JVO15

So I'm an alcoholic who also suffers from anxiety and panic attacks. Are the two related in my case? Almost certainly.
Non drinkers with panic disorder might end up in the ER with symptoms of a heart attack. Or feel like they are having a heart attack for 20 minutes before they go back to normal.

Anyway, question is, are your withdrawals pretty continuous over the course of your recovery? Or do they sort of come and go? Like waves of symptoms that might end without doing anything specific about them.
(Think meds or another glass of poison)

Just confused

ScottFromWI

Welcome back JVO. In general, there is an initial or "acute" withdrawal that lasts for a few days up to a couple of weeks. After that most of the initial physical symptoms lessen considerably.

Anxiety and panic for me was a completely separate and distinct problem that I needed to treat accordingly through counseling/therapy and other methods.

Quitting drinking completely is a necessary first step however as most of the meds and therapies/techniques don't work if you are still drinking alcohol. Not exactly clear - are you still drinking on and off or have you actually quit?

JVO15

Thanks Scott. I am still drinking on and off, knowing full well that that's not really an option for me. I've seen the doc and tried out two things so far. Also attend AA meetings once or twice a week that helps me keep my head on straight for a few days.
Just trying to wrap my head around the stuff that DEFINITELY coincides with drinking heavily but also seems to coincide with not drinking much in my case.
6 hours of withdrawl like symptoms then nothing for a day is what had me posting

ScottFromWI

I would have to say from experience that you likely won't get any relief from the anxiety and panic until you quit for good. On and off drinking pretty much resets the whole thing, and in many cases makes it worse each time. It's called "kindling".

I won't lie, the initial stages of WD's really suck. But for me the anxiety got to a point where I literally had to drink every day just to keep my heart rate and BP down. My resting heart rate was about 100-110 and my BP was sky high until i had my first drink of the day. And after a while, drinking doesn't even help with the panic.

I can tell you with 100% certainty though that getting and staying sober for an extended period of time will help - and you can do a lot of other things to help via therapy, counseling - maybe even meds if you want to explore that. But over time your mind can literally re-wire itself to really cut back on the anxiety and almost eliminate the panic.

tekink

Yes, for me, the symptoms come and go in waves, when I'd relapse in the past it would make thing worse for me and the waves got bigger. Over time they do dissipate and things get easier the more and more time I go without having a drink. These days the waves are not that big and they are further and further apart but I have a bit over one year of sobriety under my belt now.