SoberMama13

Huh. Who knew.
I'll be 6 months sober on Monday.
You know all the symptoms of PAWS?
Yup, check, check, check.....
Yikes.
I will NOT relapse. I'm so grateful for my sobriety.
And yet I don't feel..... myself.... or something.
This, too, shall pass. Right?
xoxo

karate

That stuff ,is overrated -imo

You can chose to allow it to have power over you ,Or not .

I suspect ,due to the fact we "numbed out ", Daily ,now we just experience a normal range of human emotions.

Quitting being a drunk is a difficult process ,but actually very simple .

It seems very odd to me ,that alcohol could have any real psysical effects after a month or two ,I think the receptors are reset .

JMHO ......

yeahgr8

Congratulations on the 6 months.

For anyone to drink to potentially damage their health they have to be out of sorts before their drinking kicked off. Normal, happy people do not try to damage their health but instead try to look after it.

The drink was just a symptom, keep going and get some help when you are ready.

least

Yes, it is real. And it takes some time before it goes away. But yes, it will pass. Stay healthy, get plenty of sleep and good food. Exercise, physical and mental, helps too.


Congrats on six months sober!

seek

I think PAWS is totally underrated. If you are smart, you realize the symptoms - and they last for a LONG time . . . depression/anxiety/sleep disorders. You messed up your brain and your system and it takes time to recover!

Take EXTRA good care of yourself. Eat good healthy food (organic if possible), drink plenty of water, get massages, take vitamins (especially B's), realize you have POISONED yourself and you are recovering and you are lucky to be alive.

seek

Oh. And the fuzzy brain. Totally REAL. Pay attention to your body. Rest. Recuperate. Take it easy!

Mrmellow11

I'm with you...and I think it's underrated as well since I'm going thru it right at about 6 or 7 months....it's so underrated they if I'm ever offered a drink again I might strangle that person...I've been to the doc and everything checks out good...I've never had anxiety ever in my life and 9 days after quitting drinking had my first panic attack and since I've never had that feeling I thought I was having a heart attack...we will get thru this sobermama

kenkd

Karate,
Are you being serious here? With all the research you do, one would think you would be aware of things like cirrhosis, pancreatic issues, equilibrium problems, esophageal diseases, hepatitis, etc etc etc

I dare say you cannot simply choose to allow these things to have no power over you.

gleefan

I'm starting to feel it from time to time -- I'd describe it as a foggy-headed, anxiety-based, sense of malaise. We need to remember this will pass.

Dee74

Congrats on 6 months Mama

Put me down with the underrated. I've also suffered PAWs.
It was definitely not a 'normal range of emotions'.
It took me a couple of years at least to rewire my brain Karate.

D

jacrazz

I believe he is referring to Brain Receptors. It's called Neuroplacticity. Look it up. It's very interesting.

As far as the time Frame, I may take some of us longer, but we can get back....As far as those other medical issues you mentioned, those have nothing to do with "receptors"

Neuroplasticity and Addiction | Powerless No Longer

grubby

Scary stuff, i am on the verge of the 3 month mark myself and i would HOPE i am in the clear and all is smooth sailing from here..........

I too have had about 3 days or so where i felt a little "spacy", but i have no idea if it was PAWS or just lack of sleep........... i have only recently (last 6 weeks or so) started sleeping consistently. I have a hunch that it was just the latter, i notice when i get sleep i wake up with a pretty clear head .

So far i have not noticed anything out of the ordinary, just the lousy sleep which rarely goes above 6 hours. Regardless of whether i exercise, drink plenty of Chamomile tea, pop a sleep pill, or anything else....... it NEVER completes the full standard 8-9 hour sleep cycle. I achieved 8 hours the first time i took an Ambien pill, but the side effects left me feeling like crap the next day........ it worked, but at an uncomfortable cost.

I hope that this "PAWS" thing is only for "long term" drinkers who were at it 10+ years, i really have no interest in a withdrawal version 2.0, the first 2 weeks felt like an eternity and i am grateful i came out in one piece and alive....... i hope i do not have to go thru such utter hell again.

Of course, if i begin experiencing any such out of the ordinary symptoms i will be RIGHT here on SR to report the changes

I will add this, coffee has been my friend in recovery to combat and power thru those few mentally "foggy" days

karate

That fellow is beyond what research I have done .

A lot of my personal growth ,is seat -of -the pants

RocketQueen

It's really not. I only drank for 2-3 years (only 1-2 of those years was daily) and am still suffering what I believe to be PAWS a year and a half later. Like everything, it depends on the person.

Also, coffee isn't great for PAWS as it's a stimulant. I wouldn't recommend it for those who have been beaten by the anxiety stick like I have. Horrible stuff.

courage2

PAWS is too common not to be real, & whether it's primarily caused by longterm physical effects or by failure to have acquired a normal adult self-regulation system during years of drinking doesn't matter much, does it? It's a syndrome, and it went on too long, too much, as far as I was concerned.

I can't personally entangle my PAWS-related problems from underlying depression, but all I can say from my own experience, is that if PAWS-type symptoms seriously look like they might lead you to a relapse, get to a doctor before you give up hope, not after.

jkb

PAWS... is a PITA. I am at 6 months since a one night relapse and had awful PAWS for the last week or so. I am really "good" for a while and then I have a day (or this last time 5 days) of feeling completely spaced out and dazed. i know damn well its real.

and yep we will get through it. I try and remind myself that the worst PAWS day is better than my best hangover day.

Jess

Dee74

Not everyone gets PAWS. You may indeed be one of the fortunate ones

D

grubby

Really? i have a similar time-frame of drinking, right around 4 years.......... ending on 02/17/2014.

I guess I'll have to keep my guard up then and stay vigilant for any such symptoms. From what i've gathered around here, the 3 biggest symptoms of PAWS tend to be

-anxiety
-concentration problems
-memory problems

havent noticed any of the above, but again........... compared to a lot of people on here i am still very much a newbie at this, perhaps its too early to tell. I have 82 days under my belt.

I know that my memory is fine because i have to remember a bunch of different passwords - around 22, and I have not forgotten a single one. If there were any lapses in my memory, i surely would have forgotten at least one by now? So far as i can tell, all my "important" memories remain intact....... at least for the time being.

kenkd

The word ANY precludes receptors of being the sole physical symptom, does it not?
And yes, the other medical issues do all involve receptors.

SoberMama13

Thanks for the encouragement and the reminders that I'm not alone.
I will NOT drink over it; I can honestly say the obsession has been lifted.
And all the research I've done makes me feel better
PAWS is a real thing, and it's showing me that I'm healing! And that's a wonderful thing!
Smiles to all tonight.