reggiewayne

Hi all...

I was at a meeting today and a lady came in for her first meeting. She started talking about how she had terrible feelings of guilt and shame the next day after drinking. I can definitely relate.

My question is, why? Does anyone know why this happens. I know alcohol is a depressant and it would make some sense as to feeling down the next day. But I remember my hangovers being awful. Consumed with anxiety and an overall guilty feeling.

If anyone knows more about this, I'd love to hear it.

Hope everyone is well!!!

Gerbosko

Because when we're drinking / drunk, we're not acting like our true selves. When you wake up and think "I would of never did that while sober!" or.. "did I really say that?"..etc

Dee74

For me I simply knew I could do better with my life.

I also probably regretted whatever stupid thing I'd done or said, or the people I'd embarrassed or hurt, the night before.

D

Ghostly

I think this is pretty straight forward...A lot of people with alcohol problems know they shouldn't drink, and in many cases have quit or tried to. Therefore, when these people drink, they feel guilty. Plus, there are many things intoxicated people do they feel guilty about when they sober up.

SomethingBetter

It’s not just alcohol, if I do something that I know is wrong I get a guilty feeling. I think once we make the promise to quit and then we don’t that is basically lying to ourselves and then the guilt follows.

Before I made any commitment to stop drinking I never felt guilty about it, things changed after I wanted a better life and didn’t hold to my promise.

Good to see you around Reggie…

EmeraldRose

Here's an interesting article:

Dealing With The Guilt And Shame Of Alcohol Abuse - Wellsphere

Glad to 'see' you Reggie. Hope all is well in your world.

Terminally Unique

Because all problem drinkers, once they have crossed a certain line whereby drinking obliterates their moral judgment, know perfectly well that they are not like most drinkers, and that it is simply wrong, wrong, wrong for them to drink, period, in spite of the "addiction is not a moral issue" campaigns. They intuitively and correctly realize that addiction is indeed a moral issue, regardless of what "experts" say, since their own native moral judgment recoils at their ghastly behavior while under the influence. This is not a bad thing, however, since a lack of guilt over such incidents would make someone a sociopath, and because contrary to conventional wisdom, moral judgment, if properly channeled, can prove to be last nail in the coffin of one's addiction.

CamilleBelle

In my opinion, I always feel guilty about hurting myself (health) and also worrying about hurting my relationships with others (which may or may not have been the case).

ReadyAndAble

Alcohol doesn't cause guilty feelings; sobriety does. It's the awareness that, at the very least, we've once again sold ourselves short.

alaskasunshine

I agree, its when I am sober and realize what I may have said or done. There is so much "unknown" when I drink because of the many different level of blackouts I reach. Even a partial, short blackout leaves me with things to imagine I may have said or did. The longer time period my blackouts cover the bigger the unknown gets and the pain increases until I reach the point of utter despair. The pain increases when I am faced with evidence such as waking up somewhere other than my bed, or in the same clothes I was wearing all day, or no clothes at all. And of course the physical symptoms that accompany this emotional pain are unbearable towards the end. I sometimes wonder when an alcholic is on his/her death bed, they must be experiencing that same feeling, but even worse because they know there is no hope left at all, like total failure. ..
Wow, horrible thought, sorry to be such a downer...but it will keep me sober for now, I think

instant

It might be the opposite of what we "feel" when we are intoxicated, as part of the reprogramming of our emotions by the addiction.

In my first few months of getting sober my emotions were very unstable, with many difficult periods long after the early withdrawal.

michelle01

I suffered terrible depressions and anxiety attacks after my binges, that would make me swear I would never drink again. They would take about 24 hours to clear up, then I'd typically start thinking I could have another drink...

I like now being able to wake up and not have to worry about what I may have done the night before. That was a big novelty for a long while.

least

I always felt guilty cause I knew deep down I didn't want to drink and felt horrible for failing once again.


No more waking up feeling guilty!

SamanthaIam

It seems like for me, alcohol would create physical symptoms too --- the anxiety and depression and general ickiness the day after felt a lot like guilt/shame to the extreme. Sure, I had plenty to be embarrassed about after drinking, but I think the chemistry of the alcohol exacerbated all those feelings, heightened the negativity.

redbrother

It's a side effect of the drug. You probably suffer from anxiety to begin with. You feel fear because your body does not create the right amount of GABA to feel normal. So then you feel fear over things you shouldn't feel anxious about. You probably started drinking to numb this, I don't know, I'm not you. Any way, when you start drinking you increase GABA, but at the same time you inhibit your brain from producing it on it's own.

The next day, when you're sober, you have an even lower amount of GABA going through your head then you did before. So now you're freaked out because you don't have the natural chemical that tells you to not be freaked out.

You're a brave person. You have been dealing with anxiety since forever. People without this problem get scared over real ****, but you get the same physiological responses of fear from something you said as someone gets from being shot at. In turn, you've become able to respond to stress in a way no one can F with. However, the day after you drink, you're going to be on such a low level of GABA that just saying hello to the neighbor next door is going to make you feel nuts.

Anxiety is the root of your problems, my son, but don't go on xanax. That drug is like alcohol times a thousand. Go on an SSRI. It'll make your sex life suck, but a better human being in the long run.

Don't give up. You are a fighter. Fight your best fight.

rove27

Oh, how I can relate!!
Guilt was the main motivator for me to quit! I felt extreme guilt the next day after alcoholic drinking, I knew I was hurting my body, I felt like a looser for not being able to stop despite trying. I also had the guilt of having to go to another liquor store, as I rotated them once again! I felt guilt having to repeat the same maddening cycle of addiction. I felt guilty throwing out the many bottles. I felt guilty about hidding this from EVERYONE! I felt guilty hidding the alcohol in sippy cups, thermos bottles, gym bottles etc. I felt guilt over everything involving my drinking because it went against my nature.
I now have such relief from sobriety, no more guilt!!

ErikT

Alcohol doesn't do that.....its the fact that we know we shouldn't be drinking that does that. Guilt sucks....makes us do very odd things. I lived alone....but STILL hid bottles all over my house. WTF???

caboblanco

the effects of a bad hangover include psychiatric issues such as anxiety, panic attacks and paranoia...all of which can lead to irrational thinking

yeahgr8

This is an easy one! We feel guilty because we are doing something that we know we shouldn't be doing.

We also feel down because even though we are now feeling guilty as we have done something we know we shouldn't be doing, we are also aware at some level that the likelihood is that we are going to end up doing it again.

At some point this turns into hopelessness and desperation and at that point we have a small window of opportunity to get help and do something about it before we start feeling better again and convince ourselves that we will never do the thing we have been doing ever again even though we have promised that to ourselves a 1000 times before...

ErikT

the back of my house is visible from the expressway here in Michigan....I was driving home one day (I was 6 months sober at the time)....I was about to get on the off ramp and just glanced over at my house.....there was a vodka bottle on the window ledge just outside the bathroom window. I had put it there..God knows when....never noticed it until then....