tink360

hey everyone...im doing GREAT...ive had 90 days sober yesterday since my relapse. and although its been a rollor coaster ride...i feel im doin pretty good...i just have a few concerns...1) whats the deal with my obsession with food? I mean thank God im not the 90 pound skeleton i used to be but, now i can eat a whole large pepperoni pizza feel fine...i try to not eat such big meals so often during the day but its like food calls me...then at night i crave choclate and often wake up hungry for it....cant go back to sleep unless i have a peice of choclate or something...is that weird? im not sure if this is part of the recovery process or not? i just wanted to know if anyone had any knowledge on what the deal was with that...im starting to get a little uncomftorable with where my weight will get...another concern is that every so often i get this feeling of ultimate fear at night....ill wake up around 2 or 3 in the morning and feel just terrified...i dont know of what or why so i try to convince myseelf to go back to sleep...i dont know if thats a normal thing of recovery either so if anyone knows anything of either one id appreciate some feedback please...thanks

Sober-Steve

My first 6 months of recovery I had the same thing with the chocolate and the sweets. I would wake up in the middle of the night and start eating sugar. My doctor said it was normal because the alcohol has a lot of sugar in it, and all of a sudden that is gone. The ironic thing is that in my first 2 years of recovery I lost 40 pounds!!! However the last year I have started to gain some of that back but I don't ever get up in the night and eat anymore.

Keep up the good work.

One Day At A Time

Dead Poet

Hey, it's because of the sugar that was in the alcohol, and your body is not used to it. The book Potatos not Prozac gives a good explanation of sugar and alcohol, and how to regulate your systems so we no longer have those cravings. If you dont want to read the book then try eating 3 meals a day without any sugar, but have lots of protein and high fiber carbs at each meal. This should help with the regulating, and in the meantime drink lots of H20

Greenbug

This is normal, and you did not say but I am going to guess you drank?


There is alot of suger in booze, you are still detoxing. 90 days is kind of a long time for a pyhsical detox though from drinking.

That is common, I hear it all the time. Be careful though I have seen people blow up also. Not boom blow up but WHOA, put the plate down and step away from the table!

Luckyv2

Hey Tink I am glad to find your post I have not been very active lately but I want to say Hey and thanks for the PM you are wonderful... Also I would like to let you know that in the Big Book of AA it talks about eating chocolate it help the cravings of alcohol, maybe that is what is going on...Also as far as eating OMG can I relate to that LOL I have gone from around 145 lbs 5'11 1/2 to 190 lbs but atleast I am healthy so don't worry about that..You look FINE...

Love Vic

CarolD

So glad you are staying in reocvery! :congrats

ASH

Hi Tink,
Way to go on the 90 days!

The sugar alcohol connection thing seems to be well covered.

How often do you eat a day? If I munch constantly, (cut up apples or a protien bar are some good choices), then I can cut down on the frequency of the spree eating. I also know I get into a real danger zone if I am too tired or too hungry.... My old pal really calls to me then.

But, I have also noticed a shift in my eating pattern this go round. I am eating to that stuffed feeling, or the ahhhha point, something I have never done in the past. I was taking it easy on myself, substituting food treats, but NO MORE. I have cut out my two favorites, carrot cake and ice cream,
and have had to increase my exercise.
Sorry your not sleeping well, that just sounds the worst, I hope someone else has some advice, I just hope it STOPS SOON,
Im glad you have 90 days, good for you, as for all the rest I cant say whats normal or not, but as they say this too shall pass,
Take Care Tink

Sugah

I went through the sugar thing years ago when I went through detox the first time (with alcohol) - ate so much sugar, in fact, that I crashed. That was a miserable experience. The suggestion I was given was to be sure I had some protein in my stomach before going on a sugar gorge.

My last detox, when I got "for real" clean, was not from alcohol, but from opiates. I hadn't eaten much at all for a year or more before I stopped, and of course, during detox, I didn't want to look at food, but once through that, I ate everything. I gained over 40lbs in a few months - I was mortified! Always been around a hundred pounds, and now, I was 140! The only thing I can figure is that I used food to deal with boredom (I was in a wheelchair getting clean and wasn't able to park it for good till I was ten months clean - and I couldn't do a lot that I wanted to do). Twenty pounds came off, then another fifteen. I'm 105 now - no doubt much healthier than my 95-100 I was when I was using.

Just like sleep, your eating patterns will even out. Think how long we deprived our bodies of good stuff! Now, the body wants to make up for lost time.

It'll be okay.

Peace & Love,
Sugah

singer

I can identify with the sleeping thing, I have nightmares every night.

hopealwayz

I can relate to you with the eating thing. Since I've been clean, I have been eating soooo much more.... I'd say this is normal because I have lots of others experience this same thing.

REZ

I can relate. As an addict, I substituted food for my addiction to drugs. I got into a lot of obsessive/compulsive eating in early recovery. It took a long time and lots of step work to develop a comfortable (balanced) relationship with food. Even today, after 21 years clean, I can still have problems with food.

tink360

i was a meth addict mostly but i also drank but not as much...when i relapsed it was with meth...so my 90 days have been from the meth relapse...im going to try to get some active excersice and going to sleep earlier...thank you all for the responces there was some good advice in there and i plan on starting a three meal a day diet instead of eating everytime i see something edible...im at 125 pounds now which is a big change from the 90 pounds when i was doing drugs so mostly i think im just uncomftorable with the huge difference in weight and the fact that i cant seem to fit in a size 1 anymore and that im a size 7 now...hey guess what i went to visit the rehab i went to and they invited me to be the speaker at one of their meetings...so im going to go do that tonight...

shockozulu

I am Miss Thin Rail. Always have been, way before I started abusing pills. But I still get the sugar cravings. Bad. I have had nights where I can't sleep until I get a lollypop down me. Weird.

ASH

WOW, I bet that will be a special for you, being able to help others by sharing your own experience, let us know how it goes!!!

tink360

thanks for the help and support everyone...im trying to limit my diet its just tough to break the habit of eating so much...its like i replased drugs with food...as for the nighttime fear i still get that and dont know how to make it go away but im hoping it doesnt last long...