Are nightmares normal when detoxing from alcohol?

Answer 1

Yes, you certainly do go through nightmares and they are quite normal while detoxing from alcohol or certain medications.

Every 1/2 hour we all dream (most of the dreams we don't remember.) When coming off alcohol, medications and even quitting smoking our brains are getting a shot of oxygen like you wouldn't believe, plus the brain impulses have been use to whatever it is we were taking. Because a person with alcohol dependency or medicinal dependency just can't "ease off" to become well again this is a big shock for the brain. Thus, nightmares.

The person should not feel at their wits end because of the nightmares, but look on it as each day that goes by their brain is getting use to not having the alcohol or drug in their system and soon the body will feel whole again.

Studies have proven that vitamins and minerals often help with detoxing off alcohol and medications, so if you can, please see a Homeopathic doctor to lead you down the right path. It really does help.

Exercise is excellent to help those jangled nerves (perspiring helps to release the toxins in the body) and also drinking 8 - 10 glasses of water. Water helps keep the kidneys and other organs clear and flushes out toxins in the body as well. Believe it or not, within a week of drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day (no cheating) you can feel how much better your body is getting.

Stay away from tea, coffee, pop, chocolate (anything with caffein) because this will just add to the jitters. If you are a heavy tea or coffee drinker, cut down by 2 cups a day for a full 2 weeks, and another 2 cups after that. The absence of coffee or tea taken away so quickly can cause headaches.

Withdrawal from alcohol can cause a variety of symptoms, up to and including death. This doesn't happen often any more due to the use of medicines that can help a person through this process, but it is stressful to say the least. If you doubt that an alcoholic can die from withdrawal, look up delirium tremens. That's just one of the cool things that alcohol deprivation can cause. Nightmares can be caused by eating Pizza late at night. The change in body chemistry precipitated by withdrawal from alcohol can be much more drastic. The media and Hollywood have made withdrawal from heroin a source of endless melodrama. In reality, that's much like a bad case of the flu. I have never heard of a heroin addict dying from simple withdrawal. Alcoholics can. I'd hazard a guess that such dreams were normal. If they persist long after withdrawal is complete, it might be a matter for concern, but otherwise I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I don't even know what Darvocet is, but I'm betting it's not an aspirin substitute. Removal of alcohol from your system will make you aware of all manner of aches and pains and discomforts that you were previously unaware of in your medicated state. Give yourself a good year to approach normalcy again.