Quitting and Sleep
 

Hi there,

I'm a beer drinker, when I drink sometimes I drink 2 or 3, other times 6 or 7. Whenever I drink the next day I be sure not to drink for a day or two or three to try and give myself a break. Now, I am wanting to just give it up totally.

I'm on day 6 and while the first few evenings it was hard to fall asleep, I am now finding the last few evenings it has been easier to fall asleep but harder to get going in the mornings upon waking. Just wondering if this is part of the process of quitting and if anyone else has experienced it.

Thanks!

Yes, erratic sleep patters are very common in early sobriety. They should level out after a while. Be sure to go to bed at the same time every night, even if you don't feel sleepy. Getting on a regular schedule will help even out your sleep patterns.

Congratulations on 6 days! :a122:

Please read the sticky above on quitting. This is very common

GG

Thanks for your response. I will be sure to do that. I have also been experiencing some I guess you could refer to it as excitement, anxiety, etc in the mornings. Nothing unmanageable but there nonetheless. I read up on "Glutamine Rebound" on the web and thought maybe this could be what I am experiencing. Last time I drank (06/10) I was hungover the following day (slept fine) felt a little better from the hangover on Sunday (slept fine) and then starting on Monday, the hard to fall asleep, waking fine, Wednesday, sleeping fine, waking rough.

Drinking plenty of water, orange juice and eating well. Hope it evens out soon.

Thanks!

Welcome to SR. I hope you've been reading and will join the newcomers on their thread.

I'd stay up late (after my wife went to bed) to drink, so when I quit, I slept like a rock. Once my body was well rested, I was bounding out of bed in the mornings. Your sleep pattern will settle in.

As I stated in another thread, drinking has been doing horrible things to my sleep schedule and I hope that quitting will make it better - booze-induced sleep is not restful at all (well, I do wake up in the middle of the night which never helps, but even if I slept through it would still be bad, agitated sleep). So try to comfort yoruself thinking that for a few days maybe you'll sleep less in terms of hours, but the quality of your sleep is totally different, and as soon as you're able to settle into a regular schedule without drinking you will feel way more rested.

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in!!!

The Insomnia is the worst part for me. After a few days, the shaking slows way down, the anxiety goes away, no urge to drink.

However, I will go days on end without sleep. Though my body is hausted, and I have no energy at all, my eyes hurt and are bloodshot red, I cannot sleep.

I take 2 Unisoms at night and I hope that within a few hours they will kick in. I'm not suggesting you do this, it's just sometimes it works for me.


Yep, Insomnia for me is the worst.

Not being able to sleep has seemed to pass. I fall asleep after lying down for anywhere from 10-20 minutes at bedtime. The first few days after not drinking were rough, though. Now it's when I wake up in the morning, feels like a combination of "waking up" and energy both at the same time. Definitely better than being hungover, and not being able to get to sleep... just was wondering if that goes along with the territory of early abstinence.

Thanks!

I'm attempting to stop now. But alcohol makes me sleep buts its extremely irregular to me. I cannot count the times I went to bed at 11pm then I wake up at 1am completely wide awake and cannot go back to sleep then I'm exhausted by 5 am but stay up because I have work at 7am anyways. Then I'm worthless all day but when I get off I do it all again. I was hoping to get out of this type pattern not get into another one. So hopefully I don't experience this but I've always had sleeping problems.

Well here is what occurred last evening.

Went to sleep around 10:30 last evening, woke around 3:45 but I think it was due to my cat bouncing around. She was pretty active. Fell back asleep, got up now around 8:45 am... head feels a little stimulated, like energized, ready to go.. usually this happens after I get my coffee... which feels a little foreign since the last week I was either hungover or getting over it. Waiting for the normal "waking up" feeling to come back (ie: I need my coffee!)

So, on my morning run for coffee I saw a fruit smoothie drink. 100% juice, a huge variety of fruits all blended together. I picked one up and it got me thinking, would it be beneficial to drink one of these in the mornings for a few days to help along the process (5 blackberries, 4 raspberries, 4 strawberries, 3 1/2 apples and 1/2 banana seems healthy) or would I be better off with just water and other fluids?

Day eight, 14 hours, 43 minutes (sobertime clock) Sleeping well besides having my cat wake me up rustling around, will have to fix that tonight with her. Upon awaking, still feel sort of anxious in the head, like I am stimulated by caffeine or something... drinking decaf for now since I seem to have the energy upon waking up. Drank some Gatorade this afternoon after lunch and it seems to have settled a bit.

you may find ..as I did....early sobriety presented different mental and physical "happenings" Mine did balance out rather quickly...:yup:
I just figured it was because my brain was becoming un-saturated and kept sober.

Glad you are moving forward....:yup:

Coming from someone who drank a 5th+ a night of booze a night, I didnt sleep at all the first few days after quitting. So yeah very normal as everyone is stating.

The Anxiety kicked in a few days after and then subsided for a bit. But dont worry thats all normal too.

Just realize if that anxiety comes back that can be normal as well. Depends how bad it is I guess. Im getting close to being 2 months sober, and the anxiety returned all of a sudden. I believe this is due to living life sober for the first time in 10+ years of binge drinking. Dealing with regular day life sober can be pretty mind blowing to the newly sober person. But it too will pass in time.

Great job of quitting bud! I can promise you after all the DT's are said and done life will feel awesome! Just dont get discouraged with the odd feelings that come before you feel normal again :)

Stay strong!

-Ryan

Thanks, Carol. That is good news to hear. :-) Once this part clears up, I will be sure to focus on keeping busy and not drinking. I don't seem to have "the craving" to drink, what happens is after awhile, I will trick myself into believing that I've "come this far" so I must be okay. Longest I've done is 30 days, a few times.

At first, I'll drink once, twice a week, 2-3 beers... but eventually it's a few times a week and the amount increases...I had a week sober until a friend from out of town came and stayed with me for a few days (supposed to not drink, said he wasn't, but as soon as he got dropped off... after a few days it wore off on me and on the 2nd, I had a few beers with him. Then, I made him leave.

This last time, I drank 3 on the 2nd, 4 on the 4th, and on the 6th, bought a case of light beer - 10 light beers (over 9 hours) the 6th, 5 the 9th and 6 the 10th.

The others were left over and drank by a friend. (a different one) I assume this is why I have been stuck with this withdrawal. When I drink I usually drink (too much) one night and then give it up for a week or two... this time around, not so much. I seem to do good once I get over the initial withdrawal and such, as long as I don't get bad types of people visiting me. I've learned not to believe that one in particular, now. Anyway, no more! Off to day nine and beyond.

Thanks, Ryan.

Your body falls deeper into sleep when you are not drinking alcohol. The quality of sleep when you drink isn't so great from what I hear experts say. It could be that you are starting to sleep more like you should and you are not used to this yet and so you feel groggy in the morning. That is my guess. But it is only a guess.

Day 9, 11 hours, 5 minutes. The anxiety, energy upon waking seems to be a little less... will update.

Day 13, 14 hours, 15 minutes. Neat, eh? 13,14,15. :) Waking in the morning seems to have calmed down, little to no energy/anxiety right away upon waking. No desire to drink at the moment. Lately if I see beer on television, etc, I've adapted the saying my head: "Beer = Sick" and say that in my head once or twice and simply move on. I know full well, 1 or 2 will turn into 6-8 and I'll be hungover the next day. No fun.

When you fall asleep from alcohol, it's false sleep meaning that the body isn't really getting sleep but rather the body is passing out and trying to recover from the alcohol. Alcohol disrupts sleep. Drinking alcohol and then falling asleep is like not getting any sleep at all.