anxiety after drinking alcohol

I also have the exact same thing. It started about 2.5 years ago. If I have more than one drink, I will wake up around 4:30 am after having insane dreams, in a total panick. The only way for me to calm down is to wake up my husband and replay the entire night, asking him questions about my behavior and the things that I might have said. He is not too thrilled about this scenario. This seems to happen no matter what type of alcohol I consume. My anxiety last about a day and cigarettes and caffine do intensify the panick the next day. Also, driving is a real problem for me the next day. Too much time alone to dwell on the events of the night before. If I do drive, I have to call someone and talk the entire time. The only thing that has helped prevent this is for me to make sure I don't over drink and before I fall asleep reassure myself that nothing bad or embarrassing happened the night before.

If anyone has a remedy other than xanax, please let me know.

wow! this is incredible. I thought I was the only one in the world with this reaction. Yes, I'm down for 3 days also. I've a panic disorder in the last ten years, but this has been going on for years. hope we can find out what the cause is.

wow i feel the same way as all of you guys...ok now thats outta the way, how the hell do we fix this problem ??????? what is it and how can you make it go away? wtf.....if someone figures out a solution aside from 'stop drinking' and taking xanex, i would love to know the root of the problem and do what it takes to fix it as i enjoy drinking and u dont want any of these syptoms while on vacations/business trips, etc. great thanks bbye

This is really insane that I have found so many people like me. I try to explain to my friends that if I drink on Friday, I can't hang out Saturday because my muscles are tight in my neck, I feel panicky and anxious out in public. It's not a normal hangover. It's like clockwork - six beers and I wake up and my whole day is ruined.

My question is, what is going on with our bodies? What happened to the days when I just had a killer headache but could still function?

soo happy im not the only one like this either. i always wake up feeling like i did something wrong and going over the whole night trying to see what i did or said. i would call someone i was with that night and ask them a million questions to see how bad i was and what i did or said. i would feel depressed for a good 2 or 3 days depending. i thought maybe it had to do with past expierences that made me feel like i wanted to jump out of my own skin the next morning. glad to hear its not jus me that feels this cause my friends never get this feeling that we do.

Yes I have got the same problem. My bad hangover is a better time then the days that follow. If I get drunk on Friday - say 10 beers and few shots - I would feel recovered by next week Thursday. I had to stop drinking cause I was on the edge of losing my job, and luckily, I started a relationship with a muslim woman, and these circumstances made me quit drinking. After two weeks I was happy to recover fully from my last crazy drinking - 13 Pints of Gunnies, 6 shots of Gin, and a bottle of wine. In the following weeks I missed alcohol much but stayed away from drinking . On Sundays I routinely had the same anxiety that I had during the periods of hard drinking. I solved the problem by exercising, for I while I worked out 3 times on Sundays that helped much to reduce the problem. I still train hard, I do running twice, weights twice, and judo once a week. I still miss getting drunk and probably i will, but it is good not to be anxious during the week. Alcohol killed my confidence big time, it made me weak. Now i would only drink when i know that for weeks i have no responsibilities of any sort.

I too use to get all the above until I switched to Vodka. The reason for most of the stated symptoms is due to preservatives that are used for wines and most beers call sulfites. Vodka and Gin...though I've never tried Gin, are very pure needing no preservatives and thus not inducing hangovers and the other stuff. Most people with adverse affects after drinking believe it's due to an alcohol allergy, when indeed it is due to a preservative (sulfite) allergy. It goes without saying that alcohol is poison no matter what, so if you over do it you still may get somewhat sick, however in my experience I've never gotten a hangover from vodka even after much drinking, where as three glasses of wine and I'm hugging the porcelain goddess all night.



Good Luck.....let me know if this works. -John

I suffer from this alot and even had a full blown panic attack once, it has however lessened recently so hopefully yours will too. I find that certain drinks affect me worse than others. Spirits are particularly bad!

Hi,same thing for me. I spend most weekdays sitting in my room scared to go outside, incase i have done something bad when drunk. Then when it gets to Thursday or Friday I start to feel a bit better, I go out and do it all over again. It's such a ridiculous way to live my life.....drunk or in fear! It's nice to know I'm not alone, sometimes I try tell people how bad it's become, and they don't really understand. I'm actually usually ok if i can remember the whole night, but as soon as there's a blackout, my mind goes crazy. I start creating all these terrible scenarios in my head, and worry I will be arrested. The guilt and paranoia is completely overwhelming. It's affecting my relationship with my girlfiend, and with my mum, and I have also messed up many jobs through going out. I was out last night and cannot sleep now because "the fear" is running too strong. I don't think I am an alcoholic, but alcohol controls my life, so there's definately a problem. I just feel like I'm walking a tightrope, and it's a case of "when" am I going to fall, not "if". I don't want to be like this, it's really not much fun for anyone. Anyway, thanks for putting these posts up, it makes me fell marginally better!
Rory, still balancing (just).

"i hate people complaining about hangovers, let them suffer like all of us on this page do, then they would know a normal hangover is a walk in the park compared to what we suffer."

It's so true. You hear your friends complaining for a whole day about how bad their "headaches" are and they can't eat for a couple hours, while i'm at home pukeing thinking I need to go to the hospital at the same time feeling SUPER guilty about the night before, knowing that this might last for a couple of days.

Also glad to hear i'm not alone on this one, thx for sharing your stories guys.

I am 23 and have started having panic attacks since I had a mental breakdown around 6 months ago (i hate doctors and know I had one because I cut myself, I know why, but either way that was not the answer and have not done it since) most of them are controllable (as I call them). I feel numbness on my left side, a feeling of faint, sometimes sweating and a scared sense that my body is going to give up on me.
Reading these posts makes me feel a little better because now at least I know there are other people on this earth that deal with this as well. I tried to relate to my mother who has been on anti-depressants for 15 yrs and suffered through this, but everything I tell her, she does not want to hear and switches the subject.
I recently have been having trouble even maintaining normality after drinking. I also love beer. I used to be able to drink as much as I want whenever I want. Recently I drank and instead of anything, a hangover, a headache, nausea, I experienced a massive panic attack, and as much as I know a hospital wont help me I thought about going to one. Valium also helps me. Before this week I took twice in extreme situations and this week it has been a count of three times because after going out for birthdays, my anniversary... etc. I cannot handle it and I know that the Valium is my safety net because I honestly feel like Im going to die at certain points. I know I cannot rely on it and yet I dont know what to do with this problem.
At this point even if I mildly get upset about something, I end up on the verge (or having)an attack. I do find drinking IN THE END makes it worse, yet I still want to because its such a social thing to do and its something that has always relaxed me (I do not use it in excess on purpose... I thought initially my drinking was a problem, I went cold turkey and was fine, as well as a very funny meeting to aa). Overall initially drinking helps and lowers that weight I feel (or should I say, weightlessness?) and makes me feel normal for a little.Anyway I just usually feel very alone, and again I feel lighter knowing I am not completely alone, so thank you all for your posts. And any recommendations besides seeking professional help are welcome.

I heard that drinking juice which contains vitamin C helps to reduce the paranoia and crippling anxiety one can feel after a restless and low quality sleep as a result of drinking to much booze. Junkies use this method to ease themselves from a ’come down’. I think lack of quality sleep has just as much if not even more to do with feeling anxious nervous and paranoid the day after the night before. I myself, think terrible and abhorrent thoughts when I awake in the morning, I try to fill in any gaps in my memory from the previous night, these range from vandalising peoples property, insulting friends and loved ones to acting like a sex starved bisexual pig in a discount bovine brothel. All of which never actually happen or are likely to ever happen, but my vivid and over active imagination likes to get carried away, and scare the hell out of me when I awake, it shows me the opposite of who i really am and this reflection causes my worries. But as said many times on this blog, we all know the cure, but there is one question, do you enjoy the benefits of alcohol consumption (of which there are many) enough to warrant suffering from its inevitable negative effects (again, of which there is indeed many) upon the body and mind.

OMG, I unfortunatly know exactly what everyone is talking about, and I wish I was the one to have the answers but I also am searching. I get the WORST night terrors after drinking even just a couple drinks. I have tried on seperate occaisions drinking only beer, vodka, wine, rum ECT. trying to narrow down every type to see if it works, but everytime I still meet the same fate an entire night living in hell, I feel in fear, impending doom, sick to my stomach, I have done something wrong really wrong but im not sure what so I pick apart everything I said or done, Im a bad person terrible guilt or something, I cant put my finger on it and noone can help me. I have gone to the ER a few times oddly I feel some relief sometimes just being there, so this leads me to believe that it is infact in my head however impossible for me to controll.... so i came across this website and it said to help controll anxiety and fear you have to exept it, you cant control it, the more you try to stop it the worse it comes, fear is empowered by fear, so except it. When your feeling this dont try to stop it, say to yourself okay your here do what you have to do and than go away. In the end nothing will happen. While I havnt been brave enough to try this after drinking(because i havnt drank since the last one was so terrifying) I have tried this with just some worrying panicy feelings and yes it actually does help.... I hope to conqure this, I want to enjoy social gatherings with friends and family on occaision being able to have a couple of drinks, im planning on streanthing my new found techniqe and attempting to have a drink soon, I will let you know.

I have suffered now for a year at the hands of anxiety and being a regular drinker I have noticed it enhances these terrible feelings.

It began for me as soon as my father was diagnosed with cancer and he lost the use of his legs due to a spinal tumour.

He sadly passed away 9 months after and to this day I cannot drink without the anxiety problems making me feel c**p for a couple of days after.

I know it passes, ive done it so many times now that I don't fear it, but it interferes with my life so much that before long I'm gonna be forced to stop drinking .

Before the first bout of anxiety ever in my life kicked in I've been a regular drinker, borderline alcoholic I think.

Anyone who does not suffer with this cannot and will not understand it.

I really appreciate everyone elses stories told here, it makes me feel less alone with this.

Peace out
Shaun

im 18 and suffer from anxity attacks and sleeping problems!! hate them!! my hangovas are major, i cant think straight and i cant relax or sleep feels like im going insain drives me mad and also if i went out into town or in a public place i would feel really edgey and get bad anxity attacks! but i enjoy going out and drinking to much to stop it, so dont no what to do with that really! whisky is a very bad drink to drink if u get there problems, and dont mix beer and cider together! and also redbull and coke dont help coz its full of cafffen!