Alcohol and anxiety

Had an anxiety attack earlier this week, the first one in a few months.

Like most of them, the final relief from it came by throwing up.

Tonight, while taking a brief walk earlier, I got to thinking about anxiety and alcohol. Anxiety issues, in different ways, run on both my dad's and mom's side of the family. In a more clinical sense, they're much more serious on my dad's side.

And alcohol, and somewhat tobacco, I'll venture, was used as an attempt to control that anxiety by many of dad's side men.

I got to thinking about that in my own case as well. I realize that alcohol just masked anxiety, it didn't control it. And, by actually exacerbating one symptom of anxiety, the churning stomach — at least when I was drinking on an empty or near-empty stomach — it actually made it worse.

Here's to one more reason for staying sober.