HairsprayQueen Posted April 9, 2020 Report Share Posted April 9, 2020 Anyone have any strategies for how to cope with extreme irritability during the first month of quitting? Maybe it lasts longer than a month, I don’t really know because I haven’t managed to make it past that point...yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuLamb Posted April 10, 2020 Report Share Posted April 10, 2020 Meditate. Exercise. Take responsibility for your irritability and make room for it in your experience so it dissipates and can come in like a wave and crash and then recede. Try to orient to it in a non-judgmental way.: "I'm noticing that I am irritable. That's what's true now. OK." Be mindful not to take it OUT on the people, places, and things around you. It's just part of the process as your system detoxes, withdrawals, and tries to adjust to a new normal. Learn to listen to the irritability (what is it's narrative?) so it can help you set increasingly healthy boundaries with yourself and others. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC011381 Posted April 10, 2020 Report Share Posted April 10, 2020 @HairsprayQueen. My Irritability was EXTREME in early recovery and, while improving, is still an issue. I share a 1200 sf apartment with a 5 and 4 year who were 4 and 3 during early recovery. The level of my irritability was awful and scary. I handled the first 3 weeks of quarantine with working and homeschool/24-7 childcare reasonably well but an starting to slip where the irritability is intensifying again. I am trying to control it and use CBT skills but failing for the most part. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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