Biglee55

Hi all, Today is 28 days sober but today has been the worse day yet I just feel so low and depressed. I was hoping by now I started to feel better, but I still can’t concentrate and I still feel dizzy. I might as well just get back on the wine at least then I had a glimmer of normality. I won’t drink I just hope tomorrow brings some joy. It’s hard when most of my family still drink but I can’t expect others to stop I just need to be strong.
I started drinking to block out things as a teenager maybe it’s time I got some professional help.

tekink

Hang in there! It takes time to heal and time is the only way.

It gets easier but it can take a while! The first six months where especially hard for me. I can relate to troubled thinking, but does booze actually add clarity or does it just hide the damage from yourself? The fact that booze makes it so hard to think when you sober up was a reminder to me of the damage I was causing to my brain.

Biglee55

Thanks for the reply it’s a lonely road being sober, I’ve masked the pain with alcohol for so many years. I’m determined to get there and hopefully one day I will be able to look back with some clarity and my mental health improves with time.

timm84

Hi - congrats on 28 days! That's a great start.

I'm on day 81 myself. This is my first real attempt at stopping. I can tell you that my withdrawal symptoms (including anxiety and depression) really peaked from about 3-6 weeks after I quit.

I'm still a friggin mess but I'm better now than I was then, and that's something.

It gets better the longer you go without drinking. Don't give up!

tekink

I know exactly where you are coming from. It is lonely, especially when there's no one around you who truly understands how much of a mental struggle it actually is.

Add to this sobering up makes your feelings extra sensitive and it's a recipe for emotions to go south fast. The whole viscous cycle of it can be exhausting.

Keep going and you'll get there! It's hard for a while but breaking free is so nice. A year ago this time I had 4 months sober and things where very hard for me. These days I feel like a new person. I have more clarity than I had for years.

I had a lot of issues when I was a kid due to bullying. I've never "fit in". When I went to college it was a whole new world, I no longer had that reputation I could not escape in the smallish town I grew up in but I still had trouble actually allowing myself to connect with people. Alcohol seemed to help with that and I started on a path that had me drinking daily to the start of liver disease over the next 25 years.

Biglee55

Thanks for the reply’s it really helps to know people have been, or are in the same place. I just want to wake up and feel normal, a life free of health anxiety but after nearly three decades of drinking what do I expect.

djlook

Hello, Biglee

I've been thinking today about some of the things that helped me when I first stopped drinking. I was in an AA meeting and someone said the program did for us slowly what a drink did for us quickly. If you don't drink one day at a time, you will get better as long as you're working some kind of program. For me, it was AA, and it's still working 20 years later. Good luck to you. Just hang in there.

teatreeoil007

I'm sorry you're having a low, depressed day, Biglee. This is likely a common trigger to pick up again, so it's good you came here and posted. You are not alone. We understand. Some of my family still drinks and some to excess. It saddens me and there is no support there, but I have to set my face like flint and carry on....KNOWING I am doing what is best for me.

Joy will come again...I have faith in that!! Sometimes we sow in tears but later reap in joy, but we always reap what we sow....we just don't get the reaping instantly and it takes time and patience. Hang in there!!

Dee74

Hi biglee - I dunno how long you drank for but I'll bet it was a lot longer than 28 days

I think we can underestimate the effect our self abuse has on our mind and bodies.

It took me 30 days to just stop feeling dreadful - things got a lot better after that tho and I fell pretty good by 90 days.

Hang in there. This is early recovery - it's not always going to be this hard.
This is a finite period.

Don't listen to the voice that says a drink will make you feel better or normal or whatever... Its a liar

D