Willbilly

It seems my worst anxiety occurs on the weekend. I have plenty to do but it always seems to ramp up as Saturday/Sunday progresses. I'm not sure if its latent from weekend benders as i always started drinking early, usually around 10am or so.

Be123

Hi - how long have you been sober for?

ScottFromWI

Very well could be - we are creatures of habit, and those patterns of behavior we learned by drinking all weekend take time to re-learn. Is your anxiety a diagnosed condition that you have sought treatment for or more of a self-observed phenomena?

Anna

Yes, that could be it. Hopefully, as your recovery continues, the weekend anxiety will lessen.

Willbilly

Over two months now.

Willbilly

I've sought treatment. They've given me something they say should work. Doesnt seem to do much. Maybe just more time.

Be123

We are all different and I am well aware some people need extra and medical help for various physical or mental things in their life.

But my story is that I was anxious as hell for 70 days and then slowly, without me noticing it, it went away. So much so that I only realised how heightened my anxiety had been was when it went !

ScottFromWI

Time does help, but ( at least in my experience ) it's not the only thing needed. When you say "something" do you mean a med? I tried a couple of different ones myself and my experience was that they only treated the symptoms...not the core problem. Kind of like taking a painkiller for a pulled muscle/tendon - it might mask the pain for a bit but you need to do physical therapy/exercise to actually repair and heal the muscle.

tornrealization

I have to say the same. I had NO IDEA how much of my anxiety was caused by drinking. I think it took about 2 months also to be relieved of a good amount of it.

least

My early recovery anxiety got a lot better after a few months. Give it time.

nez

In early recovery I experienced a lot of anxiety due to a nagging feeling that something was missing. It slowly sunk in that sobriety had everything I needed; and so therefore nothing I needed was missing. I just needed to get comfortable with all that sobriety provided to me and to the fact that my needs were being met. The results have exceeded my wildest imagination!

D122y

I had anxiety for well over a year. It came and went.

Now with my clean time the anxiety is less, but now I have new issues.

Now I seem to see and understand things more clearly and that causes a different level of stress.

The brain damage is permanent.

I had a big evaluation at work today. We get them every couple of years or so.

I handled it better than ever before.

I am celebrating with Taco Bell and a relaxing night.

Best ever.

Thanks.

MaximusD

Willbilly, I haven't drank for 6 months but in my previous sobrieties I have found that my anxiety hangs around after quitting to some degree. It decreases a bit but I have just had to learn to live with it. I think that is one reason why I drank because when I was buzzing I didn't have anxiety anymore. We all know how that goes though. Guess what, after 20+ year drinking history the anxiety is still there It IS better without the booze though.

anxiousrock

I'm the same way, and generally late morning, early afternoon....when I used to either start or plan my drinking.
now I try to get up fairly early, do an AA meeting, and then go for a walk.
When I'm tired and cold (I live in canada), I dont want to drink lol.

Mizz

Anxiety seems to be one thing a lot of us have in common. I do think with time and with patience your anxiety will lessen. You are rewiring yourself. Its not an easy road. I assure you it will get better as long as you see it through.

This forum has saved my ass a few times over the last 3+ months. I am forever grateful. Perhaps when you are getting anxious you can log on here and get some support. Time is a gift. I believe it.

advbike

I have found after several months of sobriety I still get anxious thoughts, but I am more easily able to just look at them, realize they are out of proportion to whatever the event or concern was, and then dismiss them, or maybe just set aside to look at again later. Usually I forget that I was even worried. As opposed to the madness that happens when I am drinking, lol.

Because usually the anxiety begins with the way my brain latches onto a concern and magnifies it. When I'm drinking those thoughts spiral out of control but never when I am in long-term sobriety. That for me is the single biggest benefit of sober living.

Willbilly

This maybe really close to it. All weekend I'm filled with the feeling that I'm forgetting something, theres soemthing I need to do. Then the anxiety slowly builds. Once I'm back to my normal work week I'm really reallly busy and it doesn't bother me.

Surrendered19

Hi Willbilly. I've bored many others with my observations about boredom. I've examined the feelings of boredom, and the attendant bad consequences for us addicts, and I've concluded that we are not accustomed to peace and quiet. We aren't comfortable with peace and quiet, so we jump to "I'm bored" and then "I'm missing out" and then "Let's have a drink."

I encourage you next time you feel like you are missing something and are "bored", just re-think that. Sit with it a while. If you are with some free time, just enjoy it and don't view it as being bored. View it as a necessary and life-sustaining piece of time that you can simply enjoy.

OK. Now that I've bored you . . .

EndGameNYC

If you drank hard on the weekends, and even if you didn't, you may have been anxious all along without necessarily experiencing the anxiety in the same way as you do now. Which is cause for more anxiety.

I was very much aware that, for a time, drinking helped ease my anxiety. I looked forward to it before I started drinking on any particular day or night. And then it got much worse, making the time between drinks unbearable.

I've gotten better with working through or with my anxiety. I was wreck when I was very young. It changes.

There is a large body of literature to explore about weekend anxiety from many different perspectives.

D122y

An old quote that I have been using lately is...

comfortable being uncomfortable.

sort of a life secret I figure.

Love love love.

Thanks.