plz help me and say the truth

[bonnie1980]

Hello everybody i am suffering with panick and anziaty so i drink every night just so i can sleep i know its not good at all but plz let me know what else i can do so i dont have to or if anybody else dose this i feel so bad for being this way plz help
thank you for listening :flowers: bonnie xx

[melody]

Hi,

I have been there. I suggest you pick one night per week where you dont drink. It will probably be hard, but I think it is worth it. I wasted away lots of years of my life drinking away my problems. Having panic attacks, crying buckets every day. Hating myself.

It's very hard to change! Aim for one night per week for now. Let yourself feel who you are. It's easier than prolonging what your mind is trying to tell you. If you can achieve that then you should be very proud of yourself!!!

If you get to feeling stronger, you can increase it to 2 nights per week. etc............ no need to hurry yourself. You will know when you are ready.

Don't waste time feeling ashamed of yourself. It just makes it worse!

There are heaps of techniques, but they don't make you feel numb happiness like the alcohol. It means stepping into reality even if it's hard.
Meditation is good to get in touch with what you feel, without clouding it with the chatter of thoughts. Yoga & tai chi are great calming methods. Going for a run. Scream out your frustration. Write everything no matter how morbid, crazy seeming etc it may seem, there is a simple reason/trigger for even the strangest feelings. I use affirmations & dream cards which help. I drink Chamomile tea on "dry nights". I also do art where I draw everything that I feel to vent, sometimes it provides insight or sometimes its empty, but it provides insight for myself on how to deal with things sometimes.

I hope you can find peace with yourself :)

Melody

[Romo]

you know what helps me so much? just one beer.. That mellows me out, I don't feel hung over and the anxiety is not as bad while i drink.. I also sleep through out the night. I would not sleep for nights at a time before this OR I would wake up every hour. I know one beer you feel like it might not help after you drink it, you might even feel sober, but it helps ALOt when you get into bed and close your eyes..and I don't think it's that bad for you. Since this, i am also able to go a few nights with no drink at all. I haven't tried more then two nights yet. I feel like wine and anything else might help sleep , but the anxiety is worse while I drink.



Hello everybody i am suffering with panick and anziaty so i drink every night just so i can sleep i know its not good at all but plz let me know what else i can do so i dont have to or if anybody else dose this i feel so bad for being this way plz help
thank you for listening :flowers: bonnie xx

[bonnie1980]

Thank you both for your replys they are very helpfull i will defo be trying them out i will let you know how i get on thank you again :)


love from bonnie

[JohnBliss]

Hi there
I too swear by an alcoholic nightcap and have enjoyed one everynight for the last twenty five years.I've never had a problem sleeping despite the constant anxiety during my waking hours. The practice does not seem to have done me any harm and for me better the little indulgence and resulting relaxed state than not sleeping well. As soon as my head hits the pillow I'm asleep.Wonderful !!
Regards
John

[Meewah]

Hi

I am the absolute opposite. If I drink a little or a lot I sleep terribly. I toss and turn and am hot. I wake in the night with Palps. Not nice so I have given up drinking altogether. I feel so much better now.

Different for each of us.

Mee

[nomorepanic]

No No No - you are all saying one small drink at night is ok.

So when one doesn't work does it turn into 2 or 3?

Alcohol does not help and does not promote a good nights sleep at all.

I have been there in the past and used to drink 12 cans of lager a night!!!!

Not good and not good for my liver.

Please do not go down the drinking alcohol route to get you to sleep trust me!

[Valka]

Hi ya,
a friend of mine realized earlier this year that she'd started doing this as well and that she was using alcohol as a coping technique for anxiety/OCD, whereas it actually seemed to be making it worse in the long run. Personally, I love good wine/beer/gin etc. but I've figure out that drinking makes my anxiety a whole lot worse. I've been able to relate certain panic attacks to being even just slightly hungover. So at the moment, while I'm trying to recover from the anxiety relapse I've recently had, I'm not drinking at all. My psychiatrist agreed with my decision and said for people with anxiety, alcohol will possibly calm you down temporarily but in the long term it does the exact opposite.

I take half a sleeping pill before I go to sleep (prescription meds). The problem with them is they're addictive and you become dependant on them really quickly. Still, they help me. I've had insomnia since I was a kid and I'd tried basically every technique there is.

Are you on any meds? Are you doing behavioural therapy or anything like that? I think a good first step would be to speak to your GP, be honest about your problems and ask if they can recommend some sort of therapy or treatment. There's a lot of things you can do when you have anxiety and not everything works for everyone. At the moment I'm doing this to try and get better:
Taking Cipralex, 10mg
Exercising 5 times a week
Reducing my workload
Taking walks
Not drinking
Eating healthily
Learning to control my panic attacks
Discussing how I feel with friends and family

I'm also considering therapy, possibly group therapy.

So there's a lot you can do - hope it all goes well for you!

[suzy-sue]

I used to drink ,but dont anymore. I never slept properly after alcohol and was always anxious the next day .Its definately not the way to go. Herbal sleeping remedys work better and dont carry the risks. Youll see your anxiety levels drop so you probably wont need anything after a while anyway. Sue

[Valka]

Yeah, I agree with Sue - was just going to say there's some herbal remedies you can get that will calm you down and ultimately make you sleep better. You can even buy them at the pharmacy.

[Veronica H]

Warm milk works every time for me...give it a try.:yesyes:

[minihaha]

i used to have a nightcap before bedtime - never felt dependant on the alcohol as such..it was more the ritual of having that one drink before bedtime, it really could have been tea, juice or in my case a vodka and coke. the point i am trying to make is that i had a routine, half an hour before bedtime i would pour myself a drink. Dependant on how i was feeling, that one drink could either make me wide awake or sleepy, but after a few weeks of doing this i got to the stage that the one drink could become 2 or 3 or 4 dependant on how i was feeling. Luckily i reigned it in, as the last thing i wanted was anxiety to breed an alcohol dependancy. with hindsight i would say that i feel better on balance having broken the habit and i have stopped the evening ritual. I do enjoy a night out now and i have a few drinks but i would never return to the habitual "dram" before bedtime, no matter how innocent it seemed. Whilst many people can involve a moderate alchol intake daily, i dont think that its a good road to go down when one is suffering anxiety as it could become habit forming and grow arms and legs. I am not suggesting for a minute that you personally have been doing this, but i have found that a short walk, say an hour before bedtime (if thats practical) followed by a warm bath, low lights and a couple of chapters of a good book really do work wonders. Avoid any use of the computer or games consoles before bedtimes as this tends to make you wide awake. There are a lot of natural bedtime remedies such as kalms, lavender oils etc that can help you wind down before bedtime. I wish you well xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Reggie]

Alcohol makes me anxious, it changes how I feel and I only need the slightest disturbance and I feel like I'm anxious (that sounds mad now that I've written it down).

Drinking often makes me panic, so I just don't drink at all. Also, all the meds I'm on, means I can't drink at all really even if I wanted to.

[bonnie1980]

just wanted to say a massive thank you for all of you replys there very help full i am going to start the new me on sunday no drink befor bed :) and see what happens i am going to go on to a on line hurb shop to and see what i can get. Thank you all again for your time and words :hugs:


luv bonnie xxx:flowers: :flowers:

[name]

A friend of mine recently told me she had tried yogi tea its a herbal tea an she said it was the best nights sleep she had got in 25 yrs she recommend it to 3 of her friends who have said the same thing and she rings meevery 2 or 3 days asking me if i have tried it yet so on monday im going to buy it so maybe this mite help u aswell Name:hugs:

[bonnie1980]

Just wanted to say thank you to you all i have not had a drink for 3 nights now and all is good so thank you so much for being there for me much thanks xx

[valleybear]

Glad things are looking better for you. I am a dreadful sleeper and any alcohol just makes my sleep pattern worse, so I would never rely on it to help me sleep. I have hot chocolate and just try to read a bit...many nights i am up at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. There are many other things you can try so good luck and keep up trying to sleep without the 'dreaded drink'. XX

[Valka]

Well done you!!! Glad to hear it :)