20 weeks today
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Berlin, MA
Posts: 41
20 weeks today
Its been 20 weeks today since my last drink. Man what a trip it has been so far. Lots of anxiety. Up and down moods. Not sleeping well. But I am proud of myself because my job requires me to be around alcohol when I work. And even though its there I have not slipped once. It's funny how I really don't crave it that much. When I watched the Super Bowl I thought how nice it would be to have a drink and relax but I didn't. My question to all who have been here at this point I am at now. Does it get better? I have noticed that I do sleep a little better lately. But the anxiety is a fight daily. I don't want to take drugs if I have too. I am taking vitamins and fish oil everyday which seems to help. I do take natural suplements to help me sleep like melatonin and valerium. Everything I have read says it takes time for your body to readjust itself. I am wondering if any of you can share how long it took for you to fully recover. Thanks for you time and this site. It has been a real lifesaver.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Vancouver BC
Posts: 386
It takes a while to get us sick, it will take a while for us to get better.
I am still healing at over four years of sobriety.
I found that after the physical healing takes place, then the emotional and spiritual healing begins.
I was two years sober before I really started to "grow up". lol
Please know that it continues to get better and better.
Well Done You on 20 WEEKS!
Seren
I am still healing at over four years of sobriety.
I found that after the physical healing takes place, then the emotional and spiritual healing begins.
I was two years sober before I really started to "grow up". lol
Please know that it continues to get better and better.
Well Done You on 20 WEEKS!
Seren
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Super!
By 3 months of AA recovery
I was back in balance mentally and physically.
I just don't think there is a specific time time.
You might want to have a medical check up.
8:ghug
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Please see if these links help
Post Acute Withdrawl - Relapse Prevention Specialists - TLC The Living Center
Insomnia? 41 Simple Tips to Help You Get to Sleep - Insomnia treatment, cures
Blessings
Post Acute Withdrawl - Relapse Prevention Specialists - TLC The Living Center
Insomnia? 41 Simple Tips to Help You Get to Sleep - Insomnia treatment, cures
Blessings
Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: some where / no where
Posts: 1,019
Hi Obikenobi
Welcome to the forum and congrats on 20 weeks!
Getting sober is a real trip. For me, it's been the ride of my life. It gets better, but life doesn't cut us a break just because we stopped drinking. My ability to accept people places and circumstances has improved greatly during my sobriety.
It's one thing to just "put the plug in the jug" and another thing to recover. Working on the recovery program outlined by AA has really helped me grow in my sobriety. As it's been said "we didn't get sick overnight...it takes a while to heal". I found that after my drinking problem was fixed, I still had a living problem. AA gave me some tools to help me deal with life. Other people pick up similar tools through their churches, therapy sessions, or other programs. I'm not one to say that AA is the ONLY way...but it does work if you are serious about it.
Keep up your good work. You are doing well to get 20 months together. I'm glad you are starting to feel better. Look out for PAWS....it can be a bit nasty. Many of us take it "one day at a time". When things get rough, I remind myself that "this too shall pass".
chip
Welcome to the forum and congrats on 20 weeks!
Getting sober is a real trip. For me, it's been the ride of my life. It gets better, but life doesn't cut us a break just because we stopped drinking. My ability to accept people places and circumstances has improved greatly during my sobriety.
It's one thing to just "put the plug in the jug" and another thing to recover. Working on the recovery program outlined by AA has really helped me grow in my sobriety. As it's been said "we didn't get sick overnight...it takes a while to heal". I found that after my drinking problem was fixed, I still had a living problem. AA gave me some tools to help me deal with life. Other people pick up similar tools through their churches, therapy sessions, or other programs. I'm not one to say that AA is the ONLY way...but it does work if you are serious about it.
Keep up your good work. You are doing well to get 20 months together. I'm glad you are starting to feel better. Look out for PAWS....it can be a bit nasty. Many of us take it "one day at a time". When things get rough, I remind myself that "this too shall pass".
chip
Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Plymouth, MN
Posts: 960
Congrats on 20 weeks! CarolD's link to insomnia treatment has some great ideas like massage and meditation to help with anxiety. I have had acupuncture and highly recommend that. Also, cammomile tea really helps to relax. I've been going through lorazapam withdrawal and it has really helped when I feel myself getting anxious. I'm not one to take or believe in that type of thing, but I was desperate and was happily surprised.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Vancouver BC
Posts: 386
Originally Posted by CarolD 
By 3 months of AA recovery
I was back in balance mentally and physically.
were you back in balance emotionally and spiritually at 3 months too?
I know it can take a year or more to get rid of the brain fog.
Seren
Glad to be here
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 178
Congratulations on 20 weeks! I have also struggled with insomnia my entire life and was using alcohol to get to sleep at night. My doctor put me on ambien and trazedone to help me get to sleep because sleep is so vital to healing and I just never could seem to get my brain to stop spinning at night without downing enough alcohol to pass out. I recently purchased a CD by Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Steven Gurgevich called "Heal Yourself With Medical Hypnosis: The Most Immediate Way to Use Your Mind-Body Connection!" (You can see it at Amazon). I bought the CD for other reasons and wasn't expecting it to help with sleep, but was shocked to discover that the CD knocks me out almost immediately every night. I've been listening to this CD every night for more than 2 weeks so far, I can't even begin to tell you what is on the CD because I am fast asleep within the 1st 5-10 minutes, even though the CD continues to play for the full 68 minutes. Nothing else has ever worked like this to get my brain to stop spinning and to allow me to get a really great, truly restful night's sleep. I had been taking 1 to 1.5 ambiens per night plus 1.5 to 2 trazedone's and I've been able to wean down to 0.5 ambien and 1.0 trazedone. I'm hoping to completely eliminate the ambien soon and just take 1 trazedone and then try to cut the trazedone in half and then hope to wean completely off the trazedone. If I can get to the point where I'm falling asleep with no pills at all and just this CD, that will be really awesome, but I'm already thrilled to have the pills reduced this much in only 2 short weeks.
Life does get better as time goes on, and the cravings do eventually stop. It's so awesome to not have those obsessive compulsive thoughts about alcohol any more. I would never want to go back to the hellish life I had before giving up the alcohol. Good luck on your journey.
Life does get better as time goes on, and the cravings do eventually stop. It's so awesome to not have those obsessive compulsive thoughts about alcohol any more. I would never want to go back to the hellish life I had before giving up the alcohol. Good luck on your journey.
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Hi Seren ...
When I could again do crossword puzzles
I considered I was out of the fog. Yes,
by 3 months of AA recovery.
I was emotionally stable quickly too.
Perhaps because I was 53
and had many life experiences to draw from.
My connection with God has always been strong
before and after my alcoholic drinking.
I'm a very simple woman..not much on introspection
or philosophical meandering debates.
I am a recovered alcoholic living with
God's grace and the program of AA.
To quote Tony
When I could again do crossword puzzles
I considered I was out of the fog. Yes,
by 3 months of AA recovery.
I was emotionally stable quickly too.
Perhaps because I was 53
and had many life experiences to draw from.
My connection with God has always been strong
before and after my alcoholic drinking.
I'm a very simple woman..not much on introspection
or philosophical meandering debates.
I am a recovered alcoholic living with
God's grace and the program of AA.
To quote Tony
but that's not all I am
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Wow DKS....:
Thanks for sharing that interesting information.
So many members seem to have sleeping difficulties.
If you don't mind
I'd like to add the name to my files.
K?
Thanks for sharing that interesting information.
So many members seem to have sleeping difficulties.
If you don't mind
I'd like to add the name to my files.
K?
Glad to be here
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 178
Carol,
Absolutely! I would never have believed that anything like this would have worked and certainly wouldn't have expected it to give me such quick and peaceful sleep. This has been the most awesome addition to my program to restore health recently. I have been diagnosed with a low immune system and have been having one health problem after another lately, and recently asked my allergy/asthma doctor if the "bad immune system" is the root cause of not healing properly after a recent minor surgery, which required 2 rounds of antibiotics to heal the infection and NSAIDs to control the pain and inflammation. The NSAIDs led to bleeding ulcers and the antibiotics and asthma inhaler use led to a yeast infection in the esophagus. The limping following the surgery led to a sprained ankle which led to more limping, which led to back and neck pain, etc.... When I asked this doctor about the bad immune system, he said that I need to have daily talks with my immune system and say out loud that "I feel fantastic today! I'm a healthy person and my body is healing." He talked about the power of the mind over the body and the immune system and also the power of prayer. I went out and bought the Norman Vincent Peale "Power of Positive Thinking" CD plus a bunch of other self-help CDs, including "Codependent no more" and several of the Joel Osteen CD's (Your Best Life Now, Be a Better You, etc). I've had a lot of time to listen to these CD's recently on several 13 hour round trip drives for business trips. All of the CD's have been great and have really helped to cut down on my negativity and poisonous thoughts and comments, but this hypnosis CD turned out to be the biggest and best surprise of all, and the sleep benefits were totally unexpected but extremely welcome. I picked the CD up in a bookstore, so hadn't read any reviews on it when I bought it. Later, my mom wanted to know more about the CD so I went to Amazon to find her the link and that's when I saw that other people had written reviews of the CD and how it helped them with sleep as well.
Absolutely! I would never have believed that anything like this would have worked and certainly wouldn't have expected it to give me such quick and peaceful sleep. This has been the most awesome addition to my program to restore health recently. I have been diagnosed with a low immune system and have been having one health problem after another lately, and recently asked my allergy/asthma doctor if the "bad immune system" is the root cause of not healing properly after a recent minor surgery, which required 2 rounds of antibiotics to heal the infection and NSAIDs to control the pain and inflammation. The NSAIDs led to bleeding ulcers and the antibiotics and asthma inhaler use led to a yeast infection in the esophagus. The limping following the surgery led to a sprained ankle which led to more limping, which led to back and neck pain, etc.... When I asked this doctor about the bad immune system, he said that I need to have daily talks with my immune system and say out loud that "I feel fantastic today! I'm a healthy person and my body is healing." He talked about the power of the mind over the body and the immune system and also the power of prayer. I went out and bought the Norman Vincent Peale "Power of Positive Thinking" CD plus a bunch of other self-help CDs, including "Codependent no more" and several of the Joel Osteen CD's (Your Best Life Now, Be a Better You, etc). I've had a lot of time to listen to these CD's recently on several 13 hour round trip drives for business trips. All of the CD's have been great and have really helped to cut down on my negativity and poisonous thoughts and comments, but this hypnosis CD turned out to be the biggest and best surprise of all, and the sleep benefits were totally unexpected but extremely welcome. I picked the CD up in a bookstore, so hadn't read any reviews on it when I bought it. Later, my mom wanted to know more about the CD so I went to Amazon to find her the link and that's when I saw that other people had written reviews of the CD and how it helped them with sleep as well.
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Thanks for the permission.
Dr. Peale's "power of Positive Thinking" is a classic. IMO
What a round of mishaps you've been through.
Mega Hugs and healing Prayers zinging your way DKS.
Follow Directions!
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fredericksburg, Va.
Posts: 9,730
obeknobi congrats on the 20 weeks, I began to come out of the fog at about 2 1/2 months mentally, I was thinking by about 3 months it could not get any better for me, well every month it kept getting better and better even though I did not think it could. This continued for about a year! Everyone is different though, for some it comes much quicker then others, others slower.
Physically (I never had insomnia though) I saw tremendous improvements in my health within 2 months and probably by 6 months my health leveled out.
Spiritually was a different story, I did real well for about 2 months just going to a lot of meetings, then the old thinking started to creep back in, there were times when I really wanted a drink, when I got angry which was quite often after 2 months I wanted a drink BAD!
I had a sponsor at the time, good guy, but he did not have any free time due to his job making him travel a lot. Well at about 3 months I was really feeling pretty whacked out, and knew I had to change something or I would be drinking again. I kept hearing old timers say that if I wanted the pain to go away to start working the steps with a sponsor!
Well I found another sponsor who had the time to work the steps with me, I spoke to my first sponsor and he encouraged me to switch because he said he wanted to do them with me, but he was sorry he did not have the time.
Well my new sponsor and I got to work on the steps right away and at about 5 months sober I was spiritually doing a thousand percent better right before or after step 5 I realized that the obsession to drink was gone!!!!
By 9 months we had finished the steps, I had a sponsee and I can honestly say at that point I moved from a recovering alcoholic to a recovered alcoholic! I was happy, joyous and free. I continue to work and live my program the best I can one day at a time, I still have a long way to go, but as long as I maintain my spiritual condition, I can go any where and do anything and never ever feel the urge to drink! (Still have that occasional drinking dream though).
I am a totally different person then I was 17 months ago, I have gone from being a slave to alcohol to being happy, joyous and free, I live life on lifes terms sober one day at a time.
Yes it does get better as long as you are working on yourself. Get into a program of recovery and work it if you are not in one, there is a huge difference between being an alcoholic who no longer drinks and being a recovering/recovered alcoholic.
Physically (I never had insomnia though) I saw tremendous improvements in my health within 2 months and probably by 6 months my health leveled out.
Spiritually was a different story, I did real well for about 2 months just going to a lot of meetings, then the old thinking started to creep back in, there were times when I really wanted a drink, when I got angry which was quite often after 2 months I wanted a drink BAD!
I had a sponsor at the time, good guy, but he did not have any free time due to his job making him travel a lot. Well at about 3 months I was really feeling pretty whacked out, and knew I had to change something or I would be drinking again. I kept hearing old timers say that if I wanted the pain to go away to start working the steps with a sponsor!
Well I found another sponsor who had the time to work the steps with me, I spoke to my first sponsor and he encouraged me to switch because he said he wanted to do them with me, but he was sorry he did not have the time.
Well my new sponsor and I got to work on the steps right away and at about 5 months sober I was spiritually doing a thousand percent better right before or after step 5 I realized that the obsession to drink was gone!!!!
By 9 months we had finished the steps, I had a sponsee and I can honestly say at that point I moved from a recovering alcoholic to a recovered alcoholic! I was happy, joyous and free. I continue to work and live my program the best I can one day at a time, I still have a long way to go, but as long as I maintain my spiritual condition, I can go any where and do anything and never ever feel the urge to drink! (Still have that occasional drinking dream though).
I am a totally different person then I was 17 months ago, I have gone from being a slave to alcohol to being happy, joyous and free, I live life on lifes terms sober one day at a time.
Yes it does get better as long as you are working on yourself. Get into a program of recovery and work it if you are not in one, there is a huge difference between being an alcoholic who no longer drinks and being a recovering/recovered alcoholic.
Glad to be here
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 178
Thanks for the hugs and prayers Carol. Another prayer was answered today... A biopsy of a mass found in a mammogram before Christmas turned out to be a benign tumor. What a relief. I actually carried my ipod into the biopsy procedure last week and played the hypnosis CD during the procedure, and it really helped to calm down, de-stress, and take my mind off of what was happening.
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