Alcohol and anxiety ?

[mishka]

Does anyone know if it's a fact that drinking alcohol can make anxiety symptoms much worse ?

I am in a bad habbit of drinking a few glasses of wine 3-4 everynight t get me to sleep.

I am trying to beat this, and was wondering if this is one thing I should cut out ? Althugh I am scared of going to bed/sleep without having a drink, which blacks out all thebad thoughts and dreams for me.

[forwells]

HI mishka

Hmmmmmmm In a word Yes

Any thing that will put your system into shock will not help your anxiety .

Alcohol is a poison after all . I guess you only have to look at some one really drunk to see what effects it has on their nervous system. And your system is on high all the time so it would feel the effects even more .

Try some magnesium powder in water or juice twice a day . Magnesium is called the great relaxer and may help you .

I understand about the drink helping you to sleep but remember when you wake it is still there and you have to face them with the effect of the alcohol on top of it .

When i would have trouble sleeping what i would do was get sounds of the beach or forest on my ipod and listern to this lying down with eyes close for 20 minutes before bed , if i didnt do this i would toss for hours trying to sleep because my brain would not shut up .Give them a try but remember they all take time to work so dont expect it to happen over night . Try hot bath before bed and maybe a funny book or movie.

cheers and i am finally going to turn this computer off after working for 15 hours on it
cheers and have a good one kev :)

[Charmbracelet81]

Yup it's true. I also drink at night when I get home from work to releive my anxiety and to sleep. It has some of the same components as the anti-anxiety meds and so we feel better while we are drinking, but it's also a depressant, which makes us feel worse in the a.m. It's a vicious cycle, but for us with anxiety we like the relief and sleep that comes with drinking.

I also don't want to drink, but it is hard when you know it instantly makes you feel "better" and you get to sleep without having to try.

My therapist has recommended to me to try techiques until I simply don't drink anymore such as; wait longer than my usual time to drink.

[northstar]

alcohol will give you a blood sugar dip a couple of hours after drinking it (people usually feel it the morning after!), it is this blood sugar low that can cause symptoms of anxiety and make you feel 10 times worse.

if you're suffering badly with anxiety then cutting out alcohol is a must if you want to feel better.

if you have trouble getting to sleep then try eating something that has the natural chemical tryptophan in it, foods such as bananas, turkey, peanut butter and milk all contain it. so having a glass of warm milk or a banana before you go to bed is a much better idea than alcohol :)

also if you avoid stimulants for a good few hours before you sleep this will help you relax at night, so no coffee, tea, sodas, sugar or anything that will put you on edge!

read here to learn more about how important stable blood sugars are to helping you recover from anxiety: http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4087