Alcohol and panic attacks

[fallingstar]

I know all about the hangover anxiety. I've always gotten it after a night of heavy drinking. I've been really cutting down and watching the alcohol content for two reasons - a medicine I've been on a short while and the anxiety symptoms the next day.

After last night, I'm at the point of saying what's the point in having any alcohol. That being said it's easier than done. It's nice to have a couple nice craft beers with my husband or our friends when we go out. In fact we are having a friend come up in a week and that's what we usually do. I'm all up for doing that - minus consuming the alcohol myself. I feel like I should allow myself to have one in each place (3 or 4 places) of low alcohol volume just for taste and enjoyment. I also feel like what is the point. I feel like I should just stick to non alcoholic, espresso, kombucha etc. Drinking is such a social thing and I feel like when I've cut it out before while I've been fine, I feel that I'm missing out on the social aspect of it. Who here has cut out drinking for the better of their anxiety and overall mood? How does it affect your social interactions? Would you go back?


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[Midnight-mouse]

I cut alcohol out completely a good few years ago, it just makes the anxiety awful once it wears off and a little too good while I was drinking so I realised I could be heading for a trap.

Some background on me I was an art student/live music junkie that was frequently found at house parties and after parties full of people that are very, very drunk and usually high too. So I definitely get the social aspect, but I don’t miss it at all. I particularly don’t miss the hangovers and the increased anxiety. I still have just as much fun! Truthfully alcohol really doesn’t add anything to a good time for me whatsoever.


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[BlueIris]

This is never something I've experienced, but I'm always a really light drinker in the run of things.

Unhelpful but funny: I always suffered something almost like an allergic reaction to alcohol - tight, burning skin and acute muscle and joint pains after only a couple of sips. Since starting on citalopram, the reaction has reduced by something like 75%. I don't drink excessively, but it's really nice to be able to have a couple in social situations without the unpleasant physical symptoms.

[ankietyjoe]

I honestly don't understand why people with anxiety bother with booze when it makes them feel worse. Alcohol in infamous for increasing anxiety and depression, mainly because it's literally toxic and causes the body to experience stress.

I all but gave it up about 5-6 years ago and don't miss it at all. I don't need booze to socialise, and don't really enjoy the company of people who over-indulge anyway. You soon realise what a tit you look like when you're drunk when you walk into a room full of drunk people.

If you want to carry on drinking, I would suggest limiting yourself to two drinks, drinking them slowly and only drinking lower alcohol varieties, so maybe 3-4% for beers, 11-12% for wine and only single shots plus mixers for spirits. It's only relatively recently that drinks became more potent than that, and alcohol levels were increased to induce drunkenness more quickly.

[WiredIncorrectly]

I used to get terrible anxiety the day after drinking. I don't drink anymore. Problem solved :)

[ankietyjoe]

I used to get terrible anxiety the day after drinking. I don't drink anymore. Problem solved :)

Did you not once say you couldn't go without alcohol? Or was that somebody else?

[WiredIncorrectly]

Did you not once say you couldn't go without alcohol? Or was that somebody else?

I've been sober for about a year and a half. Prior to that I was drinking every day for many years.

[ankietyjoe]

I've been sober for about a year and a half. Prior to that I was drinking every day for many years.


I seem to remember you saying back then that you 'couldn't' give up booze, because life without it was worse. Or I could have imagined that and it was somebody else.

[GingerFish]

I haven't cut out booze completely but have cut down. My anxiety sometimes after drinking was horrendous and yesterday was a good example of that. On Friday it was a friend's birthday night out and you know what it's like, one drink turns to two and when you're talking away you don't realise how much you have had to drink. I didn't feel drunk just tipsy but yesterday the day after drinking was hellish anxiety wise.

The anxiety I feel after drinking is nothing to do with "oh god what if I made a fool of myself while drinking?" Which can be quite common. It's pure and utter severe panic attacks for me and depersonalisation and derealization. Absolutely horrible. It was so bad yesterday that it lasted all day and I had to go for a walk around my dodgy neighborhood at midnight, call up a local mental health support group and almost called NHS24/999. I just couldn't cope and felt as though I was going round the bend.

I managed to get a few hours of sleep and still feel hazy and on edge today but I often feel like that after a huge panic and/or lack of sleep.

It's gave me the wake up call I need. No amount of fun while drinking is worth that anxiety the next day and even though it doesn't happen every time I drink, it's not worth it. I've noticed it usually happens more if I drink spirits. Rarely happens if I drink things like cider or alcopops all night.

[WiredIncorrectly]

I seem to remember you saying back then that you 'couldn't' give up booze, because life without it was worse. Or I could have imagined that and it was somebody else.

There was a thread where I said something along the lines of I'm lucky the depression hasn't drove me back to drink. I could never touch alcohol again. Life is so much better with out it in terms of mental health and general health. Most definitely somebody else :shades:

[WiredIncorrectly]

I haven't cut out booze completely but have cut down. My anxiety sometimes after drinking was horrendous and yesterday was a good example of that. On Friday it was a friend's birthday night out and you know what it's like, one drink turns to two and when you're talking away you don't realise how much you have had to drink. I didn't feel drunk just tipsy but yesterday the day after drinking was hellish anxiety wise.

The anxiety I feel after drinking is nothing to do with "oh god what if I made a fool of myself while drinking?" Which can be quite common. It's pure and utter severe panic attacks for me and depersonalisation and derealization. Absolutely horrible. It was so bad yesterday that it lasted all day and I had to go for a walk around my dodgy neighborhood at midnight, call up a local mental health support group and almost called NHS24/999. I just couldn't cope and felt as though I was going round the bend.

I managed to get a few hours of sleep and still feel hazy and on edge today but I often feel like that after a huge panic and/or lack of sleep.

It's gave me the wake up call I need. No amount of fun while drinking is worth that anxiety the next day and even though it doesn't happen every time I drink, it's not worth it. I've noticed it usually happens more if I drink spirits. Rarely happens if I drink things like cider or alcopops all night.

That's generally how a hangover will make anybody feel. Alcohol is a poison to the body and the body chemistry is thrown off wack for a bit until it's flushed from the system. It'll pass within 24 hours.

[dinajafer]

The problem lies not in alcohol but in your life at all. Firstly, as I see, you can't rejoice in life without alcohol (or you treat alcohol as an escape from something). Secondly, you don't feel okay with your current state. The alcohol both makes you happy but increases the instability of your life. As a result, you feel anxiety as you don't sure you are okay. I've had the same situation before rehab treatment in Abbeycare Scotland (https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/rehab-scotland/). But even after a treatment, I'm still trying to rebuild my life without my "past".