Day 6-when will I feel better?

[Keewee]

Hello. This is day 6 of quitting drinking. I have been drinking around 6-7 small bottles of beer a day for at least 20 years. In the last 3 years I have had a couple of attempts at sobriety - the longest period lasting around 6 months. One of the things that disappointed me about sobriety then was that I felt tired every day. Because I also felt tired every day when I was drinking I decided there was not much benefit in being sober and used this as an excuse to go back to drinking. This time I would really like to make it but I am feeling extremely tired – more than when I was drinking. When does the extreme fatigue usually get better? I am also worried about cravings. I was doing okay this time but then I went to a recovery meeting on Friday. Hearing people talk about cravings and drinking has put those thoughts into my own head and now I have cravings too. I know that my chances of success by myself are not great – but how can it be good to feel worse after being involved with recovery groups? Thanks

[carol]

Keewee, it really DOES get better! I'm at 7 months now after way too many years of drinking way too much.

Welcome! There are a lot of us here in various stages. It may seem odd to feel worse after recovery group. Many people here have had that experience. Some groups are very helpful, others not so much so. The very best thing about this forum is there is no one-size-fits-all but a lot of ideas and support, with the 2 primary themes being 1) don't drink and 2) grow every day

If you haven't already done so, I suggest you go over to the main page at spiritualriver.com and read some of the excellent articles by the creator, Patrick. One of my favorites is at
http://www.spiritualriver.com/stop-drinking/
But there are many other great ones.

Also, come join us at the "how to stop drinking" thread and start reading. That's the main place most of us post so I suggest you start there.

More specifically for you, many of us experienced tiredness. For some it started later than you, for some it lasted quite a while. It is your body healing from beating it up for so long. As to the 6 months, now what so back to drinking - that is the beauty of Patrick's concept of creative recovery. When I tried quitting before, it was only about not drinking. But for the long haul there has to be more, otherwise it's just same old same old without the booze. Anyway, Patrick says it better than me, so take a look.

Re: cravings. Each of us has a different way of talking about this, but for me there's my she-devil who tries to get me to drink, one of our other posters calls it the "alky voice". You were lucky not to have that voice bugging you until other people talked about cravings, and unfortunately that seems to have woken it up. Just tell it to shut up, beat it with a stick, go exercise or do something else to distract it. That gets better too.

Good luck. I feel SO much better!

[neil]

hi Keewee and Carol...good reading posts. I think the tiredness is part of the journey...but get checked out with doctor etc...just to be sure, you could be lacking in something nutrition wise too,i know i have been.
I am only in very early recovery,id a relapse two years ago. But ironically in my first full year of sobriety i wa sincredibly unwell physically,i actually couldnt walk much and had a lot of pysical pain as a result of a rock bottom with drink n drugs binge that left me with a condition that(now totally gone) could have killed me had doctors not acted as fast as they did...i could walk for 15 minutes,which meant id to plan everything lol and then id be in bed for hours after mere few mins walk...i was housebound something i hated but somehow accepted, id to really look after what i ate,and take meds,go for acupuncture and outpatient rehab appointments...
why im saying all this is because that was extreme case of early sobriety and it turned out good. My relapse happened not in connection with been exhausted to point of crying some nites with fatigue n pain. Complete exhaustion is horrible,but believe me id prefer it to me been hyper on drink n drugs and the party boy i became...because the downside of those highs n escapes has been much more difficult n soul destroying.... The TIREDNESS WILL EASE,IT WILL TAKE TIME,WE ALL DIFFER BUT kEewee stick it out,i say this to myself aswell,u are sober now a lot longer than i am,so im not advising...just sharing my own experience in my first year in recovery back in 2006-2007 or so...i wish id known this site then come to think of it....or one like it...

If you are physically well enough to do even some light exercise might help with tiredness in longterm as will get ur body working better again,the usual stuff about healthy eating which to me equals regular eating as opposed to strict diets that often sap ones energy....supplements can help too....at the minute i too am tired all the time but i trust it will lift,ive spent ages abusing my body so its little wonder it aint in nbest shape...insomnia is huge problem of mine n getting dizzy spells but i trust they willgo away longer i keep sober....

gREAT to read Carol saying u feel so much better!!! that really helps n inspires.