anxiety makes me feel drunk

Question

hello, i have noticed that since my anxiety started, if i become tired, i actually feel like im drunk, if i spend a couple of hours studying or when i work on the weekend i feel drunk when im finished, i was walking home from full day at college this evening and i felt out of it like i had drank about 5 beers, however this 'drunk' feeling isn't an enjoyable experience, instead i just feel really anxious, tired and clumsy all together. i was never like this before my anxiety started 2 months back, i could work all day and only feel a little bit tired which is normal..... but nothing like this. anyone else feel that there anxiety makes them feel like they are drunk when they are tired?

Dorothy2me · Answer

So glad I'm not alone in this. My last two episodes of extreme emotions including anxiety were at night. It made me so tired i had to go to bed early. Then i woke up in the middle of the night feeling drunk.

Marin600 · Answer

You're so in tune to your body and sounds like you do eat well.  Continue to be analytical and see what connections you can make.  Sometimes we can pinpoint a trigger for anxiety, panic, or depression.  Other times it hits like a semi hurtling through a country road crossing with no headlights.  And, Pow!  We're knocked flat.  I think after any of those nasties I call The Big Three announce themselves, it takes a while to pick up the pieces and put Humpty Dumpty back together again.  Until we stop fearing we're going to fall off the wall and get broken again, it's hard to get our glue to stick.  Here's something else for you mull.  Some peoples refer to The Big Three as possessions:  "My anxiety is really strong today.  My panic attacks make me afraid to go anywhere or do anything.  My depression is ruining my life."  I have a problem with that terminology.  I think that the repeated use of "my" with disease conditions sets us up to accept them as permanent residents and encourages us to accept the role of victim.  Supposedly, we---not the d conditions---are the ones with the brains!  No, I haven't solved all the problems caused for me by The Big Three (3 to the nth degree!), but I refuse let them win.  Some societies and some scholars from centuries past referred to the gut, or digestive system, as "the other brain" or "the second brain.''  I think you should examine vitamin and mineral deficiencies, because even with a healthy diet and buying organic, soil nutrition is substandard compared to a century ago, and can't impart all the goodies to the foods if it is lacking, so even though your diet sounds better than adequate, it could still be deficient.  The more you study about the body and the essential interaction of all its components---organs, systems, biological chemical functions---the you understand how fragile it is, and the more easily you can help the experts pinpoint your problems.  Journal.  It's good for the soul, the psyche, and that analytical part of you.  Best of all, it may help you find the answers for your problems.  Remember that the healthiest individual with no physical or emotional problems has fluctuating blood sugar levels depending upon when he/she has last eaten.  Some people have more hair-trigger symptoms than others.  So don't dismiss the low blood sugar angle because of your generally healthy diet.  Read all the threads that overlap at all, because you may find answers for you in one of them.  We're all rooting for you!  Best wishes.

kazak · Answer

thanks for response, i have a healthy diet, no processed foods, regular amounts of protein, balanced with complex carbs and a proptionate amount of healthy fats, lots of water, most of my sugar intake comes from 3 or 4 pieces of fruit and a cup or two of milk... so i am as certain as can be that this is not a cause of my problems at the moment and also i have had these 'sugar episodes' in the past as a kid and they are minute when compare to anxiety.

Ariom63 · Answer

I get that way too...perfectly normal with anxiety!  Numbness , tingling sensations all over your body, sweating, etc.  It will pass....are you going through anything stressful right now?  Well we all stress, but try taking deep breathes and get some cold air on your face.  Either by stepping outside or just washing your face with cold water. helps me especially if I splash some on the back of my neck!  

Moira

taraol88 · Answer

yes i feel this way and i get a tight feeling in my chest...at first i thought i needed glasses but then i was diagnosed with anxiety. i no what your going through hang in there hun!

kristine9190 · Answer

Absolutely, I feel this way when I am tired, and my anxiety makes me more tired than usual. Be sure you are taking a multi-vitamin everyday. I recently started that, and I feel much less tired during the day.

Marin600 · Answer

Hi.  Do you consume a lot of sweets, junk food, highly processed food (lunch meat & hot dogs, for ex), carbonated beverages, fruits, fruit juice?  Poor, low-quality meals?  Little protein and few vegetables?  Read Low Blood Sugar & You, by Carleton Fredericks, and The Yeast Connection, by Crooks.  People in the throes of low blood sugar can appear to be drunk, to the point of wild behavior (some people), uncontrolled moods, crying, shouting, erratic muscle control and passing out.  If your gut activity (good bacteria vs bad bacteria) is not properly balanced, the bad guys will proliferate.  They get the upper hand easily if you've ever had antibiotics (and, who hasn't?), because the antbiotics just recognize bacteria; they don't have the ability to let the good guys alone while squashing only the bad guys.  Without the proper internal environment, the bad guys can party when you consume heavy sweets, and few or no veggies.  Candida yeast rules supreme.  Remember that yeast is used in brewski?  Your gut can literally become a still.  In fact, you can get drunk without consuming alcohol,  and, no, I'm not joking.  It's called, or used to be called, auto-intoxication.  "They" may have another name for it, now, but by whatever name, alcohol can actually be measured in the blood, as for a DUI blood test.  And, yes, if your gut is producing alcohol, it can permeate your system and you will appear, to the bystander, and apparently to you, yourself, to be drunk.  Haven't you heard people say that little kids get a sugar "high" on too much candy?  Their little bodies can't withstand the larger amounts that we can, as adults.  Haven't you seen them laugh and shriek, race around, maybe actually whirl around, possibly cry, pout, throw a tantrum, and fall asleep on the floor?  It takes a good bit more in quantity for an adult, but the gut really can act as a still, and the resulting alcohol can show up in your blood.  The fact that you didn't experience this until after the anxiety attacks makes me wonder if it might not be the opposite.  Could it be that you didn't experience the anxiety attacks until after your wild body reactions to sugar?  And now your body has a hair trigger reaction that almost anything can set off?  I've long thought that sugar and episodes of extremely low blood sugar precipitated my anxiety and panic attacks, which are very difficult to distinguish from the low blood sugar episodes.  So are they one and the same?  If not, there has to be a v-e-r-y close connection.  So the biggie is---what are we going to do about it?