Weed and Alcohol

When you are moving away from drinking 8-10 beers a day, it is inevitable that sleeping will be a problem. The difficulties usually last about 21 days, provided there are no additional emotional distressors that are making their presence felt as a person sobers up. I understand you want to reduce the unpleasantness of this process, but avoiding it through taking weed is very common, but has some major disadvantages. REducing the drinking helps you to live a more sober life in which you can begin to put things in order,repair any damage that your drinking has done and re-orientate yourself towards a happier and more productive life.

Taking weed continues the inebriation, just using a different substance. It also leads to various levels of paranoia and disorientation. Your family has had to bear with the drinking over a long period and it is not surprising that they are troubled by the entrance of a different drug. Your teenage daughter must surely be aware of the smell from the smoking. One of the side effects of drinking, is that you will have learnt to give people the kind of truth which suits, so now continuing with a habit which you have to hide, is not effective in supporting a happier life.

I am delighted to hear that you are working so hard to reduce your drinking, it is unfortunately true that someone who has been drinking heavily is also likely to use other substances in a similar fashion. I hope you will find the courage to reduce your weed use so that you do not develop a second habit. To stabilise your sleeping, you will need to go to sleep at a regular time and to get up every morning regularly, even if you have not slept well. The regular hours will support regular sleeping. Eating well and having daily exercise also help the recovery process. Persist with this pattern for 3 weeks and you should see real improvement. Are you also increasing your use of Vitamin B tablets to help the nerve damage from the alcohol?

You will have gathered from me that there is more to this process than reducing your drinking. A sober life can be far more enjoyable than one where your frontal lobe and common sense are separated off from your living, but it takes a time to adjust and build in activities and life styles that suit. Be patient with your self, dont rush into weed as the solution, there are better ones than that.

You can get a lot of support from Alcoholics Anonymous or any of the self help groups. You can see for yourself whether you would be better off being completely sober in the end. That is a personal choice, but talking to people who live this way can be informative. They will be very sympathetic around your difficulties with sleeping. Best of luck. Jill Edwards. If you would like any further service, you can look at my website, www.invitationtotalk.co.uk and contact me from there.