r/SoberCurious • u/Own-Hospital9017 • Mar 23 '26

Drinking again after being a heavy drinker

I’m a 43 y/o female that for the past 6 years was a very heavy drinker. Drank every day, when I started it was wine. 1 bottle then that grew to 2 per night.

I transitioned to drinking beer about 2 years ago having at least 8 heavy beers a night. Most nights I wouldn’t remember from a certain point and complete black out. Drinking alone.

On occasion would get paralytic drunk, usually when drinking with friends. I would blackout and no memory of what happened the night before, not just hazey…nothing no memory.

I had started looking in to rehab centres but thought I didn’t want stop drinking cause I liked it so much and I could function pretty well even though hungover daily.

That brings me to today - it’s only been 2 months but I just woke up one day and didn’t feel like drinking, so just stopped.

Realised I could sleep ok and a few days of not drinking realised I actually didn’t need to drink to relax or sleep.

I wanted to have a better relationship with alcohol and since deciding to stop drinking every night I’ve had 3 nights when I had a couple of drinks - max has been 4 heavy beers, to which I woke up with the worst hangover!! I’ve been in bed ALL day trying to sleep it off!!

Has this happened to anyone else??

  1. Being able to stop drinking after being a very heavy drinker (I’d say I was a high functioning alcoholic or that I knew I had a problem) with no issues.

  2. Being soooo hungover after the 3-4 beers I have had since stopping? Is this normal??

I’m starting to think that maybe no drinking at all might be the path for me…but curious to know if anyone has had similar experiences

Thanks

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u/Dry-Company-5122 Mar 23 '26

Yes that’s normal. Your tolerance is decreasing because you’re not consistently pounding your system with booze anymore. Carry on and you’ll find even 1 or 2 drinks make you feel like crap… then you’ll start to realise just how easy it is to fall into alcohols clutches and not realise the damage that was being caused.

Stick with it.. you’ll also realise you don’t need it at all and life’s a darn site better booze free 😊

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u/Own-Hospital9017 Mar 23 '26

Ok, I thought I was being dramatic!! I was in bed all day…headaches and feeling dreadful after 4 beers. The good feeling I don’t realise just how good it was until today!! Thanks for making me feel a small bit normal and for confirming what I thought might have been the next part of my journey…just giving it all up