tigerlover

I've had dreams where I relapse before. I had one once a week and now its only down to about once a month. Last night in my dream I drank 3 sips of vodka probably because i watched it on tv the night before. I drank 3 sips and when I was done i was like 'ohh nooo, I've relapsed. . . But 3 little sips don't count. So I hid it from everyone that i had relapsed but knew in the back of my mind that I had failed and my life was pretty much over.

I've been sober for 6 months now. If anyone has had a lot of these dreams, when does it end??????

--Britney

ObeseGuy

Hi.

I get these too, although I am still battling to maintain sobriety.

They are awful, and make you feel awful, as if you have failed. Its almost like your subconscious is trying to make you fail.

I don't know how long they might last, but I would suspect you might get them occasionally until you have achieved years of abstinence.

All you can tell yourself, is they are just dreams, just your mind playing tricks on you. When you wake up say to yourself "Thank god it was just a dream, I did not fail, I will not fail!"

Good luck and best wishes to you. Congratulations on your sobriety, I want to get to your point.

tooling

I am just about at 1 year and I can say 1 year is farther away than 6 months. What I mean is the longer the sobriety the less of a memory drinking is.

Best thing to do is way up and slap your face a little and be glad you are alive.

DayTrader

4+ years and I still get them once and a while - they've gotten less frequent but, when I have them, they're much more vivid and they've gotten more and more scary. --knock on wood, haven't had one in 6 -9 months or so.

I'll probably get one tonight now that I'm talking about it LOL

Most of the people I know in recovery still get them from time to time - even the folks with 20, 30, 40 or more YEARS.

The deal with those dreams is that I'm "sober" in my dream to start out and I know everything in the dream that I'm consciously aware of right this minute......and I break that sobriety. My "dream me" knows everything my awake-me knows......but I relapse. They're a great reminder to me that knowing I can't drink again, knowing I'm an alcoholic, and not wanting to drink again........for an alcoholic like me, that's not enough to keep me sober.

About 75% of them have been "wake up calls" to me. I'm totally freaked out when I wake up so I start to look at what's been going on lately in my life. I'm generally able, after a relapse dream, to do a much deeper and much more objective mental inventory of what I'm doing and not doing to further my recovery. Like I said, about 75% of the time I find some pretty big holes in my practices. So, in those instances, I'm really thankful for those nightmares.

BullDog777

I'm coming up on 2 years of sobriety and I still get them. They're are alot less frequent, but they still rattle me quite a bit when i have them.

Usually, I'll start to get them around anniversaries or when I'm stressing out.

It used to be 3 times a week for the first month or so and by 6 months it was just one or two every couple of weeks. If i remember correctly, at around a year, i was only getting them once or twice a month. then they really started to fade. i think since then, i've only had 3-4 total in my second year.

I always woke up ashamed and sad that i had let my wife and daughter down. it's a horrible feeling, and in all honesty, i'm sort of glad i still get those awful dreams. it's a reminder of where i can be in a heartbeat if i become complacent.

onlythetruth

I'm sober almost 13 years and I STILL get the darn things! It is rare, maybe one a year, but I still get 'em! Then again, I also still have dreams that I'm back in school and forgot to go to class all semester! Heaven only knows why the mind goes back in time like that. All I know is that I am happy when I wake up!

Terminally Unique

Or your subconscious addicted mind knows perfectly well that it can't get you to drink/use when you are awake, and that it can now "indulge" only when you are comatose and paralyzed. If you get a drinking dream, relax - it means that you are succeeding, not failing.

BASEjumper

I've been sober for 14 months and I still have them. I use it as a reminder of how addicted to alcohol I really am, even if I don't struggle much anymore in the waking world

sugarbear1

Most of my dreams are vivid today. Are you remembering all of your dreams, too? It's like general dreams or nightmares for me, stuff pops up out of the blue. I don't understand "why" I just dream dreams today. Nightmare or pleasant dream, they just are.

Soberpotamus

And if one doesn't have these dreams... what then? I hope it doesn't mean I'm not a "real alcoholic" if I don't (I've never had a drinking dream).

newwings

I haven't had a drinking dream either, Jennie. Not even a hint of one. I sleep absolutely blissfully every night!!

Soberpotamus

Newwings... well I don't sleep absolutely blissfully. It usually takes me reading a couple of hours and then I play an iPhone app meditation to fall asleep to, I'll wake up a couple times and then end up sleeping like a rock. I feel like I'm still heavy as lead sometimes when I do get out of bed the next day. Weird. Sometimes when I step out of bed I'll catch myself nearly reeling... like I'm off balance.

LOL... is this normal? Have I just forgotten that's how normal people sleep?

Danae

I was just thinking about this very thing. Had a dream last week that I'd had a drink and it was scary. No interest in doing it in real life, though.

Good to know that others have had the same experience. I'm at about 9 months now, and haven't had these often.

DayTrader

Why would you "hope" it doesn't mean that? Why would it matter if it means anything at all?

....or were you just stirring the anti-AA pot again?

Soberpotamus

I was making fun of my own simple (and obviously deliberately skewed) logic there.

My reply had nothing at all to do with AA.

LovesToTravel

I have dreams about drinking...it's been 1 1/2 years since stopping

I have dreams about work..it's been 10 years since stopping

I have dreams about missing finals and college...graduated in 82

I have dreams about lots of things...I wouldn't read anything into them..

My problem is that I remember all of my dreams...wonder I can sleep at all..

Mariano

Really, I dont know as I have only 3,5 months of sobriety. Are those dreams annoying?

I yet have dreams about my university exams... that was 20 years ago!!

BadCompany

I did a little research into Jungs study on dreams and drunk dreams are a good thing. Your recovery has reached your subconscious. I celebrate 21 years on the 8th and I had my last one just a year or so ago.

Latte

It's been five years and I still have using/drinking dreams occasionally. It seems that when I consume spicy or heavy foods I dream really strange dreams. I'm not as disturbed by the using/drinking dreams as I am by the one I had today. I won't go into details but I sure don't want to repeat that one. No more doughnuts before sleepy time-ever.

michelle01

Nearly 2 years sober, I still have these dreams sometimes, not very often. It doesn't disturb me that much, once I wake up and realize it's just a dream. Even though they are very vivid at the time. I get the taste back, the intoxicated state and everything, even though I struggle to remember such things when awake. It's like a full on replay.

I do agree with someone with mentioned Jung, I notice it's when I'm actually starting to get to grips with something, I start dreaming about it. That's not just in the area of alcohol, but other situations in my life. I won't have any dreams about it at all until I'm starting to process and get past it.