It's also a consequence of self-medication with alcohol. I had full blown panic attacks along with depression.

Try some meditation and relaxation techniques, learn about mindfulness and/or aromatherapy, there's a lot of helpful ways to learn to alleviate anxiety. My spiritual path helped me most of all.

Yes I too have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I will not take a benzodiazepine bc of my alcohol addiction. I have been prescribed vistaril which works me when needed. It is an antihistamine. I have noticed that without drinking anxiety.has decreased a bit. I used to get bad panic attacks the next day or two after drinking. Alcohol increases anxiety....ironic. I'm sure u already know that though. Good luck.

Yep, I agree! Never experienced panic attacks until after I started drinking heavily. Now, without drinking, I am waking up in a full blown panic attack. Chest pain, shortness of breath, feeling of impending doom. Any suggestions for meditation or relaxation techniques??

I finally agreed to go on an anti-depressant for my anxiety ( I know that sounds strange) but it has helped enormously

Why don't you do a search on YouTube for guided meditation? Listen to a few that are focused on reducing anxiety and see what clicks with you. A good yoga class can also teach you mindfulness and breath control which might help as well.

I had a lot of anxiety when I was drinking, that was caused by my drinking. When I quit my anxiety went away. But from what I have read, about half of alcoholics start with a problem like anxiety or depression, and drink to self medicate. So when they quit the underlying medical condition is still there.

Hope you get it figured out.

I also strongly recommend Robert Leahy's book "The Worry Cure"

I have anxiety, and am in celexa daily with lorazepam as a back up. I don't care for the lorazepam, it makes you crazy feeling and it's addictive. I'm hoping now that I am not drinking my anxiety will calm down too. Also I know this sounds silly but if you close your eyes and count backwards it halos to calm down. Oddly enough my doctor recommended sitting on the toilet to do it because of the height... Worth a shot.

I also suffer from severe anxiety and occasional panic attacks. In the moment drinking makes you feel relaxed... however, for me the next day it was worse. I have been drinking for years to alleviate my anxiety... unfortunately it is not the best thing. I have found that running or any kind of aerobic exercise helps tremendously... burning off any of the extra energy that builds into panic....

When I was on Chemo I flipped out and they gave me Lorazepam IV. It really put me in another world. They gave me the tablets to take at bedtime.
The oncologist said that I was stress out. I had prostate cancer prior to this that required seven surgeries (4 major and 3 minor). i was cerebrating the cure after three years of hell and then I came down with unrelated neck cancer.
What amazes me is that i was able to easily quit the narcotics and then the lorazepam (one at a time) with relative ease compared to the trouble that i had quitting booze.
It could be from my mental attitude after quitting alcohol I did not want to be addicted to anything.
I know of several persons who take an antidepressant (Celexa, etc.) that takes care of the anxiety. They are none addictive and safe to take. However stay away form Prosac.
I am studying psychopharmacology, but I have not got to the chapters on depression and anxiety yet.I finished the basics and now up to the chapters on Schizophrenia. I did skip to the last chapter Disorders of Reward, Drug Abuse and Their Treatment. Alcoholism was teared as a drug abuse, which it is.

I skipped a few chapters. The easy section the rest has to do with the chemical reactions in the brain. It"s amazing what they know today.

"Treatments for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) overlap greatly with those for other anxiety disorders and depression (Figure 9-33). First-line treatments include SSRIs and SNRIs, benzodiazepines, buspirone, and 2 ligands such as pregabalin and gabapentin. Some prescribers are reluctant to give benzodiazepines for anxiety disorders in general and for GAD in particular, because of the long-term nature of GAD and the possibility of dependence, abuse, and withdrawal reactions with benzodiazepines.
While it is not a good idea to give benzodiazepines to a GAD patient who is abusing other substances, particularly alcohol, benzodiazepines can be useful when initiating an SSRI or SNRI, since these serotonergic agents are often activating, difficult to tolerate early in dosing, and have a delayed onset of action. 2 ligands are a good alternative to benzodiazepines in some patients. Both benzodiazepines and 2 ligands can have a role in some patients as augmenting agents, especially when initiating treatment with another agent that may be slower-acting or even activating. In other patients, benzodiazepines can be useful to top up an SSRI or SNRI for patients who have experienced only partial relief of symptoms. Benzodiazepines can also be useful for occasional intermittent use when symptoms surge and sudden relief is needed.
It should be noted that remission from all symptoms in patients with GAD who are taking an SSRI or SNRI may be slower in onset than it is in depression, and be delayed for 6 months or longer. If a GAD patient is not doing well after several weeks to months of treatment, switching to another SSRI/SNRI or buspirone or augmenting with a benzodiazepine or an 2 ligand can be considered. Failure to respond to first-line treatments can lead to trials of sedating antidepressants such as mirtazapine, trazodone, or tricyclic antidepressants, or even sedating antihistamines such as hydroxyzine. Although not well studied, the SPARI vilazodone should theoretically have efficacy for GAD and can be considered as a second-line agent as well. Adjunctive treatments that can be added to first- or second-line therapies for GAD include hypnotics for continuing insomnia, atypical antipsychotics for severe, refractory, and disabling symptoms unresponsive to aggressive treatment, and cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. Old-fashioned treatments for anxiety such as barbiturates and meprobamate are not considered appropriate today, given the other choices.

Stahl's Essential Psychophamracolody 4th Ed.