Mallard666

Well day 12 almost over, had a good day at work full of energy, but tonight hit a wall, little anxiety came from nowhere and just fell abit pi...d off really maybe the lack of sleep catching up.
Well nobody said it was easy, chin up better days to come, this goes out to anyone struggling tonight,this is a bad day but a drink ant gona make it no better, and I will be thankful I didn't tommorow

shockozulu

Good thinking. Congrats on 12 days too.

Dib42

Those days suck... Especially if you've had a nice run of good days.

Drinking definately doesn't help... In my case it makes it worse for the next couple days/week. At this point I'd rather power through one bad day than create more bad days by drinking.

JC812

Anxiety is a really difficult thing to handle even without alcohol, but after using alcohol to self medicate it turns into a vicious cycle. Good for you for not giving in. Not giving in to self medication for anxiety is something have and will struggle with all my life and I can relate to how hard it is.

Scram

Completely agree on this. I also have issues with anxiety. One of the primary reasons for me deciding to change my drinking lifestyle was the anxiety I felt the next day. It was as if the alcohol could temporarily calm my anxiety and fear, only to have it come back twice as hard the next day, if not more. Hangovers took on a whole new element - no longer just physical but psychologically painful.

LaughAway

Thank you for your post! I did not realize that anxiety could be increased after drinking. Wow, so many things make sense to me now!

Dib42

Oh Boy Howdy does it ever increase after drinking.

LaughAway

Does it cause your heart to race? Or cause weird thoughts? Or is just a sense of fear/anxiety? Curious of symptoms I've seen in my RAH in the past.

Dib42

I'd wake up with my heart racing, especially if i was taking a nap. I'd have panic attacks (mild for a panic attack, but severe for anxiety.) Social anxiety was huge, fealt hugely uncomfortable at stores, or in public. Would race home and try to avoid my kids, as they'd induce more of my anxiety. I had a wide range of weird thoughts, and would uncontrolably voice parts of them, terrets syndrome-like.

I have a bit of General anxiety and social anxiety already. But it takes on a whole new world after a night of drinking. I can deal with the physical hangover, but the mindf**k that goes with it, can be overwhelming, and often I'd drink to get out that state of head ASAP. but that only makes it way worse the next day.

I think there are a lot of people who binge drink because of the anxiety that drinking induces.

LaughAway

OMG....thank you so much for sharing. My RAH's heart would race like a horse. It almost would feel like it was going to come out of his chest. And now I get why he wouldn't leave the house for a day or two after a binge session. I just thought he was wicked hung over.

Topherrm

Good for you. I'm on day one. I'm glad to hear you are doing well. Gives me hope.

Dib42

It was a long time before I realized that it was the liquor that'd cause that anxiety. I thought the drinking was helping me cope, didn't realize that was just one of the many problems that come with drinking. In the beginning I'd only get anxiety if I drank way too much (and I've always drank alot, so way to much was an ungodly amount) I often thought that anxiety was just related to me blacking out and afraid of being stupid, saying something stupid or doing something stupid.

As the years went on, it became a thing where if I drank only enough to get drunk, I'd get the anxiety the next day. I thought I was on my way out, started looking into various life insurance policies, (which is a good thing to have even if you don't think you're going to die soon.) but yeah . . . The anxiety can be really bad.

Plus when you're hung over, often people will drink lots of coffee.... and the caffiene can increase that heart racing anxiety as well.

Dib42

Congradulations on Day 1!!! It is the most important day.

Mallard666

Dib42 so right again my friend