anxiety and alcohol

[carpfisherman71]

ive been suffering anxiety/ocd and panic attacks for a number of years, and recently been told by my doctor that i have gad, when i drink i always end up more drunk than intended, apart for a few times, ive always wandered is it the anxiety that makes me drink more, or am i an alcoholic, the last two months i have not drunk and been attending aa meetings, but do find a lot of the time that the people i speak to have continued drinking on continous days, and these people who are very nice seem to be obsessed with drink which im not ,this has never happened to me, as when i wake up with a hangover, the last thing i want is a drink, but im full of anxiety, so im a bit confused and wander if any other people have had similar experiences, im thinking of having cbt and perhaps i can eventually drink sensibly, any help would be welcome

[Richard1960]

I suffer from anxiety and panick attacks and used to use alcohol to self medicate is this what you are doing? if so alcohol as i have learnt is liable to make you feel a whole lot worse,i would not say you were an alcoholic if that is the case,but if you were drinking loads everyday for no real reason then you might be having a problem with drink.

Did your doctor not offer you anything to calm down? so you are not reliant on alcohol AA is great but if you have underlying probems they will not be able to sort them out,if that is the cause of your drinking

You might need to revisit your doctor again.

All the best.Richard.:)

[BobbyDog]

Hey carpfisherman71, I completely agree with Richard, I don't think that you are an alcoholic. I used alcohol as a tool to hide behind and eventually it got me in a whole lot of trouble. If your doctor said that you have GAD, perhaps you would benefit from a course CBT, go and speak to your GP again.

[raggie66]

Hi, I can relate to the alcohol too. For years I drunk every night to excess, it felt good at the time, but in effect I was masking my troubled life. I would wake up feeling s**t but still head off to work. Never thought about drink whilst I was there but always wanted some when I got home. The hangovers got worse and worse and gradually I became more depressed and anxious and eventually had a break down. Hence my visit to the doctors and put on fluoxetine.
Alcohol definitely contributes to anxiety and depression. I have only had a couple of drinks since, at a wedding, did not get drunk but still felt really awful the next morning, heightened anxiety and very low, which took days to shift.
I agree with Richard and Bobbydog that AA may not necessarily be your best course of action, in my case meds and counselling have really helped. I'm by no means 100%, but nearly 9 weeks down the line I am certainly feeling that life is improving. Have lots of wobbles still but the good is now almost outweighing the bad.
Good luck