Day 7

Well I guess sooner or later you build up a immunity to anything, it seems that Benadryl and me are not friends any longer, been up off and on all night oh well no one every died from not getting eight hours of sleep.  Well back to the drawing board, now Melatonin and Benadryl aren't working.  I ffeel like Dances with Wolves writing in his journal to stay sane.  Ok, now I'm freaking out myself, guess I should at least make an attempt to leave the house today, I need to buy a new chain for my chain saw, I wore mine out in the last 6days.  Wish everyone a nice day...turf

PS I keep forgetting its Day 7 another x on the calendar.  Might be a good idea to just stop counting and get back to the real world huh?

[boogieman]

glad you're still with us. ya, sleep is usually hard to come by (it still can be for me) as our bodies have grown accustomed to a daily dose of liquid sedative. this is also the mechanism behind much of the withdrawal---the longer we drink, the longer it takes our chemistry to re-normalize. when we remove the alcohol we've gotten used to, the nervous system goes into a state of hyperactivity, then slowly begins to level off as the brain readjusts by beginning to produce the chemicals that were not needed as long as we were drinking.  in time, most people return to a natural sleep cycle. but depending on the individual, medications are sometimes necessary to achieve this. it also sounds like you have discovered something that took me years to find. for whatever reason, we do build up tolerances to drugs quickly, which contributes to a lot of  people trading one chemical dependency for another. in an effort to ease the withdrawal symptoms, many (myself included) have turned to other substances such as sedatives or opiate painkillers only to discover that a new problem has been created. if you do need such medications, it is highly advisable to use them only under the care of a doctor who is aware of your history. bottom line is, with or without meds withdrawal is difficult to say the least, but if you can stay busy and utilize the available resources such as this site and aa, it will be a lot less painful. hang in there---gm