Wheresmyunicorn

So, my AH is now back in AA and has set a goal of 30 meetings in 30 days. We are just under a week sober so far. I'm trying to keep "hope" separate from "expectation" while staying out of his way.

For those of you who have been with someone in recovery, how long does the insomnia usually last in your experience? This is one of the biggest issues for AH (and me as well, as he sometimes wakes me when he's up).

TIA!

Wisconsin

I would imagine it's different for everybody, and could depend in part on how much and when he was drinking. My (now relapsed) AH has said that when he got sober in 2007, he didn't sleep right for over three months. He was (and is again) a very heavy drinker, and almost always at night before bed.

SparkleKitty

Whereismyunicorn, you might also try asking this on the Alcoholism forum where there are lots of people in recovery with direct experience...

biminiblue

When I sobered up it took about a month.

Wheresmyunicorn

Thanks for the responses. I think I will put this in the newcomers forum as well.

Wisconsin - AH is the same. He never really "went to sleep", always passed out. Sometimes earlier than others and sometime multiple sessions a night.

noinsanity2423

I didn't sleep right for a month after I left my XAFiancé. I stayed up late either thinking about her or trying to distract myself from thinking about her. I'm just now getting to the point where I can relax and let myself sleep because I know that no amount of thought power is actually going to change anything. It's easy to rest when you're not being kept up by someone else's drinking or habits.

Hawkeye13

When I quit drinking it was a slowly improving 4-6 weeks as I recall.
Very often awake and sweating in the first few weeks, but gradually I slept longer and better.

Now I sleep like a rock--something to tell him he can look forward to in sobriety

Stung

My alcoholic husband has issues falling and staying asleep. During his stint in rehab, he learned about the benefits of taking melatonin (I think he's told me it's supposed to be taken with magnesium too, I can't remember, but it's supposed to be taken with another supplement too so it's absorbed better by the body) on nights where sleep is particularly difficult to come by and that's what he does on nights when he can't fall asleep after a few hours of laying in bed.

With all of that said, I don't think my husband's insomnia is related to PAWS or early sobriety as much as it's related to anxiety (obsessive thinking/anxiety. Drinking is but a symptom of alcoholism. His real issue is his thinking processes and his thoughts are what prevent him from sleeping.). He was previously using copious amounts of alcohol to treat the anxiety and didn't need melatonin as he was using booze as a sleep aid as well. Therapy and melatonin have helped my alcoholic husband with his sleep habits.