MaxxPower

What's up SR friends,

Two months sober today Had a variety of challenges through the holidays but pulled through. Hardest one? My younger brother that I only get to see once a year was drinking heavily next to me the entire time. We hung out 24/7 the entire week he was here.

Had my share of watching his revolting amount of beer,vodka, and wine consumption. His morning hangover's (withdrawls?) were hard to watch.

We golfed everyday so it wasn't too bad.

Anyways, one thing I've really noticed lately is I cant enjoy any forms of liquids. Had a spicy virgin Caesar made for me before Christmas dinner and I drank it within a couple minutes.

I don't even really like coffee, but had a cup this morning and I gulped the entire cup down. Water,tea, slupee's.. anything! I don't know how to eat and enjoy a cup of juice or whatever at the same time. Once I have the first sip, its gone. One or the other. Can anyone relate to this? It's kind of annoying.

silentrun

I had an incident during one of my PAWS episodes that I actually forgot to drink anything. I couldn't sense thirst. Is it possible that you are not keeping yourself hydrated and when you do drink something it is gone in a hurry?

brynn

Well done on two months, maxx!!

SoberLeigh

Contrast, MaxxPower, on two sober months.

Silentrun raised a good point. Maybe you are under-hydrated. Do you know how many ounces of water you are drinking each day?

ScottFromWI

That does sound odd, but on the bright side it's not alcohol, right? Congrats on 2 months by the way. We all have our quirks and bumps as we learn how to live sober, I ate chocolate by the handful the first month or two, and I didn't touch it when drinking.

Tamerua

Good for you! Keep up the good work.

BarbieKen

Hi Maxx,
My choices of liquids for a couple decades has been sparkling plain water or wine. I now drink just the sparkling water. In the car and in meetings I also have water with me (Bottled 'fiat'). Right now, bedside, water. HaHA you get the idea. I drank to get drunk OR for thirst. Just drinking now for thirst, water fits that bill for me.
Bobbi

Alwyshope12

Maxx, i have always had a similar drink reflex, and need for fluids, doesn't matter if it was coffee or tea or wine or beer. gave up on the alcohol, but still drink very frequently.

i am not sure if this is symptom of withdrawal or not.

im just two months as well, its a tough one, emotions for me are all over the place, from not caring about anything to feeling bad about everything.

hope its going well for you.

ps, Maxx Power, thats a powerful name, did you get it from a hairdryer?

Hawks

Yeah, I guzzle any liquid.

I'm not a sipper of anything.

Lorax1981

Wow, good job gettin through! I'm a guzzler too. Hot coffee slows me down but usually I'm chugging. I do enjoy my beverage though. Likely just a phase. The first year or two has a lot of those:-)
-Ted

Bostonsportsfan

I'm glad to hear from you Max and that you're 2 months sober!!

Keep up the good work buddy!

waynetheking

Good job getting thru the holidays maxx. Keep it up buddy. Its going to get better and better. You're going to love sobriety. Trust me!

Dee74

Congrats on the two months Maxx - how's it going now?

D

MaxxPower

No, I don't think its because of that.

MaxxPower

Drinking over the recommended 8 glasses of water a day.

MaxxPower

Right.

MelindaFlowers

Congratulations on two months! Man, I feel you on those holidays. Had some really tough moments myself but pulled through. Those hangovers you were talking about are the reason I stayed the course. I simply don't have another hangover in me. And, I always remember that if I were to ever drink again the hangover would be 8X worse than I even remember them because my body is no longer accustomed to them. Never again!

Like you and your brother, I've been around hungover people a few times and I can almost feel them just being near. Yuck!

I can also relate to the liquids thing. Drinking a liquid is rather strange for me and I still do it very quickly and very purposefully. I've forgotten my water bottle a few times going to work and I just can't seem to get enough water out of drinking fountains, no matter how hard I try. I think it's a form of PTSD from being dehydrated everyday for years.

MaxxPower

Umm, okay I guess.

Although, I'm having some major sleep problems. My average time right now where I fall asleep is around 3 - 3:30. I've had a few nights where I haven't even fell asleep at all. Been trying to stay awake during the day to switch my sleep routine around, but always eventually fall asleep in the afternoons because of extreme exhaustion. Its a frustrating cycle.

I'm not working right now, but I HAVE TO start working soon. This is making me nervous/stressed cause I been feeling fatigued lately. I don't even know if I can work. Got dark circles under my eyes. I look like a tired drunk owl or something.

I guess this is why its called..recovery.

Not sure what to do?! how much longer this will last?! My recovery could take way longer that I can afford. Advice?

Also, thank you everyone for your comments.

MaxxPower

Right on Melinda,

Yeah, I get butterfly's in my stomach when I think about how bad the ''hangover's'' were. Ashamed too. I don't like to think about it right now. I'm actually worried about my brother, but gotta focus on myself.

Did you ever have sleep issues in your early recovery? how about your energy levels?

MelindaFlowers

I sobered up during summer when I was off from work so I could sleep whenever. I found it extremely hard to fall asleep but once asleep I slept like the dead, and for long periods like 12 hours. I really can't explain why but I would stay awake and wired til maybe 9 am and then sleep all day. I have no idea why that schedule seemed to work for me for the first few weeks. I still have some insomnia. Now that I am back at work there have been times where I am up almost all night can't sleep, go to work and have a B of a day, and then sleep like the dead all night.

In summation: difficulty getting to sleep but then deeeep sleep.
Afternoon naps are almost irresistible. I love/hate them!

Energy levels? Peaks and valleys. I will say that even on low energy days I am still so thankful to not be hungover. Sometimes I feel great and energetic. Other times like a slug! In early sobriety lots of fatigue. Lethargy.