RyanRed

Been feeling jittery, and cloudly minded all night. I have not been able to sleep.

Ive felt great for the last 2 weeks, and all of a sudden BAM this anxiety attack comes out of NO where. Ive been stressed out in my mind with stuff Im dealing with in my life lately - Im sure this is whats bringing it on. I also decided to drink coffee, and I normally dont. I drank around 4 cups of coffee in the evening. I also think that helped trigger it. And not to mention I only got 5 hours sleep the night before.

SO! Yeah Anxiety is no fun! I did look up a few facts about people being sober for a few weeks and getting a random attack. So I guess its normal. But Ive been awake close to 24 hours now grrrr....

Good news is I didnt jump the gun and say I need a drink! Actually it was quite the oppisite. No alcohol for this guy!! I know thats not going to help anything.

Anyways just sharing.

-Ryan

OklaBH

Hey Ryan--have you been to the Dr yet to discuss your drinking? It really helps and IMO is necessary for a successful recovery. There is so much more to this than putting down the drink. We've poisoned our bodies for a long time. The fact that you are anxious after a few weeks without your ex-best buddy is no suprise.

All my best! you are doing great!

RyanRed

No. no doctor. Dont have insurance or the money for a proper visit. Plus Im hugh phobia of pills, and Im sure thats what they will try and give me. I believe in self healing to be honest. Im the type of person that wont even take an asprin if I have a headache. Ive always believed feeling pain is your bodies natural defense to take care of something inside it.

Although I guzzled down alcohol for years loll.

I believe in mind over matter. I think anxiety is all in your head. Just typing that seems to give me a bit of calmness. But yeah ill get though this tonight.

I also think im starting to feel, and clean up a bunch of messes I've made this last year while drinking. Im not supressing the feelings with alcohol anymore. SO its all hitting me like a ton of bricks, and its causing this.

-Ryan

ajangel

I have always been a big coffee drinker in the morning. I am now finding that drinking more then one cup makes me very anxious and shakey. You are probably over tired from not sleeping because you drank the coffee late. 4 cups is a lot.

Dee74

too much coffee (or introducing it to your system) and no sleep are definitely two of the things that ramp my anxiety...

I try to relax, try to concentrate on my breathing, and accept that there need not be a tangible emotional reason for my anxiety. It seems to be less traumatic for me when I distance it that way, and I can ride it out.

Here's some tips on sleeping - and like Okla says - if you think it's a problem please see your Dr

Insomnia? 42 Simple Tips to Help You Get to Sleep - Insomnia treatment, cures

D

RyanRed

Alright trying the warm milk. Funny though.. When I went to go grab a glass, I grabbed one of my recently retired cocktail glasses. Paused and gazed at it for a second. Filled it with milk... Thought to myself "I cant drink out of this glass anymore." and transfered the milk to a coffee cup. Funny how small things like that pop out of no where sometimes.

Anyways, warm milk tastes like junk lol. But Im drinking it.
*side note* since I started posting on here, anxiety level seems to be going down. But not enough o feel relaxed in bed yet.

-Ryan

Anna

The surprise anxiety attacks can be hard to deal with Ryan, but I'm glad you're getting through it. One very simple thing I have learned is to breathe really deeply. Breathe in through your nose and let your belly expand, and then slowly breathe out.

BeenDown2Times

Warm milk makes me a little woozy as well. I swear by herbal remedies. Valerian root (either in tea or capsules that you get at health food stores) is saving my butt right now as I'm in the same boat you are.

frances2011

Hey Ryan! I love your POSITIVE posts and I'm sorry you had a bad night.

Hope you got some rest and that today is brighter, Ryan! Yeah, sounds to me like you overdid the coffee, esp. if you aren't a regular coffee person. Caffeine is a drug, just not in pill form, lol.

That plus a bad night's sleep the night before.... I sure understand anxiety attacks, no fun. SO GLAD you reached out for help! Awesome job pouring that milk into a coffee cup, btw.

One thing that's helping me is the HALT idea--I am paying really careful attention so that I don't get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired since I quit March 1.

I had thought I'd turn into Superwoman, but it turns out I have a lot of physical, emotional and spiritual healing that can begin now that I'm not numbing myself with alcohol.

You are doing so great and I'm glad you are here. Sending you buckets of positive energy.

frances2011

Just noticed this. Yeah, I relate. Really amazing that you can put this into words. We can do this, one day, one feeling, one mess, at a time!

1ofakind

Ryan, you can beat the anxiety with your attitude. I too have been determined to beat my withdraw and anxiety and depression in a natural way.I knew deep down that my mind would be fine, given enough time. The key is to acknowledge what is happening and why, then take the natural step, which is learn to breath in where you feel the anxiety or pain. The first thing we do on our own when we are born is breath and the last thing we do when we die. Our breathing pattern changes when we are anxious, scared or hurt and having other emotional issues. My friend try and do like the other poster suggested and focus on your breathing. I also use valerian root capsules and the tea and it has helped. Good luck my friend. This too shall pass and you will look back on it one day. The alternative is worse.

Kjell

Hi Ryan-

Now is the time to do something, anything, everything different.

Make some new, good habits for when you're feeling off.

Kjell~

4thekidz

Ryan,

That's exactly what happened to me at 2-3 weeks....I thought I had the symptoms licked and then a few anxiety attacks hit me in succession. At day 33 Ive noticed a slight decrease- they only surface when I am exhausted mentally. getting your heart rate up with exercise helps. But time away from booze I think is the utlimate answer....

newwings

Haha! Me too! What is with we pillphobes but have issues with our 'own' medicine? Before my visit to the ER for my feet x-rays, I hadn't seen a doctor or taken a painkiller for over 3 years. I don't even like an aspirin for a headache or any cold/flu stuff, either.

By the way, I had the same issue with anxiety last night. After 29 days of feeling ace and really positive, I got on a right downer. Needless to say I woke up this morning back to my normal jolly self. Wasn't nice though, I can tell ya. I'm figuring it's all in the recovery process. Hang in there and hope you get some peace of mind and some kip.

FreeDance

Don't know if this helps everyone, but I swear by Tension Tamer herbal tea (Celestial Seasonings). They also make a few varieties of Sleepytime (one's "extra" and one has vanilla) but they don't relax me as much as Tension Tamer -- which may all be in my head as a placebo, but whatever. For me, it is relaxing!

workingtheday

Ryan,

I deal with the anxiety thing too here and there! Cmon buddy, you know better than to be hitting that caffiene! That'll get it going. Heres hoping your feeling better!

Jay

Brette

Once I stopped drinking (10 days ago), lots of emotions began to bubble up. I'll speak for myself -- I used alcohol to dampen the feeling I didn't wish to experience -- such as the anger at my husband (over son's money abuse -- of his FATHER'S money!)

Sometimes we just have to get used to discomfort.

And eventually it does go away. I've tried MELATONIN and L-Tryptophan to sleep. Good luck my friend.... Keep us all posted!

Larry45

Couldn't agree more. I've been 6 weeks or so sober (I'm not counting too closely) and there have been ups and downs. A few anxious nights, but they are still nothing compared to the post-drinking blues where I used to remember (or try to) what I did or said to whom the night before (or just dialed up the self-loathing to 11).

Coffee is definitely a BAD IDEA. Especially 4 cups in an evening. Hell, don't even drink coffee after 3pm or sleep will be hard to come by, depending on your metabolism. I had something similar last night, which lead to a tight chest and stupid anxious thoughts going around and around and around in my head. Today I've just drank tea and anxiety much, much lower.

I've found that I need to build new tools for facing my life stone-cold-sober. I used to have a haze that smoothed everything over, it made boring people more interesting, and interesting people non-threatening. Now I have to deal with my (and their) emotions in crystal clarity, which can be hard sometimes.

It's pretty weird actually. Seeing the world through clear eyes again. But ultimately, so much better than being a useless drunk.

StayStopped

Try breathing meditation.
Breath by pulling the diaphragm down, but don't force it. Focus on the feeling of the breath in the nostrils, chest and stomach.
Works best without coffee...

RyanRed

Alright heres an update.

I finally did fall alseep around 10am Wednesday morning. Slept just until now. Its about 4am my time.

What I have learned from this.

1. The mind is strong! The anxiety I felt was very similar to how I felt when my body was coming down off alcohol from the night before or when I was detoxing my first week. Doctors use a word for this, but its basicly if you think hard enough about something, your mind can recreate the same feeling. Basicly like a flashback from drug use.

2. Talking about it helped me. Coming here and posting last night helped me a lot.

3. Telling myself it was all in my mind, because it was. This helped a lot because I believe anxiety is nothing more than your mind screwing with its own self.

4. I need sleep! 5 hours of sleep just wont cut it for me anymore. If I dont feel fully rejuvinated in the day, it can bring stuff like this on.

5. Coffee doesnt help! lol. It only made it worse. I drank it because Ive been enjoying hot drinks at night. It's very relaxing. Why I thought coffee would do that for me is pure and utter stupidity on my part. Wont be doing that again!

But yeah its over and passed. Didnt use any type of pills, alcohol, nothing more than my own mental control. The milk didnt seem to do much. If anything it may have been a small placebo, but nothing more on my end anyways.

Thanks again for all the awesome comments! Everyone one of them helped!

-Ryan