Alcohol

I'm sure this is a topic that's been touched many times and if there's a good thread on it already i apologize for the redundancy of this post.
I tend to use alcohol as a tool. A lot really, just about every weekend.... Have a few drinks and my anxiety goes away and i can have a good time then i always feel 10 times worse in the mornings. It's this vicious cycle yet those moments of freedom are hard to pass up.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this ?

good point (2 probs) . i'll find them and read them - thx!

Hi Nameless80,

I have a family full of people who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. I have 3 brothers,dad,mom, myself, and daughter who share this with me.

Out of those 7 people. 2 are drinkers. Both my oldest brother and now my baby brother. My oldest brother is an alcoholic and has been drinking for years now. He carries wine in his car because he thinks he can't drive without it. He does not work and has now been married 3 times. I have not seen him in several years as I can not handle being around him anymore and my parents disowned him.

My baby brother who was my shinning star. We used to do everything together. Is now sneaking alcohol into his travel cups and drinking beer all the time. He has done this before but managed to stop before it got out of hand. But he has a new baby now and it worries me. He walks around my mom's house tippsy all the time. He has very bad anxiety/pa, is not working, and living with mom.

Drinking (IMO) is just like taking drugs. Its just easier,cheaper and legal to get. It doesn't fix the problem or in the end help. It just covers it up for a little while. Then suffer later.
Yep you get a few hours of feeling good. But a full day to recover. A few hours to me is not worth a full day just to get over it.

I would talk to your doctor about finding a med combo that works for you. Lay off the drinking and try to find another way to cope with your anxiety/panic attacks before the drinking takes over.
Be reactive now before it goes to far.

Good luck and I hope you find better answers. I can just offer experience of what drinking and anxiety does. My grandpa on my mom's side died do to drinking. He had liver failure and passed away before I ever got to know him. I was just a baby.

Hi

Welcome to the forum. There have been a lot of posts here on alcohol and antidepressants some of which I have started as I have a problem with alcohol but over the last couple of months have managed to reduce the amount I drink and hopefully will stop completely. I have GAD/Depression and had them for as long as I can remember and I self medicated with alcohol as I found when I drank my anxiety got less and I saw it as a way off keeping it under control but it ended up making my mental health problems a lot worse and the morning after even days after I had been drinking my anxiety and depression were terrible. Alcohol is a depressant and I know think if you can its best to avoid alcohol or keep it to a small amount. Alcohol is also best avoided if taking antidepressant medication as it can be dangerous to mix them and cause liver problems but it is your choice, I still find it hard to be in social situations and not have a drink due to my anxiety but hopefully I am going to start CBT soon which will help me give me techniques and ways of dealing with my anxieties in other ways without feeling that I have to drink loads to keep my anxiety down. This is just my experience with dealing with alcohol and i think as individuals we need to make the choice which we feel is right for us. I wish you all the best and I hope you get your anxiety under control and please know we are always here to help and support you.

Take Care

Ben

I've drank to get drunk a couple times since my diagnosis(GAD & Panic) and on both occasions it did "help" if you want to put it the way for a couple/few hours but my anxiety level was much higher than normal the next 2 days both times and I haven't drank more than 2 beers since November of last year because of it. With that said, the other night some friends & I went out to listen to some live music at a local bar, they had $1.50 beer specials so I had two over the course of about 2 hours along with just as much ice water, and when I woke up the next day I could still tell it made my anxiety level go up a 'notch or two'....maybe it's just me but from now on the only way I'm drinking alcohol is if I REALLY want a bananna daiquiri, hell I might even make it a "virgin" one now.

Nameless80,

I have not posted in quite a while, but I feel compelled to respond to you because I have been exactly where you are with alcohol.

When I was in my teens and twenties, alcohol was like a magic potion - it ALWAYS helped my anxiety. In fact, the first drink or two seemed to bring me to a "normal" level where I felt like everyone else. I hated that feeling of jumpiness that was present before I had a few drinks. Unfortunately for me, I usually did not stop at one or two drinks. The feeling of freedom from my anxiety was sooooo wonderful, that I never wanted to stop. Even when my intentions were good, I would end of drinking way too much.

Like you, the next day was hell on earth. My anxiety would come back 5Xs as bad the day after drinking. Of course, my solution was to not schedule anything on Saturdays and Sundays during the day, so I could give myself time to recover. Those recovery days were filled with extreme anxiety mixed with guilt - I would not wish those days on my worst enemy.

To make a long story short, the alcohol stopped working for me. It got to the point that no amount of alcohol could bring me full relief from the anxiety. And, the day after hell turned into two and three days of hell. You can see where this story is going....I ended up on the alcohol / anxiety roller coaster.

Thankfully, I got to the point where I could no longer take the anxiety that came after drinking. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired...I finally went to a meeting of AA.

I write all of this only to tell you MY story....I have no idea if you have the same issues that I have, but I DO know that I self medicated for years thinking that there were no other options.

Finally, I would be lying if I told you that my drinking years were all bad - they were not. There were lots of fun times with good friends. Unfortunately, my magic potion eventually stopped working and I ended up on my couch wishing I could be "normal"

Today I have over 7 years sober. I no longer have to drink to have fun. Believe it or not, I have had some of the wildest times without any alcohol at all!

If you are unsure about your drinking, try limiting yourself to 2 drinks /day or occasion for the next 6 months. No exceptions. When someone told me to do that, I knew I could not - that is how I ended up in a twelve step program.

I wish you the best and hope that you find your answers.

If you want to chat further, let me know and I can send you my email address.

KAM

Kam,

Thank you so much for sharing and congratulations on your sobriety.  I am very proud of you.  I too understand how easy it is to hide in substance use but in the end it is never the right answer and our demons are still there to deal with.

Alex, I have been following your thread and I hope what you have read here helps you make a decision that will affect the rest of your life. Welcome to the A & P Forum.  We are here to support you.

Kitt

Thanks for the kind words Kitt! I plan on taking everything i've heard to heart and appreciate you and everyone else being so kind on this forum. I'm glad i found it.

Grizzly,

Glad you put the drinking behind you. Thanks for the good luck wishes