<p>Actor Charlie Sheen says he took to drinking to "suffocate" his anxiety after he was diagnosed with HIV positive. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Sheen, 50, who revealed about his health crisis last year in a TV interview, said he didn't handle things in the right way in the aftermath of his diagnosis, reported Contactmusic.<br /><br />"It was to suffocate the anxiety and what my life was going to become with this condition and getting so numb I didn't think about it.<br /><br />"It was the only tool I had at the time, so I believed… that would quell a lot of that angst, a lot of that fear. And it only made it worse."<br /><br />The former "Two and a Half Men" star has battled drugs and alcohol addiction throughout his career, but he insists he can live a sober life because he has sustained it for a significant period of time in the past.<br /><br />"There was a stretch where I didn't drink for 11 years. No cocaine, no booze for 11 years. So I know that I have that in me."</p>
<p>Actor Charlie Sheen says he took to drinking to "suffocate" his anxiety after he was diagnosed with HIV positive. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Sheen, 50, who revealed about his health crisis last year in a TV interview, said he didn't handle things in the right way in the aftermath of his diagnosis, reported Contactmusic.<br /><br />"It was to suffocate the anxiety and what my life was going to become with this condition and getting so numb I didn't think about it.<br /><br />"It was the only tool I had at the time, so I believed… that would quell a lot of that angst, a lot of that fear. And it only made it worse."<br /><br />The former "Two and a Half Men" star has battled drugs and alcohol addiction throughout his career, but he insists he can live a sober life because he has sustained it for a significant period of time in the past.<br /><br />"There was a stretch where I didn't drink for 11 years. No cocaine, no booze for 11 years. So I know that I have that in me."</p>