Alcohol anxiety

[meche]

So last night I was at a Halloween party at a friends house. Great night, lots of fun & quite a bit of alcohol consumption 🍹🍹! I'm not a big drinker & don't indulge from one month to the next but last night it just seemed to flow & everyone had a great time. I don't suffer hugely from hangovers & today is no exception. Woke up with a bit of a headache & been feeling a bit sluggish all day. I don't have huge anxiety issues these days but when I do I cope & it's a fleeting moment. However all day today I've felt like I'm on the verge of a panic attack!! I've had a nervous tummy, racing heart, I'm unsettled & don't know what to do with myself! I can't shake it off. Nothing bad has happened & I'm not worried about anything & I can't get my head round why I feel like this. On the rare occasions I do drink I have never felt like this before! Does anyone else get this? xx

[Fishmanpa]

Great night, lots of fun & quite a bit of alcohol consumption 🍹🍹! Woke up with a bit of a headache & been feeling a bit sluggish all day.

That's a hangover plain and simple and the most likely cause of your heightened anxiety. It doesn't matter how well you handled it in the past, our bodies change and react regardless. Live and learn I guess....

Positive thoughts

[theharvestmouse]

Alcohol in your system is causing your brain and body to react like this. It's a plain fact that alcohol increases anxiety even for someone who does not have any sort of mental health problems. As Fishmanpa says, our bodies become less capable of dealing with alcohol th older we get. Maybe you lower your intake next time you go out.

[meche]

Thanks for the replies guys. Feeling better tonight. I've never had an anxiety reaction from alcohol before so it completely threw me. Like I said, I don't drink very often but it really scared me & has made me think about my future alcohol consumption. Hangovers & anxiety are bad enough individually but together...... double trouble! xx

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's not a plain fact that alcohol causes anxiety because there is contradictory evidence of it. The OP has not had this before. I drank more than the moderation my GP said was OK whilst on Citalopram for 5 days straight on holiday and experienced no anxiety issues. There are other on here who say the same...see the current "Sertraline & Alcohol" thread, for instance where no one is saying alcohol causes an increase to anxiety. So, there is no proof it does only that it can. There is a very big difference there.

Alcohol is a depressant and guess what, it stops Serotonin being used. Isn't that why they give us SSRI's? To increase our low levels of Serotonin?

Also consider the fact that there is a big element of a hangover that is also a well known cause of anxiety - dehydration.

Also consider the fact that alcohol has to be eliminated by your liver and it is eliminated at a steady rate. Whilst this occurs your liver still have to eliminate all the usual & byproducts from normal functioning. If you've ever read about "die off effect" when considering various supplementation (e.g. probiotics) you will know that this can occur to the liver from these as well and what happens...people can feel depressed or anxious.

Before my GAD started I drank alcohol up to 5 nights a week some weeks as a young man. I have never experienced anxiety because of it. I've had many a hangover to the point of throwing up so surely I would have if the chemical processes in the body meant anxiety was created when alcohol is introduced. Whether alcohol can in non anxiety sufferers, I'm not sure, but I've never heard that one.

So, could becoming dehydrated or dosing yourself up with high strength probiotics (especially if you have candida overgrowth issues) cause you to feel the same. Yes. Whilst candida overgrowth may not be fully medically supported in this, dehydration certainly is. Alcohol causes dehydration.

So, there could be many factors involved here. You could have needed more hydration for a start leading up to it, during it or after it. You may need to stay under a certain volume of alcohol.

Whilst I agree that alcohol is an potential issue with anxiety, it really is not a given as proven by members on here for a start.

If you ate something that made you feel unwell, would you avoid it for life or would you see that as irrational? Irrational surely? It could have just been one of those things. So, when you have proof that you can drink without anxiety, why avoid it for life on the strength of one event? Isn't that a classic avoidance issue to someone with an anxiety disorder? Would someone without an anxiety disorder say that? No, I don't think so. How many times have we said "never again" in the midst of a hangover to be back on the sauce within 24hrs? I've done that plenty of times.

At the end of the day there are many things that cause anxiety e.g. exercise, caffeine, certain spices, vitamin B, high protein, even work! Alcohol you can make a choice with but it's a social norm and why cut yourself off from one of lifes pleasures unless you have too? If you have IBS and can't eat certain things, fair enough, so in the same context if your anxiety procludes you from alcohol completely, it's worth making the choice. But I know for a fact that I couldn't tolerate alcohol when I was much worse and as I reached a better recovery stage I could.

The argument is then often "why take the chance", well, you will be taking that same chance everytime you change jobs, go to a party, exercise, etc dependant on you anxiety issues. I don't think building unhealthy associations in the subconscious is the way forward.

So, it's just not that simple.

[LesaThomas]

Hello,
Anxiety has different different symptoms like,
1. Headache
2. Difficulty concentrating
3. Nausea and stomach problems
4. Inability to sleep at night
5. Feeling of tension in muscles and many more
Yes, alcohol is a horrible solution to anxiety problems, but there some treatment such as,
1. Sufferers are likely to find symptoms disappear once they enter recovery.
2. Many medicines are available for to treat the anxiety and a physician will be able to give the most appropriate treatment.
3. There is Cognitive behavioral therapy which is effective for the treatment of anxiety.