eight months sober

I wish I was feeling better health wise,  but I am not.  37 year old male, heavy drinker for many years,  fear for me was the biggest motivator to stop alltogether.  I can see I did allot of damage to my body,  the strange thing is I felt better physically when I was drinking?

[working dog]

it took me well over a year to feel more normal...drinking heavy does all kinds of damage...your electrolytes may not be fuctioning like they should yet...or it could be something else..8 months sober seems like it should do the trick but after reading posts for quite a while i see why i didn't feel that great at 8 months...took about 14 months.....good luck....billy

[WhatIsNormal]

Hey, I understand, I have about 5 monthes and I just expected within a couple of days I would be back to my old self, lots of energy, bla bla. But if you think about the years of abuse you put your body through(for me it was 10) it gives you a little perspective on things. In other words Rome wasn't built in a day, so keep up the good work.

[ibizan]

i'm with working dog and whatsnormal...took me about a year to feel somewhat normal.....and yes we put ourselves thru years of abuse.....Rome was not built in a day but each day sober is heading towards re-builing our home of Rome!

[WhatIsNormal]

right on........................some days are better than others, but if you look back you should see some progress no matter how small keep that in mind. And whenever you start getting down about it, remember how you were in month 1 and 2. Then you will surely see the progress.

[ibizan]

i meant building not builing!yes we want immediate results....immediate gratification on a problem it took years in the making....one day atta time....it builds...my 24 years of sober/clean time has gone fast!But the first year dragged.......then it started flying!thats the ageing (aging) process 4 ya!

[scully1]

Thanks for the replies, it feels great to have support. I wish all of you the best of luck and health.  I just feel like giving up, went to the Doctor today, my BP is 155/95 I've been off the BP meds for a month to see if my liver enzymes would drop back to normal.  But I just feel like a walking time bomb! I thought stopping would improve my health but man it doesn't seem so. I am glad to have this site to interact with people who similar issue.

[ibizan]

no giving up...drinking will not solve a thing..not a darn thing...and will make bp go hi-er....ur health will improve in time..give this time!this a great forum for those wanting sobriety and support!

[WhatIsNormal]

I'm 28 and my BP was getting high, 145/110, It has dropped drastically since I quite drinking, 110/78. So don't give up it will happen. But ya gotta give up the salt and caffiene! I also developed panic disorder after I quite drinking, or maybe just before who knows those days are a fog. But I swear now that I have every disease known to man, and that the years of alcohol abuse are sending me to an early grave. It's amazing what our own minds can do to us. We are our own enemies sometimes. Breath Deep......................THe sun'll come out tomarrow, bet ya bottom dollar that tomarrow..........................................lol!!!!!

[Gaui]

Heyh!... Don't use this as an excuse to start again buddy :0) Give your body a chance to heal a bit, it will take time. Go to AA meetings and stay sober.

[j34]

Are you taking vitiams.I take calcium and magnesium, They give these at detox and cod liver oil, Multi vitiam and B complex and drink LOTS of water.i find that these help tremendously.You're liver is trying to help you flush toxins it will drain you. All the best

[boogieman]

hello. one thing that came to mind was that alcohol (esp. the way i drank) was masking the way i truly felt.  other drugs will do the same thing as they inhibit the body's natural painkillers and it takes a while for our brain chemistry to re-normalize. i'm close to your age and length of sobriety and some days are better than others. i am fortunate in the respect that i've had some significant sober years in the past and as a result, i know it gets better in time. one of the tragic aspects of alcoholism is that it can inhibit the pain from a potentially serious underlying condition. however, the human body has the miraculous ability to repair itself once we put down the booze. be honest with your doctor, make use of aa, and keep coming back to this site. there's a lot of good info here and it does help to interact with others in the same situation.
take care,gm

[katrina39]

read down "alternative to AA by mamaboulet, and the story i wrote her on 7/15/08...
when i wrote that, i put it out there for anyone who suffered from alcoholism, because i dealt with that myself...
you will get straightened around, your body will recover, it's going to be a slow process, but you must remember you can't abuse yourself for years and then think that it's going to be a quick turn around process...
it wasn't for me, and it's not for alot of people...
but don't give up ever, okay?
any day sober and alive, beats six foot beneath the ground...
draw strength and courage from this site and everyone out there who cares...
we are out there!!!

[Jacker]

Blood Pressure can be a tough one, and the alcohol probably made it worse.  I stopped my BP meds too (for the time being) so that I could guage how I "really felt" without the symptoms induced by the drugs.  I guess I tried to reduce the number of variables affecting my body (alcohol was a variable, and so were the BP meds).

In the end, I doubled up on my exercise.  I've always exercised anyway, but I literally do twice as much right now, and it's the only thing that has helped my BP go down.  Right now, I'm at around 128/78 - before, I was at 140+ over 90+.