Jillian2563

But I feel like something is wrong. Maybe it’s all in my head. I went to my primary care on Tuesday and went over labs and everything was good except slightly high cholesterol (but not concerning enough for her to prescribe meds). I’ve lost 4lbs since my last visit with her. I had her order labs for B12, Vit D, and iron. Results came back this morning all normal. She had also ordered another metabolic lab and it’s normal again too. I don’t want anything to be wrong but just don’t understand why I have fatigue and just “unwell” feeling. I do know that my throat is inflamed when I saw the ENT two weeks ago, and the meds he prescribed were giving me horrible side effects so I decided to schedule and appt with GI instead but of course that’s not until mid Oct. Maybe it’s just stress and anxiety. All in my head.

novips

It sounds like you are taking all the appropriate steps to get yourself checked out. Beyond that, you should likely keep in mind that early sobriety often comes with emotional ups and downs, anxiety, etc. My recovery is rooted in A.A., and we have a number of suggestions for dealing with this anxiety, etc.:
1. Go to a meeting and share. Go to more than one. Feel free to spend the entire day in meetings if you are able.
2. Talk to your sponsor. Make sure you're where you need to be in the Steps.
3. Pray. Ask God to remove the disturbance then take a sober action (like #1 and #2 above). Rinse and repeat as often as necessary.

Jillian2563

My therapist suggested the same yesterday. I told her I was on step 4 and she was surprised so she advised me to reach out to my sponsor and work 1-3 with her. I will be meeting my sponsor a few minutes before the meeting today.

ScottFromWI

That is possible. I say this as a diagnosed sufferer of Health anxiety. Getting things checked out is definitely important, and it sounds like you got a very clean bill of health, that is great news indeed. I can tell you for a fact though that it's very possible to manifest physical symptoms from mental sources. A lot of my anxiety, and even my panic attacks, started out as simple feelings of unwellness/unease and turned into much more. For example, there were multiple instances where I was standing in a checkout line at the grocery store, or waiting at a stop light, or whatever - and for whatever reason i'd feel a twinge in my stomach, or a slight dizzy feeling, or whatever - and it would be off to the races. I'd start checking my pulse and of course it would then start racing because I checked it, and I even left full carts at the checkout counter so I could get out of the store. Then i'd get home or sit on my phone in the car and start checking the internet for explanations for my symptoms, and many times self-diagnose myself with some awful thing.

Certainly that's a somewhat extreme example, and you are already seeing a counselor so they can help you figure out if there is a mental health component - but heatlh anxiety, and anxiety in general is a very real thing. And I know from experience how debilitating it can be so hang in there - there's lots of ways to help improve/eliminate it.

Sober45

Sounds like you are taking control of your health. Good for you because that's how we do it in sobriety, Jillian. Just keep doing what your doing and go easy on yourself. Don't expect too much in the first year because just staying sober is hard enough. Keep staying sober and working on yourself and you'll see, your outlook will improve.

I found that evaluating "where I'm at" in the early days didn't help very much because I didn't accomplish hardly any of my goals outside of staying sober in the first year. It just made me feel bad about myself. So I tried to stay in the moment and hold on to hope that better days would come. And they did.

Year 2 of sobriety is like a whole new level of sober for me. And I'm sure year 3 will be another step up with all these new things coming into my life.

Be patient. I'm sending self-loving vibes your way

DriGuy

Sometimes I feel like I'm about to get payback for something I've recently done wrong, even when I can't think of something I've recently done wrong. Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I have a feeling of impending doom, but no doom has ever happened. I don't worry about it. My head has got all sorts of junk in it. And these little emotional farkels are the least of my worries.

I remember a guy in AA one time saying, "I spend a lot of time ignoring my emotions." I took that as possibly good advice, especially if you let your emotions run your life.

UNITE4STRENGTH

I say this is totally normal - read about Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome!!! ....can come up off and on for up to the first 2 years of sobriety

Jillian2563

This is pretty much where I am. I feel like I waste so much time. Lol. Btw I have two black kitties (I noticed your profile pic) Onyx and Smokey

Sober45

You’re right where you should be, Jillian. I actually have 4 cats…. 3 black and 1 tuxedo. They bring so much joy.

Today while the fam was at work I cranked the music and danced like no one was watching….while slinging some laundry to their final destination! I could not achieve this feeling I have today in the first year. I can’t explain it only to say it’s pure and deep and real. Like when I was a young girl excited over Christmas.

keep going and you’ll get yours too. I hope you have a glorious day

sugarbear1

We don't rest on our laurels, we continue working through each step. Sitting on any step can be exhausting!

Finish 4, get through 7 as soon as possible! Don't sit on 4, it's a very horrible place to be.....

Robbie64

First, congratulations on 28 days of sobriety.

It can take me a few weeks after stopping drinking for fatigue symptoms to start to go away. In fact, having had a 6 month spell of sobriety earlier this year, I think it took about 3 months for the fatigue and a general feeling of just feeling run down and unwell to finally start to subside. I did slowly feel better during that time then all of a sudden I suddenly felt a lot better and had more energy. Being 28 days into sobriety you might feel a bit disappointed that you are still having these feelings of fatigue and of feeling unwell in general. However you may find that things do start to improve over the next few weeks.

The good news about your cholesterol is that stopping drinking usually helps to lower the readings, and often by a considerable amount for people who have high cholesterol. If yours is slightly high now (after 28 days sober which will have helped to lower the figures already) it may / should be lower still in another 28 days.

Jillian2563

My therapist actually told me to do 1-3 with my sponsor so I’m redoing them.

Jillian2563

That is good to know, thank you!!

Jillian2563

Awe I also have a tuxedo kitty! His name is bandit lol.

I’m glad you are feeling so elated and I can’t wait to get there!