stormy1

Definitely the insomnia in the wee hours of the morning coupled with waking up soaking wet! I told my husband it was hot flashes (he knew better) but I knew it was withdrawl. I just didn't care. Somehow I managed to get up every morning and go to work. I am what they call a functioning alcoholic I guess, although most days I wasn't functioning at a 100%. One strange thing that i find is when I withdraw during the night, I almost ALWAYS have a dream right before I wake up that I am totally and completely frustrated with something. Something stupid like I'm trying to open a door or write a sentence on paper and my body will not do it. Like there is a total disconnect between my brain and my hands, or whatever the situation is. I also have night terrors. I don't remember those but my husband says I frequently start screaming in the middle of the night. Good grief...I can't imagine my husband doing that!! I can only imagine what my two cats think!

When I have been able to quit completely for a period of time, the sleep I get is soooo much better!

Dominica2

The ultimate hangover is what I felt today at work.
So completely ADD I cannot focus, and I am sure I will be reprimanded Monday.
Foggy head.
Aching all over.
Headache from hell.
The inabilaty to function.
Smelling like Robert Downey Jr.
Pissed at the world..

I hate this feeling, which I will probably feel tomorrow.

Congrats on your sobriety, you are an inspiration. :o)

Taking5

Wow I thought it was just me. I never put 2 and 2 together that this was alcohol related until I tried stopping several times.

stormy1

I thought it was only me!!!

risydawn

Pounding headaches, sick to my stomach, irritable, and very very dehydrated. And you know just that overall sick feeling. Not wanting to get up out of bed. Yuck. I don't miss those feelings. Been sober for 6 weeks now, I think. Another problem from my past drinking, it fried my brain. I was binge drinking to the extreme. Sometimes I would get the worst symptoms before I laid to down at night. Ya know puking and all that lovely stuff. Once I thought I was bleeding internally and was going to die. Turns out it was a really bad nosebleed. Glad you brought this up, it reminds me of how rock bottom feels.

tammygirl

Tired, shaky, anxiety, heart racing, pulse pounding, afraid I'm going to pass out, foggy head, can't focus and I'd pop open a beer and start to feel better and do it all over again.

I'm on day 1 and I need to remember how I felt this morning.

debsam

Tammygirl...remembering how I felt in the morning was KEY to keeping me sober..still is and I'm 7 months sober. You can get out of this vicous cycle of HELL.

YOU can feel better. Hugs

gr8t2bme

Waking up at 2am, heart pounding, muscle cramps, sweats and unable to sleep.
Dizzy
Shakiness
Deep depression
Anxiety while driving, having to pull over
Unable to focus
Irritability
Guilt
Eating the worst food the next day
And the worst is trying to remember what I did the night before and having a fear I did or said something that I would regret.

FHB1

When I was younger, I would get a horrific hangover after drinking six to eight beers. I would be in fetal position all day long, with a splitting headache, sick to my stomach and vomiting from that amount of alcohol. Towards the end of my drinking career (26 years later), it took a heck of a lot more than six to eight to give me a hangover. Towards the end, I would drink copious amounts of alcohol and feel perfectly fine in the morning (as fine as one feels as an active alcoholic). That's when I started to realize that I had become an alcoholic. I noticed that normal drinkers would be wasted after drinking six to eight beers and for me, six to eight beers was just a warm-up.

lovinmenow

fingers down my throat. Puking and peeing/pooping my pants at the same time (anyone ever done that?). Heaving. Not fun. Sick sick sick.

goalofsobriety

wake up incredibly thirsty but drinking water just makes me more nauseous, headache, bags and dark circles under eyes, tired all day no matter how much sleep I actually got, grumpy, depressed, guilty....

Not worth it at all!!

keithurbanfan

I just wanted to bump this post because I think it's crucial to remember how we DON'T want to feel anymore. Reading all these symptoms makes me so grateful that I have been waking up hangover free for almost a week now. It's a wonderful feeling!

zxcirce

hangovers...among the worst physiological states ive ever experienced.
trembling
hot/cold flashes, sweating
vertigo/dizziness
an undercurrent of anxiety/dread that builds to intolerable levels (so i drank to quell it)
nausea
pounding head: sometimes i would see flashes of light beating in time with my pulse, ughh
mental restlessness/shame/panic/guilt/remorse
and having to hide it all and pretend i was fine.

YUK

humblestudent

Hangover after Friday night, Saturday 10 a.m. to wee hours and Sunday a.m. to mid afternoon...About 9 p.m. it starts and hits hard:
Heart racing, feeling my pulse in the tip of my nose, horrific anxiety - crippling in nature, night/day sweats, tremors in hands, flushed and puffy face, dark circles, nauseous but can't even throw up anymore, physical pain in shoulders, absolutely exhausted and unable to function at all even after almost 24 straight hrs. of sleep, depressed, self-loathing at doing it "again".

How I feel without drinking for 7 days:
Sleep soundly, wake up refreshed, motivated to actually take a shower just because, ZERO anxiety at all. NONE. Like magic. Feel in a good mood to the point where I catch myself humming without even realizing it. Motivated and physically able to clean the house, take care of outstanding errands, and happy to do them. Feeling of accomplishment in doing small things. Rather than self-loathing, I feel self love, and gratitude. I begin to feel that I am worth taking care of. Because I'm not at the total point of mental and physical exhaustion, I interact better with others, and have infinitely more patience for minor annoyances.

Programmer27

Headache from you know where
Dizzy
Easily confused
Stomach feels like it has acid in it
SWEATING
Hallucinating (visual/audio)
extreme nightmares

Feeling like I'm useless and going to die.

Miela

A hangover for me is:

• Being woken up by a sudden, sharp jolt of anxiety (anytime from 2am onwards)
• Spending the remaining hours in bed hating myself and wishing I was dead
• Aggravating my pre-existing health problems
• Pains in every joint in my body, often making walking unbearable
• Extremely blurred vision
• Very scary palpitations
• Regular bathroom trips to spit up stomach acid
• Pain in every part of my digestive system, including liver and pancreatic pain
• Horrible dry mouth/bad breath
• Shakes
• Sweating, made worse by anxiety
• Being a complete b*tch to my beautiful child
• Depression
• Anxiety
• EXTREME GUILT
• NO motivation to do ANYTHING, even take a shower or talk to/play with my child
• Difficulty concentrating or holding a conversation
• Fear

This has been very helpful to write because it has been a major struggle not to drink the last two evenings and I nearly cracked last night. Maybe I should keep a copy of the above list.

Genie

I know this is an old thread but after reading it I felt it was a good thread to bump.

I am just 5 days sober and was doing searching on this forum under the word "hangover" and came upon this thread. It is a huge reminder.

I don't know what I can add, except to say what my hangovers were like:

• headaches
• dizzy
• mental brain fog
• anxiety
• heart palpations
• extremely achy body (why is that?...why does our body ache?)
• huge thirst (tea seemed to help the most)
• running to the toilet every couple of minutes from "the runs"
• bloated face
• red face
• irritable
• fatigued
• eating, eating - especially craving high fat foods like pasta and cheese
• and if I didn't have something to drink for later, going to bed as early I could
• lastly - feeling like a loser

rainyengland

Thanks for this post - brings back memories of exactly why I quit!!

Yak- hangover suck!..never again! :-)

Dollyangel17

Hmmm...I haven't had a hangover in ages.

As much as I drank (little in morning, little in afternoon, and a bit at night), I never really drank so much in one sitting that I would get hungover.

I Have a young child, and hangovers and getting up with children at 6 am do NOT mix!

I honestly can't remember the last time I got drunk. However, back in the day, my hangovers were upset stomach/dry heaves. No headaches for me.

Elisabeth888

Congrats on 6 days!

My hangover consisted of a three day anxiety attack. Not fun.