Is this a symptom of withdrawal?
Hi everybody --
Yesterday I cut my drinking down from daily 7-9 shots of hard liquor (tequila), to three glasses of white wine. I just can't go it "cold turkey," at least, not this time, and it's been a long time since I tried. I don't think I've ever noticed any withdrawal symptoms in the past, but last night, I had a HORRIBLE night's sleep, full of awful nightmares. One of the nightmares involved me being forced to handle and eat live spiders! It was terrible! I woke up and my sheets were wet with sweat (in the middle of winter!) The next dream I fell into involved me being charged with trying to murder a baby and being sent to jail and nobody would listen to me when I told them that I didn't do it -- and it was so REAL. I was really afraid (in my dream), of my first night sharing a cell and when I was dropping off to sleep (in my dream), someone got on my bed and shook me. This woke me up. Again, I was damp with sweat. I was kinda afraid to try to go back to sleep after that.
Are nightmares part of the withdrawal process? I don't ever remember this happening to me before -- in fact, whenever I've gone off the booze, I've slept wonderfully. Also, since I did consume three glasses of wine, I didn't technically "go off," but certainly did drink considerably less than I normally do.
Despite the rotten night of sleep (thankfully, I could stay in bed late this morning), I feel great today -- better than I have for some time. I'm a little nervous about going to sleep tonight for fear the nightmares will return. Maybe it was just a coincidence and the nightmares have nothing to do with alcohol?
Any help or insight would be appreciated!