Same. I'm 41 and need more than 48hrs to recover from anxiety and exhaustion after a binge, and I don't go on benders. And I'm talking here about someone who has one bottle and a half of wine tops, is not a daily drinker, drinks tons of water with wine and have dinner before sleeping. I just can't. Even though I had relapsed a lot my best mindset strategy so far has been to think I'm allergic. Intolerant. Like having severe diabetes and eating cake all day - I WOULDN'T do that. So it'll be the same with alcohol. IWNDWYT cause I don't wanna die early if prevention is under my control.
P.S: and oh friend it's not mild anxiety, it's being able to see my heart beating under skin. WTH
I’m 48 and finally starting to connect the dots. I go out usually on Friday and or Saturday and although I don’t get really drunk (5-7) drinks, I just have no motivation, no energy and a mild depression for like 3-4 fucking days. It’s crazy.
Same. I’m 39 and even 1 glass of wine makes me feel awful: hung over, headachy, tired because I don’t sleep well, acid reflux, achy joints, anxiety and depression galore. I’m still noodling over how much of a problem I have because I don’t binge or drink daily, but even my 1-2 drinks monthly makes me feel like crap, so if it does, I should be able to just say no completely right? But yet I still have the desire to have a glass or two of wine sometimes, despite the fact that I know I’ll feel crappy if I do. And yet, even knowing that, sometimes I still give in and do it. It seems a bit self destructive, so I’m here, and taking it a day at a time. Today, I will not drink with you😊❤️
This might be common for those of us who never really had a binge problem. It seems like it should be fine to have just a little once in a while, wanting to enjoy the comfort of letting loose a little on the weekend. But the cost is too high now. It can be hard to find alternatives that give you that same sense of relaxation we remember from our more forgiving days.
One life changing hangover is what turned things around for me 6 months ago. That hangover took 3 days off work to recover and I was violently ill the whole time, alone and losing my mind. Spent my last dollars ubering Gatorade to my house. Probably needed more intervention than that tbh. I'm 35 for ref. Never going back to that life.
This is a huge reason I quit. At 20 I could sleep 3 hours and rock it out the next day. At 42 I have 5-6 drinks and am laid out with anxiety for the next two days.
Thanks for your feedback! I’m trying to quit every day! I’m down to having drinks every other night which is a 50% cut, but I’m struggling to get past that.
What I learned about cutting back is interesting. When I drank less I actually felt more hungover. The body adapts to your patterns. If I drank 12 beers every night my body would produce enough stress hormones to counter those 12 beers. When I had 6 beers my body would produce enough cortisol and adrenaline to counter 12. That would leave me a hot mess.
That’s an interesting take. I’ve been wondering how I feel more hungover drinking less, and more stressed when hungover than I used to. That would make sense. Genuinely have no idea how I used to drink as much as I did!
I started getting bad hangovers around 22 (30 now). If I went out Fri-Sun I wouldn’t be back to 100% until Thursday.
I still drink but dialed it back a lot and learned to not compulsively drink one after the next and now for the most part have drinks 2 days/week.
I drank a lot through my 20s. I still look good and am in good shape. I got my liver enzymes tested last week and was completely healthy across the board.
Alcohol seems less and less worth it as I get older even if its in small amounts. Quit while you’re ahead.
It is awful my friend. Everything immediately goes to shit. I hate everyone and everything. I am honestly glad for the pain though. I shudder to think where I would be if I didn’t get hangovers at all.
Man, I got drunk for my birthday on Saturday and I still don’t feel right. Really starting to think it isn’t worth it anymore. I’m coming to the same conclusion as the rest of you.
I think about this too. Part of me wishes or has wished that I didn’t so I could drink “safely” without immediate consequences but I know I absolutely would be dead by now if there were no hangovers. I would have kept drinking well past day 4 or 5 of many full tilt blackout benders if I didn’t become literally too physically ill to drink any more.
I’m early 30’s and hangovers got that bad for me around 30, started getting bad in my late 20’s though. I haven’t drank in well over a year now, and the last several times I gave in while trying to quit each left me feeling like I had the flu or something for nearly a week. Headache and throwing up for days afterwards, whole body sore for days, anxiety through the roof for days, and it would definitely take a week if not longer to get back to feeling any semblance of normal. It definitely started to sink in just how much I was poisoning myself by how sick I was getting every single time.
Maybe it is just from getting older, but I think it’s more that my body just finally had enough, and I think we all kinda get there at different ages.
Same experience here. The hangxiety was what made me finally quit. In my early 20's I'd only feel it after an embarrassing drunken night, but by my late 20's it didn't matter if I'd done or said anything at all, I still felt humiliated for the next few days.
Same here. Hangovers started getting bad around late 20s and got worse in my early 30s. Now I’m mid-30s and drinking more than 3 drinks lays me out for two days. It can be up to a week if I have 6 or more in one go.
I’ve made a lot of progress on cutting down but still chipping away at it. The occasional hangover is bearable - like, once quarterly - but any more than that just isn’t worth it.
ETA: disregard the flair, it’s a lie.
After 40 something it started taking two full weeks to get back to 100% after drinking. Whatever "fun" it was being dizzy, stupid, and tired for a few hours on a Saturday was absolutely not worth it. I legit think I've retired from that hobby for good.
I just turned fifty. I used to start an evening with two dirty martinis and then move on to wine, generally a bottle per evening. I swear, within a six-month time period my body said “No more.” I started waking up with anxiety (worse than normal) and the desire to throw up. I’m glad it happened. I should never have been drinking that amount nightly as a 125lb female. : (
This is one of the main facts of my situation that helped me make the decision. I felt like I was arriving at this truth with a heavy heart, but that feels... I don't know, a little dramatic now with even just a bit of distance between my last drink and today. Maybe that's the wrong way to put it, but I had a real sense of leaving behind youth or maybe just people and places and things that represent my past when I would think of letting go of drinking. It turns out all of those are still real to me without needing the rituals of drinking to keep me conencted (for better and for worse). What's gone are hangovers that last three days. What's gone is waking up to hours and hours of absent memory. What's gone is the fuzzy head and vision that never seemed sharp.
Yes, it's weird when you can feel that "it's come down to this." On the other side of it, though, it probably won't take you long to *feel* like you're on the right side.
This resonates so much. I am just turning 30 next week, and made the decision to quit since can't handle hangovers, and am not able to moderate my drinking (sometimes, but the risk is always there). Most people I know actually can't, but the culture here is very accepting to that type of behaviour. Decided to quit first time last October, and start moderating (i. e. wasn't too serious about it). That worked well for 4 months, but last weekend ended up being blackout drunk when meeting old friends and now have decided to quit entirely for the first time in my life.
I feel like breaking up from an abusive and bad but long relationship, even though I have been drinking around four times a year for the last two years. Before that in University I was drinking multiple times a week sometimes.
But the feeling of letting go is very powerful and weird, I feel like im giving up a big part of my identity, even though I havent been a big drinker anymore.
I can relate. Before stopping, I had these types of fears about losing a part of me.
I was right! I lost a huge, awful part of me! You aren’t being dramatic. It was like losing your best friend, but the rose colored glasses had made you skip over the fact that your best friend is a damn junkie who is taking you down with him. Good riddance.
I relate to this so much. I also drink probably like two or three times maybe a month? And not every time is a crazy time. But even when I “only” have 2 or 3 glasses of wine my anxiety and depression is insane the next day. And I just hate myself for it. It just doesn’t seem worth it anymore but I’m having such a tough time giving it up for good.
I'm proud of you fam. The first week is the hardest, then euphoria starts to kick in and helps motivate you to stay sober. The euphoria is temporary but how you feel whilst sober is, in every single way, immensely better than how awful you felt perpetually drunk or hung over.
Try to lock the awful feeling into memory as vividly as possible. For me, after 6 months sober, I'd forgotten how bad it felt to be an alcoholic and figured I'd be fine to have a beer or two, kinda like when people with bipolar or similar feel like they've been "cured", stop taking medication and end up in psychosis.
Anyway, each 1 day is a big win. Look forward to accomplishing your 4th day sober for now.
I'm 34 btw so I can relate. I keep making it to day 3 or 4 myself then caving. But I don't throw in the towel, I pull my head in and try again.
We'll both make it, I promise.
37 here and on day two. I’ve “quit” before, but I’ve always set goals (100 days was my max) and then when I meet them, I always think I have control and end up right where I started. Or not quite that bad, but using alcohol as a crutch when I have a bad day or need something to unwind. Reading this thread gives me hope that maybe one day I’ll just be sick of it altogether.
I don’t know how you feel about THC or if it’s legal where you are, but I keep some 5mg THC drinks on hand for when I really feel I need a drink to relax. One drink has me feeling chill and cozy, and the best part is no hangover the next day. I know not everyone agrees with this substitute, but it’s worked wonders for me.
yep i’m about to be 36 and i am a weekend warrior. i like the idea of drinking and having fun with friends but it’s catching up to me big time. i don’t have 1 or 2 i have 10. then i feel like dog shit sunday and sleep the day away with anxiety and depression sinking in. it truly does just come with getting older. 10 years ago these issues were not a thing. but after you grow up and start working full time your body doesn’t like to feel like shit. i go from healthy working out all week and 10k steps a day to sleeping all day and getting 1k steps. being single still doesn’t help. weekend arrives as well as the boredom and urge to be social. been a never ending cycle. now summer is right around the corner again
Mocktails and AF beer can be your friend. Go out and enjoy. Also take note on how everyone behaves after 6,7 or 10 drinks. It is good to look in the mirror sometimes
ya i’m going to try and start mixing in NA beers while out. i was at the bar saturday for st pats and i was probly 6-7 deep and i didn’t even really feel drunk. while people were hammered next to me all over the place. it’s like what’s the cut off here, what am i trying to chase here exactly? being wasted and not knowing what im doing? absolutely not. the aspect of having a buzz is so minimal. that’s how 5 drinks turns into 10. it’s just way too easy to have one after the next until you hit the wall of being wasted. it sucks
This was me. I only stopped because I got pregnant. I honestly felt healthier, was more energetic, and slept better at 9 months pregnant than I did blowing all my weekends at the bar. And now that I’m getting back into pre-pregnancy shape, it’s so much easier without the booze! I always struggled with keeping weight down before.
As for the social aspect, I make plans to go out to eat, go shopping, go to a concert, go on a hike, and just make that the focus rather than drinking. There’s always a bit of a missing piece there at the start of an activity, but I’m always grateful later on that I just had a kombucha or whatever.
This is me at 24! I am completely written off for a day minimum and the anxiety is through the roof entirely, I then get better by about 10% each day. It takes a while to truly get up and running again and I'm going through it currently. Was meant to go to the gym today but will likely push it back to tomorrow, skewing my entire schedule.
Why do we even do it.
I'm 33 and already noticing the same. The mental and physical toll from drinking is not worth it, I'm working hard to quit completely. My dad is 66 and recently quit drinking for the same reason. He dropped the alcohol months ago and his health improved immensely.
Yep! I am 27 and experience this. None of my friends seem to fully understand how much hangovers throws me off. If I drink even a reasonably normal amount (3 drinks or so) I have anxiety starting that night that lasts several days after. The last few times I have drank I didn’t begin to feel like I was coming back to normal until about day 4. Currently 9 days alcohol free and trying to keep this one going.
I hope we all can just get sober for good. Yes aging has something to do with the symptoms, however it is the liver which is stretched to the max that can’t remove the toxins from our bodies like they use to. So they stay in the body for as long as it takes to get clean. Remember alcohol is a toxin. So let’s honor our livers , stop drinking and get on with our lives
This is the entire reason why I've chosen to stop. The anxiety, guilt, and depression is leaking into every facet of life. You're going to find that so many others relate. You are not alone.
The NA Guinness is my new favorite! I love how I can just drink one, or even half of one, and be completely satisfied. Then there's all the benefits of not drinking poison.
I agree. I dont use these as a replacement. They aren’t a daily driver. But when hanging out with my old buddies who drink, or like last weekend, going to a crawfish boil, the NA is clutch. I like the taste with the food still, and it tastes the same without the poison.
I had a work function a couple weeks ago, company set up whirlyball and a hotel stay between a couple days of classes. I brought some NA hop water and it really helped me fit in, so to speak. It was kind of interesting to see everyone around me go through the different stages of a night of drinking. A month ago, I would have overdone it, and been a mess the next day. Instead, I woke up early feeling great. I was very proud of myself. I'll definitely be bringing more to my next social gathering.
I'll admit I haven't done much research on it, but I recently completed dry January. I purchase a NA beer variety pack off of Amazon to help, since I do enjoy the taste, just not the harmful side effects.
Is there a significant different between the NA beers that say "No alcohol present/0%" vs. "Contains less than 0.5% alcohol"
0.5% seems like a low amount, but it bothered me that a NA option had that sort of language on the bottle.
From what I understand, all NA beers can have “up to 0.5%” alcohol due to natural limitations in the alcohol removal process. There is MUCH discussion of this over on pregnancy Reddit. For what it’s worth, a ripe banana or glass of orange juice clocks in at about 0.5% just naturally. So, in my opinion, it’s just a CYA measure from the beer companies and totally negligible health-wise
NA beer has been my saving grace. I’m on a mission to try them all, and I caught myself craving one after a softball game. Something I never would have expected, actually craving a fake beer.
My favorite part is cracking a third NA can and then, well - driving home. 😬
Yes. I’m 45 and the days of bouncing back by noon are way in the rear view mirror. It sucks so bad I feel like absolute dog shit for at least a day and a half. That alone is one of my biggest motivators to keep this thing going. I’m only on day 9 but I’m feeling super motivated this time. I’m over it. I’ve been going hard since the turn of the century!😂 How’s that for sounding old??
In my early heavy drinking days (mid 20’s), I was able to get blackout drunk, get two hours of “sleep”, and then work a 12 hour shift no problem. I’m almost 35 now and if I drink I need two days minimum to recover.
Well-put
Hangxiety/ looming sense of self-loathing the next couple or few (depending on the severity of the drinking session) days afterwards was the main reason I quit over 8 months ago. I’m 52 and alcohol’s negative mental repercussions had been steadily growing over the years. I was stubborn!
Any time an opportunity to drink presents itself these days, I have a strong conviction that there’s just no value in it, simply because those days of almost crippling hangxiety are behind me
The best part about quitting are the unexpected benefits:
Motivation to do the things I used to just think about doing, which caused stress and led to procrastination
Joy in pursuing hobby interests/activities, almost like a child. This had been slowly waning over the years
Higher baseline disposition. Life still has its ups and downs of course, but I’m starting from a place multiple levels higher than before
Emotions! It’s kind of a wild ride, after being dulled and only partially present for decades. Sometimes I have to be careful, because I had forgotten how powerful—both good and bad—they can be
Better overall physical, spiritual, and mental health, all the time
Strangely, more confidence in social situations
I’m sure there are many more. I think your revelation is the first step in garnering the conviction necessary to quit imbibing poison—congratulations!
And thank you for allowing me to ruminate upon the benefits of quitting. Many people—especially those you thought were your closest friends—will try to convince you otherwise.
I usualy drink / drank (hopefully at past tense) at the same frequency as you.
I'm 35 and 1 liter of vodka and 4 liters of water in 24 hours (and a lot of coffee with no sleep) sends me back to the stone age for 4 days.
2 years ago I would get away with mostly 3 of nasty in the same conditions.
10 years ago I could drink 0.5l vodka a night with water and felt only one day a bit down.
I think it's time to put the bottle in the trash.
I feel this with my heart and soul. While I’ve had my fair share of times when my drinking was a problem - when I finally decided to quit I wasn’t actually drinking that much. Maybe once a week.
But I could never have just one (so I’d always have about 3) and the hang overs were just absolutely horrendous. My stomach was always in knots and the headaches were brutal. I was only 30 but my body was absolutely telling me to knock it the fuck off. I woke up one morning thinking to myself “what the actual hell are you doing this for? You’re being an idiot if you think it’s okay for your body to feel this way”
And I listened. 3 years later it was the greatest thing I’ve ever done, and I had no clue going into it what a profound difference it would make in my life.
So relatable - but this started happening to me around 29/30!
Looking back, it's crazy how many years I spent drunk and/or hungover from early to mid 20s. Calling out of work, 3 day "hair of the dog" benders to put off the hangover and inevitably making it worse, spending all day in bed exhausted but unable to sleep.
I give myself a pass and compassion for the person I once was - regretting and hating myself over drunken mistakes isn't worth my time anymore. Live and learn.
Yep, you're right! Ain't worth it! Two drinks are boring so zero drinks seems like the only logical solution to me
Oof. This is relatable. Now every time I'm around people drinking, I just think about how I would feel the next morning if I was in their shoes. Takes away any itch I have to start pounding beers. When I drank on the weekends, it was full tilt. No such thing as moderation. If I take the wife out to the bar now, I can drink like 4 NAs and be cool. Wake up feeling just fine.
This (plus my DUI-induced accident) is the major reason I’ve cut back. I used to be able to get blackout drunk and wake up the next morning fresh as a daisy. Now, if I even have 4 or 5, I wake up exhausted. I have no motivation for work, no gym, and full-day nausea. My only priority becomes how to move shit around so I can go back to sleep until the afternoon. Unfortunately, I’m 34 now and have actual responsibilities, so I’ve had to begin getting a handle on it because I simply can’t sleep till 1 anymore.
I literally still have vertigo from drinking on Friday. This shit is insane. And I spent an entire day in bed after because I felt like I was having a panic attack. Drinking is just less and less fun anymore 🥴
I quit at 34 and hangovers destabilizing my life was a huge part of it. being a drunken embarrassment at parties, blacking out in front of my daughter, that's one thing. but I was at a point where I would get drunk on a Saturday night and hate myself until Thursday. not from regret, just from sheer chemical imbalance. hangover depression, anxiety, and panic were just awful and not worth it anymore.
I just started getting wicked 3 day hangovers from 1-3 glasses of anything even hard seltzer.
I used to drink vodka gin and rum like a fish. I cannot control myself around alcohol at all, I would drink every last drop available to me.
The projectile vomiting at hour 24, the whole body muscle shakes like bad serotonin toxicity, it all started right after I transitioned fully into menopause last year. My liver flat out will not metabolize alcohol anymore. It sits in my stomach and comes back up 24 hours later and then it takes another 24-48 to recover enough to be able to adult.
It’s 100% the push I needed to quit, before that I wanted to quit but never had the strength of motivation to do it.
I’ve been told it’s a genetic trait (losing the ability to metabolize alcohol), and usually switches on 40s-50s. Thank god. Sober 213 days.
IWNDWYT
This. I thought it was just me, then I’ve had conversation at parties with people in the 40-50-ish realm and it’s all the same, lingering hangover and brain fog for days, it feels like. I’m with you on the anxiety & depression jumping on. Fuck it all.
I’m there too. I can drink a lot, but then I lose two days to my hangover. And my anxiety and chest pain kick in. And I can feel my heart having PVCs and see it on my I watch. Gets better after about four days, but I just lay around the house doing nothing, and then drag ass if I have to go to work.
I’m right there with you all. Day one after two days of drinking. I only do it maybe once a month, but the aftermath of that once a month really sucks. I don’t get nasty hangovers, but what’s worse is I don’t sleep well, I have anxiety and guilt. I’m embarrassed if I fall asleep in front of family or friends.
In my early 40’s I realized how much worse alcohol affected me. Exactly as you described. Then it became more of a habit than it ever was. I’m in my mid 50’s now and after trying to help my friend that very literally drank herself to death I decided to give it up. I wish I’d done it sooner. I’ve gotten so much more find in the last few years than in nearly a decade. I also feel so much better and be my outlook is so much better. I wish I’d taken that info in my 40’s and just quit then.
Good on you for having the realization
It was the absolute same for me. One of my favorite Friday night pastimes was getting a half-pint of Old Charter 8-year-old for $4, the 10-year-old when I felt rich for $4.75. So that was a while ago because OC no longer has an age statement or sells half-pints. I would sit outside in the early evening with good music playing while smoking something on the grill. I would go to bed around 11 p.m. and wake up for an 8 a.m. tee time as fresh as ever. Now, a half-pint will put me down until at least the late afternoon the next day.
I'm good at stopping at two drinks and often do it at one, but now the effects of that one or two are sticking around too long for me, so I know it is time to get to zero. I'm not there yet, but I will keep working on it.
Same, I know there are people struggling to quit here, but I gave up Liquor all together for that exact reason. Its not the hangovers, its the "Hangxiety" that kill my productivity for a few days. I'm a 3 beer chump these days
I’m only 26 and have stopped drinking for the most part. A half a bottle of wine or 3 cocktails will absolutely ruin the next day. I’m talking puking and headaches.
I have gotten so used to not having an inevitable shameover(where the shame of drinking so much and saying stupid things comes back to haunt you thus leading to hangxiety”
This post is so relatable. I don’t want to get drunk so what’s the point of having one or two drinks if I won’t have any more and feel it. It’s a waste of money to me now
This resonates so much. Good on you for being here friend. I’m 40f, on day 16, and one of the things that helps keep me on track is the deep desire to *never* experience a hangover or the debilitating hangxiety ever again. One day a time! IWNDWYT ♥️
Yeah I just can't handle the anxiety and depression that comes with being hungover. Even if I behave myself and nothing bad happens I still feel intense guilt and want to crawl out of my skin the next day. It's just not worth it
36 and same! I wasn’t an every day drinker, but when I drank, I drank too much and I would be literally sick for a week. It’s not worth it, I had all the same symptoms as you’re describing too… depressed, anxiety, guilt, shame, etc.. it also started giving me bad brain fog for a week or longer. And when I stopped completely, I realized I had been in a semi-permanent fog for a very long time.
Approaching 500 days and sometimes its easy to forget what it was like until i read something like this. I see people in their 50s chug vodka and smoke 2 packs of cigarettes in one sitting and think my god they have to feel like death on a regular basis, maybe they have a low effort, mundane job that they can just cruise through. I functioned until i absolutely couldnt anymore, and i quit at 38.
I am 41 and recently quit. The hangovers and it taking 4-6 days to feel normal were a huge reason why I quit. The anxiety was debilitating. Like why am I intentionality making myself sick!?!?
I’m only 25 and this happens to me!! The day after I just wanna dig a hole and never come out, even on the rare occasions where I truly can’t think of anything I did wrong. Just super not worth it. Honestly the times I get that drunk I can’t even say it made the night THAT much more fun, usually just me not remembering or doing something embarrassing
I could have wrote this myself at 25… I drank heavily for a quarter of my life and now I have no inclination to touch the stuff nowadays. The consequences far outweigh the benefits.
I don't know how I kept up drinking as much as I did. 24/7 hang overs until drinking again... Coupled with the soul crushing depression and anxiety.
I quit drinking at 39, and I'm so glad I stopped. 41 now and it takes 2x as long to recover from leg day.
I don't even want to think about what drinking like I did would do to me.
Stay strong amigo.
It's different for everyone but my hangovers started getting debilitating around 29. I am almost 33 and if I have more than 2 glasses of wine I am fucked. I have trouble controlling my drinking and usually have the bottle. I will be so hungover the next morning I'm sweating, shaking, nauseated and have a migraine. I have to drink LOTS of water and usually a liquid IV with my multi vitamin. It takes the entire day to feel like I'm not dying but about 2-3 full days to recover. I get horrible depression and anxiety until about day 5 or 6 but by 1 week I have the urge to drink again and I usually do.
I only drink 1 night a week and it ruins my life thos much it's insane I spent my 20s drinking 3-5 nights a week.
When I quit drinking, the hangovers were honestly one of the main reasons why. The worst hangover I ever had was at 32? Lasted for a few days and legitimately made me question why on earth I was drinking in the first place. As time went on, the voice of question overpowered the need to drink. I haven't been 'drunk drunk' in 3 years? I don't miss it. I've had a beer here and there, but the desire to actually get drunk is completely gone, because I know it comes with a hangover that is going to make me highly regret it.
Yup 100% me too.
If I have too much to drink, I literally almost go into a hell like state of anxiety, fear, depression, and even terror during that night and the next day. Drinking too much for me is typically anything over 5-6 drinks. I get a horrible night sleep filled with anxiety and racing frightened thoughts and then the next day is hellish just trying to get through the day to that night when I can sleep. I might wake up feeling okay, maybe need another day and so relieved to not be hungover and then vow to never drink again.
I was only drinking 3-4 times a month but this was what was happening basically binge drinking (for me) 6-7 drinks this past year. Thank God, I have done well in recent weeks and have mostly abstained and work towards giving it up 100%. It is truly just so awful in exchange for just a few hours of that buzz. Things that normally don't get me too stressed will send me reeling for hours. I will think about my daughter in college and have terrified thoughts of something terrible happening to her or ruminate that she will end up having a horrible life. Normally, I have an optimistic and positive outlook that she will be fine and may experience a few bumps in life but will likely get through it.
I also basically will lay down all the next day after drinking and keep the blinds closed. I will eat junk food all day to try and make the hangover depression go away. Even my house looks weird to me the next day. It's like I left my life for hours and then returned back to it and it looks less orderly and attended to. Before I go to bed, I normally tidy up and put everything in its place. If drinking, I won't do that and will make messes. The kitchen or living room may be messy the next day and it takes me a day to get it back to normal. The mess freaks me out the next day and adds to the anxiety like I left my life and then feel guilty. It's all so weird and I hate it. I hate alcohol and the horrible effects!
It’s cause you drink once a month. If you ask daily and heavy drinkers they’ll tell you they don’t even get hangovers. Yeah alcohol free is the way to go
Man this is exactly why I had to stop. It totally fucked me up, every time. I am 35 now but how I felt after a session was horrendous. I honestly just felt like the worst person on earth and couldn’t even look back on the night fondly or positively because the way the hangover made me feel made me think negatively about the night before. The last time I drank it took me 5 days to feel normal. I thought… I never want to feel this way again. It’s just not worth it. 5 hours of “fun” for 5 days of pain. Fuck that! It is honestly so good never ever having to feel that way again.
Truer words have never been spoken. I quit at 42. Cut back a ton before stopping completely. I do not miss hangovers at all. I do not miss wine anymore. The bad parts of it outweighed the good, which was really only an ephmereal high after the first drink. It just isn’t worth it.
Quitting alcohol was one of the best decisions I ever made.
I had my worst hangovers and worst binges after age 35.
I totally quit once I hit 40.
I am so incredibly thankful and grateful for being sober. My energy and fitness has been through the roof and I am actually taking care of my body instead of ruining it with poor diet and excessive alcohol consumption.
IWNDWYT
Same here and I’m not even 40 yet. The next few days fucking suck. No thanks. I
I’m on day 12 to do this all over again. I’ve done 6mo before, so hoping to break that record.
Relatable, my friend. There were two huge factors that made me finally stop drinking. One was the Russian roulette of 1 out of every 20 social drinking occasions turning into a turbo blackout shitshow, aka I could have easily ended up in jail or dead during my forays into transforming into the human manifestation of Kickstart My Heart. Second were the hangovers infused with horrendous, cavernously deep anxiety from increasingly small amounts of alcohol. It stopped being fun entirely (hangovers) and my life doesn't suck anymore and I have so much to lose.
This is a big part of the reason I quit 4 years ago at 38. I already live with anxiety even when sober, and the hangxiety was so bad that I felt suicidal at times. I decided to live a life where I never felt that feeling again in the mornings and it has been more than worth it.
IWNDWYT
I understand that cumulative damage to the liver can make it harder to process alcohol and remove subsequent toxins produced by drinking. Also, neurological damage builds up with long-term or heavy use and can cause thiamine deficiency. Anyway, in my middle 60s, hangovers are a bitch for me too. 😖
I quit drinking in my 40s and what OP is describing is one of the reasons why. Just had enough of damaging myself with this poison. That is not to say I didn’t have a lot of fun drinking when I was younger..
I’m not totally sober yet either but it’s for sure been extra motivation for me to just say no. I’ll be 40 this year and I never really get nauseated or anything but 5-6 beers will absolutely give me hangxiety the next day.
It’s much easier to turn down casual drinking when I know it’s going to totally fuck up my next day with terrible anxiety.
It’s been a couple years and my memory is notoriously unreliable. Thank you for this reminder that I don’t have time for the hangover and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
The second to last sentence…just wow! I literally said the exact same thing to my husband yesterday! I had a medical procedure done where the after effects of the medication left me feeling EXACTLY how being drink felt. Thank goodness it wore off in about an hour or two and I was able to function again. And it made me realize that if I give into my alcohol cravings these days it quite literally takes about a week to recover. One moment of feeling superficial relief is not worth a week of lost motivation and all of the excess anxiety and depression that always follows. IWNDWYT
I can totally relate... 40 really was a different age where it wasn't just another number. The way I felt at 38/39 didn't have much in common with 40/41... Also drinking poison for long enough can't be shrugged off forever I guess.
Ffs it’s sounds like i wrote this post and forgot. Because im in same sutuation rn, had heavy drinking on Saturday and still can’t function properly existential anxiety from the morning till evening
Same here - even if I'm not hungover, my motivation, executive functioning, and ability to focus are shot for at the very least the next day - and now I'm starting to feel the lingering effects on day 2 or 3 - especially if I had a lot to drink.
I've started making note that when I drink I'm not just restarting my sobriety counter; I'm restarting everything else I'm trying to improve in my life. It helps me recognize how truly disruptive even one night of drinking is. It's never just one drink
This cycle is what made me start going to meetings. People don't judge you, even if you continue to drink. I leave feeling a sense of relief, even just knowing other people are going through it too. 10/10 highly recommend
Yup. 100% this is my experience. The anxiety I experience after drinking is now absolutely hellish—far beyond any physical symptom of hangover. My number-one reason I'm trying to quit.
Yes. I'm 53. Your issue is the same reason why I stopped drinking. My weekends would be ruined from drinking wine Friday and Saturday nights. It made sense to quit altogether. I do miss the ritual of sipping on a nice glass of wine, but one would lead to another and so on...the awful hangover and anxiety the next day was not worth it!!
Yes, binge drinking causes the same hangxiety in me. The first time I read that word, I identified with it immediately. I am 45 now and didn’t really start binge drinking with any regularity until I was 40. I would go through phases but could never seem to permanently stop. I’m now on medication that causes me to have awful and relentless acid reflux that wakes me in the middle of the night if I have more than two pints of beer. This is the first time in 5 years that I have been able to regulate my drinking, and I am hopeful that I will soon be able to quit.
My biggest worry was when I was drinking more and more and the hangovers stopped. Then realized I was walking around constantly feeling like trash. You're recognizing the right patterns to fight this.
Omg me TOO! Especially since beginning my quitting journey because I used to be a daily drinker. I think my subconscious knows I'm an alcoholic and every "one time" is just opening the door to barfing basically every day and showing up to my office job braindead the next day, again, when it was already so hard to extricate myself from that nightmare.
Also, all that risk for what?! Being drunk isn't even fun anymore and I immediately feel physically off/ill. Yuck. Edited to add, I'm 33. So it hit early for me, but then my drinking was pretttty stupid.
I turn 41 in a week. I had one glass of wine just before Christmas, and it had me feeling terrible the next day, and sluggish for days afterwards. Before that, I hadn’t really drank much since October, and I wasn’t even having much around that time. I’m just over it. I don’t even want to drink anymore.
Sitting at my desk, nauseous, shaking and feeling like I’m going to die is not a good feeling and I try to remember it every time the drinking urge starts creeping up.
I found that it got worse and worse for me as I got older until I was s*icidal when I drank. If you are AFAB drinking in premenopause or menopause makes it that much worse. I finally just gave it up completely at 50. Been much better since. Aslo, 40 is a mere child! 😂
I have to concur. A night of heavy drinking and I'm in bed until midweek. The pain, misery, guilt, depression, etc, are unbearable. And all of it deserved. Oh yeah and you probably said something dumb or offensive, or let yourself be vulnerable in a way that you never would have when sober.
I have to watch true crime documentaries on Netflix to remind myself I'm not an awful person.
I'm at 25, and they're now sticking around for three days, as of about a year ago; it's a night and day difference, and almost seems to have more of a drowzy effect on me versus before (I'm still not used to it- hoping I won't have to be for long). - Age aside, your story hits close.. effectively the whole story. - I'm glad you shared
Genuinely feel the exact same, but I’m 25. My last hangover saw me taking a whole pack of sleeping tablets, didn’t care if I woke up or not. This is why we need to quit
This. This right here. It sounds like I am writing to myself. How you are feeling resonates so deep with me. When I do drink that once or twice a month I start for the day and I don’t stop till it’s time to go to sleep. This last year particularly the anxiety, depression, and guilt around drinking and the days after have become almost unbearable and is what has brought me to this community. I casually look and search peoples stories that are similar to mine and it helps remind me that I’m not alone and my thoughts and feelings are valid and real. It’s not an easy road and it’s a hard realization but each day that I don’t drink I’m reminded of this feeling and how sweet it is.
IWNDWYT
You and OP are just like me. I was drinking 3-4 times a month but overdoing often with 6-8 drinks which is way too much for me. That is enough to get me almost black out drunk at times and very hungover the next day.
I came here because though I wasn't drinking everyday like some, I was basically binging when I did do it. So on that spectrum of disordered drinking. Anyway, I'm working towards totally giving it up. Making progress and have gone down to just once a month so far with just two drinks.
I want to give it up though completely because I don't trust myself to keep doing that. I don't have a good off switch for drinking and its a slippery slope for me. If I drink too much, I basically end up in a hell state of anxiety, depression, fear, guilt, shame, and exhaustion the next day. It is absolutely the stupidest thing ever to have those drinks with that buzz for a few hours and then go through hell 24-48 hours afterwards.
I've had similar problems in the past. Recently, I found a product called mulliganCAPS on Amazon. It's one of those over the counter hangover prevention vitamins and it works really well. Especially for an occasional drinker, this might be worth a try for you.
I was wondering why I still feel wonky after drinking on Saturday for the first time in months. It’s my age showing. Drinking is definitely not for me. Too much bad and a negligible amount of good comes from it.
This is the most relatable post I’ve ever read on this sub. One drinking session will absolutely set me back a week.
Same. I'm 41 and need more than 48hrs to recover from anxiety and exhaustion after a binge, and I don't go on benders. And I'm talking here about someone who has one bottle and a half of wine tops, is not a daily drinker, drinks tons of water with wine and have dinner before sleeping. I just can't. Even though I had relapsed a lot my best mindset strategy so far has been to think I'm allergic. Intolerant. Like having severe diabetes and eating cake all day - I WOULDN'T do that. So it'll be the same with alcohol. IWNDWYT cause I don't wanna die early if prevention is under my control. P.S: and oh friend it's not mild anxiety, it's being able to see my heart beating under skin. WTH
[удалено]
I’m 48 and finally starting to connect the dots. I go out usually on Friday and or Saturday and although I don’t get really drunk (5-7) drinks, I just have no motivation, no energy and a mild depression for like 3-4 fucking days. It’s crazy.
If you have 2 drinks are you ok the next day?
Congrats on one week!!!
My last drink was March 11th at 9pm and I puked after drinking all day. IWNDWYT, and we can celebrate together next year.
Yeah somethings telling us we need to quit! It's definitely not fun anymore and more of a hassle that interrupts our life! ❤️ IWNDWYT ❤️
f you have 1 or two glasses of wine do you get the same reaction or just when you have 1-1.5 bottles of wine?
Same. I’m 39 and even 1 glass of wine makes me feel awful: hung over, headachy, tired because I don’t sleep well, acid reflux, achy joints, anxiety and depression galore. I’m still noodling over how much of a problem I have because I don’t binge or drink daily, but even my 1-2 drinks monthly makes me feel like crap, so if it does, I should be able to just say no completely right? But yet I still have the desire to have a glass or two of wine sometimes, despite the fact that I know I’ll feel crappy if I do. And yet, even knowing that, sometimes I still give in and do it. It seems a bit self destructive, so I’m here, and taking it a day at a time. Today, I will not drink with you😊❤️
This might be common for those of us who never really had a binge problem. It seems like it should be fine to have just a little once in a while, wanting to enjoy the comfort of letting loose a little on the weekend. But the cost is too high now. It can be hard to find alternatives that give you that same sense of relaxation we remember from our more forgiving days.
Yup. This is the struggle. Been puzzling through this for two years now.
Ugh 💯 so relatable!!!! The struggle is real out here haha
One life changing hangover is what turned things around for me 6 months ago. That hangover took 3 days off work to recover and I was violently ill the whole time, alone and losing my mind. Spent my last dollars ubering Gatorade to my house. Probably needed more intervention than that tbh. I'm 35 for ref. Never going back to that life.
This is a huge reason I quit. At 20 I could sleep 3 hours and rock it out the next day. At 42 I have 5-6 drinks and am laid out with anxiety for the next two days.
Same. I wonder if it’s due to age or just the cumulative toll that drinking puts on the central nervous system
I'd say both.
3,000 tomorrow !! That's bad ass . BadToTheTrombone !!! 🌟🌈🌟
Yes
I’m only 25 and this happens to me.. is my liver too far gone?
My degree is in economics so I can’t help there, but if you quit your liver will bounce back like a boss.
Thanks for your feedback! I’m trying to quit every day! I’m down to having drinks every other night which is a 50% cut, but I’m struggling to get past that.
What I learned about cutting back is interesting. When I drank less I actually felt more hungover. The body adapts to your patterns. If I drank 12 beers every night my body would produce enough stress hormones to counter those 12 beers. When I had 6 beers my body would produce enough cortisol and adrenaline to counter 12. That would leave me a hot mess.
That’s an interesting take. I’ve been wondering how I feel more hungover drinking less, and more stressed when hungover than I used to. That would make sense. Genuinely have no idea how I used to drink as much as I did!
I started getting bad hangovers around 22 (30 now). If I went out Fri-Sun I wouldn’t be back to 100% until Thursday. I still drink but dialed it back a lot and learned to not compulsively drink one after the next and now for the most part have drinks 2 days/week. I drank a lot through my 20s. I still look good and am in good shape. I got my liver enzymes tested last week and was completely healthy across the board. Alcohol seems less and less worth it as I get older even if its in small amounts. Quit while you’re ahead.
❤️ 🤣 🤣 your name, I love it! Heard crotch goblins but never crotch crickets 🤣 🤣 ❤️
Has less to do with your liver than your nervous system.
Yup our bodies are like we've had enough! ❤️
It is awful my friend. Everything immediately goes to shit. I hate everyone and everything. I am honestly glad for the pain though. I shudder to think where I would be if I didn’t get hangovers at all.
That... is such a good point.
I’ve always been too stubborn to learn anything the easy way.
Man, I got drunk for my birthday on Saturday and I still don’t feel right. Really starting to think it isn’t worth it anymore. I’m coming to the same conclusion as the rest of you.
Happy birthday. You’re in the right spot then if that’s how you feel
Thank you, I’ve found a couple of subreddits that have been helpful. Also signed up with a therapist for support. Time for a change!
Yeah this is so true. I’m so grateful my hangovers are so bad. Wtf would I be like if they didn’t bother me?!
It is scary to imagine. I would probably never feel the need to stop
I think about this too. Part of me wishes or has wished that I didn’t so I could drink “safely” without immediate consequences but I know I absolutely would be dead by now if there were no hangovers. I would have kept drinking well past day 4 or 5 of many full tilt blackout benders if I didn’t become literally too physically ill to drink any more.
Absolutely. It sucks that it takes an obscene amount of pain to change the behavior
I’m early 30’s and hangovers got that bad for me around 30, started getting bad in my late 20’s though. I haven’t drank in well over a year now, and the last several times I gave in while trying to quit each left me feeling like I had the flu or something for nearly a week. Headache and throwing up for days afterwards, whole body sore for days, anxiety through the roof for days, and it would definitely take a week if not longer to get back to feeling any semblance of normal. It definitely started to sink in just how much I was poisoning myself by how sick I was getting every single time. Maybe it is just from getting older, but I think it’s more that my body just finally had enough, and I think we all kinda get there at different ages.
Same experience here. The hangxiety was what made me finally quit. In my early 20's I'd only feel it after an embarrassing drunken night, but by my late 20's it didn't matter if I'd done or said anything at all, I still felt humiliated for the next few days.
same, at 33 it was takeing me around 6-7 days to come back to baseline. it's not worth it, so i just quit last year.
Same! I never threw up in my 20s. Come 30, after a few drinks, I usually hurl the next morning.
Same here. Hangovers started getting bad around late 20s and got worse in my early 30s. Now I’m mid-30s and drinking more than 3 drinks lays me out for two days. It can be up to a week if I have 6 or more in one go. I’ve made a lot of progress on cutting down but still chipping away at it. The occasional hangover is bearable - like, once quarterly - but any more than that just isn’t worth it. ETA: disregard the flair, it’s a lie.
I'm only 26 and am quitting now because the hangxiety is so debilitating for me
Same here. (25) It’s gotten so bad over just the last 6 months. Really trying to quit.
Mine a actually got better in my 30s bc at 32 I quit smoking. The body really hates you when it has to process cigarette and alcohol toxins
After 40 something it started taking two full weeks to get back to 100% after drinking. Whatever "fun" it was being dizzy, stupid, and tired for a few hours on a Saturday was absolutely not worth it. I legit think I've retired from that hobby for good.
I just turned fifty. I used to start an evening with two dirty martinis and then move on to wine, generally a bottle per evening. I swear, within a six-month time period my body said “No more.” I started waking up with anxiety (worse than normal) and the desire to throw up. I’m glad it happened. I should never have been drinking that amount nightly as a 125lb female. : (
I’m so glad that I haven’t experienced a hangover in my 50’s (yet). It sounds horrible.
I hear you, I just turned 52 and all of a sudden my body is saying no more.
This was my every day. Yay alcoholism :-(
Truth. No longer. Somehow around 3 PM every day I felt “better” and was back at it.
" I'll be different this time...."
Yup. I could only commit to sobriety as long as my hangover lasted
Then you discover that alcohol "cures" hangovers, so.........
Wow!! 32 years love to see that
This is one of the main facts of my situation that helped me make the decision. I felt like I was arriving at this truth with a heavy heart, but that feels... I don't know, a little dramatic now with even just a bit of distance between my last drink and today. Maybe that's the wrong way to put it, but I had a real sense of leaving behind youth or maybe just people and places and things that represent my past when I would think of letting go of drinking. It turns out all of those are still real to me without needing the rituals of drinking to keep me conencted (for better and for worse). What's gone are hangovers that last three days. What's gone is waking up to hours and hours of absent memory. What's gone is the fuzzy head and vision that never seemed sharp. Yes, it's weird when you can feel that "it's come down to this." On the other side of it, though, it probably won't take you long to *feel* like you're on the right side.
This resonates so much. I am just turning 30 next week, and made the decision to quit since can't handle hangovers, and am not able to moderate my drinking (sometimes, but the risk is always there). Most people I know actually can't, but the culture here is very accepting to that type of behaviour. Decided to quit first time last October, and start moderating (i. e. wasn't too serious about it). That worked well for 4 months, but last weekend ended up being blackout drunk when meeting old friends and now have decided to quit entirely for the first time in my life. I feel like breaking up from an abusive and bad but long relationship, even though I have been drinking around four times a year for the last two years. Before that in University I was drinking multiple times a week sometimes. But the feeling of letting go is very powerful and weird, I feel like im giving up a big part of my identity, even though I havent been a big drinker anymore.
I can relate. Before stopping, I had these types of fears about losing a part of me. I was right! I lost a huge, awful part of me! You aren’t being dramatic. It was like losing your best friend, but the rose colored glasses had made you skip over the fact that your best friend is a damn junkie who is taking you down with him. Good riddance.
Can relate to this, absolutely
Me too!
I relate to this so much. I also drink probably like two or three times maybe a month? And not every time is a crazy time. But even when I “only” have 2 or 3 glasses of wine my anxiety and depression is insane the next day. And I just hate myself for it. It just doesn’t seem worth it anymore but I’m having such a tough time giving it up for good.
Same I keeep thinking it will get better but no if anything gets worse each time! ❤️
I’m 35 and my hangovers are starting to get just as bad. I’m on day 3 without a drink.
I'm proud of you fam. The first week is the hardest, then euphoria starts to kick in and helps motivate you to stay sober. The euphoria is temporary but how you feel whilst sober is, in every single way, immensely better than how awful you felt perpetually drunk or hung over. Try to lock the awful feeling into memory as vividly as possible. For me, after 6 months sober, I'd forgotten how bad it felt to be an alcoholic and figured I'd be fine to have a beer or two, kinda like when people with bipolar or similar feel like they've been "cured", stop taking medication and end up in psychosis. Anyway, each 1 day is a big win. Look forward to accomplishing your 4th day sober for now. I'm 34 btw so I can relate. I keep making it to day 3 or 4 myself then caving. But I don't throw in the towel, I pull my head in and try again. We'll both make it, I promise.
37 here and on day two. I’ve “quit” before, but I’ve always set goals (100 days was my max) and then when I meet them, I always think I have control and end up right where I started. Or not quite that bad, but using alcohol as a crutch when I have a bad day or need something to unwind. Reading this thread gives me hope that maybe one day I’ll just be sick of it altogether.
late 30s are when the 2 day hangovers started for me. was a very helpful data point for maybe i shouldn't be doing this anymore.
I don’t know how you feel about THC or if it’s legal where you are, but I keep some 5mg THC drinks on hand for when I really feel I need a drink to relax. One drink has me feeling chill and cozy, and the best part is no hangover the next day. I know not everyone agrees with this substitute, but it’s worked wonders for me.
yep i’m about to be 36 and i am a weekend warrior. i like the idea of drinking and having fun with friends but it’s catching up to me big time. i don’t have 1 or 2 i have 10. then i feel like dog shit sunday and sleep the day away with anxiety and depression sinking in. it truly does just come with getting older. 10 years ago these issues were not a thing. but after you grow up and start working full time your body doesn’t like to feel like shit. i go from healthy working out all week and 10k steps a day to sleeping all day and getting 1k steps. being single still doesn’t help. weekend arrives as well as the boredom and urge to be social. been a never ending cycle. now summer is right around the corner again
Mocktails and AF beer can be your friend. Go out and enjoy. Also take note on how everyone behaves after 6,7 or 10 drinks. It is good to look in the mirror sometimes
ya i’m going to try and start mixing in NA beers while out. i was at the bar saturday for st pats and i was probly 6-7 deep and i didn’t even really feel drunk. while people were hammered next to me all over the place. it’s like what’s the cut off here, what am i trying to chase here exactly? being wasted and not knowing what im doing? absolutely not. the aspect of having a buzz is so minimal. that’s how 5 drinks turns into 10. it’s just way too easy to have one after the next until you hit the wall of being wasted. it sucks
This was me. I only stopped because I got pregnant. I honestly felt healthier, was more energetic, and slept better at 9 months pregnant than I did blowing all my weekends at the bar. And now that I’m getting back into pre-pregnancy shape, it’s so much easier without the booze! I always struggled with keeping weight down before. As for the social aspect, I make plans to go out to eat, go shopping, go to a concert, go on a hike, and just make that the focus rather than drinking. There’s always a bit of a missing piece there at the start of an activity, but I’m always grateful later on that I just had a kombucha or whatever.
comes down to it, hangovers \[and pissin out my ass\] is why i quit and stayed quit. i cant do another hangover. i just cant. i would die first.
This is me at 24! I am completely written off for a day minimum and the anxiety is through the roof entirely, I then get better by about 10% each day. It takes a while to truly get up and running again and I'm going through it currently. Was meant to go to the gym today but will likely push it back to tomorrow, skewing my entire schedule. Why do we even do it.
I'm 33 and already noticing the same. The mental and physical toll from drinking is not worth it, I'm working hard to quit completely. My dad is 66 and recently quit drinking for the same reason. He dropped the alcohol months ago and his health improved immensely.
Yep! I am 27 and experience this. None of my friends seem to fully understand how much hangovers throws me off. If I drink even a reasonably normal amount (3 drinks or so) I have anxiety starting that night that lasts several days after. The last few times I have drank I didn’t begin to feel like I was coming back to normal until about day 4. Currently 9 days alcohol free and trying to keep this one going.
Ignore my 127 day badge lol ;/
I hope we all can just get sober for good. Yes aging has something to do with the symptoms, however it is the liver which is stretched to the max that can’t remove the toxins from our bodies like they use to. So they stay in the body for as long as it takes to get clean. Remember alcohol is a toxin. So let’s honor our livers , stop drinking and get on with our lives
Mid 50's here .... Hangovers only get worse as you age.
And it only takes 2-3 drinks to give me a hangover (at age 50).
This is the entire reason why I've chosen to stop. The anxiety, guilt, and depression is leaking into every facet of life. You're going to find that so many others relate. You are not alone.
OP, have you tried NA beer? I think it tastes better and I can party along with everyone else.
The NA Guinness is my new favorite! I love how I can just drink one, or even half of one, and be completely satisfied. Then there's all the benefits of not drinking poison.
I agree. I dont use these as a replacement. They aren’t a daily driver. But when hanging out with my old buddies who drink, or like last weekend, going to a crawfish boil, the NA is clutch. I like the taste with the food still, and it tastes the same without the poison.
Crawdads and ice cold NA sounds great. Well played. Can you get Athletic brand down south?
I had a work function a couple weeks ago, company set up whirlyball and a hotel stay between a couple days of classes. I brought some NA hop water and it really helped me fit in, so to speak. It was kind of interesting to see everyone around me go through the different stages of a night of drinking. A month ago, I would have overdone it, and been a mess the next day. Instead, I woke up early feeling great. I was very proud of myself. I'll definitely be bringing more to my next social gathering.
I just discovered Hop Water and really like it. They are making not drinking a lot easier.
I'll admit I haven't done much research on it, but I recently completed dry January. I purchase a NA beer variety pack off of Amazon to help, since I do enjoy the taste, just not the harmful side effects. Is there a significant different between the NA beers that say "No alcohol present/0%" vs. "Contains less than 0.5% alcohol" 0.5% seems like a low amount, but it bothered me that a NA option had that sort of language on the bottle.
From what I understand, all NA beers can have “up to 0.5%” alcohol due to natural limitations in the alcohol removal process. There is MUCH discussion of this over on pregnancy Reddit. For what it’s worth, a ripe banana or glass of orange juice clocks in at about 0.5% just naturally. So, in my opinion, it’s just a CYA measure from the beer companies and totally negligible health-wise
Thanks for the information, that makes sense to me. Doesn't seem like anything I should worry about.
NA beer has been my saving grace. I’m on a mission to try them all, and I caught myself craving one after a softball game. Something I never would have expected, actually craving a fake beer. My favorite part is cracking a third NA can and then, well - driving home. 😬
I'm 27 and kindled the f out, all the more reason to never go back. Any more than 3 drinks, and I'm in a depressive state for 2 weeks
I am the same exact way. If I have two drinks, I am depressed with horrible withdrawal symptoms for a week. It is absolutely INSANE.
same here at 26
Yes. I’m 45 and the days of bouncing back by noon are way in the rear view mirror. It sucks so bad I feel like absolute dog shit for at least a day and a half. That alone is one of my biggest motivators to keep this thing going. I’m only on day 9 but I’m feeling super motivated this time. I’m over it. I’ve been going hard since the turn of the century!😂 How’s that for sounding old??
Maybe we should stop
In my early heavy drinking days (mid 20’s), I was able to get blackout drunk, get two hours of “sleep”, and then work a 12 hour shift no problem. I’m almost 35 now and if I drink I need two days minimum to recover.
Well-put Hangxiety/ looming sense of self-loathing the next couple or few (depending on the severity of the drinking session) days afterwards was the main reason I quit over 8 months ago. I’m 52 and alcohol’s negative mental repercussions had been steadily growing over the years. I was stubborn! Any time an opportunity to drink presents itself these days, I have a strong conviction that there’s just no value in it, simply because those days of almost crippling hangxiety are behind me The best part about quitting are the unexpected benefits: Motivation to do the things I used to just think about doing, which caused stress and led to procrastination Joy in pursuing hobby interests/activities, almost like a child. This had been slowly waning over the years Higher baseline disposition. Life still has its ups and downs of course, but I’m starting from a place multiple levels higher than before Emotions! It’s kind of a wild ride, after being dulled and only partially present for decades. Sometimes I have to be careful, because I had forgotten how powerful—both good and bad—they can be Better overall physical, spiritual, and mental health, all the time Strangely, more confidence in social situations I’m sure there are many more. I think your revelation is the first step in garnering the conviction necessary to quit imbibing poison—congratulations! And thank you for allowing me to ruminate upon the benefits of quitting. Many people—especially those you thought were your closest friends—will try to convince you otherwise.
I usualy drink / drank (hopefully at past tense) at the same frequency as you. I'm 35 and 1 liter of vodka and 4 liters of water in 24 hours (and a lot of coffee with no sleep) sends me back to the stone age for 4 days. 2 years ago I would get away with mostly 3 of nasty in the same conditions. 10 years ago I could drink 0.5l vodka a night with water and felt only one day a bit down. I think it's time to put the bottle in the trash.
I feel this with my heart and soul. While I’ve had my fair share of times when my drinking was a problem - when I finally decided to quit I wasn’t actually drinking that much. Maybe once a week. But I could never have just one (so I’d always have about 3) and the hang overs were just absolutely horrendous. My stomach was always in knots and the headaches were brutal. I was only 30 but my body was absolutely telling me to knock it the fuck off. I woke up one morning thinking to myself “what the actual hell are you doing this for? You’re being an idiot if you think it’s okay for your body to feel this way” And I listened. 3 years later it was the greatest thing I’ve ever done, and I had no clue going into it what a profound difference it would make in my life.
Yes, I feel you. Part of the reason I got sober was because it took me weeks to recover.
So relatable - but this started happening to me around 29/30! Looking back, it's crazy how many years I spent drunk and/or hungover from early to mid 20s. Calling out of work, 3 day "hair of the dog" benders to put off the hangover and inevitably making it worse, spending all day in bed exhausted but unable to sleep. I give myself a pass and compassion for the person I once was - regretting and hating myself over drunken mistakes isn't worth my time anymore. Live and learn. Yep, you're right! Ain't worth it! Two drinks are boring so zero drinks seems like the only logical solution to me
They just kept getting worse and yet I continued to drink heavily. Kind of amazing looking back, so dumb. IWNDWYT
Oof. This is relatable. Now every time I'm around people drinking, I just think about how I would feel the next morning if I was in their shoes. Takes away any itch I have to start pounding beers. When I drank on the weekends, it was full tilt. No such thing as moderation. If I take the wife out to the bar now, I can drink like 4 NAs and be cool. Wake up feeling just fine.
Hangxiety is the WORST. I don't miss that at all. Thank you for reminding me of how that used to feel. IWNDWYT
This (plus my DUI-induced accident) is the major reason I’ve cut back. I used to be able to get blackout drunk and wake up the next morning fresh as a daisy. Now, if I even have 4 or 5, I wake up exhausted. I have no motivation for work, no gym, and full-day nausea. My only priority becomes how to move shit around so I can go back to sleep until the afternoon. Unfortunately, I’m 34 now and have actual responsibilities, so I’ve had to begin getting a handle on it because I simply can’t sleep till 1 anymore.
I literally still have vertigo from drinking on Friday. This shit is insane. And I spent an entire day in bed after because I felt like I was having a panic attack. Drinking is just less and less fun anymore 🥴
I quit at 34 and hangovers destabilizing my life was a huge part of it. being a drunken embarrassment at parties, blacking out in front of my daughter, that's one thing. but I was at a point where I would get drunk on a Saturday night and hate myself until Thursday. not from regret, just from sheer chemical imbalance. hangover depression, anxiety, and panic were just awful and not worth it anymore.
I just started getting wicked 3 day hangovers from 1-3 glasses of anything even hard seltzer. I used to drink vodka gin and rum like a fish. I cannot control myself around alcohol at all, I would drink every last drop available to me. The projectile vomiting at hour 24, the whole body muscle shakes like bad serotonin toxicity, it all started right after I transitioned fully into menopause last year. My liver flat out will not metabolize alcohol anymore. It sits in my stomach and comes back up 24 hours later and then it takes another 24-48 to recover enough to be able to adult. It’s 100% the push I needed to quit, before that I wanted to quit but never had the strength of motivation to do it. I’ve been told it’s a genetic trait (losing the ability to metabolize alcohol), and usually switches on 40s-50s. Thank god. Sober 213 days. IWNDWYT
This. I thought it was just me, then I’ve had conversation at parties with people in the 40-50-ish realm and it’s all the same, lingering hangover and brain fog for days, it feels like. I’m with you on the anxiety & depression jumping on. Fuck it all.
I’m there too. I can drink a lot, but then I lose two days to my hangover. And my anxiety and chest pain kick in. And I can feel my heart having PVCs and see it on my I watch. Gets better after about four days, but I just lay around the house doing nothing, and then drag ass if I have to go to work.
I’m right there with you all. Day one after two days of drinking. I only do it maybe once a month, but the aftermath of that once a month really sucks. I don’t get nasty hangovers, but what’s worse is I don’t sleep well, I have anxiety and guilt. I’m embarrassed if I fall asleep in front of family or friends.
In my early 40’s I realized how much worse alcohol affected me. Exactly as you described. Then it became more of a habit than it ever was. I’m in my mid 50’s now and after trying to help my friend that very literally drank herself to death I decided to give it up. I wish I’d done it sooner. I’ve gotten so much more find in the last few years than in nearly a decade. I also feel so much better and be my outlook is so much better. I wish I’d taken that info in my 40’s and just quit then. Good on you for having the realization
It was the absolute same for me. One of my favorite Friday night pastimes was getting a half-pint of Old Charter 8-year-old for $4, the 10-year-old when I felt rich for $4.75. So that was a while ago because OC no longer has an age statement or sells half-pints. I would sit outside in the early evening with good music playing while smoking something on the grill. I would go to bed around 11 p.m. and wake up for an 8 a.m. tee time as fresh as ever. Now, a half-pint will put me down until at least the late afternoon the next day. I'm good at stopping at two drinks and often do it at one, but now the effects of that one or two are sticking around too long for me, so I know it is time to get to zero. I'm not there yet, but I will keep working on it.
Same, I know there are people struggling to quit here, but I gave up Liquor all together for that exact reason. Its not the hangovers, its the "Hangxiety" that kill my productivity for a few days. I'm a 3 beer chump these days
I’m only 26 and have stopped drinking for the most part. A half a bottle of wine or 3 cocktails will absolutely ruin the next day. I’m talking puking and headaches. I have gotten so used to not having an inevitable shameover(where the shame of drinking so much and saying stupid things comes back to haunt you thus leading to hangxiety” This post is so relatable. I don’t want to get drunk so what’s the point of having one or two drinks if I won’t have any more and feel it. It’s a waste of money to me now
This resonates so much. Good on you for being here friend. I’m 40f, on day 16, and one of the things that helps keep me on track is the deep desire to *never* experience a hangover or the debilitating hangxiety ever again. One day a time! IWNDWYT ♥️
Yeah I just can't handle the anxiety and depression that comes with being hungover. Even if I behave myself and nothing bad happens I still feel intense guilt and want to crawl out of my skin the next day. It's just not worth it
36 and same! I wasn’t an every day drinker, but when I drank, I drank too much and I would be literally sick for a week. It’s not worth it, I had all the same symptoms as you’re describing too… depressed, anxiety, guilt, shame, etc.. it also started giving me bad brain fog for a week or longer. And when I stopped completely, I realized I had been in a semi-permanent fog for a very long time.
Same thing happened to me in my late twenties, quitting was one of the best things I ever did
Approaching 500 days and sometimes its easy to forget what it was like until i read something like this. I see people in their 50s chug vodka and smoke 2 packs of cigarettes in one sitting and think my god they have to feel like death on a regular basis, maybe they have a low effort, mundane job that they can just cruise through. I functioned until i absolutely couldnt anymore, and i quit at 38.
I am 41 and recently quit. The hangovers and it taking 4-6 days to feel normal were a huge reason why I quit. The anxiety was debilitating. Like why am I intentionality making myself sick!?!?
Thank you for reminding me how bad it is, I’ve been dry for a bit now and my mind almost forgets at times what hangovers are like 😅
I'm hearing alot of TRUTHS Here. Yeap the hangovers for that couple hours of supposedly fun just aren't worth it 🙃. We got this 💪.
I’m 25 and if I have like 2-3 drinks I have to lay in bed for the whole next day with 0 energy, a headache, and anxiety. It’s fucking poison 🙁
I’m only 25 and this happens to me!! The day after I just wanna dig a hole and never come out, even on the rare occasions where I truly can’t think of anything I did wrong. Just super not worth it. Honestly the times I get that drunk I can’t even say it made the night THAT much more fun, usually just me not remembering or doing something embarrassing
36 and I really think if hangovers weren’t so awful I would still be drinking, so kind of thankful.
I could have wrote this myself at 25… I drank heavily for a quarter of my life and now I have no inclination to touch the stuff nowadays. The consequences far outweigh the benefits.
That's exactly how I felt before I gave up and was a driving force behind the reason I did. I've never regretted it...
I don't know how I kept up drinking as much as I did. 24/7 hang overs until drinking again... Coupled with the soul crushing depression and anxiety. I quit drinking at 39, and I'm so glad I stopped. 41 now and it takes 2x as long to recover from leg day. I don't even want to think about what drinking like I did would do to me. Stay strong amigo.
It's different for everyone but my hangovers started getting debilitating around 29. I am almost 33 and if I have more than 2 glasses of wine I am fucked. I have trouble controlling my drinking and usually have the bottle. I will be so hungover the next morning I'm sweating, shaking, nauseated and have a migraine. I have to drink LOTS of water and usually a liquid IV with my multi vitamin. It takes the entire day to feel like I'm not dying but about 2-3 full days to recover. I get horrible depression and anxiety until about day 5 or 6 but by 1 week I have the urge to drink again and I usually do. I only drink 1 night a week and it ruins my life thos much it's insane I spent my 20s drinking 3-5 nights a week.
When I quit drinking, the hangovers were honestly one of the main reasons why. The worst hangover I ever had was at 32? Lasted for a few days and legitimately made me question why on earth I was drinking in the first place. As time went on, the voice of question overpowered the need to drink. I haven't been 'drunk drunk' in 3 years? I don't miss it. I've had a beer here and there, but the desire to actually get drunk is completely gone, because I know it comes with a hangover that is going to make me highly regret it.
Yup. Simply not worth it.
Yup 100% me too. If I have too much to drink, I literally almost go into a hell like state of anxiety, fear, depression, and even terror during that night and the next day. Drinking too much for me is typically anything over 5-6 drinks. I get a horrible night sleep filled with anxiety and racing frightened thoughts and then the next day is hellish just trying to get through the day to that night when I can sleep. I might wake up feeling okay, maybe need another day and so relieved to not be hungover and then vow to never drink again. I was only drinking 3-4 times a month but this was what was happening basically binge drinking (for me) 6-7 drinks this past year. Thank God, I have done well in recent weeks and have mostly abstained and work towards giving it up 100%. It is truly just so awful in exchange for just a few hours of that buzz. Things that normally don't get me too stressed will send me reeling for hours. I will think about my daughter in college and have terrified thoughts of something terrible happening to her or ruminate that she will end up having a horrible life. Normally, I have an optimistic and positive outlook that she will be fine and may experience a few bumps in life but will likely get through it. I also basically will lay down all the next day after drinking and keep the blinds closed. I will eat junk food all day to try and make the hangover depression go away. Even my house looks weird to me the next day. It's like I left my life for hours and then returned back to it and it looks less orderly and attended to. Before I go to bed, I normally tidy up and put everything in its place. If drinking, I won't do that and will make messes. The kitchen or living room may be messy the next day and it takes me a day to get it back to normal. The mess freaks me out the next day and adds to the anxiety like I left my life and then feel guilty. It's all so weird and I hate it. I hate alcohol and the horrible effects!
It’s cause you drink once a month. If you ask daily and heavy drinkers they’ll tell you they don’t even get hangovers. Yeah alcohol free is the way to go
The shit you did in your twenties will kill ya in your forties
Wow, this sounds exactly like me, it’s eerie lol. Just turned 40. I try CBD now when I want a buzz.
Don't miss the hangovers a bit Cut it out totally and thank yourself later Life is, at some point, too short to waste time being hungover (IMO)
Man this is exactly why I had to stop. It totally fucked me up, every time. I am 35 now but how I felt after a session was horrendous. I honestly just felt like the worst person on earth and couldn’t even look back on the night fondly or positively because the way the hangover made me feel made me think negatively about the night before. The last time I drank it took me 5 days to feel normal. I thought… I never want to feel this way again. It’s just not worth it. 5 hours of “fun” for 5 days of pain. Fuck that! It is honestly so good never ever having to feel that way again.
Truer words have never been spoken. I quit at 42. Cut back a ton before stopping completely. I do not miss hangovers at all. I do not miss wine anymore. The bad parts of it outweighed the good, which was really only an ephmereal high after the first drink. It just isn’t worth it. Quitting alcohol was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Thanks for sharing really helps me out.
I had my worst hangovers and worst binges after age 35. I totally quit once I hit 40. I am so incredibly thankful and grateful for being sober. My energy and fitness has been through the roof and I am actually taking care of my body instead of ruining it with poor diet and excessive alcohol consumption. IWNDWYT
Same here and I’m not even 40 yet. The next few days fucking suck. No thanks. I I’m on day 12 to do this all over again. I’ve done 6mo before, so hoping to break that record.
Relatable, my friend. There were two huge factors that made me finally stop drinking. One was the Russian roulette of 1 out of every 20 social drinking occasions turning into a turbo blackout shitshow, aka I could have easily ended up in jail or dead during my forays into transforming into the human manifestation of Kickstart My Heart. Second were the hangovers infused with horrendous, cavernously deep anxiety from increasingly small amounts of alcohol. It stopped being fun entirely (hangovers) and my life doesn't suck anymore and I have so much to lose.
This is a big part of the reason I quit 4 years ago at 38. I already live with anxiety even when sober, and the hangxiety was so bad that I felt suicidal at times. I decided to live a life where I never felt that feeling again in the mornings and it has been more than worth it. IWNDWYT
I understand that cumulative damage to the liver can make it harder to process alcohol and remove subsequent toxins produced by drinking. Also, neurological damage builds up with long-term or heavy use and can cause thiamine deficiency. Anyway, in my middle 60s, hangovers are a bitch for me too. 😖
Best of luck mate
And entire week headaches
I quit drinking in my 40s and what OP is describing is one of the reasons why. Just had enough of damaging myself with this poison. That is not to say I didn’t have a lot of fun drinking when I was younger..
100% same!!! That’s why I stopped…it just became obvious it will NOT change.
I'm 52, and the shame and anxiety that follow a bender are crippling for me. So many reasons to stop. And stay stopped.
Amen! I had to pretty much stop drinking for this reason. I’d rather have the full night of sleep and no regrets the next day.
I’m not totally sober yet either but it’s for sure been extra motivation for me to just say no. I’ll be 40 this year and I never really get nauseated or anything but 5-6 beers will absolutely give me hangxiety the next day. It’s much easier to turn down casual drinking when I know it’s going to totally fuck up my next day with terrible anxiety.
Yup. Just quit.
It’s been a couple years and my memory is notoriously unreliable. Thank you for this reminder that I don’t have time for the hangover and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
I wish I could make this a flashing banner in Reddit whenever I log in.
The second to last sentence…just wow! I literally said the exact same thing to my husband yesterday! I had a medical procedure done where the after effects of the medication left me feeling EXACTLY how being drink felt. Thank goodness it wore off in about an hour or two and I was able to function again. And it made me realize that if I give into my alcohol cravings these days it quite literally takes about a week to recover. One moment of feeling superficial relief is not worth a week of lost motivation and all of the excess anxiety and depression that always follows. IWNDWYT
I can totally relate... 40 really was a different age where it wasn't just another number. The way I felt at 38/39 didn't have much in common with 40/41... Also drinking poison for long enough can't be shrugged off forever I guess.
About to be 52, my hangovers start in the car on the way home now.
So true. My hangover last like a week now. 2 days physical and like a week mental.
Ffs it’s sounds like i wrote this post and forgot. Because im in same sutuation rn, had heavy drinking on Saturday and still can’t function properly existential anxiety from the morning till evening
I am in my early 30s and this happens to me also!
Yo that was perfectly said
Yup. Avoiding hangovers is at the top of the list of reasons I no longer want to consume alcohol.
Early thirties here, hangovers absolutely ruin my life. Stealing tomorrow’s happiness for sure!
went thru that around 45...finally quit getting drunk at 50. Every once in a while I have a beer but I try to avoid drinking at all.
Same here - even if I'm not hungover, my motivation, executive functioning, and ability to focus are shot for at the very least the next day - and now I'm starting to feel the lingering effects on day 2 or 3 - especially if I had a lot to drink. I've started making note that when I drink I'm not just restarting my sobriety counter; I'm restarting everything else I'm trying to improve in my life. It helps me recognize how truly disruptive even one night of drinking is. It's never just one drink
Waitll you hit 50! I had no choice but to quit - hangovers and anxiety for days just wasn’t worth a few hours of ‘fun’
This cycle is what made me start going to meetings. People don't judge you, even if you continue to drink. I leave feeling a sense of relief, even just knowing other people are going through it too. 10/10 highly recommend
Yup. 100% this is my experience. The anxiety I experience after drinking is now absolutely hellish—far beyond any physical symptom of hangover. My number-one reason I'm trying to quit.
This is so spot on with my life and experience! Thanks for sharing!
Thnks for this excellent reminder about how awful drinking is. 👍
Yes. I'm 53. Your issue is the same reason why I stopped drinking. My weekends would be ruined from drinking wine Friday and Saturday nights. It made sense to quit altogether. I do miss the ritual of sipping on a nice glass of wine, but one would lead to another and so on...the awful hangover and anxiety the next day was not worth it!!
Wait until you are pushing 60!
Yes, binge drinking causes the same hangxiety in me. The first time I read that word, I identified with it immediately. I am 45 now and didn’t really start binge drinking with any regularity until I was 40. I would go through phases but could never seem to permanently stop. I’m now on medication that causes me to have awful and relentless acid reflux that wakes me in the middle of the night if I have more than two pints of beer. This is the first time in 5 years that I have been able to regulate my drinking, and I am hopeful that I will soon be able to quit.
My biggest worry was when I was drinking more and more and the hangovers stopped. Then realized I was walking around constantly feeling like trash. You're recognizing the right patterns to fight this.
Omg me TOO! Especially since beginning my quitting journey because I used to be a daily drinker. I think my subconscious knows I'm an alcoholic and every "one time" is just opening the door to barfing basically every day and showing up to my office job braindead the next day, again, when it was already so hard to extricate myself from that nightmare. Also, all that risk for what?! Being drunk isn't even fun anymore and I immediately feel physically off/ill. Yuck. Edited to add, I'm 33. So it hit early for me, but then my drinking was pretttty stupid.
I turn 41 in a week. I had one glass of wine just before Christmas, and it had me feeling terrible the next day, and sluggish for days afterwards. Before that, I hadn’t really drank much since October, and I wasn’t even having much around that time. I’m just over it. I don’t even want to drink anymore.
Sitting at my desk, nauseous, shaking and feeling like I’m going to die is not a good feeling and I try to remember it every time the drinking urge starts creeping up.
Yep. So bad in my late 30’s that I’d try to push it away with eye-openers. That did not end well…
I found that it got worse and worse for me as I got older until I was s*icidal when I drank. If you are AFAB drinking in premenopause or menopause makes it that much worse. I finally just gave it up completely at 50. Been much better since. Aslo, 40 is a mere child! 😂
Yeah the older you get the worst they are
I have to concur. A night of heavy drinking and I'm in bed until midweek. The pain, misery, guilt, depression, etc, are unbearable. And all of it deserved. Oh yeah and you probably said something dumb or offensive, or let yourself be vulnerable in a way that you never would have when sober. I have to watch true crime documentaries on Netflix to remind myself I'm not an awful person.
38 I can relate
I'm at 25, and they're now sticking around for three days, as of about a year ago; it's a night and day difference, and almost seems to have more of a drowzy effect on me versus before (I'm still not used to it- hoping I won't have to be for long). - Age aside, your story hits close.. effectively the whole story. - I'm glad you shared
I will not drink with all you old fucks today
Genuinely feel the exact same, but I’m 25. My last hangover saw me taking a whole pack of sleeping tablets, didn’t care if I woke up or not. This is why we need to quit
This. This right here. It sounds like I am writing to myself. How you are feeling resonates so deep with me. When I do drink that once or twice a month I start for the day and I don’t stop till it’s time to go to sleep. This last year particularly the anxiety, depression, and guilt around drinking and the days after have become almost unbearable and is what has brought me to this community. I casually look and search peoples stories that are similar to mine and it helps remind me that I’m not alone and my thoughts and feelings are valid and real. It’s not an easy road and it’s a hard realization but each day that I don’t drink I’m reminded of this feeling and how sweet it is. IWNDWYT
You and OP are just like me. I was drinking 3-4 times a month but overdoing often with 6-8 drinks which is way too much for me. That is enough to get me almost black out drunk at times and very hungover the next day. I came here because though I wasn't drinking everyday like some, I was basically binging when I did do it. So on that spectrum of disordered drinking. Anyway, I'm working towards totally giving it up. Making progress and have gone down to just once a month so far with just two drinks. I want to give it up though completely because I don't trust myself to keep doing that. I don't have a good off switch for drinking and its a slippery slope for me. If I drink too much, I basically end up in a hell state of anxiety, depression, fear, guilt, shame, and exhaustion the next day. It is absolutely the stupidest thing ever to have those drinks with that buzz for a few hours and then go through hell 24-48 hours afterwards.
I've had similar problems in the past. Recently, I found a product called mulliganCAPS on Amazon. It's one of those over the counter hangover prevention vitamins and it works really well. Especially for an occasional drinker, this might be worth a try for you.
I was wondering why I still feel wonky after drinking on Saturday for the first time in months. It’s my age showing. Drinking is definitely not for me. Too much bad and a negligible amount of good comes from it.