Why does alcohol withdrawels make you feel anxious!
Why does alcohol withdrawels make you feel anxious!
Just wondering whether anyone knows the medical reason why when you stop drinking some people get bad anxiety for a period.
Thanks
Thanks
I'm no scientist but I believe it's because routine has changed and you feel different. This is interpreted by your body as highly suspicious and results in anxiety!
Whatever the reason, it happens. It also diminishes with time. Just go with it.
S x
Whatever the reason, it happens. It also diminishes with time. Just go with it.
S x
I believe a LOT of it has to do with depleted nutrients. Magnesium, calcium, essestial fatty acids and vit b and c all get severely depleted when alcohol is abused....especially over prolonged periods. All those nutrients (and there are more that the ones I listed) play a HUGE role in keeping those natural happy chemicals in the brain functioning properly. Anyhow, this is my understanding as belief. I began a nutritional program tailered to alcoholics and I cannot believe what a difference it made in stabilizing my mood and lowering my anxiety....not only that, I can sleep! I wouldnt have believed it if I hadnt done it myself. I did it with my doctors approval from the advice of a great book.
I took a class from an MD specializing in addiction and said one thing was the brain starts seeing the DOC like oxygen, something you can not live without and when withdrawn the mind feels like its air supply is cut of until it reprograms. Made some sense to me.
I think that your brain and body are fighting this constant consumption of a central nervous system depressant and get accustomed to the load it places on the whole system. When you quit drinking, that load is removed and the engine tends to over speed for a while. Everything does get back into whack in short order.
My anxiety was awful yesterday. Today was better, I have 40 days sober, I have always been a worrier, even as a kid. I do have medication for anxiety, and always take it correctly. I am hoping the longer I am sober the less anxious I will be.
I hate that panicky feeling, especially when I can't quite pin down what is making me anxious!!!
I hate that panicky feeling, especially when I can't quite pin down what is making me anxious!!!
Windancer - that nutrition program sounds great, is it something I could find out more about online or did you go through a Dr?
Lionhearted - I have anxiety issues, it runs in my family. I think that everything already said here is probably true also. But as time goes on and your system grows back to health you'll probably notice changes in your well being. I have been. Spirituality helps me a lot too, for me it's Buddhism, meditation and walking. I hope you begin to feel better soon.
Lionhearted - I have anxiety issues, it runs in my family. I think that everything already said here is probably true also. But as time goes on and your system grows back to health you'll probably notice changes in your well being. I have been. Spirituality helps me a lot too, for me it's Buddhism, meditation and walking. I hope you begin to feel better soon.
Freshstart is on the right track.
Since alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, if you are physically addicted, when you stop, you will get a rebound effect, which is the opposite.
Instead of relaxed, and sedated, you will experience anxiety, racing thoughts, fast heart rate, mental and physical tension, etc.
Takes a while for your body to normalize.
Since alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, if you are physically addicted, when you stop, you will get a rebound effect, which is the opposite.
Instead of relaxed, and sedated, you will experience anxiety, racing thoughts, fast heart rate, mental and physical tension, etc.
Takes a while for your body to normalize.
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I'm working part time with days off in between work days. That's all that's available at the moment. On my days off I feel "normal."
I suppose you could call it free-floating anxiety as a result of being without what I'm used to. Truth be told, I don't drink to have fun so much these days as much as just quelling the jones to enable me to feel comfortable in my skin.
I wouldn't say that I have social phobia per se, but I do enjoy my alone time for the most part. Being alone is OK with me. I have no plans for the holidays and haven't had for years. Does that make me an isolationist?
I work in a mall handing out food samples with repeating Christmas music blaring all day long. I'll be perfectly content to spend quiet time at home on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
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