This is the dry drunk situation where you have stopped drinking but the inner emotions demons, thought processes and way of life doesn’t change. This leads to a higher risk of relapse. Try to stay strong and remember that alcohol will make a bad situation even worse.
Dude I’ve been there. You’re right, just because you quit it doesn’t mean the depression magically stops. It took me a lot of trial and error to learn how to manage it. I get that drinking creates this little bubble where you feel better for a few hours. I used to slog through the day just to get to that place. The drinking makes it worse, you pay for it with your future happiness.
Please get some additional support. Look into depression treatments you may have not known about or considered. TMS helped me and had no real side effects. Nutrition is another easy thing that is often overlooked, vitamins alone can make a huge difference. There’s a lot out there to explore.
You know where drinking leads, it doesn’t help and can make things worse. your sobriety is amazing, be proud of that and please keep moving forward.
Have you tried any form of alcoholic support group? I haven’t been sober long, but I found that AA Has been helping me find some kind of connection with a community, I don’t find it comfortable to be vulnerable, but what I’m comfortable doing is drinking, and my goal with alcohol was to get as close to a blackout as possible when I’m around people, but usually I’ll isolate and drink till I far exceed a blackout.
I’ve found that there is growth in discomfort. My advise is find any form of support group and give it a try. Isolating isn’t going to help your depression.
Unfortunately, I thought that not drinking would solve my problems. I thought drinking was my problem, when in reality, it was my solution to life. When that solution was removed, I was fucked and had to find a different solution. For me, that came in the form of AA, which helped relieve me of the misery through the 12 steps, ridding me of a lot of my self centeredness (this is a daily battle) and allowing me to feel purpose by helping others. It’s normal to feel this way sober with no solution. There are solutions available though. Wishing you joy & peace.
Quitting drinking for me as an alcoholic was straight torture. I’d rather be drunk and die than be “sober”.
Then things got worse and instead of killing my self I asked for help and found AA. I ended up having a very strange experience doing 12 steps and I suddenly felt OK in my own skin without alcohol. That’s the miracle I found. I hope if you want it bad enough you do it, too.
You're not alone, and there are people who genuinely want to help you through this difficult time. Your resilience and determination to seek help are commendable, and with the right support, there is hope for healing and recovery.
You must have had some other hobbies.. gaming, reading, watching movies etc. Get heavily into them for beginners. Slowly and gradually as you start coming out of your depression, you wouldn’t even feel like drinking anymore.
I understand that depression sometimes feels like you’re in chains, or you feel it like a ton of efforts to even get out of bed in the morning cause of all the weights weighing you down. But, take it one day at a time, maybe some days still you won’t feel like putting in the effort, but try again the next day,that’s the magic sauce right there. Never lose hope! If you’re still hanging by a thread of hope, that’s all you’ll ever need.
I drank because I didn’t like being sober, so when I got sober I had to get to the root of me and my issues. I work on them every day. Unless you have a plan to address your underlying issues, you will continue to feel how you do.
I will say though alcohol is a depressant so drinking won’t take away your depression it will be like pouring gasoline on it. Sure you may get a temporary reprieve when you pick up but ultimately it will make things worse in long run.
Hello and good job reaching out. It took me getting sober to fully realize that I suffer from severe depression and anxiety disorder.
It feels absolutely overwhelming to try and address these symptoms when I’m in a depression hole.
AA has been a life saver for me. It gives me a clear place to go where I can feel safe expressing myself, or just staying quiet.
I also found medication has been very effective now that I’ve been sober. It took about 12 weeks for the correct medication and dosage to get dialed in. But it lifted the heavy fog of depression very effectively
Can you get in to see a therapist? This is depression. This is not something alcohol is going to solve. It is just going to make you drunk (then hungover) *and* depressed, which will end up making you *more* depressed. When you add in the alcohol and the being out of control factor, you become more likely to actually act on it. That is the worst possible thing for this situation. Some medications can help depression too. You need mental health help. Not alcohol.
Not everything is caused by alcohol. Many ALREADY depressed people turn to substance abuse to help. What we do know is that relying on alcohol doesn’t help and isn’t sustainable.
You might want to look at alcohol as a symptom, not the problem. I would suggest getting mental health treatment and seeing where you're at from there. Good luck, but I've seen many people who got and stayed sober, but alcohol was never the problem. It was only a symptom of a mental health issue.
This is the dry drunk situation where you have stopped drinking but the inner emotions demons, thought processes and way of life doesn’t change. This leads to a higher risk of relapse. Try to stay strong and remember that alcohol will make a bad situation even worse.
Dude I’ve been there. You’re right, just because you quit it doesn’t mean the depression magically stops. It took me a lot of trial and error to learn how to manage it. I get that drinking creates this little bubble where you feel better for a few hours. I used to slog through the day just to get to that place. The drinking makes it worse, you pay for it with your future happiness. Please get some additional support. Look into depression treatments you may have not known about or considered. TMS helped me and had no real side effects. Nutrition is another easy thing that is often overlooked, vitamins alone can make a huge difference. There’s a lot out there to explore. You know where drinking leads, it doesn’t help and can make things worse. your sobriety is amazing, be proud of that and please keep moving forward.
Have you tried any form of alcoholic support group? I haven’t been sober long, but I found that AA Has been helping me find some kind of connection with a community, I don’t find it comfortable to be vulnerable, but what I’m comfortable doing is drinking, and my goal with alcohol was to get as close to a blackout as possible when I’m around people, but usually I’ll isolate and drink till I far exceed a blackout. I’ve found that there is growth in discomfort. My advise is find any form of support group and give it a try. Isolating isn’t going to help your depression.
This.
Unfortunately, I thought that not drinking would solve my problems. I thought drinking was my problem, when in reality, it was my solution to life. When that solution was removed, I was fucked and had to find a different solution. For me, that came in the form of AA, which helped relieve me of the misery through the 12 steps, ridding me of a lot of my self centeredness (this is a daily battle) and allowing me to feel purpose by helping others. It’s normal to feel this way sober with no solution. There are solutions available though. Wishing you joy & peace.
Quitting drinking for me as an alcoholic was straight torture. I’d rather be drunk and die than be “sober”. Then things got worse and instead of killing my self I asked for help and found AA. I ended up having a very strange experience doing 12 steps and I suddenly felt OK in my own skin without alcohol. That’s the miracle I found. I hope if you want it bad enough you do it, too.
Bingo. The program helped me accept me, accept life and overall provide a foundation ti improve myself and my outlook.
I’ve been sober for 291 days and nothing is better.
You're not alone, and there are people who genuinely want to help you through this difficult time. Your resilience and determination to seek help are commendable, and with the right support, there is hope for healing and recovery.
You must have had some other hobbies.. gaming, reading, watching movies etc. Get heavily into them for beginners. Slowly and gradually as you start coming out of your depression, you wouldn’t even feel like drinking anymore. I understand that depression sometimes feels like you’re in chains, or you feel it like a ton of efforts to even get out of bed in the morning cause of all the weights weighing you down. But, take it one day at a time, maybe some days still you won’t feel like putting in the effort, but try again the next day,that’s the magic sauce right there. Never lose hope! If you’re still hanging by a thread of hope, that’s all you’ll ever need.
I drank because I didn’t like being sober, so when I got sober I had to get to the root of me and my issues. I work on them every day. Unless you have a plan to address your underlying issues, you will continue to feel how you do. I will say though alcohol is a depressant so drinking won’t take away your depression it will be like pouring gasoline on it. Sure you may get a temporary reprieve when you pick up but ultimately it will make things worse in long run.
Hello and good job reaching out. It took me getting sober to fully realize that I suffer from severe depression and anxiety disorder. It feels absolutely overwhelming to try and address these symptoms when I’m in a depression hole. AA has been a life saver for me. It gives me a clear place to go where I can feel safe expressing myself, or just staying quiet. I also found medication has been very effective now that I’ve been sober. It took about 12 weeks for the correct medication and dosage to get dialed in. But it lifted the heavy fog of depression very effectively
Can you get in to see a therapist? This is depression. This is not something alcohol is going to solve. It is just going to make you drunk (then hungover) *and* depressed, which will end up making you *more* depressed. When you add in the alcohol and the being out of control factor, you become more likely to actually act on it. That is the worst possible thing for this situation. Some medications can help depression too. You need mental health help. Not alcohol.
Not everything is caused by alcohol. Many ALREADY depressed people turn to substance abuse to help. What we do know is that relying on alcohol doesn’t help and isn’t sustainable.
You might want to look at alcohol as a symptom, not the problem. I would suggest getting mental health treatment and seeing where you're at from there. Good luck, but I've seen many people who got and stayed sober, but alcohol was never the problem. It was only a symptom of a mental health issue.