Depression

[supercas]

I used to think that alcohol causes depression. I found that a day or two after going on a binge I tend to have bouts of deep depression, more than usual. I actually went AF for three weeks, but the depression did'nt seem to go away. for the past three weeks I kinda got into drinking again, there seems to be a trend as I look at my drinktracker, about three, four days AF and the some heavy drinking with a day or two inbetween and then some heavy drinking before 3 to 4 days AF again. I am desperate to get this uot of my system!!!! any advice?

[louise]

Depression

Supercas, welcome to the site. It does sound like the depression is part of your withdrawal symptoms. The AF - binge pattern is probably related to getting it out of your system and then craving sets in. Can you use the tools you used to stay AF for 3 weeks again, and stay here for support, trying to use natural tools for depression support (like GABA)? If the depression continues after a significant time AF and you are using nutritional supplements, exercise, etc., then I would consider talking to a dr. about it and getting advice here as there seem to be some antidepressants that can make things worse as far as drinking for some people.

[Boss.man]

Depression

Supercas - I've struggled with similar depression. For me it took longer than three weeks. But what worked best to get me out was to concentrate on new activities, and to become more aware of my everyday self and enjoying life. Leaving alcohol leaves a hole, not only a chemical hole, but a void in my habits and everyday living. So I'm working on filling the hole up, so it doesn't exist any more.

I've often targeted my low feelings on mid-life crisis, and the feeling like nothing is important, and I can't do anything of importance to anyone any more. I'm working to replacing that thought with a simple childlike "look at the fluffy cloud" and really looking at it. Something to try, I guess.

[YoungAtHeart]

Depression

I've always been a little on the depressed side anyway, and it took awhile before I really started to feel better emotionally after I stopped drinking. But face it, does drinking really make you feel better, or just put off the moment of reckoning. Only after you have stopped will you be able to evaluate whether there may be an underlying problem.

Take care and good luck.

[nancy]

Depression

I think depression is really complicated. It can be caused by alcohol and it can also cause alcoholism as a symptom. You might have both going on. It doesn't sound like you have enough AF time in to clear the physical causes of depression linked to alcohol. You don't even clear it from your system with just 3-4 days AF. Can you try one week completely AF?
The other thing is, even if you go AF for a longer time, like a month (you went three weeks), I think you can experience a lot of emotions because you are not escaping. I think that is just temporary. I went through that myself before and I have read about it here on this website. You also should get some cognitive behavior therapy even before you quit drinking. There are a lot of things in terms of adjusting the way you deal with thoughts or problems that can really help you with depression.

Nancy

PS. Bossman, lol at the fluffy cloud.

[Lavande]

Depression

Hi supercas,

I agree with nancy above, sometimes depression is caused by alcohol, sometimes the depression comes first, then the alcohol. The latter was my case.
I was on an antidepressant for several years, it didn't really help much. I added a bottle or more of wine to the mix in an attempt to self-medicate. It made things even worse and I let it go on for years!
I finally dumped the antidepressant and started a good herbal product called Amoryn. After a couple of months on that I felt strong enough to give up my wine habit and have been AF since. Please feel free to PM me if you want more info, only too happy to help, if I can.

Wishing you the best,
Lav

[supercas]

Depression

thanx guys

thanx to all who replied!!! i now feel really part of the group and will most certainly try out all the advice!!

[Arrow]

Depression

Alcohol is a depressant.

Think about it - if you go to bed very drunk you wake up very early; the reason is that the booze has pushed down the arousal levels of your brain putting you into a deep dreamless sleep. Your brain tries to make up for this and jumps back with arousal levels over compensating and springing up early in the morning causing wakefulness n- and probably some crazy dreams you will remember.

Over a long period of time if you drink a lot (like us lot on these message boards) your base brain arousal levels will go down and it will take time for them to come back, and we're not talking a couple of days here. The good news is they do come back.

So keep at it and over time you will find your mood improves without the booze.

Just remember alcohol is a depressant.