Using alcohol and/or drugs often starts as a way of coping with difficult situations or feelings. Using helps you feel more in control and more able to manage.

The problem is that as you start to rely more and more on alcohol or drugs to help you feel better, you move from use to misuse, and drink and drugs start causing their own problems. You develop problems in your relationships. Your work or study suffers. You may get into trouble with the police or begin to have money problems. You might start to feel more overwhelmed. All of these things get worse as you continue to drink or use drugs, and so you drink and use more drugs to help you feel better, which results in making the problems even worse. At this point, you may begin to feel controlled by very strong cravings and/or physical withdrawals when you need to use.

Here are experiences that people who are misusing alcohol or drugs commonly describe:

How your body might feel:

• Tired or lacking in energy
• Your concentration and memory are poor
• You may feel hungover or strung out
• You want or need to be sick
• Agitated, unable to settle or relax
• You might begin to feel pain around your body
• You experience cramps or tingling in your hands or feet
• Your walking and balance might be affected
• Your appetite is poor
• You have stomach problems or diarrhoea
• Sweaty
• Shaky, light-headed

If you’ve been drinking heavily over a longer period, then your body and brain adjusts to having that level of alcohol. This means that you’re becoming dependent on alcohol. If you suddenly stop without discussing this with your doctor it can be very dangerous and may lead to serious brain damage or death. If you’re experiencing serious physical withdrawals your body may react in the following way:

• High blood pressure
• You may feel extremely agitated
• Vomiting that will only settle after drinking alcohol
• Confused about time or where you are
• You have no memory of what has happened recently
• You may suffer ‘fits’ where you may lose control of your body, collapse or become unconscious
• You may hallucinate: seeing, hearing, or feeling scary things that aren’t there

Thoughts you might have:

• You might believe that using is the only way you’ll be able to cope with your situation, problems, boredom or feelings
• You think you need to use just to get through the day or to cope at the end of the day
• You may play down the longer-term problems that using will cause and focus only on the short-term effect of drinking or taking drugs
• You might think that life would be boring or meaningless without using
• You may experience thoughts of harming yourself, especially when you’re under the influence

Feelings you might have:

• Unable to cope, overwhelmed
• Impulsive, out of control
• Anxious, panicky
• Angry or jealous
• Irritable
• Depressed
• Hopeless

Things you might do:

• Use drugs or alcohol as a start to your day
• Struggle to sleep
• Isolate yourself from friends and family
• Avoid situations where you will not be able to use
• Hide or play down how much or when you use
• Spend most of your time thinking about drugs and alcohol or using them
• Stop doing things you used to get pleasure from
• Do things that hurt you or others to get drugs or alcohol or when you are under the influence of drugs and alcohol
• Stop looking after yourself/your health
• Find yourself making decisions that go against what you value in life

You might also wish to have a look at the simple screening tool developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that can help you identify if your drinking is putting your health at risk. The AUDIT is used internationally by medical professionals to check for alcohol harm, including dependence. You’ll find the AUDIT screening tool on the website of organisations such as Drinkaware, where you can take a confidential online self-assessment of your drinking.

If you recognise some of the experiences described above and you’d like to find out more about alcohol and drug misuse, have a look at the ‘Learn’ section of this website. You’ll also find some helpful tips and advice on managing your use of drugs and alcohol in the ‘Manage’ section.