Anxiety Support Group

Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...

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Anxiety and alcoholism

Nomadic_Stargazer
Nomadic_Stargazer

Through most of my life I have self medicated my anxiety with alcohol. I am 27 now and got to the point that if I continue that route my life will never become what I want it to look like. I'm seeking a therapists help but I have yet to connect with one. Has anyone taken prescription pills for the anxiety? I have always been against big pharma but at this point I feel like it would be a better option than alcohol. Such a disastrous cyclic thing I have going on. I get happy, then I overthink EVERYTHING, to where I start drinking, increasing the anxiety because I drink too much, then have to pull my life together again, causing anxiety.

Perry314
Perry314
Hi there! Thank you for sharing! I am also not into big pharma. I use herbal supplements. There is a magnesium powder drink that I have found to be incredibly effective called -Natural Calm. I also like kava kava. Kava is not something you would want to combine with drinking though as it the combination is hard on your liver. I use kave approximately 3x per week. I have found that my need to use the kava has decreased since I started using it. Meditation is helpful at night when I go to bed as well. What kind of therapy are you looking into? What do you feel your anxiety stems from?
Perry314
Perry314
It is good to take care of yourself and drinking can make anxiety worse and is hard on your liver. I do recommend talking with a professional therapist about treatment options. Line all of your options up and always do what feels right and best for you. I recommend looking into the side effects of all herbal and pharm medications before going either direction. I hope these posts have been helpful for you in your process. Just take it one moment at a time. You feel better
Nomadic_Stargazer
Nomadic_Stargazer
Thank you for the responses! I've heard about magnesium being very effective so I will look in to Natural Calm. I just have an addictive personality so that is why I'm scared about the benzos. My anxiety stems from a lot of sources. When I do start drinking I'm scared that if I don't drink more I'll have a panic attack. When I'm 100% sober I get very socially anxious, like I'm not good enough for people and so I stick in my head. I recently started to make friends and my anxiety was so out of control that I shut down and stayed in bed and drank, causing me to lose my job I really loved. Causing more dang anxiety. It's just a duelality of the two in these never ending cycling.
Perry314
Perry314
I sometimes bring a bottle of water mixed with natural calm when I go out. It really helped me a lot when a friend told me "Hey when you go out, keep in mind everyone has some form of social anxiety. It's just what you decide to do with it. If you decide to step into fear, get out there and face it, each time will get easier." It has helped a lot. It still fluctuates and usually my thoughts can make the anxiety quite intense and I have to remind myself that I am ok, I am not dying, just moving forward. I have very similar thoughts connected to my self worth that skyrocket my anxiety. Drinking actually pro-longs the healing process and can lock in behavior patterns. I highly recommend setting yourself up with a therapist that can guide you through the process to quit drinking and work on behavior modification. You are wonderful and worth it! AND You can do it and anything you want to. It's hard at first, but it will get easier.