Feeling anxious after drinking alcohol. Panic attack with a hangover: features, symptoms, causes and reviews

Panic attacks after alcohol occur both when alcohol is abused and when a minimum dose of ethanol enters the body. Alcohol, on the one hand, is an antidepressant that blocks the production of adrenaline (the hormone of fear), on the other hand, it is the cause of internal disagreements between a person’s personality and his subconscious, which “says” that alcohol is poison.

Causes of the condition

Alcohol for a person is a friend, company, psychologist, family. There is a thought in the mind about its role as an antidepressant. But this statement is twofold! Ethanol consumption provokes delirium delirium, abnormalities in the central nervous system and panic attacks.

The positive effect of libations is perceived due to the blocking of dopamine antagonists by alcohol. The concentration of the joy hormone increases, euphoria occurs, and there is no feeling of fear. If this is not present, in the body drinking man a set of reactions is launched that ends in a panic attack.

Panic attacks occur in:

a person with a constant fear of getting sick;
having delusional ideas;
prone to hysterics;
diagnosed with epilepsy.

Symptoms of attacks occur in diseases of cardio-vascular system. The day after drinking (from a hangover), alcohol only aggravates the fear of death, due to fear in blood is flowing release of catecholamines. Pathologies endocrine system(thyrotoxicosis, adrenal tumors) provoke the release of adrenaline, norepinephrine, and increase the feeling of constant anxiety.

People with phobias are at risk mental illness, susceptible to depression, taking steroid drugs, living in megacities, having leadership (nervous) positions, and being under constant stress. The risk increases with physical inactivity, fatigue and lack of sleep.

A hangover is a rehearsal for death! My head hurts, I feel nauseous, I have sand in my eyes, and men are drawn to sex. Natural reaction living (still) organism - to leave offspring before death.

The drinker is to blame for the development of a panic attack. Classic panic attacks are not identical to PA with a hangover. The latter are provoked by poisoning of the body with the breakdown products of ethanol and the mental experiences of an alcoholic. Connection mental disorders, not based on pathologies of the central nervous system, is laid down when you want to stop drinking and justify the fact that nothing worked out.

What's happening:

A promise (to yourself) not to drink after terrible hangover symptoms. The phrases “may my hands dry out if I drink” are often heard.
The hands remain in place, but the subconscious took everything literally and gives out response in the form of fear, panic, horror.

The mechanism of PA development is simple. These are internal disagreements between one part of the consciousness, which strives for alcohol, wanting to achieve euphoria, and the other, protesting, perceiving ethanol as poison. A characteristic emotional coloring appears, the subconscious provokes fear. Adrenaline levels rise. PAs after drinking alcohol are not surprising.

Symptoms and external signs

Average age“sick” – 25 years. Panic attacks accompany VSD. A predisposition to panic attacks can be inherited; this is explained by a certain way of life and thinking within the family. Symptoms of PA with a hangover, as well as classic signs of panic attacks, occur in 20% of people on earth. Women are diagnosed with symptoms 3 times more often.

The drinker tries to relieve symptoms of anxiety and a hangover with the help of alcohol. The hangover process looks like taking a bottle of beer, 100 ml of wine, 30 ml of vodka. The dose is small, after it it becomes easier. But the body gets used to “handouts” and PAs return.

The main mistake is increasing the dose in the hope of returning wellness. The result is:

unmotivated fear;
dyspnea;
promotion blood pressure;
tachycardia.

Symptoms of a panic attack may be accompanied by derealization, heart pain, and a feeling of shortness of breath. The reason is a vegetative crisis, a weakened nervous system against the background of a hangover, which is perceived by the body as a pathology. Nonspecific physiological manifestations are common, depending on the body’s individual response to ethanol. Constant “treatment” with alcohol aggravates the severity and frequency of recurrence of symptoms.

Physical symptoms:

Increased sweating.
Dry mouth.
Lump in throat, chest.
Fever or chills.
Numbness of the limbs.
Feeling of tightness in the head.
Frequent urge to urinate.

Mental symptoms after drinking alcohol: severe anxiety, fear of death, going crazy, dizziness, loss of consciousness, depression. Often panic from a hangover has only physical manifestations without emotional coloring. On the face autonomic disorders.

More often, PA after a hangover occurs when immunity decreases. In addition to the inherent physical ailments, there are signs of damage to the ANS. The condition persists for several days until the body is freed from the effects of alcohol intake.

How to deal with an attack yourself

You can prevent a panic attack in advance - don’t drink! Elimination of unpleasant symptoms is in the hands of the alcoholic himself. It is enough only, if you want to drink, to recall the most vivid manifestations of a panic attack in your memory.

It is difficult to stop an attack on your own, but it is possible. It is enough to calm down, then the fear hormone will not be released again. The occurrence of a series of PAs consists of the constant maintenance of a vicious circle: “drank, hangover (symptoms), fear, adrenaline rush, drank, symptom.”

List of possible actions:

Supply of vitamins. Ethanol destroys vit. C, B, to replenish them you can give injections (B1, B6, B12).
Removing intoxication. Drink any (non-flammable) liquid: water, juices, fruit drinks, herbal decoctions.
Cold and hot shower. A change in water temperature, which is tolerable for human skin, tones the body well during a hangover.
Meditation to relaxing music, actions that give a feeling of joy.
Breathing exercises. It consists of stopping the oversaturation of blood with O2. Abdominal breathing, inhale through your nose on a count of 4, exhale through your mouth on a count of 6.

Fighting an attack by repeatedly drinking alcohol is the wrong path. It leads to binge drinking and increased signs of a panic attack during a hangover.

Medicines

Taking medications is only possible under the supervision of a doctor. The combination of alcohol and certain medications can cause side effects“worse” than a panic attack.

Prescribed funds:

psycholeptics;
anxiolytics;
adrenergic blockers (Anaprilin).

The drugs are available with a prescription. They dock excessive anxiety, fear. Adrenergic blockers reduce the production of adrenaline.

As folk remedies for panic attacks use: valerian, eleutherococcus, peony, motherwort. The tinctures are dropped into water, 10–12 drops at a time, stirred, and drunk.

An infusion of: 100 g of tea rose berries (yellow), 100 g of chamomile flowers, 50 g each of lemon balm, yarrow, St. John's wort, angelica root relieves anxiety well. Add 20 g of mint, hops, valerian. Pour the mixture into a thermos (3 liters of boiling water), leave and drink twice a day (0.5–1 tbsp.).

Exercises

Breathing regulation, use breathing exercises will help stabilize the condition during a panic attack due to alcohol consumption and a hangover. Correct breathing will give relaxation, relieve tension, adjust oxygen levels and carbon dioxide in blood.

Types of exercises:

Belly breathing. I.P. is squatting, with his back to the wall. Inhale (to the count of 4), hold your breath for 3 seconds, exhale to the count of 6.
Breath in the palm of your hand, package. The principle is the same, only the nose and mouth are covered with palms and a paper bag. The goal is to increase the concentration of CO2 in the blood.

Sport is a great way to get rid of alcohol addiction and panic attacks. Any options are suitable physical activity– running, swimming, cycling, skiing, skating.

Meditation

There are no complex techniques for getting rid of panic attacks during the development of alcoholism. It’s enough to sit down, close your eyes, turn on relaxing music, or try to calm down to the sound of the wind or the singing of birds. Don't think about your health problem. Focus on positive emotions within yourself. Develop them, strengthen them, consolidate them. Systematic meditation will give you the habit of feeling positive emotions and will reduce the level of stress, anxiety, and fear.

Water procedures

Any contact with water is suitable: washing, bathing, cold and hot shower. Alternating cool and hot water that is comfortable for the body is welcome. Swimming pool, swimming in the river and sunbathing will provide additional effect. Sun rays improve mood, promote the production of vitamin D.

Third Party Help

It consists of supporting relatives and friends when it’s scary, or in advanced cases, working with a specialist. What is important here is the alcoholic’s very desire to accept this help and tune in to recovery, otherwise there will be no effect from the treatment.

Emergency help

No magic pill from panic attacks! Even a bucket sedatives will not help get rid of attacks due to a hangover. The result will only come if you give up alcohol and work on yourself. Sedatives can somewhat reduce the severity of the symptoms of a panic attack.

Psychological support

The paradox is that the less the sufferer complains, the faster the recovery occurs. “Vow of silence” is one of the important components successful treatment panic attacks. It consists in the absence of constant (emotional) discussion of symptoms with a neurologist, in the search for the same sufferers and rubbing together with them the signs of malaise.

IN severe cases and against the background of alcoholism, the patient is placed at the disposal of a narcologist and a psychologist (not to be confused with a psychotherapist). The first relieves addiction, cleanses the body of traces of ethanol. The latter suggests that there is no danger, death from PA has never been recorded.

Massage

Acts as a point in a series of general wellness procedures. Massage does not help with panic attacks of any origin. The tactile touch of a loved one has a positive effect, relieves tension, gives a feeling of protection and relaxation. Stroking and rubbing the entire body relieves muscle spasms and relaxes.

Prevention of psychological changes

There is one way to eliminate the appearance of panic attacks that develop from a hangover - completely stop taking any alcohol-containing drinks. Without this condition, panic returns again, symptoms intensify, and signs of alcohol dependence and physiological changes are superimposed on them.

You cannot relieve the symptoms of panic attacks with alcohol. In this case, dose by dose, alcoholism develops against the background of panic attacks, and not PA against the background of alcoholism. Panic attacks are not a reason to consider a person mentally unstable; it is not a disease, but an imbalance of the central nervous system.

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When drinking alcohol, in the morning you can encounter unexpected consequences that can frighten a person and lead him to confusion, for example, panic attacks are possible with a hangover. Many people suffering alcohol addiction, know that panic attacks and alcohol often overlap. People who are prone to such consequences or have such consequences need to be especially careful in this regard. hereditary predisposition.

During the process of breakdown in the body ethyl alcohol, a substance called acetaldehyde is released, which poisons a person from the inside. During intoxication, not only internal organs person, but also everything nervous system, psyche and even the brain. Symptoms of this disease at the physiological level, the most diverse:

strong headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting;
sudden changes in blood pressure;
rapid heartbeat, tachycardia;
feeling of numbness in the limbs;
frequent urination;
possible acute attacks pain in the thoracic region;
drowsiness, increased fatigue;
intense sweating, chills alternating with a feeling of heat, fever.

During the hangover period, not only physical experiences can manifest themselves, but also mental disorders:

feelings of restlessness, anxiety and even guilt;
panic, inability to concentrate on one thing;
feeling of persecution;
states of unreasonable fear and panic;
loss, possible hallucinations;
There is individual cases suicidal syndrome.

What does a seizure look like?

Panic attack is stress caused by the release of the hormone adrenaline into the blood. After the release, a person experiences an increase in blood pressure, increased heart rate, a feeling of fear, rapid breathing. Gradually, more oxygen enters the blood, blood vessels narrow, panic intensifies, and a feeling of stunned and lost appears. Due to panic, the symptoms of the attack intensify and gain momentum, this causes a vicious circle. Basically, a hangover is accompanied by 15-20 (up to an hour) minutes of panic attack, which can be repeated many times. At these moments, it is very important to provide first aid to the person and fight the disease together with him.

Fighting the disease

Anyone who has ever encountered this problem after a hangover has the question of how to prevent this condition in the future or how to cope with it if it does occur?

If you have a hangover the only reason disorders, then you need to stop drinking alcohol completely. It will take a couple of days for your body to recover, but there are a few tips to help speed up the healing process.

Replenishment of vitamins. A hangover entails the loss of vitamin C and B vitamins, so you need to make up for this deficiency. It is best to use injections or droppers, but in the absence of such an opportunity, drink at least a thiamine capsule.
Helping toxins leave the body faster. Drink plenty of fluids: mineral water, herbal infusions, teas with honey and lemon, juices, fruit drinks. The norm of fluid consumption per day is about 3 liters. Do not drink alcohol under any circumstances.
Getting rid of a hangover with medications. There are a number of symptoms that occur after intoxication of the body. You can deal with them using special means, but be sure to read the instructions for the drug.
Cold and hot shower. Bring yourself back to your senses by alternating the temperature of the water. This will help you cheer up, tone your muscles, and relieve tension.

Patients facing this problem after a hangover need psychocorrective work with a specialist who will help overcome the desire to drink and give a positive outlook for the further outcome of recovery.

To reduce the symptoms, the doctor prescribes special medications that are effective during a panic attack. These may be antidepressants, tranquilizers or medications of the adrenergic blocking group.

Breathing exercises can distract attention from an attack without using medications or seeking the help of a doctor.

take a horizontal position, immediately pull yourself together;
accept depressant: medications or just relaxing green tea with mint;
speed up the elimination of toxins using a diuretic;
turn on pleasant music that encourages relaxation and tranquility;
distract yourself by doing what you love (perhaps you have a favorite hobby, or simply talking with a loved one helps you to distract yourself).

Exercises to regulate breathing

After the onset of an attack, it is important to immediately use breathing regulation techniques so that oxygen does not saturate the blood so quickly and the level of carbon dioxide is kept normal. What actions will help with this?

Belly breathing. It is best to squat down and find support for your back. You need to close your eyes and take a deep, slow breath, holding your breath for 3 seconds. Then exhale just as slowly. Do this several times until the attack begins to subside.
Breathing in the palms. This method is similar to the previous one in both the position of the body and the principle of inhalation and exhalation. Only when breathing, you need to fold your palms and press them to your face, while closing your nose and mouth. We also breathe with our stomach until the symptoms subside.
Breathing with a paper bag. The bag must be paper (do not use cellophane). Perform actions in the same sequence as in the previous methods.

There are a few more quick ways distract attention and bring yourself to your senses:

massage. You need to rub your fingertips, hands, neck, shoulders, ears. This will relieve the spasm from blood vessels, reduce panic and restore concentration;
check. You can count everything that surrounds you: people, trees, birds, coins in your wallet, etc.;
pain. After the attack begins, you just need to pinch yourself, hit yourself.

Chronic diagnoses

Severe hangovers and panic attacks may be preceded by chronic diseases, which after long-term use alcoholic drinks worsened. General state worsens, there is an increase in symptoms and progression of the disease. These could be asthma attacks, enuresis, deviations in the functioning of the endocrine system, various phobias, cardiovascular vascular diseases. During this period, it is important to prevent a person from harming himself or others.

Prevention

Warn discomfort and painful feelings can be dealt with in the future using a number of recommendations. If there is a predisposition to feelings of panic and fear during a hangover, then panic attacks after drinking alcohol will appear again and may well intensify.

To prevent panic attacks during a hangover, use the following recommendations:

treatment by a neuropsychiatrist. Development must be prevented depressive disorders or start their treatment on time. To do this you need to contact a good specialist, appointments are completely anonymous;
massotherapy;
playing sports. Regular morning work-out, running, exercises gym– all this will not only help improve your health, but also distract you and relieve stress;
healthy sleep (8-10 hours a day);
proper nutrition. It is important to completely eliminate alcohol, drinks containing caffeine, fried, smoked and spicy foods.

During this period, it is very important to be close to the person, not to deprive him of support and to fight together with him. You need to contact us immediately psychological support to a specialist even if the patient does not undergo special drug treatment. It may be necessary to resort to hypnosis sessions, or maybe everything will cost one conversation, which will give the person an impetus to start a new one. healthy life alcohol-free.

First of all, you will have to forget about alcoholic drinks forever because this condition can be considered chronic. It does not bother a person until it is provoked by ethanol. By eliminating the pathogen, you will be able to forget forever about panic attacks, the terrible symptoms of a hangover and the consequences after it.

Doctors constantly warn about the dangers of excessive alcohol abuse, which provokes the development of severe stress conditions, depressive and similar disorders. That is why people who drink regularly experience a feeling of fear and anxiety from a hangover. Why do such conditions arise and how should they be dealt with?

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They call it a hangover organic reaction for poisoning with alcohol metabolites, as a result of which patients experience nausea and vomiting syndrome, headaches and cold sweat and hot flashes, cardiac arrhythmia and surges in blood pressure, tachycardic manifestations, etc. These are physiological signs of intoxication of the body. But there is also psychological disorders, typical for a hangover. They consist in the fact that people are worried about melancholy and unreasonable feelings of guilt, fear and anxiety from a hangover.

Experts say that the psychological discomfort that patients often experience during hangover syndrome is due to intoxication of the body with ethanol metabolites. They have a pronounced psychoactive effect, which initially causes a euphoric state. But when their concentration in the blood reaches high performance, then the depressive effects of alcohol become more pronounced. This is why psychological depression, depression and anxiety arise after some time. But such manifestations do not occur in everyone, but in people who regularly abuse alcohol, and beyond measure.

Anxiety during a hangover can manifest itself in various forms:

outbreaks occur causeless anxiety, accompanied by a feeling that something bad has happened, worries inexplicable feeling guilt;
the patient is overcome by a feeling of unreality, which provokes an unreasonable state of panic;
on a short time The patient may experience hand tremors, vision deterioration, and fear - all these signs of anxiety are physiological in nature.

Waking up in the morning, the patient experiences a feeling of disorientation, often cannot understand what is happening to him, does not remember what happened the day before, etc. The sensations are in a dull state, the mind is clouded, as if the person is in a heavy sleep. Unreasonable and depressing anxiety rolls in in waves, it’s impossible to concentrate, which causes additional internal tension. There is a feeling that something terrible and irreparable is about to happen, the heartbeat becomes distinct, breathing becomes difficult. This is how fear and depression manifests itself with a hangover.

Why does anxiety occur with a hangover?

Similar psycho emotional condition occurs against the background of frequent alcohol abuse. No specialist can say with one hundred percent certainty that such symptoms will not occur when hangover syndrome in a certain person, because no one is immune from severe fear, anxiety or depression in such a state. According to doctors, even simple memories of the previous evening can provoke such reactions.

Under the influence of alcohol, people become more liberated, their behavior becomes more relaxed, they begin to do stupid things that they would never do in a sober state. After waking up, a person becomes ashamed of what he has done, he may be overcome by panic and shame, he worries about what others will think, what to do, how to behave now, etc. And if yesterday’s events are completely erased from memory, then this only aggravates the patient’s condition, provoking not only attacks of anxiety and depression, and even strong fear and panic attacks.

The physiological causes of anxiety from a hangover are associated with cleansing the body of alcohol toxins, which negatively affects all systems and organs, which is why psycho-emotional disorders occur. On the background similar purification there is a feeling of weakness, apathy, moral exhaustion, which together leads to anxious and depressive state. And against the background of frequent and severe alcohol poisoning, the nervous system is depleted, the activity of the liver and brain is disrupted.

When ethanol metabolites accumulate in cellular structures, they are sent to the brain. alarm signal about a danger threatening the body. This leads to panic and anxiety, tremors and palpitations. Since a hangover is accompanied by pronounced physical ailments, anxiety from such symptoms only intensifies.

In the presence of chronic alcohol addiction, patients in a state of hangover develop not only anxiety states, and panic attacks, and they can bother you up to 4 times during the day. A panic attack is accompanied by symptoms such as:

Severe hypersweating.
Strong desire to sleep.
Feelings of loss and exhaustion.
Numbness in the hands or feet.
Increased urination.
Increased heart rate and frequent intermittent breathing.
Causeless horror and fear of death.
Feelings of persecution.
Hallucinations and pain in the chest area.

Panic attacks also occur against the background alcohol poisoning, and if a person has long-term psychological overload or nervous shock, head injuries or brain damage, then the likelihood of a panic attack during a hangover only increases. This reaction is most typical for people of the hysterical, epileptoid or paranoid personality type. Alcohol addicts with thyrotoxicosis are also at risk of experiencing a panic attack. cardiovascular pathologies or any mental disorders or phobias.

But drinking alcohol cannot be considered an unconditional cause of a panic attack. Sometimes people who experience frequent psychological overload or are under stress use alcohol as a medicine, and alcohol really helps them at first. But if you resort to this method too often, you can develop alcoholism, which becomes one of the factors in the occurrence of a panic attack. Research shows that representatives of “stressful, nervous” professions first encountered fear and panic during a hangover that arose after drinking a large amount of alcohol, i.e. alcohol provoked a panic attack.

How to get rid of fear

How to remove anxiety, fear and anxiety during a hangover? There are quite a few effective ways getting rid of such symptoms. The approach to elimination will depend on the root cause of such unpleasant manifestations. Since the main factor of psycho-emotional discomfort is alcohol intoxication, the first task when it occurs is to detoxify the body. For this:

you need to drink as many drinks as possible like mineral water, regular water, chamomile infusion, green tea with mint or honey, etc. You need to drink at least 3-4 liters of liquid per day;
you need to take any hangover medication, but just make sure there are no contraindications;
accept ascorbic acid. These could be dragees or effervescent tablets, if they are not there, then you can eat lemon;
It is recommended to take a cool, refreshing shower.

Such simple steps will make you feel better; with the removal of toxins, the patient’s condition will noticeably improve, and the psychological background will stabilize. You just need to understand that the emotional state is now associated with the body’s reaction to alcohol intoxication. You just have to experience it when the hangover will go away, the emotional background will also be restored. And for the future, it’s worth considering that it’s better not to get carried away with alcohol, because panic attacks can only get worse.

If a person was in a state of nervous overstrain or stress and decided to get rid of it with the help of alcohol, then it is worth remembering such an unpleasant reaction and no longer struggling with difficulties through strong drinks.

IN similar situation Detoxification according to the scenario described above will also help relieve anxiety.
You need to learn to switch attention from your difficult mental health to more detached things, for example, watch a light comedy, read your favorite book, take a walk in the park, etc.
The main thing is not to focus on problems, so don’t be alone with yourself, let a dear person be nearby, you can even invite a group of friends, but only without gatherings with alcohol.
Switch your thoughts from problems to more pleasant things - think about children or a loved one, career achievements, etc.
Anyone can make a mistake, so there is no need to reproach yourself for what happened, because it can be worse. Try to find something good in your problem, because in any situation, even the most stalemate, there are positive aspects.
If psychological difficulties arise, then after getting rid of a hangover, you can use the services of a psychologist, or solve the pressing problem yourself.

If panic and anxiety arose against the background of not entirely acceptable behavior during a party, then the problem here is completely solvable. First you need to get rid of a hangover by carrying out detoxification measures. If you don't remember what happened the day before, try contacting those who were with you in the evening. At least someone will help restore the chronology of yesterday's events. If there was nothing unacceptable, then there is nothing to reproach yourself for. Although such failures are not a good symptom that requires attention.

If it turns out that your actions were not completely unacceptable, then immediately after getting rid of the hangover you need to contact or meet with all the participants in yesterday's event and apologize. Just don’t make excuses or humiliate yourself, just show that you are sorry and that the current situation is very unpleasant for you. For yourself, note how morally difficult this is and in the future try to avoid such incidents.

At frequent occurrence panic attacks due to a hangover, you should seriously think about giving up alcohol, because such a reaction indicates a developing addiction and the inability of the psyche to withstand the effects of alcohol.

Often people who periodically drink even in small doses, may experience such a phenomenon as a panic attack (PA). The condition is characterized by uncontrolled anxiety, increased blood pressure, vasospasm, etc. In the material below we will look at how panic attacks and alcohol are actually related (and whether they are connected at all) and how to quickly neutralize the feeling of anxiety and fear from a hangover.

Important: it is worth knowing that the nature of PA lies much deeper than the banal intake of alcohol. The causes of such conditions lie in the patient’s psyche. Let's look into what the problem is in detail.

Panic attack: definition and symptoms

Doctors call a panic attack after drinking alcohol or without it a short-term state of fear and anxiety, which is combined with physical manifestations. Symptoms of pathology can be divided into physical and mental. Physical ones include:

Increased sweating;
Sharp and excessive dryness oral mucosa;
Feeling of a lump in the chest or throat;
Feeling of chills or, conversely, heat;
Frequent urge to go to the toilet;
Fermentation in the intestines and abdominal discomfort;
Numbness of the limbs and head.

TO mental symptoms PA on the day after alcohol or without its intervention includes:

Increased sense of danger;
Insurmountable fear of imminent death;
Fearfulness and nervousness about possible madness;
Dizziness and loss of consciousness;
A depressive state that lasts for a long time.

Important: however, it also happens that panic from a hangover can only have physical symptoms without an emotional/mental component. That is, the patient feels only autonomic disorders in the form of tachycardia, increased blood pressure, fever, and a feeling of constriction in the throat or head.

Categories of people susceptible to PA

It is worth knowing that the feeling of fear and anxiety from a hangover, as well as without the use of alcohol, is characteristic of about 20% of the population. At the same time, women suffer from panic attacks three times more often, unlike men. The average age of development of pathology is 25 years. It is also worth knowing that panic attacks can be inherited.

Categories of people suffering from panic attacks can be divided into two types - according to the type of personality and according to the type of chronic disease. So, according to their psychotype, the following people most often suffer from PA:

Paranoid;
Hypochondriacs;
Epileptics;
Hysterics.

Concerning chronic pathologies, then here people with the following diseases experience attacks of PA after drinking alcohol or without it:

Cardiovascular failure. Such pathologies are often accompanied by a fear of death, which actually aggravates the situation, especially after drinking. Panic attacks during a hangover in this case can be caused by pain in the heart area. And this frightens the patient, which causes the release of catecholamines into the blood. They are the main provocateurs of the PA.
Pathologies of the endocrine system. In most cases, the causes are thyrotoxicosis or a neoplasm of the adrenal cortex. With such pathologies, the adrenal glands release excessive amounts of adrenaline and norepinephrine into the blood, which causes a terrible feeling of anxiety.
Various phobias. In particular, agrophobia (fear of open space). Often, such people have the most terrible manifestation of a terrible panic attack.
Depression and mental illness. This category of people is susceptible to attacks of psychosis even without alcohol. And anxiety from a hangover will be an integral part of the recovery period for such people.
It is interesting that in people whose profession is associated with responsibility and stress, alcohol can play the role of a provoking factor for PA. Such people include bankers, managers, accountants, etc.
Also, with a hangover, panic attacks can occur in those who uncontrollably and independently take anti-inflammatory steroid medications, such as Hydrocartisone, Prednisolone, etc. In addition, residents of megacities are at risk. Physical inactivity plays a negative role here, a large number of coffee during the day, stress, fatigue, lack of sleep.

PA development mechanism

The main reason for the development of anxiety during a hangover is the excessive release of high doses adrenaline into human blood. And the provoking factor in this case is alcohol. After adrenaline enters the blood, severe vascular spasm occurs, which provokes sharp increase Blood pressure, tachycardia and suffocation. The peak phase of the development of a panic attack is the predominance of oxygen in the blood against the background of the absence of carbon dioxide in it. This leads a person into a state of some stupor, anxiety and uncontrollable panic. This picture makes a person even more and more frightened, which provokes a new circle of the mechanism for the development of PA. In most cases, panic attacks last between 10 and 20 minutes. But there are exceptions when a person can suffer from PA for more than an hour per attack. IN worst case panic may take up to several days.

Important: this is extremely important to realize, since the recovery technique for panic attacks is aimed at primarily relieving psychological stress (that is, neutralizing fear).

This is interesting: often a person who has once experienced an attack of PA tries to neutralize such panic with alcohol. However, this only makes the situation worse. As a result, dose after dose, the patient already develops alcoholism due to panic attacks, and not PA due to alcoholism.

Diagnosis and identification of causes of panic attacks

First of all, if you don’t know what to do, if you’re scared and depressed during panic attacks, you need to look for a somatic illness in the body. That is, a disorder of one of the above systems. To do this, it is advisable to perform a number of such procedures:

Donate blood to general analysis, free on TSH and T4;
Take an MRI of the brain and blood vessels;
Do an ultrasound of the organs abdominal cavity(in particular adrenal glands and kidneys);
Take an ECG of the heart;
Have your urine analyzed to detect cortisol, metanephrines, and catecholamines.

Important: if none of the possible chronic pathologies are identified, then the causes of PA should be sought in the patient’s subconscious.

Drug treatment of pathology

To treat a panic attack, you can take a mixture of water and motherwort/valerian dissolved in it. Take 10 drops of tincture for one glass of liquid. But here it is worth remembering that such a remedy only helps relieve a real attack, but is not a remedy.

To treat PA, specialists first find out why such attacks begin with a hangover, and then, in the case of an undiagnosed chronic disease, they often prescribe antidepressants belonging to the category of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These are Zoloft, Fevarin, Cipralex, etc.

Important: all antidepressants are sold by prescription only, so you won’t be able to purchase them for treatment yourself. The course of such therapy ranges from one to three months. Active action Antidepressants begin only a week after the start of treatment.

Independent fight against PA

Getting rid of disturbing panic symptoms You can do it yourself. So, it relieves a panic attack well breathing exercises, or rather the regulation of breathing at the time of an attack. The principle of this method is to stop the saturation of blood with oxygen at the moment of rapid breathing during a panic attack. That is, you need to achieve its oxidation in the blood by slowing down breathing. You need to do this:

In the midst of an attack, we squat down and lean our backs against the wall. We place our palms in a boat shape to the nose and mouth, covering Free access oxygen. We try to restrain our breathing and transfer it to a slower rhythm. That is, inhale slowly on a count of 4 and exhale slowly on a count of 4.

Important: a similar technique can be used with the package. That is, in this case we breathe not into our palms, but into a paper bag.

Distraction technique. In this case, the attack can be neutralized through distraction. To do this, they concentrate themselves on counting anything. You can consistently count cars outside the window, birds, the windows of a neighboring house with and without curtains.
Pain stimulus technique. Here people who have already encountered similar attacks know that sharp pain is able to switch a person’s attention away from panic. That's why they wear an elastic band on their arm. At the moment the attack begins, they simply pull it back and release it painfully on the arm. If there is no elastic band, then you can simply pinch yourself painfully.
Massage technique. Helps well with PA light massage arms, neck, ears, shoulders.

Prevention of PA

In order to avoid such a phenomenon as a panic attack due to a hangover, it is necessary to take a number of certain measures:

Lead a healthy and active lifestyle;
Regularly undergo massage courses;
It is advisable to master the technique of meditation;
Monitor all existing chronic diseases;
Get enough sleep;
Eat properly.

Important: it is worth knowing that treating alcoholism with accompanying panic attacks is extremely difficult. And in order to completely avoid a state of panic, it is better not to abuse alcoholic beverages, or even give up alcohol forever and take your health seriously.

If this is not the first time you have gotten so drunk that you suffer in the morning, then you probably know that in addition to the usual signs, lovers of the green snake are also tormented by other unpleasant ones. This may be temporary, you may be scared or begin to suffer from guilt, anxiety and depression.

Why does this happen, why does a hangover cause a feeling of fear and anxiety?

If this is not the first time you get drunk and the next morning you suffer from a terrible hangover, then you probably know that in addition to the hangover, you also suffer from other symptoms.

Physical Causes of Anxiety

During a hangover, the body experiences severe stress, the cause of which is acetaldehyde formed during the breakdown of ethyl alcohol, as well as various impurities found in alcoholic drinks. As a result, not only the liver, but also the entire nervous system suffers from a hangover.

What do we experience with a hangover? Severe body aches, and even tremors of the limbs, rapid heartbeat, cold sweat, chills or a feeling of heat, changes, loss of strength and much more.

However, in addition to these physiological signs There are also psychological hangovers, such as:

, anxiety,
Anxiety and confusion
, despair,
In rare cases, suicidal tendencies.

If every feast turns into a hangover for you the next morning and you worry why this is happening, you need to find out their reasons and learn to effectively overcome these painful sensations.

Overload of the body with a hangover

Under the influence of alcoholic drinks and a hangover, the body experiences serious overload, including psychologically: causeless fear, panic attacks, unfounded anxiety and depression. The main reasons for such conditions are as follows:

It is the liver that is responsible for recycling alcohol and its breakdown products in the body. And if the alcohol comes in too large quantities or the liver is damaged - it does not have time to completely and quickly process ethanol. As a result, the drinker may experience tremors, sharp jumps pressure, failures in heart rate, which leads to feelings such as panic, depression, anxiety and feelings of fear, especially the fear of imminent death.

A state of intoxication is the most significant signal that the nervous system is affected. In this case, the drinker first experiences sharp excitement, joy, revival, and then inhibition human functions, their sharp decline. Usually this is first expressed in cheerful excitement, talkativeness, sometimes aggressiveness and lack of restraint, submission to one’s instincts, lack of self-criticism and the ability to control oneself.

It is precisely because of this condition and possible deviations in hangover behavior, many amateurs strong drinks experience a painful feeling of guilt, shame and anxiety, especially if they do not remember at all what they did yesterday.

Psychological aspects

First of all, depression and feelings of anxiety and fear from a hangover are not a cause, but only a consequence. All the reasons lie much deeper and it is because of them that a person develops an addiction to alcohol as a the easy way relieve stress. Essentially, in this way we drown out difficulties and problems instead of solving them.

Basic psychological factors The appearance of fear and anxiety during a hangover is as follows:

Avoiding solving problems with alcohol,
Blackouts (temporary loss) from a hangover,
Pathological behavior while intoxicated.

What to do if you're scared and anxious with a hangover

If the next morning you are tormented by unpleasant sensations, you are scared, have an anxious, heavy heart and nothing makes you happy - first of all, you should try to get rid of the hangover. For this there is a whole range of things that help with intoxication of the body:

Take a warm shower
Drink more liquid (not alcohol), often, little by little, best green, chamomile, still,
Drink or take