Bruno1979

Hi,

I've had a bit of a bad time of it recently with my drinking, I've had a drink every night for the last 2 weeks. I saw something pretty horrific in my job invoilving somebody who died but I won't go into that. Anyway I'm back on day one today and I'm determined to succeed this time.
What I've noticed recently over the last 2 weeks is that I've been suffering from some sort of anxiety whilst driving, like some form of brain fog and a feeling to need to get out of the car. Once pulled over and I've pulled myself together then I'm ok for a while.

Has anybody had this? I don't know if its linked to the dead person I saw or the drinking?

alphaomega

I have this exact problem. Stopped driving.

ReadyAtLast

I felt very nervous driving in the early weeks of sobriety even though I'm an experienced driver and not normally nervous. I have no idea why. It did eventually pass.

SereneEdition

Hi Bruno -

You're not alone... I remember it happening once or twice when I was tired/stressed. Things do get better.

Sounds like you're going through a lot that would trigger anxiety. Might be worthwhile to talk to someone. Particularly if it was a work incident, counseling is likely covered through your employer.

Dee74

I think the more and the longer we drink the more likely we are to suffer anxiety episodes - if you've also experienced a trauma recently I think that makes it even more likely, Bruno.

I think the counselling is a great idea for the work related stuff - any plans on what to do about the drinking, mate?

D

hypochondriac

Sounds like a panic attack Bruno. I had a lot of that related to my drinking. I would have them anywhere accept home drinking, but especially on public transport (I don't drive) or at work. It felt like a claustrophobia thing too. It cleared up when I stopped though. Alcohol causes all sorts of anxiety you wouldn't believe. Although I am sure seeing someone dead hasn't helped either x

Bruno1979

Thanks very much for the replies,
I'm now on day 2 again and feeling a lot better. I've been driving today and done a 60mile round trip through country lanes and haven't had any form of anxiety.
I've been reading thru other threads on here and I drank 3 bottles of wine on saturday night. I think that yesterdays anxiety was directly linked to that, as in the thread hangover hell.
There's one thing for certain and that's the symptoms after drinking are getting a lot worse. I've never felt like I have over the last week or two before after drinking and the fun of it has definitely gone.
I'm going have to sort myself out this time. Thanks again,
Bruno.

doggonecarl

It only gets worse. You seemed to have taken your eye off the goal (sobriety). What happened?

And what's the plan to stay on track?

ScottFromWI

Amen to that. During my last few months of drinking I literally felt like the only way i COULD drive any distance was to have a couple beers to "take the edge off" prior to driving. I even had some mini panic/anxiety attacks on my way to work for no particular reason.

All of this happened in a very short period of time too, i had been a heavy drinker for year and years, and the anxiety thing literally came out of nowhere just in a few months period toward the end.

Things will get worse, that's a guarantee. The only question is how bad they will get and how long it will take. You are fortunate in that you can end it all now before it gets any worse.

Bruno1979

Thanks again for the support, this forum is fantastic.
Drinking has caused me a few problems in the past where I have let myself and others down with broken promises, that was the original reason why I wanted to stop so that I could gain control of my life.
This is the first time that drinking has caused me any health issues and it has seriously woken me up to the harsh reality of the harm that I'm doing to myself. I'm 33 now and as people have said, my destiny is in my own hands, all that I have to do is not drink again, its as simple as that.
This recent development has really scared me and it was what was perhaps needed to happen to wake me up. I don't want to be one of those people who are frightened to leave the house and I won't let that happen to me.
Thanks again,
Bruno.

DoloresHaze

I have this problem too. It came out of nowhere, like you said. I was at a red light at a busy intersection one day and I started shaking, my heart was pounding, and I thought I was going to pass out.

it got so bad that I avoided driving anywhere more than a few miles from my house.

ScottFromWI

I forgot to add that once I stopped drinking for a while that it did start to get better, although it did take a while. I'm just shy of 8 months sober now and while I do still have anxiety from time to time, I can happily say that driving is no longer a problem. I've been on several multi-hour road trips over the summer with no problems at all.

DoubleBarrel

I had the same problem. So bad in fact that I almost crashed.

Its gotten better and better. I have a couple security blankets that helped me, cause I was worried I'd be in the middle of nowhere and have some kind of medical issue. Just little things, like keeping an epi pen, my cell phone charger, etc.
Never needed any of the stuff, and its way diminished.

Totally irrational fears, but I think driving, you kind of go on autopilot, at least on a long trip, and my brain would start working on me.

But you gotta be sober before it starts getting better.