I’ve been doing good staying clean from opiates(dilaudid) for about a year. The number one thing is to completely cut off anyone you did drugs with or bought drugs off of. Even if that means deleting social media and changing your number. Also start to do a hobby that you enjoy so you don’t get bored and resort to drugs to stop the boredom. Once you quit you’re going to be bored but it’s easier to stay clean if you have a job and hobby that’s fun to keep your mind occupied. Going to therapy to figure out why you started doing drugs in the first place is a good idea too. I’ve been mostly clean for about a year and I’m so bored since I lost my job. I’m in school now and I’ll be back in work in about 2 months. If you’re addicted ti opiates then I strongly suggest you get on methadone, suboxone or kadian to stabilize and then start weening off. I’m on kadian now and it works a thousand times better for me than methadone and suboxone. I’m in Canada so I’m able to get kadian since other medication diddnt help with cravings. Idk if they offer kadian for a program in the country you’re in. Good luck
THIS. This one is really the only way. Meetings can’t embrace it, “these rooms” won’t do it, temporary substitute addictions won‘’T do it. Sleep won’t even do it. You must just sit right down in the *middle* of suck and realize there is a possibility it could never, ever change. Because it for damn sure won’t, unless you do.
Been clean from benzos and coke going on 5 years now. It does get easier but the cravings are still very real. Only thing that helped me was I had a mental break. Spent a couple days in a pysc word. After that I locked myself in my parents house and my mom was a life saver. Definitely was rocky but after month 2 it became easier to stay away. Find things to fill your time. Always stay busy. That’s help me tremendously
Well I'm not completely sober by any means but my main DOC was spice and it was a bitch quit. I started using on 2012 and wasn't heavy until 2016 by 2017 I switched from spice to alcohol for a year or two then switched back to spice. The amount of ODs I had,the amount of times I went to the ER, never stopped me until I switched to clear during 2022 when I was in my last days of spice use. I was a poly addict to both during 2022 and it wasn't until May 2023 I finally kicked the spice addiction for good.
I am now spice free for a year and 2 months now.
I also haven't touched alcohol for 6 years now either ( I think I got it out of my system when I just spent a year drinking 3 olde English 40z daily)
Maybe I'll even completely give up the clear but for now It helps numb me out and I don't think I can be down with the idea of being completely sober just yet.
The two drugs I've been at one point physically dependent on are Heroin and Alcohol.
I've had to detox from Heroin probably 20 different times in my life and have tried every trick in the book to make it easier. Let me tell you, it's gonna suck no matter what. Going cold turkey is obviously the hardest way, but the symptoms only last for about a week. Tapering with Suboxone helps in the moment to get some relief, but you'll still feel sick once that Buprenorphine exits your system. It's like a trade-off: you feel better for a short time, but you prolong the day you feel 100% normal again. The best comfort meds to take are: Clonidine, Gabapentin, and Lyrica. Benzos seem like they would help at first, but having to endure the rebound effect they produce will make you feel worse than before.
I've also had to detox from Alcohol a handful of times, which makes Heroin detox look like a cakewalk. Each time I detoxed, I had to be admitted to an ICU in a near-death state. The worst detox was my final one in which I had to be put under a medically-induced coma for about 6 days with Propofol. After coming out of it, I was put on a Phenobarbital drip for another several days.
Thankfully, I haven't used Heroin or drank Alcohol in over 3 years.
I've been on Suboxone for 13 years now. I really want to get off this shit. I'm down to 1/6 a pill/day and the withdrawals are way too much for my 42 year old body to handle. It's crazy, my blood oxygen goes under 90 and everything and I can't breathe right.
I was on Suboxone for 12 year.I was on 24 mg.I started to took speed and with that I lower it to 2 mg.And I was on that dose for a while, I couldn't get off that.So..I didn't took it 1 day and next day I did heroine.I promised to myself that I will never touch heroin again ,but I was so sick of being on suboxone.I was using it about 2 months, then I took methadone for 7 days, and after that I didn't take anything.Now is 2 months that I'm clean off sub.
Not that I recommend that, but it was only thing that worked for me.
I would eat a dab of ghost pepper hot sauce when I feel a cravings, I figure it works as a negative reinforcement whilst also releasing endorphins. Feels somewhat like opioids or weed when I overdo it.
I sometimes it helps me break out of negative thought patterns just like drugs would.
Physically? It depends on the drug. Some things are pretty dangerous to quit cold turkey if you are physically addicted, examples alcohol and benzos. Those really require a taper down over time to avoid seizures. Most other detoxes will only make you wish you were dead and not actually kill you. My worst physical addiction that I had to quit cold turkey was spice aka k2 and it was brutal for 2 weeks. Survival methods included friends supervision, cold showers, drinking lots of water, sleeping in the tub, and eventually heroin which kind of defeated the point.
As for the mental aspect after the fact, you've got to stay occupied through whatever means necessary in the beginning. Get a job, get a hobby, start a project, you don't have to like it, just be open to trying new things and staying busy. If you can't sleep at night, exercise until you're exhausted so you aren't up all night thinking thoughts and making shit worse for yourself. Try not to beat yourself up about your past mistakes in the early stages, just try and accept the situation how it is, you probably can't fix it until you have your shit together anyway. Try and work on rebuilding a normal routine and life for yourself, and definitely don't try and start a relationship with anyone, even if (especially if) you met in rehab and are both in early recovery. It is a BAD IDEA. You need to learn to love yourself again first. There's also probably some friends, family, dealers, users you will have to cut out of your life. If you haven't deleted the dealers number, do you even really want to quit?
I personally hated AA/NA meetings but they help some people and there are a few good steps in there of the 12. I was put off of it because it seemed needlessly religious at the time and the local meeting in my area was just creepy. But there are also online meetings and tons of different groups and you can even mute your mic and stuff so there's options.
If you don't do the AA/NA thing I highly suggest having some sort of other support network that you can talk to and root for you. If you can be honest with your friends or family about your cravings and use and lean on them for support, that could be a great option. I would have never even considered quitting without the support of my family. But I also don't feel like I can talk to them about stuff like cravings without judgement, so I use Reddit strangers and long winded responses for that. There are multiple recovery subreddits too.
I was doing really good for a while after I got out of rehab. I started a new career that keeps me very physically and mentally active, and at first it worked great and I felt better than I had ever felt in my life for a year or so. I had an unrelated near death experience that gave me a new perspective and helped me with my sobriety more than anything up to that point. But then the pressure, stress, and exhaustion from the job started getting to me and one of my toxic traits is feeling like I deserve to get high just for getting through the day. So I would say finding new ways to relax and cope with normal stress is critical. If you know you are using for a specific reason like to mask depression or pain, start by trying to address that first if you can, otherwise you'll be running in circles. I don't know why I use beyond I just like it, and Ive been running in circles with that myself.
But my biggest thing is even after years of not using a specific drug I will still think about it and crave it to some extent no matter how hard I try not to think about it or what I do to change my lifestyle. I just can't stop thinking about how bad I want that feeling again. I usually eventually just replace my drug of choice with something else and justify it to myself by saying at least I'm not shooting up anymore or smoking spice or huffing duster or wtf ever. And it starts off fine, I only use occasionally, until it turns into all the time after a couple months and I realize it's time to pump the brakes, again.
In AA/NA they say an addict can't ever use anything ever again or they will instantly fall back into addiction, and that's a hard concept for me personally because even when I'm not using drugs, the thought of never using anything again ever seems so daunting just the thought freaks me out. So I prefer their "One day at a time" approach, but you have to keep holding yourself accountable, unlike me.
I hope something in this wall of text might help somebody somehow, but I'm definitely not completely successful with sobriety so it's an honest take. Now, would anyone like to guess what substance has prompted such a massive and roundabout response? Please let this be the drugs sub and not the recovery sub 😭
For me it was extremely difficult, i had dug myself into a major fentanyl habit. Passed out and drove off the road a couple times. Life became impossible, finally decided to cold turkey that shit. Ramped up methadone to 100mg in preparation. The withdrawal was.so bad that my methadone doctor called an ambulance when i was in his office trying to figure out how to leave a urine sample. Ended up shitting all over the place...im told. Was in another world, delusions paranoia, hallucinations...complete fucking psycosis. Spent a couple days in the hospital tripping balls...felt like i spent a month there...was literally like 36 hours lol. Came home spent another week tripping the fuck out. This is all on 100mg of methadone, finally started eating and sleeping a bit. Was grueling for months. Over the next year i got my methadone down to around 30mg..made the switch to suboxone, went to a treatment facility. Eventually got the sublocade shot and quit lyrica. Im about 3 months clear of buprenorphine and almost 3 years clean. Work out 6 days a week, am in very good shape. Most days are still a struggle
its gon be freezin
I’ve been doing good staying clean from opiates(dilaudid) for about a year. The number one thing is to completely cut off anyone you did drugs with or bought drugs off of. Even if that means deleting social media and changing your number. Also start to do a hobby that you enjoy so you don’t get bored and resort to drugs to stop the boredom. Once you quit you’re going to be bored but it’s easier to stay clean if you have a job and hobby that’s fun to keep your mind occupied. Going to therapy to figure out why you started doing drugs in the first place is a good idea too. I’ve been mostly clean for about a year and I’m so bored since I lost my job. I’m in school now and I’ll be back in work in about 2 months. If you’re addicted ti opiates then I strongly suggest you get on methadone, suboxone or kadian to stabilize and then start weening off. I’m on kadian now and it works a thousand times better for me than methadone and suboxone. I’m in Canada so I’m able to get kadian since other medication diddnt help with cravings. Idk if they offer kadian for a program in the country you’re in. Good luck
Suck embracement. You oughta embrace the suck. Except benzo and alc CT cause it kills you.
THIS. This one is really the only way. Meetings can’t embrace it, “these rooms” won’t do it, temporary substitute addictions won‘’T do it. Sleep won’t even do it. You must just sit right down in the *middle* of suck and realize there is a possibility it could never, ever change. Because it for damn sure won’t, unless you do.
Been clean from benzos and coke going on 5 years now. It does get easier but the cravings are still very real. Only thing that helped me was I had a mental break. Spent a couple days in a pysc word. After that I locked myself in my parents house and my mom was a life saver. Definitely was rocky but after month 2 it became easier to stay away. Find things to fill your time. Always stay busy. That’s help me tremendously
Well I'm not completely sober by any means but my main DOC was spice and it was a bitch quit. I started using on 2012 and wasn't heavy until 2016 by 2017 I switched from spice to alcohol for a year or two then switched back to spice. The amount of ODs I had,the amount of times I went to the ER, never stopped me until I switched to clear during 2022 when I was in my last days of spice use. I was a poly addict to both during 2022 and it wasn't until May 2023 I finally kicked the spice addiction for good. I am now spice free for a year and 2 months now. I also haven't touched alcohol for 6 years now either ( I think I got it out of my system when I just spent a year drinking 3 olde English 40z daily) Maybe I'll even completely give up the clear but for now It helps numb me out and I don't think I can be down with the idea of being completely sober just yet.
Cold turkey
Tapering and rotating substances and looking into metal health. Exercise and reaching out helps too. Multi direction approach fr fr
The two drugs I've been at one point physically dependent on are Heroin and Alcohol. I've had to detox from Heroin probably 20 different times in my life and have tried every trick in the book to make it easier. Let me tell you, it's gonna suck no matter what. Going cold turkey is obviously the hardest way, but the symptoms only last for about a week. Tapering with Suboxone helps in the moment to get some relief, but you'll still feel sick once that Buprenorphine exits your system. It's like a trade-off: you feel better for a short time, but you prolong the day you feel 100% normal again. The best comfort meds to take are: Clonidine, Gabapentin, and Lyrica. Benzos seem like they would help at first, but having to endure the rebound effect they produce will make you feel worse than before. I've also had to detox from Alcohol a handful of times, which makes Heroin detox look like a cakewalk. Each time I detoxed, I had to be admitted to an ICU in a near-death state. The worst detox was my final one in which I had to be put under a medically-induced coma for about 6 days with Propofol. After coming out of it, I was put on a Phenobarbital drip for another several days. Thankfully, I haven't used Heroin or drank Alcohol in over 3 years.
I've been on Suboxone for 13 years now. I really want to get off this shit. I'm down to 1/6 a pill/day and the withdrawals are way too much for my 42 year old body to handle. It's crazy, my blood oxygen goes under 90 and everything and I can't breathe right.
I was on Suboxone for 12 year.I was on 24 mg.I started to took speed and with that I lower it to 2 mg.And I was on that dose for a while, I couldn't get off that.So..I didn't took it 1 day and next day I did heroine.I promised to myself that I will never touch heroin again ,but I was so sick of being on suboxone.I was using it about 2 months, then I took methadone for 7 days, and after that I didn't take anything.Now is 2 months that I'm clean off sub. Not that I recommend that, but it was only thing that worked for me.
I would eat a dab of ghost pepper hot sauce when I feel a cravings, I figure it works as a negative reinforcement whilst also releasing endorphins. Feels somewhat like opioids or weed when I overdo it. I sometimes it helps me break out of negative thought patterns just like drugs would.
real lmao
Physically? It depends on the drug. Some things are pretty dangerous to quit cold turkey if you are physically addicted, examples alcohol and benzos. Those really require a taper down over time to avoid seizures. Most other detoxes will only make you wish you were dead and not actually kill you. My worst physical addiction that I had to quit cold turkey was spice aka k2 and it was brutal for 2 weeks. Survival methods included friends supervision, cold showers, drinking lots of water, sleeping in the tub, and eventually heroin which kind of defeated the point. As for the mental aspect after the fact, you've got to stay occupied through whatever means necessary in the beginning. Get a job, get a hobby, start a project, you don't have to like it, just be open to trying new things and staying busy. If you can't sleep at night, exercise until you're exhausted so you aren't up all night thinking thoughts and making shit worse for yourself. Try not to beat yourself up about your past mistakes in the early stages, just try and accept the situation how it is, you probably can't fix it until you have your shit together anyway. Try and work on rebuilding a normal routine and life for yourself, and definitely don't try and start a relationship with anyone, even if (especially if) you met in rehab and are both in early recovery. It is a BAD IDEA. You need to learn to love yourself again first. There's also probably some friends, family, dealers, users you will have to cut out of your life. If you haven't deleted the dealers number, do you even really want to quit? I personally hated AA/NA meetings but they help some people and there are a few good steps in there of the 12. I was put off of it because it seemed needlessly religious at the time and the local meeting in my area was just creepy. But there are also online meetings and tons of different groups and you can even mute your mic and stuff so there's options. If you don't do the AA/NA thing I highly suggest having some sort of other support network that you can talk to and root for you. If you can be honest with your friends or family about your cravings and use and lean on them for support, that could be a great option. I would have never even considered quitting without the support of my family. But I also don't feel like I can talk to them about stuff like cravings without judgement, so I use Reddit strangers and long winded responses for that. There are multiple recovery subreddits too. I was doing really good for a while after I got out of rehab. I started a new career that keeps me very physically and mentally active, and at first it worked great and I felt better than I had ever felt in my life for a year or so. I had an unrelated near death experience that gave me a new perspective and helped me with my sobriety more than anything up to that point. But then the pressure, stress, and exhaustion from the job started getting to me and one of my toxic traits is feeling like I deserve to get high just for getting through the day. So I would say finding new ways to relax and cope with normal stress is critical. If you know you are using for a specific reason like to mask depression or pain, start by trying to address that first if you can, otherwise you'll be running in circles. I don't know why I use beyond I just like it, and Ive been running in circles with that myself. But my biggest thing is even after years of not using a specific drug I will still think about it and crave it to some extent no matter how hard I try not to think about it or what I do to change my lifestyle. I just can't stop thinking about how bad I want that feeling again. I usually eventually just replace my drug of choice with something else and justify it to myself by saying at least I'm not shooting up anymore or smoking spice or huffing duster or wtf ever. And it starts off fine, I only use occasionally, until it turns into all the time after a couple months and I realize it's time to pump the brakes, again. In AA/NA they say an addict can't ever use anything ever again or they will instantly fall back into addiction, and that's a hard concept for me personally because even when I'm not using drugs, the thought of never using anything again ever seems so daunting just the thought freaks me out. So I prefer their "One day at a time" approach, but you have to keep holding yourself accountable, unlike me. I hope something in this wall of text might help somebody somehow, but I'm definitely not completely successful with sobriety so it's an honest take. Now, would anyone like to guess what substance has prompted such a massive and roundabout response? Please let this be the drugs sub and not the recovery sub 😭
Cold turkey.
For me it was extremely difficult, i had dug myself into a major fentanyl habit. Passed out and drove off the road a couple times. Life became impossible, finally decided to cold turkey that shit. Ramped up methadone to 100mg in preparation. The withdrawal was.so bad that my methadone doctor called an ambulance when i was in his office trying to figure out how to leave a urine sample. Ended up shitting all over the place...im told. Was in another world, delusions paranoia, hallucinations...complete fucking psycosis. Spent a couple days in the hospital tripping balls...felt like i spent a month there...was literally like 36 hours lol. Came home spent another week tripping the fuck out. This is all on 100mg of methadone, finally started eating and sleeping a bit. Was grueling for months. Over the next year i got my methadone down to around 30mg..made the switch to suboxone, went to a treatment facility. Eventually got the sublocade shot and quit lyrica. Im about 3 months clear of buprenorphine and almost 3 years clean. Work out 6 days a week, am in very good shape. Most days are still a struggle