prodigal

I'm not an alcoholic, but I'm married to one. Something has happened recently that has me really scared. He was on a bender all weekend and spent most of Saturday afternoon passed out on the basement couch. The best I could figure, he was boozing at 6 am, stopped for awhile, passed out, and was drinking again when I came into the kitchen around 11:30 am. By 2 pm he was passed out again. Somewhat the same on Sunday, except he passed out on the deck but not as long as he had Saturday.

He couldn't sleep Sunday night. Best I could figure, he passed out at 10 pm, woke up at 12:30 am and was up the rest of the night. He called in "sick" to work this morning. Seems like something similar happened again tonight. I was in the basement watching t.v. and I heard him pacing around above me. He came downstairs for a minute and asked me what I was watching.

He rarely has insomnia. Question: Does sleeplessness like this happen after a weekend of hard-core drinking and going back and forth between drunkeness and passing out? (I think while he was up tonight he pounded down a few shots of scotch to help him get back to sleep, but I'm not certain...)

msnbuffalo

Hi prodigal

My name is Mike and I am an alcoholic...One of my biggest excuses to drink in the evening was that I couldn't sleep...I would use several shots of vodka to help me sleep and then when that alcohol wore off I would always wake up, around 2 or 3 AM and need more to get back to sleep...sometimes I would wake again at 4 or 5 and reach for more if my wife was still asleep...

Earlier in my disease I did not have this problem, would pass out for the nite and sleep through the nite, many times over sleeping in the morning...

When I quit drinking I couldn't sleep normally for days...the first nite without alcohol I slept only about an hour...I still have a few sleep problems with 51 days sober now...but am doing better...The way I understand it...alcohol uses up certain chemicals in the brain and seriously disrupts our sleeping patterns...and as you may know this disease is progressive and gets worse never better...

Mike

Chy

Oh yea, it happens all the time. Some of us even justify our drinking because we can't sleep normally anymore. Even after I quit it took weeks to finally get it right. It's normal I assure you. What's not though is drinking, I hope he will begin havin a dialogue with himself he needs to do something to help himself. I hope you will visit our Al-Anon boards. Your both in my prayers.

Music

Your situation is not uncommon. Personally, I never had trouble sleeping. My problem was getting to bed. I didn't want to sleep until I couldn't drink any more or ran out of booze.

My wife sobered up almost a year before I did. During that time, I kept on drinking and she just LEFT ME ALONE. This is my suggestion to you. Your hubby is doing what he HAS to do. I'd suggest you leave him alone. Don't bother him, don't clean up after him, don't make excuses for him concerning his job. Be with him during his good times and stay away from him when he's drinking. He'll either hit bottom, or he won't, but rest assured, he's doing what he needs to do. As long as he's not abusing you, just love him enough to leave him alone.

TorontoGuy28

Hi, I am an alcoholic.

I hear ya about the sleep... However, what keeps me up at night is the worry and guilt
about my excessive drikning... The idiotic stuff I would do the night before, the people I upset and the possible results from those actions.. On top of that, my anxiety levels would be through the roof which would sometimes result in actual anxiety attacks...

As of last Friday I haven't a single drink and my mental health is 100% better -- so is my sleep... On occasions I do however take gravol to help me sleep...

Hope this helps

NotThatThirsty

I know alcohol disrupts sleep patterns especially after a period of heavy drinking... My body would wake me up like an alarm as if to tell me "I need a drink". When I stopped drinking, sleeping was difficult for me cuz I just wasn't used to doing it without some sort of "help".
As far as your husbands drinking... Understand he is sick but he has to get to place where he, himself really Wants to Get Well... Making any excuses for him will be of no help. Still hold him responsible for his actions. Get on the Al-anon discussion, as they have lots of Experience, Strength, and Hope for friends/family of Alcoholics.

-Josh

Abracadebra

I remember a friend explaining to me back when I was drinking that it was stupid to use alcohol as a sleep aid, because the sugar in it acts as a stimulant.

MootPoint

i used to wake up, say "oh sh@t i'm awake", drink knowlingly to pass out, wake up, repeat process, do this about 3-4 times in a row. then at night, i couldn't sleep and would start it all over again!

so the answer is YES!

and....... like Chy said, we have a great al anon board!

Dan

Alcohol. The ultimate I don't know if I'm coming or going drug. A major depressant that wakes you up like a tank when it's time for the next dose.

THEDETACHER

I think a better question is about yourself.

IS this the kind of behaviour I am willing to tolerate in my life ?"

WHY do i want to be with someone who is so unavailable to me ?

Does focussing on HIS behaviour somehow serve you any good perpose ?

It takes TWO to TANGO !

Grace

This is very interesting, as I am involved with an abusive alcoholic.

He gets drunk and calls me terrible names and just recently threatened to hurt my little puppy.

When he is sober, he can be a very kind and caring man. It's like living with two different men. For myself, I keep wishing and hoping that the mean, abusive man will eventually go away, because it is the other man that I care for and want to be with.

I know that there are many success stories. I've read about them on here.

How do you know when there's no hope left and it's time to give up completely???