stillpooh19

At 97 days, sometimes I am okay. Then sometimes I feel depressed. Then most times there is the absence of pleasure which is almost as bad as depression. My mood is just flat! Any suggestions on how to handle this? How long did this last for you?

trachemys

I had that dead zone for a while. It will go away. I'm very emotional lately.

Venecia

I sometimes wish I would have had an MRI of my brain during the first six months of sobriety.

After putting our brains through the wringer with alcohol, it takes time for the "new normal" to set in. Man, the first two months were the pits. After that, I started to feel incrementally better, but I wouldn't say there was a magical moment when it happened.

The greatest gift you can give yourself is faith: The faith that you are doing something good for yourself that will pay off in the long term.

And it really does. With time, I started to feel emotions again, started to feel a sense of self again. The other thing time gave me was a sense of perspective, that non-addicts, too, experience a gamut of feelings, sometimes including the flatness you mention. I still get it from time to time, which I attribute less to addiction and more to the reality that this is how the rest of the world feels sometimes.

You're going to be all right, Stillpooh.

IvanMike

That's something really important that we tend to miss. It took me a while to gain that perspective that everyone experiences periods of moodiness, flat mood, "the blahs", etc. - In my active addiction I became accustomed to "fixing" any feelings of uncomfortability with getting loaded. I found that all feelings pass. I also learned that I didn't have to deny myself my emotions. I'm not always going to feel good. I just came back from a wake for a friend. I'm sad and that's appropriate. It won't kill me.

I think it took about six months before I started to have anything approaching a normal mood. To be honest, I'm still noticing improvements over time. Hang in there. You're in very early recovery. It's completely normal to feel how you do right now.

Wastinglife

I also have an inability to experience pleasure; ever since childhood. Unless of course I have a few drinks. Alcohol makes the dreariness disappear and the sun come out. It turns out I have suffered from Dysthimia my whole life; which is a low-grade type of depression. Best way to describe it is a flat mood all the time. never too sad, but never happy. Things are just grey. There is treatment for it if you think you may suffer the same

rahrah

Flat is a huge danger zone for me.....Ups and Downs are emotions I'm used to and have a plan of attack for....but when I'm feeling flat....devoid of anything...that's when I LOOK for something to be wrong....I have to stop myself and let that feeling just be....embrace the almost emptiness of it....I like to look at it like a clean slate feeling, like a free pass for awhile from pain, sorrow, regret. (But this perspective of mine is based on the fact that my flat feelings don't last for long duration's of time.)

Dee74

I think that's completely normal stillpooh - it was for me anyway.

I'd just about resigned myself to this 'beige-ness' being as good as it got in sobriety when joy started coming back into my life

Our bodies, and our minds need time to heal. The only treatment I know is time - and faith that it'll be ok in the end.

Lean on us til then

D

FormerWineGirl

I felt the same way stillpooh, definitely at three months. For me, it was a gradual process. But those small, incremental changes started happening at a faster pace after the first several months. After about 6 or 7 months, I felt markedly better, and at around a year I felt much better. Now at a year and a half, I feel pretty darn fantastic most of the time. I'm thinking that in another 6 months, I may be so happy no one can stand me, lol! My point is, it continues to improve. You are much closer to a turning point than you were a month ago. A lot of healing is occuring in your brain. Hang in there, and know that better days are just around the corner!

kinzoku

I get that. I mean that's why I started drinking and continued. It's depression. Real depression is apathy.

Lenina

Yes, it's a weird place to be. I'm there now, I was off my thyroid meds and hormones due to insurance issues. Nothing seems. Interesting or fun. I feel like mulch again.

Love from Lenina

Altoids

Me, too! I went thru that period, and like Dee, decided that this was as good as it was going to get. I was okay with that, though. I could handle the flat period easier than feeling the guilt from drinking/hurting my family. So it was the better choice. But JOY does come back. It just takes time. Use this time now to read, exercise, learn something new, EAT SUPER HEALTHY - foods that will help heal your brain. Just let it flow, and it will end. The flat period is NOT your new normal. It is just a period where your body is adjusting and learning to function without neuro toxins flooding your system.

thomas11

Hi stillpooh, for what its worth, when I stopped drinking I actually started to feel again. I was so flat-lined most of the time while active drinking.

Like most things, hopefully this too shall pass.

Nonsensical

Google "hedonic treadmill".

We upset the balance of our brain chemistry through persistent alcohol use. It is self-correcting after you quit drinking, but it takes a few months.

If it's not better in 6 months, you may want to talk to a doctor. Could be something else going on.

Best of Luck on Your Journey!

zlhzlh

Yes I went through the flat period. I think I am starting to come out the other side, but I have started training again so could be that too! Flat period between 4-5 months.

grubby

I had this as well, things I used to enjoy "just don't do it for me" anymore.

There is definitely a difference that can be noticed. I'm guessing drugs and especially alcohol throw off our balance of "feel good chemicals" in the brain. I think dopamine is somehow affected.

The good news is this side-effect seems to be going away lately. Like a lot of other things, time is the best healer.