hillOH

No booze for 5 days, eating and sleeping better. Seeing the doctor tomorrow and going to pick up some diazapam.Sleeping a lot and taking a lot of showers and just hoping to take each day as it comes.

I don't know why, but i still feel 'drunk'. As if I've drunk an awful lot and feel a kind of exhaustation. It's like a headache without the ache, hard to describe.

Does alcohol destroy the brain? Can it recover?I don't know if alcohol can physically 'enter' the brain or if it just whirls around messing up your bloodstream and all your internal organs.

Had cravings for haribo sweets and candy too... hardly ever eat candy but I've been lying in bed sipping water and eating sugary things. Is this a withdrawal symptom?

Thanks for all the helpful people here on SR too, what a wonderful community you have.

Sapling

I detoxed for 5 days and slept through most of it....I was foggy for about a month. The brain does recover...It just needs to clear out.....As far as the sweets....You're replacing the sugar in alcohol....It's pretty normal....I didn't eat sweets until I stopped. Great job on five days!!

Jade1224

congrats!
i think it's called brain fog - that "drunk" feeling. it will go away soon.
as far as your brain goes, i would like to know that answer to that question too. i'm in college and it seems like i'm having trouble studying like i used to. i hope it's not permanent. a lot of people seem to think that the brain is the last place it affects. obviously the liver is the first place.

congrats on getting to 5 days though. its only been 5 hours for me

MrsKing

Congratulations on making this decision and for those 5 days

I didn't realise it until I got sober but my drinking definitely had a negative impact on my mental ability. It took a few months to come back but I'm much more able now when it comes to absorbing information and communicating information.

The brain fog lasted a while for me... things started to become much 'clearer' after a couple of months... the world just seemed so much brighter!

Eating sugary things is very common at the beginning, it seems... try not to worry about that for now... what's important is you stay off the alcohol! The best way to stop the cravings for sugar, I found, was to not eat it at all... kind of like alcohol, I guess.

hillOH

Wow, I didn't realise that alcohol contained or affected sugar levels so much. I've eaten more packs of candy in the last two days than I have in the last two years, never even liked dessert or ice cream before until now. I was shopping yesterday and as soon as I noticed cheap haribo, I bought several packs of it and they're all finished, not including my meals!

Sapling

Here's a good read on it.

Why Alcoholics Crave Sweets | The Fix

hillOH

Great read sapling. Thanks!

Sapling

You're doing great hillOH.....Keep it up!

Fandy

when i first quit I found myself stockpiling those biscuit cookies with the thick layer of chocolate on top....it tapered off after a while and you can start to try different types of fruit too to get by. at night i preferred herbal tea with a LOT of splenda

TheRestorative

This hit home for me today. I'm on day 8 and all I've been wanting to do is sleep, take showers, relax, and eat (sweets, too! I didn't like them when I was drinking). I felt the "ache" type feeling you're describing the first few days, but it's starting to go away. Our bodies are recovering, and sometimes that brings on uncomfortable things. We're attempting life without alcohol and our bodies are used to having it, so they're responding to that withdrawal. Everyone responds differently, I think. Keep up the great work! You can do this!

Sapling

I like to look at it like this...I had a lot of undoing to do.

Southerner

Now that you are on day 5 (congrats--keep it up!), start trying to get "bulky" food in you. If you can stomach it, move to oatmeal, pastas, lean proteins, etc. Sugar is awesome those first few days, but you want to give your body the protein it needs to rebuild tissue. Also, rather than pure (and very refined sugar), you will want to go to more complex carbohydrates that burn nicely and efficiently (if you do some exercising) and does not rot your teeth! However, comfort is more the key the first week until you really withdraw completely. Just keep that diet I spoke of in mind as you move into Week 2 and beyond. By the way, I am not a physician so his/her recommendations go before mine!

IndaMiricale

All normal and your doing great

I had phantom hangover's for months by the way.. All normal..

duane1

I slept through my first 2 weeks of recovery. In fact I would often go to bed early if I started to get cravings. No shame in that. If you can do 5 days, you can go all the way. Good luck!

Cob

Good for you on it being day 8 and if you've made it this far then you are on day 12 by now. I do hope and pray that you've made it this far...you can do it...I know you can. I'm working on my third year and i couldn't be happier. I was in a rehab for my 8th day and still in a great deal of pain. When I finally did go to rehab I was in the most God awful pain that I had ever dealt with before. In times past I had always been able to sweat my way through the insanity and clear up in a day or two at most. This last time I couldnt even think sane thoughts for days. When I did go home 21 days later I was much better physically but I still had the fog. Wow, just thinking back to that time gives me the willies. It was a one way ticket to being free with no ability to get a refund. For that I am so grateful. Each day that I wake up sober makes me so grateful. I had not given these thoughts very much time lately. I am extremely glad that I made this visit.

justhadenough

Congrats on 5 days.I crave ice cream but try to eat fruit instead