I had horrible headaches at about a month sober. I suffer from migraines and finally went to the dr. & they said it was still withdrawls .
I did not believe them, but I guess they probably knew what they were talking about... They lasted a few days and then went away..

You are right about all alcoholics suffering from depression - alcohol is a known depressant.

Your body goes through a lot with alcohol abuse and it takes some time to recover.

Another common side effect of your body adjusting back to normal is that we often find natural sleep difficult.

Is that the case for you? If so, tiredness can be the trigger for the headaches, as can stress. You will naturally be stressed when going through a transition like this.

It may be a good idea to go back to your doctor and he can then check for any underlying causes.

hey dragonfly, I see you just started Zoloft-this can possibly give nasty headaches at the beginning which will eventually go away. I suggest you do a little reading about the side effects of Zoloft-made me miserable. Or it could be the Ativan, are you still taking that? if not these, the withdrawal from alcohol then is the likely culprit. Be sure to drink lots of water-dehydration can cause headaches as well.

Moonflake is right about the dehydration...Antidepressants tend to dehydrate (and you still may be somewhat dehydrated from drinking) which causes headaches. I take Zoloft and always feel like I have cotton mouth. Be sure to drink plenty of water.

Plenty of water and get some heavy duty B-Complex vitamins. Your body is likley deficient in Thiamine.

thanks all. the b-vitamin thing is actually something that showed up on my blood work so i am now taking high doses of b's.
the sleep thing, hell i can relate to not getting any. i am tired all the time. i am not taking the ativan any longer but i have prescription sleeping pills which dont seem to make a damn difference.
as for the water, man i have a hard time making myself drink water right now and i know i am probably still dehydrated.
for now i will see how the headaches go and if not any better when i see my doc next deal with it then.
thanks again all. sigh

It's very hard on the body when you stop an addiction and only after 3 weeks the transition does have stress with it. These people are correct too about those drugs they do require a lot more water we do get dehydrated. Water also helps clear the body of toxins. Try some meditation and relaxation. It's can't hurt.
Hang in there and work your program at your pace. Hopefully you'll be able to confrount your problems and your headaches will go away.
Good Luck. -Dave

Hi DF. I am on day 17 now. The last 2 days I have had a headache in the afternoon despite trying to drink about 2L water a day. I also have had really black moods which scare my partner as I just shut down and don't communicate with him.

I didn't really get much withdrawal when I stopped drinking - it just took me a few days to knacker myself out so I slept as I was panicking every time I started to fall asleep. I'm over that now, and the last two days just feel really tired it's just as bad as when I was drinking :-(

The first month or so can be crazy,a lot of physical stuff is changing.The others are right,eat right,drink lots of water and things will settle down.You're almost through the worst of withdrawal.Stay sober and you won't have to deal with it any more.None of this is easy,but it gets better.