Day 40 - Still very LOW ENERGY. Am I just lazy by nature?
 

I'm on day 40. Mentally, I'm feeling pretty good. My anxiety has gone down (thank God) and I deal with life better. But I just can't seem to DO anything. I work 40 hours or more a week and have a family. After I get home from work I am so drained all I want to do is change into sweats and veg out. Conversation with my family is even hard sometimes, I just need silence. Christmas chaos nearly drove me to wine, but I didn't go there.

Now I have 5 glorious days off in a row and this is day 1. I woke up and actually showered, only to put sweats back on and jump on the computer to come to SR, check email and just surf around. Now it's almost 3 PM and I feel like I've wasted the day but I just have NO ENERGY. I've had 4 cups of coffee and my house is a disaster but I just don't want to do anything. :( I will get the occasional rush of energy every few days and do something productive for a couple hours but then I get exhausted again.

I'm sick of it. I want to get out and enjoy life. .. go on a hike.. go rollerskating or bike riding with the kids, etc. But I just am too tired.

I'm starting to wonder if this is just ME with or without alcohol. Maybe laziness is just in my genes. Everything feels like a chore. Even talking to my family. :(

To be honest it took me about 3 months to get any energy....I couldn't have even done 40 hours a week and looked after a family.

Maybe you just need to take a break on your 5 days off? :)

D

I wouldn't worry about it, I'm just over the 40 day milestone too, and without alcohol my energy dies out shortly after coming home from work, only on a day off like tomorrow, being Sunday, do I generally feel like having energy to do more activities.

I wonder if this is what normal people feel like? some of my workmates say they go to bed at 10pm every night, and I used to think that was madness, the night was still young at that time!! . . . but not now, a warm mug of Green Tea and bed!!

Thanks, Dee. I hope to have more by the 3 month mark.

Purpleknight - I used to think the same thing with my coworkers who said they were in bed by 10. What????? Now I'm one of them. Haha.

Same here at 22 days. I feel constantly tired.

I guess with my 20 year of drinking my body will take a while to heal.

3 days after I stopped drinking I asked my doctor to help me with anxiety I have been taking lexipro and I feel good on it so much less anxious. I've completed jobs around the house that I seriously haven't touched in years.

I used to stay up until 1 am until I was completely drunk. Now my eyes are starting to close by 11pm much better sleeping tomorrow will be my 50th day.

I would try to start very easy with something simple, maybe just a walk in the morning, and see where that leads.

If you get out for a walk, dressed for taking a walk, you will probably take a walk. It is much easier to handle the idea of dressing for walking and simply stepping out the door than it is to contemplate taking a walk, so just shoot for the first part and then let nature take its course.

Suekie, we're also now joining those particular workmates in feeling fresher in the morning, hangover free, and able to have morning conversations with people rather than wanting to hide away until later in the afternoon!! :)

I am a tiredy pants although I do have a chronic fatigue syndrome. But looking back I think I may have been a bit of a tiredy lazy arse before all that. Better than being drunk though zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Happy birthday for tomorrow winifred! I go to bed early these days..it took me AGES to get my energy back too..even changing the bed was a major hassle,infact everything was difficult. In the early days I could barely even muster the energy up to have a shower.

Suekie in the first few months I slept a lot, about ten hours a night (it was winter for me then) and I found it hard to get going in the daytime. If you were anything like me you probably drank into the night then got up early for work -- my body was sleep deprived and abused. So right now, if you were like me, you are catching up on that sleep deprivation and your body is repairing itself, and by Day 40 it's into the serious repairs. So get the extra sleep and, even though it's winter, give it some sunshine and fresh air as well as good food.

I found I turned the corner about month 5.

I was exhausted the first few months. Like Dee said, I don't think I could have managed 40 hours a week and a family. I had naps nearly every day and at 8.5 months, still do most days.

It takes a lot of energy for your brain and body to heal.

Don't know if you've read the PAWS article, but it has a lot of good information and also explains part of why we get so tired easily. Not only are we healing, but we're now thinking about so many new things when it used to be all we cared about was our next drink.

Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) | What...Me Sober?

It does get better with time. Be patient with yourself.

First, 40 days is amazing. Well done.

You're not lazy, you are just recovering.

My energy levels were really up and down, but mostly down for the first 60 days or so. Be easy on yourself and eat well. Eat better than you ever have before. Your body needs solid nutrition and will thank you down the road.

You know, now that I think about it... I read about all of these people here having loads of energy and I was barely keeping my eyes open by 4 in the afternoon and that lasted for a while. I want to say that I was really tired for the first 4 to 5 months and now.. I still wouldn't say that I'm full of energy but I'm not as exhausted. You will get there, as long as you're sober, you're doing great in my book!

Give yourself some time. Your body will give you the energy when it can. In the meantime, just be patient with yourself...

I feel like that now. I don't do anything anymore. I laid in bed until 3PM yesterday. Good thing I enjoy reading so much.

That's great to hear, I just started lexapro 2 days ago after putting off filling the subscription for months. Hoping I get similar positive returns.

Thanks for all of you posts :)

Today, I'm feeling much better. The family and I are getting ready to go to a roller rink and then tomorrow we have a nature hike and a day at the movies planned!

Thank you SR for walking me through my down times!!!

I love being sober!

I was the same for quite a while Suekie. It worried me a lot. But in a way focusing on why I couldn't function made it worse. When I accepted that I needed some recovery time it went a lot smoother. I must admit though that when I stumbled into a moderate exercise regime and started eating better my energy levels surged x