Month 22 here. Decided to have some drinks on vacation.

Boom I’m back in the shit.

Yeah, don't do that.

 

Just a message to anybody else wanting to drink after going through benzo withdrawal: It will throw you back into it, hard. It doesn't take much to do a quick search and see how badly people have been set back from it before. It's akin to just gulping down a handful of pills as far as those damaged gaba receptors are concerned. 

 

You'll heal, but it's not going to be a fun reminder.

Same exact thing happened to me about a month ago. I was exactly 13 months off and a friend invited me out to have a drink with him to celebrate his birthday. I wasn’t healed yet, but was starting to sleep 5-6 hours most nights, sometimes even a little more than 6 hours. I was set way back immediately. Never doing that again.

Oh that's terrible.  I totally understand the temptation though. 

How were you doing before the drinks, Lightfoot?

Not too bad. Averaging 5-6 hours of broken, dream filled sleep. Since the drinks I’m back to 3-4 very broken hours.

Dang. I’m really sorry about that man.  Although I’m not quite as far out as you, I know the feeling of sleeping really poorly night after night after night. And about being set back when you’re finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s rough. We’ll get better, though.

I've had this happen a time or two and then watched my system reset. It's not something worth risking very often but it doesn't necessarily mean you're screwed. We're a sensitive lot.

You sleeping any better, Lightfoot?

I've had alcohol twice during withdrawal. Both times I woke up at 1-2am shaking in cold sweats. Nasty business.

Because of Siggy's experience with alcohol (2 setbacks), I was definitely afraid to try any.  Now that I have been off for over 3 years, I am able to have a beer here and there without any consequences.  I would wait until you have been healed for awhile and then don't drink enough to get "buzzed" or "drunk" or you risk a possible setback?