Hangover syndrome is a condition in which toxic poisoning of the human body occurs with the breakdown products of alcohol acquired as a result of drinking the corresponding alcoholic beverages. Alcohol is considered a psychoactive substance that provokes stimulation of the human central nervous system. This is fraught with the emergence of various negative psychological phenomena. Depression and anxiety from a hangover aggravate a person’s serious condition. They occur not only with chronic alcoholism, but also with one-time intoxication.
Hangover depression is a mental disorder expressed in a decrease in the patient’s self-esteem, the appearance of feelings of guilt, and loss of the ability to feel joy. Anxiety appears. In severe cases, depression can provoke suicidal tendencies in the sick person.
Anxiety is a negative emotion generated by the anticipation of a negative event that is about to happen to a person in the near future. In contrast to a more pronounced feeling of fear, the reasons that give rise to anxiety are not fully realized by the sick person and often do not have a real nature of danger. Consequently, the causes of anxiety are physiological in nature.
Causes of anxiety and depression during a hangover
People who often abuse alcohol (it is a strong depressant) understand why, with a hangover, depression and anxiety are frequent followers of cheerful feasts. This occurs because intoxication is followed by abstinence, or withdrawal, a disorder caused by a sharp decrease in alcohol in the blood. Depression after alcohol can be overwhelming; people think that the only cure for it is a new libation, and so a “vicious circle” closes.
A depressed and depressed state after heavy libations usually occurs because:
- The body is under severe stress;
- Getting rid of a hangover is always difficult;
- The level of alcohol in the blood drops sharply;
- Cerebral circulation is disrupted and cerebral vasospasm occurs;
- When intoxication begins to wear off, a person feels a sharp loss of strength.
The psycho-emotional factor also plays a role: the patient may feel remorse for his drunken behavior the day before or for allowing himself to drink at all. If a man or woman is with family and friends at the time of a hangover, their reproaches and ridicule can further aggravate the situation. In addition, a severe headache and partially clouded consciousness do not generally conduce to a cheerful, high spirits.
Is it okay to drink alcohol during panic attacks?
In small doses, alcohol has a sedative effect and causes a feeling of euphoria, so when an anxiety attack occurs, a person reaches for booze. But this is precisely what cannot be done.
Important! Drinking any alcoholic drink during a panic attack increases the manifestation of dangerous symptoms.
As the concentration of alcohol in the blood increases, the nervous system becomes even more unstable, and against the background of vascular spasms, the brain suffers more from a lack of oxygen.
Features of post-alcohol panic
Alcoholic depression is often accompanied by fear and increased anxiety. The patient feels that if he does not drink again, his life may suddenly end. The patient may also view others as a potential threat to their health and well-being. Panic attacks after alcohol usually occur in “experienced drunks” who have been abusing for several years. For “beginners” they are less common. Depression and alcoholism are especially pronounced in women because alcohol has a more powerful effect on the female brain.
Postpartum depression - what it is, how long it lasts and how to cope
Panic attacks during hangovers are characterized by the following symptoms:
- A pronounced reluctance to communicate with people, a desire to hide in a dark corner, to run away and hide away from everyone;
- A person does not know what to do with himself, and wanders lost from corner to corner;
- Aggressive perception of others, including friends and close relatives;
- Suspicious attitude towards everyone (an alcoholic sees the enemy “in the first person he meets”);
- Heightened perception of the most insignificant events (the patient is inclined to “make a fool out of a molehill,” that is, to be frightened by mere trifles).
To this we can add the somatic symptoms of a panic attack: pallor, excessive sweating, cold extremities, eyes wide open from fear with dilated pupils, VSD (vegetative-vascular dystonia). Gestures change, the patient makes strange steps. The patient's speech becomes confused, intermittent, and inarticulate. He may mutter indistinct threats towards others or, conversely, speak exaggeratedly loudly, thus trying to overcome his own fears.
Attention! In severe cases, after a long binge (five to seven days), anxiety and fear during a hangover can be accompanied by auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions, and obsessive states. This dangerous disorder has the scientific name “alcoholic delirium” (from the Latin word “delirium” - “delirium, diseased imagination”), it is popularly known as “squirrel” or “delirium tremens”. The danger of delirium tremens is that a sick person, gripped by fear and horror, can cause serious injury to himself and others.
Alcohol is not always a cause of concern
Thus, anxiety disorder when drinking alcohol can be the first symptom of an impending hangover. But sometimes alcohol does not cause it from scratch, but aggravates existing mental problems. Therefore, you should not drink alcohol in the hope of suppressing anxiety. It eliminates unpleasant symptoms only for a short time. As you begin to get sober, your anxiety will return with renewed vigor. Therefore, you should not drink alcohol if you already have a history of anxiety disorder.
There are other ways to suppress it without making you feel worse. For example, meditation, breathing exercises and good sleep can help relieve anxiety. Reduce your caffeine intake and monitor your physical activity. If your anxiety continues to increase, it may be worth seeking help from a licensed psychologist. He will identify the true causes of anxiety, and then select the right treatment.
Found a violation? Report content
How long do fear and anxiety last?
Why you have no luck in life - who is to blame for failures and how to deal with them
Alcohol abuse can result in panic, delirium and hallucinations
Alcohol is a long-term depressant, and this is its main danger. It may take from several hours to several days to come out of withdrawal symptoms and overcome panic. Post-alcohol depression is dangerous because it can recur with enviable regularity, after each abuse. Regarding the duration of this post-alcohol pathological state, experts say that:
- The older the person, the longer the panic attack, apathy and anxiety last;
- In women, strong unreasonable fear lasts longer than in men;
- If a person has taken a small dose of alcohol, the fear should pass quickly;
- In case of long-term binge drinking, overcoming increased anxiety will require long-term work with a psychologist or psychiatrist-narcologist.
If the panic attack drags on, you should seek medical help as soon as possible. When calling an ambulance, you should not focus on the fact that the person is intoxicated or with a hangover, due to the fact that the ambulance often refuses to come to “drunkards.” You should tell the patient's name and age over the phone and say that the man (or woman) is suffering from panic syndrome and may harm himself. Doctors are required to respond promptly to such a call.
Alcoholic depression very often takes on a protracted nature in adolescents aged 13-16 years. In children, it is dangerous because it often causes suicidal tendencies, so during this difficult period, parents must constantly be with the child and observe his behavior, literally follow on his heels.
Alcohol can become a bad habit
People often drink alcohol to combat the anxiety they experience when sober. This helps them open up, feel bolder, and become more sociable. Stressful situations with alcohol are also easier to bear. But alcohol only temporarily suppresses anxiety. It cannot cure anxiety disorder.
Using a plastic bottle I prepare an original dessert with ice cream: recipe
Unsung heroes: Alexey Malakhov spoke about the everyday life of an “infectious diseases” doctor
Roskoshestvo did not find antibiotics in the tested cottage cheese
This is only a short-term remedy that can develop into a bad habit. Alcohol abuse can increase anxiety and trigger panic attacks. Therefore, you should not constantly drink alcohol, hoping in this way to overcome anxiety. We need to look for the true reasons that cause it.
What to do if you have a panic attack with a hangover
Fear of the dark - what is this phobia called, why does fear arise and how to fight it
An alcoholic often feels lonely, abandoned, unwanted, some are even afraid to go outside and see every person as an enemy.
After heavy drinking, depression occurs in 90% of cases. With a hangover, panic attacks seem especially dangerous to the patient if he inadequately assesses reality and is inclined to exaggerate everything. Depression and alcohol are a combination that poses a serious threat to a person and gradually leads to personality degradation. If, due to a hangover, anxiety interferes with living and adequately assessing the situation, the victim can provide first aid to himself at home. Automotive training, meditation and simple muscle relaxation exercises help well.
An effective method to relieve attacks of increased anxiety is temporary abstinence from smoking, as well as the use of sedatives. Herbal teas that have no contraindications can help well. Any potent drugs - antidepressants, including sleeping pills, can only be taken as prescribed by a doctor, because not all of them are compatible with alcohol. Phenibut is a relatively harmless medicine for hangover syndrome, but its benefits have not been officially proven and the mechanism of action has not been studied. Many “experienced alcoholics” claim that Phenibut helps to quickly get out of depression, successfully fights groundless fears and normalizes sleep.
Preventive actions
The hangover should go away naturally within a few days. Along with a hangover, a person gets rid of hangover depression. If the state of depression or hangover continues for a longer period, this is a reason to consult a doctor for medical treatment of full-blown depression.
The best remedy for the recurrence of such negative reactions is a complete abstinence from drinking alcoholic beverages. If alcohol consumption is dictated by external events and problems in life, it is necessary to find ways to solve problems, and not ways to hide and forget about them for a few hours. The problem will remain, and a hangover will also be added.
Will giving up alcohol help?
Experts do not recommend abruptly giving up alcohol; this should be done gradually
If a hangover causes a feeling of fear and the inability to sleep are frequent phenomena, this condition can develop into a chronic mental disorder. Relatives and friends of patients often ask doctors why depression and fear after drinking can begin at any time, and in severe cases they also appear during a sober lifestyle. The answer to this question is very simple: because the main depressant is alcohol, no poison or chemical can compare with its destructive effect on the psyche.
After drinking alcohol, anxiety does not go away instantly. When asked how long depression lasts after quitting alcohol, psychologists answer differently. It all depends on the severity of the condition, as well as on the patient’s temperament. Choleric and melancholic people are most susceptible to panic; their anxiety lasts longer than that of calm phlegmatic people and balanced sanguine people. In severe cases, panic can last for several weeks.
Temporary abstinence from alcohol helps to gradually reduce the frequency of depressive panic attacks. If the patient leads a correct lifestyle, fears will completely disappear. However, for this to happen, a person must have a stable motivation for sobriety. He must consciously come to complete abstinence from the main depressant - drinking and want his own healing, sincerely wish to stop drinking. If an alcoholic does not consider himself sick, is not going to do anything and does not want to fight drunkenness, giving up alcohol, on the contrary, will increase anxiety, fearfulness, aggressiveness and suspicion.
The duration of a panic attack depends on temperament
Attention! If a panic attack that accompanies a hangover occurs to a man or woman in the presence of relatives, the most common mistake relatives make is introducing a complete ban on alcohol. Experts say that abruptly quitting alcohol during withdrawal symptoms can only worsen the condition and even cause death. A person suffering from a hangover must be given a small dose of alcohol to temporarily stabilize the condition and alleviate a panic attack. This dose should be small, otherwise intoxication will occur again with all the negative consequences.
Hangovers and intoxication do not always go away on their own; long-term drinking bouts require the help of a specialist.
If there are signs of an impending panic attack, psychologists recommend taking a deep breath and opening a window or, if possible, going out into the fresh air. If such a condition occurs in a friend, relative or stranger, you should help him yourself or call a doctor. If panic is accompanied by delusions, auditory or visual hallucinations, the patient should be hospitalized immediately.
How often do people experience anxiety after drinking alcohol?
Not all people experience anxiety after drinking alcohol. Its appearance depends on many factors. For example, the drink itself, its quantity, as well as the food you ate the day before. Water, medication use, and a general susceptibility to anxiety disorders can all affect your well-being.
Baranovskaya thanked the passing year and shared new family photos
Coffee and tea are an ideal means of delivering probiotics to the body
Singer Vlad Stashevsky met with his son from his first marriage for the first time in 20 years
Some people have less stable psyches, so they may feel unwell after just a couple of glasses of wine or beer. Others do not experience anxiety even when heavily intoxicated. Generally, the more alcohol you drink, the more likely you are to experience anxiety. The same principle applies here as with a hangover.
Symptoms of the disease
Panic attacks with a hangover begin unexpectedly for no apparent reason. First of all, mental symptoms appear: a feeling of great danger; fear of death, loss of consciousness or fear of an unspecified nature; feeling of stiffness in the muscles, throughout the body; fear of going crazy; feeling of instability and dizziness, heaviness in the chest.
Somatic short-term symptoms include the following manifestations: a feeling of heat, a lump in the throat, increased sweating, a feeling of respiratory failure, hypertension, palpitations, trembling, gastrointestinal abnormalities, numbness of the extremities.
After waking up, it is difficult for a person to navigate where he is and what is happening to him. The sense of reality is lost, it seems that he continues to sleep or sees some strange hallucination. The situation is aggravated by a headache, which makes thoughts confused and makes it difficult to think properly.
Some people experience short-term memory loss after a hangover. They cannot remember the events of last night or understand why they suddenly found themselves in someone else’s apartment.
The feeling of anxiety intensifies due to tachycardia, and everything inside shrinks from a bad feeling. To all the symptoms of a hangover is added shame for cheeky behavior caused by the influence of alcohol, and fear that something bad happened yesterday that put a stain on your reputation.
Behavioral:
- sleep disturbance;
- anxiety and restlessness;
- conscious avoidance of any conflict or controversial situations.
The reasons leading to all of the above can be very diverse. But most often they are perceived not as a panic attack, but as completely different diseases, not only neuralgic, but also completely different.
Treatment for panic attacks should be started immediately if a person exhibits at least some of the following symptoms:
- the person does not understand who he is and what is happening;
- his gaze is not concentrated and does not linger even for a minute on any object;
- the person has chills or fever with profuse sweating;
- sound hallucinations;
- loss of consciousness;
- insomnia;
- tremor of the limbs;
- lack of swallowing reflex.
A hangover syndrome is nothing more than a consequence of poisoning with the breakdown products of alcohol. In the human body, alcohol is converted into a toxic substance - acetaldehyde.
If alcohol is drunk slowly and in small quantities with a suitable snack, then the liver, the organ responsible for converting acetaldehyde into safe acetic acid, has time to cope with its task.
Otherwise, the poison enters the bloodstream and poisons all human organs and systems. The liver, heart, kidneys, brain, nervous system, etc. are affected.
This intoxication is the hangover syndrome.
First you need to understand what a hangover is and why it appears. This knowledge will indicate signs of psychological discomfort that accompany a hangover.
Symptoms of a hangover, or hangover syndrome, are trembling hands, excessive sweating, changes in blood pressure and pulse, fever, nausea, etc. They indicate poisoning of the body at the physiological level.
But there is also a mental manifestation of hangover syndrome, which is manifested by feelings of anxiety, feelings of guilt, melancholy and depression. A person’s mental state depends on several factors: the physiological state of the body, mental stability, environment, amount of alcohol consumed, and so on. These signs manifest themselves in different ways.
You need to be aware of what causes depression in order to resist it yourself. There are many reasons for a bad mood or discomfort. One of them is a panic attack with a hangover; they don’t understand what to do with it.
Symptoms of depression in alcoholics
If depression occurs after heavy drinking, your doctor will tell you how to get rid of it. It is important not to hesitate to contact a specialist if you are concerned about the following symptoms:
- increased fatigue;
- lack of strength to do anything;
- atypical behavior in standard situations;
- inability to enjoy the usual daily activities that you previously enjoyed;
- decreased or complete lack of appetite;
- insomnia;
- apathy;
- thoughts of suicide;
- constantly depressed mood;
- increased craving for alcohol;
- high level of anxiety;
- increased aggression;
- psychomotor retardation;
- blood pressure surges;
- gnawing feeling of guilt;
- increased sweating.
In severe conditions, an alcoholic may experience delusions, hallucinations, and stupor. You cannot delay treatment for alcoholic depression.
