33 Days Sober - Headaches
 

Hi everyone. I'm 33 days in and started feeling really terrible headaches yesterday, to the point that it's hard to do my job (I work in an office). Does anyone know if this is normal at day 33? I can't tell if it's physical or psychosomatic. I've never had migraines before.
:thanks:thanks:thanks

Hi
I am 26 days sober- and I have just (in the last two days) have had the worst headaches ever. I thought maybe its was PMS related, but am not sure as I have never experienced anything like this. It is above my eye and it feels like an anvil is in there! I have never had migraines either...

I didn't experience anything like that, though I do get migraines sometimes and have since my teens. If you are getting unusual headaches it might be a good idea to talk to your dr.

exactly
 

Hm, similarities! I just started my period today, which was a week late. Could be related.
I also took my glasses off and that seems to help -- I read that eyesight can change after getting sober.

Thanks for sharing!

I had terrible headaches in the first few weeks of quitting, worse than hangover headaches. I just assumed they were part of my brain and body adjusting to sobriety.

However, if they persist, or become debilitating, see your doctor.

Yesterday I didn't have a headache, but I felt like my thinking was fuzzy. Didn't trust myself to do anything too mentally involved. I am 32 days sober.

What recovery program are you working, Katarina ?

All the best.

Bob R

Yup, headaches too.

I find that water helps a lot to prevent the headaches & recover from them faster.

I stated getting bad headaches when I quit. I saw my dr at 5 months sober & he wanted me to start a migraine med (daily) which I didn't want to do. The headaches have decreased in frequency & duration the longer I stay sober. It's very strange though, maybe our brain neurons are rebuilding? Lol

Thanks for your reply. I went to AA and just quit cold turkey w/o any meds. Sugar was suggested to me, and water.

Thanks :)

Have you looked into Rational Recovery?

This must be quite common actually, because I see it often on the boards. If you run a search here, you'll see a lot of posts on it.

It happened to me, the first time I tried to quit. I quit for about 60 days, and headaches came about 30 days in. I really just quit cold turkey, had no support, no plan. I didn't know anything about alcoholism and I pretty much white knuckled it until I couldn't stand it any longer and then drank.

This time around, it stuck. I joined AA right away, and began building a new life. It's pretty tough, but well worth the effort, as after awhile it doesn't seem like effort, just seems like living.

I think that by doing all kinds of different things, including replacing drink with other things, I avoided the headaches this time. It's been about 18 months now, and I still get them from time to time, but I recognize what it is, stress, tiredness, etc. and I do something about it to relieve the pain and go on.

You'll get over it. I think it's your body adjusting to the major changes you've made. See a doc, I did and it's what helped me learn about what my body was going thru.

Yes! I was completely surprised to get headaches after I stopped drinking because I associated my routines headaches with drinking, especially red wine. Wow! I'm currently on day 10 of sobriety and have had 2 severe headaches! I have Maxalt for migraines and had to use them. I did notice my neck felt like it was out, I had been sleeping on my stomach and woke up with my neck all kinked, so that may have started it, and then I was reading a book leaning forward and my neck got even more sore and tight, so that definitely didn't help. I went to bed and thought I would wake up and the headache would be gone, but I woke up at 6 a.m. with a severe headache! Ugh! Like a bad hangover without the drinking! See your doc if your headaches continue; Maxalt and Imitrex are great non-narcotic migraine remedies. And stay hydrated in the summer heat! :)