I hear you. I still have trouble sleeping at 9 months. Sigh…
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I’ve been sooooooooo 
these past few days and was wondering what was going on. I’m on day 36 and just can’t seem to stay awake. For the past two days I’ve been in bed asleep by 8.30 and sleeping right through until about 5.30am. Never had so much sleep!
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I’ve reached the point when my sleep is getting all out of whack. I’ve found ways to get to sleep but staying asleep is another matter. Tomorrow night will be the start of my 4th week and the last 5 days I haven’t been able to stay asleep longer than 4-5 hours. Last night i even woke up at 1130 pm thinking it was morning. It’s still tons better than blacking out all the time though. In the big picture… nothing more than mildly annoying.
Alcohol-Free still wins.
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I seem to never be “happy”. I’m “good”, “ok”, “content”, etc. I just seem to have lost my ability to be happy. I can laugh at jokes etc but I have no pure joy in my life.
But I somehow suspect that I was feeling like this long before quitting drinking. Or maybe it’s PAWS. I know I crash a lot from PAWS. Lots of sadness, for no reason.
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What day are or month or year are you @VSue?
I’m still getting used to normal person feelings. Without having that mental distraction of saying to myself that tonight will be a good night to go grab a quick drink I’m noticing how often I talk down Myself in my mind all day long. Working that shit out now. But at least I can see it now to work with.
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I get anxious and depressed. Very irritable at times too. Hang in there. You’re not alone!!!
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I hear that!
I’m at day 72 and sooo tired, I had so much energy up to about 55 days and now it’s just zapped. I can sleep 10 hrs and have an afternoon nap. I’m not sad or depressed, I’m generally happy I just have no energy! I’m willing on 100-120 days because according to some it should start lifting then
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@BetterVersion I’m at 61 days. I’ve had 90ish days last year and it was the same. Feelings of sadness coming on out of nowhere and a constant feeling like I’m never happy. Sometimes anxiety pops in too but that’s more in the earlier weeks (like weeks 3-6).
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Halfway through day 24 and PAWS came at me like a hungry tiger. Monday I worked out the hardest I have I some time and about an hour after it felt like I was hit by a truck. It was like the activity took all my organs and squeezed all the old vodka out. In the last 36 hours I’ve had a nonstop head ache, zits, cloudy head, and I’m exhausted. It’s crazy. I’m glad I learns about this PAWS deal. At least I know what the hell is going on after 3 weeks of feeling relatively good aside from cravings.
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That made me giggle!!
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Oh good, something good came out of it. Cause it made my head hurt 
and gave me zits.
Yes yes, be patient with yourself, your body and the process. It takes the time it takes, but every day sober and smoke-free is one less day you are poisoning yourself. Staying busy is very helpful, but sleeping, eating right and drinking lots of water helps, too.
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At some point it’s hard to separate what’s paws and what’s symptoms of something that might be under it and even under the reason I used to drink at first.
Is this depressive state that I’m in is part of my recovery or I’m beginning to feel the depressive state again that I used drinking as coping mechanism to cover it?
In early days/weeks, for me I know anxiety and sleep problems are mostly due to withdrawals and/or adjustments to my routine and stuff. But after couple months (6) of being alright, the sadness hitted me again and after 1 month of fighting it I didn’t know how to cope with it and relapsed. Now that I’m just coming out of this relapse, I know I’m going to meet the depressive state sooner or later… Well, I’m still in it… But I’m beginning to understand that it’s alright to not be fine, and taking care of myself when I have those symptoms: whether they’re paws or else, it’s ok to slow down as they come and listens to ourself, even if it means taking couple days off. It’s better to do that then going back to using which is going to make you lost a lot more days than that time you can take for yourself to prevent it
Have a good day guys
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I was just reading up about the proffesor and the rats and the brain shocks and the kindling effect.
For me as a weekly binge drinker for a decade. I mainly feel fatigued with bursts of energy. Panic and anxiety mixed in with highs and lows. My brain is trying to recalibrate without alcohol so theres a drop in dopamine and serotonin. I am taking ssri’s for my serotonin 50mg sertraline and trying to eat healthy. I tried b vitamins but they make me jittery and feel weird so I have opted for blackstrap molasses twice a day for my minerals. My sleep has improved. My health is improving and my mental health is improving massivly. Before I would be constantly moody, stressed, throw things and had a f u world mentality. Now I am more self aware and more conscious of other peoples feelings. I am trying harder to be nicer
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I’m really struggling with severe irritability. I go from peaceful to wanting to throw things or even slap myself. I do neither, but the urges are strong and uncomfortable, to put it mildly. The smallest irritant can make me feel this way in an instant.
I’m calling in for my free 7 counseling visits through my Employee Assistance Program through work, though I’m not sure how helpful that will be. I’ll give it a shot though.
I hesitate to go back on anxiety medication because I feel like I want to sort this out first. Figure out if this is PAWS, or what.
The scary part is that the urges (not the behavior because aside from being noticeably irritable at times, I don’t act on the anger) is that I’m feeling how my dad acted. My dad was a very heavy (VERY HEAVY) drinker, but quit when I was a baby. No program, no counseling, no meds. Just quit. But he never sorted out any emotional issues and was very unpredictable and quick to anger.
I’m not normally like this. I’m sure it will pass, but I feel so shameful about how I feel and act lately. I hope it’s PAWS and will stabilize eventually and it’s not something I’ve been just burying for years.
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Day 11 and I’m just feeling really out of it, like my head is in a fog. Earlier today I was very angry then sad. It’s been a weird emotion day but I’m glad to see it’s just my body normalizing. Hoping for a better tommorrow.
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It’s been very interesting for me to feel my natural way of being come out and then have to relearn thought patterns. I know that it may be PAWS but I’m using it to work on my behavior anyway. I’ve felt myself reacting to people’s actions with very intense irritability but then, because I’m not drinking and I can think for a second and not get sidetracked, I sit and breathe and wait and work out why it bothered me and how I want to address it.
Of course I’m not saying this is a solution because we are all different but just that I have definitely felt my irritability rise quickly with slight provocations too. I’m at 4.58 weeks at the moment.
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My head being really really foggy starting at 2 days is what lead me to finding this and other alcohol free online communities as well as tons of literature while I was searching to find out if it’s normal… it defiantly is. And it was bad for me.
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Are you taking any meds like anti depressants?
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