Alcohol & Anxiety

[BxBowler]

Hi Everyone. I'm curious to hear some different experiences regarding alcohol induced anxiety. I just want to quickly share my story and see if anyone has experienced anything similar. I'm gonna be 33 soon and I used to binge drink from around my late 20s until about close to a year ago. I first started experiencing anxiety in August 2011. Like many people I didn't understand what was happening and why it was happening (can't say I do now completely). I tried my best to minimize stress and I made an effort to quit the binge drinking. For the most part I was successful, but I did have a few lapses along the way. It wasn't so much the physiological need to consume alcohol, but rather the emotional need. I say emotional in the sense that the pop of the wine cork or the gush of the beer tap always signaled a good time, and who doesn't like having a good time? I did drink at home, sometimes often and sometimes infrequently, but most of the drinking was in social situations. As I noticed the anxiety getting much worse with alcohol I really started cutting down even more. For a little while now I have been able to control the drinking to about 2 to 3 drinks at most, and perhaps once or twice a week; this is always beer or wine, as I don't touch hard liquor. However, I'm starting to notice that even with about two or three drinks (hardly enough to get me drunk, just a light buzz), my anxiety flares up much more than normal the next day or two. I've decided at this point to cut out alcohol entirely. I was also recently diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, which is finally being corrected with a CPAP machine, but was the culprit for a lot of the anxiety, and according to my sleep doctor, is the reason why it all began in the first place. I also have my first appt. with a Psychiatrist at the end of the month. I mention these extra things so that you can all have a better picture of my situation for comparison.

With all of this said, has anyone experienced worsening anxiety with so little alcohol? It's amazing how your body really lets you know when enough is enough lol. I look forward to any responses.

[laurandisorder]

I guess that with the consumption of alcohol, we have to understand that it is a depressant and even after a small amount, whilst you might not experience a hangover, you can feel a bit down, leaving you open to anxiety.

Like you, I used to binge drink a LOT. I probably haven't been a week without alcohol since my late teens and I definitely had some nasty experiences in my teens and early twenties from drinking too much.

Nowadays I am very moderate with my intake. I'll usually have a couple of drinks on a Friday after work and maybe a couple on a Saturday night. I'm past the stage where I drink to get drunk - especially because I hate being out of control. I only drink beer and honestly I find that if I am moderate with my drinks and use spacers of soft drink or water, I can actually relax and I feel more comfortable socially than I would stone cold sober.

But when I do drink, I can become susceptible to feelings of what I call pre-anxiety. Like even if I have had one drink after work and waited a couple of hours before driving so I am well under the limit, I get quite anxious driving home.

I also feel more anxiety prone the day after if I have three or more drinks in an evening - probably due to the fact I get killer hangovers! Sometimes after this amount, I'm ok, other times I can be sick for up to 20 hours. Which obviously makes me feel like crap and increases the likelihood of an attack.

I don't know if this helps answer any of your questions, because I do have a love hate relationship with alcohol and sometimes it helps me relax and others it does the complete opposite.

[sylvina]

Hi, i have cut down drinking a lot compared to how i used to drink as it used to make my anxiety ten times worse the next day. Wen i drank i never really had any problems with anxiety as it used to help me block it out, but the next day was terrible , i was even worser than wot an ordinary day would b, i think u will find most anxiety sufferers suffer like this to .

[dazza]

Same as you guys above.

I've partied like an giant partying thing over the past 4 years. Often we'd (friends & I) be rat-arsed by the time the taxi arrived to take us into town, let alone at 4.0 in the morning...

During my worst period of A/D - hangovers would cause massive panic attacks. The shitty feeling was amplified 1000-fold by anxiety.

My worst panic attack was because of a hangover. A morning I won't forget in a hurry.

But again, like you guys, I've cut down significantly. I'll have maybe 3 to 4 pints on a Friday, and less on a Saturday... if at all.

(FYI: I have a slight hangover now but I'm calm. It's under control)

[Buttercup]

I used to be very sociable in my late teens and early twenties- would go out clubbing and pubbing couple of times a week and consume a lot of booze. When my anxiety and depression became bad and I was too fearful to go to social events I would then drink in the house with my bf at the time. It was a temporary fix becuase my hangovers were so bad and brought on anxiety. I was useless the day after drinking because I felt so unwell but at that time I was in a bad place and just didn't care and would be happy to spend all day in bed trying to sleep off my hangovers. When I got back on track I would drink maybe once a week or a fortnight but still suffered from the worst hangovers ever! I could make no plans for the day after drinking as I knew I'd be so anxious and feel so ill I wouldn't be able to leave the house. I have now cut out alcohol completely and haven't been drunk in avout 2 years. It's actually been very liberating and i have proven to myself that i can go on nights out, be alcohol free and still have a great time. It took awhile for my friends to accept the fact I no longer drank- peer pressure still exists when you reach your 30s, lol. And when I originally stopped it took all I had to convince them I wasn't pregnant as they thought that would be the only reason i'd give up booze! Anyway, I feel more in control since stopping alcohol, have saved shed loads of money and feel healthier.

[alankay]

Of course. Alcohol releases the neurotransmitter GABA which calms us. Next day we are low in GABA so anxious but as the days goes and your GABA levels in the brain get back to normal, your anxiety decreases. Benzos work by binding to GABA receptors in the brain. Alankay

[BxBowler]

Wow, thanks for your responses guys and gals. I'm sure many of us at one point thought that we were alone in our anxiety, so it's comforting that there are other people who understand and can give you the strength and motivation to keep pushing forward. I have a response for each of you because you've all given me such great feedback.

Laurandisorder, I totally understand the love hate relationship. However, lately for me it has just been hate. Once my anxiety started, the binge drinking gave me some horrible attacks, but a little drinking would be a bit calming and soothing. Now if I have even a little bit of alcohol my anxiety gets pretty bad. It doesn't reach the point of an attack, but it makes me very uncomfortable for at least a day or two. It's gonna be a tough habit to kick, but I have no choice.

Sylvina - I believe you're right, the more I talk to anxiety sufferers, the more I see that alcohol worsens the symptoms. I just thank god that I never reached the point of alcoholism. I can't imagine what an addict goes through on a daily basis.

Dazza, I remember those party days. They seem so close yet so far. I too had my worst attack ever during my hangover the next day. I was actually on the train, going from Manhattan to the Bronx, and I was feeling pretty bad. As the anxiety started to kick in at home, I decided to go to spend the night with my parents to lessen that doom and gloom feeling. A few stops away from where I needed to exit the attack started. I absolutely had to exit the train. I barely made it up the stairs to the toll booth area. I figured I could just relax for a bit and the symptoms would go away, but they didn't. In that situation, it didn't matter how much I tried to relax because the alcohol was in my system wreaking havoc on my nerves. My hands started to close up like a stroke victim. I ended up telling the toll booth clerk to call an ambulance. After a few hours in the ER, some anxiety medication, and a good night's sleep, I was back to normal, but not entirely. That event ended up generating some agoraphobic issues. I had trouble using public transportation after that. It's getting better, but still a struggle sometimes.

Buttercup, I totally understand you. The peer pressure is really strong. When you've built your social environment around bars, clubs, and drinking, it's hard to get out of it. I used to be the one saying how boring non-drinkers were. I wouldn't want to invite them to group hangouts because I thought they would kill the mood. Boy do I feel foolish now lol. It's getting easier to say no, but it's still a work in progress. The fact that I am very open about my issues helps because people understand why I'm saying no.

Alankay, I'm not familiar with that neurotransmitter, but I will look into it. I appreciate the information. The better we all understand the chemical processes of our body, the more we can take control what's happening.

[crazy?j]

I used to drink n drink and it would make me feel like I had nothing to fear. I'm 32 and I can't drink, took me a year to realize alcohol was causing my anxiety symptoms to get worse, I can't drink, miss it, but not the next day panic ,faint, shaky slow heart beat, disgusting feelings.

[dazza]

Crazy - there's nothing wrong with odd good night out on the razzle. I still do regardless of anxiety.

Drink isn't great but it's not life threatening if kept within reasonable limits.
(4 or 5 pints - ya know, the point at which you tell everyone you love 'em and think you can dance like Michael Jackson is good for the soul, lol)

The PROBLEM is your mind has turned against it and thus the symptoms are a 1000 times worse.