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Some info i found.
Alcohol can affect our mood because it can affect the level of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a feel good brain chemical that when in short supply can cause feelings of anxiety and depression.
2. Drop in blood sugar
A drop in blood sugar can cause dizziness, confusion, weakness, nervousness, shaking and numbness. These symptoms can most certainly trigger a bout of anxiety.
This has been known to cause nausea, dizziness, fatigue, light-headedness and muscle weakness. These symptoms wouldn’t cause anxiety per say but they add to a sense of illness which fosters anxiety.
4. Nervous System
The nervous system is affected because in order for the body to fight off the sedative effects of alcohol it puts the body into a state of hyperactivity in order to counteract this effect. This hyperactivity can lead to shaking, light/sound sensitivity and sleep deprivation.
5. Heart Rate
Your heart rate can become elevated as a result of consuming alcohol which can cause a palpitation false alarm and put you into a state of anxious anticipation. Is it a heart attack or isn’t it you might ask. This “what if” questioning can increase your general state of anxiety.
In the short term, alcohol acts to depress neuronal activity, providing relief from anxiety symptoms in much the same way as benzodiazepine.
This short-term benefit, however, is offset by the effects described in the answer above. As a complex carbohydrate, alcohol effectively destroys vitamin B (essential for balancing mood).
Moreover, if we regularly use alcohol to help manage our mood, our body adapts to the presence of a depressant drug, causing the brain to work harder. We call this neuronal adaption. Once this has happened, the neurons fire way too quickly in the absence of the depressant, giving rise to anxiety symptoms and, in more severe cases, seizures.
Long term heavy use of alcohol (and extended vitamin B deficiency) is associated with physical damage to the brain as lesions form. This causes problems with memory, concentration, balance, sleeping and a host of other nasty symptoms known as Wernicke's Encephalopathy. If untreated, this conditions beomes worse, giving rise to an incurable organic disorder known as Kosakoff's Psychosis (Wet Brain).
The long of the short of it is that, in moderation on occasion, alcohol can provide short-term relief from anxiety symptoms. Like most coping strategies, however, it is not reccommended that anyone should rely on it too much - particularly because of the nasty side effects associated with overuse.
for me the effect was that alcohol -> caused me to feel muggy and depressed in the morning -> which caused me to take caffeine -> which caused anxiety -> which led to me taking alcohol....
I am now clean of both; and my GAD gone.
(more if interested at http://caffeineevaluation.blogspot.co.uk/)
as someone said here..ALC,,is a suppressant..IT can help to relieve the symptoms of Anxiety (a LOT)..Trouble is IF u find urself constantly using ALC..to control those woeful feelings...that's NOT the real answer...Anti-depressants I have found are NOT the answer>>except one called ARAPAX..in some countries called PAXIL.Its particularly designed to treat Anxiety..Diazapam (comes with different names) is good also,,but must NOT be overdone or used constantly on a daily basis.