FreeOwl

Several times in the past few nights I've had 'em.

I had been doing really well this time round without having that disturbing experience of waking up in a mild panic after a dream in which I've picked up. Sometimes at will... other times being tricked or forced.... then scenes of horror as I try and hide the fact or try to get it out of my system....

It's really an odd phenomenon. I do hope it fades with time. Don't recall previous times of sobriety having that going on too much.

I feel like I am doing really well in my active sobriety and don't consciously have any cravings or desires to drink and feel really GOOD about my choice of the sober path.... but these dreams sometimes scare me a little bit; are they signs that I'm somehow on shaky ground, or just a normal progression of recovery?

mecanix

I have the odd drinking dream ,

It's such a relief to wake up and realise i'm sober and not hungover , to only open one eye to stop the world from spinning , never again i hope & pray .

I feel they act as a reminder .. Just as long as i wake up sober !

Bestwishes, m

Thanos

Hi FreeOwl,

I was just reading about these dreams! According to what I read, "Dreams of Absent-Minded Transgression" or DAMIT dreams (great acronym huh?), are actually strongly correlated to successfully maintaining abstinence. Studies of smokers who quit, and of alcoholics in sobriety, suggest that dreaming about doing the activity you are trying to stop and feeling guilt about it in your dream is your brain's way of reinforcing your commitment to abstaining. People who didn't have such dreams were more likely to relapse. Anyway, it was an interesting study, as I always have these dreams too. They are annoying, but it's such a relief when you wake up and realize you didn't actually give in!

Jill23

I have had 2 drinking dreams this week. One was funny, I was in a bar with Bob Marley. But the other scared me a little, it was too real. I woke up feeling a little shame and wondering if my unconscious self would trick me into drinking again.

ScottFromWI

I still have them from time to time even after a year plus into sobriety, but I really don't put much thought into them, they are just dreams. I have"recurring" dreams about other things in my life too like the one where I'm just about to graduate from college and suddenly find out there was a class I missed. Or trying to open a combination lock that I cannot remember the combination to.

I view dreams as your brain's way of taking some time off and just randomly thinks about stuff.

ClearMind

I've had some drinking dreams in the past few weeks, but I've also had some dreams where my Ex has been involved... so let's call them nightmares instead. I am not really reading too much into them.. a dream is just a dream.

FreeOwl

wow!! this is cool, I never heard this theory. I'm going to look that up! Thanks.

FreeOwl

thanks for all the feedback... all good stuff.

I know this is kinda normal in recovery and have seen the topic before but just felt compelled to post today because of the recent wave of them and the feelings they left me with.

"it's just a dream" after all, is a good way to look at it. I mean, I have had dreams of really strange and scary or unsettling things that have nothing to do with alcohol before and - apart from needing to shake 'em off in the morning - really don't read that much into them.

I do like the DAMIT as a sign of positive progress though...

ConfessionBear

I havent' had these dreams yet since I quit. But Iw as a closet drinker. My dreams were always due to anxiety, I'm sure. I'd always dream abotu getting caught. Trying to lie my way through things, stuff like that. But I sleep well now. And it's ebcause I don't have bottles stashed God knows where where someone could stumble upon them at any moment.

Thsoe dreams were the worst!

Kaneda8888

Freeowl, I had these types of dreams in the first few months on a regular basis. I still have them on the odd occasion. All I think is that its better to have dreamt it than lived it !