Anxiety

[Zeta]

By far, my worst symptom of withdrawal appears to be anxiety. I don't get the shakes nor the DT's thank God. No seizures...But the anxiety is through the roof!

I never realized that anxiety could be such a horrible, PHYSICAL symptom on top of the mental/emotional toil it can take. Now while I realize we all WD individually due to our own unique chemistries, I still wanted to ask others what their anxiety symptoms are like, how they cope and so forth.

For years, all the way up to about a year ago, I never had anxiety/WD after a hard night of drinking. I would have the obligatory hangover the next day, and then after that, I was good to go with no obvious after effects. This is why it was so easy to do it all over again the next weekend!

Then suddenly, I noticed it would take me two days to recover. Hmmm.. Weird, but whatever, I am getting older I told myself. No biggie. Still worth the good times!

Then, I started to have WD symptoms days after a binge and I didn't know what they were. I honestly thought I was dying. During the week I would feel so spacey, so edgy, so anxious, foggy brained...I really thought I had a terminal illness. This of course caused me to drink more since it was the only thing I could do that would make all those feelings go away. I feel like a fool, all that time, increasing the very activity which was causing the symptoms (and making them worse)!

Now, I notice hyper-anxiety and sometimes even panic attacks (the start of them or full on) by the second day of AF after a binge. My anxiety seems worse in the morning and at night. The symptoms tend to be a whole body anxiousness but primarily focused in the chest.

Sometimes I feel like the world is closing in, sort of like I am about to lose consciousness which I think is the start of a panic attack. Then it goes away almost as quickly as it came, but of course, I'm anxious about THAT.

Days 3 and 4 AF seem to be the worst for me. It doesn't seem to be until at least after day 5 AF that my body begins to feel normal again.

So how about you? Does this sound familiar at all? Besides prescription drugs and abstinence, how do you cope?

[Elpis]

Anxiety

Hi Zeta,

It’s hard to say what is going on. Some degree of anxiety is normal if you are withdrawing from alcohol. If it is true that you have an organic anxiety disorder (AD) then there is good news: of all the illnesses on the depression-anxiety spectrum, AD is the easiest to treat medically. It is hard to say which came first, the AD or the alcohol (AL). It is possible that the AL is/was covering your AD symptoms. It is also possible that that you have always had a mild case of AD and that AD is provoked by the loss of AL. Of course it is possible that you do not have AD at all and that it is a physical disorder such as thyroid trouble. I strongly suggest that you see a health care provider who can sort this out for you. AD will likely sabotage your efforts to moderate your drinking. Best of luck!

E-

[JackieClaire]

Anxiety

Hi Zeta,
Ditto Elpis. Try and see your Doc as soon as you can.

All the luck in the world.

Jackie xxx

[Derek HW]

Anxiety

Breathing into a paper bag is good for panic attacks.
As I see it, anxiety/ depression are all part of the package.
If you have been over-drinking for a long time then that has camouflaged your existing anxiety.
Why wouldn't you be anxious? Someone (you) removed your crutch. You are bound to worry about falling over. Go to the doc. Don't worry though. You are not dying. You are battling. If you eat peppermints every day then it'd be hard to give up peppermints. They are part of you. What you are.
Don't give up.

[brightlite]

Anxiety

Zeta,

I noticed that I started to have anxiety and mild panic attacks in my 20's. Guess what I did....I self medicated with AL. Now I'm 47 and everytime I get up to day 3 or 4 without AL, I have major anxiety. It could be due to withdrawl and it could be an anxiety disorder that I've always drank through. Anyway, I have started to take baclofen for the past two weeks and am trying to sustain from drinking and the baclofen has greatly reduced my anxiety. One other thing, however that has crept up lately is hypoglycemia. I've noticed if my blood/sugar drops too low, I feel jittery and slightly naseaus and need to eat something (usually a snack bar) to feel better.

[Boss.man]

Anxiety

Zeta,

I wrote a story which talks about this: https://www.mywayout.org/community/f8...-ii-35612.html

In my reading, there is a very real source of anxiety, or what in my story is the "box of kittens". It's called the Amygdala, or "lizard brain", and you can google both these up for more info.

This part of the brain rewards food, accomplishment, and achievement. It is easily hijacked by chemicals so it is the root of drug dependence. Basically alcohol is "stroking" what originally is the reward center for killing a big bear and sharing it with your family.

The lizard brain is an older part, and cannot think logically or be approached with logic. Logic, and language is handled by your higher more modern brain. The lizard brain IS in control of a lot of biological processes, including adrenalin, fight or flight response, heartbeat and blood pressure. So if the lizard brain gets panicked, then it can communicate that panic throughout your body using chemical and your autonomic system. Not pretty.

I've found for the quickest response, buy Melatonin in dropper form, and take a half dose. Buy Natrol Liquid Melatonin, Supplement. So this is 0.5mg of melatonin. This will make you slightly sleepy. People have reported that Benadryl pills also work. Probably any antihistamine that makes you "dopey" will work. Avoid anything containing Acetaminophen/Tylenol as this can cause severe liver problems if you body is full of alcohol byproducts. Aspirin/Ibuprofen is ok.

Also for me, L-Glutamine (500mg) and L-Theanine (200mg) every four hours will help quite a bit. The second one is hard to find. Amazon.com: L-Theanine Suntheanine 200mg 60 VegiCaps: Health & Personal Care. These will not make you sleepy.

Valerian works. But it makes me a little seasick and the effect lasts 24 hours for me. So I don't use it.

For longer term anxiety, you need to communicate with your lizard brain. So basically you need to use your brain and your autonomic system to send messages back to say "don't panic, everything is just fine". So that means proper eating and hydration. Exercise helps a lot even if just get out and go walking. Slow and deep breaths can help calm your mind. Faith will help, whether it is faith in yourself that you can achieve things, or faith in a higher power to help you out. Accomplishments help, so go get some cleaning done, or do a puzzle, or anything where you can show your "lizard" that you are a capable adult that can accomplish things.

Until March 2009 I was a chronic worrier, and suffered huge multi-day panic attacks a couple times a month. My blood pressure was high. Since working on breathing, exercises, self affirmation and mindfulness, I've become much more calm. My blood pressure is now routinely at 110/70 and has been as low as 100/65 in recent weeks. It can be done. Good luck!

[Zeta]

Anxiety

Thank you for the feedback everyone. Bossman, very helpful as well. I recently went in for a full physical, blood work, the works, and everything came back normal. Even my BP is always on the lower side. I'm dead serious about moderating to full out abstaining. This is no way to live and if AL is the primary reason for this suffering than I just don't see the worth to drink anymore.