Alcohol, Anxiety and your opinion

[alive&kicking]

Hey guys and girls!

I guess I'll put a condensed version of my panic story here because some might find it of use.

At 18yrs old I started getting panic attacks when hungover. These panic attacks started to enter my life, mainly at night without alcohol. I went onto citalopram and quit drinking for about 9 months.

I came off citalopram too early. One drink would send me into a horrid anxiety spiral. Depression also hit me for the first time in my life. After an attempt to go onto fluoxetine (prozac), it made me extremely anxious all the time for about 5 weeks until the doctor and I decided it was never going to work.

I then went onto escitalopram. Absolutely brilliant stuff. Drank on it and generally had no problems with my mental health. I also worked pretty hard with a therapist at changing a few things.

I finished university and came off escitalopram. No bad anxiety from alcohol hangovers. My mental health is pretty strong except now, 3-4 months after stopping, I am getting the anxiety from alcohol hangovers.

It seems obvious really. Quit drinking right? At 21, living in a drinking culture, it's difficult. I've done it before and it wasn't all that fun going out whilst sober. Anyone got any advice, maybe certain drinks that cause less anxiety? Anyone want to tell me to stop being an idiot and just give up binge drinking? Anyone got much experience of this, I think it may be common?

Just looking to have a chat really. Cheers all :)

[paula lynne]

my new experience is...alcohol makes it ten times worse. alcohol is a stimulant so makes all anxiety symptoms much much worse. only just realising this after ten years. after a while, it becomes a depressant too, adding to our low and depressing thoughts. x:)

[Bud]

If you can really push yourself, stop the drinking entirely. In time, you will notice how much of better person you will be. I'm 26, and when I look back at all my drunken nights, none if it was worth it.

In the past year, Ive seen first hand what alcohol can do to someone with panic (my girlfriend). We have both stopped, and are working very hard together to stay clear away from the drinks.

Good luck....
Bud

[kibbutz83]

Hi Bud, just wanna say well done to you and your girlfriend :) Once we realize that our negative behaviour is making us so much worse, and giving us no pleasure, surely that's gotta be the time to wake up? Hey Alive&Kicking, you won't be for much longer if you don't start looking after your body! :( I have realized at a huge cost to myself, that we just can't take our bodies for granted! :) They are too precious....

[Andromeda]

i am 21 and have given up drinking for a year now , i think that if you want to keep the anxiety away you need to cut alcohol out of your life , only people with no personality need alcohol to make their night 'good'

yeah , sometimes it is no fun being the sober one , but what's even worse is having panic attacks and full blown anxiety the following day after a heavy one .

I mean if you're going to drink , then don't drink to get drunk ! Have one or two , don't over do it

but again i think it'd be best just getting rid all together

[sarah_85]

my first ever epidsode of anxiety was on a hangover day, abaout 2 months ago. stopped drinking there and then, but anxiety and panic attacks continued. then had a glass of chanpagne at a wedding and after a relative anxiety/panic free week that tipped me back over the edge. im not sure if maybe it was party psychological but i've resolved that maybe drinking isn't for me now. i really miss it, especially as all my friends drink when we go out n stuff. however, if anxiety and panic has taught me anything, it's that the body is a finely tuned machine, and putting anything crappy into it that alters the way it works is probably asking for trouble, even to the extent of coffee and chocolate (probably the hardest to give up!) likewise, if you exercise, your body is enriched and this helps to curb the panic and improve your overall mood because it produces natural chemicals rather than introducing foreign ones.
if you are going to drink, i'd say maybe avoid things like alcopops that are choc-full of caffeine, e numbers and additives. maybe it's best to stick to either wine or spirits? not an expert tho really.
unfortunately, none of us have chosen this and i guess we all have to deal with it as best we can. i really hope you manage to find a balance that keeps you healthy and happy in both body and mind :yesyes:
Sarah x

[so shaky]

Hi its a relief to find everyone saying the same things as my experiences. I mix in a group who socialise involving drinking every weekend. It is very difficult not to drink with them. I have had some terrible panic attacks in recent months - all of which come from a hangover. I think the feelings/symptoms I get when I wake up with a hangover are so similar to the start of a panic attack that I immediately find myself dealing with an attack and the spiral begins. :doh:

Two weeks ago I had a terrible one after a night out drinking wine and decided its just not worth it. :weep:Once Ive had a few the common sense that tells me to slow down or stop is lost in the happy fuzzy tipsy feeling and I just keep drinking.

So I have decided to stop and I have not had a drink since and feel sooooo much better. I have stomach problems too so I just blamed that and told my friends I cant drink with my stomach tablets. I go out less and when I do I am designated driver - which makes me very popular with friends! I have also started to arrange other types of night out (theatre, cinema etc) so that those who want to drink can go on afterwards but those who don't still have a good night out. :D

Its working for me. I miss drinking with my pals but nothing is worth how bad I feel when I have the morning after attack!

hope this helps :yesyes:

[Anxious_gal]

on a tv show about irish women drinking, they said more than 4 drinks at a time is considered binge drinking!
also how women fall into the trap of having a bottle wine in the evenings and then not recognizing when they get addicted because wine is "posh" and they aren't homeless or drinking during the day.
i was surprised how ignorant people can be, but growing up in Ireland where drinking too more is normalized and sometimes "cool".

I think the dangers of smoking , drugs and alcohol should be taught in school, maybe as part of the science class.
some people just do not know how it can affect their bodies and mind.


also my mum is addicted to alcohol, she has all the signs of being agoraphobic, undiagnosed of course, she always had problems going places alone.
she used the alcohol as a way to cope with the anxiety but then the alcohol makes the anxiety worse and last time she was hung over , she was very very ill, full on body and head shaking!

oh another thing i only just found out! is that the minute you are sick from alcohol is means you have already got alcohol poisoning, obviously not enough to die from or need hospital attention.
there i was thinking that trowing up from drinking was normal, other signs are confusion, not responding, not waking up fast enough........
that's pretty scary considering the amount of times you would have passed out in bed from drink!!!

[jackie13]

Hi there

I can only tell you my experiences. Alcohol has been the touch paper for all my anxiety/panic problems. It started back in 2008 Christmas when I had consumed far too much the next morning I was hit by panic/terror/anxiety, it was so bad my husband had to take me to the clinic where I spoke to a specialist doctor. He explained exactly what was happening in my mind and body due to the alcohol. I still enjoy a drink now but know exactly when to stop, I enjoy a couple of glasses of red wine but never get drunk or pass out. It's finding a happy medium if you do want to drink. I know for a fact that if I had contined to drink like that night there would be awful consequences.

I have a very good friend called Billy, he is 76 and a alcoholic, he hasn't had a drink for over 30 years and runs 2 branches of AA. He was worth a fortune but ended up on the embankment. He is perfectly fine now and has built his life back up, but the dark pit of dispair when he did drink was the wake up call to quit.

Hope this helps xx

[heavenly]

I don't really drink anymore, I did in my youth but now, probably have one or two, every 2-3 months, just got bored of it really and the older I got, the hangovers just don't agree with me! Now I am having anxiety/panic episodes, I won't be having another drink for the foreseeable, I don't want to risk anything which will affect my mood, which is why I gave up smoking recently too, because nicotine is a stimulant. Just don't want to risk anything like that.

[unspoken]

It took me a long time to link panic and alcohol. I didn't drink much until my third year of university. Then I finally 'let go' of the fear that had been stopping me from getting drunk up till then I think. I learned that alcohol stops me sleeping. So I'll go to bed, sleep maybe 2 hours, and wake up feeling sick and weak and shaky. I spent early mornings on the bathroom floor curled up feeling too dizzy to stand up and too sick to move. I did realise that it was at least partially in my head because if I could calm my breathing down, I'd start to feel a bit better.

The last few times I drank alcohol, I felt panicky pretty soon after drinking, before the hangover. Even the last time I had just 1 glass of wine, I felt really weird and out of it afterwards. It scared me and I finally managed to give up drinking. I haven't seen any of my university friends since then though. I swear I would never drink alcohol if my friends didn't. If they banned alcohol, I'd be happy. I hate the taste and I hate the effect it has on people. How they become irresponsible and selfish. If I took so much paracetamol I threw up and passed out, people would say I'd taken an overdose and take me to hospital. Yet people routinely poison themselves with alcohol for fun as part of our culture. It's crazy.

Knowing all this doesn't help when your friends are drinking though. Tell them that you can't drink for medical reasons and try to go places where there is more to do than just drink. I'm scared of seeing my university friends because all they will want to do is go to bars where the music is too loud to talk and get really drunk.

[ditzygirl]

As someone who has suffered from anxiety for a long time and used alcohol for a crutch - my advise is quit.

I have wasted too long on that cycle, giving up alcohol or cutting right down will probalby change your life, its tough to socialise if your the only one not drinking amongst ur friends.

I have given up completely for now and I might have the odd drink in the future but I feel so much better. The anxiety is much better by not drinking and I am starting to do different hobbies which means new friends too.

Don't be afraid to change your life to suit your health - it WILL be worth it.

[Spencer]

Hi guys. I'm really new to feeling this anxious. I've not been diagnosed yet but am on holiday and therefore cannot see my GP. Does anyone think it will hurt to have one or two drinks of alcohol?? Social drinking that it not as a support mechanism. X

[DANRST]

I started drinking every evening about 3 years ago to cope with stress and my anxiety started just over 2 years ago, i didn't think there was a big relation between the two because i quit for 10 weeks at the beginning of this year and felt no better, but now i realise it takes a long time to get over anxiety and i need stop for alot longer to come to a proper conclusion, the only problem now is stopping again!:scared15: