nickharrold

Hello I quit drinking 140 days ago and for the last few months I have been absolutely tired. I was a heavy drinker for 17 years.


I've done lots and lots of research online and trying to find support for this because it is downright depressing. Basically it can get so bad, like from what I understand "degenerative paws" that I can not get out of bed for four days. It gets like that every two weeks. I have tried many things. I started running, which keeps me alert -- but then about two hours later my tiredness comes back. I can keep running and that works, but obviously I can't do much while like that. (Although I am thinking about building a desk on the treadmill if I can stay awake long enough to build one)

Here is another thing: I Get SUPER tried whenever I eat. I can stay more alert by not eating, starving to death. I found that I can get by with less then 800 calories and stay semi alert. Another trick I tried is waking up, eating as much as I can, then going back to sleep for 4-6 hours, then I can sort of stay awake for 12-16 hours. I can do this a few days a week. I also don't eat carbs to eliminate any blood sugar problems several months ago.


I know from reading about PAWS and recovery and how this can last a few months. Most of my searches online I've found that people have this for a few months and by month three it starts to go away and is totally away by 6 months to12 months.

What I really need help and support on is hope that this is going to go away. Because I can't live like this. In some ways this is worse then drinking. The only hope I have right now is that this will eventually go away and I can be normal again. I find reading about other peoples experiences gives me the power to go through this.

So please if you have a similar to experience of tiredness after 3-4 months as me can you tell me how you went through it? How much did you drink, how tired did you get in soberity, when, how did you cope with this, how did you stay alert to do normal day to day things, what kept you going. How long did it last for you?


That conversation helps me as I don't know what else to do. Give me hope that this will pass. I know that studies have shown that if I go back to alcohol, even just once, I start right back at day zero of recovery which I 100% believe in terms of brain recovery.

Thanks for your help.

ScottFromWI

Welcome nick. Many of the symptoms you describe can certainly be part of recovery, but there could be many other causes too. Have you gotten a physical or seen a doctor since you quit?

biminiblue

What do you mean you are eating no carbs? Like, what do you eat? Just meat and fats?

That in itself would lead to fatigue. Eat a well-balanced nutrition plan. This isn't the time to try to eliminate a food macro.

nickharrold

No I have not seen a doctor as I can't afford it right now.

nickharrold

I did switch back to regular carb intake for a week and a half and it made me feel even more tired.

biminiblue

So what do you eat?

nickharrold

Bacon, Eggs, Steak, Chicken, Brocoli, Spinach, Cabbage, Celery, Coffee, Tea. And recently on friday or the weekend I get Mexican food or a hamburger. I also started drinking diet mountain dew last week for more caffine but that has made me feel sick (but less tired).

Gottalife

I had something like that around the four to five month mark. I basically gave up on life, ceased to function. Doc gave me antidepressants, no effect. Friends had great idea, try dope. One puff was all it took and I had an even better idea, booze! Fixed everything for a few minutes, then it was all down hill for the next year.

When I look back I see that booze had always been my solution to life, and life seemed to have an adverse effect on my mental and spritual well being. When I stopped that time, I did nothing about the mental a spiritual aspects of my life. Life seemed like one long battle, one failure after another, unable to fit into the human race. Thinking about that, worrying about people I was letting down, worrying about what might be wrong with me all became too much, too tiring. In the end I couldn't get out of bed. After almost six months sobriety a medical report described my living conditions as "absolute squalor".

So I drank and got worse. Then I was willing to do anything for the misery to stop and ended up in AA. This time life changed dramatically for the better and I haven't needed to drink since. It seems, at least in my case, there was more to this sobriety business than just don't drink.

nickharrold

Sounds like you have had quite a journey. Congratulations on being sober. I've been fortunate in not having any urges to drink -- but who knows that could change and I need to be vigilante. The other day I was looking at the energy drinks at the gas station and accidentally saw the beer isle (the weird beer stuff like the budweiser clamato) and had a good laugh.


I'm just tired. Did you get tired the second time as well?

nickharrold

I'm reconsidering your advice and went and bought some carbs.

I just got back from the grocery store and bought a week's worth of some apples, bananas, yogurt, cheddar cheese, whole milk, and a snickers and a pepsi for the ride home. Except for the snickers , I'll try some good carbs for a week again see if it works. Maybe it is carb thing.

biminiblue

Well, if you are eating cabbage, spinach, celery and broccoli, depending on how much of it you eat, at least you were getting some carbs. Were you trying Paleo or some low carb thing to lose weight? Too-low calories will leave you fatigued, too.

People who use Atkins or other low-carb plans often have a lot of energy and fatigue problems. Google "carb-flu" - it's common in the induction phase especially. I hope raising your carbs a bit helps.

I have to keep a balance of about 150g carbs a day to keep my energy consistent - and I only eat about 1600 calories a day. On exercise days I go up to 225g of carbs or more. I also find that if I binge on sugar or wheat, I have to take a nap afterwards, but that's more an insulin response.

Gottalife

Actually it was the third time. I had a four day bender trying to prove I didn't have the phenomenon of craving. I guess tiredness was a problem but not in the same way. The biggest issue was inability to sleep even though I had had a reasonably good day. Skeletons in the closet gave me a bad time.

I had mornings where I couldn't get out of bed. More about procrastination than tiredness. The bugger of it was, I would be wide awake by ten a.m. and then realise I would have to spend my day alone (with my guilt for letting a very kind employer down again) as everyone else was at work. That defect was eventually removed. There came a day when I realised I had not taken a day off for a year.

The dancing skeletons relented the night after I took my fifth step. Never had any trouble sleeping since that day. That was at three months in and something about that experience absolutely convinced me I was on the right track. Never looked back

BlueFairy

I'm a little over 2 months and still pretty tired. My sheer exhaustion seems to have lifted enough to allow me late night sleeplessness (great) again like when I first quit. I have been eating sugar again which I never even wanted when I drank, I think that has a little to do with my issues right now. Great-I get to try to get off that too...

malamute100

I'm at 6 months of PAWS hell , I'm just currently going through another insomnia cycle , the past 2 weeks I can't sleep , I'm in bed tossing and turning for 10 or more hours every night , then when I fall asleep I wake back up 90 mins later and can't fall asleep .
Hopfully this cycle will lift soon and give me a few good days before the anxiety,panic,depression cycles start . Oh and I have constant tinnitus to contend with , hell pure hell
Please read all my threads during my recovery

ScottFromWI

You had mentioned that you might be seeing a therapist about some of these issus Malamute...did you ever? I have many of the same ones ( anxiety, OCD, tinnitus ) and it turns out that it's really GAD and health anxiety that has been causing the majority of my problems, it had nothing to do with PAWS or my drinking at all. Certainly my years of drinking could have made things worse, but the Anxiety mainly is a completely separate and unique problem I had to treat accordingly. I know you've seen numerous medical doctors, I have too - and just about every time they said that physically I am just fine. A couple said it must be anxiety and prescribed an SSRI, but I decided to consult with an actual therapist instead before starting on it, and i'm very very glad that I did.

malamute100

I'm In the uk , I'm not sure we have therapists but I have spoke to the phycaratist , she told me to book another appointment with a counciler.

I'm getting moved from doctor to doctor as well ,the doctors say I have nothing wrong apart from a anxiety/panic disorder .

I know I have health anxiety big time cause I'm spending my whole time trying to search for the answer cause I've been in this **** for 8 months .

I know all this started when I quit drinking but I'm also aware that the drinking could of been masking it .
I'm going through cycles symptoms that are very much physical as well as mental .
My insomnia is killing me now , haven't had a full nights sleep in 2 weeks , last night I slept 90 mins , that's 3o mins more than the night before.
I'm not tired I just feel dizzy and like me head is in a vice .

Ive tryed ssri , 2 types and the side effects where to much . When I tryed them was durning the first 2 months so maybe the side effects were what I was gonna have weather I took them or not , who knows .

My mission is this , if I don't see any change for the better when I get to a year in then I will rethink taking ssri .

I still belive I'm going through PAWS but just a really bad case of it

Thanks for your reply tho

ScottFromWI

I could have written everything you just wrote verbatim and I truly understand how you feel. For me the solution has been therapy with a therapist ( I guess officially a psychiatrist ) and meditation/mindfulness training. I saw lots of doctors thinking I had everythign from a brain tumor to stomach cancer to meningitis to a hiatal hernia. I had insomnia, brain zaps, nightmares, panic attacks, OCD, you name it. Therapy is working very well for me for now at least, without any SSRI's. I was very open and honest with both my doctor and therapist that I was very hesitant to take any drugs due to my addictive past. They haven't ruled it out completely, and if a day comes when they do recommend that I should try it I will. But for now it's amazing how much the therapy and Mindfulness is making things better. I absolutely hope you can find a solution.

malamute100

Thanks for your reply Scott , ive been reading a few of your threads and you've done well to be over 2 years sober , I'm glad ur doing better and battling the health anxiety well with out drugs.

I keep a good day/bad day calander and over the last six months the bad days are definatly more frequent .
I had 3 whole weeks of good days last month , it was heaven , never been so happy .
I don't ever feel the erge to drink again , no way , not after all this .
I'm hoping that I'm currently having a 6 month paws peak and soon the good days will become more

Can you remember what your symptoms were at six months ??
Ive had days where I feel like I'm going crazy/mental , I have days where I'm so depressed I can't stop crying , I have days where the anxiety is so high I feel sick , I have days where I'm paroniod and nervous , I have days where my tinnitus is so bad all noises make me jump like a rabbit in the headlights .

I hope it gets better

behindblueyes

Does anyone know why alcohol used to give so much energy? Here I am on week three and I am eating lettuce, corn, black beans, onions, yogurt, pure garlic cloves, grilled chicken, and running a mile a day and I can not stay awake even sleeping in until 10am. I just took a 3 hour nap! When I drank, I could stay up. I didn't even drink every single day. Is this PAWS? Sorry if I ran with your post, you just sound like me. When I eat healthy, I fall asleep for hours.

sugarbear1

I was like that at about 4 months of sobriety, and mine evened out, but I don't remember how long it took. I took it in stride as part of my recovery process. Luckily, I wasn't working at that time and could sleep a lot.

Mine changed, maybe yours will, too!

A doctor visit might help, you might have an underlying condition and maybe even a dentist, alcohol destroys our gums.....this past winter I was overtired and finally found out I had a tooth infection, which I treated and then had a root canal, which I am still paying for......

Just my experience, here.

be well, heal well!

Love and Hugs to you!