Felt better when I was drinking
 

This is a straight out desperation post for experiences in early sobriety.

Went to doctor, vitals and blood were checked, in stellar health.
Except I feel like I'm slowly melting.

Look, I get that I'm not going to be riding the pink cloud 24/7 - I'm totally cool with that. But the brain fog, body aches, nausea, and fatigue is making me so uncomfortable physically I might as well be hung to the toes.

My BP, blood sugar, all that is perfect. I just can't shake this feeling of YUK.

I'm sober 17 days.

Thank you SO MUCH in advance for your help and time.

It took me a while to feel normal again. Some things come back faster than others. My physical body came back much faster than my brain. However after 15 months, I feel like I am as sharp as anyone around me. There is no quick fix, but I assure you that it will come back if you remain sober. Diet and exercise seemed to have helped greatly.

Hi alphaopmega,
Let give you my experience from the total opposite end of the spectrum.
When I finally gave up the alcohol, I did not feel better for months and months. I had a perpetual headache that lasted a good six months after I quit. I was tired and weak and lethargic and sad. I was basically slogging through the days getting the minimal done for only the most essential of survival. There were occasionally moments....and I mean mere moments of relief that appeared each day, this is what kept me going, knowing that the moments would eventually increase in both quality and quantity as I became whole again.
I hope you can hold onto the memory of the pick cloud you were experiencing and know that these bad feelings will pass and become more minimal.
In every life a little pink rain must fall.
:)

Hi alphaomega
Sorry you are feeling so bad. My experience has been quite the opposite, physically I feel better after a couple of days of quitting each time. I wonder if it could be more mental with you. Maybe a bit of depression? I have experienced how awful the mind can make us feel.

Like everyone will and has said, give it time and it gets better. Maybe i just got there a little faster, but it feels great to be here.

Yes, me too misterritter - by day 5 I felt great.
I'm wondering if you're coming down with flu or something and assuming it's withdrawals? :)

Okay Alpha..let's get real here for a moment. You were hit and under the wheels of the drunk truck for how many years? Do you honestly believe that you will just get up, dust off the skids marks and walk away unscathed? That you will require no healing or recovery time? C'mon ..get a grip. Sorry, I'm just a little irked by the "I might as well be hung to the toes" remark.

Your "addiction mind set" can really do a number on ya can't it? Can you hear the effin ridiculousness of that statement? I MIGHT AS WELL BE HUNG TO THE TOES? Seriously?

Drink lookin' like an answer right bout now? Starting to sound like it.

This is mental manure.
I love ya Alpha..but that's just malarky.

Nuudawn, you are on fire today!! Have read a few of your posts and ouch, no flies on you :)

Hope everyone's well and Alpha - it does take time (unfortunately) stay strong :) xxxxx

Thanks Sarah..you're right. I'm signing out.

Hi Nuudawn, sorry I didn't mean to offend! I thought you'd made some sharp observations was all - hope you're well xxxx

Olive - THANK YOU. That was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. That gives me hope because like I said, I'm in full out desperation mode right now.

Mister - If there is any depression it's just because I feel so horrible. But I will definitely keep an eye on that.

Nuu - ........Da feck dude ? You wake up on the wrong side of the couch ? ;)

I felt like hell for MONTHS.

It will get a little better each day. Just a little. But be patient, cause I am SO far from where I started, its amazing to think how awful I used to feel.

Well I certainly felt different when drinking compared to sobriety/abstinence.

The times I felt worse were when I was dealing with undiagnosed depression, flu, bronchitis.

I hope you feel better.

Those old dreams are only in your head--Bob Dylan

Stay strong, Alphaomega!

I also forgot to mention, that at six weeks after quitting, I was given a clean bill of health....technically.
I remember one day I woke up at about a year later and felt that something was wrong. Couldn't quite put my finger on it.
After a while, I realized.....'oh, I don't feel nearly as crap as usual!'
It really does get better eventually.
:)

Felt better when I was drinking

Really? How soon we forget the holy hell that was our drinking.

Zoe and Wisco - Those are genuinely great points. I am assuming they are withdrawals, but it might be the flu. That's what it feels like. Thank you for reaching out with help.

I think diet plays a HUGE role in how you feel. I am 4 weeks sober today and I have found that when I eat a lot of sweets and junk food all day, I feel sluggish and foggy. Contrast that to the days I eat healthy (i.e. salads, fruit juice, etc.) and I feel really good.

I also recommend eating raw, unpasteurized honey. It has all the essential vitamins, amino acids and probiotics in it and gives you an energy boost not to mention other wonderful effects on health issues.

Eleni - Thank you ! I have been hitting the cake awfully hard. And the candy. I have manuka honey - is that what you are referring to ? I will try anything at this point !

Oh yes, I know that feeling Alpha. I felt like I had the flu for a good two months after I got sober. Not all the time, mind you, there were days when I was feeling awesome and days when I felt like even bigger crapola but, yeah, generally didn't feel that great for awhile.

I agree with what Olive said, too. Although mine didn't last for six months, thank goodness, but that was pretty much how it went for me too. Now I steadily feel decent. And I am happy with that :)

(Plus remember hangovers come with that wonderful, all-consuming anxiety, the shakes, the heart palpitations, and the mental "what the eff did I do now?" torture. Would take feeling like I had the flu for a little bit before ever wanting those feelings back again).

You'll feel better soon...until then, eat more cake ;)

Well, I'm probably not the wisest of the lot but my experience, the last time I went about 6 months without alcohol, was that I really started feeling good around month 3 or so.

I felt pretty good physically after a month and that got progressively better as time went on. However, I constantly craved alcohol and couln't wait to drink again (I was only abstaining because of a athletic related diet).

I think it really took until around that 6 month mark to feel sober. What I mean by that was that I genuinely enjoyed how I felt and learned to actually enjoy life without alcohol. I really wish I never picked it back up.

My point is just move through this. It sucks, it's hard but it will get better. General Patten once said, "I DO NOT believe in paying for the same piece of real estate twice".

You're feeling like **** right now. Don't give up now because you'll only have to quit at some point and go through this recovery again.....and again....etc.