Why does alcohol make me feel like a piece of shit person?

[heisacreep]

I'm a 30 year old female, I have a good life, a good career, an amazing daughter and generally feel like I have my life together. However, on the occasions I over indulge alcohol (like last night), the next day I feel like total shit. Not so much physically but mentally. I feel like my life is crumbling, that I'm a terrible mum, a terrible employee. When I think about the future and my responsibilities it terrifies me and I think 'I can't do it/handle it' - even though nothing has changed from the day before where I was looking forward to the future. It is such a low, horrible feeling that I get without fail every single time after drinking and I can't shake it off, sometimes it last for 3-4 days before I'm back to normal.

What is this? I've heard of the fear but I thought that was more surrounding your behaviour the previous night. However last night I sat myself and watched a film and had some wine (daughter was at her dads). I didn't communicate with anyone at all so I don't have fear surrounding my behaviour. I just feel like a piece of shit and a failure even though I know that's completely unreasonable and not true.

Alcohol also impacts your sleep, adding to your anxiety. There are so many benefits to stopping drinking.

Lighter or inexperienced drinkers experience the OP's problems more than seasoned drinkers do. If you push through it and build up your tolerance gradually you overcome it, or at least the ups and downs are smoothed out more, that's my experience anyway.

Think of it as being another symptom of drinking more that you can handle, just the same as the headache, being sick, making a fool of yourself and casual sex. People who don't normally drink much are more likely to suffer these consequences than a more experienced person who knows their limits and is aware of when they're close to reaching them.

It's like any other skill really, practice makes perfect.