leonboucher
06-06-11, 06:20
Hey everyone, I've never posted on a message board like this before, but I was really looking for some opinions and help. So here's my story. I'll try to be as brief as possible. I'm male, soon to be 23, from the US.
Here's a summary of my story: From like 18-21 I used to party and drink a few weekends out of the month. (enough to get me drunk, sometimes blackout) The summer I turned 21 I studied abroad in France and started drinking like a bottle of wine a day. When I got back, I didn't drink that much but I drank most every day. I realized I was gaining weight so I decided to switch to marijuana (no calories). So I became a pot head for a few months, and then I talked to my friend who has anxiety. He took an SSRI, so I thought I would go to my doctor because I thought I might have anxiety too. (restlessness, uncontrollable thoughts, etc) I got put on Celexa. A week into I was smoking weed and had an anxiety attack for the first time. I thought it could just be a side effect of Celexa starting and so I kept on it and kept smoking and didn't have any more panic. The following summer (last summer) I started drinking a lot, nearly everyday, partying a lot. I had graduated college and was looking for a job and couldn't find one. I experimented with some ecstasy and LSD, but only for short periods of time. LSD I hated and made me freak out so I didn't ever do it again. I slowed down on the drinking at the beginning of this year and pretty much just smoked weed. (kept the drinking to the weekends again pretty much) And then all of a sudden I started having panic attacks while smoking. I tried just smoking less and no matter what I would get panicky from the pot. So I stopped smoking and just drank some more. Then in February, after not having drank for about a week, maybe a little less I had a really bad panic attack. It started when all of a sudden it felt like I couldn't breathe and then just spiraled from there. It felt different then the other attacks and came on so randomly I thought surely there was something else wrong so I went to the ER. Felt better while waiting so went home and went to the doctor the next day. I had stopped taking my SSRI in the fall because I didn't really think it was doing anything but my doctor suggested putting me back on it and gave me a prescription of Klonopin for as needed basis. That brings me about to where I am now. I stopped taking the SSRI again because it wasn't helping at all, and have just been taking the Klonopins to help me sleep and get me through any anxiety attacks I have. But I think it has caused me to have health anxiety, because anything that my body does I think something is wrong and Google it. I don't drink near as often, maybe once every other week, but my anxiety is definitely worse the day or two after.
So what I want to know is, is my increased anxiety these days just from alcohol withdrawal or am I just now more anxious? It just seems so odd that it would suddenly get so worse, but I feel like because I think it could be alcohol withdrawal I psyche myself to feeling even worse when I do drink and it might not be withdrawal, since I'm still pretty young and I know plenty of other people who drank about the same as me and don't have these problems. I'm just afraid I have something else wrong with me, even though my doctor says its all anxiety. Any opinions or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks so much!
Here's a summary of my story: From like 18-21 I used to party and drink a few weekends out of the month. (enough to get me drunk, sometimes blackout) The summer I turned 21 I studied abroad in France and started drinking like a bottle of wine a day. When I got back, I didn't drink that much but I drank most every day. I realized I was gaining weight so I decided to switch to marijuana (no calories). So I became a pot head for a few months, and then I talked to my friend who has anxiety. He took an SSRI, so I thought I would go to my doctor because I thought I might have anxiety too. (restlessness, uncontrollable thoughts, etc) I got put on Celexa. A week into I was smoking weed and had an anxiety attack for the first time. I thought it could just be a side effect of Celexa starting and so I kept on it and kept smoking and didn't have any more panic. The following summer (last summer) I started drinking a lot, nearly everyday, partying a lot. I had graduated college and was looking for a job and couldn't find one. I experimented with some ecstasy and LSD, but only for short periods of time. LSD I hated and made me freak out so I didn't ever do it again. I slowed down on the drinking at the beginning of this year and pretty much just smoked weed. (kept the drinking to the weekends again pretty much) And then all of a sudden I started having panic attacks while smoking. I tried just smoking less and no matter what I would get panicky from the pot. So I stopped smoking and just drank some more. Then in February, after not having drank for about a week, maybe a little less I had a really bad panic attack. It started when all of a sudden it felt like I couldn't breathe and then just spiraled from there. It felt different then the other attacks and came on so randomly I thought surely there was something else wrong so I went to the ER. Felt better while waiting so went home and went to the doctor the next day. I had stopped taking my SSRI in the fall because I didn't really think it was doing anything but my doctor suggested putting me back on it and gave me a prescription of Klonopin for as needed basis. That brings me about to where I am now. I stopped taking the SSRI again because it wasn't helping at all, and have just been taking the Klonopins to help me sleep and get me through any anxiety attacks I have. But I think it has caused me to have health anxiety, because anything that my body does I think something is wrong and Google it. I don't drink near as often, maybe once every other week, but my anxiety is definitely worse the day or two after.
So what I want to know is, is my increased anxiety these days just from alcohol withdrawal or am I just now more anxious? It just seems so odd that it would suddenly get so worse, but I feel like because I think it could be alcohol withdrawal I psyche myself to feeling even worse when I do drink and it might not be withdrawal, since I'm still pretty young and I know plenty of other people who drank about the same as me and don't have these problems. I'm just afraid I have something else wrong with me, even though my doctor says its all anxiety. Any opinions or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks so much!