Dave834

Hi so I'm new to the forum obviously. I stumbled across this forum and joined as so many of the threads struck a chord with me.

I have been regularly drinking for years and years and never really thought of it as anything but normal. I would have a few beers in the evening every night whilst playing video games.

I didn't realise I had a problem until I left the country for work for a few months. I was in a long term relationship at the time and things got quite bad when I was away. When I came back things didn't get any better.

As things stayed crap I started drinking even more in the evenings. This helped to cause some horrendous situations in my life (I wont go into them here) and I guess at some point I realised I had a problem.

Me and the women I was with had started getting better so I just stopped drinking cold turkey. Almost overnight I developed severe anxiety and depression. This had an enormous impact on my life and after a few months of it not getting any better I and the young lady parted ways.

I guess that was about 5 months ago. In that time I started drinking again. Im not sure exactly when. I started feeling better and life moved on fine. Me and my ex have since started trying to resolve things so once again I started decreasing the amount I was drinking and guess what. Boom all the worries and troubles came flooding back.

I am at my wits end now I thought stopping drinking would be a good thing and at this moment it feels like the worst thing I could have done with my life.

All these problems and I never even realised I had a dependency all of these years.

Soberwolf

Welcome Dave

Dave834

Thanks soberwolf

SoberLeigh

Welcome to SR, Dave; glad you found us.

Have you spoken to your doctor about your anxiety?

Dave834

Thanks for the welcome

Yeh i went to the doctors and they referred me to the mental health guys and then they told me i dont have mental health problems so i shouldnt have been referred to them.

The mental health guys said they werent surprised i had anxiety. They said if i had come to them before i quit drinking they would have said dont go cold turkey because they would have predicted this would have happend.

SillyHuman

I did not drink because I liked the taste of liquor. It worked at diminishing my anxiety and depression, at least as long as I kept chugging, at least until morning came.

What you are going through sounds pretty normal to me. I am working on the underlying issues through AA and with a therapist.

Quitting drinking is a really hard thing to do. Get as much support behind you as you can muster, professional, personal, recovery groups, whatever you can get your hands on.

I am really glad you are here.

SoberLeigh

Perhaps you could try a new doctor, Dave; usually a GP can help with generalized anxiety.

Yoga, meditative yoga, and meditation seem to help many people with anxiety, too.

Dave834

Thankyou so much for the kind words. I had no idea anxiety was such a common side effect of quitting the booze untill i found this forum. It gives me hope that im not the only one that experiences this and those other people can still get on with life.

Bruno1979

Welcome Fella,

Where in this great world are you based?

You will find some great advice here,

Bruno.

Dave834

Aha fella that is a militaryism if ever i heard one.

Im in the UK.

There seems to be alot of switched on enlightened people here. I wish i had found the site sooner.

Anna

Dave, it's possible that, as your recovery continues, the anxiety and depression will diminish. And, if not, do talk to your dr.

Dave834

I do hope that is the case. Only time will tell I guess.

At the moment I suppose Im not completely sober. I still drinking "alcohol free" beer in the evenings but even that is 0.05%.

I say in the evenings yesterday was the last time I drunk a real beer.

Hercules

Welcome. I think anxiety effects all of us who habitually consume large quantities of alcohol.
I remember being 11 weeks sober once and had a full blown panic attack for no reason what so ever. I think it takes a good while for the brain to settle down.

Imagine a bottle filled with sand and water if you keep shaking it the water will be full of sand and dark, leave the bottle alone for awhile an eventually the sand will settle and the water will be clear again!!

Obladi

A few months of severe anxiety and depression sounds like an awful long time to me. I would second the suggestion to go see a different physician - like a GP.

And I join the others in welcoming you!

Dave834

Thanks for all of the welcomes and support guys. I am seeking councilling at the moment and i will get back to the doctors. My doctor is part of the organisation i work for and there is the possibillity it could affect my employment

Obladi

Could you not go to another physician for this concern?

Dave834

Unfortunately no i have to use their doctors. But ill have to bite the bullet i guess.

least

Welcome to the site. I had a lot of rebound anxiety when I got sober but it went away with time.

loulou1981

Hi dave, welcome to the family!!! I quit in Oct, it was tricky for a while, the usual anxiety, constantly thinking about drinking, but in the last couple of weeks i feel like a different person, it will get easier, u just have to get past the **** time!

Dave834

Thanks for the welcome guys its good to here other people who have had similar experiences to me have seen the other side of it.