Terrible hangover lasting more than 7 days

[stormlighto]

Hey, guys, I am scared for my life, so I need to share this with you. I have problem with long and horrible hangovers and I've stopped drinking because of this, but a week ago I drank a glass of beer, because I thought it was safe. I've had these terrible hangover symptoms for 7 days and I still have them. My heart beats much faster than it should, I feel dizzy and useless, I have a headache, I am so horrified that this will never end and I have massive panic attacks. I talked to my therapist and she told me it's all because of my anxiety disorder, but it is not. It is because of the beer AND my anxiety disorder just makes it worse. Today I woke up with really fast and strong heart rate and for a moment I got really strong pain in the heart. I am so horrified and I need to know that everything is gonna be okay... I don't wanna die but I feel like it will never and and I am scared that it will kill me.

[JonnaD]

Hi, I also have an anxiety disorder and am on meds for it. Not only do my meds make the effects of alcohol 10 fold but I too experience long hangovers and this started b4 I was even on my meds. I thought maybe it was just me getting older (Iam 38) but now that I read your experience Im not so sure. I have wanted to just stop drinking but am finding it difficult...for now I have managed to know how much I can and cant drink by trial and error. I hope this helps. I think we both just need to quit.

[xxBeautifulChaosxx]

I know panic attacks can be scary, I have struggled with them for 10 years now. I ran up hospital bills within the first year thinking I had something way more serious going on but it was nothing. The doctors ran all the tests they could twice over until they refused and gave me a number to a psychologist. I was in denial thinking I dont have some stupid disorder, they are misdiagnosing me! Then I finally started looking it up and realized oh my gosh... all the same symptoms are what I'm going through. Well, if it were not panic attacks, 10 years later, here I am. I'm not dead, my blood pressure is superb every time i get a check up (unless im having a panic attack) lol. I think a lot of what you have is mental. Snap out of it hunny. One beer is not going to do that to you. Panic attacks can make you feel all the same ways your feeling. You can go to a psychologist and get counseling or you can run a mock on your credit like I did. Dont do what I did. Now, if you have had an alcohol addiction, and you drank that one beer after getting clean, it may be a different story. Theres either something subconscious to where its giving you panic attacks and withdrawal like symptoms because your brain used to be addicted and it wants more. Or if none of that is true, maybe you need to not drink alcohol at all. Some people are more sensitive than others. I'm not a medical professional, but it sounds like anxiety/panic attacks to me. Look on YouTube for breathing techniques for panic attacks and see if this helps. I am always here to talk too and have dealtwith this for many years.

[new2recovery]

Storm, I started drinking when I was 15 and I am 48yrs old now. I wont go into it but I have lots of experience with alcohol withdraw. Ive been in the emergency room twice in four months for alcohol withdraw before then I withdrew on my own about ten times before that. look up "kindling alcohol" but its not likely that one beer would cause "kindling". But one thing for sure is that if you feel bad then its got to be something and the brain does some weird stuff only another addict/mentally ill person can relate too.

Many times I have been in situations in my history of drug/alcohol use that I thought "Dear god I'll never be the same" I've been wrong everytime. I came out of it only to return to drugs and alcohol to ask for the trouble all over again and I get what Im asking for, another case of "Dear lord please dont let me be like this forever".

You will come out of it. Its most likely your brain playing tricks on you in addition to real symptoms. DONT FREAK YOURSELF OUT. This last time it felt like I was going to be retarted for life and I came out of it. Dont  push your luck like me and youl be fine. Try to unplug yourself (without bad drugs). stay in therapy. people like us have to live therapy/recovery for life. This might sound funny comming from a total stranger on the internet but i love you and I think you will be ok. the good times will come and go but the bad times will also come and come to pass.