It is amazing how the body/brain responds to various triggers when alcoholism/addiction is in remission--some are plagued with stuff (like drinking dreams, or like sudden out-of-the-blue craving that dissipates in three seconds) even decades into quality, continuous sobriety. I never ignore those little twitches, (eternal vigilence/inventory/stepswork as needed) but I also don't dwell or try to impose "meaning" either (uh oh, heading for a fall). Keeping up with research/science tells me the wierd smells/using dreams/drunk feelings/ etc. are a normal artifact of the disorder for many people--some minimal, some a lot, some short term, some periodic for many years. Other than scaring us something awful sometimes, they really do no harm.
-- Edited by leeu on Saturday 26th of January 2013 09:02:29 PM
Sometimes when I go to meetings and hear people talk about drinking, I get this sick feeling. It feels like a hangover. It only lasts a minute or two, and I see this more as beneficial as opposed to baneful. I've heard plenty about "dry drunk", but I've never heard of anyone else go through what I call a "dry hangover". Does anyone else have experience with this? Thanx!- J.
It's been a long time since I experienced a hangover, but ... late this Summer, I came down with a bad 'cold' or maybe the 'Flu', early ... and the few days I was 'down 'n out' ... I felt horrible, sick, and lifeless ... it reminded me of going through 'withdrawal' (or a bad three day hangover) ... It definitely reminded me of where I had been in my drinking days ... it was bad, but I knew I'd feel better if I just hung in there a while ...
Hangovers ??? ... I don't miss them one bit ... and they are great reminders of just how much I love being sober ...
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Sometimes when I go to meetings and hear people talk about drinking, I get this sick feeling. It feels like a hangover. It only lasts a minute or two, and I see this more as beneficial as opposed to baneful. I've heard plenty about "dry drunk", but I've never heard of anyone else go through what I call a "dry hangover". Does anyone else have experience with this? Thanx!- J.
Yep. At around the six month mark I had a drinking dream and I woke up hungover. Rotten, head thumping, mouth like the bottom of a bird cage hungover. Only lasted as long as it took me to realise where I was, and that no, I hadn't been out drinking the night before. Then I was perfectly fine.
I had to go to a liquor store several years back to buy one of my better customers some Crown Royal.
I was sober well over 20 years and didn't really think much about it, but while standing in line surrounded by all the bottles of alcohol, I actually started feeling a little sick and nauseous.
I think it's a heathy response for someone not wanting to drink, just be careful if you start to crave.
It's called a "psychosomatic response"....when a mental disturbance creates a physical/bodily affect.
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
Yes, I have emotional hangovers, but those come about from when I do something self-destructive other than drinking and/or when I experience a rollercoaster of emotions due to another reason other than alcohol and then need to recenter myself.
What you are talking about seems more like a vicarious hangover. You are hearing from other people and their drunkalogues and it reminds you of your own and you literally get the goosebumps and yucky feelings as if you just drank. I still get shivers when I really think about how sick alcohol made me. I puked up bile every morning for a few years. I would suffer horrid hangovers until mid afternoon and then be repeating the same thing later that night...UGGGGH! It does make me feel puky and gross to really think about it but, like you, that feeling of revulsion is beneficial to my sobriety....I know it. I am free now and I don't want to be prisoner again.
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