Anxiety and Alcohol

[coops025]

Alcohol has the worst effect on me since i started to suffer from Anxiety, i was wondering if anyone else found this?

I cant drink anymore, not even one pint, it just pulls me apart and esclulates all my problems then spits me out with a huge hangover, even after only one beer. Makes me feel Anxious and drunk at the same time kind of scary and hard to explain.

This effects me quite bad as drinking water on a night out as im trying to avoid suger really makes me feel like im outcast, my friends fully understand but i feel outcast from everyone else.

[johnlp89]

For me it seems that when I drink I feel more at ease, but when I sober up it is worse.

[northstar]

coops drinking alcohol can play around with your blood sugars, and low blood sugar is a major cause of anxiety and panic attacks! it also causes heart palpitations, sweating, headaches, shaking, ringing in the ears, muscle twitching and plenty of other symptoms.

it also dehydrates you and strips your body of B vitamins and magnesium which you need for a happy nervous system and good mental health.

so it's not really your anxiety affecting your drinking, but more that alcohol creates the anxiety, and i think as you've seen that just drinking it as little as possible is the only solution. unfortunate if you're feeling crap on a night out because of it, but fortunate that you're not feeling anxious :)

level blood sugars are incredibly important to your mental health. low blood sugar problems are called hypoglycemia and it can be totally controlled with diet - it's basically how i got better :) you can read more about it on this post: http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4087

[coops025]

Thanks for teh reply Northstar i could not put my finger on why it makes me feel so bad.

Amazing that some people are able to drink at all with Anxiety, it destroys me even when drinking a small amount. Looking back i recall standing outside a pub with a beer and it hit me, my heart started to flutter and i felt really bad, this was before i started to really suffer from Anxiety.

I would really like to start having a social drink again one day its very frustrating that i cant drink and have a laugh with my friends :( But my health if far more important so for now i will soldier on untill i have won.

Just started takeing Vitamin B complex, on day two at the moment hope it works to help my recovery. Oh i have greatly reduced teh amount i smoke too which is great :) only on 6-8 a day now.

[chrisz]

I also have had the same effect with alchohol after I developed
the symptoms that go with Panic Disorder. I can drink a little,
but not much. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

Chrisz