I suffered from PAWS big time in my journey. Based on what I've read I think I had it bad for several reasons:
I had relapsed twice before.
I quit cold turkey this time.
This last withdrawal likely had me close to death. I'm talking full on DTs, seizures, visual/auditory/tactile hallucinations.
I first learned about PAWS from a google search. At 10 months of sobriety life was going so much better for me, I was happy, and one morning while driving to work I started sobbing in the car. Seriously I thought I was losing my mind.
The depression came in and out in waves but when they struck it was awful. I'm talking crying and borderline suicidal thoughts. The last episode occurred in mid December which is when I opened my account out of desperation. I just celebrated 22 months of sobriety and I think it has finally passed.
If you're not experiencing turbulent depression and mood swings in your sobriety consider yourself very lucky. It is terrible.