Reset

When I was a kid and had a scary dream, my mom would tell me that the best way to make it go away was to talk about it. So that's what I'm trying.

For the third night in a row, I've had different variations of the same dream. All 3 dreams have gone something like this:

I am in a place that sells beer, usually craft beers. I am with an old friend or two. Before I realize it, I have consumed half a beer. Somehow it was put in front of me and I drank it like I was on autopilot. One of the first thoughts I have is, "oh no, what am I going to say to the SR people? Maybe since I'm not drunk it'll just be considered an accident." Then I try to stand up and realize that my former tolerance to alcohol is gone and I stumble, pretty much drunk off my butt from not even a full beer. And now that I'm inebriated I have to call this episode a relapse.

And I always wake up trying to gain my balance in a half-sleepwalk. The wild thing is how real the sensation of inebriation seems.

Why won't this dream go away?

Symmetry

Drinking was a very real part of your life. You have to keep the memories alive so you don't forget too soon. I have dreams like that too and am so relieved when I wake up. It's a relief. It's a release.

Dee74

I think drinking dreams are pretty common.

Like I said somewhere else today - I treated them like temp files being erased in my brain. I'd drunk for a good many years.

D

CarolD

I dream in color....and about all sorts of trace memories of situations and events. Sometimes I'm drinking.....sometimes not.
The longer I've been sober...the less the drinking ones pop up.

I've not had a drink in 22 years...so regarless of the drinking dreams...obviously they are not yet true....

Reset

Thanks everyone.

Yes Carol, the good thing is waking up sober. Gotta remember that.

It's weird how the dreams have been a lot more frequent in the past week though.

wheresthefun

When I quit smoking (cigarettes) in 1987 I had constant dreams where I would smoke. I'd feel guilty, all the usual stuff... But, as time went on I had these dreams less and less, until I hardly ever have one. When I do now, I actually find it kind of amusing.

Okay, I'm not a psychologist, buy my undergraduate degree is in developmental psych. "They" taught us dreams don't mean dookie (a lot of Freud is discarded today). The only thing I've ever been taught about dreams that the psych world thinks may (note the word MAY) have meaning, is that they are wish fulfillments...YIKES!

Mark75

Relapse with consequences. What are you gonna say to the people on SR... Then bargaining... It was only just one and since I didn't get drunk maybe it's not a relapse. But I am, drunk, I can't walk straight.

Yea, I get it. All of it. The details are a little different, but still the same ideas... Especially the bargaining part... It was a little slip, I didn't really mean it... But it happened, now what?

It's a big deal for me, this huge change in my life, other people in my life who are expecting me to continue on with my sober lifestyle... But just one?? Can't mean anything, but it does... And it counts...

You are just wrestling with it all. Was it Jacob who wrestled with the angel in the desert?

SomethingBetter

Hi Reset, do you think the recent business meetings had anything to do with them? maybe not, but I think the guilt we feel after them is a counter measure if our minds are trying to get us to remember the 'good times'.
There good reminders that we don’t drink anymore, when I drank I can’t recall the drinking dreams if there were any.

I agree though, dreams aren’t real, I recently have seen bottles of liquor and beer in someone’s house, wasn’t affected at all but I wonder if there’s a drinking dream around the corner for me…

I’m not an amateur psychologist but that’s my thoughts for the moment,

NYCDoglvr

It's a drink signal. I've had those too in early recovery and after increasing my meetings, the meetings stopped.

Taking5

The meetings stopped or the dreams stopped?

Reset

No, I don't think it was because of the business meetings. I really did feel fine that week.

But...last week I was on vacation. It's an annual vacation that used to be non-stop alcohol for me. Couple of mid-morning beers, beer with lunch, beer all afternoon, pre-dinner cocktails, wine with dinner, after dinner drinks...I was getting kind of grumpy during this year's trip and some days I'd go to get a Diet Coke and see bottles of bourbon, rum, and whiskey sitting on the shelf, thinking "damn I'd really like a drink right now." It was one of the more difficult times since I quit in January.

I'm kind of glad that vacation is over.

JimE

I've had drinking dreams that seemed so real, too real and when I woke up I felt guilty as hell but after a minute or two I realized it's just a nightmare. I hate when that happens.

instant

Relax you can't control your dreams. They are a reflection of where you are at for the moment (ie fear of relapse) or maybe where you could be if you were drinking with your old friends.

Please donate 5cents to your favourite charity LOL.

Peter

The using dreams will go away after a while. I've had them and I know how real they seem.

Mine went after about a month but I've heard of people having them for longer.

abc

Reset, maybe you should try to enjoy the relief you get when you wake up? I think I get booze dreams also. I don't usually remember my dreams very well. But lately I wake up feeling extreme relief that I didn't drink. My brain must have been thinking I drank. The dreams are fuzzy though, I can't pinpoint drinking in them really. My coke dreams were more vivid, after I quit coke. I would almost feel high in my dream, that's how real it was.

Peter G

I had boozing dreams so bad I've woken up and looked around my house for empties, certain I'd gone off the deep end. Other times I've woken from those dreams actually feeling a hangover.

I always took them as a good thing, because it was just bloody awesome once I realized I hadn't really gone out and tanked myself.

My drinking dreams went away in a few... well... maybe 4 weeks. I wouldn't sweat them - they are common.

switchboard

I've been sober for over a year and still, now and then, have drinking dreams. I don't crave a drink at all, but obviously my former drinking career / alcoholism is part of what goes on in my thoughts (or I wouldn't be on this board today - lol). It means I care.

And I'm sure that's what your dreams are --> a reflection of what's been on your mind - what's been mattering to you .. what you care about .. and what you're working on.

... I think that's a really good thing, and that you should remind yourself of that every time you wake up from that dream.