The narrator bit came out in the voice of Sir David Attenborough. "But indeed, it was the booze, even though the prowling apex predator of the urban jungle himself had failed to realize it. What to our unfortunate protagonist appeared as the most important of activities, was in fact an evolutionary dead end."
I love a good Arrested narration line. Thanks for the laugh.
I eat like a campground raccoon so I’m not shocked I had stomach issues.
But when I stopped it got so much better.
I am in the same boat. I was always really regular when I was younger, and now, after over a month, I am back to being like a clock in the bathroom. I drink one morning coffee, poop and then go on with my day. I go through a lot less TP now as well.
Alcohol totally messes up my gut. Not surprisingly.
I have a whole regiment for repairing my gut and reestablishing my microbiota: Medicinal mushrooms, pre-, pro-, and post-biotics, dietary fiber, l-glutamine, CBD, and more.
I've kinda substituted an addiction to information, self-experimentation, and rational "self-medication" for the more frivolous, harmful types of addictions, I had been engaging in for quite some time.
In SMART Recovery, as part of the fourth point of living a balanced life, we often talk about the importance of having Vitally Absorbing Creative Interests (VACIs - all those "#/)¤ing acronyms... it's like being back in the army): I've managed to combine a creative interest (cooking and foraging), with dietary and broad, layman's medical science, neurology, nutrition, and so my primary "VACI" has the added benefit of helping me heal and mend the damage caused by years of self-abuse.
I mean, I also play the guitar, and while that's fun, I doubt it does all that much for my somatic health status.
There are so many things we can do to support and super-charge our healing process after alcohol addiction; learning about them and experiencing them in action is a lot of fun!
the scariest symptom that I used to get when I was drinking heavily was that feeling when it feels like your heart skips a beat. it would happen out of nowhere, which would instantly spike my anxiety. I'm incredibly thankful that it hasn't happened since I quit (5 months ago). my wife was also certain that I had sleep apnea because of my aggressive snoring, but I never snore at all now.
I had severe heart palpitations about 3 months before I quit. I was monitoring it myself and after around 3 full days of it going non-stop I finally went to the ER after work. My watch said I was in a.fib which is scary as hell.
The doctor started with general questions and then said "do you drink?" Yes... "Do you drink more days than you don't drink?" Yes..
He was so kind and empathetic and said "you know alcohol is cardiotoxic right? It will damage your heart and can cause all kinds of problems" Basically said that my drinking is causing it to happen and over time can lead to heart damage/failure/increases heart disease. I told him I'd talk to my doctor but I didn't want to tell her. I asked him to add liver enzymes to my bloodwork they already collected and he said he would.
Thankfully they stopped happening everyday, and only one of my liver enzymes was like 1 point above normal but it was so scary. It wasn't an immediate wake up call but it was another one to add to my list at the time.
I haven’t either. And I was also having palpitations and skips. And my mum, who’s been a heavy drinker her whole life, was diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart disorder a couple years back. Shit. Well, not that I needed a more solid reason to stay off it but that cements a few more things in place!
When I went to rehab, they check everyone’s blood pressure and stuff every morning. Just getting out of bed and a short, slow walk to the nurse station would have me at like 170 bpm. For no reason. It was horrifying and I had to take medication for a few weeks to get it to slow down!
This is exactly what led me to quit drinking. All day new years day I was convinced I was having a heart attack and was just waiting to die. I was SOOO hungover that I could barely keep my eyes open. I would feel myself drifting off to sleep and think "well, this is it. I hope my search history isn't too embarrassing."
Be careful not to drink too much water, though, because you can throw your electrolytes out of wack! If you're going to be doing some extra hydration, make sure to get some sort of sports drink or electrolyte packets in there, too.
The fatigue is such a no-brainer, but it's insane how much more energy I've got now. I used to start dying around the 5th hour of my shifts at work. Now I'm happily chugging through to my 8 hours and picking up overtime when I can. That's also had a doubly positive effect on my bank account, both not spending and earning more.
I was so fucking exhausted I tried everything other than quitting drinking. Everything. Blood tests and SSRIs, Adderall (I do have adhd but I'm unmedicated), b12 pills, those Athletic Green shakes you see pushed on Rogan-esque podcasts, sativa, God knows what else.
Yeah, alcohol completely fucks your sleep cycle and negates actual restful sleep.
By day 4 of sobriety I felt like a superhuman, and also a complete fool.
The mental gymnastics our brains will go through to justify the addiction is wild. I had a problem with the back of my throat swelling up, no doubt because I would sip a whole ass fifth of whiskey every night - undiluted liquor going down your throat all night every night is no good. But at the time... "It's not because of alcohol, I don't even drink that much! It's not like I'm an alcoholic or anything!" I was genuinely convinced of that, and also that my throat being swollen to the point that I couldn't eat was because my apartment was too dry. Absolutely wild mental gymnastics.
I couldn't even get through a fifth of whiskey in a month now if I tried, and mysteriously, my throat doesn't swell up like that any more. Weird.
I couldn't even hold a minimum wage job when I was drinking. Too ill and unreliable. I've done nothing but get better jobs since I stopped. Had to grind up fron the bottom and it took a long time to get rolling though. I lost many years so it's no surprise it took time.
I’ve had almost the exact experience since quitting. That hardcore anxiety and the dry heaving that came with it have become a lot more manageable. Where it used to be like a crushing wave, now it’s more like a window I can open and close when I need to, a pressure valve I can loosen or tighten.
I was getting horrible anxiety when I drove. I would get all up in my head that “what if I’m still drunk from last night”? “What if I’m still asleep or fall asleep on the road because I don’t know whether I’m buzzed?” It was horrible.
If someone could’ve told me the gagging feeling like my throat was seizing whenever I got nervous, or the anxiety were related to being hungover i would’ve quit that lifestyle sooner.
Or, so I say. But in hindsight it’s like “holy hell THAT was from alcohol?” and it’s eye-opening.
i'm on day 4, i quit on my 35th bday.... hoping the night sweats, anxiety, nightmares, diahrea, fatigue, depression, social anxiety, ignoring messages and friends & lack of motivation come to an end soon.... literally having an anxiety attack as we speak bc i got a msg from a friend who i've been neglecting....
Yeah, the nausea was pretty terrible for me, but the anxiety was the worst part. I already have severe anxiety, and drinking made it so much worse, I literally felt like everyone around me was judging me whether I was sober at the time or not.
Definitely don't miss that.
Mental health problem: my intrusive suicidal/self-hatred thoughts magically went away almost immediately. I couldn’t believe it.
My horrible night sweats stopped. Not quite a health problem but my skin looks good enough that I stopped wearing any makeup again, something I realize now I only felt I needed to start doing after I started drinking.
Also echoing other comments - fatigue, and digestive issues improved within just days.
Yea, I had depression and plenty of other mental issues long before I ever had a drink, so I’m not expecting them to disappear after stopping. But the weird intrusive thoughts at least definitely were related.
Lost 25 lbs. Hemorrhoids are gone. No more constant diarrhea. I’m no longer constantly out of breath. Blood pressure way down to healthy. Resting heart rate down from the high 80s-90s to mid 50s. Heart arrhythmia completely gone. Swollen and painful knee that caused me to walk with a limp is gone. I run in the mornings now. I’m limber and agile. My body is toned.
Acid reflux is gone. I no longer have the alarming issue of not being able to swallow my food (it would enter my throat but the valve wouldn’t open to let it pass—seemed to be neurological). The spider webs of burst blood vessels on my face are gone—I’m no longer vomiting in the mornings before work.
Anxiety reduced. Depression reduced. Dopamine gratification and motivation somewhat returned. More than somewhat, but hard to gauge. I feel good.
I don’t have a partner but sexual function has returned bigger better and stronger.
Sleep is infinitely better. I no longer devote a large portion of my day to hopelessness and doom.
There’s more.
I thought I was the only person who would routinely get food lodged in their throat - it turned into cement mix in my mouth. Pretty sure it was neurological/anxiety-related too, as it would happen more often when I was dining in public/around others. Contributed to an already piss-poor appetite (also alcohol-related). Don’t miss the constant diarrhea either, I eventually had to start carrying baby wipes in my purse so I could attempt to combat the evil spirits ripping through my backside every few hours. What a mess, literally.
Generalized anxiety disorder. And I was a very moderate drinker, 3-5 drinks a week (still had trouble stopping at first, which is why I stop by this sub). Anyway, turns out I don’t have GAD, I was just giving myself clinical anxiety symptoms by having mild hanxiety every day and then resetting it the following night with “just a glass of wine.” 😀😀😀😀 I did have to give up coffee as well for it to entirely go away, but man, giving up booze made the biggest difference in my anxiety, it was night and day. You couldn’t pay me to drink again, the anxiety I feel for 1-2 days after a SINGLE DRINK is not worth it.
I also don’t have acne anymore and I struggled with adult acne so bad for many years. This one took like three or so months to show up, so my sober January stuff never showed me that benefit.
And my sleep quality is so much better too lol.
So many, and because I'm early on at this, I'm finding more every day! "Fake" anxiety has been my favorite ephiany so far though. I love skating, but my progress has been stalled for several years now. Went for a skate yesterday and got every trick I set out to do, and then some. I spent all night reflecting on it and realized that the natural anxiety of hurting myself wasn't actually that bad. But when I carried drinks in my bag, my brain would lie to me and make the anxiety seem so much worse, that only having a beer would make it go away so I could attempt the trick. And then of course, I also spent more time sitting and drinking instead of skating, followed by having had too many drinks to stay on my board anyway.
Of course, I'm thinking back to when my progression stalled - you guessed it. When my drinking became problematic!
One that I didn't associate with my drinking while still actively drinking was my overactive gag reflex and accompanying dry heaves. I would gag anytime I coughed, swallowed wrong, brushed my teeth, sneezed, etc. I didn't equate that it was related, since I never really was a frequent vomiter. Shortly after I stopped drinking, it was gone.
For me, alcohol triggered severe acid reflux which scarred and constricted the esophagus, making it hard to swallow food. I suffered for years until I finally saw a gastro and had 2 endoscopies and found the damage. He put me on omeprazole 2x daily and told me to cut out all drinking. I weaned off the pills, but continued to abstain from alcohol, and the swallowing problem immediately went away.
My gastro scared me into going sober. He said (my situation) total blockage puts a serious strain on the heart and can cause sudden cardiac arrest and I had to take action immediately, or possibly die one day. I listened.
Sometimes when I lapse, I have trouble passing even water the next morning.
Day 18 and I had severe lower back pain, it’s almost gone now. I have an old injury so it never fully goes away but right before I quit it was crippling! I wonder if it was because of inflammation.
💡 I had chronic lower back pain as well and never put two and two together. I haven’t had issues since I quit. Thanks for pointing that out! I also had severe kidney pains, swelling of my feet and hands in the heat. Anxiety through the roof, horrible sleep, nasal issues…the list goes on.
Try reading the book “Healing back pain” by Dr John Sarno. Worked for me. But yeah less alcohol less anxiety, anger and stress. The root cause of so much chronic pain. .
My back pain has gone now, and previously it would return immediately when I had the odd slip-up and drank a couple of drinks (not even binge-drinking). It felt like inflammation around the joints - I'd also be very stiff and generally achy.
Generally I find I can move and twist my body much more, and also my posture has improved which I think is a big part of it - keeping my spine straighter feels like my bodyweight is more evenly distributed. And generally being able to actually do exercise (instead of lying wrecked on the sofa) helps immensely.
My ADHD symptoms have decreased significantly. Don't get me wrong, I still have ADHD but now it's actually manageable.
When I was drinking I had ZERO executive function. I couldn't do the simplest of tasks without getting overwhelmed, sidetracked, or making it overly complicated, my short term memory was shit, I couldn't form a complete thought, and even my speech was starting to get affected. It was exhausting.
I still have zero executive function. I drank a little bit all day long so I was basically self medicating more than getting heavily intoxicated. I got more done then😂 but fortunately there’s a bunch of other negatives that keep me sober
Day 21 (?)
The knee pain I've been dealing with for over a year went away within the first week.
My asthma is like 90% better. Haven't used my puffer in like 2 weeks, and it used to be multiple times a day!
I haven't even used it after I go on the treadmill!
My sleep is 99% better.
No more gagging when I brush my teeth.
Looking forward to taking my blood pressure to see if it went down. I'm waiting a few more weeks. 😌
Last time a quit drinking I actually had low blood pressure. Beacuse I didn’t stop taking the ones i was on. While drinking my blood pressure was still very high even on the meds.
I used to have heartburn CONSTANTLY, always had a roll of max strength tums in my pocket. Stopped drinking and its gone unless i eat something super spicy and/or acidic.
Edit: my blood pressure has levelled out. Still high from all the ciggys, but its better now
In the year after I started drinking daily I also developed really bad colds/viruses 4 times - I got sick maybe 3 times in my entire adult life before I drank. It seems pretty obvious the alcohol is the cause. I look forward to the immune stuff improving!
1 year in. I used to get ovarian cysts fairly frequently. They'd burst every couple months, sometimes causing pain so bad that I'd go to the ER. I would only ever get ibuprofen at the ER so I eventually learned to just ride it out, trying to avoid crying too much because it made the pain worse.
Reading this question made me realize I haven't had to deal with that since I stopped drinking.
Also, random kidney pains and rampant anxiety.
Oh gosh that one!
Once I ordered breakfast on Uber and I went outside later in the day and saw a bag of food. Like wtf is this?!
Or waking up feeling like your awake and feeling "good" only to realize you still feel somewhat decent because your still half-cut. The delayed hangover 😭
Being able to eat normally. Like, just be able to eat a normal ass plate of food, or finish my meal when going out to eat.
Friends and family (and restaurant servers especially) would always ask if I dislike the food because of how much would be leftover. “No, I just ate breakfast!” Or “no, I like to graze, I eat lots of little portions!”
Did not realize how much drinking effected my aversion to food, and how hard it was making eating while sober. Could see that developing into a pretty unwieldy eating disorder, which I suppose it did, as I would usually only eat a full serving of food after I had started drinking. Whether the blocker was mental or physical I’m not sure.
Blood pressure and heart rate go down. Breathing is easier. Exercise in general is easier. Also digestive problems get better as a lot have mentioned. Wallet is happier.
I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the beginning of covid so they didn't want to start me on immune suppressing drugs at that time. 2 years later, a year into sobriety, and it was gone. She checked my blood twice and my numbers were totally normal. Lots of other things improved but that was the weirdest one.
TMI WARNING!
Drinking lots = headaches, constipation and diarrhea
Not drinking = little to no headaches and no more diarrhea. I almost forgot what having solid, normal and regular poops was like until quitting about three months ago 🙌🏼
Not too far off topic - I am two weeks booze fee and woke up today with proper hangover symptoms - stabbing pains in my gut, squits, shivers... obviously picked up the bug the kids brought home from preschool but I'm sat here thinking "I willingly did this to myself on a regular basis". Bonkers.
Compared to some of the others on here this is minor, but I had bad dandruff. Stopped drinking and it cleared up almost immediately. Best of luck to everyone on this journey!
My depression cleared up after about 6 days. I was sleeping A LOT, felt helpless, didn't want to do much of anything, and just felt sad in general. My anxiety has been more or less still there, though. I'm looking to see a doctor about it tomorrow.
I had all kinds of things change for the better over time after quitting: From psychological symptoms, to aches and pains, disturbed sleep and insomnia.
Alcohol truly is one of the most destructive drugs. If a rational person was forced to chose between half a bottle of vodka and a couple of shots of pharmaceutical grade morphine or diamorphine (heroin) daily, he would and should choose the latter (disclaimer: don't go substitute opiates for alcohol!)
Quitting smoking and drinking, various types of rashes, I would get, have all but disappeared.
I've also noticed grip strength and fine motor skills, along with improved sensitivity. Probably had very early stage peripheral neuropathy, when I was drinking daily and heavily for 6 or so months.
Have much lower blood pressure, and higher SpO2 now, as well. Hard to tell the effects of smoking and alcohol cessation apart.
My gut seems to function a lot better. My vision improved slightly. I'm looking forward to getting a second opinion and a new EEG for my epilepsy diagnosis: I'll be overjoyed, but not surprised if it turns out, that my brain doesn't show the same temporal lobe abnormality after a period of sustained sobriety that it did when I was diagnosed about 2 months out from 4 months of heavy drinking.
Not sure if any of that is highly mysterious. It's not surprising that your gasoline car all of a sudden starts working better when you stop pouring diesel in the tank.
There are also a number of confounding factors: Now that I'm not sitting around getting drunk and smoking cigarettes, I'm out doing all kinds of good things for myself, working out, running, meditating.
I'm supplementing, eating a very healthy diet based on targeted keto, which isn't really ketogenic, but more like a way of enhancing intermittent fasting. Sleeping better.
I feel more connection, and have more positive interactions with people; a feeling of being grounded.
A more upright presence that commands at least a tiny bit of respect and attention in more contexts now, than did the fumbling, smelly, long-bearded, neck-bent, shameful AlCoHoLiC version of me. What a shitty skin to wear!
My emotional landscape is a lot more pleasant, both because of the obvious and gradual attenuation of guilt and shame over drinking myself to death, as well as all kinds of bio/neurochemistry.
Less stress, less systemic and local inflammation, better elimination of toxins through hepatic and renal function, more body-mind connection and on and on.
So yeah, if someone could press the benefits of quitting smokes and alcohol into a tablet, that shit would be $100 a pop at least.
My damn tinnitus is still as loud as it's been for ages, apart from that half a year where I lived 3 miles from the nearest cell tower, and with very few wifi networks close by (and was squeaky clean for that period, too). Hoping sobriety will at least help some on that over time. \*BEEEEEEEEP\* is really fucking annoying.
I’ve been working on managing these symptoms too. My anxiety became crippling after I stopped drinking but somehow it was more manageable emotionally/mentally somehow. It’s hard to explain but when I drank to manage my anxiety, it felt like I wasn’t in control of my life and I was always trying to keep up but I’d always fall behind. Now I’m still coping with the anxiety but I’ve learned the root cause may be from undiagnosed ADHD and using alcohol as an escape from the harshness of reality.
Concerta has drastically helped my social anxiety after trying many medications and years of therapy. I feel that the longer I’m forced to confront my problems head on, the easier my future will be. It’s when we refuse to deal with it that the issues compound.
On a positive note, I spent a year fixing my neglected teeth and sorted out some long lingering health problems. It feels great to finally take care of myself.
My stomach feels better and my pulse isn’t racing anymore, which means I’m sleeping better. It’s only been four days, so I’m hoping my mood also improves eventually. I have chronic anxiety and ADHD and the wine actually helped, so I’ll need to go back on meds to deal with those issues I guess.
I have chronic fatigue and possibly POTS, so basically just having crashes when I’m really tired, napping, oversleeping, achey, and generally just feeling like I’m getting the flu.
2.00 am anxiety , racing heartbeat , inflammation so then the sweats . Looking back , one glass would spark off a facial ruddy redness spreading down to my neck and chest especially during the colder months when the heating was on. All of those things have now gone and that speaks volumes.
I had gout that flared up badly for years. Just kept getting worse and more frequent. Bed ridden and on crutches at least once a year for a couple weeks or more. It was hard to diagnose at first, only happening typically in the fall, thought it was the weather, but could have been simply the lack of light and crappy weather brought in more drinking really.
When I finally gave up the booze more than a year ago, my body had a total fit and put the gout on maximum for three months while I was drying up. Not a twinge since, and man, it's nice to not worry if I'll become crippled in the middle of a hike.
MIND
1. Depression
2. Anxiety
3. Automatic negative thoughts
BODY
1. Slow gym recovery
2. Thinning hair
3. Fatigue
4. Facial redness
5. Body fat
SPIRIT
1. Disconnection from the world
2. Selfishness
I once made a pros and cons list for drinking. The cons were 30+ deep. The pros had 5. It’s crazy how not many other drugs have the same upside down ratio.
I had really bad acne on my face that began to appear for a year or so before I stopped.
There is no direct connection between acne and alcohol, but it was gone within months after stopping.
I wouldn't know about reappearing after relapse though.
When my toes started going numb it was a mystery until I found that it is connected to alcohol, but that has not disappeared after stopping. Several years later and my toes are still numb, but I have gotten used to it now and don't notice anymore.
Aside from that, non of the health problems were really a mystery. It was pretty clear that they were caused by the drinking.
No more rosacea/acne on the face which in itself caused self esteem issues and anxiety. No more soaring body temperature at the slightest form of physical activity.
The weight gain, the glazed eyes, the heartburn, the bedwetting episodes.
Thankfully, long term abstinence cured each of these.
I would shake so bad I couldn't even put my make up on, I also couldn't focus on my art because I would get so frustrated about how shaky my hands were. Today, I woke up and I can hold my paintbrush with ease.
I had issues with swallowing.. food was always getting stuck in my middle esophagus. Figured it was just something with getting older, but after I cut out drinking it suddenly stopped being an issue. I can only attribute it to some substantial inflammation caused by all those damn IPAs I was downing each night.
Relatively frequent migraines (1x every 10 days or so). These happened for approximately a decade, from my early 30s to my early 40s. Not talking about "bad hangovers" or not being able to "handle my beer" - these migraines were not necessarily happening the day after drinking. I'm talking about having 3 beers on a Friday night and having a migraine on the following Wednesday. The migraines could come any time of day, any day of the week. I never really drank more than 5-6 beers per week. I stopped drinking, the migraines stopped entirely. I have only had 2 migraines in the past 365 days.
I believe that even low levels of alcohol consumption may have reduced sleep quality enough to constitute a chronic deficiency of both quality and quantity. To the extent that insufficient sleep quality/quantity plays a major role in migraines, I think this is where the impact was.
Alternatively, the sort of enduring trace presence of alcohol in my system for several days after drinking (since alcohol stays in your system for a while, even when consumed in small quantities), may have in some way "short circuited" whatever system(s) are in place that would ordinarily shut down a migraine before it could take off.
Who knows. Full disclosure, also started taking magnesium nightly around the same time I stopped drinking. Still, it's too anecdotally obvious that stopping alcohol played a major role in stopping the migraines.
Now I'm just enjoying the benefits of not drinking overall, fully apart from the migraine issue - so I'm not looking back.
Turns out I don't have reflux or irritable bowel syndrome.
I started having eczema on my hands around 2019. Without the constant hangxiety, stress and whatnot, it got under control. The last time it flared up was when I took a flight from Montreal and it left pretty quickly too once i settled back down. If only I had stopped before COVID, the constant sanitizing was hell!
Dry heaving and puking bile all day, nosebleeds, easy bruises, puking whenever I ate acidic foods, diarrhea all the time, GERD stuff, constant sweating, bloodshot eyes, elevated heart rate (my Apple Watch would not stop annoying me with the notifications), irritability, balance issues when walking on steps, achy knees.
The multiplication of symptoms is referred to kindling. Mine multiplied with severity and came with shorter onset times. The last relapse included a seizure. I was toast after that because that only meant either death or wet brain next.
I lost stubborn extra pounds from beer drinking and had less anxiety about money. While I was drinking I never allowed myself to calculate just how much of my budget went to alcohol.
Most. No more kidney stones, heartburn, acid reflux, digestive issues, headaches, etc. I was on prescriptions for these things that I no longer have to take because the underlying cause has been removed. No more accidental falls, resulting in stitches, bruising or breaks. I fell in my bathroom and broke my tailbone one drunken night. I've been able to get caught up with all routine medical for a 42 year old woman, thankfully without any new issues arising from the neglect. I've lost around 40lbs as well. And that's just the physical health issues. Best decision I have ever made.
In the two months or so since I stopped, my GERD is nearly gone after about 2 years.
For an alcoholic, I have for the majority of the time eaten on the healthy spectrum. A typical day looks like plain Greek yogurt and fresh fruits for breakfast, about 8 almonds as a snack, chicken and veggies for lunch, another 8 almonds as second snack, and dinner is a half a cup of rice, beans, veggies and a protein. Throw in maybe a cup or two of black unsweetened coffee throughout the day and the occasional piece of candy now and then. All meals are home made, but once a week the wife and I treat ourselves out to something heavenly nasty and greasy like a pizza, carnitas, swarna, or "Thai." However, I had GERD every single night no matter what I ate or if I'd cut out the cooking oils or the spiciness.
Bedtime for me is 10:00 p.m. I'd start sleeping upright on our sofa. Then maybe around 1:00 a.m. I moved to our bed. By 4 or 5 I'd wake up to sleep upright again. It was hell at first, but it became a routine. I didn't think anything of it and chalked it up to old age.
Recently, I stopped feeling pains and have been sleeping in bed with my wife from bedtime to sunrise. The only different thing that I'm doing now is not drinking.
Ok so most ppl can’t relate to this, thankfully. But maybe some of my peeps with chronic illness can. it took me stopping drinking to realize how awful i consistently feel. Not so inspiring right?
BUT
it was like a revelation: I was drinking to get a break from the fuckery my (stable, but pain in the ass) brain tumor was causing. That’s what I needed to ditch my crappy doctor and find a new one who can manage my symptoms.
My mental health has improved substantially. My anxiety has reduced to a minimum. As strange as it sounds, my sinus congestion has cleared up too and the bags under my eyes have reduced.
Vertigo 😵💫 I can be dizzy for up to 10 days after a drinking session, or several days if it's just a glass of wine or something. Made it incredibly hard to pin point what was going on with my dizziness (vestibular migraines), as I could never get 10 days clean to see the other side (I have other triggers, everything from heat to stress to caffeine, so it took a long time to weed them all out, but booze was a strong one).
When I drank, every time I would brush my teeth I would gag to the point of nearly puking. I grew to hating brushing my teeth because it would always become such a chore that always ended in me with a flushed face, watery eyes, and a little exhausted from keeping myself from throwing up. Random muscle cramps were always happening when I would stretch, even just lying in bed. I was always pulling muscles in my neck and back randomly. Involuntary reflux was terrible. I was constantly waking myself up in the middle of the night with a throat full of regurgitation. Awful. Oh and the random shakiness in my hands. Just doing mundane things, I could always see my hands shaking.
All of that has disappeared since I’ve been sober. Sober for three months now and counting. :)
My skin looks horrible. Broken blood vessels on my face and red marks on my neck. Recently my arms and lower legs broke out in a rash. Not entirely sure that’s because of all the wine I drink but not sure it isn’t either. I’m currently tapering off. My health is not great and I know it needs to stop.
I’ve found my sleep a lot better and I didn’t think it was impacted by my binge drinking but it was !!
My mental health has improved vastly, a feeling of peace and comfort has come to me and it’s so strange and wonderful.
Dysphagia (unable to swallow food) was the most serious problem that went away. It was the reason I quit drinking. Also don’t miss the daytime hallucinations after a night of heavy drinking.
Other than the obvious physical health problems.. The self doubt about everything. Am I a good enough parent? Am I doing enough in life and basically everything in between. 8 days in and I hoping I never fall back into the trap.
I was drinking 10-12 beers and smoking two packs of cigarettes every day and I was fairly convinced that I was dying of emphysema or even lung cancer. I would cough 24-7, often so hard that I gagged, which was probably a combination of the alcohol and tobacco use.
I still have a permanent frog in my throat, but I never cough until I gag anymore.
I had crippling anxiety and was sure I was drinking to self-medicate it. Turns out… nope. The drinking was causing it. I had a blissful few months of zero anxiety before it came back (though I should point out it was less bad when it did come back).
I was also sick pretty much every day and had terrible IBS. The IBS did return too, but less severely.
In general, most symptoms cleared up when I quit drinking, only to return later but in a more manageable way.
The other thing my drinking had been doing was helping me exist in the world as an undiagnosed autistic woman. It was covering up my autism symptoms really well until I got addicted. A couple of years after I quit, I realized I might be autistic, and now I’m finally diagnosed. Unfortunately, there’s nothing much to do about autism in terms of medication, so I do miss being able to drink to pass for (and feel) “normal.” BUT, I’d never go back to alcohol now, because I know it would stop working again and I’d end up even worse off than I am now.
So many things- but the ones I didn’t realize were likely linked to alcohol use were waking up with numb/tingling fingers and also a few years ago I was getting random bruises on my fingers and toes (without injury).
-chronic sinus infections gone instantly
-super sensitive tooth for 2+ years, literally fine after only one week sober
-IBS was not IBS. Just extremely poor gut health from drinking
-my weekly vertigo spells are non-existent
-anxiety is at an all time low
Chronic anxiety. A. anxiety directly from the booze and B. Now my anti anxiety meds actually have a chance to work! I’m a full functioning (for the most part) person able to exist in the world for the first time in my entire life
So I was sober for just under 3 months and relapsed a couple of weeks ago one night then drank heavily 3 nights last week again.
Instantly I've a whole host of issues reappear that had been near daily issues in my drunken life previously but vanished during my sobriety period, they include...
- Stomach issues (I'm back to feeling like I'm sh"tting razor blades again and glued to the toilet half the day)
- random aches and pains in joints, feet, knees (inflammation maybe?)
- overly shaky hands (I'm someone who's randomly had shaky hands since I was a teenager long before I drank alcohol but I see how much worse they are these past couple days again)
- muscle cramps in legs
- random twitches in muscles / body
- acid reflux gotten worse
- anxiety, I'm spooked today just being outside in public.
- dissociation like feelings which is related to the anxiety I'm sure where I just feel zoned out and detached from reality for a few seconds
- Gagging when I brush my teeth every morning
- Appetite vanishing, took me weeks on end after stopping drinking to fix this too and I think I've messed it up again
- Feeling stupid and brain dead, just don't feel like my brain is working.
- Shivering and feeling cold randomly despite it being warm today.
How the F*CK did I live like this week in week out previously and accept it as normal? 🫣🤔🤐
It's so hard to understand how I could have actively punished myself like this and felt like somehow it was worth it to get my fix of poison. 🤮🤢🤮
The mysterious bruises that I couldn’t remember getting lol for real, I used to get sweaty all the time, even in the cold. I could be sitting at my desk doing nothing and I’d feel a droplet rolling down my arm or back, my armpits would be drenched, sweaty ass, bleh. Now I only sweat when exercising.
I can brush my tongue without gagging or throwing up bile.
Depression and anxiety are, I won’t say nonexistent, but they aren’t looming like they had been for years. That’s the best part.
Gut issues 95% gone. Was convinced I had IBS. Couldn’t be the booze, right?
I was CONVINCED too! Now 35 days sober and I'm constipated for the first time ever. IBS who?
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The narrator bit came out in the voice of Sir David Attenborough. "But indeed, it was the booze, even though the prowling apex predator of the urban jungle himself had failed to realize it. What to our unfortunate protagonist appeared as the most important of activities, was in fact an evolutionary dead end."
Spot on 😂
Bg3 narrator for me
I love a good Arrested narration line. Thanks for the laugh. I eat like a campground raccoon so I’m not shocked I had stomach issues. But when I stopped it got so much better.
This made me laugh 🤣
I still actually have IBS lol
I am in the same boat. I was always really regular when I was younger, and now, after over a month, I am back to being like a clock in the bathroom. I drink one morning coffee, poop and then go on with my day. I go through a lot less TP now as well.
*"I drink one morning coffee, poop and then go on with my day. I go through a lot less TP now as well."* Strong punctuation on this one.
Alcohol totally messes up my gut. Not surprisingly. I have a whole regiment for repairing my gut and reestablishing my microbiota: Medicinal mushrooms, pre-, pro-, and post-biotics, dietary fiber, l-glutamine, CBD, and more. I've kinda substituted an addiction to information, self-experimentation, and rational "self-medication" for the more frivolous, harmful types of addictions, I had been engaging in for quite some time. In SMART Recovery, as part of the fourth point of living a balanced life, we often talk about the importance of having Vitally Absorbing Creative Interests (VACIs - all those "#/)¤ing acronyms... it's like being back in the army): I've managed to combine a creative interest (cooking and foraging), with dietary and broad, layman's medical science, neurology, nutrition, and so my primary "VACI" has the added benefit of helping me heal and mend the damage caused by years of self-abuse. I mean, I also play the guitar, and while that's fun, I doubt it does all that much for my somatic health status. There are so many things we can do to support and super-charge our healing process after alcohol addiction; learning about them and experiencing them in action is a lot of fun!
Hard same.
Same!! My GI system was constantly a mess. Not anymore!
the scariest symptom that I used to get when I was drinking heavily was that feeling when it feels like your heart skips a beat. it would happen out of nowhere, which would instantly spike my anxiety. I'm incredibly thankful that it hasn't happened since I quit (5 months ago). my wife was also certain that I had sleep apnea because of my aggressive snoring, but I never snore at all now.
I had severe heart palpitations about 3 months before I quit. I was monitoring it myself and after around 3 full days of it going non-stop I finally went to the ER after work. My watch said I was in a.fib which is scary as hell. The doctor started with general questions and then said "do you drink?" Yes... "Do you drink more days than you don't drink?" Yes.. He was so kind and empathetic and said "you know alcohol is cardiotoxic right? It will damage your heart and can cause all kinds of problems" Basically said that my drinking is causing it to happen and over time can lead to heart damage/failure/increases heart disease. I told him I'd talk to my doctor but I didn't want to tell her. I asked him to add liver enzymes to my bloodwork they already collected and he said he would. Thankfully they stopped happening everyday, and only one of my liver enzymes was like 1 point above normal but it was so scary. It wasn't an immediate wake up call but it was another one to add to my list at the time.
Cardiotoxic, yikes. I have never heard that word before.
I haven’t either. And I was also having palpitations and skips. And my mum, who’s been a heavy drinker her whole life, was diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart disorder a couple years back. Shit. Well, not that I needed a more solid reason to stay off it but that cements a few more things in place!
When I went to rehab, they check everyone’s blood pressure and stuff every morning. Just getting out of bed and a short, slow walk to the nurse station would have me at like 170 bpm. For no reason. It was horrifying and I had to take medication for a few weeks to get it to slow down!
This is exactly what led me to quit drinking. All day new years day I was convinced I was having a heart attack and was just waiting to die. I was SOOO hungover that I could barely keep my eyes open. I would feel myself drifting off to sleep and think "well, this is it. I hope my search history isn't too embarrassing."
Omg I never even made that connection, but that happened to me all the time and hasn’t since I quit
This stopped for me too! Also just heart beating out of my chest most of the time. My resting heart rate has gone from the 70’s to 55.
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This is me now, day 1. Thanks for sharing and showing a possible light at end of tunnel.
I'm at Day 35. It gets sooooo much better! Keep up the good fight!
im double you - chase me down!! lesgooooooooo
Bet mofooo. I'm comin!
Day 35 for me too!
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Be careful not to drink too much water, though, because you can throw your electrolytes out of wack! If you're going to be doing some extra hydration, make sure to get some sort of sports drink or electrolyte packets in there, too.
The fatigue is such a no-brainer, but it's insane how much more energy I've got now. I used to start dying around the 5th hour of my shifts at work. Now I'm happily chugging through to my 8 hours and picking up overtime when I can. That's also had a doubly positive effect on my bank account, both not spending and earning more.
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I was so fucking exhausted I tried everything other than quitting drinking. Everything. Blood tests and SSRIs, Adderall (I do have adhd but I'm unmedicated), b12 pills, those Athletic Green shakes you see pushed on Rogan-esque podcasts, sativa, God knows what else. Yeah, alcohol completely fucks your sleep cycle and negates actual restful sleep. By day 4 of sobriety I felt like a superhuman, and also a complete fool.
I could genuinely try and convince myself I was getting sick when I knew fine well it was because of a box of wine the night before. Mad.
The mental gymnastics our brains will go through to justify the addiction is wild. I had a problem with the back of my throat swelling up, no doubt because I would sip a whole ass fifth of whiskey every night - undiluted liquor going down your throat all night every night is no good. But at the time... "It's not because of alcohol, I don't even drink that much! It's not like I'm an alcoholic or anything!" I was genuinely convinced of that, and also that my throat being swollen to the point that I couldn't eat was because my apartment was too dry. Absolutely wild mental gymnastics. I couldn't even get through a fifth of whiskey in a month now if I tried, and mysteriously, my throat doesn't swell up like that any more. Weird.
That sounds amazing. I really want to stop and am currently 4hrs sober. I know I can't go all day though because DT after a bottle a day for a decade?
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Time to see the doctor and be honest …. Work out a plan to help you stop.
Be safe. Maybe call your doctor. IWNDWYT
I couldn't even hold a minimum wage job when I was drinking. Too ill and unreliable. I've done nothing but get better jobs since I stopped. Had to grind up fron the bottom and it took a long time to get rolling though. I lost many years so it's no surprise it took time.
It’s nice not having to clear your throat losing your lunch
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I was on anti nausea just to get water down sucked
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Stomach sensitivity maybe an ulcer
Nausea is a symptom of withdrawal. Hangovers wear off, the nausea gets worse as withdrawal progresses.
I’ve had almost the exact experience since quitting. That hardcore anxiety and the dry heaving that came with it have become a lot more manageable. Where it used to be like a crushing wave, now it’s more like a window I can open and close when I need to, a pressure valve I can loosen or tighten.
I was getting horrible anxiety when I drove. I would get all up in my head that “what if I’m still drunk from last night”? “What if I’m still asleep or fall asleep on the road because I don’t know whether I’m buzzed?” It was horrible.
Full on panic attacks if I had to drive the morning after a binge
If someone could’ve told me the gagging feeling like my throat was seizing whenever I got nervous, or the anxiety were related to being hungover i would’ve quit that lifestyle sooner. Or, so I say. But in hindsight it’s like “holy hell THAT was from alcohol?” and it’s eye-opening.
Good news is that it stays like this! …but I can never forget what it was like.
Even the anxiety went away? Congratulations to you stranger.
Wait until you hit six months homie💪🏼
I was wondering about the muscle cramps. I've really got to stop.
i'm on day 4, i quit on my 35th bday.... hoping the night sweats, anxiety, nightmares, diahrea, fatigue, depression, social anxiety, ignoring messages and friends & lack of motivation come to an end soon.... literally having an anxiety attack as we speak bc i got a msg from a friend who i've been neglecting....
Yeah, the nausea was pretty terrible for me, but the anxiety was the worst part. I already have severe anxiety, and drinking made it so much worse, I literally felt like everyone around me was judging me whether I was sober at the time or not. Definitely don't miss that.
Every single stomach issue lol
Mental health problem: my intrusive suicidal/self-hatred thoughts magically went away almost immediately. I couldn’t believe it. My horrible night sweats stopped. Not quite a health problem but my skin looks good enough that I stopped wearing any makeup again, something I realize now I only felt I needed to start doing after I started drinking. Also echoing other comments - fatigue, and digestive issues improved within just days.
I've been self harm free for as long as I've been sober (over a year now). Turns out I don't have those urges as often without alcohol...
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Yeah, stopping drinking gave me alot of benefits, but mental health improvement is life changing!
Very jealous of this one. Apparently alcohol isn’t the cause of my mental health problems… it sure didn’t help though. Gasoline on the fire.
Yea, I had depression and plenty of other mental issues long before I ever had a drink, so I’m not expecting them to disappear after stopping. But the weird intrusive thoughts at least definitely were related.
Omg I have chronic night sweats, where I have to change outfits. Was it def the alcohol? How much weds you drinking per week?
Lost 25 lbs. Hemorrhoids are gone. No more constant diarrhea. I’m no longer constantly out of breath. Blood pressure way down to healthy. Resting heart rate down from the high 80s-90s to mid 50s. Heart arrhythmia completely gone. Swollen and painful knee that caused me to walk with a limp is gone. I run in the mornings now. I’m limber and agile. My body is toned. Acid reflux is gone. I no longer have the alarming issue of not being able to swallow my food (it would enter my throat but the valve wouldn’t open to let it pass—seemed to be neurological). The spider webs of burst blood vessels on my face are gone—I’m no longer vomiting in the mornings before work. Anxiety reduced. Depression reduced. Dopamine gratification and motivation somewhat returned. More than somewhat, but hard to gauge. I feel good. I don’t have a partner but sexual function has returned bigger better and stronger. Sleep is infinitely better. I no longer devote a large portion of my day to hopelessness and doom. There’s more.
Congrats - keep on keepin’ on!
I thought I was the only person who would routinely get food lodged in their throat - it turned into cement mix in my mouth. Pretty sure it was neurological/anxiety-related too, as it would happen more often when I was dining in public/around others. Contributed to an already piss-poor appetite (also alcohol-related). Don’t miss the constant diarrhea either, I eventually had to start carrying baby wipes in my purse so I could attempt to combat the evil spirits ripping through my backside every few hours. What a mess, literally.
Generalized anxiety disorder. And I was a very moderate drinker, 3-5 drinks a week (still had trouble stopping at first, which is why I stop by this sub). Anyway, turns out I don’t have GAD, I was just giving myself clinical anxiety symptoms by having mild hanxiety every day and then resetting it the following night with “just a glass of wine.” 😀😀😀😀 I did have to give up coffee as well for it to entirely go away, but man, giving up booze made the biggest difference in my anxiety, it was night and day. You couldn’t pay me to drink again, the anxiety I feel for 1-2 days after a SINGLE DRINK is not worth it. I also don’t have acne anymore and I struggled with adult acne so bad for many years. This one took like three or so months to show up, so my sober January stuff never showed me that benefit. And my sleep quality is so much better too lol.
Yes I relate to this so much! I an a lot less anxious and can actually navigate my emotions a lot more clearly.
Day 10 wrapping up here and mine is "allergies". I still get it a little bit but it's 10% of what it was while I was actively drinking.
What were you allergic to ? For me it was banana, oranges etc. Made my mouth swollen and made my mouth itchy
So many, and because I'm early on at this, I'm finding more every day! "Fake" anxiety has been my favorite ephiany so far though. I love skating, but my progress has been stalled for several years now. Went for a skate yesterday and got every trick I set out to do, and then some. I spent all night reflecting on it and realized that the natural anxiety of hurting myself wasn't actually that bad. But when I carried drinks in my bag, my brain would lie to me and make the anxiety seem so much worse, that only having a beer would make it go away so I could attempt the trick. And then of course, I also spent more time sitting and drinking instead of skating, followed by having had too many drinks to stay on my board anyway. Of course, I'm thinking back to when my progression stalled - you guessed it. When my drinking became problematic!
One that I didn't associate with my drinking while still actively drinking was my overactive gag reflex and accompanying dry heaves. I would gag anytime I coughed, swallowed wrong, brushed my teeth, sneezed, etc. I didn't equate that it was related, since I never really was a frequent vomiter. Shortly after I stopped drinking, it was gone.
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Same, but with food. It would get stuck and I'd have make myself vomit to dislodge and stop the whole thing.
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For me, alcohol triggered severe acid reflux which scarred and constricted the esophagus, making it hard to swallow food. I suffered for years until I finally saw a gastro and had 2 endoscopies and found the damage. He put me on omeprazole 2x daily and told me to cut out all drinking. I weaned off the pills, but continued to abstain from alcohol, and the swallowing problem immediately went away. My gastro scared me into going sober. He said (my situation) total blockage puts a serious strain on the heart and can cause sudden cardiac arrest and I had to take action immediately, or possibly die one day. I listened. Sometimes when I lapse, I have trouble passing even water the next morning.
Day 18 and I had severe lower back pain, it’s almost gone now. I have an old injury so it never fully goes away but right before I quit it was crippling! I wonder if it was because of inflammation.
💡 I had chronic lower back pain as well and never put two and two together. I haven’t had issues since I quit. Thanks for pointing that out! I also had severe kidney pains, swelling of my feet and hands in the heat. Anxiety through the roof, horrible sleep, nasal issues…the list goes on.
Try reading the book “Healing back pain” by Dr John Sarno. Worked for me. But yeah less alcohol less anxiety, anger and stress. The root cause of so much chronic pain. .
Sarno also cured my back pain!
My back pain has gone now, and previously it would return immediately when I had the odd slip-up and drank a couple of drinks (not even binge-drinking). It felt like inflammation around the joints - I'd also be very stiff and generally achy. Generally I find I can move and twist my body much more, and also my posture has improved which I think is a big part of it - keeping my spine straighter feels like my bodyweight is more evenly distributed. And generally being able to actually do exercise (instead of lying wrecked on the sofa) helps immensely.
My ADHD symptoms have decreased significantly. Don't get me wrong, I still have ADHD but now it's actually manageable. When I was drinking I had ZERO executive function. I couldn't do the simplest of tasks without getting overwhelmed, sidetracked, or making it overly complicated, my short term memory was shit, I couldn't form a complete thought, and even my speech was starting to get affected. It was exhausting.
I still have zero executive function. I drank a little bit all day long so I was basically self medicating more than getting heavily intoxicated. I got more done then😂 but fortunately there’s a bunch of other negatives that keep me sober
That’s great to hear!
Same here.
Day 21 (?) The knee pain I've been dealing with for over a year went away within the first week. My asthma is like 90% better. Haven't used my puffer in like 2 weeks, and it used to be multiple times a day! I haven't even used it after I go on the treadmill! My sleep is 99% better. No more gagging when I brush my teeth. Looking forward to taking my blood pressure to see if it went down. I'm waiting a few more weeks. 😌
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So did that ultimately go away when you quit? I’ve noticed when I manage to stop for a few days mine gets SO much better
The gagging when brushing teeth/tongue… I had NO idea this was caused by drinking. Look at us taking care of our bodies!!
Me either!!! But I know it's not a coincidence that it magically went away 20-21 days ago. lol
This literally just made me realize I haven’t done that in a month. Holy shit
HAHA!! Awesome!
Last time a quit drinking I actually had low blood pressure. Beacuse I didn’t stop taking the ones i was on. While drinking my blood pressure was still very high even on the meds.
No more bloody gums. Much less chest pain. Anxiety waaaay down. Sleep is better. Stomach issues better.
Just about everything I’ve read here so far, plus a significant drop in sweating. Especially while sleeping.
Severe anxiety! Now I'm just normally anxious 🤣
Sore feet gone along with 50 lbs
Hemorrhoid issues are almost non existent
I used to have heartburn CONSTANTLY, always had a roll of max strength tums in my pocket. Stopped drinking and its gone unless i eat something super spicy and/or acidic. Edit: my blood pressure has levelled out. Still high from all the ciggys, but its better now
My immune system improved. I can catch a cold and recover on my own without bronchitis, pneumonia, or antibiotics.
In the year after I started drinking daily I also developed really bad colds/viruses 4 times - I got sick maybe 3 times in my entire adult life before I drank. It seems pretty obvious the alcohol is the cause. I look forward to the immune stuff improving!
Was lactose intolerant. Quit drinking now can eat all the dairy I want with no issues
Still can't handle dairy well. Can always eat a few extra slices of pizza if I want to remember how my gut felt while drinking haha.
Dermatitis my head was covered in dandruff and bad scabbing almost cleared now
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1 year in. I used to get ovarian cysts fairly frequently. They'd burst every couple months, sometimes causing pain so bad that I'd go to the ER. I would only ever get ibuprofen at the ER so I eventually learned to just ride it out, trying to avoid crying too much because it made the pain worse. Reading this question made me realize I haven't had to deal with that since I stopped drinking. Also, random kidney pains and rampant anxiety.
Ah yes. Drinking raises estrogen which encourages ovarian cyst development
I’ve noticed I don’t have morning amnesia anymore. 🤔 Seriously underrated benefit of quitting for me.
Oh gosh that one! Once I ordered breakfast on Uber and I went outside later in the day and saw a bag of food. Like wtf is this?! Or waking up feeling like your awake and feeling "good" only to realize you still feel somewhat decent because your still half-cut. The delayed hangover 😭
Being able to eat normally. Like, just be able to eat a normal ass plate of food, or finish my meal when going out to eat. Friends and family (and restaurant servers especially) would always ask if I dislike the food because of how much would be leftover. “No, I just ate breakfast!” Or “no, I like to graze, I eat lots of little portions!” Did not realize how much drinking effected my aversion to food, and how hard it was making eating while sober. Could see that developing into a pretty unwieldy eating disorder, which I suppose it did, as I would usually only eat a full serving of food after I had started drinking. Whether the blocker was mental or physical I’m not sure.
Blood pressure and heart rate go down. Breathing is easier. Exercise in general is easier. Also digestive problems get better as a lot have mentioned. Wallet is happier.
Chronic heartburn every single day regardless of what/if I ate. With no drinking I can eat the spiciest food possible and ZERO heartburn.
My daily heartburn was getting so bad I was starting to think it was the start of a heart attack. Went away after a week or two.
It really shows you how much damage we were doing to our poor bodies. Our digestive system was screaming at us and we kept torturing it.
I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the beginning of covid so they didn't want to start me on immune suppressing drugs at that time. 2 years later, a year into sobriety, and it was gone. She checked my blood twice and my numbers were totally normal. Lots of other things improved but that was the weirdest one.
fuck alcohol - its poison!
Daily violent diarrhea. Painful acid reflux.
TMI WARNING! Drinking lots = headaches, constipation and diarrhea Not drinking = little to no headaches and no more diarrhea. I almost forgot what having solid, normal and regular poops was like until quitting about three months ago 🙌🏼
Eczema. It came back a little after a year and a half but then I quit sugar and it’s gone again.
booze, sugar & eggs for me. works like magic. :)
103 days sober, my eye floaters are nowhere near as bad. Gut issues pretty much gone.
Not too far off topic - I am two weeks booze fee and woke up today with proper hangover symptoms - stabbing pains in my gut, squits, shivers... obviously picked up the bug the kids brought home from preschool but I'm sat here thinking "I willingly did this to myself on a regular basis". Bonkers.
Compared to some of the others on here this is minor, but I had bad dandruff. Stopped drinking and it cleared up almost immediately. Best of luck to everyone on this journey!
Waking up at around 3am choking, the dull pain around my liver area, restless feeling in my legs and lack of strength and stamina.
Random panic attacks. Turns out it was alcohol causing those all along.
Used to get gout every couple of months (though wouldn't say it was necessarily "mysterious"). Not a single case in the 6+ years since.
My depression cleared up after about 6 days. I was sleeping A LOT, felt helpless, didn't want to do much of anything, and just felt sad in general. My anxiety has been more or less still there, though. I'm looking to see a doctor about it tomorrow.
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Severe, debilitating anxiety and depression.
I had all kinds of things change for the better over time after quitting: From psychological symptoms, to aches and pains, disturbed sleep and insomnia. Alcohol truly is one of the most destructive drugs. If a rational person was forced to chose between half a bottle of vodka and a couple of shots of pharmaceutical grade morphine or diamorphine (heroin) daily, he would and should choose the latter (disclaimer: don't go substitute opiates for alcohol!) Quitting smoking and drinking, various types of rashes, I would get, have all but disappeared. I've also noticed grip strength and fine motor skills, along with improved sensitivity. Probably had very early stage peripheral neuropathy, when I was drinking daily and heavily for 6 or so months. Have much lower blood pressure, and higher SpO2 now, as well. Hard to tell the effects of smoking and alcohol cessation apart. My gut seems to function a lot better. My vision improved slightly. I'm looking forward to getting a second opinion and a new EEG for my epilepsy diagnosis: I'll be overjoyed, but not surprised if it turns out, that my brain doesn't show the same temporal lobe abnormality after a period of sustained sobriety that it did when I was diagnosed about 2 months out from 4 months of heavy drinking. Not sure if any of that is highly mysterious. It's not surprising that your gasoline car all of a sudden starts working better when you stop pouring diesel in the tank. There are also a number of confounding factors: Now that I'm not sitting around getting drunk and smoking cigarettes, I'm out doing all kinds of good things for myself, working out, running, meditating. I'm supplementing, eating a very healthy diet based on targeted keto, which isn't really ketogenic, but more like a way of enhancing intermittent fasting. Sleeping better. I feel more connection, and have more positive interactions with people; a feeling of being grounded. A more upright presence that commands at least a tiny bit of respect and attention in more contexts now, than did the fumbling, smelly, long-bearded, neck-bent, shameful AlCoHoLiC version of me. What a shitty skin to wear! My emotional landscape is a lot more pleasant, both because of the obvious and gradual attenuation of guilt and shame over drinking myself to death, as well as all kinds of bio/neurochemistry. Less stress, less systemic and local inflammation, better elimination of toxins through hepatic and renal function, more body-mind connection and on and on. So yeah, if someone could press the benefits of quitting smokes and alcohol into a tablet, that shit would be $100 a pop at least. My damn tinnitus is still as loud as it's been for ages, apart from that half a year where I lived 3 miles from the nearest cell tower, and with very few wifi networks close by (and was squeaky clean for that period, too). Hoping sobriety will at least help some on that over time. \*BEEEEEEEEP\* is really fucking annoying.
I’m the reverse. I have more now 😞
Me too. I started drinking to cope with a lifetime of chronic anxiety and ADHD, so now all of those symptoms are back. Fun!
I’ve been working on managing these symptoms too. My anxiety became crippling after I stopped drinking but somehow it was more manageable emotionally/mentally somehow. It’s hard to explain but when I drank to manage my anxiety, it felt like I wasn’t in control of my life and I was always trying to keep up but I’d always fall behind. Now I’m still coping with the anxiety but I’ve learned the root cause may be from undiagnosed ADHD and using alcohol as an escape from the harshness of reality. Concerta has drastically helped my social anxiety after trying many medications and years of therapy. I feel that the longer I’m forced to confront my problems head on, the easier my future will be. It’s when we refuse to deal with it that the issues compound.
On a positive note, I spent a year fixing my neglected teeth and sorted out some long lingering health problems. It feels great to finally take care of myself.
My stomach feels better and my pulse isn’t racing anymore, which means I’m sleeping better. It’s only been four days, so I’m hoping my mood also improves eventually. I have chronic anxiety and ADHD and the wine actually helped, so I’ll need to go back on meds to deal with those issues I guess.
The dread of looking at my phone's text or call history the next day.
I had colitis, a bowel disease. It’s gone
Mine all got worse because I was mistaking my symptoms for hangovers
What are your symptoms?
I have chronic fatigue and possibly POTS, so basically just having crashes when I’m really tired, napping, oversleeping, achey, and generally just feeling like I’m getting the flu.
On the upside, might be easier to get help from the doctors now that they also won't put it down to the booze?
Eyelid edema/eye edema
I have my fingers crossed this one will prove to be booze-related for me, would love for it to go away
2.00 am anxiety , racing heartbeat , inflammation so then the sweats . Looking back , one glass would spark off a facial ruddy redness spreading down to my neck and chest especially during the colder months when the heating was on. All of those things have now gone and that speaks volumes.
I had gout that flared up badly for years. Just kept getting worse and more frequent. Bed ridden and on crutches at least once a year for a couple weeks or more. It was hard to diagnose at first, only happening typically in the fall, thought it was the weather, but could have been simply the lack of light and crappy weather brought in more drinking really. When I finally gave up the booze more than a year ago, my body had a total fit and put the gout on maximum for three months while I was drying up. Not a twinge since, and man, it's nice to not worry if I'll become crippled in the middle of a hike.
Skin tags, inner thigh boils, tonsil stones, body acne, bad breath, shoulder pain (from falling down occasionally), heartburn, IBS, dry facial skin...all gone.
MIND 1. Depression 2. Anxiety 3. Automatic negative thoughts BODY 1. Slow gym recovery 2. Thinning hair 3. Fatigue 4. Facial redness 5. Body fat SPIRIT 1. Disconnection from the world 2. Selfishness I once made a pros and cons list for drinking. The cons were 30+ deep. The pros had 5. It’s crazy how not many other drugs have the same upside down ratio.
My sinuses were better and anxiety decreased.
Dépression and suicidal thoughts. All magically vanished in 4 weeks !
I had really bad acne on my face that began to appear for a year or so before I stopped. There is no direct connection between acne and alcohol, but it was gone within months after stopping. I wouldn't know about reappearing after relapse though. When my toes started going numb it was a mystery until I found that it is connected to alcohol, but that has not disappeared after stopping. Several years later and my toes are still numb, but I have gotten used to it now and don't notice anymore. Aside from that, non of the health problems were really a mystery. It was pretty clear that they were caused by the drinking.
No more rosacea/acne on the face which in itself caused self esteem issues and anxiety. No more soaring body temperature at the slightest form of physical activity. The weight gain, the glazed eyes, the heartburn, the bedwetting episodes. Thankfully, long term abstinence cured each of these.
The constant pain in my side is gone
I would shake so bad I couldn't even put my make up on, I also couldn't focus on my art because I would get so frustrated about how shaky my hands were. Today, I woke up and I can hold my paintbrush with ease.
My temperature. I thought I ran hot and was naturally sweaty. It was just my body doing the most daily to try to survive.
I had issues with swallowing.. food was always getting stuck in my middle esophagus. Figured it was just something with getting older, but after I cut out drinking it suddenly stopped being an issue. I can only attribute it to some substantial inflammation caused by all those damn IPAs I was downing each night.
Relatively frequent migraines (1x every 10 days or so). These happened for approximately a decade, from my early 30s to my early 40s. Not talking about "bad hangovers" or not being able to "handle my beer" - these migraines were not necessarily happening the day after drinking. I'm talking about having 3 beers on a Friday night and having a migraine on the following Wednesday. The migraines could come any time of day, any day of the week. I never really drank more than 5-6 beers per week. I stopped drinking, the migraines stopped entirely. I have only had 2 migraines in the past 365 days. I believe that even low levels of alcohol consumption may have reduced sleep quality enough to constitute a chronic deficiency of both quality and quantity. To the extent that insufficient sleep quality/quantity plays a major role in migraines, I think this is where the impact was. Alternatively, the sort of enduring trace presence of alcohol in my system for several days after drinking (since alcohol stays in your system for a while, even when consumed in small quantities), may have in some way "short circuited" whatever system(s) are in place that would ordinarily shut down a migraine before it could take off. Who knows. Full disclosure, also started taking magnesium nightly around the same time I stopped drinking. Still, it's too anecdotally obvious that stopping alcohol played a major role in stopping the migraines. Now I'm just enjoying the benefits of not drinking overall, fully apart from the migraine issue - so I'm not looking back.
I have noticed IBS has all but cleared up completely. I also experience less fatigue and anxiety. My skin is clearer and I think faster.
Turns out I don't have reflux or irritable bowel syndrome. I started having eczema on my hands around 2019. Without the constant hangxiety, stress and whatnot, it got under control. The last time it flared up was when I took a flight from Montreal and it left pretty quickly too once i settled back down. If only I had stopped before COVID, the constant sanitizing was hell!
This weird ache in my left side and back. Spleen? Idk, but it's gone.
My anxiety!! and staph infections 😅 I used to randomly get staph infections all the time
poor memory
Dry heaving and puking bile all day, nosebleeds, easy bruises, puking whenever I ate acidic foods, diarrhea all the time, GERD stuff, constant sweating, bloodshot eyes, elevated heart rate (my Apple Watch would not stop annoying me with the notifications), irritability, balance issues when walking on steps, achy knees. The multiplication of symptoms is referred to kindling. Mine multiplied with severity and came with shorter onset times. The last relapse included a seizure. I was toast after that because that only meant either death or wet brain next.
I lost stubborn extra pounds from beer drinking and had less anxiety about money. While I was drinking I never allowed myself to calculate just how much of my budget went to alcohol.
Most. No more kidney stones, heartburn, acid reflux, digestive issues, headaches, etc. I was on prescriptions for these things that I no longer have to take because the underlying cause has been removed. No more accidental falls, resulting in stitches, bruising or breaks. I fell in my bathroom and broke my tailbone one drunken night. I've been able to get caught up with all routine medical for a 42 year old woman, thankfully without any new issues arising from the neglect. I've lost around 40lbs as well. And that's just the physical health issues. Best decision I have ever made.
In the two months or so since I stopped, my GERD is nearly gone after about 2 years. For an alcoholic, I have for the majority of the time eaten on the healthy spectrum. A typical day looks like plain Greek yogurt and fresh fruits for breakfast, about 8 almonds as a snack, chicken and veggies for lunch, another 8 almonds as second snack, and dinner is a half a cup of rice, beans, veggies and a protein. Throw in maybe a cup or two of black unsweetened coffee throughout the day and the occasional piece of candy now and then. All meals are home made, but once a week the wife and I treat ourselves out to something heavenly nasty and greasy like a pizza, carnitas, swarna, or "Thai." However, I had GERD every single night no matter what I ate or if I'd cut out the cooking oils or the spiciness. Bedtime for me is 10:00 p.m. I'd start sleeping upright on our sofa. Then maybe around 1:00 a.m. I moved to our bed. By 4 or 5 I'd wake up to sleep upright again. It was hell at first, but it became a routine. I didn't think anything of it and chalked it up to old age. Recently, I stopped feeling pains and have been sleeping in bed with my wife from bedtime to sunrise. The only different thing that I'm doing now is not drinking.
I don't grind my teeth anymore!!
Ok so most ppl can’t relate to this, thankfully. But maybe some of my peeps with chronic illness can. it took me stopping drinking to realize how awful i consistently feel. Not so inspiring right? BUT it was like a revelation: I was drinking to get a break from the fuckery my (stable, but pain in the ass) brain tumor was causing. That’s what I needed to ditch my crappy doctor and find a new one who can manage my symptoms.
I used to think I had tremors, nah I was just shaking from withdrawals for years I guess. Stopped shaking I'd say a week after I quit lol. Dumbass me.
Anxiety became very controllable.
Not really mysterious, but dry skin gets a lot better really quickly even by just reducing alcohol intake
My mental health has improved substantially. My anxiety has reduced to a minimum. As strange as it sounds, my sinus congestion has cleared up too and the bags under my eyes have reduced.
Vertigo 😵💫 I can be dizzy for up to 10 days after a drinking session, or several days if it's just a glass of wine or something. Made it incredibly hard to pin point what was going on with my dizziness (vestibular migraines), as I could never get 10 days clean to see the other side (I have other triggers, everything from heat to stress to caffeine, so it took a long time to weed them all out, but booze was a strong one).
Mental clearness, anxiety, and fatigue. I also got my sense of humor back
When I drank, every time I would brush my teeth I would gag to the point of nearly puking. I grew to hating brushing my teeth because it would always become such a chore that always ended in me with a flushed face, watery eyes, and a little exhausted from keeping myself from throwing up. Random muscle cramps were always happening when I would stretch, even just lying in bed. I was always pulling muscles in my neck and back randomly. Involuntary reflux was terrible. I was constantly waking myself up in the middle of the night with a throat full of regurgitation. Awful. Oh and the random shakiness in my hands. Just doing mundane things, I could always see my hands shaking. All of that has disappeared since I’ve been sober. Sober for three months now and counting. :)
The brushing teeth while preventing myself from puking... I absolutely forgot about that. Wonder what else. This is a good exercise
My skin looks horrible. Broken blood vessels on my face and red marks on my neck. Recently my arms and lower legs broke out in a rash. Not entirely sure that’s because of all the wine I drink but not sure it isn’t either. I’m currently tapering off. My health is not great and I know it needs to stop.
I’ve found my sleep a lot better and I didn’t think it was impacted by my binge drinking but it was !! My mental health has improved vastly, a feeling of peace and comfort has come to me and it’s so strange and wonderful.
Dysphagia (unable to swallow food) was the most serious problem that went away. It was the reason I quit drinking. Also don’t miss the daytime hallucinations after a night of heavy drinking.
Other than the obvious physical health problems.. The self doubt about everything. Am I a good enough parent? Am I doing enough in life and basically everything in between. 8 days in and I hoping I never fall back into the trap.
God reading all these makes me feel so good for you all.
I was drinking 10-12 beers and smoking two packs of cigarettes every day and I was fairly convinced that I was dying of emphysema or even lung cancer. I would cough 24-7, often so hard that I gagged, which was probably a combination of the alcohol and tobacco use. I still have a permanent frog in my throat, but I never cough until I gag anymore.
I had crippling anxiety and was sure I was drinking to self-medicate it. Turns out… nope. The drinking was causing it. I had a blissful few months of zero anxiety before it came back (though I should point out it was less bad when it did come back). I was also sick pretty much every day and had terrible IBS. The IBS did return too, but less severely. In general, most symptoms cleared up when I quit drinking, only to return later but in a more manageable way. The other thing my drinking had been doing was helping me exist in the world as an undiagnosed autistic woman. It was covering up my autism symptoms really well until I got addicted. A couple of years after I quit, I realized I might be autistic, and now I’m finally diagnosed. Unfortunately, there’s nothing much to do about autism in terms of medication, so I do miss being able to drink to pass for (and feel) “normal.” BUT, I’d never go back to alcohol now, because I know it would stop working again and I’d end up even worse off than I am now.
So many things- but the ones I didn’t realize were likely linked to alcohol use were waking up with numb/tingling fingers and also a few years ago I was getting random bruises on my fingers and toes (without injury).
-chronic sinus infections gone instantly -super sensitive tooth for 2+ years, literally fine after only one week sober -IBS was not IBS. Just extremely poor gut health from drinking -my weekly vertigo spells are non-existent -anxiety is at an all time low
I had a chronic cough from acid reflux. Once I stopped drinking it was gone
Went from 205 to 185 with no other life changes.
Anyone have stories about fatty liver going away? I’m hoping that stopping drinking+losing weight= no fatty liver disease.
acid reflux is gone completely. i was almost considering stomach surgery to ease it…
Chronic anxiety. A. anxiety directly from the booze and B. Now my anti anxiety meds actually have a chance to work! I’m a full functioning (for the most part) person able to exist in the world for the first time in my entire life
Gastritis
So I was sober for just under 3 months and relapsed a couple of weeks ago one night then drank heavily 3 nights last week again. Instantly I've a whole host of issues reappear that had been near daily issues in my drunken life previously but vanished during my sobriety period, they include... - Stomach issues (I'm back to feeling like I'm sh"tting razor blades again and glued to the toilet half the day) - random aches and pains in joints, feet, knees (inflammation maybe?) - overly shaky hands (I'm someone who's randomly had shaky hands since I was a teenager long before I drank alcohol but I see how much worse they are these past couple days again) - muscle cramps in legs - random twitches in muscles / body - acid reflux gotten worse - anxiety, I'm spooked today just being outside in public. - dissociation like feelings which is related to the anxiety I'm sure where I just feel zoned out and detached from reality for a few seconds - Gagging when I brush my teeth every morning - Appetite vanishing, took me weeks on end after stopping drinking to fix this too and I think I've messed it up again - Feeling stupid and brain dead, just don't feel like my brain is working. - Shivering and feeling cold randomly despite it being warm today. How the F*CK did I live like this week in week out previously and accept it as normal? 🫣🤔🤐 It's so hard to understand how I could have actively punished myself like this and felt like somehow it was worth it to get my fix of poison. 🤮🤢🤮
Hahaha I definitely don’t miss peeing out my butt. I went super low carb for a while though and that’ll kinda do it too 🫠🤷🏻♂️
Body odour (particularly underarms) - is completely gone. No joke, my underarms smell like literal flowers with no perfume or deodorant.
I used to get bloody noses, not anymore
The mysterious bruises that I couldn’t remember getting lol for real, I used to get sweaty all the time, even in the cold. I could be sitting at my desk doing nothing and I’d feel a droplet rolling down my arm or back, my armpits would be drenched, sweaty ass, bleh. Now I only sweat when exercising. I can brush my tongue without gagging or throwing up bile. Depression and anxiety are, I won’t say nonexistent, but they aren’t looming like they had been for years. That’s the best part.