Hefner

It use to be rotting flesh eating Zombies chasing me or a class in school that I skipped in for an entire year that was about to cost me my Graduation but now ? I am actually having nightmares about drinking! Now THAT shows you what a mental affect your former lifestyle has had on you. When dreaming about putting a 12 oz bottle of beer to your lips is now as terrifying as dreaming about the Zombie Apocolypse you have officially arrived in sobrietyville ! Lol just thought I'd share something on the lighter side. I guess it could be worse. I could be dreaming that I am skipping class while being chased by the undead with a beer in my hand.

Lunetta

Omg I have that same exact school dream. I've had a few drinking dreams, the last one I knew I was dreaming because I announced to everyone that since I was in a dream it was okay to have a drink. I then proceeded to prepare a drink at my bar (I have an actual bar in my home) but I don't think I ever took a sip, it was really weird!

Hefner

Perhaps in the future they will have places like in Total Recall and we can have memories of drinking nights implanted in our brains and then we could wake up and our relationships, finances, Livers and Brain Cells would all still be intact. Maybe I'll work on that? Lol.

Taking5

Drinking dreams are very common I think everyone who sobers up has them.

Lily1918

Dude my dreams are OUT OF CONTROL. I find myself avoiding sleep because of them. Glad to see Im not alone.

Readysteady

I've had the most bizzaro dreams, so weird that description doesn't do them justice.

fantail

My dreams have been incredibly vivid, too... I've kind of been loving it.

But to your post: I actually read an article today about this. A 1973 study (Choi) showed that recovering alcoholics who have dreams about drinking tend to stay sober for longer durations of time. The conclusion of the study was that perhaps these dreams are your brain's way of rehearsing and processing the negative association with alcohol.

That was ages ago and some newer studies I read were inconclusive, but the newer ones had smaller sample sizes, so who knows. I choose to believe that those dreams are helping me.

Cleopatra1

great post,,i love my dreams,,weird, nice, or scary,,they tell us so much bout our daily life ,, its very interesting to do some research on them.
reacurring dreams are very important to us,,they tell us to not make the same mistake,,and we will keep on having them until in our waking day,,our thoughts are not on this particular problem anymore,,so dreaming of al,,is indeed a very importatnt dream to have,,i did for my first few weeks of sobriety,,then when i came to the point in my day,,that i said to myself,"im just a non drinker now",,they stopped!!
dreams are very important,,and a great tool to use for our waking lives,, so,,,,
keep on dreaming gang xxx no matter how weird,scary,or lush they may be,,,keep on dreaming xx
lv cleo xxxxxxxxxxxxx

least

Odd you should mention this. I had a drinking dream last night and I've been sober over three years now. My mind is just working things out in my sleep, that's all.

sugarbear1

Vivid dreams are a sign that your brain is healing!!! Soon, you will have typically normal sleeping patterns. How nice is that going to be??

Stay strong, stay stopped, and keep healing!

Louise82

That's so interesting. I was at a meeting a few weeks ago where people were sharing about their drinking dreams and how they wake up and feel so relieved that they hadn't actually picked up a drink. Therefore they saw such dreams as positive because it reminded them how bad they'd feel if they relapsed.

In my last attempt at sobriety, I too had drinking dreams and felt really relieved when I woke up to find it was all a dream. I should have known that I was headed towards picking up a drink again when I had a dream about snorting a whole load of cocaine and didn't regret it even when I woke up. I mean, coke wasn't even my drug of choice. Very weird.

Nicholi

" people were sharing about their drinking dreams and how they wake up and feel so relieved that they hadn't actually picked up a drink."

I had that dream this week! So glad it was a dream!

Paddler

I had a dream the night before last I was driving and completely lost control (hydroplaning)... the car was just spinning and spinning bouncing off of various objects but never really coming fully to rest. That was nuts because I equated it to maybe my life was spinning out of control... (best guess)...

Or maybe I should be careful driving. Last time I had a car wreck dream was the night before I hesitantly bought an old fixer up Range Rover Classic. I dreamed it broke down on the way home. I bought it anyway the next day. It broke down on the way home. =)

I think it's absolutely nuts how vivid my dreams are and especially how soundly I sleep 5 or 6 days away from drinking. I used to think drinking helped me sleep... boy was I wrong.

In a perfect world I would live soberly during the day and dream I was in Key West sipping endless margaritas, skiing in Breckenridge sipping bourbon on the lift, or drinking merlot on a gondola in Venice each night... only to wake up without a hangover feeling refreshed with no negative results... only to go through another sober day. =)

quitforme79

lol I hear you! Last week I had a ton of drinking dreams...they were terrifying and one night I woke up drenched in sweat. My sponser said enjoy it as a freebie but I definitely don't. I am always freaking out that I drank, trying to hide it from my AA peeps or trying to avoid a drink at a party. I dream of armegeddon a few times a year and one of mine last week included that so at the end while the world was flooding away I went to a bar haha

DryRoastJim

Interesting topic, but I am having the reverse. I don't think it is a problem (it's not bugging me anyhow), but i have had NO dreams that I recall.

I am sleeping well and perhaps not noting them.

Anyhow...

LadyinBC

I had these dreams alot in the beginning. They scared the crap out of me! I would wake up in a panic. I do have them from time to time, but I think it is just our brain processing and filtering out the crap. At least that is how I look at it!

Hefner

Well I'll be sober 1 year next month 5-16-13 so although only a year in I wouldn't say that it's the beginning. Very nice to see that they come with the territory.

nigey1

When I gave up smoking I would have vivid dreams of having a cigarette. I would wake up with a sore throat and the taste of a cigarette. Bizarre.

wpainterw

The best part is waking up and realizing that you haven't taken a drink.

W.

Lily1918

on the bright side, last night I had a dream about all of these negative memories about my smoking days and more. They were images made out of smoke and they came together into a giant fire breathing dragon. It was epic. I was all princessified and chopped off its head with excalibur (ya know, king Arthur... sword in the stone?) I woke up and was like MAN! that was AWESOME. I can't really put it into words.
I spend a lot of time reading that kinda stuff, nerdy, but hey, still awesome! and a welcome break from using nightmares.