Sobriety is not as much fun as I thought it would be.
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anonymous Asks ...
I am 6 weeks sober and I do not feel as good as I thought I would. I was expecting to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for life again like I used to but now I find it hard to get excited about doing anything. I am forcing myself to get out and exercise every day and I go to work every day but there other than that I am not interested in doing anything at all. Is this normal for so long a period of sobriety? Do you think I have "post acute withdrawal syndrome" or is the way I am feeling from something else?
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Jill Edwards Says ...
I have heard of "post acute withdrawal syndrome", but more in connection with prescribed medication and I do not have the feeling that this is what you are dealing with. Alcohol as I am sure you know is a depressant and you may have been using it for quite a life, but not only have you been chemically depressing yourself, but also you will not have been putting your energies into your normal life, so you may well find yourself facing a desert around, just because you have not been nourishing your life with your attention and activity.
It may be worse than that, your drinking activities may have led you to make errors of judgement, or to have made some people around you angry with you, and it is possible that you feel a little down on yourself as you wake up and find out the consequences of your drinking. You may also feel that having sobered up, there are a large group of friends it is no longer safe for you to be around and that as a consequence you don’t have a large group of people you can depend on.
One thing you should be doing is to really up your intake of Vitamin B, especially Vitamin B12. That will help to build up the nervous system again. Have a physical check-up especially your liver and pancreas to make sure these have not been damaged. I believe you are doing the main thing which is to carry on getting out to work and doing the exercise, but recovery is a long and complicated game and I do suggest that you join a group working with recovery in mind. If the depressed feeling continues for another 6 weeks, then you may need to contact your doctor to establish whether there was an underlying depression, which now needs addressing, but I do not think this is the case. I think with healthy eating, healthy associations and exercise, that life will pick up a little. But do get some support from people who know what it is like to be beginning sobriety.
