Originally Posted by
ramennoodles 
Does it ever get better?
I'm now about 7 1/2 months sober, and I still feel absolutely horrible most days. Since quitting drinking I have...
-- Extreme anxiety (I even have panic attacks doing normal things like sitting in a restaurant or watching a movie). I avoid being around groups of people because they trigger anxiety.
-- Major sleep problems. I wake up a lot at night and sometimes have a hard time going back to sleep. I also now have restless leg syndrome which makes the problem even worse.
-- Depression/Anhedonia. I feel down in the dumps most days. Nothing brings me any happiness anymore. Nothing. I occasionally have suicidal thoughts.
-- Weight gain. I crave sugar/carbs/junk late of the evenings and when I wake up throughout the night. The cravings are powerful. I feel bloated and unattractive.
I have absolutely no desire to drink again, but I also have a foreboding feeling that these horrible withdrawal effects are never going to end.
Any encouraging words you have for me would be greatly appreciated.
I can tell you that this was certainly true for me, and I've observed it in others as well:
That "foreboding feeling" that the horrible withdrawal effects will never end is itself part and parcel of the protracted withdrawal symptoms package. It's tied in with the anxiety and depression that result when the brain's "pleasure center" circuitry is knocked badly out of whack by alcohol.
Trust me, they DO end.
Keep doing all the right things -- staying sober, exercising, eating right, therapy, meditation, anti-depressant meds (blah, blah, I've sure you've heard it all before) -- and you WILL feel better eventually.
There's no timetable -- it takes however long it takes -- but it DOES get better.
I speak from personal experience here.