If I can notice it after one night out, it doesn’t surprise me that long term the two could be highly linked.
Yup I've noticed this as well. At first I thought I was drinking too often, so I didn't drink at all for ~3 months and tried again. Same thing. I'm "hungover" for a day and more anxious than usual for 1-2 days after that.
I've made a point to only drink anything on Friday now to avoid anxiety at work
I like that quote! Can I use it? Whom do I attribute it to?
It might be that coming back from the (subjectively positive) effects of alcohol could be offsetting in some cases, but I've also found that even smaller things that wouldn't necessarily trigger that much anxiety can do it sometimes after a night of drinking. I don't think it's just a disconcerting return to normal; I've sometimes noticed myself catastrophising after drinking in a way that's significantly greater than I otherwise would.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were some kind of a biological reason for that, although not something singular that uniformly affects all people the same way. (Individual variance is also pretty huge when it comes to any effects of alcohol, so some people might not experience that at all.)
It could of course also be that, for some people, alcohol reduces inhibitions enough to give way to your demons, at least inside of your head even if not in behaviour. That might also be a part of it.
+ A big part of anxiety is a neutransmitter called GABA which is tied to stress control (GABA is a cortisol antagonist). Less GABA is typically associated with more anxiety and stress.
+ Alcohol acts like a fake version of GABA, giving you temporary euphoria and calmness when you drink.
+ In being a faux GABA, it fills all your GABA receptors and your body stops producing more GABA, thinking it's already full up.
+ Having less GABA and no longer consuming alcohol, you feel anxious.
+ Eventually your body produces normal amounts of GABA again (in healthy people)
What initiates the drinking can of course be chasing that GABA-ergic feeling to begin with, and this may be part of the mechanism of alcohol abuse. Ultimately this can be a spiral of behavior where having an anxious day makes you want to drink to "calm down", which in turn makes the anxiety worse the next day, on and on.
That's pretty much what I was trying to say. Thanks for spelling it out, and with details.
I've come to suspect that most persistent problems have a feedback loop in them. The curse of the loop is that it sustains itself, the blessing is that weakening the loop will in turn weaken it some more.
Post-service I eventually quit drinking completely. It took a while, but I did it. The anxiety has never gone away but it's not as crippling as it was when I was drinking.
CBT really helps at least manage the symptoms and when I feel like I'm breaking down I can at least manage to slowly walk myself back. Having friends who aren't annoyed by the symptoms and are bold enough to walk you through those days is life-saving as well.
This shouldn't surprise; medical doctors generally are not scientists (although there are good scientists who are doctors).
Perfect for a comment on Hacker News(TM)!
https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/mind-read/alcohol_sleep...