drukenbstard

I have tried in the past saying Im not drinking today but when your body is used to passing out rather than peacefully dozing off the restlessness is mindboggling. My mind will wander restleesly for hours and I will be worse off the next day at work than if I''d just got shi**y drunk and passed out.Any help please?

Coldfusion

Make tonight your last night drinking. ever! Have no booze in the house after tonight.

The below scenario is based on a M-F, 9-5 schedule...

Don't drink Friday night. That's tough. But then when you don't sleep Friday night, who cares? You can even skip Saturday night too! You'll probably be sleeping by Sunday. If not, or if you have any medical concerns, go to the ER. That's what I did! They put me in (free) detox for a few days, and I haven't had a drink since.

fantail

It is the worst. This has been the major struggle for me. The first month was terrible... exactly as you describe. I just could not fall asleep.

I'm now at 36 days and it's still hit or miss... but when I do sleep, oh my goodness! I can't even explain the difference. Real sleep is amazing. And trust me when you start getting it, you'll have a lot to catch up on and it will feel amazing. You just kind of need to accept that it's going to suck for a while.

Look at it this way... think of some of the ridiculous stuff that you put up with because of drinking. You're probably pretty tough because of it. If you can go to work hung over every day, you can make it through a month of **** sleep. And the pay off is so worth it, way more so than the pay off of drinking.

It can also help to turn this into a little mantra for yourself. Mine is, "If I can hike to the top of the Cristo Redentor in 90 degree heat, with a hangover, a sunburn, and a hurt foot, then I can deal with being sleepy today!"

Exercise really does help, too.

Good luck! It is so, so worth it.

Dee74

I didn't have to relearn anything.

I had to be patient tho - after a couple of rough nights it got better but it took about 2 weeks for a full decent nights sleep.

It's way better than passing out

D

kizzy40

It is bliddy hard... not going to lie.
You may lie there all night and finally only drift of at 6am! it will get better... slowly, be patient it's worth it

totfit

My mind will wander restleesly for hours and I will be worse off the next day at work than if I''d just got shi**y drunk and passed out

First off make sure you know this is not true, though I do understand what you mean. It is going to take a few days or more for your sleep to return to normal. Eating right and moderate exercise or better will help enormously. Exercise will get your sleep cycle stable quicker than anything. If you don't ever give it a chance, you will never know.

Richierich777

I get up early and work my butt off and I don't sit around. I also read a lot here and on other sites that get me to close my eyes. When I get home I will do everything and pitch in and when it is time for bed, I go to sleep.

drukenbstard

I do appreciate the quick reply and good advice but I dont think its gonna work for me to go cold turkey.Please dont get me wrong thinking I am making excuses,I probably partially am to be fair but I think i reallyneed to ween for awhile first to be on the safe side.tonight I've limited myself to 1 40oz which ive slowly been sipping for 3 hours now.thought about excercise but after an 12 hour work day im completely unmotivated for that.Was really looking for an healthier substitute crutch i.e.chamomile tea,kava kava or something else.Yes im weak and I admit it,but definately thank you for your response and help

drukenbstard

my response was for the first post only im an slow typer sorry the rst of the post are great thank you all for the help

lucky1s

I am just the opposite. My biggest motivation is how soundly I sleep without alcohol in my system. And waking up feeling together. And remembering what TV shows I watched and what I had for dinner.

Try it. I am actually having a really good time not drinking at night. Although it has only been a few days.

Best of luck to you.

Dee74

If you're really worried I think you're best consulting a Dr than trying to wean...weaning or not (even supposing you can cut back successfully) at some point you're likely to have insomnia...I don't think there's any real way around that.

A Dr might help if you need sleep to function in your job or whatever.

drukenbstard

wish i had insurance to see an doc im also s.a.d and adhd so that would def help maybe obamacare will kick in one day and help out till then im on my own

ForMy2Boys

Sure there are some herbal teas out there. Sweet Dreams by celestial seasonings is a good one. I unfortunately am on day 2 and have slept maybe a couple hours since I woke up from my drunken stouper at 2:30 am on Wednesday. I took some Melatonin (natural hormone supplement) but don't think it really worked. I am going to try again tonight.

Some other natural sleep remedies are eating a bowl of oatmeal or toast before bed. It works on the way your body digests the grains. Spike in blood sugar and then crash. Supposed to help you sleep. I personally haven't tried it, but may consider if I don't fall asleep at a decent time.

Another natural remedies is to eat tart cherries or drink tart cherry juice. Cherries (especially the tart varieties) have naturally high amounts of melatonin. Eating/drinking before bed should help you drift off. Supposedly dried tart cherries work as well, but I haven't tried it.

Lack of sleep is definitely an annoying side effect. I hope some of these ideas may help you get the rest you need. Much luck

ForMy2Boys

Many places offer huge cash discounts. call some offices and ask. Check out the health dept, they offer care at hugely discounted rates. Sorry not familiar with s.a.d. I hope you get the care you need!

Dee74

There are a lot of free or low cost clinics around - if there's one in your local area you might get some medical advice there?

Free/Low-Cost/Sliding-Scale Clinics
2-1-1 Call Center Search

D

drukenbstard

FORMY2BOYS thanks thats actually an very interesting post and I will def have to try that.The one thing that struck me is the sugar part from what i understand and please correct me if im wrong we as alcoholics crave the sugar from drinking and I really get hardly any sugar from my diet ,no sweets or fruit here im a meat and potato guy are there any threads on here thet discuss this or am I barking up the wrong tree you think?

JamesAdams

In the beginning sleep will be difficult, for me it was 3 or 4 rough nights after I stopped. Today I am on day 21 and I fall asleep at 9:30pm easily and sleep soundly until 6:30am

If you are not drinking you will save money so perhaps you can afford to see a doctor that way?

drukenbstard

social anxiety disorder.pretty screwed up thing to have Iused to be overly ouygoing crash anyones party for the hell of it now i love solitude

ForMy2Boys

To be honest, I do not know the answer, but it sounds plausible. I don't eat a lot of sweets or fruits either, now you have peaked my interest. Also on that note I don't know if there are any threads discussing this. May want to try google, but if what you say is true. Maybe I will skip the melatonin and try the piece of toast instead. I'm tired, but not exhausted. I can already tell this is going to be another night of tossing and turning.
Hopefully some other posters will know the answer to your question.

Coldfusion

They didn't give us sugar in detox (and only decaf coffee), but I went for the ice cream first thing when I got out! And I had a prescription for an anxiety medication that helped me sleep for about a month.