Leibss

Sorry for multi posting just have a lot of questions I’ve been thinking about and I just signed up yesterday.

Have you suffered dysphoria (almost like a depression), but lack of empathy towards life? Like I am not happy with any previous interests. Food has no appeal, television and school don’t interest me, not even thinking about finding a relationship, even my animals I love I don’t want to be around and shoo them away. I feel almost numb like there’s no point to anything really. It’s day 3 for me and it’s so gruelling to find something to do when nothing interests me. I’m not suicidal by the way just putting that out there.

Do you think this is only temporary (like a week), or could it last months? This recent binge has been just a week. I don’t drink everyday only occasions (but turns into 5-10 days).

Dee74

This is day 3 yeah? Unless this was some pre existing thing I'd expect you'll feel better and better the more time you put between yourself and your last drink

Try and relax. The best thing you could have done was stop drinking - you've done that. Go see your Dr tomorrow and share your worries and concerns

D

Hawkeye13

Too early to read much into it--give yourself time to heal.

I do know that for me, each binge was worse mentally, physically, and emotionally
and took longer to recover from, but it will get better over time
and if you don't rinse and repeat by drinking again like I did over and over.

Wishing you the best

Anna

Yes, give it some time and I hope you feel better.

ChloeRose63

I have that when I need to turn off my hypersensitivity to all things living and all situations that look like they need fixing. My mind and body just don't care anymore to lower my anxieties. I don't cry or laugh much. Somedays I just float thru them without feeling much at all. Might not be normal but, that is how I cope for now.

Nonsensical

Google "Alcohol and Anhedonia"

Mine lasted a couple of months. The short story is that being drunk all the time is bad for survival. Lethargic homo sapiens got eaten. So the brain compensated for persistent alcohol use by releasing additional chemicals making it more and more difficult to reach a euphoric, contented, lethargic state. (Hence I had to drink more and more to get my buzz on...)

Then you quit drinking. Which is good, except your brain doesn't know it can just shut off producing those extra chemicals now. The result is a state of anhedonia - an inability to experience pleasure.

I had it. It sucked. It's temporary. Things got better. I'm never going back. You can do this.

thomas11

I think the feelings you describe are more common than you might think. I've been sober for quite awhile now and I just went through a period of the "blahs". Nothing motivated or appealed to me. I had no desire to do anything. But I know it passes and things return to normal.

Doubledee

Nonsensical - thanks for that knowledge. Never heard of that before but it certainly makes sense.

Leibss

Thanks I tried 5htp before bed which actually helped somewhat. But not sure if it’s cause I moved to day 4 from 3 and gradually getting better. Btw interesting nonsensical I haven’t heard that either and that would make sense from a biological standpoint

Wholesome

Try to get some exercise even if you don't actually want to do it. It will help with the anhedonia.

heavencanwait

Chloerose - You hit that right on the head with your comment. That is exactly how I feel most times still.

Leibss

I guess that would be showing your brain your back in survival mode by exercising and on top of that releasing endorphins which will counteract the dopamine, GABA, and serotonin depletion. Smart! Thanks I’ll try it zenchaser Day 5 now, and already food is starting to taste normal again which should be the first good sign

JamesfrmEngland

When alcohol has been your main focus and motivation in life it's hard to get pleasure from anything else for a while while your body resets itself. In fact one of the symptoms of alcohol addiction is a lack of interest in other things apart from alcohol but it gets better over time I can attest to this.

Leibss

I didn’t realize how powerful alcohol could be at hanging the way your brain works to make you only feel pleasure for alcohol. I never thought of that at 15 when I had my first drink...

D122y

Lei,

I immersed myself into heavy exercise. It got me through.

Imo...It is all about the lack of dopemin. The booze, like a parasite, alters the dope.

It takes a long long time to get to a naturally happy state. I am not there yet.

But, I am better than yesterday.

Working out, posting, being nice to people all give us happiness.

I ate whatever I wanted for a while, but now I need to watch it. My bp started to go up because I was eating too much junk.

But...imo...while getting over the hump...enjoy food, hydrate, sleep. Be kind to yourself.

Thanks.

Eaglelizard

Personally, I think you need to "trick" your body and mind into appreciating other things besides the ritual of alcohol and for this reason, it is important to establish new, healthy routines. Some, like eating at the same time, or exercising a certain amount each day, may seem arbitrary, but you have to hang your hat on something. to get you through until your brain can forget its old ways and find the new. I have drastically simplified my life in sobriety, focusing on my daily routine and have found that, after some time, there is great satisfaction to be found in things as simple as cooking a healthy meal for myself. Just something that helped me.

NoahJ

Thank you for the post. This was like symptom bingo - it hit all my favorite terms (and some degree of past/Withdrawal symptoms):

anhedonia (check!)
dysphoria (check!)
emotional hyper-reactivity (check!)

It gets better, and you get to enjoy life again. If you want some advice, start integrating some of the suggestions from this thread into your daily life (exercise and routine is a good one). Forcing yourself to re-engage in a hobby you might have given up helps too. There are also recovery tools out there like mediation, 12-step programs, accupuncture, etc. The point is to be ready if these symptoms reappear sometime later and blindside you.