Celebrating the death of Osama, I decided to have drink last night. I had stopped drinking entirely last summer, not because of an intervention or anything, just because I wanted to stop.
I was basically a binge drinker (98% of the time it was beer) , and only drank when i played golf. Seldom (if ever) drank at home and only then socially, when someone was over for dinner.
A couple of times since last summer, I had a couple beers, very socially. Once was on New Years Eve and another was a weekend at a casino. I didn’t have craving or anything, just wanted to do it.
Well, I decided to make a drink last night. About a shot and half of Crown Royal on the rocks. A nice sipping drink.
My insomnia returned last night. woke up at 2:30 am, wide awake. Wide fricking awake. (no headache or anything). From 1.5 shots of whiskey! very little alcohol compared to what I used to consume.
Pretty much convinces me that I should give up drinking entirely and permanently.
I wouldn’t know what it’s like to stop drinking, though I certainly know what it’s like to not drink. Thus far I have lived my entire life (all 21 years of it) avoiding the consumption of alcohol; at this point the most I’ve ever imbibed in one sitting is a sip of wine at religious ceremonies. No, I’m not Mormon. I have had some second-hand experience with alcoholism and I have a highly addictive personality.
Anywho, while the transition from drinking to sobriety may be difficult (the popularity of AA certainly attests to that), the state of not drinking shouldn’t pose any problems whatsoever.
Need a drink? Here’s some juice!
Having trouble with the ladies? Join the club! Here’s some lube!
Trying to relax? Take a step back, realize that you’re going to die and that 99% of everything you do will eventually be meaningless, and thus whatever little thing is troubling you at that moment simply doesn’t matter!
Best of all, there’s no hangovers to deal with and no money to be wasted when trying to get wasted.
Same boat here, notfrommensa, have had a similar experience to what you describe. Alcohol, even in small amounts interrupts normal sleep patterns. Often drinkers feel like alcohol helps them sleep, but they awaken feeling unrested. Then they experience insomnia even worse when not drinking. It can take a while to get back on track, depending of course on the individual and how long/how much they’ve been drinking.
Here’s a link from Science Daily. This page has several articles concerning how alcohol affects sleep.
I too am trying to give up booze, (have had insomnia too), so I offer my support and best of luck to you as well!
Addiction sucks. As an addict you will always find a way to convince yourself that now is a special occasion and it’s ok to give in to your addiction, just this once.
I know exactly where you’re coming from but…a terrorist was killed and this gives you a reason to celebrate by way of harming yourself? Ick. It didn’t even benefit you!
If you can talk past yourself at times like these, and see that “what was I thinking?!” lies in the future and not “that was awesome!” - and do it with regularity - then you know you’ve really won.
thanks for the info, but I want to say that I never had any withdrawal symptoms when I stopped drinking. No cravings, no shakes, no insomnia, nothing. I stopped, and that was that.
notfrommensa Is it possible the insomnia was brought on by stressing out over having the drink, and not from the actual drink itself? Anytime I have suffered from insomnia it was almost always related to something stressful in my life.
I do not drink, I’ll soon be 47 and the last drink I had was at my sister’s wedding when I was 16.
So while I can’t share your feelings, I wouldn’t beat myself up over it.
You now know your limits, and forewarned is forearmed.
It doesn’t matter that you had a drink, what matters is what you choose to do about it NOW. People try and people fail. We all do.
Just because you drank is no reason to think you can’t stop again. You did it once, you can do it again. So don’t be hard on yourself, just start over don’t worry about things that you can’t change
Sheesh… the guy said he used to binge drink while he played golf.
You’re talking to him like he was drinking Listerine to get drunk in the mornings before leaving for work or something!
If that’s the right choice for him to not drink, that’s fine, and his business. If he wants to keep at the same rather sedate style that he describes having performed since last summer, that hardly sounds like a bad thing either.
Thanks bump, you are basically correct. My OP was intended to connect insomnia with alcohol, not as a Jimmy Swaggert-type confessional “I have sinned”.
Although some might think differently, I am positive I am not addicted to alcohol. I stopped cold turkey, with no assistance whatsoever. No withdrawal, no shakes, no cravings. I stopped after one drink (and a half) last night.
I can relate, notfrommensa - I stopped drinking when I realized that I was getting hangovers from ridiculously small amounts of alcohol. It never occurred to me that part of the hangover might have been sleeping so badly after having two beers. I’m sensitive to everything, though - I can’t handle caffeine at all, and I can practically take an aspirin as a sleeping pill. We all have different body chemistries; there comes a point in some of our lives when we just have to acknowledge what our particular make-up is.
You definitely don’t need to be an addict to find that drinking gives you insomnia. In fact, you sound like the opposite of an alcoholic: every alcoholic I’ve seen, one (and a half) drinks barely do anything to them. Having a high tolerance would be worrying.
While I’ve never tried alcohol, I’m pretty sensitive to a lot of stuff, like CW. I didn’t used to be, but it is what it is. I actually now eat carob and drink caffeine free soda to get my fix.
Well, alcoholics who really destroy their livers from drinking have extremely low tolerances. However, you don’t sound like someone with that level of a problem.
I find that the one-and-a-half shot drink that you describe might do anything from making me quite tipsy to doing absolutely nothing at all. It depends so much on what you’ve eaten, how you’ve slept, if you’ve exercised, and dozens of other factors. I know girls who swear that their tolerances vary with their menstrual cycle. You know your body best, of course, but I’d have said that one night where you’re especially affected may not mean anything in terms of your health. Whether you should drink in future, of course, is up to you.
Sounds like me and smoking. Back in my youth I used to smoke up to half a pack of cigarettes a week. I decided it cost too much, it stank, I was tired and wheezing all the time. So I stopped. I still smoke every so often about once every few months or so, it’s no problem for me.
As for alcohol, I know a single shot will keep me awake too.
I (mostly) stopped drinking when I was 22 and I realized the opposite. That I never got hangovers and there was nothing other than me regulating what I drank. I stopped completely for a couple of years and after that started with one or two at special occasions. For many years my drinking was in the range of 3-4 drinks per year. It’s a little higher now - probably 12-15 drinks per year but still never had a hangover. I’m a lot less stressed by it now and more likely to ask someone else to be the designated driver on occcasion.
Thing is, “I’ve stopped drinking.” is code for either “I was about to lose the house and had started seeing bats even in daylight” or “Alcohol has too many calories/ makes me tired/ gives me insomnia”–but mostly the first one, so people assume that the statement implies a deeper problem.
I stopped drinking when it started making me so sleepy and head-achey (after one glass of wine, not even a whole glass) that it wasn’t a pleasure anymore. I do still have a glass of wine with a special meal (Christmas or Tgiving), but that’s it. No alcoholism here or in my blood kin.
Sounds to me like the OP was just reminded of why he stopped–Pavlov would be proud.
42 years old here and I’ve never done any sort of drinking. Sure I’ve tried a small sip of something on that rare occasion, but I’ve never liked the taste of alcohol. In fact my friends have taken it upon themselves to find me an alcoholic drink that I would like. So far it has been a total failure.
I suppose it has to do with tolerance levels. I’ve never been used to any type of alcohol consumption, therefore It’s very easy for me to taste even the smallest amount.
