Week three is so hard
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Battle creek michigan
Posts: 3
Week three is so hard
Hi guys im three weeks into recovery and im not doing so well. The first week i felt great and the second week i had no energy. Week three im very moody, i randomly cry, become irritated, some times im happy and easily angered at other times. When i was drinking i didnt eat much but now that im not drinking im eating a lot now. Im alreafy over weight. I cant sleep and it irritates me so bad. When i do get to sleep its like im in zombie mode and hard to get out of bed. Is any of this gonna go away soon?
Member
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 520
Three weeks is great. 
Ups and downs are quite common in early recovery, this is all part of the healing process and it will pass. Eating and sleeping take a while to settle down.
Exercise might help your mood and will burn some calories, a visit to the gym or a long walk perhaps.
Ups and downs are quite common in early recovery, this is all part of the healing process and it will pass. Eating and sleeping take a while to settle down.
Exercise might help your mood and will burn some calories, a visit to the gym or a long walk perhaps.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,414
Hi and welcome the humble one 
There's a wide variety of 'normal' when it comes to early recovery but, based on what I remember, I don't think you're experiencing anything out of the ordinary
Things do get better - it just takes our minds and bodies a little time to heal.
I found the more active I was the better I slept and the less weight I put on. No need to run a marathon but try and be as active as you can
Support really helps too - so I'm glad you found us
D
There's a wide variety of 'normal' when it comes to early recovery but, based on what I remember, I don't think you're experiencing anything out of the ordinary
Things do get better - it just takes our minds and bodies a little time to heal.
I found the more active I was the better I slept and the less weight I put on. No need to run a marathon but try and be as active as you can
Support really helps too - so I'm glad you found us
D
Friendly Folk
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Powers Lake, Wisconsin
Posts: 21,713
Alot might have to do with your eating habits. You need to eat healthy and often to get the right nutrients into your brain. I take a multi-vitamin and extra B-Complex for my nerves and brain. Our brain chemistry needs to be nourished. Read about proper nutrition for alcoholics. Our brains and body chemistry are special and needs special attention. Some foods (which are all chemicals) make our minds react in positive and negative ways. What do you crave? You body is telling you something. Learn to listen and know what is good food for you. I would start by Googling about nutrition for mental balance.
Hope this helps. ♡CR
Hope this helps. ♡CR
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: UK
Posts: 6,902
Hi Humble One, welcome to the forum.
What you're experiencing all sounds very familiar to me. And by the end of my week 4 I really did think I was going nuts. It was then that I went along to my first AA meeting and signed up on here, recognising that I was going to need some support with this sobriety malarkey.
Nowadays I firmly believe that I needed (and many do) to address not only my alcoholic drinking (which was done simply by stopping, and staying sober one day at a time, and nevr taking the first drink, etc.). But I also needed to address my Alcoholic Thinking. And that was (and contjnues to be) done by working a plan of recovery. For me personally this involves AA, a sponsor and sober friends, and the 12-step program of recovery, and also reading and posting on here on a daily basis.
Dee has a great thread on here about making a plan, which is worth sitting and exploring the threads on. It has helped many people to devise a plan and start the work that will make sobriety comfortable and sustainable in the longer term. Here's a link to that thread... http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...y-plans-1.html
Also, a very simple thing to add to your self-care is looking out for the HALT triggers. HALT stands for Hunger-Anger-Lonely-Tired. Any one of these in early sobriety could send me on a wobble, and even nowadays, two at the same time left unaddressed is likely to make for an unpleasant 'rattley' day. So it's well worth getting into the habit of planning ahead to ensure that you avoid getting Hungry-Anger-Lonely-Tired, and have contingency plans in place for if you do. Mostly these things can be avoided with some simple planning. Some are a straightforward decision to avoid certain people because they rile you (both face to face and through social media). It might mean stocking you're bag or car with snacks (carb and protein mix is good, so cereal bars with nuts or other added protein, or a protein sandwich, or peanut butter and jelly on wholemeal toast). Lots of people say candy, but for me personally, that was counterproductive because as much as I liked the sugar high, the sugar crash really didn't help me moderate my moods at all, which led to anger, then isolating, then loneliness. I needed to include sugars but slower release ones that didn't get me see-sawing emotionally. Might be worth you trying both things and see what works for you.
The loneliness for me was addressed by coming on here a lot, and getting to meetings. Both of these meant I was engaging with other people who understood what I was going through. Honestly, at my first few AA meetings I was a little paranoid that people were reading my mind, or perhaps had inside info on me. It was the first time ever that I'd been in a group of poeple who actually 'got' how I felt and thought. I also reached out to family and friends who didn't drink (not that there were many friends in that category back then, as I'd surrounded myself with other problem drinkers by the end of my drinking) and arranged to meet for coffee or a walk or whatever. Things got easier for me as I distanced myself from my drinking friends, but it would have been extremely lonely doing that if I hadn't had AA meetings.
In the early days my sleep was a little erratic, so Tired was addressed more with rest and relaxation than sleep . It took me a while to remember how I used to like to relax before I started using alcohol and exhaustion to get to sleep. A lot of this is trial and error.
Anyway. Sorry if a lot of what I've written seems random or waffley. I hope snippets of it might be useful. But most importantly, welcome. And stick with it. And stick with us. This place and the people here made a massive difference to me. I hope it will for you too,
Wishing you all the best for your sobriety and recovery. BB
What you're experiencing all sounds very familiar to me. And by the end of my week 4 I really did think I was going nuts. It was then that I went along to my first AA meeting and signed up on here, recognising that I was going to need some support with this sobriety malarkey.
Nowadays I firmly believe that I needed (and many do) to address not only my alcoholic drinking (which was done simply by stopping, and staying sober one day at a time, and nevr taking the first drink, etc.). But I also needed to address my Alcoholic Thinking. And that was (and contjnues to be) done by working a plan of recovery. For me personally this involves AA, a sponsor and sober friends, and the 12-step program of recovery, and also reading and posting on here on a daily basis.
Dee has a great thread on here about making a plan, which is worth sitting and exploring the threads on. It has helped many people to devise a plan and start the work that will make sobriety comfortable and sustainable in the longer term. Here's a link to that thread... http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...y-plans-1.html
Also, a very simple thing to add to your self-care is looking out for the HALT triggers. HALT stands for Hunger-Anger-Lonely-Tired. Any one of these in early sobriety could send me on a wobble, and even nowadays, two at the same time left unaddressed is likely to make for an unpleasant 'rattley' day. So it's well worth getting into the habit of planning ahead to ensure that you avoid getting Hungry-Anger-Lonely-Tired, and have contingency plans in place for if you do. Mostly these things can be avoided with some simple planning. Some are a straightforward decision to avoid certain people because they rile you (both face to face and through social media). It might mean stocking you're bag or car with snacks (carb and protein mix is good, so cereal bars with nuts or other added protein, or a protein sandwich, or peanut butter and jelly on wholemeal toast). Lots of people say candy, but for me personally, that was counterproductive because as much as I liked the sugar high, the sugar crash really didn't help me moderate my moods at all, which led to anger, then isolating, then loneliness. I needed to include sugars but slower release ones that didn't get me see-sawing emotionally. Might be worth you trying both things and see what works for you.
The loneliness for me was addressed by coming on here a lot, and getting to meetings. Both of these meant I was engaging with other people who understood what I was going through. Honestly, at my first few AA meetings I was a little paranoid that people were reading my mind, or perhaps had inside info on me. It was the first time ever that I'd been in a group of poeple who actually 'got' how I felt and thought. I also reached out to family and friends who didn't drink (not that there were many friends in that category back then, as I'd surrounded myself with other problem drinkers by the end of my drinking) and arranged to meet for coffee or a walk or whatever. Things got easier for me as I distanced myself from my drinking friends, but it would have been extremely lonely doing that if I hadn't had AA meetings.
In the early days my sleep was a little erratic, so Tired was addressed more with rest and relaxation than sleep . It took me a while to remember how I used to like to relax before I started using alcohol and exhaustion to get to sleep. A lot of this is trial and error.
Anyway. Sorry if a lot of what I've written seems random or waffley. I hope snippets of it might be useful. But most importantly, welcome. And stick with it. And stick with us. This place and the people here made a massive difference to me. I hope it will for you too,
Wishing you all the best for your sobriety and recovery. BB
Blue Belt
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Soberville, USA
Posts: 4,174
Humble,
Booze Jacks up the brain.
Imo...it takes a long, long time to get back to a normalish state of mind.
Probably more than a year.
It depend on a bunch of variables....disposition, amount one drank, diet, exercise etc.
The bottom line, don't pick up again....otherwise the cycle resets.
We have to make a new sober life. It is not totally new, it is a modified version of the old drinking life.
Minus the booze and fill in the blanks w soberiety. The key is contentment.
It is a journey.
I exercise now. It is a great way to get the most out of sobriety. I keep a calender.
You can start in your home. Google home work outs.
Booze Jacks up the brain.
Imo...it takes a long, long time to get back to a normalish state of mind.
Probably more than a year.
It depend on a bunch of variables....disposition, amount one drank, diet, exercise etc.
The bottom line, don't pick up again....otherwise the cycle resets.
We have to make a new sober life. It is not totally new, it is a modified version of the old drinking life.
Minus the booze and fill in the blanks w soberiety. The key is contentment.
It is a journey.
I exercise now. It is a great way to get the most out of sobriety. I keep a calender.
You can start in your home. Google home work outs.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: North East
Posts: 621
Originally Posted by TheHumbleOne 
Hi guys im three weeks into recovery and im not doing so well. The first week i felt great and the second week i had no energy. Week three im very moody, i randomly cry, become irritated, some times im happy and easily angered at other times. When i was drinking i didnt eat much but now that im not drinking im eating a lot now. Im alreafy over weight. I cant sleep and it irritates me so bad. When i do get to sleep its like im in zombie mode and hard to get out of bed. Is any of this gonna go away soon?
Its normal im going through this also, its going to take time we have to stick with it to get to the other side. DON'T GO BACK TO DAY ONE. This is what keeps me going.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Southern Spain
Posts: 355
What you described is perfectly natural for early recovery. My emotions were all over the place for a while, and sleeping and eating were messed up. Getting the alcohol out of your system is great but I found the emotional aspect much harder. I no longer had my crutch, that would make it 'all go away'! Learning to cope soberly is not easy, especially if you (like I) used alcohol since a young age. Emotions feel amazingly raw. But that's to be expected. You are 'feeling' your emotions for the first time in ages, and it'll take a while for you to cope with them. Returning to the booze is not the answer however, as I am sure you know. If I feel edgy I type ''rain on car roof'' into YouTube, put in my headphones and drift away!!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Battle creek michigan
Posts: 3
Thanks for all the support and encouragement everyone. Today i didnt want to get out of bed at all. My joints hirt and im always thirsty. Ill be so happy when all of this passes. I really feel like im going insane. I didnt have any of the jitters, sweats or the seizures that a lot of people get. Or does that come later? Boy i hope i dont develop that. That would suck. Anyone else get really thirsty to the point that its unbearable?
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Three weeks is pretty good in my book. It was the most I ever managed under my own power. 21 whole days is a very long time to a newly sober alcoholic.
I remember when I got involved in AA, sitting in a meeting wondering how will I ever get 21 days again? They said one day at a time, along with one or two other suggestions. I got on with the suggestions and next thing I knew, my sponsor called to tell me I had just passed 90 days. I had no idea. The time just went. I had my ups and downs, some days I struggled to get out of bed, but as I followed those suggestions, my life was changing, quite dramatically as it turned out.
I have never had the need of a drink since.
I remember when I got involved in AA, sitting in a meeting wondering how will I ever get 21 days again? They said one day at a time, along with one or two other suggestions. I got on with the suggestions and next thing I knew, my sponsor called to tell me I had just passed 90 days. I had no idea. The time just went. I had my ups and downs, some days I struggled to get out of bed, but as I followed those suggestions, my life was changing, quite dramatically as it turned out.
I have never had the need of a drink since.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 13,040
You are doing great, and you will enter 2017 with just about a month of sobriety. Your body is adjusting, I definitely ate more sweets the first few weeks, but tended up losing weight over the past year, by eliminating alcohol, and also focusing on physical and mental health as aortic my recovery.
Hang in there, it gets better. Glad you are here!
❤️Delilah
Hang in there, it gets better. Glad you are here!
❤️Delilah
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: UK
Posts: 6,902
I seem to recall needing more fluids. No worries, just keep drinking water. Your body is probably trying to flush out all the crap that's been building up for years, and starting to mend itself as well hopefully which could well mean you need more fluid. It's like your body doing exercise, but on the inside. Whatever the reason - if you feel thirsty, it's your body telling you it wants fluids. Clean fluids with no alcohol in it! Lol. So drink and pee, drink and pee. No harm in that. I didn't get any jitters, sweats or seizures either (thankfully ). I believe they'd have happened at the beginning. At three weeks I reckon you've passed the likelihood of them occurring.
Blue Belt
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Soberville, USA
Posts: 4,174
Humble,
It gets better and better.
I still see myself progress at 20 months.
I have anxiety that booze overlayed. Pretty sure at this point much of my mental issues were caused by my drinking addiction.
My suffering when i quit was horrible for at least 6 months. It improved significantly now.
I could have easily ended up on meds...but i didn't want my drinking to be in my medical records.
Thanks.
It gets better and better.
I still see myself progress at 20 months.
I have anxiety that booze overlayed. Pretty sure at this point much of my mental issues were caused by my drinking addiction.
My suffering when i quit was horrible for at least 6 months. It improved significantly now.
I could have easily ended up on meds...but i didn't want my drinking to be in my medical records.
Thanks.
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