxiety came first because I was a very nervous, worried child with lots of fears and phobias. My dad terrified me (he is also a daily wine drinker).
I started drinking in my teenage years aged 15 with friends whilst camping etc . I instantly LOVED alcohol and thought it was so much fun. While my friends could take it or leave it I would be hell bent on drinking myself to oblivion.

Hi maz,

The first day/night and following day are the worst for me in regard to withdrawl-related anxiety. I've certainly read this is a common symptom for anyone in withdrawl, but agree it can be worsened by being a worrier. You worry about anxiety and it increases the anxiety! I'm learning to recognize my anxiety and once I do that, I say out loud, "It's just anxiety - no sense in fighting it - it will pass." This is incredibly helpful to me.

With sleeping, I have a couple of thoughts:
1. I also thought I had to drink to sleep. And eventually thought I needed to drink more in the night when I woke up. Miraculously, I found that I could sleep much better than ever once I was about a week sober.
2. I would think you could go to your physician and ask for an anxiety medication that will help you to sleep without disclosing that you were drinking (assuming you're done with that now). I believe you said you're a nurse so assume you would know what to watch out for as far as which medication classes should be avoided. That's not medical advice - just suggesting you could seek medical assistance for the sleeping/anxiety issue.

And I think that you will think to yourself
wow this made it all so worth while.

Enjoy your sober day,
MB