Nonsensical

There is a really great medication for anxiety, and the manufacturers expect to get very rich producing it. The drug's action is very clever. It has a time-release formula. You experience a relief period of about 6-8 hours, but then for 12-96 hours after the relief period you have increased anxiety, prompting you to seek additional anxiety relief. This way you are always wanting to take the medication and you buy more and more of it.

The really special part is that over time your body starts to react to the artificial relief period by building up extended anxiety so that after the 6-8 hour relief period you can experience the increased anxiety levels for 90 days. Some of the test patients even claim the elevated anxiety levels can last up to 180 days, making it extremely difficult to give up the medication as the cravings for the 6-8 hour relief period can be intense.

Surely by now you know what I'm talking about. Alcohol - it creates the problem and then masquerades as the cure. Don't fall for it.

Ruby2

Thank you for this. True for me.

ErikT

so true

Finnie

Oh ya!
Am on day 46 and the anxiety and stress is killing me. What an addiction!

PurpleKnight

. . . and slowly we convince ourselves that we can't do without it to combat that "increased anxiety" . . . when all the while we fail to realise that it's the alcohol increasing the anxiety in the first place.

Great post!!

serious

very true.
one of the many, but true and honest reasons i drank.

alphaomega

This is so true. My anxiety is as bad as it ever was at 130 days.

Rar

I fear that I will be the same way. I was being treated for anxiety even before I increased my drinking. I can't ever see an end to it.

serious

if you have a serious anxiety problem, then you need to attack that as well.
removing alcohol, however, will reduce the anxiety levels overall.

(i think we tend to forget too quick the immense and crippling anxiety that many of us experience during the first few days of detox).

alphaomega

It ebbs and flows like everything else. Some days it's almost completely unbearable, other days I almost forget I have it.
But unless we give ourselves a good amount of healing time, we won't ever truly know what lies on the otherside.

And one thing I know for absolute sure, the alcohol made it significantly worse.

No longer an option.

Sydney1988

I'm new to this, but up until this sentence I had no idea what you were talking about! I often suffer from anxiety and having recently stopped drinking I find this comforting and very educational. Thanks a bunch!