PAWS? Oh no...
Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 400
I went through a horrible time emotionally after about 4 weeks of sobriety...I'm sure it was PAWS. Thanks to this site I'm aware of PAWS and I was able to get through it. I can see how it could cause someone to go back to drinking if they weren't aware. I'm sure there will be challenging periods over the next year or two. I've read PAWS can last up to two years.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,442
First off, It's hard for anyone to mention feelings along the lines of "Irritable, Restless and Discontented" without it attracting the notice of AAs since their program is designed to provide relief from those specific feelings.
Those who haven't have had posts removed.
For those who can;t follow my reasoning, I made the ruling because I didn't think it was fair for the OP - who is a newbie here - to have his thread hijacked by the same old 1930s thinking for and against argument.
I wanted to go the easy hands off gentle way but folks kept posting.
Its not rocket science guys - no recovery method debates.
ps any personal critiques of my admin style - send me a PM.
Dee
Administrator
SR
Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: NSW - Australia
Posts: 14,592
Wait (don't), until you 'experience' benzodiazapine PAWS.....
When asked what was the meaning of life, Albert Camus said, "the thing you are doing (now) that stops you from killing yourself."
But I wasn't laughing then, that's for sure.
Still recovering nearly 11 months free.
When asked what was the meaning of life, Albert Camus said, "the thing you are doing (now) that stops you from killing yourself."
But I wasn't laughing then, that's for sure.
Still recovering nearly 11 months free.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 68
Pink clouds... Well, I don't think anything I am feeling yet is a pink cloud. More like a sunny spring day. It seems to be like that every morning. No spring or sun needed. I wake up, get my coffee, and feel all upbeat. Something which NEVER happened when I was drinking. I either woke up irritable as hell, tired, and general feeling of malaise, in a deep brain fog. Or... well, that was pretty much it. Until 5 PM rolled around. Then it was magical beer time, which of course solved all the world's problems with just the first 3 empty green bottles (just for starters), until the next day when everything turned back into crap again.
Now, I guess it's all pink clouds like in the morning, but as soon as it starts to get dark outside, which interestingly right now coincides pretty much with beer o'clock, pinks cloud rapidly disintegrate into dark and dreary clouds. Every day. It does seem to be getting very gradually better. It's almost like I just want to go to sleep early so morning will come back again. I do feel some hope though. The PAWS thing, I read up some more, thanks for the links everyone, seems to make a lot of sense. I can definitely endure a few more months of this if I have to.
Now, I guess it's all pink clouds like in the morning, but as soon as it starts to get dark outside, which interestingly right now coincides pretty much with beer o'clock, pinks cloud rapidly disintegrate into dark and dreary clouds. Every day. It does seem to be getting very gradually better. It's almost like I just want to go to sleep early so morning will come back again. I do feel some hope though. The PAWS thing, I read up some more, thanks for the links everyone, seems to make a lot of sense. I can definitely endure a few more months of this if I have to.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: NC
Posts: 5,160
Originally Posted by LastInLine 
Pink clouds... Well, I don't think anything I am feeling yet is a pink cloud. More like a sunny spring day. It seems to be like that every morning. No spring or sun needed. I wake up, get my coffee, and feel all upbeat. Something which NEVER happened when I was drinking. I either woke up irritable as hell, tired, and general feeling of malaise, in a deep brain fog. Or... well, that was pretty much it. Until 5 PM rolled around. Then it was magical beer time, which of course solved all the world's problems with just the first 3 empty green bottles (just for starters), until the next day when everything turned back into crap again.
Now, I guess it's all pink clouds like in the morning, but as soon as it starts to get dark outside, which interestingly right now coincides pretty much with beer o'clock, pinks cloud rapidly disintegrate into dark and dreary clouds. Every day. It does seem to be getting very gradually better. It's almost like I just want to go to sleep early so morning will come back again. I do feel some hope though. The PAWS thing, I read up some more, thanks for the links everyone, seems to make a lot of sense. I can definitely endure a few more months of this if I have to.
Now, I guess it's all pink clouds like in the morning, but as soon as it starts to get dark outside, which interestingly right now coincides pretty much with beer o'clock, pinks cloud rapidly disintegrate into dark and dreary clouds. Every day. It does seem to be getting very gradually better. It's almost like I just want to go to sleep early so morning will come back again. I do feel some hope though. The PAWS thing, I read up some more, thanks for the links everyone, seems to make a lot of sense. I can definitely endure a few more months of this if I have to.
Keep on keepin on
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
Last, that is such a beautiful way to describe the kind of days I mean by a life filled with pink. And the nighttime stuff...literally, figuratively, emotionally - that was indeed an intense process for me, too. Like Dee just said (and notably, he has about 3x longer in sobriety than I do, I believe) some nights are tough. Realizing that more of my days would be the kind you and I are describing in slightly different ways was essential to keeping hope that the path I got on was going the right way.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
Oh gosh! I just saw that comment from fish - YES. Actually, I told my husband a couple hours ago that while I was enjoying our day, it is one of those where I'm eager for a reasonable bedtime as being able to take my sleep meds and hopefully rest will be the only real solution for the kind of headache I have had all day. It's something I go thru more often than most, I think, but it just...is.
And in early sobriety, the "Send Myself to bed Early" technique, as I called it, was a big tool.
And in early sobriety, the "Send Myself to bed Early" technique, as I called it, was a big tool.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 2,426
Glad you are still here LastInLine. This entire helpful thread, that has caused us all to think and reflect, so brilliantly illustrates the deception and mystery of addiction. We all want to understand this thing, and so we start to throw words at it to define it, and some words mean different things to different people, and then we are in some sort of word soup and all bouncing off each other. Thank goodness for the moderators. Dee and Anna keep it all real for us. I hope you are well today LIL.
Adventurer
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Tuxedo Park, NY
Posts: 1,101
I was in a similar situation, leaning about PAWS a few months after I quit drinking. Obviously the major symptoms settled down within a few weeks of quitting but it was the subtle ones that kept on for a while. I would have good days and bad day with blah days in between. I would say for me it was a good 16-24 months after I quit that I really felt like I could say I felt normal. Every day sober is a blessing now and I cant stress enough how good you can feel.
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