So, I have 140 days clean under my belt. I was feeling great, and now all the sudden my mind is all brain fogged and I feel almost like I’m in WD. I have bad anxiety and just feel like something is way off. Maybe it is PAWS, maybe it’s work, there has been a lot of anxiety there, but WTF! Anyone else go through this after being clean so long?
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I havent made it to your level yet but dont give up you can get pass this !!
Yup! It comes and goes for me it seems but it doesn’t usually last too long. Christ, this morning I almost swore I could smell alcohol on my breath…its a strange ride sometimes! Hang on friend!
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Mine is 20+ years of opiates, so I need to understand my brain chemistry is probably shot and needs like a year clean lol
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It will def take a while for things to rewire properly. There’s a lot going on up there right now! But best decision you’ll ever make. 
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Mike. I definatly feel your pain brother. I have 50 days under my belt tomorrow, a very painful but grateful 50 days. I also am a recovering heroin addict. I have done a lot of thinking. Positive thinking. I believe I am on to something in regards to my brain. As a active addict after all the fun and games came to a hault and the wanting to get high changed to a need to get high to be well, my chemistry forever changed. Obviously! Any move we made throughout our days was associated with using. More damning so was my thinking. If I was bored I used, if I had an event to attend I used, you name it and it was an excuse to use all while avoiding being dope sick. Insanely repeating that behavior day in and day out year in and year out I always had the normal emotions that went along with the reason to use but they were kept with the band aid of the dope. Here I am clean and I now associate those emotions, not events with using. Example, I now have the flu, since being legit sick I caught myself in a split second panic I’m dope sick, If I feel excited my mind thinks about dope, lonley dope, sad dope etc, Idk what I’m trying to say other then Its all a mental game upstairs in the brain we are trying to retrain I am sure you are aware. Great job on 140 days, keep it moving bro and continued success will come. 140 days ago we both can agree you wouldn’t came to thid forum you would of went out and banged. Look at that growth, huge brother. Keep a journal to reflect. Maybe I missed the point but great job man…
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Axienty, defiantly beings on a feeling of withdrawl, Probley the #1 emotion to figure out…
This is all true. Thing thats tripping me out is about day 60 or so till now I was feeling really good. I mean we all have anxiety, that’s natural, but I have HEAVY WD type brain fog that I can’t shake for the past 5 days or so. It will pass, just trips me out, but like I said I fkd up my opiate receptors pretty good for many years. Isn’t a 140 day fix, and I need to keep on pushing. Congrats on your 50 days, keep it going as well. Been doing a lot of reading on this and it says PAWS can hit at any time for up to a year or longer, so that’s probably what hit. Goes away, just been hitting the gym harder and that helps, but hasn’t shaken it completely. I knew i would eventually have to pay the Piper and nobody said it would be easy
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I still had alotta mental fog until 6 months clean. Im also a recovering iv heroin addict. I had good days but some days i felt irritable and confused. PAWS is very possible. It will work its way out… After 6 months you should be feeling 100% normal… Wierd but i noticed changes within a day or so of a milestone 30-60-90-180. Never early.
Or you could be coming down with a good ol’fashioned case of the crud. It is the season for it.
Eat a steak. Work up a sweat. Hydrate and take a multivitamin, and you’ll likely feel right as rain again.
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Interesting concept. I felt shit for 3 days through my 30 days… Will try to remember to check in to note if I have the same experience, should I make it to those.
If your DOC is alcohol it could be different. Opiate physical withdrawl goes on for months instead of weeks like alcohol. Ive known people to go thru both alcohol wd and opiate and said opiate withdrawl doesnt even compare …
Gotcha! Mine is alcohol, so sounds very different. I also think my feeling shit days were probably more mental health related, though it’s hard for me to disentangle the two so I’m trying not to.
Yeah it takes some time to get detoxed completely. After physical wd passes we do still have some mental wd and healing taking place before we stabilize out. The milestones can definately be a time you can write down how u feel mentally and physically and see how it progresses…
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I just had a crazy 2 day craving right after I hit my 8th month sober from alcohol, it wasnt a physical one-it was ALL mental. Those are just as dangerous, but I am totally confident you WILL hit those milestone days! One day at a time, you’ll hit them as they add up. Just be cautious and aware because it seems around milestones are when people tend to relapse.
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Thanks @Donnie_Spiering and @MandiH. I’ve just started a journal, so hoping that helps to identify if there are any patterns (or not!) to the ebbs and flows. 
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