13unluckyforsom

It's kicking my butt. Has to be the most awful sense of impending doom I've experienced in probably about a year. I've slept for the majority of the past 48hours but the past few hours have been horrendous

MyTime86

One of the biggest reasons I quit, couldn't live like that. Go for a run sweat it out, always make me feel a little better

ScottFromWI

It's certainly rough, I remember it all too well myself, and I remember that each time I went back it got worse. Is your plan to stay sober going forward? I know for me that quitting the drinking also killed most of the anxiety.

13unluckyforsom

Scott I'm inbetween hell and the deep blue sea here - the drinking isn't a problem - I've no thoughts of drinking right now but I feel so awful but with the occasional break through of light that takes the anxiety away for a brief second and then it's back to hell or the deep blue sea lol I know this will pass in a few days and I know that I have a chance to start all over again. Being brave is scary though lol and it's not natural for me.

jdooner

13 - good to see you again. The early days were crazy. I often read my early posts to get see my mindset and I sympathize with you. Whether you believe in AA or don't a meeting or group with other people going through the same stuff I find useful.

Realizing no matter how far from shore you got, there is a way back. There is nothing that you could have done or no amount you could have consumed that you cannot come back from. Chatting with others that have walked in these awful shoes I find cathartic.

From a pure physical perspective, water, bananas to help with electrolytes, keep hydrated and eat a ton. Being hungry or thirsty makes it more difficult. I found smoking and ice cream and cookies helpful in the early days/weeks. Plenty of time to change that stuff later on - deal with the drinking first its the most life threatening.

13unluckyforsom

Nice to see your still here J

I drank Friday Saturday and Sunday and then stopped. I don't usually drink often these days but when I can't handle reality I still have the urge.

I'm here because I'm feeling unstable and because like it or not every time I consume alcohol it leads to some regret or some shame. I think socially I fall into the trap that people will tell me 'just don't drink so much your fine if you only drink X ammount' yeah I'm fine until I'm not fine basically and then they look at me like 'yeah u really do have a problem'

RevivingOphelia

In the last year before I quit, the post-drinking anxiety was so crushing it became one of the main reasons I stopped. I couldn't take another morning/day like it again. Any cravings I have, I think about those feelings of doom, heart palpitations, sweaty and unescapable panic. Ugh. It's no way to live. You don't have to face a day like that again.

Good luck.

gmc38609

As I have got older my hangovers have got worse, yesterday I felt like I was losing my mind and had bad heart palputaions all day. I swear it will be seizures soon if I dont quit ASAP

weirdesttoner

Oh, sweet anxiety!!!
Before i rarely had it. But last year it followed me allmost everyday. Not a big deal, just something that annoyed me and needed alcohol to kill the feeling.
And since the beginning of this year, when i was more sober than drunk, every relapse was a vivid horrorshow, each withdrawal even worse.
Now i'm on day 27 and most of it was gone by the end of week 1.
But man, last experience was so terrifying that i don't even imagine another relapse, it will break me down mentally.
Without alcohol in my sistem i don't have it, i deal with problems like a normal person, but after a relapse iam mentally crippled. Progressively worse with each withdrawal!

13unluckyforsom

Mentally crippled is the way I'd put it too - I'm now 3 days past my binge and all I've done is sleep and freak out - I've woke up anxious still and I just want to sleep again. My medication for my anxiety is at my ex partners and I can't get him to answer me. This is why even a few drinks isn't worth it to me - a few drinks would still knock me down for at least a day. 3 days drinking - I'm in a horrible mental place just now.

Fandy

Can you go to your pharmacy and get a few dosages of your meds to tide you over?
Or call the doctor.
I understand the anxiety, but get up and take care of yourself, focus on a small task to take your mind off of this..it has now been 3 days you should start to feel better. Try getting outside, eat and take care to keep hydrated.

weirdesttoner

Just remain sober eat and sleep well and do things that will distract your mind. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. It will pass!!
Don't medicate yourself with alcohol when you are like this, i've done that, and the next day when i went out of my house i was something like: holy.... i forgot how to climb down stairs! And 5 min later i found out that i forgot how to talk properly.
My point is, i was worse and nothing happened to me, without any drugs it passed away in 4 or 5 days after getting sober. Stay strong!

EJ43

I had major anxiety too. Awful awful. It has calmed down substantially. Write it all down, tell yourself how bad it is, let your tears stain the paper. When u want to drink again, pull out what you wrote or even carry it with you as a deterrent AND an accomplishment!

casinva

The anxiety was the reason I drank. And the anxiety is the reason I stopped drinking. It had gotten so bad at the end that I just couldn't take another day of it. That first week sober was hellish. I spent a large part of it holed up in my bedroom. I figured it was either there or rehab.

Try to do some deep breathing (yeah, I hated it when people would tell me that too ) and put on some relaxing music. I also watched a lot of crappy TV and slept.

Every hour without a drink is one more towards becoming anxiety free. I am living proof of that.

You can do this!!!

Thirdtime

13- hang in there. I was the same way. I drank to deal with anxiety and it worked....for a few hours. But, when the alcohol wore off, everything was magnified 1,000 x's. The anxiety. The worry. The guilt. The shame.

Day 9 here. I had a very stressful day yesterday. The thoughts crept in. But, I did not drink.

Going to a meeting is a big way that I put the insanity out the door.

Be well.

jutam

oh dear lord... that anxiety is a killer..... I would spend those days trying to hold the space between awake and asleep so I didn't have to feel it.... crushing.. it passes.... hang in there.....

KAD

I've been there... too many times now. I'd say it gets worse every time - overall it does tend to - but there was a time I quit a couple months before this current quit and experienced almost no withdrawal symptoms at all. I must have saved them all up for the current quit because the first couple days were horrific! Just the way it is being described in this thread brings back some very uncomfortable feelings. It's like being suffocated, buried alive, and you have no choice but to suffer through it. Or drink again which just prolongs the inevitable and then it's even worse the next time! Ugh!

13unluckyforsom

U guys are all brilliant support - I'm sort of over the anxiety part now - I managed to get up and go out for an hour to a friends house, I'm feeling like I've got the flu now and I'm holed back up in my bed with water to sip. I don't know if I'm actually unwell or my body is just recovering from my 3 day assault on it!

I fully understand where a few of you said that alcohol was both the reason to drink and ultimately for stopping. I stopped daily drinking roughly about 7 months ago and since then I've tried to be sensible about it but I guess I just can't drink 'at' things or people. Sure it's uncomfortable but so is waking up after a 3 day binge and I think reality can never be as bad as what I create when I drink.

I stand by most of my drunk choices over the 3 days and in moments of positivity I can realise that I just went about delivering them the wrong way and that through them and through the reaction I got I realise that some people were never meant to stay in my life and weren't ready for me. It doesn't devalue me as a person it just means they were not for me.

13unluckyforsom

I also want to speak about anxiety. Anxiety sucks yo!! There's no bearable part of it lol I had really bad anxiety previous to quitting (mostly quit) I was on medication and all I can say is how drastically my anxiety had lessened once I wasn't daily drinking - I actually had a few weeks where I never needed to take a tablet for it so - anxiety loves alcohol it's like it's wee sidekick lol

Duffster

Oh how I detested that crippling anxiety and overwhelming sense of doom. Definitely one of the main reasons that I had to quit as it became increasingly unbearable. The danger is that the better you feel after a few days when the anxiety begins to decrease and ultimately disappear, the easier it is to forget how terrible it really was and to pick up again.