Joel6860

I have been sober for 40 days but my mood swings seem to be getting worse. Is this normal in early recovery and what would help tone it down? Any help will be much appreciated.

PurpleKnight

Welcome to the Forum Joel!!

The body needs time to repair, it can't heal years of drinking in a matter of weeks, it's gonna take time, emotions, feelings, thoughts need to adjust!!

Hang in there!!

lostinthetrees

Hey, Joel. My mood swings haven't improved either (at 71 days). I'm not sure what to make of it, but agree with PurpleKnight. I'm going to give it a little longer (at least to the 100 day mark) then maybe think about underlying medical issues (bipolar, etc.).

Way to go on 40 days. Keep it up!

Amajorityofone

The answer to your question is yes! Mood swings are perfectly normal. I wrote this in my journal a month into my sobriety.

It'll pass

What will help tone it down? Find something to do. I've been going pretty much non stop since 5am (its 10pm now) and I still didn't accomplish everything I wanted to today. This was unusual day in the beginning. It's a common day now.

Sobriety has its own sense of "momentum" that's impossible to explain until you begin to experience it for yourself.

Hope this helps

September 20th 2012-

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

It has now been 30 days without any alcohol or drugs….and its starting to feel like it.

All the enthusiasm has worn off . What is now left are mood swings, irritableness, flashes of depression, and an overwhelming sense that things are not getting better even though they obviously are. The next 30 days may be even harder than the last. Yet, I am still here, bound and determine to divorce myself from my past. Thus my beard keeps growing.

My mantra remains the same

“stay straight ahead”

Soberpotamus

Hi Joel, welcome.

I had mood swings for a while. Actually, still do! It took me the whole year and then some to start evening out. Some of it is normal... it's PAWS related. Post acute withdrawal. I wouldn't worry too much about. If it's serious... as in extremely manic, extremely depressed you should definitely see a psychiatrist or psychologist. But some of it really just comes with getting sober for the first time.

It helped me to start exercising, and cut back on the coffee, and the sugar!

whalebelow

Yep, Its normal all right.

Emotions seem to bounce back after being suppressed with booze for (however long you drank)

Its different in every case but you can expect a few months to a year.

As long as they are up n down you'll be OK. If they stop going up & you seem to be staying down .... you got a problem.

See your doctor & if your in AA already but attending meetings where the solution is "just go to meetings, just don't drink" or you attend open discussion meetings, where people just share about their day & their problems ...... seek some Big Book based meetings.

Just meetings & just not drinking helped me initially, but it didn't stay that way. Once I found the BB based stuff, things improved greatly.

AddictedDowner

Joel,
I have been sober for different amounts of time. This time going on day 18. My mood swings have dipped to balling my eyes out to fits of aggressive rage. One day iI said enough. I went to my personal doctor and told him about my situation. He said stopping a substance that affects the brain like alcohol or drugs can some time bedevastating to the body. He put me on a very small dose of sertaline.(Zoloft) He said it would help with the rollercoaster of emotions. He also said it may help with the cravings. If you aren't familiar with Zoloft it is a anti depressant. Not saying you are depressed, but I can say it really helped with my mood swings. My wife will swear by it! It did also help with the cravings. Just FYI! Give it more time, then maybe try it. It worked for me pal. Keep up the great job.

SonomaGal

Unfortunately I had bad mood swings for quite some time. Very normal.

Mostly I felt low, spacey, unmotivated, depressed, obsessed. I was very affected by PAWS - still am some days but it's truly 1000 times better now. Just hang in there and google it if you're not familiar. Really helped me to see that this was a long term journey and I needed to make some lifestyle and diet changes to help my brain and nervous system.

If you're anything like me, your AV is kicking into high gear and using feeling bad as a reason to hyper analyze the benefits (or lack thereof) of early sobriety. The best advice: do not believe the Beast's lies that it is supposed to be smooth sailing, and that the low feelings will never get better! It's hard at first, but it definitely gets better. Slowly but surely.

However, if your moods and feelings are making it hard to stay sober don't be afraid you reach out to your MD or a specialist. Not worth going back once you've got some momentum. Hope this helps!

ReadyAndAble

Yep, me too. Pretty typical, it seems. Definitely understandable, given the massive shift in terms of biochemistry alone. I think for many of us there's also a personal reckoning of sorts, too. It can add up to serious highs and lows, or at least it did for me. The good news? It didn't last forever, and in retrospect, it was totally, completely worth it. The payoff has been infinitely smoother sailing in the long run. Keep up the great work—you're going to be really glad you did!

soberjuly

Mine are getting better after 1.5 months or at least, when one comes on I realize it and try to tell myself to chill. It's all those times I used to reach for the bottle.

Saying that, I used to reach for the bottle all the time so it has gotten better.

In the beginning I was literally grinding my teeth to not drink or take any actions to drink. I still don't know how I got through.

Mood swings or not - I am still MUCH nicer than I was when drinking. That was like one big mood swing.