priceyjunk

I'm pretty clued in about the health problems with alcohol, especially for an alcoholic like me. In fact, it's a major source of the anxiety I suffer. Not anxious enough though I guess, since I've had to make so many fresh starts at getting sober.

Just wondering if anyone had any idea how soon you start seeing benefits from quitting drinking. I don't just mean feeling much better the next day, with no guilt, headache, nausea etc etc. but how long does it take for the body to start noticeably healing itself?

Dee74

I think it varies for everyone

I felt pretty good physically after a month, and approaching 'normal' mentally at 3 months.

Your mileage may vary

D

FBL

As Dee says, everyone recovers at their own pace. I was feeling better after a few days, a few weeks, a few months, a few years. Much like drinking, recovery has been progressive for me, except it's gotten better, not worse.

Brauggi

I also think that it varies from person to person. I remember reading on here at one point that it can take over a year to feel normal again, but that seems like an extreme case. I just know that, for me, I feel like a totally different person than I did when I first stopped drinking. That anxiety that you mention? I found that mine has all but disappeared, and all of my numbers look fantastic at the doctors (my blood pressure when drinking once got me put on anti-seizure meds it was so high, I just measured it this morning and it was 108 over 68. )

The effects on my health were the impetus for me to stop and I couldn't wait to see the results. The big thing is you need to put together a long stretch and be patient when it may begin to get frustrating, as the results never come on the timeframe that we want it to.

zjw

i started feeling better i guess after just a few days ya know not waking up with a hangover and such but i had ions of toehr issues going on from quiting. I really didnt start to feel good till I changed my diet and started excercising and lost the weight in addition to having quit booze. it took me a while over a year I'd say.

entropy1964

After a couple of weeks to a month. Skin is clear and soft (hydration and proper nutrition), hair isn't falling out, sleeping well, depression lifting, thinking clearly etc.

I do believe that a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and good nutrition, sunshine and fresh air, really help speed up the process.

ScottFromWI

There's lots of variable involved, and as you can see it's different for everyone. Some of the acute problems I had like GERD cleared up in a matter of weeks, others took months. When I was drinking I didn't eat balanced or regularly schedule meals and was constantly dehydrated too, so eating better and staying hydrated helped a lot. My mental state took a lot longer to get better and I'm still working on anxiety.

The big thing to remember is that many of the underlying conditions we have, especially the psychological ones, need to be addressed on their own. Simply "not drinking" will not cure them, although being sober is a necessary first step.

D122y

I was binge drinking every 3 to 10 days when I decided to quit.

I got into moderate excercise before I quit. The excercise led me to quit. I was workg out w people that were not drunks at all. I was able to measure my progress physically against them. It took about 6 months for my body to heal and get in shape to a level about equal to the average.

Mentally, I still feel minor anxiety at certain times through the day, but I know physically I am now strong so it builds confidence.

Eating healthy helps immensely. A few hours after eating right I feel great. If I eat fast food, I will have strength and stamina issues.

Thanks.

Andante

Why would it matter how long it takes for the body to heal itself, as long as you're 100% assured that it WILL happen if you quit drinking, and 100% assured that it won't if you don't?

sugarbear1

5 years sober now (after nightly drinking -- every night) and I am still experiencing new levels of "healthy"

MelindaFlowers

I was very sick in my boy and my brain when I stopped. I was going to work everyday but I was a sweating, bloated, red-faced, shaky, anxiety-ridden mess. I was only had been diagnosed with liver disease and very high blood pressure. Blood pressure was in the 180's on a daily basis. I was drinking about 100 units a week, spread evenly across seven days. In 2013 I was diagnosed with alcoholic hep. This is past the fatty liver stage. I drank another year. Crazy I know. I seriously thought I was going to drink myself to death.

Cut to the chase: I felt out of my body for the first month. Very foggy and space but y'all know, functioning like what would appear normal to the outside observer. Concentration was spotty. Short term memory foggy.

I felt better after a month. Better at three months than one. Better at six than two.

I'd say six months I was feeling pretty great.

At a year I felt like I'd never had a drink in my life.

But I still had this big question mark in my head. What did my liver look like? What were my numbers for blood work? After all I had received a diagnosis and drank for another year. I had a plan to wait five years and then go in for a checkup. Well darn my luck I thought I had gallstones. When the doctor said "Let's do a CT scan..." I could have died of fright right there in his office. But did I have any choice at that point?

The stomach pains had me thinking that the CT scan would show gallstones right under a damaged liver. I had never had a doctor actually look at my insides. My prior diagnosis was based on blood work. So to the results.

Normal size. Normal numbers. As good as new. I even asked "so how different am I than somebody who has always been healthy?" The doctor said "really no different." An affirmation that sobriety is the way to go.

advbike

Haha, I used to be at my doctors office 3 or 4 times a year when I was working a stressful management job, and drinking to cope. Now I show up once a year for my physical, or if I somehow damage myself through my sporting activities. The difference is amazing.