Does alcohol cause or alleviate anxiety?
Forum Leader
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
Absolutely. For me, each return to drinking made my anxiety progressively worse too..and it took longer and longer to finally break free every time. Another scary thing is that when I did finally start putting some sober time under my belt and then returning to drinking, the anxiety and all the other bad stuff that went along with my drinking returned almost immediately. The only solution is to not pick up the first one.
Hears The Voice
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Unshackled
Posts: 7,901
http://www.alcoholjournal.org/articl...220-X/abstract
It's science and ****. 
The present study investigated whether nitric oxide (NO)–producing neurons localized in brain areas related to anxiety are also activated after ethanol withdrawal....The results show that ethanol withdrawal activates NO-producing neurons in the...brain areas implicated in the modulation of emotional, autonomic, and motor expression of anxiety-like behaviors.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 1,130
I was hearing the other day about someone in his sixties who is a chronic alky but he won't get help and his excuse is that he needs alcohol to relieve is anxiety so he function in social situations.
It's nonsense. He's drinking alone most of the time and he's really anxious.
It's nonsense. He's drinking alone most of the time and he's really anxious.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 525
I thought about this a lot, because my mom had terrible anxiety. She was a good person at heart, but the anxiety and low self esteem afflicted her.
She would drink starting at 5pm, a manhattan or two (basically 5-6 units of jim beam), and then move on to 3-5 glasses of wine until 9pm. This never increased much beyond that, and i don't remember seeing my mom drunk or slurry. But i do remember seeing her upset and irritable, usually around the 5pm timeframe.
She short-term medicated with alcohol. It didn't work for her for 30+ years. She and my uncle are my role models on why alcohol causes problems instead of solves them.
She would drink starting at 5pm, a manhattan or two (basically 5-6 units of jim beam), and then move on to 3-5 glasses of wine until 9pm. This never increased much beyond that, and i don't remember seeing my mom drunk or slurry. But i do remember seeing her upset and irritable, usually around the 5pm timeframe.
She short-term medicated with alcohol. It didn't work for her for 30+ years. She and my uncle are my role models on why alcohol causes problems instead of solves them.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: TheSouth
Posts: 21
I am a true believer that it does cause anxiety. My worst day was 12/13/14 and this was early in the day before alcohol had even been consumed. I did have some beers the previous two nights and I think this increased the anxiety.
My day was horrible all day...the alcohol temporarily eased my anxiety but then it all went to hell quickly.
I have noticed my anxiety increase some today since I would like to have a beer, but it was nothing like Saturday. The anxiety was hands down worse with alcohol, I thought I might even have a panic attack last week.
Stay strong.
My day was horrible all day...the alcohol temporarily eased my anxiety but then it all went to hell quickly.
I have noticed my anxiety increase some today since I would like to have a beer, but it was nothing like Saturday. The anxiety was hands down worse with alcohol, I thought I might even have a panic attack last week.
Stay strong.
...holds the key
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Texas
Posts: 7,065
The last four months I was drinking I would wake up in the middle of the night literally clawing my chest from panic and anxiety. I would feel relaxed when I went to bed ( drunk) but always woke up filled with panic!!
It was awful!
When I think about drinking now...I play the tape forward to those AWFUL anxiety attacks in the middle if the night! No thanks! Totally not worth it!!
It was awful!
When I think about drinking now...I play the tape forward to those AWFUL anxiety attacks in the middle if the night! No thanks! Totally not worth it!!
Guest
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,476
Drunk, no anxiety, sober.... Tons of it.
Which is why I drank..... That's the cyclical nature of alcoholism.
Does this just go away naturally?
Seems it does for some people, others need a lot of help.
I fall into the 2nd category.
I stayed sober 2 years from 08-10, my emotions ran riot all the time.
Seems I wasn't one of the people that could just quit drinking and all would come good.
Time is the only true indicator AF... Give it time and effort and find out which type you are.
Which is why I drank..... That's the cyclical nature of alcoholism.
Does this just go away naturally?
Seems it does for some people, others need a lot of help.
I fall into the 2nd category.
I stayed sober 2 years from 08-10, my emotions ran riot all the time.
Seems I wasn't one of the people that could just quit drinking and all would come good.
Time is the only true indicator AF... Give it time and effort and find out which type you are.
AlmA
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Marbella Spain
Posts: 714
IT CAUSES ANXIETY DEFINITELY...
First you think it helps you get knocked out but it worsens it in the long run!!!
And at the end it creates more anxiety you drink to calm and every time you are anxious then you drink to clam... but what you have is anxiety to drink!!!
THE CIRCLE!
First you think it helps you get knocked out but it worsens it in the long run!!!
And at the end it creates more anxiety you drink to calm and every time you are anxious then you drink to clam... but what you have is anxiety to drink!!!
THE CIRCLE!
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
It's a chicken-and-egg type question. There have been lots of discussions about drinking and anxiety here on SR and this is also an area that has been studied extensively using a variety of scientific methods -- lots to read on the web if you are interested.
Basically, very often people who have anxiety problems by default (social anxiety, performance anxiety, phobias, PTSD, etc) pick up drinking because the immediate, acute effects of alcohol tend to be sedating. And usually we do not experience a worsening soon, sometimes can go on drinking for years before the kind of physical dependence sets in where we start to get more serious withdrawal symptoms, including increased anxiety. It's because alcohol rewires how our brains work and respond to things; it takes time but the changes can be very persistent, some of them probably life long. The good news is that the anxiety is something that usually gets much better with continued abstinence and healthy management, but we need to get through the first few months of adaptation period when it often gets worse (since there is no acute treatment anymore) before it gets better. This may be what you are experiencing. The good thing to do is to learn new anxiety management methods during this time. I definitely spent a great deal of my time doing this in the beginning because anxiety was my number one problem associated with drinking, and I know I'm prone to it to start with. These days I hardly experience anxiety that limit my life in any significant way, in part probably also because I've learned to deal with it much better than ever before. Many of the things I've learned in therapy also help a lot but I would say we need to find the most suitable approach to us as individuals. I also tried medication (an AD) earlier this summer and it did seem to reduce my anxiety a bit, but caused many other weird symptoms so I stopped and did not try another one because by that time I felt quite comfortable with non-medication coping techniques.
There is also a difference between stress (caused by external factors) and anxiety (generated within our brain/mind often without apparent external cause), which is good to keep in mind in my opinion because they often requite different kinds of attention.
The thing is, alcohol is never a good remedy for anxiety as its "positive" effects last for only a very short while, and it makes everything much worse in the long run. For me one of the main reasons why I put down the drink in the end was because my anxiety got so extreme in the end, often in the range of paranoia, regular panic attacks, you name it, and I just could not live like that anymore. If you suffer with anxiety, I really suggest that you do things now to learn to cope with it in healthy ways.
Basically, very often people who have anxiety problems by default (social anxiety, performance anxiety, phobias, PTSD, etc) pick up drinking because the immediate, acute effects of alcohol tend to be sedating. And usually we do not experience a worsening soon, sometimes can go on drinking for years before the kind of physical dependence sets in where we start to get more serious withdrawal symptoms, including increased anxiety. It's because alcohol rewires how our brains work and respond to things; it takes time but the changes can be very persistent, some of them probably life long. The good news is that the anxiety is something that usually gets much better with continued abstinence and healthy management, but we need to get through the first few months of adaptation period when it often gets worse (since there is no acute treatment anymore) before it gets better. This may be what you are experiencing. The good thing to do is to learn new anxiety management methods during this time. I definitely spent a great deal of my time doing this in the beginning because anxiety was my number one problem associated with drinking, and I know I'm prone to it to start with. These days I hardly experience anxiety that limit my life in any significant way, in part probably also because I've learned to deal with it much better than ever before. Many of the things I've learned in therapy also help a lot but I would say we need to find the most suitable approach to us as individuals. I also tried medication (an AD) earlier this summer and it did seem to reduce my anxiety a bit, but caused many other weird symptoms so I stopped and did not try another one because by that time I felt quite comfortable with non-medication coping techniques.
There is also a difference between stress (caused by external factors) and anxiety (generated within our brain/mind often without apparent external cause), which is good to keep in mind in my opinion because they often requite different kinds of attention.
The thing is, alcohol is never a good remedy for anxiety as its "positive" effects last for only a very short while, and it makes everything much worse in the long run. For me one of the main reasons why I put down the drink in the end was because my anxiety got so extreme in the end, often in the range of paranoia, regular panic attacks, you name it, and I just could not live like that anymore. If you suffer with anxiety, I really suggest that you do things now to learn to cope with it in healthy ways.
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