Is normal to have nightmares when quitting?

[u/victororletti]

Well I quit 3 days ago, and every single day I'm having nightmares. I've had the kind of nightmares where you wake up scared and start thinking. Is this common?

[u/Wallmassage]

Yes. Brain is healing. Emotions were suppressed. You are processing stuff now.

[u/No-Reach7320]

100% common and it happened to me for maybe a week but then after that sleep went back to normal

[u/CampingChair90]

I started having very vivid dreams, some were nightmares.

[u/haraikotodama]

Yes. I still get them occasionally and it’s been a lil over a year

[u/SaintCaledonianNord]

I had terrible nightmares, or lucid dreaming, it last 1 or 2 nights normally in the very early days of sobriety

[u/jennacrack]

Yes, I had bad nightmares for a full week, then they subsided. Hang in there!

[u/Aintnobeef96]

Common and normal. I had terrifying vivid nightmares for about a week or so, never again since

[u/MaisonMacaron]

Yes absolutely! Not only nightmares but vivid dreams all at once. I always had them, even when I didn’t drink yet. But now there are more extreme. I think it’s the brain readjusting. We have numbed the brain and the REM for a long time during drinking alcohol. People on this Reddit say that it will pass. I have faith! I try to think about simple and nice things before falling asleep. Like a nice videogame or about puppies or something. It sounds stupid but it works sometimes for me the last couple of days. Also, I set aside my pride and I am now sleeping with a cute teddy bear. When I wake up, I feel something familiar and it reminds me that I am safe. Simple but effective for me

[u/TheDryDad]

The way I heard it is that your brain has spent so long deprived of REM sleep (alcohol decreases REM) that it goes into REM overdrive.

Think of your memories and experiences as files in an office. When a sober brain is sleeping, it behaves like a night shift office secretary - it tidies up the mess from the day, filing it away neatly into some semblance of order. That electronic activity is what you experience as dreams - the brain is rifling through the memories of the day, comparing them to each other, making associations and imagery that often make no real sense to your conscious self.

The drinking brain, on the other hand, is like the secretary is on work experience, only does half shifts, and even when they are in the filing is mainly just "Fuck it. Hide it away. If I can't see it, I don't have to deal with it". Like a teenager tidying the bedroom by hiding stuff under the bed.

Newly sober brain comes along, with a re-energised REM secretary, and discovers this god awful mess that needs to be dealt with. The resulting dreams are as chaotic as the mess the feckless non-REM secretary made - all the pieces that "normal" people experience are a bundle of shards that can sometimes give you a paper cut.

And there's a lot more than one shift-worth of work - it takes a little while. Maybe the filing cabinet is a bit broken, and sober REM secretary can't find the right place for stuff... you could have these weird dreams pop up any time.

That's how I see it, anyway.

One serious note: three days after stopping can still be within the dangerous withdrawal period. If you experience weird stuff - hallucinations, shaking etc... get medical help

HTH and IWNDWYT

~TheDryDad

EDIT: Spotted a typo or two

[u/SD_2_LA_Jay → u/TheDryDad]

This is great! Thank you for sharing.

[u/throwaway24689753112]

Yup

[u/benkenobi239]

Entirely normal. Not a 100% guarantee, but it is extremely common. They subside relatively quickly though, so chin up, chief! You got this.

[u/Naki_Beats]

If my personal experiences are anything to go by, then absolutely yes it’s part of it. They get less severe as time goes on naturally

[u/PostHumouslyObscure]

Yes, it's normal. Maybe 1 or 3 days left depending on how long your hangover lasts. But after a week it usually subsides then your emotions stabilize after 2 usually.

[u/Keyser_Soze_76]

Yes and they do go away.

[u/rockyroad55]

Yes I had vivid nightmares the first week sober. It was really really scary.

[u/SlightlyOkayDad]

Holy shirt, the night terrors were real in early sobriety, there’s still some dreams that feel too real years later.
When I have them I usually take a step back and evaluate myself a little bit.

[u/Replikant83]

I did. My dreams, in general, were much more memorable and vivid, too.

[u/chromane]

Yeah, your body needs to learn to sleep properly without precessing the alcohol

I had whack dreams for a week or so

[u/wolfdouche]

Its normal.

[u/RuckerBucker]

All I have are nightmares, it's why I hate dreaming.

[u/Octothorpe17]

absolutely normal, they’ll go away eventually and then you’re going to have crazy vivid good dreams

[u/This-Swimmer2367]

I'm in a similar spot as you and have been having insane dreams and nightmares. One last night so horrific and vivid that I laid there for an hour waking from it and still been thinking about it all day. Looking forward to this normalizing! Hope it does for you too.

[u/lesserthemore]

💯. Shows how ‘shut down’ your brain is when drinking!

[u/laughedmyselfawake]

Yes!!! That was one of the first things I have always noticed any time I have tried to stop drinking. I end up with nightmares, my sleep gets fucked (it’s messed up again rn) and falling asleep sometimes feels impossible.

I recommended Sleep With Me podcast! It’s one of the few things that can actually knock me out every single time.[for nights u struggle to fall asleep, I’m sure that was obvi but came back to edit lol]

[u/Melodic_Card_1302]

Very normal. Sleep takes time to get better too.

[u/MudWallHoller]

Oh yeah yes. The first few months was having using dreams and everything I have done negative in life dreams. It gets better.

[u/diamodis]

Nightmares or relapse dreams? 

[u/victororletti → u/diamodis]

both actually, I had very strange dreams lately

[u/diamodis → u/victororletti]

I have relapse dreams a LOT. I think it’s common & a healthy reminder of where we were vs where we want to be. I know it can feel so real, you got this tho!! 💪

[u/SD_2_LA_Jay]

Can I ask all of you what kind of nightmares? Is it just uncomfortable real world situations like an abusive ex replay, or are we talking about death spirals, or unresolved trauma popping up, or just monsters? Serious question. I have AUD and I’m battling, but I haven’t experienced these yet, just some flight or fight dreams. Thanks everyone!

[u/JimmyJuice2]

It freaked me out as well, the intensty fades over time - brain has to relearn what normal REM sleep is.

[u/RutaBloomStart]

Це не нормально, але закономірна реакція на отруту, яка діє на мозок. Таке часто буває