DisplacedGRITS

So i'm at about 3 1/2 months sober and i find myself plagued by drinking dreams. They seem to happen every couple of weeks but sometimes i'll have multiple drunk dreams a week. Sometimes i wake up dizzy and i wonder if i'm having vertigo while i'm sleeping. The dreams are so vivid i wake up convinced that i somehow relapsed and am just so upset and confused. I feel like part of my mind is trying to relapse. The dreams are never happy. There's no good times when i'm drinking. Only guilt and remorse. What i'm wondering is do these dreams ever really go away or should i expect the occasional drunk dream from time to time pretty much forever? Think i remember this being a part of PAWS. Right now it's the most disturbing and upsetting of my withdrawl symptoms. It's hard to start your day off on the right foot when you wake up convinced you screwed up.

Dee74

I still get the occasional drunk dream but not very often now - when I do, sometimes I even refuse the drink

Some people attach layers of meaning to them - to me they're just dreams - memory bubbles from an activity I did a lot of, rising out of my sub-consciousness...

D

DisplacedGRITS

Thanks Dee! I hope my subconscious catches up with the rest of my brain and starts refusing the drinks, lol. I'm sure with continued sobriety they'll become less frequent. They're just so darn frustrating because it's an aspect of my life that i have no control over! I may see a doctor about the vertigo if that persists because i know that always leads to dreams about drinking and vertigo while sleeping just isn't right. Ah well. As long as the drinking doesn't spill over to reality i'll deal with it!

mirage

I'm sorry DG, I know they can make for a rough morning. I still get them, too. I have 11 months, and now I'm having more dreams where I'm a non drinker in a drinking situation. I agree with Dee, tho. Do your best just to shake them off, it'll get easier over time.

CaiHong

Those dreams are so vivid. The relief I feel when I wake up and realize it was only a dream.

doggonecarl

They are just dreams...if you put too much stock in them, you are giving them more power than they deserve.

When I was 17, I joined the Navy for 4 years. Forty years later I occasionally have dreams about being on a ship.

I drank daily for over 35 years...so yes, I expect to have an occasional dream about drinking. But the only drinking that I'm trying to avoid is drinking while I'm awake.

Live2Run25

I've been having them all week, but i'm not drinking in the dreams, everyone around me is. I think it's just because i'm on this board everyday and drinking (in some form or another) is on my brain. It does suck. I want happy dreams.

lilyrosemary

i have 2.5 years sober and i still have the drinking dreams. to me, i use them as a learning experience. i am in such chaos during these dreams....trying to figure out how much beer i have, how many i need to take with me, when do i pop the pill....then there is the "what am i doing" part of the dream, then i wake up and i realize i am of sound mind and body and i am so peaced out by it. knowing my life doesnt have to be like that anymore. being normal is fine by me : ). best of luck and blessings to you...

aeo1313

I've mainly been having pill dreams lately. In my dreams I have access to bottles and bottles of hydrocodone, but amazingly, even in my dreams I am not taking any!!

Off topic-ish I wait tables and often have waiting table nightmares...those are awful!! Roomful of people you can't get to, computers not working, food not right, stress stress stress!

RevivingOphelia

DG,

I hate them too--you described them perfectly--the dizziness, shame, confusion. So vivid and distressing.

tomsteve

the longer i am sober, the less i have them. i believe it is from the old way of thinking leaving and then new way entering. but they are only dreams and i use them to remember what could happen if i took a drink. never any fun happenin in them dreams.