What Is Hangover Anxiety?
I’ve had a drinking problem ever since I was in my teenage years. I have also suffered greatly from anxiety throughout my life. The combination of drinking and anxiety has definitely had a very negative effect on me over the years.
I drink every night, and I get bad anxiety hangovers. As soon as the buzz begins to turn into a hangover, my anxiety gets worse and worse. I never realized there was actually a term for hangover anxiety.
I have recently found out that it is commonly referred to as “hangxiety”. Getting anxiety the day after drinking is something that a lot of drinkers deal with.
Worrying about getting through your day while dealing with a hangover is a tough task. It takes a lot of effort to just get out of bed and go about your normal routine. Imagine if you put that effort into cleaning up your act.
How Long Does Hangover Anxiety Last?
Hangxiety refers to the anxiety that you feel regarding an impending hangover. Once you’re drunk, you start to get anxious over how bad your hangover will be.
You begin to feel the effects before they even happen. All kinds of negative thoughts creep in, and all you can think about is how rough you are going to eventually feel once the buzz wears off.
It’s common for most people to feel anxiety after drinking. Most people are aware that if they overdo it, they will pay the next day. No one enjoys being hungover.
If you drink all the time, and you are constantly hungover, it basically becomes like dealing with a chronic illness. You get used to feeling poorly all the time.
We drink because of the euphoric feelings that it gives us. It’s very easy to drink too much and not realize it until it’s too late. You want to keep that initial buzz going, but that initial buzz hardly ever lasts.
If you feel anxious every time you drink, this speaks to a bigger issue. Anxiety from drinking is usually not just because of drinking alone.
A lot of people have anxiety issues they don’t even fully recognize. It becomes normal after a while and a regular part of your routine, whether you drink or not.
What are the Symptoms of Hangover Anxiety?
This was an aspect I had to fully research for myself. Now that I am more familiar with hangxiety, it’s made me realize that I have a real problem beyond just my drinking. My alcoholism and anxiety combined are slowly tearing me apart inside.
Hangover anxiety does not typically last long, but it varies from person to person. It usually occurs between the time you become inebriated until the end of your hangover.
Roughly twelve to fourteen hours is common for hangover anxiety. Hangxiety symptoms are very similar to regular anxiety.
Racing heart, racing mind, feelings of guilt, restlessness, and a general uneasy mental state. It’s pretty easy for anyone suffering from anxiety to experience an anxiety attack hangover.
Hangover guilt is another common feeling that drinkers who suffer from anxiety will experience. A lot of us who binge drink wake up not remembering the events from the previous day or night.
We instantly began worrying about what transpired. Did I say or do something I shouldn’t have? Did I call anybody and leave an embarrassing voice message? A bunch of these questions come to mind, and they feed your feelings of anxiety.
I know that if I overdo it, which is often, I feel guilty about it. We tell ourselves that we won’t overdo it, and when we do, we beat ourselves up about it.
We find it hard to forgive ourselves. It just points to the fact that you probably don’t have any control over your drinking.
Hangover anxiety usually points to a bigger problem. Like any alcoholic, it took me a long time to realize that my drinking and anxiety were linked. I assumed my anxiety was a totally separate thing.
I also didn’t think my drinking was a big deal. Most addicts don’t want to believe they have a problem. Eventually, you can’t run away from it. It impedes every aspect of your life and eventually becomes unbearable.
Everyone around you recognizes it. You can deny it all you want, but it soon becomes obvious that you have an issue. Hangover anxiety is a large symptom of alcoholism.
If you are constantly getting anxious about getting a hangover, it probably means you are drinking too much.
Methods To Ease Hangover Anxiety
The simple answer for how to stop hangover anxiety is to stop drinking. Sounds a lot easier than it actually is. Once you try to quit drinking, it can give a good idea of how much of a problem you have.
If you feel the constant need to drink, and you can’t get it off your mind, you’ve probably got an issue. The first time I tried to quit drinking, my anxiety was pretty bad. I thought I was just getting anxiety from drinking alcohol.
It made me realize that it wasn’t just my drinking that was giving me anxiety. I had a drinking problem and a mental health problem. It was a big eye-opener for me.
The good news is there are a lot of resources for anxiety as a disorder. There are also a lot of treatment options for hangover anxiety. We live in an age where information on addiction is more widespread than it used to be.
It doesn’t take much to educate yourself on whatever specific condition you are suffering from. The internet is a great tool to do a good amount of this research, though you may want to consider therapy or rehabilitation as an option.
As far as hangovers go, rest and drinking plenty of fluids is the best method to ease your symptoms. It takes time to sober up, so you will need to be patient. Some drinkers will tell you that the best way to cure a hangover is to continue drinking.
This is not very good advice. Self-medicating with more alcohol will only cause your anxiety to continue. It may be a quick fix to ease your nerves, but your hangxiety will show up again sooner rather than later.
It’s common to experience anxiety and depression days after binge drinking. Alcohol alters our mental state, and it can take a while for our brain to recover. Feelings of anxiety and depression after drinking are very common.
After all, alcohol is a depressant. It slows down our brains and impairs our cognitive functions. When you aren’t drinking, you have to face the effects that come with it.
It’s very similar to what a drug addict feels when they can’t get the drug. Remember, alcohol is not only a drug but probably the most abused drug of all.
If you continue to drink regularly even if you know it gives you anxiety, there is something wrong. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but you can’t assume that these issues will go away on their own.
Every time I would drink, those feelings of uneasiness would creep in slowly. After the first drink or two, I would begin to feel it. I would try to fight these feelings, but no matter what I did, there they were.
Eventually, I decided that it was just normal. This was part of it. It didn’t make me question my drinking or make me want to stop.
In fact, it made me want to drink more in order to cover up those feelings or at least dull them a little. No matter how hard I tried to run from my anxiety, it just made it worse.
Knowing When to Get Help
It took me a long time to realize that I needed help. I knew I needed to change my habits. I couldn’t go another night with alcohol making me anxious. I couldn’t go another day feeling like death.
I had more to deal with than just my drinking. I was not in a good place mentally after suffering from hangxiety day in and day out. I needed to do something.
I checked myself into treatment through the Circle Of Hope recovery center and began to put my life back together. It wasn’t easy, but it was the only thing that was going to fix my issues.
Because of the level of my anxiety, I was pretty nervous about detox. I felt the same feelings of anxiety that I felt when I was hungover. I just tried to tell myself that this would give me the positive result that drinking didn’t.
It was going to be uncomfortable, but I was going to have something to show for it when all was said and done. That helped curb my anxiety and put me in the place that I needed to get better.
Treatment Options for Hangover Anxiety
The people at Circle of Hope did everything they could to make me feel comfortable during such an uncomfortable process. They did an amazing job of getting me through that initial struggle.
Circle Of Hope has an incredible dual-diagnosis program that was just what I needed. I never realized that my drinking and anxiety were so closely linked.
Dual diagnosis helped me deal with my drinking problem and my anxiety disorder simultaneously. I highly recommend dual diagnosis treatment if you are dealing with more than just an addiction.
I can’t say that one thing works for everyone, but in my experience, this particular form of treatment was the best thing I could’ve chosen. We all have different addictions and are at different points when we seek help.
Circle of Hope offers a number of different programs that help a variety of different addictions. There is something for everyone here.
Can you cure hangxiety? The best you can do is figure out why you are having it in the first place. I know that alcohol makes me anxious, but it is much more than that. My anxiety and my drinking are rooted in something deeper within me.
I used to ask myself why alcohol gave me anxiety, instead of asking myself why I needed to drink so much. I was trying to hide the pain and suffering that I was going through my entire life.
I had a rough upbringing and didn’t have both of my parents. My father was in and out of prison, and my mother was often homeless and unable to take care of me or my siblings.
Both of my parents had problems with alcohol. Was it any surprise that I would end up this way myself?
The children of alcoholics usually suffer at some point in their lives. They often develop anxiety, depression, and addictions of their own. It is a cycle that isn’t easily broken. Once we get too far into an addiction, we often think we are beyond being saved.
We are the way we are and that’s that. There’s no fixing it. After going to Circle of Hope and attending aftercare services, it was a big eye-opener. I met so many people in group therapy who drank for decades.
They assumed there was nothing that could be done. Once your body and mind have gone through years of damage, you think there’s no reversing it.
Listening to other people’s stories made me understand that this cycle can be broken no matter where you are in your struggle. You can be an addict for years and still quit. It all comes down to you wanting it bad enough.
I used to think I wanted to get clean, but it took me a long time before I wanted it bad enough to go through with it. We like the idea of being sober and leaving all that suffering behind, but you have to put in the work.
It’s a practice that takes time and effort. Once you get sober, it doesn’t mean the process is over. It’s a daily struggle sometimes.
