tiel

I just find this interesting... when I go without drinking for periods of time whether it be days to weeks... I find I regularly ha e nightmares. Not good dreams..usually always bad ones. I just wonder if this is naturally how I dream or brought on by my own subconscious thoughts that never get to surface when I am drunk.
I just was curious if anyone else had any similar situations.

GypsyHeart

I always have nightmares when I stop drinking. I actually had a rather bizarre one last night (featuring falling in a river, monsters and a deep dangerous hole). I also have weird dreams that are probably full of symbolic things but it wears me out trying to decipher any of it. Unless it is something that is pretty blatant as to the meaning, I usually just chalk it up to my creative imagination coming back from being drowned by drinking

Ptcapote

Yes, I had awful nightmares when I stopped drinking. I think it is because I was never really allowing my body to sleep but instead drugging it into submission with booze. They went away after a few months and now I actually seem to sleep and dream like a normal person (or so I hear )

One of sobriety's greatest gifts: Sleep. Blinking, normal sleep...

JaylaaKent

Part of it is you are actually reaching REM state, because you aren't using alcohol (which inhibits REM sleep). Other part is, you drink for a reason - some emotional, mental, spiritual problem most likely. This is probably manifesting yourself. Also, you're not drinking, so you're probably FEELING for the first time since you started heavy/alcoholic drinking. I had a higher frequency when I first stopped drinking than I do now 4 months w/o alcohol, but still have occasional (bad ones) I'm sure it's because I'm thinking/working on a LOT of crap.

beatle

I remember those dreams during early sobriety, almost evil, like the presence of the devil. For me, they went away rather quickly, and I now enjoy deep, restful sleep. Waking up and enjoying the morning is a great time for me now.

Dee74

It's very common in early recovery - they do fade away tho

D

1newcreation

It's ironic you should mention it coz earlier this wk, some1 mentioned in a mtg bout having strange & wierd dreams...'twas shared among others also had same thing; that its just part of recovery. I didnt have any so depends on individual

Galactus

Yup I had them during the night sweats, I chalked it up to being so restless and stressed out, emotionally , physically and such. 'And some were just wild, crazy aSs stuff and so scary and vivid , like someone mentioned above, the devil, death etc now after going into my third week my biggest problem is snoring. I used to grind my teeth and have dreams about my teeth all falling out too. My wife couldn't wake me up, said she had to check on me because I would stop breathing then have like a choking sound, roll over and star grinding and snoring etc...not fun...glad I quit

LDT

I just view bad dreams or nightmares as our minds detoxing, similar to our bodies' physical detox.

HJIK

When ever I have had alcohol slips I get like these night terrors, like panic attacks in this half asleep half awake state where I am wondering what happends when I die or will I out live all my relatives and be abused by strangers when Im old and weak , nasty stuff like that. It sucks.

karate

I have bad dreams EVERY time I drink .

Drinking is supposed to help us sleep , Im calling ******** on that one .

Actually don't need to ,everyone here knows it disrupts sleep

safe2breathe

i was like beatle - i had either incredibly evil feeling dreams 0- or i had dreams of going out and getting drunk and feeling remorseful and guilty -- waking up from those always sucked bc i would wake up feeling guilty and like a POS - even though it was a dream -- they went away with time ... just another crap thing our brain does to us in early recovery i guess

caboblanco

night terrors and altered states were a lot worse then the actual nightmares for me...i woke up in an altered state once..when i came out of it my heart started racing i almost passed out twice..i fell on my knees..i thought i was having a heart attack

if i had a nightmare..i just woke up..realized it wad just a dream and it was fine

nickand

You are correct. The bad dreams do come every now and then when I don't drink.

karate

Its a sure thing ,ill have bad dreams if I do drink .

And night sweats too .

On a one night drinking round ,with several totally sober days before it .

reflection

Yes! I've been having crazy nightmares lately. Last night someone was pushing a drunk on me, I woke up with my heart racing. I'm glad to hear this gets better!!

MaxxPower

My dreams were very demonic when I first quit.

Have gotten allot better over the months.

Although when I eat peanut butter before going to bed - all bets are off - crazy stuff.

Stay away from peanut butter before sleeping!

Sunny27

The nightmares were the only real side-effect I had when I quit drinking. They lasted maybe two weeks in total. I was actually afraid to go to sleep.

It all passed though. I just looked at it as a part of detoxing - getting all the bad stuff out.

KateL

Yes, I have had them but as everyone else says, they do pass xx

Change4good

I remember feeling as if I was literally losing my mind during semi-conscious states of sleep/wakefulness. It was horrible. And it passed. :-)