Platypus

Today is day 4 booze free

But last night I had a really vivid dream that I was drinking, and initially felt really guilty when I woke up... before realising it had been a dream. Then I actually had sort of hangover symptoms that I didn't have the day before - headachy, dehydrated etc,

Has anyone else had this?

Dee74

They're very common Platypus - I think nearly universal.

I treated them like any other dream...they got less and less as time wore on, and so did that hangover feeling...make sure you're hydrated enough thiough the day

D

Castle545

I too have had those dreams in the past. They feel so real! Glad to see Dee's post that they lessen over time.

LadyinBC

Yup me too. This is pretty normal. The one thing is that I drink in my dream, but I'm not drunk.

TiredWolf

I experience a lot of vivid dreams during alcohol w-d.

Not always bad dreams or drinking related, but very detailed and I seem to be able to remember them when I wake up. I had the same thing when I was getting off drugs.

And have also heard a lot of tobacco users experience this when they quit whatever product it it they're using.

ElegantlyWasted

Right there with you on day 4 too. Verrry normal. No vivid dreams for me, but all the other stuff. Hypersensitive to caffeine right now and over reactive to stressors... It will pass. Noticed since I started posting here again I have an obscene amount typos (LOL), which will pass as well. Arrrgh; cant wait to get a couple of weeks down the road.

Platypus

Nice to know someone's at the same stage - let's hope this is the last "day 4" for us both

Interesting what you say about the caffeine, I've had periods of being completely unable to tolerate it too, but never really linked it to the alcohol. I seem to be fine with it this time though (thank God...). I've been taking a lot of milk thistle in the last month, so I don't know if that helped.

I know what you mean about wanting to get to 2 weeks - and the time seems to go by so slo-o-o-owly... Unlike when you're drinking of course... We'll get there!

chrissp

Oh yeah, I didn't even have to be at the stage where I was drinking enough for withdrawal. Any time I didn't have access (dry boat research cruise, fieldwork, etc), I always had VERY vivid dreams of drinking in very random places with random people. Lots of memorable ones, drinking in an underground bar a decade or so after some kind of catastrophe/apocalypse. Stuff like that.

gunther84

Ive had two since I stopped 8 days ago. The one last night was pretty vague, but I woke up feeling rather hungover and it passed rather quickly. The first one I will remember for a while. A group of us were being chased by alien/zombies with people being killed around us and we wound up being holed up in a abandoned bar full of booze....that's when the real dread set in and I woke up....scared. But it was just a dream.

Boleo

At day 4 I still had a variety of withdrawal symptoms. I did not feel physically normal for at least 2 weeks. Then again, I was a daily drinker for years before that.

waynetheking

If ur dreaming ur sleeping better. I think ur brain is getting adjusted to not being poisoned before bedtime. Enjoy thos dreams. It means progress.

Deckard

I agree with this. Dreams like this mean that a lot of mental work and reorganization is going on. They are like waves on the surface that reflect deep currents moving underneath...

Johno1967

There has been a lot of research into the field and still more being proposed. A google search will get you lots of hits. Here is a couple of articles.

Dreams of Recovering Alcoholics: Mood, Dream Content, Discovery, and the Storytelling Method of Dream InterpretationInternational Journal of Dream Research Volume 2, No. 2 (2009)

http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/o.../.../399/pdf_2
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A comparison of the dreams of male and Female Abstinent Alcoholics compared to Non Alcoholic Controls: Are the differences significant? | Parker | International Journal of Dream Research

dwightwin

totally! I'm on dry day seven and had a super-vivid dream last night I was drinking heavily...when I woke up I initially was POSITIVE I had gotten drunk the night before and felt guilty, headache-y and hungover...then as the sleep fog cleared and I realized the hardest thing I had to drink last night was grapefruit juice, the hangover feeling disappeared...the mind is a scary, crazy thing.

enoughnow10

7 weeks on - I sometimes have them and wake up feeling guilty and ashamed that I have let myself down.
A couple of seconds later when I realise I havn't actually even had a drink is a huge relief and reminds me how well Im doing.
bizarre