Woman says stopping alcohol ended anxiety that antidepressants did not relieve

A woman from Nottinghamshire says she cured persistent anxiety by giving up alcohol after antidepressant medication had little effect. Jodi Clark, 42, told the Daily Mail she was prescribed the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram in 2019 for anxiety but continued to drink nightly; she later concluded alcohol was the primary driver of her symptoms.

Clark described years of what she called "grey-area" drinking — more than social consumption but not meeting a threshold she associated with addiction — beginning in her teens and intensifying during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the routine of a nightly glass of wine became a way to cope with work and family stress and that a doctor who prescribed citalopram did not ask about her alcohol use or wider lifestyle.

Clark said she also took beta blockers to manage blood pressure and symptoms such as nighttime anxiety; she reported side effects from both medications, including weight gain while on citalopram and hair loss she attributed to beta blockers. She said she stopped taking citalopram after a few months because she felt it was not helping. Clark later experienced withdrawal-like dizziness after stopping the medication suddenly.

In 2022, while on a family holiday, Clark committed to 100 days without alcohol and said her anxiety symptoms abated within a month. "When I stopped drinking, literally the anxiety that I'd been medicated for disappeared in a month," she told the newspaper. She reported improved mental clarity within the first 30 days and said she never resumed regular drinking after the initial 100-day challenge.

Clark said the change coincided with other health and professional gains. She reported losing about 38 kilograms (84 pounds) since her heaviest weight in 2021, negotiating a pay rise, leaving corporate work to start an alcohol-free coaching business called Sober Flourish, and gaining a diploma in positive psychology with a specialism in alcohol-free coaching. She said her relationships improved, she felt more present with her children and more confident at work.

She described her earlier drinking pattern as normalised during youth and early adulthood. Clark said she began drinking at 15, then settled into a routine of drinking at home in her twenties. She said drinking escalated during the pandemic when she was managing remote schooling for an older child, caring for a toddler and working with a global team while her husband was often away.

Clark emphasised that her decision to stop drinking was not prompted by a singular "rock bottom" moment and encouraged others to consider changes before reaching crisis. In published comments, she urged people not to assume substantial negative events are necessary to justify changing their relationship with alcohol.

Her account reflects an individual experience reported to a national outlet; she said she believes alcohol reduced the effectiveness of the medication she was prescribed. She reported adverse effects from prescribed drugs and recounted stopping citalopram abruptly, which she said produced severe dizziness. Clark now runs programs intended to help other women reassess their alcohol use.

Mental health and substance use experts note that individual experiences vary, and decisions about medication and drinking should be made with clinical guidance. Clark's account underscores the interplay some people experience between alcohol use and anxiety symptoms and the importance, she says, of exploring lifestyle factors alongside medical treatment.

Clark continues to offer coaching and a 100-day program aimed at supporting women who want to reduce or stop drinking. She said she has remained sober for three years and that the change produced lasting improvements in her sleep, skin, memory and overall energy levels.

Her experience illustrates one person's path to symptom relief after encountering what she described as a quick medical fix without exploration of underlying behaviors. Clark's story is presented as her personal account of treatment, medication effects and recovery after a sustained, alcohol-free period.