alcohol and feeling normal

[Clown]

whenever I drink alcohol and im with friends, its feels
like im my old self again... I dont know how normal people
feel when they drink alcohol but it comes closer to being different..
while I feel more normal.
I constant crave for that feeling again, even just on a sunday hanging out with friends and inside feel down, detached, can''t express my self, nog enough breath, over self conscious.

dont you guys have that when there was a time you were had not socialphobia and you somehow can relate with alcohol back before the socialphobia, like this is this is who I really am with 5-6 beers or atleast closer to it.. on 5-6 beers I vibrate on the same level as sober people.

 

[sullyS25]

I used to feel that way and it was a very slippery road for me. My experience is that 5-6 beers turned into 7-9 then 8-9 then beers and shots and on and on. First it was on the weekends, then thursday nights and the weekends then an occasional sunday until I was drinking every day of the week. Then one day I decided alcohol wasn't enough and got involved in other things that made me feel "normal".

I guess what I am saying is that I felt exactly the way you to and it led me down a horrible road. I am not saying you are like me but I am warning you that it can be a slippery road and lead to more suffering than you would imagine if it progresses the way my situation did.

 

[gustavofring]

I like to see how others start behaving when they've had alcohol (well if they don't turn agressive that is). You realise even people you think have their $hit together also can be a bit sloppy and messed up and emberassing.

I agree with Sully for the rest. Don't go down that road. I see the allure of being drunk and how it makes you feel comfortable but it will only lead to big problems. Focus on how to feel comfortable being sober and make being drunk a once in a week or so thing.

 

[Clown]

in the longterm it would probably idd go down in a horrible road.
but feeling everyday for years even around friends feel down, detached, can''t express my self, nog enough breath, over self conscious is literally destroying me inside...
what choice do I have left, I know for sure I will never feel like my old self again
and I don't know how much longer I can take this.... either I destroy my self or the alcohol
will destroy me.... I really don't know how other social phobic cope with this, but I don't want to live like this my entire life.. atleast I can have some fun with drinking alcholol.. and fun is for me to not have these feelings.

is it true to say that socialphobia is one of the most underestimated life destroying disorder ? after all life = social = people all the time

 

[Kinetik]

Well I use alcohol but basically I save it for when I need it most. That's my way of not overdoing it. If I have something very stressful to do, or my nerves are shot to sh!t for whatever reason, then I will have a couple of drinks. But it's by no means a daily thing. I try to cope with real life as much as I can and have alcohol to take the edge off something particularly nasty. So in a way I have a dependency but I also have enough self-discipline not to go crazy with it. Besides, I don't have the constitution to drink like a fish.

 

[sullyS25]

All I can tell you is my experience.

I currently have been sober for almost a year and a half. Before that I was drinking every night, alone in my room. The alcohol stopped working like it used to. I kept chasing that feeling normal feeling you talk about and it led to many blackouts and waking up the next morning full of more shame and anxiety from thinking about what I had done the night before in an alcohol induced blacked out. I woke up wondering how the hell I got home only to look outside and find my car in the garage or parking lot. I totaled a car and somehow didn't get busted by the cops. I got to the point where the few friends I had stopped hanging around me because I was a drunk. Then I decided alcohol was to blame for all my depression and anxiety and I was sick of being hung over so I turned to opiates and went down that road. I did opiate for the same reason you describe here, the made me feel "normal". To make a long story short, I ended up going to rehab once, relapsing immediately and then I found myself back in rehab a month after I had just gotten out.

You say "at least I can have some fun drinking alcohol", yes in the beginning for me drinking was fun. I am glad you still have fun at this point in your life and I hope you continue to have fun with it in the future, I am not here to tell you what to do. I do want to share that I think it is interesting that to me it seems like you are equating not drinking to a boring life, that seems so familiar.

My reality is that the road I was on led me to more suffering than I can imagine. I still have issues with anxiety in social situations but I would much rather have them then avoid them and make life worse by not dealing with what it has to throw at me. Alcohol is a temporary fix and in the end, for me it just resulted in a lot more pain. I have realized that I can not solve my problems by avoiding them with the use of substances because when the substances are gone my problems are still there and they are piled up due to my avoidance of them. Drugs and alcohol led me to a point where my life was horrible. Whatever problems I had before drinking multiplied by ten.

That is just my experience. I am not saying you are the same way but I wanted to note that a lot of what you are saying reminds me of how I used to think. That is why I shared my story.

 

[Clown]

Yes kinetik thats the way I want to do it also, just in occasions...
that would probably atleast mean 3 times a week not at a night party.
3x times every time 3 glasses of wine ( wine is somewhat protective for the brain) and
1 shot liquer or scottish wishkey.. or I just carry one little bottle of strong alcholol with me.
pff this sounds ridiclous but I can't take it much longer

 

[Clown]

I really appreciate your story sullyS25(must be horrible to go down that path for your family and friends and for you self) and , I also wonder what the reasons are for other people
to become alcholics (non-sa) what did you made up of it when you where in rehab
what are the difference between the two. should it be : non sa alcholics want to experience life more and more fun or numb the depression and sa alcholics to feel more normal in social situations and also get away the down feeling when not drinking.

 

[sullyS25]

Social Anxiety certainly isn't the only psychological issue people suffer from. For us to say that other people have it easy is quite ignorant. Some people were victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse and mental abuse and had no problem being social. Others seemed normal on the outside and were raised in a perfect environment. Alcoholism and Addiction dont discriminate, they affect every group you can think of.

 

[Road to recovery]

Edited Message

 

[me-tan]

Even though I like my beer, I dont like to do it too much because if i drink more than a 8 pack all I want to do is sit around and cry. Though one beer makes me feel less tired, less anxious and helps me concentrate better...

 

[twiggle]

It's two-fold.
Alcohol feels good for a couple of hours but leaves you feeling awful for the next couple of days.
I don't think it's dangerous when drunk in moderation. A couple of glasses a wine here and there helps me feel at ease, but I seldom touch spirits anymore.

 

[kilojoule]

The older you get the worse the hangover gets. Drinking is a real catch 22. Feels like borrowing all tommorrow 's bravery for tonight. Tonight will be great but tomorrow will be hell, cant deal with 'the fear'.ugh. And the panic 'oh what did I do' and the paranoia wasnt with me when I was drunk but sure as ship it will be with me tm when Im in bits with 'the fear'


Iused to drink a lot on the weekends. Crawling home at night following a 2 day bender with my friends was quite normal.

I can't drink anymore but I don' t miss it one little bit. I still go out I just dont drink...well I very seldom drink ( I had 2G&Ts and 2 glasses of wine in all of last year)

 

[Section_31]

I cant say ive ever experienced any of this, i dont drink at all, i dont like the way it makes me feel.

I used to drink, and im a VERY cheap drunk, one beer or one ale and im 3 sheets to the wind.

 

[LazyHermitCrab]

cool nothing makes me feel "normal" it just happens occasionally