Change4good

Reading through lots of threads today, and there seems to be a consistent theme that most folks have brain fog for a lease 30 days after becoming sober.

Just wondering if this wasn't the case for some?

Jsbodhi

I didn't, but my drinking was usually a binge wine session of about 1-2 bottles 2-4 times a week.

Mags1

I didn't realise how fogged up my brain was while I was drinking until I stopped.

Then it took a while to balance out, after all, I'd been feeding it's addiction for years , obvious it was going to kick up.

Change4good

How long did it take to balance out? Thanks for sharing.

nova84

I don't know if I have brain fog...if I do, maybe one day when it's gone I will realise that I had it...a bit like when you yawn and you realise how deaf you were before...if you know what I mean!

least

I had it for several months after I got sober. But it went away within the first year.

Bunny211

It took me about 6 weeks to clear up.

TrulyMe

I think I came out of it about a week or so ago. Today is day 41 for me. Yeah, I definitely had it bad from about 2 weeks until 30 days.

Mags1

Things got clearer when I stopped drinking completely but different emotions came and went for about a year, whilst my brain learnt to survive without booze, which it's doing well now.

I remember several people here saying don't do anything life changing for a year when you've stopped drinking and its was excellent advice.

sva777

Not so much brain fog as real bad anxiety.

Dodis

I'm on my 72. day of sober from 6 years of binge drinking and still have bad fog, last time until my latest relapse the fog started to clear at around 80 days.

Soberwolf

Yes my head was foggy for a while it balances out though

Soberpotamus

I was a binge drinker and I had cognitive and emotional adjustments that lasted months.

RallyAly

No brain fog, but headaches still on some days and emotional states that come and go on a whim. And fatigue.

mns1

I'm on my 13th day sober and I was foggy-headed every day up until yesterday. I just noticed it was difficult to read or do anything that required direct focus really. But last night I sat down with a book and just started reading with great focus. Even this morning I'm finding it easier to read through posts.

Aellyce

Depends what we call brain fog. I had brain fog constantly while I was in the vicious cycles of drinking and bad hangovers and during the first week sober. My biggest challenge in early sobriety was intense cravings for alcohol and those states could cloud my thinking for sure but more because there was an internal battle in me that distracted from productive thought processes and less so because of foggy brain. I also had bad anxiety (especially in the mornings) off and on but never as bad as when I was a heavy drinker. I also felt that my mental processes were very hyper for a good while in the first few months and difficult to focus on tasks, even thought I developed ADD or something like that, but it normalized with time.

LBrain

six to nine months for me.

I had over 30 years of brain rearranging to undo... it was a gradual process, one day I was driving down the road and it hit me, my head was clear. That was right about nine months.

Mileage of course varies. I do know this. If you start drinking again your brain remembers and it goes right back to where it was.

It's like a computer virus in your brain. It just sits there waiting for you to open the file. And once you do, it resets you back to where you where.

If you read through the forum you will see many posts from people who have had serious sober time who started drinking again. And they went right back to where they started. Don't doubt it. And don't test it. There is enough evidence already.

Melina

I still have brain fog. I'm at eight months except I drank one night the other night.

I have trouble recalling words sometime. I really have to search for words that used to come easily to me.

It's gotten better but I know I was sharper before.

ZeldaFan

I don't know if you would call it brain fog but after a few weeks sober I did notice I was a bit absent minded. I would forget what I got up from the couch to grab or what I was about to type in an email at work after I opened a new message window. It's getting better but I have a feeling I need a few more weeks for my brain to fully come back online from all the heavy drinking.

D122y

My fog has gotten progressively better.

Now I know I was deeply damaged by my drinking.

I had fog for the last 10 plus years. I quelled it by routine binge drinking. When I quit, it escalated, peaked, then disapated. Now it is 98% gone.

For example. When I would look around while driving, it sometimes would cause me to get a stress reaction. Adrenal rush. Like brain overload. That has quelled.

For example. Playing catch, long toss, w my son. The ball seemed to jump around as it approach ed my glove. It was like i was missing frames in the movement. That is getting better. I still can not catch a ball well while stepping at the same time. If i can't get close to it with a few steps while it is in flight, i miss it. That is my next goal.

We all know the deal.

Don't drink the poison, we get better.