anxiety after drinking alcohol

As with many others who have replied to this thread, we come here for a reason - to feel better and not so alone.

i've been through this so many times before. and again, going through it now.

A music festival with lots of all day drinking!  Not too bad the next day - just a little tired - but tends to be the day after that - it hits home!!   I was told I fell over at the bar and was "escorted" out of a club....  have a few bruises I never even remember sustaining.... havent been that drunk in a long time!!

An all day meeting with colleagues at work today and mega feelings of anxiety and stress.

I'm on medication - have been for 14 years which make me feel fine most of the time but one day/night of overdoing it always tips the balance and takes a few days to recover.

I think, if you can handle the pain this causes us anxiety proned souls, then have fun, let your hair down  nnow and then - just be mindful when you're doing it!!!!

 

Take care all - you're not alone!

 

 

Ian

xxx

hi,

im 28 and from dublin, ireland. for years i suffered from anxiety after a night out, it gradually got worse, i don't know the science behind it but im led to believe its caused by the alcohol detoxing from your body and the nervous systems reaction to this. i recently found a way to stop this. after a heavy night on the beer, i use my juicer and make a liter of juice, i don't follow any recipe, just whatever i have, couple of apples, oranges, grapes carrots etc... i eat healthy so always plenty of fresh fruit and veg. i then take a multi vit tablet and cod liver oil tablet. i drink and take these to replace all my lost vitamins and minerals that i have pissed down the drain. i then go for a run, yes a run, doesnt have to be a hard run, just enough to get you sweating, no matter how hungover, you'll sweat like mad but it just gets rid of all the alcohol in your system and the vitamins from fruit and veg will help your body recover asap. 

 

Only wish was true (about switching to Vodka or Gin). I usually drink V. and it is just as bad as the other. Darn it.

I many times get the fear after a heavy night of drinking, but usually when I string two such nights together. It's strange, after the hangover leaves there is a lull then the impending sense of doom comes over me. This is usually better by the next day but still I don't feel that great. It's usually two days before I feel normal again. What everyone needs to remember is back in health class in high school where they tell you that alcohol is a depressant. It slows down the systems of the body and dehydrates you. When the brain lacks water it can affect your mood and bring feelings of doom. Try to stay hydrated and know that it's just the alcohol, not you. The great thing is that you can stop these feelings when you want to by stopping drinking. I choose to deal with the fear most of the time. 

While I was reading through your post I thought to myself 'this is an exert from my life'. I have been that guy who couldn't leave the gym quick enough, blast the air con in the car and drive in a panic state to get home. I have always found for some reason that the cold air from the air con has a very soothing effect. I have over indulged with drinking for most of my twenties and at around 28 started feeling all of the symptoms you have described. I cant function the next day when I cross that consumption barrier as you put it which, could be as little as 3 - 5 beers over the same amount of hours. It really bugs me because I only really drink out at special occasions these days and i am otherwise someone who follows a very healthy lifestyle, I mean no preservatives, artificial additives, mostly organic diet. I have a physical job and swim/ run at least 3 times a week. So when I see my mates who do the opposite and drink 2,3 or even 4 times as much as me and feel only the dullness and headache symptoms of the hangover the next day I feel hard done by. But maybe you can only push your body so far before some irreversible damage is done. I did used to drink to black out almost ever weekend for two years in my youth and this could be where it all stems from. As we all live very busy and demanding lives I find that taking even one day off to not be an option but special occasions dont stop coming so I end up letting myself and others down by not meeting commitments and beating myself up over it. I am hosting a new years eve party at mine in Sydney next week and have friends coming up from Melbourne and I find the idea of drinking water all night a huge downer but unless I find another solution it may be the only option.

I get these depressions and anxiety attacks after alcohol. I cant seem to give up drinking because I do enjoy it.
Ive found one thing helps lower the attacks a long cycle ride for an hour or two.
I heard Robbin Williams saying this is what he does to mellow out.

It works for me if I dont go for a bike ride the day after drinking alcohol I am trapped in the Hell of anxiety for up to a week. Hope this info helps.

I just cannot understand why people do not face facts. I went through the very same feelings for years.

Anxiety after drinking is a clear sign of a problem. Ask yourself one question or maybe you have tried it already, if you were to have a drink the next day how would you feel?

 Do you think a drink would take away the anxiety? Put aside all moral boundaries like family, work etc! DO YOU THINK A DRINK WOULD RELIEAVE THE ANXIETY? Be Honest!

Why does an alcoholic drink? Could it be to relieve anxiety and actions from the night before? Could it be a viscous circle which has spun out of control?

Alcoholism is an allergy to alcohol; the symptoms are anxiety, restlessness, and irritability.

It might be that you are not in the full throws of the condition and you may never enter into the full blown condition. Your body reacts abnormally to alcohol (Fact). Many people have posted on this thread looking for answers! Look in the mirror and be honest with yourself.

The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. You have to stop drinking! You also have to ask yourself why I would put myself through this mental torture time and time again, just for a few drinks.  (To feel normal, to be accepted)

Depression, anxiety, racing thoughts, nervous, Paranoid, not wanting to be around anyone, Full of fear. (all the next day after a drinking session is not normal)

Go to AA

 

First of all I  am NOT an alcholic = Yes you are!

 

Hi,

 

Like many of you, I suffer following a night of heavy drinking. If I don't drink that much, I find that I have a hangover which consists of a headache and raised body temperature. However, when I drink a lot, I feel as if I have difficulty breathing, I vomit, I feel like I am dizzy and about to faint. My mind races and some strange thoughts become apparent. I feel faint and as if this horrible anxious nervous feeling will never end. I don't drink daily, nor do I drink during a specific time. If I go to watch sport or meet friends then I will drink. After reading many many threads, some people conclude that these feelings the day after are a sign of a dependency or a problem with alcohol whereas others conclude that it is just heightened alcohol due to the lack of minerals and sugar lost through sweating and increased urination brought on by the alcohol. To best describe my drinking habits, I tend to play drinking games with friends for fun and only occasionally. Other times I can be without alcohol for a week, two weeks etc. I do enjoy the odd beer with a football game, but the intention is never to get drunk. The same can be said with a glass of wine with a special meal (family or meeting new people).

 

I'd be very greatful to see if anyone else feels the same way as I do and what peoples thoughts are.

 

Many thanks and best of luck to anyone else to feels this way.

 

:-)JM

This is actually alcohol withdrawal from a binge.

I can drink a lot of beer and not get drunk, but the hangovers are destroying me. And the older I get, the worse they get. In the days after a drink I get exhausted, really depressed, and terrible anxiety and breathing problems  where I feel like I am suffocating, it's the worst feeling ever, it stops me from sleeping and functioning like a normal person, and the tiredness stops me from even getting out of bed sometimes, it's crippling. All this lifts off me after about 4-5 days off the drink, and I feel normal again. I've tried everything, lots of lucozade sport and multi vitamins and fruit and even working out the next day after drinking, but I just get more tired and depressed and can't shake it off no matter what I do.

I have no other option but to stop drinking I think.  When you reach the stage where the drink is having a bad impact on your mental and physical health and your relationships with people, you got to say enough is enough. If you would rather live like that than stop drinking, you know you've got a serious drinking problem, you really are no better off than a alcoholic

You got to face the facts. Drink is ruining your life, you don't want to stop, you think life is going to be not worth living without your drink, but what is the alternative, you suffer with horrible hangovers for the rest of your life, or quit drinking and see if life gets better in time , lots of people find happiness after quitting the drink, you got to face up to the fear involved in quitting and do it, so that you can have peace of mind and a better life.

I have had a horrible year of nightmarish hangovers, I spent all Christmas with terrible illness brought on by drinking, my whole year was hell because of drink. I suffered a lot of pain that could have been avoided. I am scared to stop drinking, but I got nothing to lose anymore, so I am going to do it. 

The only cure for a hangover is time, and the only way to avoid a hangover is to not drink. No one even cares if you drink or not, it's not going to stop you making friends or meeting people in pubs or clubs or bars, just drink soft drinks, all the fear and reasons you think you need to drink, are just your own ideas, your own brainwashing over the years. You are your own worst enemy, self destructing, you need to wake up and stop drinking before it's to late. Do it for your health, fitness, your happiness, your mind and the people you love. All you are giving up is a poison, that is all, you have nothing to lose, nothing at all.

I think a lot of what people are feeling is simply a bad hangover, dehydration, a lack of minerals and vitamins from drinking, and a imbalance of other things, it throws your whole body out of whack for days, I also get fluid retention from drinking which can make you feel really unwell , drink also depresses your immune system, your nervous system and can cause all types of mental and physical problems that you have no control over, and the only cure is to wait until the effects wear off, there is no cure to feeling like this, some people get no hangovers at all maybe 30% of all drinkers get no hangovers, some people suffer horrible hangovers, it's just the way it is. If you're only of the unlucky ones, you got to stop drinking or keep suffering, simple as that. I am in my late 30s and have had this problem for the last 10 years, there is no cure, I've tried everything.

In more serious situations, I think people are suffering alcohol poisoning, when you got serious breathing problems for days after drinking or feel like you're going to pass out, you got to listen to your body telling you that you are killing yourself, who knows the damage you are doing to your brain, liver, kidneys, nervous system, people have died from only drinking 10 pints, once the drink gets into the core of your brain it will shut down your breathing and heart , then you are dead.  Once your blood alcohol levels reach a certain percentage, you die. And everyone is different, it depends on your weight, age, build, and there is no way to know when you are binge drinking how much damage you are doing. You can easily kill yourself. People need to realize how dangerous alcohol is. It's killing people every day, lots of people. And alcohol has a worse effect on women because they have less of the thing inside them that breaks down alcohol, and smaller build on average,  it takes less alcohol to make a woman intoxicated.

Drinking can cause strokes, heart attacks, brain damage, and all sorts of problems for your nervous system and immune system, and you can die during withdrawal from alcohol also if you're addicted to it, it can cause panic attacks , seizures and death.  It's a lethal toxic poison that rots your insides and your mind, people need to remember that.

You would think in the year 2013 people would know the dangers of drink, yet they still ask questions like, why do i feel sick after drinking poison?. I only drank 10 pints of poison I should not feel unwell. 

Seriously people, alcohol is a poison, you wouldn't drink a bottle of toilet bleach and then wonder why you feel unwell for a week afterwards. If you want to feel good, stop drinking poison with your buddies on a weekend, be a man, be tough, and do it. People know the cure, stop drinking, they're just to scared to face reality and the facts.

 

Life actually gets better when you stop drinking, but people will not believe that because they do not want to stop drinking, addiction to drink can make people think some crazy things.

Hi, I am 24, and started having this problem a couple of years ago so until recently was completely sober for 2 years. I just started drinking again at the end of 2012 (only on the weekends or when I don't have work, so far). It's already been less than a month and it's already back, exactly like before; including anxiety attacks, dread, depression and so on, lasting for days and days after my last drink.

I always drank quite heavily when I was younger (16 - 21), increasing as I got older until a couple of times after some serious drinking sessions lasting for days I really needed (or felt like it) to keep drinking to deal with unbearable anxiety bordering on terror and had to have a week to dry out on valium, which was what prompted me to quit for a couple of years.

Now I have started again and I remember what it was like, it is like people have described above - the day after the binge actually isn't too bad, it's in work a few days after you just start panicking for (apparently) no reason, or you just feel worryingly hopeless and scared. I'd also say this is definitely enhanced if you said or did things while drunk that you are ashamed of or particularly worried about. Thankfully I seem to manage to shake myself out of it most of the time, for now. I also have less free time now that I'm employed, which I would hope will help me stay out of trouble. I should note that these symptoms have only showed up with the big binges, the times I just had a couple have been completely fine.

I'm going to go against the grain here (I think) and say that in all honesty I probably do have a drinking problem, as when I go out it doesn't take much for me to overdo it, and I definitely used to exhibit a lot of bad habits of self-medication and overuse. I think that I am generally anxiety and depression prone which all feeds into the same vicious circle!

I agree with the poster, Ian, above, though - I don't think I could stand to be sober all the time/for the rest of my life, despite the difficulties. You need to be able to let your hair down sometimes. The best compromise I can come to is to accept that I can't go out every weekend with my friends, or even perhaps very often at all, and have a drink, but every now and then (probably more often than once in a blue moon) I will.

It's very helpful to me to see that my problem is shared by so many of you, my friends are characteristically unhelpful with talking about things like this, and I hate to be a boring whiner so I generally just bottle it up. To anyone else suffering with this I would advise like the people above to always know that it will wear off with time and effort, remember breathing techniques when you have anxiety attacks (if you have no access to medication) - they really do work, maybe not amazingly but they do help. Find a way to express your thoughts - like this forum, if you don't have people you can turn to (this has certainly helped me), and, if you have people to keep you company, go and spend time with them, it will help take your mind off it all (but probably stay off the beers, for now!).

Hi there, just thought I would check in. I am 37, and when I quit smoking I started (and continue) to have really bad issues anytime I drink. The sinking feelings same night as drinking, waking up in the middle of the night in absolute panic, shaking, and EMOTIONS. I don't recall a time when the day or two after drinking even the smallest amount of alcohol I didn't have an absolute emotional meltdown, hardcore sobbing into the pillow, hopeless feelings, and the belief that somethin is horribly wrong with me.

Needless to say, I stopped drinking. Being a better man is all about knowing what is and isn't good for you and having the courage to blaze a trail for yourself to greener pastures and a confident, happy, and healthy life.

The key to staying sober is KNOWING what's good for you in the long run. You cannot divorce the bad feelings of alcohol from the fun you have when you drink. What you CAN do however is realize that you're not DEPRIVING yourself from anything good. Once you get that through your nog you can then go out to the pub and relax with the crisps and a soda or lemonade without being on edge because you're "missing out."

The only thing you're missing out on is feeling like shite.