thunderstrike78

So I took a nap after I got home from work today. I felt fine--pretty good, in fact. I had a very good day at work and, aside from being a little tired, I was in good spirits.

But then I had a dream that I went out and bought a bottle of booze and just got hammered. I'm not even sure why. And I felt really horrible about it even during the dream, and kept trying to get myself to stop, but I couldn't.

Imagine my relief when my phone went off and woke me up, and I realized I hadn't been drinking after all. I just about laughed before I checked my messages.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. Kind of a weird experience.

Pedro1234

This happens when you give up smoking as well:

Dee74

Hi and welcome thunderstrike

yeah thats all pretty normal - try not to freak out about it - it gets better

D

thunderstrike78

Pedro, I actually don't have that problem with smoking. I smoke VERY occasionally, but it's never been a problem. I haven't had a cigarette in about a month now, I think, but I never got addicted to that--it was really just a social thing with a friend.

Dee, I was only freaking out IN the dream. I was good again within a minute or so of waking up. It was just just kind of odd.

Thanks!

Pedro1234

I gave up smoking years ago and quite often got that exact dream waking up really disappointed in myself for dream smoking. lol

lilyrosemary

Hey...i am three+ years sober and dream that i am drinking/drunk many many times a month. i actually appreciate the dreams. they are SO real, and I feel SO DOWN about screwing up. then i wake up and i realize i am still sober and i feel great. i think these dreams help keep me sober because I can actually experience the remorse i would feel in real life if i DID drink. best wishes!

fantail

I've actually read an article/study that concluded that these dreams literally do help keep us sober, as lilyrosemary says. Apparently having dreams like this was correlated to a lower chance of relapsing/longer period of sobriety. I wish I could find it again, I found it in a research binge in an incognito browser tab and have never been able to turn it up again to share the link!

instant

Drink dreams happened to me sporadically.

Image101

I get these, too. The guilt feeling is overwhelmingly real, but it just serves as another reinforcement to stay sober (when you wake up and realize you didn't drink after all lol).

thunderstrike78

The weirdest thing for me is that I keep having these every couple of nights or so. Last night was a particularly bad one. This time I didn't feel particularly guilty, and I knew exactly why I was drinking. I felt just like I did before--just completely and totally miserable and alone. To the point where I simply didn't give a crap anymore and wanted to stop feeling anything at all.

But again, I woke up and felt an incredible sense of relief that I had not, in fact, been drinking and that I was not where I thought I was or in the situation I thought it was. Not everything was magically solved of course, I but I wasn't in that deep, dark pit of hopelessness that I had previously felt like I was in.

So now I'm off to work, trying not to focus on the negative and to just appreciate that I have a great job now and really great people to work with.

FeelingGreat

I think our subconscious rehearses our fears and plays them out in dreams. It can be very useful as long as it doesn't upset you too much, and it's oworthwhile trying to work out what prompted it and the feelings it provoked.

TiredWolf

Vivid dreams are a hallmark of withdrawal, be it from alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc.

Part of the brain's healing process I suspect.