The first thing I believe you have to do is get a referral to a neurologist from your primary care physician. This is the most important recommendation that I can give you. Your primary care physician is ill-equipped to deal with your current symptoms. I would also hold off on taking any antidepressants until you see your neurologist. IF your neurologist believes that at least some of the symptoms you are experiencing are psychological, he will start you on an antidepressant (maybe even BuSpar, which isn't a bad choice) and refer you to see a psychiatrist for a follow-up. Good doctoring involves ruling out the physical causes before attributing symptoms as manifestations of psychological sequelae.
So I would make that appointment as early as possible and take it from there. It's good to stopped drinking when you did, since that pace was just too aggressive. Let's hope that everything is redeemable and things work out well for you.
I drank a 1\2 5th or more every day for 7 years. I did not start taking vitamins until about a year and a half ago.
Highly doubtful that anxiety can cause all this. Anxiety can mimic some of the things described, but doubtful it can cause "confusion" which doesn't seem to get better. I would get a neurological exam before I attribute all of this to generalized anxiety disorder. Prescribing an antidepressant may help here, but to sweep it under the carpet as cursorily as done here just doesn't cut it this time.
First, in order to get a more thorough response, you need to clarify how MUCH you drank and over what length of time. Also, how were your eating habits WHILE you were drinking, and did you take B-vitamins during that time?
As well, without this information, let me just give you some general information how alcohol could either be causing or contributing to your symptoms. Even though you are only 25, IF you drank aggressively enough over a prolonged period of time, alcohol could cause many of the symptoms you have described. Alcohol affects the cerebellum, the frontal lobes, which are resoonsible for executive function, can act in conjunction with any nutritional deficiencies, and cause a host of other problems. I am 26, and USED to be a heavy drinker too, but I quit because I KNEW I was on a wrong track. Once I took my first drink, forget it -- I wouldn't stop until I took many more, so I decided to quit and see how it goes.
Furthermore, when younger people stop drinking (people like you), many times the effects of alcohol could be reversed by abstinence and the brain can regain at least some of the function that was lost. If you've been sober for two months, and the symptoms are persisting, then I think it would be a good idea to see a neurologist.
Is a *fifth* a liter? Would it be fair then to say that you drank the equivalent of a pint (16 oz.) of liquor daily for that period of time? Also, are you male or female? It makes a difference because females are more susceptible to the neurological effects of alcohol.
Pint or more a day on the average would be a fair assumption. I am male
I think that what you are describing sounds much more like a generalized anxiety reaction than anything else. You relieved some of the anxiety with booze as self medication. YOu might ask your doctor about Buspar instead of ssri's...a trial of that will give you the answer you are seeking...