anxiety and sleep
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 92
anxiety and sleep
18 days sober!!!!! Im getting a little sleep now,,,,,a little!!!!! Ive been waking up very tense and and jittery,,,,,having to calm myself down to just get going!!!! No bad dreams,,,,just tense!!! Has anyone else had this issue???? Any advice welcome!!!!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 782
Congrats jwc on the 18 days! What u r dealing with is all too common. I am dealing with it as well. The problem is that prolonged drinking affects neurotransmitters, GABA, serotonin, dopamine. All affect mood, enxiety, sleep, etc. It will take a while for your brain to restore normal productivity of those transmitters.
Blue Belt
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Soberville, USA
Posts: 4,174
This site educated me on all the physical and mental issues associated w drinking.
Before that i was fighting my addiction w out any mental armor or weapons.
Clean time dealing w the mental healing is what we all need.
Maybe not as obvious is the anguish we feel when we relapse even while armed w knowledge.
It is a looming threat even for high time drunks.
Addict for life.
Thanks.
Before that i was fighting my addiction w out any mental armor or weapons.
Clean time dealing w the mental healing is what we all need.
Maybe not as obvious is the anguish we feel when we relapse even while armed w knowledge.
It is a looming threat even for high time drunks.
Addict for life.
Thanks.
Forum Leader
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
Yes, sleep and anxiety issues are very, very common in early sobriety. It took me weeks to start getting somewhere close to a "normal" sleep pattern. Alchohol is a toxic chemical and it literally changes the chemistry of your brain - it takes some time to heal - many times much longer that the rest of our body recovers.
Hears The Voice
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Unshackled
Posts: 7,901
Originally Posted by jwc1 
Has anyone else had this issue????
And I'm not sure I believe the people who said it didn't happen to them.
Hard to believe, but our brains perceive persistent alcohol use as bad for survival. I guess if you're sitting around being lethargic all the time you'll forget to hunt or be vulnerable to predators or something. Anyway, to compensate our brains start producing extra anxiety-inducing chemicals. This tends to offset the drunkenness and make us more alert so we can hunt or fend off saber-tooth tigers and such. (This is one of the reasons I had to drink more and more to get 'relaxed'.)
You stop drinking, but your brain continues to over-produce these anxiety-inducing chemicals. So guess how you feel?
ANXIOUS.
Give it a few months, your brain will self-regulate again.
You can do this!
sober style
Join Date: May 2016
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 2,384
Originally Posted by Horn95
Congrats jwc on the 18 days! What u r dealing with is all too common. I am dealing with it as well. The problem is that prolonged drinking affects neurotransmitters, GABA, serotonin, dopamine. All affect mood, enxiety, sleep, etc. It will take a while for your brain to restore normal productivity of those transmitters.
Just hang in there, be patient. Good things are far more likely to happen for us as long as we don't drink.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 92
Originally Posted by SnazzyDresser
This is exactly right. I just turned a corner on sleep at 70-some days where my brain is now giving me some good sustained sleep at long last. I had a similar experience in my 205 day streak back in 2016.
Just hang in there, be patient. Good things are far more likely to happen for us as long as we don't drink.
Just hang in there, be patient. Good things are far more likely to happen for us as long as we don't drink.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 92
Originally Posted by SnazzyDresser
This is exactly right. I just turned a corner on sleep at 70-some days where my brain is now giving me some good sustained sleep at long last. I had a similar experience in my 205 day streak back in 2016.
Just hang in there, be patient. Good things are far more likely to happen for us as long as we don't drink.
Just hang in there, be patient. Good things are far more likely to happen for us as long as we don't drink.
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,426
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 92
Originally Posted by Nonsensical
Nearly all of us.
And I'm not sure I believe the people who said it didn't happen to them.
Hard to believe, but our brains perceive persistent alcohol use as bad for survival. I guess if you're sitting around being lethargic all the time you'll forget to hunt or be vulnerable to predators or something. Anyway, to compensate our brains start producing extra anxiety-inducing chemicals. This tends to offset the drunkenness and make us more alert so we can hunt or fend off saber-tooth tigers and such. (This is one of the reasons I had to drink more and more to get 'relaxed'.)
You stop drinking, but your brain continues to over-produce these anxiety-inducing chemicals. So guess how you feel?
ANXIOUS.
Give it a few months, your brain will self-regulate again.
You can do this!
And I'm not sure I believe the people who said it didn't happen to them.
Hard to believe, but our brains perceive persistent alcohol use as bad for survival. I guess if you're sitting around being lethargic all the time you'll forget to hunt or be vulnerable to predators or something. Anyway, to compensate our brains start producing extra anxiety-inducing chemicals. This tends to offset the drunkenness and make us more alert so we can hunt or fend off saber-tooth tigers and such. (This is one of the reasons I had to drink more and more to get 'relaxed'.)
You stop drinking, but your brain continues to over-produce these anxiety-inducing chemicals. So guess how you feel?
ANXIOUS.
Give it a few months, your brain will self-regulate again.
You can do this!
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