Sober 59 days - is it normal to feel a let down?

[catloverhimmies]

I am wondering if anyone else new to sobriety has gone through a period of days when you feel a let down? The newness has worn off after a couple of months of riding on a high from being sober and productive again.

This is my 3rd try at getting sober over the past 8 years. This time my alcoholism had progressed to the final stage (life-threatening), black outs with broken bones, almost died from carbon monoxide after leaving food on the stove and passed out, gout.

I checked myself into a treatment facility and took family leave from my job. After 14 days inpatient, I'm now attending treatment sessions as an outpatient, level 2.1 if you're familiar with the care levels in recovery. I'm attending AA meetings 4-7 times a week. I have 2 temporary sponsors but they are hard to reach.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[suki44883]

That 'honeymoon phase' is called a pink cloud. Yeah, it does wear off and that's when the real work begins. Have you been working the steps in AA? You say you have two sponsors but they are difficult to reach. I would suggest finding another sponsor that will actually be there for you....and also, if you haven't started already, work the steps. Good luck to you, and welcome to SR!!

[lizw]

I wanted to echo suki and say the pink cloud period varies from person to person. I probably had mine for 3 months or so, and after it went that was when I got a sponsor and started on the steps.

So if you have 2 temp sponsors you can't reach, get a sponsor that you can and will get you started on them steps, in AA.

It's never to early too start on them but sometimes people find that out too late...

[LogCabin]

Yeah...it happens to everyone. Feeling blue or low after the feel good pink cloud.

The blues do come and go. As they do for everyone.

I also take medication for anxiety. I feel that I had been self-medicating with alcohol. I'm a person that feels AA and science can work together for sure.

Can you make an appointment to see a psychiatrist? It is far better to work with a medical professional who will work with you and monitor your meds that to try and go back to the old ways...since it was not working.

Hang in there.

[arieswoman]

I never did have that pink cloud; I was completely miserable with my raw, intense feelings, which were for once unmedicated by alcohol consumption. After working the steps through with a sponsor(okay, actaully several sponsors, as I fired a few of them!) and after about a year or so of sobriety, then I started to feel serenity, peace, and all that stuff the AA Promises talk about. It was a lot of hard work - digging through stuff from my past, making amends, connecting with a Higher Power, and getting to know and start to love myself.

But it was all worth it!!! Hang in there; it gets better!!!

[ananda]

When I first got sober some interesting things happened...first, in order to not drink and get though each day I had to really stay focused on each moment. Anything more than the instant I was in was too much to handle. Then I was grateful .... so grateful and sooo sooo willing and openminded.

This combination of things really put me in a place that was wonderful (pink cloud?).

To day I believe that it is possible to be in that space all the time....(being spiritually fit).

Of course I'm human and I don't stay there. It does take some focus and as it get's easier to not drink without doing all those things I did in the begining...I stop having the pink cloud effect.

So...I figure the "pink cloud" fo spiritual fitness is always there for me if I choose to strive for those spiritual tools of in the moment with gratitude willingness and an open mind.

[catloverhimmies]

Thanks for all the replies. It's great to have found this site tonight and to have a support group right at home.

I have a meeting on August 6 with a psychiatrist who specializes in recovery. My family doc has me on Naltrexone and Amitriptyline to reduce cravings and anxiety, both non-habit forming drugs. I'm also on Paxil and the trio seem to work well and I'm finally sleeping for a change. What a relief!!!

I'm also working the Steps and will for life I'm sure.

I've lost nearly 12 pounds this month, which is just a dent due to all the calories in alcohol.

I'm very grateful for all your input and help!

Kathy

[DSodaNow]

Hi Kathy- Thanks for this post. It is actually just what I needed to read tonight. I am at 97 days sober and in what I would now call depression. I feel none of the passion and all the other emotions that everyone else talks about. No serenity. And that is a let down for me.

I have lost my appetite. I lost about 10 pounds from the cut in calories from all the wine, but I keep losing weight and am now down close to 20 lbs. I am by no means too thin yet, but to be honest with... I really don't care if I keep losing weight.

Fortunately, I have a great sponser that is always there for me. (Almost annoying, )

Right now, I am working the steps and am on step 8 which is really not fun for me. I seem to have no willingness to do anything beyond going to the meetings.

So I can really relate to you. For me, at this point I am just hoping that if I stick with it that it will get better and I will start feeling all the good things that are promised. Right now I just feel nothing.

It sounds like you are doing all the things you are supposed to, I am sure that it will get better.

[indigo]

I did get to a point in early recovery when I thought 'I can't hack this it's forever' and I too had been given the death warrant, so I found different ways I'd like to live and things I had to live for and then asked myself "do I really want to die?" the answer was know and I worked my butt off and I'm still hear clean as a whistle and glad I'm alive. It does pass and things get better, now I hardly ever even think of drinking, it took me over 30 years to get to where I am now and boy is it worth it.
All the best and congratulations on your sober time.

[beingjenagain]

I am almost 4 months sober and can relate to the loss of excitement for sobriety. But i have thought and thought about it and now I am living a normal sober productive life with all the same things I had before. We all drank to avoid something no matter how big or small it was. I drank to hide many emotions including those I feel or don't feel about my husband. Well now I am sober and all those problems are still there and I still have to deal with them. I can't just drink life away although some days it still seems like a good alternative!! But I am happier sober and I won't let anything change that.

[CarolD]

Yes...I have noticed my recovery ebbs too.
Sooooo...
working with a new member lifts me back up.

Many newbies will relate to y'all
rather than an older member.

I'm not talking about sponsorship....but fellowship.
Ask someone to join you for coffee after
Sit next to a newcomer and chat before the meeting.

Go 15 minutes early to help set up or stay
a little late to tidy the room.
Get acquainted ...stay with the women tho...

Service and fellowship=Pink Cloud for me


catloverhimmies...Congratulations and Welcome to SR!