14 days sober - Health Anxiety messing with me

[motox&mascara]

Hey :)

Not sure if posting this in the right place but seeing as I do have health anxiety and this particular incident is triggering it il try here and see if it gets moved.

Any who. Im 26 and gave up drinking 14 days ago :yahoo: and plan to stick with it. Both to help my anxiety which was spiralling out of control and because I obviously had a serious problem with it and was a horrible person to be around. Not a daily drinker but a very bad binge drinker. I don't like the person I had become and want to get the "old" me back albeit a little more anxious than before lol. I actually never thought that all the drinking I have done over the years could have actually helped contribute to my mental health problems now. My family and friends think it could be he case and considering I've never actually given the sober life a chance, I wouldn't be surprised if booze helped trigger this all off to begin with.

Anyway I was feeling good up until a couple of days ago, have hit a wall and my health anxiety has been super bad as in I am fixated on the fact I am ill and am going to just die (even though I've had a clean bill of health and every single test I've had done has always been perfect). Currently worried about strokes (did post earlier about a blood clot fear duh). Yay!... :lac:
Been in a constant state of anxiety all day today. I was guttered cos I was starting to feel a lot more positive in regards to my negative health thoughts. Then I had a thought about whether this setback could be related to my recent quitting of alcohol.

Has anyone else who has given up the drink experienced anything similar.??

I'm not on my meds at the moment (expect diazepam when neeeded) but plan to get back on them as I am feeling the depression really bad today crying all day over the smallest things and that feeling of "what if I'm stuck like this forever" which is always the case when I start getting depressed.

Sorry for the novel guys but any input would be much appreciated :D

A

[MyNameIsTerry]

I just wanted to say well done (and bump the thread) for going without for 14 days (and counting!) and good luck keeping this going! :yesyes::yahoo:

There are people on here better able to answer who have quit alcohol but I suspect that either it could have been helping you control it, or give you periodic releases that kept it lower, or it's perhaps an element of detoxing?

When anxiety is at it's worst stages, it's best to go day-by-day, hour-by-hour. Don't put too much pressure on yourself and do what you feel you need to to get you by until this passes.

[snowghost57]

Is there a local AA group you can attend? They are a great group of people and are very supportive. Congrats on being sober!

[Catherine S]

Well done to you for taking the step to getting yourself sorted out. You could be in a sort of withdrawal period from the alcohol, even though you didn't drink every day. Heavy drinking even just at weekends can affect your body if it's been a regular thing for a long time. So it could be a sort of rebound anxiety you're experiencing just now, but awful as it feels you will get through it with time.

As Snowghost suggested, maybe try an AA meeting where you'll find people who know about these feelings after quitting. Don't give up.

Take care
ISB ☺ X

[Scissel]

You should hold your head up high because it takes courage and strength to overcome addiction. Keep up the good work and you can do it. I'm also clean and sober now. Took me while but I got serious when I almost died. If AA or NA helps you, that is awesome, for me, that just wasn't an option for a host of reasons. 3rd time in rehab and I got serious and I was on practically everything at one point ... only we can change and turn our lives around. So proud and happy to hear this news.

[AnxietySufferer]

Hello. I just wanted to join in and say well done on 14 days :)
I am doing dry jan for similar reasons :)

[Scissel]

Awesome news ... keep up the good work.

Please feel free to post about your progress and remember the each day is progress regardless and it not easy sometimes.

Are you doing alright @motox&mascara ?

[icingsugar]

I quit alcohol 14 months ago. Like you, was a binge drinker (2-3 days a week) rather than a daily drinker. I definitely found around a week into quitting I had a bad sense of anxiety, though I pretty much expected it as I'd tried to quit unsuccessfully half a year before for 3 weeks and experienced interrupted sleep, anxiety etc. Just stick with it! I unfortunately still suffer bad health anxiety and recently has been worse than ever, but mostly due to being under stress at work. It would have been worse I imagine had I still been drinking.
For me, reading Annie Grace's This Naked Mind was a game changer and watching her videos on youtube! I won say I never have urge to drink ever, but having read the book I realise I really don't want to and the urge always passes in 10 mins. It doesn't scare you into not drinking, just makes you rethink your relationship with alcohol.
I will say stopping drinking long term helps with better sleep, more energy, better skin. I've also lost the excess 95 pounds I was carrying around through diet and exercise, which I'd have never been able to do if I was still drinking (those hangover pizzas and the excessive drinking are what made me largely put on the weight).