hello

[Rob625]

Hi
just introducing myself
My anxiety has returned after being much improved for 4 years. I had anxiety and panic attacks while I was a practicing alcoholic. Been sober 4 years and only bothered by social anxiety until a few weeks ago. The debilitating anxiety has returned. But I'm staying sober. Drinking will only feed that anxiety and panic.
Be well Rob

[Kuma]

Hi
just introducing myself
My anxiety has returned after being much improved for 4 years. I had anxiety and panic attacks while I was a practicing alcoholic. Been sober 4 years and only bothered by social anxiety until a few weeks ago. The debilitating anxiety has returned. But I'm staying sober. Drinking will only feed that anxiety and panic.
Be well Rob

Congrats on being sober 4 years. I respect you a lot for achieving that! So what's the plan for dealing with the anxiety? Go Cubs!

[Rob625]

Congrats on being sober 4 years. I respect you a lot for achieving that! So what's the plan for dealing with the anxiety? Go Cubs!

Thanks Kuma. Thursday im going to an anxiety and panic support group for the first time. Probably read a few books too. checked out "my age of anxiety" and "the man who couldn't stop" from Library. Second one is about OCD.
Probably do a lot of reading on here too. Take care. Go cubs

[NixonRulz]

Read anything from Claire Weekes if you want the real deal

The real deal is cool. She may be gone but she knows exactly what we go through

Go riot people in Baltimore

[superchick22684]

Welcome Rob 625! Congrats on being sober for four years. You came to the right place we all have experience with anxiety. Go Cubs!

[gypsylee]

Hi Rob and welcome :)

Congrats on being sober for 4 years. I'm an alcoholic as well. I know how tempting the booze is with anxiety and I've relapsed heaps of times. It really does just make it a whole lot worse though. Hold onto your sobriety.

Cheers,
Gypsy x

[atmywhitsend]

Hi Rob,

Welcome- I am new too. An extended congratulations on your sobriety, alchohol is the cause of my anxiety so I would definitely say stay strong and stay well clear. Just wondered how you managed to suppress the anxiety for the four years?

:)

[gypsylee]

Welcome atmywitsend as well :)

My anxiety got a heap better when I stopped drinking. It's definitely not gone but my god, it used to be so much worse with alcohol.

[atmywhitsend]

Hi Gypsy,

I feel that my anxiety was once social anxiety that was focused around being judged for getting drunk and doing silly things. It has now spread to most aspects of my life and constantly thinking the worst. I have written a post about it yesterday, but I am not sure if it has been put up yet :/ I hope it will soon and people start to reach out. I could do with some encouragement from fellow 'anxieters'

[gypsylee]

I don't know what's with the posts not appearing because I'm sure noone moderates this place. So I hope it shows up. Plenty of anxieters here :)

[Rob625]

Hi Rob,

Welcome- I am new too. An extended congratulations on your sobriety, alchohol is the cause of my anxiety so I would definitely say stay strong and stay well clear. Just wondered how you managed to suppress the anxiety for the four years?

:)

Thanks everyone. When I was about 8 months sober my anxiety got drastically better. AA meetings and not drinking was enough at that point. Its returned but not yet as severe as before.

[Im-Suffering]

Thanks everyone. When I was about 8 months sober my anxiety got drastically better. AA meetings and not drinking was enough at that point. Its returned but not yet as severe as before.

Alcohol, or whatever the vice, is not the cause, but the result - in black and white (in your face, physically speaking), of unresolved mental problems.

Now, if you (unhealthy/extreme) gamble, smoke, take drugs, alcohol, use (corrupt) sex, compulsive shopping (or returning), power over (domination), violent aggression - for example, that becomes a problem in itself, you understand, so now you have 2 problems, the vice and the suppressed mental issues *that caused it*. In the same way an infected organ spreads to other areas.

In this case, the psyche is infected.

With or without the vice, they (anxiety or any illness) return unless those issues are faced and removed. Anxiety may ease with the release of the vice temporarily giving you a false sense of security - or possibly accomplishment. However this is likened to a doctor removing the head of a splinter but leaving the piece of wood inside, and then sending you on your way, healed.

One vice will simply be traded for another, in a long dance of self-deception because the cause remains.

Face your value judgments and ideals, your world view, face how you feel about yourself, who you are, face your feelings, emotions, unresolved traumas, shocks, deaths, anger, grief, shame, blame, guilt - and you will heal.

[gypsylee]

Alcohol, or whatever the vice, is not the cause, but the result - in black and white (in your face, physically speaking), of unresolved mental problems.

Now, if you gamble, smoke, take drugs, alcohol, use sex, compulsive shopping (or returning), power over (domination), violent aggression - for example, that becomes a problem in itself, you understand, so now you have 2 problems, the vice and the suppressed mental issues *that caused it*. In the same way an infected organ spreads to other areas.

In this case, the psyche is infected.

With or without the vice, they (anxiety or related illness) return unless faced.

Face your value judgments and ideals, your world view, face how you feel about yourself, who you are, face your feelings, emotions, unresolved traumas, shocks, deaths, and you will heal.

I dare say he's faced a lot of those things in the four years he's been living life sober. AA deals with it too.

[Im-Suffering]

I dare say he's faced a lot of those things in the four years he's been living life sober. AA deals with it too.

Theres a difference between facing, and eliminating. Facing, generally speaking, is sitting in it (crying repeatedly over the same issues), without clearing them, and so it returns another day, and with them anxiety (more severe each time) - brooding. This is a false sense of accomplishment.

You know you have changed a belief (value judgment, ideal) when not only does the same issue not strike tears, but you have no emotions either way, and the thought quickly passes into a more joyful one, if you even have the old thoughts at all, you understand.

Pre-anxiety, the anxiety producing thoughts were not dominant, you see. Gradually the unsolved issues cemented them into the psyche (through self suggestion and repetition) where the anxious thoughts then became the framework or the focus. This happens because of long term brooding with no release of the energies that cause it in the first place. Stuck, opens the door for a vice.

This is mostly due to ignorance. For he/she does not know what to do with the pain. Or even thinks they could remove it. It would be helpful in such cases if he looks for a problem, knowing one is there, see? Rather than jumping into some alcohol for example which creates further space between himself and the issues.

[gypsylee]

Theres a difference between facing, and eliminating. Facing, generally speaking, is sitting in it (crying repeatedly over the same issues), without clearing them, and so it returns another day. This is a false sense of accomplishment.

You know you have changed a belief (value judgment, ideal) when not only does the same issue not strike tears, but you have no emotions either way, and the thought quickly passes into a more joyful one, if you even have the old thoughts at all, you understand.

Facing life sober after being an alcoholic/drug addict is like being a child again and having to learn to do things all over in a new way. I don't want the OP to feel like he still has all this work to do when he's just done some of the hardest stuff a person can. Sure he may have some issues still to work through but a person who's done AA has done more work on their psyche than a lot of people who've never faced addiction (especially if he's done the program). It's a huge accomplishment not a false sense of one.

[Im-Suffering]

Facing life sober after being an alcoholic/drug addict is like being a child again and having to learn to do things all over in a new way. I don't want the OP to feel like he still has all this work to do when he's just done some of the hardest stuff a person can. Sure he may have some issues still to work through but a person who's done AA has done more work on their psyche than a lot of people who've never faced addiction (especially if he's done the program). It's a huge accomplishment not a false sense of one.

Ok, let him look from all sides then. Keep what he is happy with, and continue to work on the rest.

Usually i hit enter a number of times because the posts take a while, so they come in chunks. I believe i hadnt finished the ones above so the quotes are not the full context.

[gypsylee]

Ok, let him look from all sides then. Keep what he is happy with, and continue to work on the rest.

Usually i hit enter a number of times because the posts take a while, so they come in chunks. I believe i hadnt finished the ones above so the quotes are not the full context.

Ok cool :)

[Rob625]

Ok cool :)

Thanks for all the great comments. I definitely have some stuff to work on. I really thought my anxiety was a result of what I was doing to my brain with the alcohol. Maybe I drank because of anxiety and then the alcoholism fed the anxiety and made it worse. Vicious circle. I had social anxiety the last few years but not the debilitating kind thats come back now. Thought I had it beat. Its kind of disheartening.

[Rob625]

Hi Rob and welcome :)

Congrats on being sober for 4 years. I'm an alcoholic as well. I know how tempting the booze is with anxiety and I've relapsed heaps of times. It really does just make it a whole lot worse though. Hold onto your sobriety.

Cheers,
Gypsy x

hey gypsy I was a chronic relapser for 5 years with never more than 40 days sober. I'd still have the anxiety and say screw it and go back drinking. Took about 8 months to notice a improvement in the anxiety. To hell with panic attacks. ..I really hate them.

[gypsylee]

hey gypsy I was a chronic relapser for 5 years with never more than 40 days sober. I'd still have the anxiety and say screw it and go back drinking. Took about 8 months to notice a improvement in the anxiety. To hell with panic attacks. ..I really hate them.

I didn't face my drinking until I was hospitalised for the second time with acute pancreatitis (in my mid 30s). It actually killed the insulin producing cells and left me diabetic. Even still I can't resist a drink sometimes, but now it just makes my heart race, so I don't enjoy it much anyway.

Hang in there! :)