Change in Hangovers/Anxiety/Sleep
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,352
Originally Posted by starcco 
Hi all, I stopped drinking last Sunday. First night was hell. Second night I was so exhausted that I slept 8.5 hours. Next night or two 7.5-8 hours. However, last night restless sleep, waking up randomly aware of my heart beat and anxious. Woke up not refreshed. Is this normal to have good nights and bad nights? I was a weekend drinker, not a daily drinker.
Mine was fairly progressive - no sleep the first night, a little more the second..and so on until I was doing pretty well sleeping by 10 days.
It doesn't mean there's any cause for alarm with your progression tho - things like coffee and cigarettes can mess up sleep, or anxiety.
Hope you get 8 hours tonight
D
Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 121
Hi Saam, welcome! I too struggled with anxiety and regularly self medicated with alcohol whilst maintaining my intense career. I fully knew the alcohol compounded the anxiety but used it regardless for those times when I was desperate to stop my brain constantly churning through both the past and future... and when I was desperate to just be in the now.
I’m only coming up on three weeks sober but I can tell you my anxiety is probably about 60% better overall. It’s still there, but much more even. It’s now more like soft waves out at sea rather than the breakers crashing in unpredictably at the beach, if that makes sense. Just more gradual, manageable and predictable. Sure, if I’m honest I miss the way alcohol let me hit ‘pause’ on the stress of my daily life... but I DO NOT MISS the down side, of the hangover and subsequent anxiety, low mood, lethargy, guilt, etc... I am so incredibly glad I quit. I highly recommend it to anyone with anxiety.
As for AA: clearly it works for a lot of people which is of course wonderful. However for various reasons I knew it wouldn’t be my bag, so I mainly rely on this forum, a good therapist, some mindfulness exercises when I jog, and I use SMART which is a secular recovery programme which focuses primarily on science-backed techniques for dealing with problematic behaviour https://www.smartrecovery.org.uk
SMART is just one of many possibilities (books, meetings, programmes, even pharmacological options, etc) to support those of us who choose to make the Big Quit. I would suggest figuring out your own bespoke approach: find what is right for you, and don’t feel like there is one way you ‘should’ do it. Whatever works for you; whatever keeps you sober.
And again, I really do hope you go for it (although of course it’s a very personal choice). But I think you’ll be really thrilled with how much your anxiety subsides. Wishing you well! -Sophie
I’m only coming up on three weeks sober but I can tell you my anxiety is probably about 60% better overall. It’s still there, but much more even. It’s now more like soft waves out at sea rather than the breakers crashing in unpredictably at the beach, if that makes sense. Just more gradual, manageable and predictable. Sure, if I’m honest I miss the way alcohol let me hit ‘pause’ on the stress of my daily life... but I DO NOT MISS the down side, of the hangover and subsequent anxiety, low mood, lethargy, guilt, etc... I am so incredibly glad I quit. I highly recommend it to anyone with anxiety.
As for AA: clearly it works for a lot of people which is of course wonderful. However for various reasons I knew it wouldn’t be my bag, so I mainly rely on this forum, a good therapist, some mindfulness exercises when I jog, and I use SMART which is a secular recovery programme which focuses primarily on science-backed techniques for dealing with problematic behaviour https://www.smartrecovery.org.uk
SMART is just one of many possibilities (books, meetings, programmes, even pharmacological options, etc) to support those of us who choose to make the Big Quit. I would suggest figuring out your own bespoke approach: find what is right for you, and don’t feel like there is one way you ‘should’ do it. Whatever works for you; whatever keeps you sober.
And again, I really do hope you go for it (although of course it’s a very personal choice). But I think you’ll be really thrilled with how much your anxiety subsides. Wishing you well! -Sophie
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