For me, it wasn't so much that I had no emotions. I had plenty of emotions, I just didn't know what they were. I didn't know how to verbalize them. I didn't know how to interpret them. I didn't even know the difference between many of them.
And I'm still learning. I've been sober almost 17 months and I'm still just getting the hang of it.
In talking with others in recovery (both addicts and alcoholics) it's pretty much the same story with them too.
I used chemicals to mask my emotions so that I wouldn't feel anything. It's tough for me when getting sober and all these emotions start happening again and I have no clue how to deal. I don't even know where to start sometimes. It's like, I feel something that I'm not comfortable with, now what? Not a clue. Only thing I could think of was to get high.