topic Anxiety and drinking alcohol in Anxiety

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

Adrian2014 — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 01:10:28 GMT

Hi all,

I have been having a hard time recently with anxiety and it has started to affect my daily life. I first suffered anxiety when I was around 24, I am now 30. It was after a fairly big life event, I was diagnosed with cancer although it was caught very early and I made a full recovery I had never really suffered from anxiety until after this, so I wonder if it was a trigger. I ended up taking CBT and it seemed to help and I got over it by changing jobs and doing something like stressful.

Anyway, I then emigrated to Australia from the UK and have been fine, until recently. I have never really been able to handle hangovers and often engage in 'hair of the dog' to quell my anxiety. The last two weeks though it's got pretty bad, I didn't go to work for 3 days as I couldn't leave the house to go to work. I'd end up drinking from 9am which makes me feel better temporarily. I went to the GP who prescribed me some medication, i took it for the first day but i felt horrible on it. I resolved to myself that I would try to get better naturally by eating well and exercising etc. So last week was really good, however I then ended up getting really drunk on friday, felt awful on saturday so drank all day. Then sunday was the same. It's now Tuesday and I haven't been to work as i'm stuck in a bad cycle. The thought of going to work in the morning feels me with dread. I obviously can't keep on like this as I will lose my job if I keep taking days off.

I know the alcohol is the root of the problems, I need to really moderate it and then I will be ok. Hopefully I can wean myself off today and get a good night sleep. Has anyone else been caught up in this self medicating with alcohol situation? I honestly don't think I am an alcoholic as I don't crave a drink when my anxiety is absent. It's just when it strikes, normally due to alcohol withdrawal I end up drinking again to make me feel better. I have hardly been eating the last few days and I have knots in my stomach. I woke up with terrible anxiety at like 4am and had to stop myself from reaching for some alcohol. I just don't now what's causing it. Anyway this is a good site!

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Anxiety and drinking alcohol

dougall — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 08:45:46 GMT

Hi, sorry to hear you are not coping too well. I know the thinking behind the drinking and it is always the drinking that is doing the thinking. Alcohol does make you not feel as anxious but it also does not make you feel anything other than wanting another drink. When you have to rely on alcohol so much there is a problem. I have a problem with drink, I have one glass of wine and I have to finish the bottle, sometimes this makes the anxiety worse other times it make you forget. I tend to try to avoid drinking everyday otherwise I would get nothing done. Have you tried other things instead of reaching for drink? I know through experience that once alcohol has a hold it does not let go easily and we all think we can stop, no problem. I stopped drinking for 6 years and had to work out a way to cope, I managed so I thought I am okay so I can handle the drink so I had a wine and I am back to the same place using the drink to cope with my anxiety when something has just tipped me over the coping edge. It messes with your thinking. Try not to have any alcohol in your place or within easy reach. Easier said than done. If I want a bottle of wine I have to walk to the bottle shop and back so that tends to put me off. At your age it is what I was doing. My father used to drink to cope with his problems so that is how I learned my coping skills. I hope you can cut down and control your anxiety. People on this forum are always looking out for you.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

Adrian2014 — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 09:32:48 GMT

Thanks for responding. I have had another day on the drink. Although I haven't taken it to extremes like I did yesterday so I am hoping I shouldn't feel too bad tomorrow. I haven't really tried anything else. If truth be told I have been self medicating my anxiety issues by using alcohol for a number of years now. It's just that these last few weeks it's been taken to extreme by me starting so early in the morning. I do not think I am an alcoholic as I can go days without drinking, but I find I use alcohol as a means to silence the internal panic and worry I feel which seems to get out of control. I just seem to get in a rut when boozing which leads me into this situation. Last week I really did well after having a bit of a breakdown the week before, so I know that my illness isn't something which is too far gone. I don't think I am really badly depressed, but it's clear I have a problem with anxiety and I am self medicating. As you say it's easier said than done to not have alcohol in the house. When my anxiety is bad I actually panic if I don't have alcohol close by as my mind starts going crazy....it's a horrible cycle but as I say not insurmountable. Last week I was was happy and I only had a couple of drinks in the evening at home after work which is fairly normal. I am just worried about tomorrow morning, I don't want to wake up and be anxious. I need to go to work. I am thinking I may just take an anti anxiety medication with me so that if I start panicking I can take that rather than resort to drink. I know alcohol isn't the answer and I know I can feel good again.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

HA1 — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:40:15 GMT

Hi Adrian

there must a large percentage of people with depression/anxiety that seek alcohol as a means of self medicating. Because it gives us temporary relief ... very temporary. I have spoken of my own experience in other threads. The sad reality is that in the long run, it will make you worse. Alcohol is a depressant and over a period of time will gradually compound your existing illness. Especially, if you suddenly increase your drinking significantly.

I had always been a moderate drinker, usually weekends only, but over a period of a few years it started to increase for a variety of reasons. Towards the end I had my 'wonderful' window in the evenings where I could turn to drinking every day. Made me switch off, relax and allowed me to sleep. It came crashing down one day when I had a very bad total meltdown. I have not had a drink since.

Please make a big effort Adrian, to stop before it really gets to your ilness. If you are on medication it will also negate the intended effect of the medicine.

good luck

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

dougall — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:46:38 GMT

Hi at the moment I think the alcohol has a bigger hold on you than you realize. When I drink it also calms the anxiety and stops the voices in my head arguing about whether I am being rational or irrational. A couple of drinks occasionally is okay, ha ha, who does that? I have a 22 year old daughter who thinks pre drinks before going out is the done thing, her pre drinks put my whole months worth of drinking to shame. We all have a reason for drinking and you have said it is to cope with your anxiety. It will get worse if you keep masking it with alcohol, I know did that, it sneaks up on you.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

dougall — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:47:39 GMT

I am so proud of you for making that commitment.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

dougall — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 20:00:49 GMT

Hi Adrian, you have the strength in you to beat things, you beat cancer. Which part of the UK are you from because I am from Irvine and spent my teenage years in the Midlands. I came over to Australia 23 years ago, it is like being on holiday with the weather and the social scene is quite full on. Alcohol has a way of making things appear good or bad there is never a grey area with it. I consider myself an alcoholic even though I don't drink everyday, I think this way because I cannot stop at just one drink. I am proud of you for telling your story and trying to do the best you can. Have you family here that can help?

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

Adrian2014 — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 22:44:02 GMT

I agree I definitely have an issue with binge drinking on the weekends, which does not help at all. However generally I can have two glasses of wine in an evening and not drink again for 3 days after that so I don't feel I have no control. I don't have family over here unfortunately. I haven't told them as I don't want them to worry about me. At the end of the day they are the other side of the world. Anyway I find the GPs are really limited, I mean you go there crying for help and the response is to say stop drinking. That isn't that easy unfortunately when you have pretty bad anxiety and the only respite you get is by having a drink.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

dougall — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 00:17:29 GMT

Hi Adrian, do you have anyone over here with you? I know what you mean about the doctors, they either prescribe a pill or send you to someone else, it is probably because they have so many patients to see. When I first moved here I used to say my family was only a phone call away, I did not realise how much those calls would cost. I do not regret coming over here, it did take me quite a few years to get over the homesick feeling. It is hard when you are in a place where your brain is shouting out for help and you can't find it right at that moment. It is good to have this forum and it would also be good to have someone there at the moment you need someone, unfortunately life is not like that. I get to a point that I walk down the street just to find someone who might see I am in need of help, they don't notice and you just can't stop anyone. Go to the hospital or the police and they think you are crazy so recommend you go see someone. What about friends or workmates that don't drink with you do they know that you suffer from anxiety? I know it is hard to talk to someone about the problem. Whenever I have told someone I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks you can literally see them back off. I know there are groups that you can go to that can help, here MIFSA is somewhere that you can go and no one judges. I don't know which state you are in, I am in SA. It is okay for people to say stop drinking, call someone, join a group ect. sometimes you just want the solution in front of you right there right then. Like everything else an effort has to be put in, it takes effort to drink i.e. buy the drink, open the bottle, pour into a glass, drink, empty bottle, wash glass, recycle bottle and start again. Do you know what sets your anxiety off?

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

Adrian2014 — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 01:56:01 GMT

I have started drinking at 9am again. I went to work but had to walk out the office and go to the pub again. My anxiety was so bad this morning. I hardly slept and just feel detached. I went to see my regular GP who wasnt in so I saw another GP who palmed me off by telling me to stop drinking. That type of advice is not really going to help me as my anxiety is still so powerful and I have real trouble controlling it. I have spoken to one of my close friends who thinks its stress related from doing a pressured job which I dont like doing. I do feel my job is the root of my problems. Maybe I need to change career and do something less pressurised. I have disliked doing my job for years. The last time I had a bad episode like this which was 6 years ago I quit my job and surprise surprise my anxiety went also. Now I am back doing a similar job and I am feeling the anxiety again.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

HA1 — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 02:24:17 GMT

Hi Adrian

I do understand how difficult it can be. I have been there.

Sounds like you saw a very unprofessional doctor. Are you happy with your regular one?

I am wondering whether a change in medication (dose or type) might help? You could also try medication to stop drinking - I have never tried it but I know a few on this forum who have.

I must be honest and say that I stopped drinking after my meltdown only (probably) because I was hospitalised for a while. That helped me along.

it could well be your job that is causing it. While it did not cause my illness, it as a long fused trigger that eventually made me crack. You health is more important than a job. So maybe a change in environment is really beckoning.

take care

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

dougall — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 02:49:18 GMT

Hi Adrian can you do your job on a part-time basis to get your anxiety under control or from home. My dad used to drink whilst working and he was a roofer, not the best thing to do. It sounds like the only friend you have at the moment is the drink, it doesn't tell you the obvious, it doesn't judge,it doesn't help just numbs. Next time you go for a drink try just not pouring it and staring at the bottle and ask yourself are you going to help or hinder, sounds silly. When I have a bottle of wine in the fridge it is like it teases me evertime I open the fridge door, like how you doing, want a drink, I'd like you to have a drink, I last maybe a day. It doesn't talk back to me when it is empty, it is inside me talking negative thoughts. You need to have another method to cope and at the moment no one has given you that method so you are using the only one you know. I hope you find someone who can teach you new methods of coping and still be able to have a social drink without making it the only method.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

Adrian2014 — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 03:37:35 GMT

Thanks for your advice. My usual Doctor has been ok although i am still not sure if he is what i need. In saying that i have very rarely found any GPs who seem to really appreciate the inner turmoil you feel when you go to see them. I have not been taking medication as I didn't like the way it made me feel the first day I tried it. In hindsight maybe that was a mistake in stopping after just one day. However now I feel its probably the only option in the short term to get me feeling better. I am thinking of going back to the doctors this afternoon as my regular dr is in now and maybe he can talk me into taking the medication regularly. My anxiety is bad enough that I am even worried about taking medication. Ironic isn't it?

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

Adrian2014 — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 04:13:31 GMT

Yes you are spot on. Alcohol is my coping mechanism and at the moment its the only one I know. What I need to do is eradicate the source of my anxiety and whilst alcohol is a complicator I feel the real issue is my job. At the end of the day though I dont really know what is causing it. I need to stop drinking first of all. Just go a few days with no drink. Easier said than done. If I don't drink I feel like I am going to lose my mind and can't control my anxiety. Its a pretty horrible situation. Just wish I could he normal. I feel so detached from society at the moment. Cant work. Cant exercise. Just drinking all day.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

dougall — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 06:06:57 GMT

Hi Adrian I don't think you can eradicate anxiety totally as we do have it normally. It is just when we are stressed it gets exaggerated. Sometimes we look at the most obvious thing and miss the little thing that might be causing the problem. My example would be obvious was husband. not so obvious my inability to see abuse for what it was, not the physical type, emotional and mental type. Sometimes we need to step back and look at ourselves in a different way, maybe like a stranger meeting us for the first time, what would they think of us? We all think bad of ourselves and see the things that are wrong we don't stop and think okay what is my uniqueness, what do I have, I know, there is only one of me and I am unique to everyone else which makes me special. I feel detached from society but then I would think most people do with there mobile phones. My daughter and her boyfriend used to txt each other whilst sitting in the same room, could not understand that he would also txt from the bedroom for her to make him a coffee. People spend too much time on portable machines and don't interact socially. Maybe that is why so many young people drink because they do not know how to be sociable, what do you think?

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

HA1 — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 13:37:23 GMT

Hi Adrian

I agree with your comment about doctors. I still have not found a GP that I feel comfortable with. Working on it ....

Good idea to go back on the meds - careful about negating their effect though by overdoing the booze. Small doses are ok.

How did you go? Did you end up seeing a GP?

Take care

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

geoff — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 14:35:44 GMT

dear Adrian, this topic is always a huge one, so I have mentioned on many other posts saying that when I was depressed and with this anxiety was included as they all fall under the umbrella of this illness, anyway, I was classified as an alcoholic, because my depressive mind became anxious as I was thinking so I drank.

Some people deem being an alcoholic as someone who who can't go through a day without needing a drink, but there are also other definitions as well, so I'll let you decide, and I'm not saying this to upset you, but now I am only a social drinker, but I am still referred to as being an alcoholic, so what, that doesn't worry me one bit.

Doctors the first question they ask you is 'how much do you drink', well as if you are going to tell them, but they always say 'you need to stop' and that's it.

'Alcohol was my coping mechanism', and I had to hide it simply because my wife (ex) and 2 sons would tip it down the drain, but as our sons turned 18 they moved down to Melbourne, 2 hours away, and my wife moved out and then finally divorced me saying that 'she couldn't help me any more with my depression' and she hated me drinking.

At this stage I hadn't been working for a number of years as I couldn't with being depressed and secondly I had been in a car accident and had operations on my hip.

There is so much more I would like to talk about and if we were together then maybe a few hours wouldn't do it, but there's one point I would like to finish on at the moment is that I am worried that if you resign from your job then this may open the door for you to drink everyday.

Hope the you and the others can get back to me, and ask what ever you like. Geoff.

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

dougall — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 19:24:02 GMT

Hi Adrian how are you doing today?

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

Adrian2014 — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 02:31:29 GMT

Hi guys

Thanks for your support it means alot. I went to see my regular GP in the afternoon and as he really understand my situation it helped alot. We talked through how I feel and he said he would give me meds to help with the anxiety and the alcohol withdrawal. He wants me to go back in a week. He said dont mix the meds and drink but if I do drink dont take the meds that day. I felt better but also I felt down from all the booze I had consumed.went home and my mind kept saying have another drink but I knew that would not help. So I went for a swim and jacuzzi for half an hour which helped. I came back and felt anxious again so I just put music on laid down and shut my eyes. Laid there for 2 hours and felt much better. I then made dinner and went to bed and took the med. Slept really well and woke up and went to work early. I felt spaced out and my anxiety was there but more silenced than usual. If it wasnt for the meds I probably would have cracked again! I feel a bit spaced and a slight headache. A bit on edge maybe from the meds or just because ive felt crap for days but its been 20 hours since my last drink and now just about to get a smoothie and sit in the sun! At times this morning it was hard I was tempted to crack and get a drink but I kept saying it wont help me. As soonas 12pm came I fslt better. Its weird its like my mind panics about.not being able to drink and as soon as the pubs open and I can have a drink.. I dont care. To manage my drinking I know now I cant overdo it. I am fine with 2 glasses of wine in the evening but its the getting so drunk I have a hangover which leads me into problems. How is everyone else today?

Anxiety and drinking alcohol

Gomez — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 05:01:55 GMT

i know where your coming from. I used to suffer the same thing. Wouldn't necessarily drink often but extreme anxiety when i woke up the next day. Even though I miss the fun I ended up giving up the booze. It took me a while to get the message...# days of suffering for a few hours of fun. Hang in there...it will pass soon