Anxiety/panic attacks from alcohol withdrawal - part 2

Hi Sasha

What they say in AA is that alcohol is more powerful than you are. It's not true, I've cut down to down between 2-6 beers a day. I stopped drinking all hard alcohol to just beer.

Bring a few beers with you for the trip and valium can help. Just reduce the amount of beers and keep making the distance before having a beer longer. Say you want a beer at 10am make it 12pm and keep busy then have the reward yourself with the beer. Slowly cut down, you have the drive to quit and your taking action. BTW I get the sleep jumping thing and it is horrific.

Your young and your brain chemicals will bounce back fast. Don't be 36 and doing the same thing, trust me it gets worse the older you get.

I'm glad to see that I am not alone with these feelings, I have an interesting story, I am 14 years old and got drunk for the first time, nothing in my stomach, no food or water, just alot of vodka, a small amount of beer and pepsi. When I woke up i had the worst feeling of anxiety i have ever felt in my life, i felt like i was going completely insane, everytime I closed my eyes my world would spin, i felt like i was losing my entire memory (which really worsened my anxiety/paranoia because my anxiety problems are caused from my parents divorce i believe and my main worry is that i will lose my dad, and I couldn't stand forgetting all the memories with my parents and brothers) I'm a shy type so i kept to myself, i was with my dad that whole day because i went to work with him at 7am the morning after drinking. It's hard to explain what my mind was really doing, I just felt crazy and that i would never be the same again and that i messed up the rest of my life. I have a few questions, this anxiety seems to occur only in long term drinkers? why did this happen only on my first time drinking? I am a very heavy hearted kid I have feelings for a lot of people and I love to help people out whenever i get the chance, but now i come asking for your help, I'm like the normal teenager, i want to go out and have fun with my friends, but I fear that my anxiety will come back worse then ever the next time i drink, and I don't want to be addicted to pills for the rest of my life (family history ):) I remember when i first had my severe anxiety attack, It happened with my dad, I had to get out of the house and i couldn't help but to burst in tears when i left, I cried for a good 15 minutes, I was on the phone with my bestfriend because i needed somebody to talk to. What should i try next time i drink? thanks for anybodys help.

Hey, Noah - anxiety could happend to anyone at any time. After vodka, especially for the first time - it seems to me like it was just a good old hell of a hungover. better not to drink at all, when you're 14 - it's not such a great idea.
anxiety about anxiety is also a common thing, you should probably go to your doctor and consult with him. and especially that you feel you need to talk to someone.
try valerian root pills next time when you start feeling edgy. camomile tea, lotsa vitamin B and C.
and if you feel that you need to have something to drink when hanging out with your buds, drink pepsi lol and if there be any peer pressure - lose the peers. non-alcoholic beer. try to stay away from hard liquors anyway. alcohol is a depressant and naturally worsens any anxieties.

as i said - i went away on thursday and came back yesterday (monday). i stayed sober all the time, though bought some pot, but never used it. didn't even have to use valerian root. drank whole bunch of water, had a huge appetite, was working out, jogging and swimming.

i cut back the day before i left and only drank when i felt like c**p then. those four days of sobriety were awesome, no pain, no anxieties, no ticking bombs. sleeping was complicated, but it was okay.

yesterday i thought to test myself and have a beer, ended up finishing a six pack. at night felt horrible and decided to stay away from any more binging ideas. but i think one beer here and there - is normal.

from my own experience - i can't allow myself to get bored or have nothing to do. that's when i risk to find myself unde the table a week later.

it hasn't been even a week of sobriety, but i'm determined.

i drunk heavily for years and it bought on a mental breakdown when i wa 40 as all the booze had depleted crucial vitamins in my body.Iv been through a living hell and am praying every day that i can get better.I do still have a drink but only in mderation and the truth is that when i do i get anxiety either 24 or 48 hrs later i hate it so i may well become a tee totaller

Thank you so much for this thread. All of you are beautiful, wonderful people who are helping me through one of the most difficult points in my life.

I stopped drinking cold turkey four days ago. I am 35 and have been drinking socially and heavily (but never blackout) since I was about 22. Not every day, but recently in the past four years it got real bad and was 6-7 days a week. I simply decided four days ago that I hated everything about it and I was just done. I don't have any desire to touch alcohol right now -- although I recognize at some point in the future I will and I'll have to find a way to deal with that. Sometimes I drank whiskey and diet coke (I would go through a fifth in about a week) and sometimes 6-8 beers. Pretty impressive for a 5'9; 135 lbs. man.

I am dependent on alcohol and I recognize these are excuses, but I used it as a sleep and dulling/pain/boredom aid that became part of a routine. I have a brain that never shuts off and makes it hard for me to sleep -- and avoid negative thoughts at times -- so alcohol helped. I wouldn't get blackout drunk, but drunk enough that I would easily pass out instead of staring at the ceiling for an hour hoping I could get to sleep and my mind would tire. The consequences were HORRIBLE mood swings and being absolutely lethargic at work and in social situations. By every Friday, I was so tired I often went straight home and directly to bed. I would simply go into the basement, listen to music and drink. My poor wife has put up with this for years.

In reading these two threads, I see a lot of me in many of the younger posters when I was that age. I didn't necessarily want to quit and would have no problems "taking a break" for a week...but at the end of that week it was back to routine and several drinks or beers a night.

I didn't ever have panic attacks while drinking alcohol, but I have had them frequently since I stopped four days ago. They come and go and I breathe deep and I read this thread and they go away. So, thank you because the feeling that it will pass and that I am not alone have helped me through each and every one of these brief attacks. I do realize going cold turkey is dangerous. So far, so good. I don't recommend my approach for everyone. If you have the means to see a doctor, please do so.

Man, do these attacks suck. Mine are like a feedback loop of negative thoughts and a racing heart. I don't think I am going to die, but I think about how much I've messed up my life, not been true to myself, and I fear for the future. My mind races so face with negative thoughts I can't process them all at once. It lasts for a brief period of time and then I have to reset. I'll try and sleep and get woken up by one since the withdrawal prevents me from sleeping through the night. The first few days were pure hell...several panic attacks, difficulty eating and sleeping, and I was so tired.

I went to the library yesterday and got a few books that are helpful. "The Small Book" by Jack Trimpey is really good for me, as I'm not really into the Higher Power thing of AA. I really do respect AA as it helped my alcoholic father through his recovery, so please don't be offended. I finished this book in a day.

"Rational Steps to Quitting Alcohol" by Albert Ellis is another great book I've been reading. I also got something mindless and fun to read to occupy my mind as a distraction.

I also got something really boring and dry to read on astronomy physics. I don't understand anything about it, but like when I was back in college, I read half a chapter and I'm out like a light...this is my new sleep aid. It's cheaper than alcohol and better for me. :)

The Big Book by AA is worth a read -- especially if you are religious. Even if you don't want anything to do with AA right now, if you are reading this thread it couldn't hurt. There is nothing to fear from a book.


I've got a long way to go, but this is what I'm doing and it may or may not work for you.

Good luck to all.

I too started drinking because of anxiety. But before that I was anorexic, just another self harming thing. It all started when I was in middle school even though I didn't drink back then.. My anxiety was still pretty bad. I constantly felt like I didn't fit in or was weird, and thought that people secretly hated me, even if they didn't that was my perception. Was always nervous in school, grades started to decline, then a thought popped in my head, I'll become skinny and people will like me better. At first I got some compliments and my battle with anorexia started at age 15. Completely ruined my intestines because they stopped getting enough food so they stopped working completely. Have been on laxatives every since and I'm now 27. Even though I stopped anorexia at 16. That only lasted a year. I was still having social problems and at the age of 18 I took my 1st drink... Was the best feeling I had ever felt while getting tipsy at a party I was no longer anxious or shy felt like I fit in for once in my life! Finally the miracle cure! Wrong! This was another self destructive thing I had started over the next four years I drank and drank and drank. In a mere 7 years of drinking I went from drinking socially in the beginning maybe a 3 or4 drinks a month to half a gallon of vodka every day at the end. Was so messed up that I blacked out more than 250 times, had to be institutionalized, jail for assuault while in a black out. Then was put in long term rehab, six doctors examined me and I was told that I was the worst case they had ever seen at the age of 24, only drank from 18-24 at this time. Was told I was going to die if I didn't stop. Experience seuzures, and severe withdrawal. While in rehab I pushed through it and was sober for 9 months. I felt true happiness for the 1st time ever since I was 13. Now at 24 life looked great. Left rehab because I net met a guy in the aa meeting rooms and feel in love with him. Bad idea! We moved into together and were happy for the 1st year but the second and third year together was hell. We both relapsed him on heroin me on alcohol. Have still been been relapsing and am withdrawing now. Have realised one huge thing though..... All of my lifes problems ranging from anorexia,co dependency, lost over 30 jobs, social skill decline", that it started with low self esteem! The alcohol itself did not cause my deep down core problems! There are great recovery places that help self esteem and are based on treating that only! My whole life has been disasterous! Due to low self esteem not alcohol. Alcohol was just another bandaid for my internal pain, just like the anorexia was and so on. I will post about what low self esteem can do to destroy peoples lives. If this reminds you of yourself please seek treatment based on low self esteem treatment

Think back to when your problems really started.... When you were little... Really think back. Low self esteem was what started my lifes problems! Leading to alcoholism! check out: http://www.theselfesteeminstitute.com/lse-symptoms/emotional.html

WOW!  That's the thing that popped into my head when I first saw this.  I'm so glad I've discovered this site.

 

I see the trend; I'm 27 years old and consider myself a heavy drinker.  My pattern of drinking goes like drinking a lot of beer (roughly 8-9 bottles) whenever I go out or just sitting at home hanging out.  Six years ago I was diagonsed with panic and anxiety disorder, so for the most part it would come and go every now and then.  Recently, I had a pretty bad panic attack (not alcohol-related though, had a STRONG cup of coffee) last April and ever since my anxiety been moderate.  But at this point, I'm really considering to stop or cut down the drinking as I feel quite anxious and panicky after a night of heavy drinking, even if it's just beer.  I rarely, if not at all, drink hard liquor anymore.  But the anxiety, MAN, I certainly hate it the morning after a good binge.  I would get all anxious, sweat, have tingling feelings in my hands and feet, upset upper stomach, lightheadedness, and so on.  The worse is usually around the afternoon time, but seems to calm down later in the evening.  Whenever I have work or something important to attend to the next day, I don't drink at all.  It's only when there's no work the next day is when I go on my drinking. 

 

It's funny; before I would make up excuses to myself like "It's only beer", "I don't have the shakes, so I'm not an alcoholic", and "I got a good job and doing well in grad school, so it hasn't interfered with my life", but I think this is the "the straw that broke the camel's back" moment.  I don't think it's worth it at all to deal with the anxiety and panic attacks all because of my "party animal" drinking.   My course of action is to cut down my beer drinking to 2 bottles max and then eventually stop all together.  I don't think I'm at the point of having issues with withdrawal, so it's best to get this done before it gets worse.

I'm 33 and had my first Panic Attack last year. I was having a whine after dinner (salty Chinese takeout) My fingers swelled up from the sodium. i realized my wedding band wouldn't come off and i freaked out into what was my first real panic attack. i just wanted to run out the door. my heart was racing, felt like i was being steoped on by an elephant. after that one incident i started having them alot. My Dr. prescribed Valium to take before bed. The doctor said chemical levels in the brain get unbalanced after long periods of stress and the Valium helped to calm the anxiety levels down, and they soon almost all went away. True Story! However. I've been a functioning Alcoholic for 10 years. if i only drink half of what i normally drink in a night (whole large bottle wine). i will wake up with withdraws, and straight into a panic attack! Scary Scary! and wouldnt wish those feelings on my worse enemy. Im going to the Doctor today to ask for help on quitting Alcohol because i cant do it my self. I need a crutch. From what i understand Panic Attacks, Nightmares and sleepless nights are quite common with Alcohol Withdraw symptoms. I'm taking a Bcomplex vitamin now. Really helping out on energy. We lose lots of important nutrients as we drink, may have alot to do with stress and anxiety. Take Diazapam for a week before bed. make you feel alot better. but it's only a patch and doesnt fix the source of the stress and anxiety. in my case it's being an alcoholic. If i fix that, maybe my panic attacks will go away. Good Luck! :)

       yesterday, I  ruined thanksgiving dinner since in the middle of it i broke into sweats and I thought I was gonna vomit, die, have a heart attack or stroke, i just couldn't tell but I had  excuse myself from the room so I could meditate

My story is much like all of yours. I call this horrific phenomenon the "panicking hangover. " Im a casual drinker gone rogue.  two years I have know my alcoholism has gotten out of control, but my controlling personality keeps telling me that I can get a hold of this and return to normal social drinking.  I now know Im WRONG! It has been a drunken journey to get to this point and I have hurt my physical body (mostly my CNS) to the point of no return. After reading the about my condition on the internet during an episode where I had  911 on speed dial,  I understand that this panic is the result of the Kindling process in full affect.

  The problem for me has been that, i always felt like I was the strong and sturdy drinker in the group. This very  naive perspective has allowed me to drink every other  day for like 5 years. Thank goodness it never occurred to me that the cure for a hangover was more alcohol. This has been why my binging is so bad.  I suffer the consequences of a major panic for two days after drinking and then completely dry out. By the third day, I have forgotten how awful the hours of anxiety and panics attack were, and then go back to binge drinking.

  I always manage to  convince myself it was just a result of one to many and that I just need more sleep next time, more exercise, or more water, vitamins,  or food or whatever else my inner dialogue comes up with to ease myself into the next binge.   This repeated cycle has been the case for me for so long I cant remember.  Unfortunately, nothing makes the "panicking hangover" any better.  I know this to be fact because I have tried everything to  keep the panic at bay.  Nothing really works accept large amounts of sedative drugs which only make me groggy, guilty,  and disconnected for two more days. For the last few weeks every time I drink more than 5 drinks, I subsequently have the worst day of my life.  The progression has steadily gotten worse. In the beginning, I prided myself on having mild and manageable hangovers.  A bad hangover never prevented me from exercise, work, or another day of drinking.  These days I'm a miserable recluse who cant get the courage to go to the mailbox, much less work or  the grocery store after a night of drinking.  My panic attacks start at like 4 in the morning and by  mid morning, Im in shear terror.  

In fact, the anxiety and panic attacks have steadily been getting worse and worse and worse.  Each "panicking hangover" is far worse than the time before and each time I am sure my death,  a stroke, or a grand mal seizure is just around the corner.  When it is over, I convince myself that I will never do that again and Im done with alcohol for good. I assure myself that  I am better than this and I have will power. This repeated depressing declaration only makes me more anxious when lying on the floor in a heap of nerves on a  Saturday morning at 4 am.  Once again, wondering if Im about to be  dead or worse, a vegetable.   The pattern itself leads to more and more of the anxiety! How could this be my story? After all,  Im a strong capable drinker.  Right?

in the bathroom for like 20 minutes. When I returned, I was still not any better, I just sat there panicking and waiting to die in front of the whole family. What i should have done is just downed the bottle of wine in front of me, but once again, stupid me,  my body never craves alcohol in these moments.  I just stubbornly wait to die in tortured, agony and pure hell. If you are a binge drinker like me, then you know what hell feels like.  It feels like a giant "panicking hangover".

  Im so embarrassed and broken by my condition I cant go on like this if I want to have any sort of real life. The thought of loosing my best friend(alcohol) is sad but,  My body has finally shut down.  my best friend beat me up and left me to pick up the peaces alone and in a fight for my sanity.  How did this happen and why me?  So many others drink and are just fine.  Not me.  I drink and fall to pieces.  

I hope I can finally learn from my own mistakes and STOP THIS INSANITY! It helps knowing Im not the only one. 

 

Hi Folks , found this website extremely helpful , really reassuring to hear others have went through similar things to myself. Been a heavy drinker for 10+ years , usually at least 5-6 nights a week . Suffered many many uneasy hangovers in my time but they always disappeared when I cracked open another can of beer. To cut a long story short , was out for a meal with a friend last week  and got basically absolutely legless. Wine , Beer , Vodka , then started on Tequila (Yuck). Anyways , last thing I remember was being in the bar and next thing I knew I woke up in my Buddies sofa . Totally confused as to how I'd gotten there I suddenly felt an incredible sense of panic and unease. I got up and scurried home to my own bed thinking I'd be fine when the booze wore off. So I wake up and I'm still feeling the most freaked out , paranoid anxious feelings I've ever felt. Thought I was genuinely going mad but reasoned that a few beers later I'd be fine. Well went to the store , drank me a six pack and guess what ? I felt even MORE anxious than before . Back to bed I went hoping to sleep it off but when I awoke I was feeling freaked out with a bizarre sense of seperation between my Body and Soul (Dissociation) I believe the term is . In the end I eventually got some Valium of a friend and after a few days I started to feel OK again . It was a truly horrendous experience which I never want to feel again so for now I'm well and truly staying off the Sauce . What I would like to share though is the following article which I found and thought was truly awesome and wish I'd read it whilst I was freaking out . If it helps just one Person who's having a panic attack then it's worth it. Peace and love - Flash.

The feeling of depersonlisation is due to a shift in brain chemistry, and is due to anxiety/worry etc. Stress or fear produce a change in your brain chemistry ? an increase of adrenaline and decrease of dopamine - and this feeling of depersonalistion and derealisation is a result. You are not going insane and this will rebalance itself. What makes it persist is that usually a person does not know what it is and so worries/creates more stress  this creates a self-perpetuating cycle. Normally, the safe feeling in the chest after a shock will reverse the change in brain chemistry , lowering adrenaline and raising dopamine, but when you are worrying about the DP, you cannot feel safe. DP can occur as a result of a trauma. In this case, as well as the above, the brain is taking time out to rest itself ? you have no control over this  the more you try , the more tired your brain gets and it can't feel the safe feeling it needs. By worrying/stressing you are sending signals to the brain that something is wrong - hence it will protect itself even more and so the cycle continues. If you let it get the rest it needs and just carry on your every day life as best you can, then eventually the safe feeling will return and you will recover. But only if you give yourself a chance to and stop trying to force recovery. When manifesting as part of another disorder such as anxiety, depression etc, the symptom may never occur again after the person recovers from the primary disorder. People that have experienced DP as a result of a bad drug trip or experience have NOT caused long term damage  the mechanism is exactly the same, your brain is protecting itself, hiding away to get the rest it needs  whether this be from the fear a bad experience causes or from the long term drain the drug use has on your body. For some people, there seems to be no trauma, no drug-inducement, no nothing that caused the DP. They may have been just walking along the street one day, when the condition suddenly hit them. The fact that there seemed to be no cause whatsoever can make the condition all the more frightening; it's as if something has gone wrong in the person?s brain for absolutely no reason at all. But things are not always what they seem. There are a HUGE number of elements that, when combined, can cause a person to experience an episode of DP. For example, your work might be a little stressful. You might be drinking some caffeine and soft drinks etc. You might not be sleeping as well as you should. You might have small some problems in your personal relationships. You might be suffering from a common ailment like post-natal depression, mid-life crisis, exam stress etc. And of course, all of these things on their own can seem like they can be coped with on a day-to-day basis. But these various stresses combined over time can cause the body and mind to react in very strange ways. You might have reduced serotonin due to stress (even if you don't feel that stressed, modern life is pretty stressful in itself) as Tommygunz has theorized - in this case the supplements he has listed will help that re balance but you also need to train yourself out of the over thinking and ruminating habit and try to live day by day as normally and routinely as possible. For most people, the DP dissipates naturally when they are out of the traumatic situation  but this is not always the case. You can become aware of the feeling of being ?outside yourself? that DP causes and say, Hey why am I feeling like this?? That unease creates more anxiety and fear (which is now actually focused on the feeling of DP/yourself/the environment simply because there is no visible threat to aim itself at ), with the result that the DP is not able to ebb away as your brain chemistry returns to normal. It turns into a cycle of more DP and more fear  generating the thought habit that becomes the actual condition. Thus there are a variety of causes, but what is common to each case is that the person at some point focuses on the DP, and tries to understand why they are having these feelings. The excess fear/worry has nothing to focus on; there is nothing specific to be worried about, so the fear is projected onto anything and everything This also makes the fear self-perpetuating; there is no threat, so you assume that something is wrong with your mind. This in turn generates more fear  still with no threat around If certain things (thoughts, environmental factors etc) can affect this, then it must be possible to get out of it altogether by establishing precise habits that do not allow it to persist  distraction and not trying to do anything about it. Most of us react to the initial feeling of DP by trying to fight against it. But if you think about it, the idea of fighting against one's own natural defence mechanisms is pointless. By fighting against it, you are making the anxiety worse, and prolonging the DP that is trying to stop that very anxiety/protect the brain against it and give it a chance to recover. Depersonalisation is simply your mind's way of reacting to an event that's been too traumatic to deal with up front or of dealing with too much stress/chemical imbalance. When you go through an experience that?s very difficult, your mind says, Right - this is too much for me. I'm staying out of this one! - it pulls back from reality, because it seems too scary. Once again, that's why DP so often seems as if there's a pane of glass between the sufferer and the rest of the world  it's not because of any permanent change, any distancing  it's simply because your mind is trying to stay away from anything dangerous and has created a temporary screen to keep that stuff out. Say someone gets mugged and stays in for a few days to build up their confidence again. this is exactly what the mind does with DP  it says im staying in the house for a while until I get my confidence back up. Of course, getting your confidence back up takes a lot of effort. But it must be done. Otherwise, that man who got mugged can end up staying in the house for much longer than he should, afraid of going out again. And here's the most important part: It's up to you to get your confidence back up. You must learn to calm your mind down and coax it out of its fear, out from behind that invisible barrier. NOT worry it more/tire it more so it wants to stay in even longer! Leave it alone to rest in its own time. But don't let it hide away at the same time? SLEEP is the safest place your mind knows  this is why you may want to sleep all the time when first ill To find safety, the mind accesses the comfortable state of sleeping - but does so while you are awake. So part of the sleeping state is temporarily shifted into the waking state. That's another reason why DP constantly feels like a mental grogginess, and why concentration becomes difficult  your mind is in that place where you're just about to drift off to sleep, though your body is fully awake. It's also why DP is always worse after a nap  the mind is much closer to the sleep-state. So, in order to deal with a scary waking reality, the mind pulls the warm blanket of the sleep-state over itself and waits until it?s ready to come out again. The mind?s proximity to the sleep-state explains further many of the difficult existential / philosophical thoughts that DP generates. You can find yourself asking questions like, Why am I here? Why am I me?? etc, constantly questioning your own reality: Because of the mind being so close to the sleep-state all the time, life can actually feel like a dream. And what happens at the end of a dream? You wake up. The dream reality disappears, and normal reality resumes. So one reason for the constant nasty existential thoughts of DP is because you keep expecting reality to somehow stop ? because all your previous dream experience tells you that it should! And of course, that's a scary thought. But that's all it is  just a thought. One thing you absolutely have to remember with DP is that reality never changes. It will never stop, it will never fall apart none of those horrible thoughts will ever actually take place. Those thoughts are nonsense. All that has changed is your minds ability to deal with everyday life  but it's a perfectly natural and understandable reaction to a trauma, and it's only temporary. You know that feeling when you are half-asleep in front of the TV or the radio, The sound can seem a bit louder than usual. Sometimes specific words can set off a strange train of thought. It's usually a nice, cosy feeling  being set adrift on the river of the mind! But with DP, you can have those long trains of thoughts even when you're fully awake. The anxiety and fear of being in this state tends to generate fearful, rather than happy or creative thoughts. It can get very scary at times, yes, but just remember that its nothing more than a slightly different level of awareness ? one that everyone around the world experiences every day . All that is happening is that the DP has temporarily pushed the sleeping level of awareness into waking life in order to protect you from some perceived danger. The following is true: People who have recovered from DP almost always say, What on Earth was I worried about?? Because nothing really changes at all with the condition  it's just the way you look at it! In fact, DP is very much an example of a condition that features what psychologists call state-specific learning, and refers to any type of experience that is difficult to remember emotionally (dreams etc). That means that what you feel when you have DP - all the fear, anxiety etc - is very difficult to recall once you get out of it. For example, I can describe DP to someone in vivid detail, but I cannot remember the feelings of it in the same way that I can remember, say for example, the sadness I felt when I finished college and said goodbye to my classmates. I know that this may sound unbelievable right now, but I guarantee that when you recover completely from DP, you will find it very difficult to even remember these emotions that seem so important at the moment. Much like you cannot remember a dream sometimes, even moments after waking. People with DP are usually the sensitive, intelligent and reflective type. This is not entirely surprising, since it is introspection and contemplation of temporary feelings that create the condition in the first place. In my experience, this has actually been a very positive thing, since all of the people I have contacted in researching the condition have always been open, intelligent and optimistic, even in the face of what is often terrible fear.Ok, so we?re looking at DP as a habit of thought. Now let's compare it to another habit: smoking. If you're a smoker, how do you deal with cravings after you quit? Sure, you can use nicotine patches, gum etc but the bottom line is about having the will power to get past it. But you can certainly help your will power out by distracting yourself from the craving, by ignoring and trying to forget the habit. For example, a very common tip for smokers is, keep your hands busy. If you play an instrument, go practice it. If you like to knit, go knit. Go look at some interesting websites for a while. The exact same idea works with DP. But because it is a habit of thought, getting out of it is more difficult than simply not picking up that cigarette. The pink elephant principle applies here - if you think, right, I'm not going to think about DP, the chances are that you won't able to stop! And with DP, that tends to happen over and over again. The harder you try to not think about it, to forget about it - the more you do think about it and the more ingrained the habit becomes. That's why the condition can be so frustrating: it's very much up to the individual to take action but the action taken by the individual often makes the condition worse. But the bottom line is this: you must train your mind to not think about DP. That doesn't mean you will learn to stop thinking about it, or get rid of the thought but just to think about something else. And the best way of doing this is to keep your mind constantly occupied. Keep your hands busy! If you play an instrument, go practice. If you don't play an instrument, start learning one. If you like to knit, go knit. Go surf the web for a while. Always keep busy. And remember: Every time you are busy, you are absolutely working towards something your own recovery. So don't worry about doing even the most frivolous thing. Enjoy it. But stay busy all the time. It's all about for now, accepting that you are not 100%, you feel strange because your brain is tired out from all the worrying and ruminating and just giving it a chance to rest and recover by living as normally as you can manage and NOT trying to do anything about the strange feelings/giving them any attention. It's also better to stay busy with activities that involve your mental input more than others. For example, reading or writing can be better than watching TV, since it's easier to drift away into your own thoughts while doing the latter (That said, though, television can also be the source of a good, positive routine, when it is something that absorbs you like a good drama etc). Learning an instrument or a craft is also a good example since it absolutely requires your full attention. You should also remember that, as with any affliction, laughter is an absolutely wonderful medicine for DP Talk to as many people as you can. Remember that in spite of any anxiety you may feel, that each and every time you go into town, shopping, meeting friends etc is another bit of progress! Go out and have fun with your friends. If you stay in all the time, that will become a habit and one that probably won't help. All DP/anxiety can ever do is make things seem more amplified, more threatening. But reality itself doesn't change. Even if you wanted it to, it couldn't change! All that's happening is that your mind is scared and jumpy at the moment, and seeing danger everywhere (even in the normal philosophical thoughts that everyone has from time to time). I know it can be tough, but just remember that this state is temporary and entirely reversible. One feeling that these thought processes can generate is the idea that reality has somehow changed. You may come to some very strange conclusions about the nature of the condition: for a while, I entertained the nonsensical thought that was in some sort of purgatory?, that I had somehow lost my soul?. You may think that something dreadful is going to happen, like reality falling apart?. Another common thought is that you are somehow going to disappear altogether. These things have not happened, and will not happen. I have been to the absolute depths of this illness, and I have come out it completely unharmed. There is absolutely no permanent mental damage, there is absolutely no permanent physical damage. Hundreds of thousands of people have had this condition before you, and none of them not a single one ever managed to change reality! It's all based on irrational fears created by nonsensical trains of thought. You have not changed in any fundamental way. The world has not changed in any fundamental way. You are suffering from an ailment that yes, can be very scary at times, but is relatively very mild. It is not even close to the risks associated with most other conditions. I think that may be one of the reasons it's not recognized as much as it should be; because as scary as it can get, it is a non-progressive condition and, believe it or not, is simply not that dangerous for the sufferer. Don't ever fight with DP mentally. Take it from me: Fighting it, like fighting with any type of pain, will only make it worse. DP is like the schoolyard bully who calls people names: If you respond to his taunts with anger or sadness, he knows that he can hurt you and so it will keep happening, day in, day out. But if you simply accept him no matter how difficult that may be, and how persistent the bully may be it will eventually stop. Some people who wear visual aids like glasses and contacts have noted that the stress of DP can be reduced by removing them for a while. I wear contacts myself, and found that removing them did in fact produce a calming effect. Why is this? Because by blurring your vision, you are reducing the amount of information that is being received by your visual cortex. This goes to show, yet again, that DP is to a large extent dependent on your environment and how you experience/interact with it. It simply proves, yet again that DP is not a mental condition that is somehow beyond your control. With DP, it can seem very tempting to stay in bed all day, not shower etc every day, to just let yourself go a bit. And sick people are somehow allowed to stay in bed, to not shower regularly, not dress properly etc. I know that I used that excuse for many weeks after I initially developed DP. However, that's a very negative way of thinking and it will only make the DP worse. In a sense, doing that is actually drawing your focus onto the DP, since you are physically allowing it to affect your life. It's basically the same thing as letting yourself sit for hours watching boring TV  it might seem like the easier thing to do, but in fact it promotes exactly the kind of introspection that DP thrives on and in the long run it will only make things worse. So, though it might seem easier to not to jump into the shower every day, go for it anyway. You'll look, and more importantly feel much better when you're clean and it'll give you a solid routine to look forward to every day. Personally, I found that a good time to take a shower or bath is right before going to bed. It calms you down nicely and makes your body tired and prepared for rest. Take good care of your appearance in general. Look as good as you can every day! Wear clothes that are comfortable and that look well on you, especially you're going out. Eventually this outward confidence will soak into your mind and you will start to feel better too. As I've said, one of the many ways to get out of anxiety is to train your concentration. And a great way of doing this is by focusing on bettering yourself physically. It gives you goals, and something very worthwhile to work at every day. You absolutely must cut caffeine out of your diet. It will aggravate anxiety and DP. Plus, they also tend to disrupt sleep patterns, which as we know are directly related to DP. Firstly, it increases heart pressure something you absolutely don't need when trying to get rid of anxiety. Secondly, salt depletes potassium in the body, an essential element for a properly-functioning nervous system. Everyone loves chocolate and sweets.  I'm a big fan myself. However, these again are bad for anxiety and DP. As they are digested, they cause a drop in blood-sugar levels, which can set off anxiety and mood swings. Stay away from sweet foods! By cutting them out of your diet, you are cleansing your body and brain, and helping to bring them back to their best. In fact, by the time you recover from DP, your general health should be better than ever. Look at anxiety and DP as your body?s way of telling you that it needs to be rid of all these impurities. The carbon dioxide in soda water is actually very good for you, since anxious people tend to have low levels of it in their blood. It is good for preventing hyperventilation and also helps the blood flow in general. In general, fruit and vegetables are very good for diminishing anxiety and DP. Eat plenty of spinach, carrots, onions, beetroot, celery, wholegrain cereals, asparagus, avocado, garlic, eggs, fish etc. Drink plenty of water every day; keeping your body hydrated is essential for overall health. Vitamin B6 and 12 are very important for the maintenance of a healthy nervous system, which, I don?t have to tell you, is essential for control of anxiety and DP. They are needed for the maintenance of myelin,the fatty substance that protects the nerves, and are generally good for dealing with fatigue. Vitamin B deficiencies can be caused by a number of factors, primarily stress and anxiety. This, in turn, can cause increased anxiety, loss of appetite and insomnia ? all of which can make DP worse. Remember to be patient with it ? if you have developed a deficiency, it can take time to build your Vitamin B levels back up. Calcium ? nerve health Magnesium supplements are good for the heart, for the blood flow, and can help prevent anxiety and stress. Magnesium can also help to relieve insomnia and depression. Take a good Omega-3 supplement every day. Also, you should take a good multivitamin supplement every day. If your DP has come on because of taking drugs, you may feel quite guilty; Remember: It's not your fault! It's nobody's fault. Often, the drug may have been a catalyst the metaphorical straw that broke the camel's back. It'BBs quite possible that the stresses in your life were building up anyway, and that you were about to suffer a panic attack, depression or DP (if you had not had one already). The drug simply sped up that process. But regardless of whether or not the drug alone brought on the DP or whether it just hurried up the manifestation of the stresses that were already happening, the end situation is the same. It is reversible, so don't worry! And whatever you do, don't feel guilty about anything. DP is a natural reaction. It is not something that can be anybody's fault, anymore than getting, for example, a bad dose of hay fever is anybody's fault. Your body simply reacted to stresses in a natural way, it and it is now up to you to train it back to normality. Look at it this way: This is your body's way of telling you that you need to better handle stress in the future, and also to stay away from any substances that may aggravate it. All you need to do is heed this advice, make the necessary changes in your lifestyle, and soon you'll be back to normal. So don?t think of this as a mistake, or someone's fault. It's a great lesson to learn, it will enrich your life, so just be happy about it! Also, remember that no matter what the cause of the DP, the condition is essentially the same. There is no difference in marijuana-induced DP and DP caused by general stress levels ? and so, getting out of it will be the same. And if you have a therapist, don't be afraid to tell them what you think brought on the DP, even if it was illegal drugs. Getting the causes of the condition off your chest will be hugely beneficial to your recovery. It isn't a great idea to drink with DP - although it may temporarily relieve it, the repercussions are generally worse. But remember this: If alcohol can temporarily alleviate DP, then that tells us yet again that DP is a temporary state a combination of a transitory imbalance of brain chemicals and thought-habits - and can be changed. The practices that you are implementing into your life are all contributing towards making that change ? and making it permanently. Some people have suffered from DP for a long time ; indeed it can affect some people for years at a time. This does not mean that people are affected with different types of DP that stay longer than others; it simply means that you have not found the correct thought-habits to get out of it. The thing is that it's way to easy to deal with DP by logging onto the websites every day, to read every book you can about the disorder, to go to every doctor in your area (who usually know nothing about the condition). It is not easy, however, to simply try and forget about it and get on with your life. The thing with DP, as with any other type of obsessive thought, is that there is absolutely no point in trying to suppress it, analyze it or get rid of it. As I have already noted, telling yourself "Today, I am not going to think about DP" is the same as saying "Today, I will not think about pink elephants". By acknowledging that you don't want to think about the condition, you are already creating an association that will bother you for the whole day. The fact that so many people can and do get out of DP on a regular basis (as many posts on website forums prove) means that in theory, anyone can get out of DP. Of course, it may take longer for others and it may take more intensive effort on a day-to-day basis, but the more effort that one puts into getting out of these thought-habits, the faster they will see results. You might think, well, even if I recover, won't I be likely to just go back in to DP if I have another traumatic experience or stressful period?? Well, if you recover properly, the simple answer to this question is: No. Like I've said, DP is a habit of thought. What you are doing now is building up a resistance to that habit; replacing that negative habit with healthy habits. Let's take, for example, the following situation: Let's say you were a smoker for ten years. And then one day, you just realized that it was bad for you. So you quit. You didn't quit cold turkey, but you phased it out over a couple of months. Eventually, you completely stopped associating cigarettes with your coffee break at work, with your glass of wine in the evening. You learned to stop wanting a cigarette every time you saw someone else smoke one on the street. It took time and effort, but you replaced the smoking habit of thought with a non-smoking habit of thought, with positive thoughts. And then, for argument's sake, let's just say that if, a decade after that, that you're at a party, and an old friend offers you a cigarette. You think, why not?? and you smoke it. Now - does that mean that you're back to square one, hooked all over again? Of course not. The positive habits you've built up in the meantime are what count. Even if you get a cigarette craving the next day, that's ok because you know how to deal with it. You have the experience to deal with it. You have dealt with it long enough to know that you can get past it. And it?s the same with DP. After you get through it, you will have completely trained yourself back into a positive habit of thought. And if  something especially stressful happens to you in the future, and if  you happen to experience the transitory DP that almost everyone does in such situations, you will recognize it, know why you are feeling it, and be able to let it go. Also remember: The DP won't stop overnight. There is no miracle cure for the condition, just as there is no miracle cure for any truly bad habit. - because it is A NATURAL DEFENSE/HEALING MECHANISM - much like you could not 'cure' a scab that forms over a wound - it simply drops off when the wound is healed. Getting out of it is a progressive de-habitualisation, like learning to stop smoking,or learning to be more positive in general. You have to think of your recuperation in terms of months, not days. And even at that, it is still quite difficult at times. As with the removal of any habit,you will find that it will return, temporarily, at the most inopportune times. You see, recovery from DP is not a straight line from habit to non-habit. It is more like a jagged downhill mountain slope: at times, you will have to climb tough little peaks, other times, you will find yourself trotting happily down an easypath. It varies from hour to hour, day to day. Just remember that no matter how tough those little peaks get, they are still part of a definite movement towards recovery. You see, the thing about DP is that because of its habitual nature, it can be very difficult to judge when you are getting better. For example, you might have two good days in a row. On the third day, for whatever reason, you feel anxious and feel the depersonalisation strongly. Now, if you'd had that day in the middle of a week-long bout of DP, it would just seem like another bad day. In fact, it might not even feel that bad  just another day in which you have had to cope with DP. But when you are back in it after a few days of respite, it can seem much worse. Most of that is attributable not to the intensity of the DP itself, but to the disappointment felt when you think that your escape route has been closed off. So when you have a bad day (and let?s be honest about it, you will almost certainly have many days that are quite difficult), try not to think, Oh no, Im back to square one. Just tell yourself:  am not back to square one. My DP only seems worse because I am getting better in general. I have been making improvements and that tells me that one day soon I can completely recover from this condition. If I feel bad in the meantime I am happy to simply wait until I feel better.

I stopped drinking Jan 10, 2013...drank about 3 - 5 tall boys a day (never got drunk) just enough to take the edge off. I have been suffering anxiety and panick attacks daily since, and I have not had a drop. Its been 23 days, my panick attacks get so bad I have to take an Ativan to stop them. Will this ever get better??

hi. I am a 47 year old women who drank day and night for 15 days.  I am trying not to drink today, but i feel like i could die.  I took sleeping pill last night but it only lasted for a few hours.  Im so miserable and scared.  i am scared that i wont sleep tonight again.  OMG i could kill myself for this.  I drank straight vodka day and night  how do i know if i should go to the hospital?  i missed two weeks of work and feel brain dead  what will help me feel better and what does breathing differently do?

Im 32 male and I binge drink like f**k, I might not drink for 2-3 weeks but when I do I could drink 10-15 pints + spirits, id blackout not remembering how I got home common enough for me. But then the days after are a nightmare I know it's the hangover and u think mad sh*t and my friends would be the same but I had one thing different I got like pins and needles sensation in my face wave after wave. Couldnt sleep cause of all mad sh*t going on in my head, thinking of stuff that happened years ago and saying why did I do that. The pins and needles in my face freek me out and that's how I found this thread thank god I'm not the only one. Also when I talk to people my face would drip with sweat which is embarrassing and when I eat I would sweat, like wtf! So after reading all other posts, I think I have an anxiety problem, but I love my drink! What to do? The face sweating is becoming a problem, what's that all about? I thought the fear was normal after drinking ! I do get hangovers from hell but still love to drink. Anyone any ideas on the sweating issue?