Joez

Hi I'm 27 year old male and I've been a heavy drinker since I was 17, lately I've been having severe episodes of depression, fatigue, confusion and a "there is something wrong in my head" feeling everytime a couple of days without drinking have gone by.

At first I thought I was sick, so I went and spent over a month looking for a disease that just wasn't there, then I started thinking it was alcoholic abstinence.

Then I accomplished 4 weeks without a single drink, but nothing happened as I still felt like ****. So I started drinking again.

The only moments I have a clear head is when Im drinking. And its getting worse.

I don't know what to do, I don't know where to go. I am lost.

awuh1

Detox safely with the help of a physician and get a consult from a mental health professional regarding the depression (which may be causing the fatigue and confusion). You may have two separate, but related problems.

doggonecarl

Welcome to SR.

If you had posted before you resumed drinking, I would have suggested that you see your doctor and eliminate depression or some other medical reason for feeling like ****. Because it's not sobriety that's the problem. If you have a problem that is solved by drinking, you have a drinking problem.

Give sobriety another try. And see your doctor. If you don't have a medical reason for feeling like ****, then maybe it's untreated alcoholism you are suffering from.

Eddiebuckle

Joez,

No one here can give medical advice, but I can say from experience that early sobriety is rough: mood swings, inability to concentrate, listlessness, etc. What you have described is not inconsistent with withdrawal. The thing that surprised me most about early sobriety was how much and how long it took to physiologically get over drinking. For me, it took over six months to really improve. In light of that perhaps the question is not whether alcohol is the issue, but whether you have underestimated the extent to which it is an issue.

Joez

I know... I know... its hard to go to a physician and say: " I have a drinking problem and suffer depression" But I know its the only way out.

Thats the scary part

I have... and thank you for really giving a new perspective on the topic. Its my fault I let it come to this.

theatredork

Or is it possible that you could need help with something, and alcohol has been one way to cope with it? The self-blame game is dangerous.... I know because my default is to blame myself. For me, it was almost impossible to find tools to help me cope with anxiety and depression when I was drinking... it was my solution. Then it became a big part of my problem. And just abstaining from alcohol... when I was younger, it helped clear my head. But by the time I really felt like I was hitting bottom, I needed more help than that. I needed to learn how to live life.

It can get better.

RecklessEric

Nobody here is able to tell you what your problem is for sure.
But if it's a drink problem, the best thing is to stop drinking.
If it's depression, it's best to stop drinking. At least until you and your doctor get a handle on it.

But alcohol addiction and depression are both very treatable.

PurpleKnight

Welcome to the Forum Joez, great to have you here!!

When you say "nothing happened" after 4 weeks, what did you expect to happen? 10 years of drinking can't be fixed and the body can't be healed in only 28 days, it's gonna take a longer amount of time to see real results. 10 years is a long time in comparison to 4 weeks!!

You can do this though, go at it again, you'll get there!!

Dee74

Some great advice here Joez

I hope you will see your DR - and I hope you'll stick around here too

welcome

D

Joez

Thanks everyone, I feel lucky for finding and joining this community seems this is a place you can share stuff that few people actually understand.

Hope to learn a lot. Love the way users support one another.

Angel1555

I can tell you one thing definitively. Alcohol will never help your depression.

dSober

Go to a meeting: Alcoholics Anonymous : Find Local A.A. Preferably an open speaker meeting to start but any will do.

Go early, stay late. Talk to people, tell them you're a newcomer. Get a Big Book ("Alcoholics Anonymous") at the meeting and read it. Get a local meeting list too.

LBrain

To be sure, it took months for me after I quit drinking to come out of my funk.