downtown3

hi all

today is 1 month sober for me. I am taking campral and paxil prescribed by my doc. The first few weeks i felt great but the past week i've been feeling very down and sluggish not wanting to get out of bed etc. The campral is great i have no cravings for booze but want this horrible depression to go away. Is this depression normal after a month sober? Thanks guys

best
matt

Anna

Hi Downtown,

I think it's normal to have ups and downs in early recovery, and hopefully this will pass. I wonder if you're getting outside and doing some kind of exercise.

It's possible that the Paxil is not working for you and at some point, you might want to talk to your dr about a different antidepressant.

downtown3

yes i just began biking again and the exercise does lift me up but its tough getting out every day with weather and work. I think i will talk to my doctor about a possible med adjustment. Thanks for reply

TTOSBT

It was normal for me.
At a month, I no longer was dealing with much physically but I started to feel the responsibility for facing the consequences of my choices for the last decade. Oh yeah, and I now have to learn to live sober and live in the real world. So yeah, I was overwhelmed.

But there are things you can do while you feel this way (it won't last forever).
Exercise as you talked about.
Lots of water and healthy eating.
Reading.
Tackling one thing at a time, each day.
Talk to other alcoholics.
Helping others.

And yes, talk to your doc. Your body is going through a lot of changes right now.
Nice to hear from you!

Sweets79

I had a month sober 2 days ago and I feel like total sh*t...Just being honest.

keithj

There is nothing normal about a month of sobriety. It's the most unnatural thing in the world if you're an alcoholic. Quitting drinking does very little to stop the symptoms of alcoholism, one of which is depression.

So, do you need a med change or do you need to treat the alcoholism?

I was probably into a 4th step at a month sober, and the light was coming on in a big way. I still had a bunch of problems, a bunch of wreckage, a bunch of sins to pay for, but the light was on.

What step you on, downtown? What are you doing to treat your drinking problem?

Philly

Hi All one monthers- Yes it is very normal. I was miserable. Thought I might not smile let alone laugh again. Some days you will feel that way. I am at 10months and life for me is not all peaches and cream but I have way more ups than downs now. You just need to give it time. I do not attend AA which I think would have helped but SR was my replacement. Someone is always here and someone that is online at the time is probably going through the same thing you are at whatever point in sobriety you are in. Good luck and hang in there as long as you don't take that first drink it will get better.

downtown3

What step you on, downtown? What are you doing to treat your drinking problem?[/QUOTE]

I started seeing a therapist twice a week to address issues that may have caused my excessive drinking. So far so good it feels good to spill your guts and get everything all out. I've told this Dr things ive kept to myself my whole life. Hopefully with continued visits i can stay sober and improve my mental well being. Thanks for all your replies.

Anna

That's great Downtown.

I hope the therapy continues to work for you!

Wolfchild

Thank you for staying sober for 30 days.

eeerooo

Hi, Congrats on your 30 days. I hit day 30 around the 19th and I find that I get depressed because of the lack of structure in any given day. Work days are easier because you are doing something. Of course when I get home, I start craving beer but I keep watching TV and it gets my mind off.

I get really depressed on weekends because I have to decide what I will do. When I drank, I already had the day planned out. Now that I don't drink, what do I do? My mind is idle, bad thoughts about the past going round and round in my head...so I end up getting frustrated and depressed. Its like you have to re-program your mind and plan something before depression's evil grasp takes over. I also take Anti-depressants, but, I feel like I have to come up with my own system to curb the depression. Without alcohol the mind is like a sore wound and at 30 days it is nowhere near healed. We have to give it time. Good luck to you.

maz09

I'm almost 7 weeks sober and I am still feeling depressed and I don't know why but every monday I always find myself in tears.

keithj

Yes, without alcohol the alcoholic mind is not a happy place. I hear a lot of this idea on the newcomers forum, that we just have to give it time. Hang in there, stay strong, it just takes time. I wholeheartedly disagree. Yes, some things in life do get better with time away from a drink. But for alcoholics, the days get generally worse unless some recovery is found. Or there is some initial improvement, and as AA's book says, "followed always by a still worse relapse."

It's a great disservice we do by suggesting that time, and time alone, will heal our alcoholism. I've rarely seen any substantial long term improvement in an alcoholic who just stepped away from the drink. I'm not an authority on the collective experience of all alkies, but I've seen hundreds of guys in AA that just stop drinking and wait for things to improve. Without any exception I can think of, they stay miserable and either relapse, or they get willing to work the steps.

Don't take my word for it. Look over the newcomer forum and read the posts from people that have strung together a few months of just waiting for things to improve, and then go back out and start all over again. It's the insanity of alcoholism. People spend years repeating this pattern when the tools they need are freely offered and available if they would only pick them up.


Please accept my apologies eeerooo, if you were implying something different. The idea of just hold on and wait for things to get better is so prevalent, I simply used your post as a springboard.

Wednesday

Well done on making it to a month. There is some great advice on here.

Tazman53

Congrats on the month, I was really getting squirrely at that point, I was up & down like a yoyo, I kept hearing folks in the rooms talking about how much taking the steps had helped them, my temporary sponsor just did not have the time to take me through the steps but he was a tremendous help to me early on. At 2 months sober I came as close as I can imagine to relapsing without relapsing. I found another sponsor who did have the time to take me through the steps.

The steps are what I owe to me being able to find an HP and to actually have that mental obsession to drink lifted and to becoming a free man, a man free of alcohol and free of self, I became a man that was no longer ashamed or scared.

coffeenut

At a month, I thought I was Great....my husband later told me I was reeeeeeally grumpy. Oh, well...doesn't matter. What matters is that you stay sober, because you DO crawl out of the fog. You do. And the farther you crawl, the better it gets.

With that being said, if you are dealing with true depression, Get To a Doctor, NOW.