I'm brand new to the program - 4 days in. I'm having trouble sleeping for two reasons: 1) I must be having nightmares that I can't remember because today I was up at 0300 having a full blown panic attack. When it passed I decided to accept what was happening and stayed up so I could attend a meeting at 0700. I'm exhausted but I am doing whatver I can to stay awake. I've never felt scared to sleep. 2) when I do sleep I'm up every hour on the hour. I would like to ask if anyone else experienced this in the beginning. Any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.
Welcome to this discussion forum, TampaRN. Sleep is a problem for some people in early sobriety. I have heard many people mention that. I had the reverse problem when I started--wanting to sleep too much.
All I can suggest is that your system will probably stabilize in a while.
Congrats on 4 days sober. The early days can be VERY tough. That's why going to a meeting whenever you can is such a good idea. Or you can come back here and discuss with whoever is around.
I'm hanging on. Don't have a car tonight so I can't get to another meeting (I went to one this morning). I feel like I'm crawling out of my skin at times. Other times it almost feels like an out of body experience. But I'm grateful to have another day of sobriety. Thank you for replying. It really helps to talk about it.
Welcome, I didn't sleep for a long time when I got sober. I'm assuming it's because my body wasn't used to regular "sleep", I just passed out every night. It may seem terrible now, but it will pass.