kwe118

u can do it sistah!

wpainterw

Edelady: You say you're afraid and lonely. I'm that way too. I've not had a drink for a long long time but I'm still afraid and lonely. Now at my age, time is running out for me. I have few friends and rely mostly on books, TV and my dog. But the one bright spot in my life is that I no longer want to drink. That's something I never had before. I may not have done much else with my life but at least I've done that. And I know that if I were drinking now I'd be even more afraid and lonely.

W.

Xune

The only thing you can't control in your life is alcohol?

Look at it this way, you can control whether or not you take a drink.

Choose not to drink and get some help from your Doctor or support group.

serious

i think it's time you stop drinking. seems like the cycle of drinking and anxiety is not working out.
and by the way i thought i was the one with the "world's worst hangovers" and "world's worst anxiety"... my fiends seemed to shrug the drinking off, i always suffered way too much.

you've said that drinking made your depression and anxiety worse... so it seems like you are doing the right thing by stopping. many here went through the same patterns as you have... and in the end nobody ever regretted stopping drinking. but you do need to be sober for a while to really start seeing the light. it does get better.

Lily983

I can relate to a lot of what you're going through. I self medicated my anxiety disorder with wine, which only made the anxiety worse. Looking back it's hard for me to tell what came first: the drinking or the anxiety. Either way, quitting drinking is going to help you be able to treat whatever underlying issues you may have, but until you eliminate the alcohol it will be hard for you to differentiate how you're really feeling vs. depression/anxiety that comes with withdrawal. I have the same prescriptions that were written for you and with therapy they could work for you. I would especially suggest giving the lexapro a try. It's not fast acting but it will allow you to begin to "level out" and manage your anxiety. I will stress, however, not to being any of the medications until you've stopped drinking. They won't work properly and can be extremely dangerous when combined with the booze, especially Xanax. I don't mean to lecture as I'm not far into recovery either, but I've been where you are and you will feel better. I was the same way. A bottle of wine would take away the anxiety, but it would only come back stronger the next day. You don't have to feel that way and you are fortunate that you can make a change now before the negative consequences gain in severity.

Best of luck to you! Stay strong!

Junebugapril

Hi Ede, we are here for you no matter what. I am also a wine drinker. I love the taste of red wine, and I was downing at least a bottle a day until five days ago. I am glad you had the courage to come back to us.
Hugs,
JunebugApril