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3 months sober terrible paws

Old 03-16-2015, 11:40 AM
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3 months sober terrible paws

I'm now 3 months sober and feel terrible.
This all began 5 months ago but after the awfull 2-3 weeks of acute withdrawlal I felt a bit better and started drinking again , not the the extent of before when I had my first panic attack and quit cold turkey but just a few double vodkas and beers here and there .
That was a bad mistake cause it brought on all the symptoms of acute withdrawal again .
I think I drank again cause I didn't really understand what was going on with me .
Since stopping compleatly in jan it's been a physical and emotional ride of symptoms and ive had to give up most my work , been way to poorly to work.

My reflection of the past 3 months is as follows. These are the symptoms :
Dizzyness like the floor moving , headaches , insomnia, terrible anxiety , physical depression, depersonalisation, social anxiety, blurry vision , foggy head, slight nausea, terrible stress sensitivity, high pitched buzzing sound in head
I have all but stopped living apart from walking the dog, shut myself off from my friends and find it hard to even go to the grocery store.

I do however belive I'm slightly better than I was , I've had more bad days than good. The symptoms are coming and going in waves.
I had a week of good days about 5 weeks ago but then all of a sudden on the way to see a friend the awful feelings overwhelmed me and come back . They then peaked after a few weeks then calmed down a bit .
Yesturday was my first what I call green day ( green meaning feeling good no symptoms ) in ages .
Today however has not been so great , woke up ok then the anxiety kicked in , I now feel as I'm writing this very foggy headed and my head is buzzing and feels like an elastic band is around the top
I belive I'm suffering paws and my neuro system is rewiring , that's the only hope I have as ive been dismissed from my Drs after he said there's nothing wrong with you .
Yep his correct , that's why I'm writing this , that's why I've stopped my career and lost most my income ..
I have had ct scan and mri scans all ok but I'm not ok at all.
I'm not craving for another drink and I don't mind if I never drink again I just want to get better.
I'm trying to stay strong and hope I can get through this , this site and the people on it have gave me hope
Thank you
Ps if you want to know my story leading up to this it's called 5 months of hell could it be paws
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Old 03-16-2015, 12:07 PM
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what your describing is almost a spitting image of what I went through. You even threw depersonalization in there as well. it seems not everyone gets that fun one.

I hope it eases up for you. I wrote some stuff at 6 months in and when i refer back to it and I think what was going through my head at 6 months I realize PAWS is a lot ore sever and prolonged for some then others. I even spoke to a physician around that time who told me I could have PAWS I did not believe him. Here i am years later and I think he was right.

At 6 months I couldt take it. I was ready to make further changes in my life for the better to see if that would help me out. I was a mess. So i quit smoking and i started dieting and exercise. In time things eased up some more.

My point is it gets better hang in there. Also maybe there are some other steps you can take like exercise say to help ease matters some more? Something to distract yourself with keep your mind occupied etc..

I also find it interesting you issues with work. I do not know how i managed to hold down a job during that time. to be honest I still have some issues in that department though I guess it has improved some.

Your not alone it really is hard to recover its probably why a lot of folks give up and go back to drinking. But thats not the solution. As crappy as it can be the best solution is to continue forward I promise.
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Old 03-16-2015, 12:13 PM
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I am right there with you. Exact symptoms. Exactly.
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Old 03-16-2015, 12:16 PM
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Originally Posted by zjw View Post
what your describing is almost a spitting image of what I went through. You even threw depersonalization in there as well. it seems not everyone gets that fun one.

I hope it eases up for you. I wrote some stuff at 6 months in and when i refer back to it and I think what was going through my head at 6 months I realize PAWS is a lot ore sever and prolonged for some then others. I even spoke to a physician around that time who told me I could have PAWS I did not believe him. Here i am years later and I think he was right.

At 6 months I couldt take it. I was ready to make further changes in my life for the better to see if that would help me out. I was a mess. So i quit smoking and i started dieting and exercise. In time things eased up some more.

My point is it gets better hang in there. Also maybe there are some other steps you can take like exercise say to help ease matters some more? Something to distract yourself with keep your mind occupied etc..

I also find it interesting you issues with work. I do not know how i managed to hold down a job during that time. to be honest I still have some issues in that department though I guess it has improved some.

Your not alone it really is hard to recover its probably why a lot of folks give up and go back to drinking. But thats not the solution. As crappy as it can be the best solution is to continue forward I promise.
Thanks so much for your help and story, I'm glad you feel better , I feel so messed up and panicky write now , my head feels like it's gonna burst .
I'm trying to keep strong hate being like this
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Old 03-16-2015, 12:33 PM
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Originally Posted by alphaomega View Post
I am right there with you. Exact symptoms. Exactly.
How long have you been going through all this ??
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Old 03-16-2015, 12:45 PM
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Congrats on the 3 months have you considered cbt, group therapy or volenteering ?
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Old 03-16-2015, 01:24 PM
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Originally Posted by malamute100 View Post
Thanks so much for your help and story, I'm glad you feel better , I feel so messed up and panicky write now , my head feels like it's gonna burst .
I'm trying to keep strong hate being like this

one symptom you decribe the brain fog. if its any consolation my brain fog lifted all the sudden one day. and suddenly i became clear headed my mind started to run on warp drive and it happened somewhere around the 90 day mark i think maybe 120 days but it was prior to 6 months. The depersonalization eased up too.

Some things like dizzyness dont discount your blood sugar make sure your eating regularly and enough etc... Sometimes its something simple we can do to fix it.

Its hard I felt as if i was disabled to be honest. and I am not going to lie to you I am not the same person i once was. the feeling of disabled turned into more of an acceptance of who i am. who this new sober person in in this skin of mine. Its not a crutch for me. So if you feel like you cannot do something it may pass and you may be fine once again. I know in my case for example I cannot tackle quite the load of tasks i once could it freaks me out too much. I 'll never be able to do that again. I used to feel as if something was wrong with me i must be disabled etc.. Eventually i was accepting of who i was and totally ok with it.

As you find more balance things start to work themselves out.
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Old 03-16-2015, 06:56 PM
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PAWs seems to hit me at 3 month intervals. 8 months was the most severe and I spent a month literally hiding in the house with debilitating brain fog, fatigue and vertigo type symptoms. I could not handle stress, loud noise or certain smells. My appetite was terrible and I could not motivate myself to do anything unless I really had too. At one point I convinced myself I had a brain tumour or MS. Most days I had that nagging, anxious feeling that I knew alcohol would take away. I am at 15 months now and it's getting a lot better. What helped me was reducing caffeine as it seemed to increase the symptoms 10 fold. I feel very sorry for anyone going through this it is the pits but try to hang in there it gets easier.
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Old 03-17-2015, 03:33 PM
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I had really bad PAWS too. It lasted for just over 2 years. The episodes got less severe and further apart over time. Towards the end I'd go months without having issues. Work was hard for me too. I have a mental job. I never had any work related problems while I drank, and although I never missed a day at work after I stopped drinking , some days I didn't function as well as I should have. What kept me going was that the PAWS wasn't constant and I'd have periods to rest up, I looked at each episode as something that eventually would go away, and I held on to the fact that eventually the PAWS would entirely go away. Read all you can on PAWS, eat right, take B vitamins, exercise, rest, and keep as many stressful encounters away from you as you can. You will survive this. Lots of people on this site have.
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Old 03-17-2015, 05:29 PM
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have you checked this link out guys?
lots of info on how to deal with or lessen the effects of PAWs

PAWS | Digital Dharma
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Old 10-21-2016, 08:07 AM
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Hi MM100 really sorry for your pain, I am at 40 days clean and still feel terrible with most of the symptoms you mentioned. Last night I took a cold/flu tablet to try and help me sleep as only seem to get a few hours every night and feel so tired every day and its affecting my work performance. I felt worse today and think there was codine in it as got terrible cold sweats, anxiety et al today, just wondering if anyone experienced that or have I messed up my brain recovery with that 1 tablet. This paws disease is horrible and just want it to stop, but will never drink again. any thoughts greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Old 10-21-2016, 08:14 AM
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What is PAWS? Ah...must be post acute withdrawal syndrome? Just popped into my head. Is this it? Sounds like you need to see a doctor who can prescribe the right medication for you for now. Sorry you are feeling so bad. I cant relate because after the 2nd day of not drinking, I feel 100% better and just keep feeling better. I am on medication for depression so I am sure that helps me. Wish you luck.
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Old 10-21-2016, 08:25 AM
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Originally Posted by carlingford View Post
Hi MM100 really sorry for your pain, I am at 40 days clean and still feel terrible with most of the symptoms you mentioned. Last night I took a cold/flu tablet to try and help me sleep as only seem to get a few hours every night and feel so tired every day and its affecting my work performance. I felt worse today and think there was codine in it as got terrible cold sweats, anxiety et al today, just wondering if anyone experienced that or have I messed up my brain recovery with that 1 tablet. This paws disease is horrible and just want it to stop, but will never drink again. any thoughts greatly appreciated. Thanks.
This thread is nearly two years old...you may want to post a new thread about your issue.

I know codeine can trigger the same receptors in the brain as alcohol does, so you very well could have felt weird because of that. It could be because you are sick, too. And in early sobriety. Lots going on. I wouldn't worry about it.

The symptoms of PAWS at 40 days for me were still pretty noticeable. Just know that you are continuing to heal day by day. If you took codeine, no harm no foul - just don't pick up a drink and maybe read the labels beforehand on any meds you take in the future.

Carry on - congrats on 40 days. That's a miracle.
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Old 10-21-2016, 09:04 AM
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Hi Biminiblue, thanks so much for your reply and advice, yes I think I am just in the middle of paws (I hope as don't know how long this agony will last) and have to ride the wave. It was getting progressively better this week and don't know if it was the tablet or not that made me feel very bad again, anyway I will soldier on, I just bought some organic tea to help with my sleep so I will try later, no codine this time, have a nice week end and thanks again
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