chiquen81

I have been drinking wine heavily for years and I have been drinking since age 20. I am 33 now. So I have been drinking for around 13 years, but heavily for the past 6 years. I stopped 20 days ago and today I am functioning at a very low level.

What's happening:
-Sleeping a ton, but exhausted upon waking
-Sleeping all day and still feel tired
-Sleeping and still looking like crap, like I have not slept
-Eating terribly because of sugar/carb cravings

To add:
-Diagnosed with depression/anxiety after a major depressive episode 6 years ago
-Prescribed medication:
*Lexapro 20mg
*Wellbutrin 150mg
*Klonopin 0.5mg per day
-Still taking all of my prescribed medicines, as I don't want to remove to many things from the mix. Removed alcohol at this point.
-Tried to cut back on Klonopin (bad idea) and nearly thought the world was collapsing on me from panic and fear (that happened today)

Does anyone have any advice? I am seeing an addiction specialist weekly and he said that it is uncomfortable in the beginning. I thought that by removing alcohol my body would like me, but maybe my body is recovering from the abuse over the years.

SDH73

I don't know anything about your prescriptions so I can't speak to that. I will say that if I get too much sleep I feel almost as bad as I would after not getting enough. Lethargic and out of it, irritable, generally cranky.

But, again, not knowing about your prescriptions I guess I can't really help. Just wanted to show some support. Hang in there!

OnMyWay7

No advice, but I can give you my experience. I felt worse around days 19-26 or so then things started to get better. I know what you mean by the tired all the time and my head still "feels funny" especially at night and when I wake up.
I don't have any panic feelings but I am on mild antidepressants. I'm on day 50 and things are getting better.

I hope this helps.

Soberwolf

Congrats on 20 days your body is definatly stil recovering your in very early sobriety and it will take time

Good news is your seeing someone weekly and you have great support here

Well done bud !

packfan

can you get out and go for a walk? get some fresh air in your body? Are you eating healthy? It's so hard to change all of that when alcohol took the place of anything that was important, at least thats how it was for me. I am at 4 weeks today, 28 days. One day at a time. I can tell you listening to Christian music and getting on the treadmill gives me positive energy right now....I hope this helps and hang in there, keep trying, don't give up!

Notmyrealname

Give it more time. Sleep more. I was going to bed at 8 PM when I first got sober and slept until morning (although I do work some ungodly early hours)

GoesWithTheFlow

Hi chiquen81,

That is a lot of medicine and I know nothing about any of them. I do know that sleep is everywhere the first few weeks as I have attempted to stop drinking before for 30 days and I went from sleeping at 9pm to sleeping at 9am during that month. Right now I am on day 15 and am experiencing odd sleep hours again :/ and possibly mild depression but I am, for once, ignoring those feelings. One thing that I haven't done in about a week is exercise. Exercise keeps me consistent sleeping at the latest 12am... I guess I just solved my own problem with sleep as I wrote this lol.

I also have been craving sugar. I am not a sugar type of guy either. I wanted to buy cookies or ice cream and soda last night but I was strong and didn't the cookies or ice cream. I did however get a twelve pack of Sierra Mist because I wanted something cold, with flavor, and fizzy that wasn't beer.

I hope you sleep better tonight. Maybe also try the exercise thing, you never know it may help you like it helps me.

Chuck39

Thanks for the post and sorry to hear you are struggling. My first thought is be kind to yourself ... twenty days is a huge accomplishment! Try not to overthink it or over analyze your situation ... just listen to your body and do what you want (I am sitting here typing this more as a reminder to myself than anything). But maybe it'll help. As many folks on here have said many times ... it didn't take just 3 weeks to become an alcoholic so it's going to take more than that time to really begin the healing process. Stay strong!

Newpathway

I agree with chuck39 to listen to your body. You listened to it and stopped drinking so keep on keeping on. Your system has been through a lot and it will take time to heal. And each person has their own set of circumstances and healing times. Don't feel badly about feeling badly...it's just part of the process you go through in order to feel much much better.

strategery

I can relate to the feeling tired even with lots of sleep. It took me about a month to get over the tiredness, but it gets better. I still deal with the hunger issue, but think it is due to the fact I am no longer getting tons of calories from craft beer. One of the best things I heard on this forum is to be kind to yourself in that first month.

chiquen81

Last night I tried to go to bed at 10:30 and tossed. When I finally fell asleep I think it was 3am. I didn't wake up today until 1pm.

For a person my age to sleep this late seems really wrong. I wake up that late, feeling guilty and ashamed I slept so late. But, at least I did not drink. Also, I'm sick again! Another sore throat in the past month - and I never get sick. Maybe my body is just going haywire?

Nofearnobeer

Chiquen..You sound exactly like me ....Could sleep all day and wake up and feeli like I just woke up all day long ..

I am on lexapro , Wellbutrin and Ativan ...

I am just past 3 months and I can tell you it does get much better , but it gets better slowly..You have to look for the small changes that take place...There is no HUGE change that happens all at once as though you will wake up one day and run a marathon..but it does get better ..

Congrats on 20 days! It does get better , I promise!

Nofearnobeer

I don't know why , but I had a sore throat for a month and half after I quit too...I was thinking it may be aside effect of one of the meds...Cold \ flu like feelings in the short term ..

doggonecarl

So you are sleeping a lot. Those members here suffering from insomnia would probably gladly trade their problem for yours...

Did you doctor know about your drinking?

Now that you are sober, maybe it would be good to go back and be reassessed, since alcohol use makes gauging the success of depression/anxiety medicine very difficult. A "sober" adjustment to your meds might be in order.

chiquen81

Doggonecarl, yes that was one of my concerns was that I was drinking quite heavily when I was medicated and also drinking heavily all throughout my treatment with these psychiatric medications. I lied to the doctors of course, saying I was only drinking maybe 1 or 2 glasses on a weekend. (where, in truth I was drinking maybe a bottle every 2 or 3 days)

I am going back for another evaluation in April. It's just a tricky situation because I know that I need the anti-depressants absolutely. I've had severe anxiety and depression since I can remember as a small girl. It's just to what LEVEL do I need to be medicated is the question. Now that ethanol is being removed I'm not sure at what point my medicine should be switched. For now, since I'm in the early stages I am just going to keep taking what I normally take and then in April tell her that I am completely free of alcohol.

I got worried thinking...ohhh maybe I'm sleeping because my meds are too high now that I'm not drinking. But, perhaps the sleeping and odd sleep hours are just my body adjusting. All I know is that I have no hangovers!!! That's quite a blessing. I'd rather be exhausted/fatigued than having a full blown HANGOVER. Yuck! I certainly do not miss that horrific feeling...

Nofearnobeer

Amen to no hangovers!

jryan19982

10 hours of sleep isnt really oversleeping that early in recovery. So dont worry about that. Try working out and being active during the day it might help with the trouble falling asleep.

I was on klonopin for a while. Then I finally got on Ativan. I am currently not on either but am on 150 mg of Wellbutrin (75 mg x 2 per day). I thought Lexapro was supposed to work double duty against depression and anxiety. Wellbutrin works for depression. Klonopin works for anxiety. And you cant just stop either of those meds. You have to be a on a strict taper down schedule. So go over that with your Dr once you guys decide it might be time to come off one of them.

I think around 5-6 weeks is when I start to look better and feel a ton better. Weeks 1-2 is blah, 3-4 is when I start to really make progress then 5-6 is leaps and bounds better. Alas I am only on day 13 ugh. Wish I could fast forward this.

chiquen81

Yeah I look like crap! big circles under my eyes. However, no hangover. Also the pain in my side has diminished.

I have been finding that I have a new affinity for chocolate almond milk! it's better than eating cookies...like i kept doing in the first week. tons of cookies, my god!