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Are you able to stay "clean" while using a few times a times a month?

J

jmaransky

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Joined
Mar 27, 2012
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I have a friend who has struggled over the years with oxy addiction. At it's peak, his intake was 15-20 oxy 30's a day for about two straight years. over the past 6 months, he has worked really hard to clean himself up - he was able to taper down to 3-5 per day then checked himself into rehab for 30 days of treatment which included detox. the detox was basically a 7 day sub taper where they basically gave him just enough sub to make it bearable. the Acute withdraw was tough but bearable - however, he is really struggling with PAWS and that is what leads me to the subject question - Is it possible to stay "clean" while using 3-4 times a month?

I know some of the purists out there will object to the word "clean" if he is using at all and I don't mean to stir up any hornets nest ... but I think this is a legit question. he really struggles with the PAWS and insists that using one night a week actually helps him from falling into full blown relapse. he feels it gives him something to look forward to and in a strange way helps with the daily PAWS struggle because he does not need to accept he will feel that crappy for the rest of his life ...

my counter point to him is that this sounds good in theory - using one night a week is not enough to become physically addicted - but I don't know many people who have a problem with opiates who can keep that level of discipline over the long term.... he may be able to do it for a few weeks/months maybe even a year or two .. but as long as he is mentally relying on the drugs for relief - he will not truly be trying to deal with the root cause of his addiction ... and eventually his use will creep up and he will be using daily again ...

so my question for this community is does anyone have experience/thoughts on this - has anyone had any personal success or had any friends who were able to keep their use "under control" after having a problem? everything I read/see says this is not realistic .. but I would like to hear some first hand experiences from people who have seen/dealt with the issue.
 
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^^^ you are pretty much spot on. When my addiction was least the equivalent of your boys, I cleaned up for a little bit. I thought this exact same thing. But the reality of it is, before I knew it I was back shooting more dope than ever before. The worst part its I did this whole process several times before I accepted that I am not someone who has that level of discipline to use once a week or once a month even.

Of course, I don't know your friend personally, but I've never met an opiate addict that was successful long term with that strategy. Then again he might be that one person in a million that would succeed. Tell your buddy he has to let his brain start making the chemicals its supposed to which can take several months and is other wise known as PAWS. It sucks, I know that personally. The sooner he stops the sooner the brain can repair itself.


Oh yeah, check out some of neversickanymore's stickies on addiction over in Sober Living. He posts a lot of relevant information that you and your friend could benefit to know. Best of luck to your friend, opiate addiction is a bitch.
 
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Its not gonna work, its very simple. This might be part of the process of getting clean to understand you cannot use drugs for that purpose, especially not your DOC and while dealing with symptoms on top of that.

I guess almost everyone has this fantasy at some point but he has to find it out the hard way, as most of us. People usually dont ask this themselves because they know the answer deep down and just dont want to face it, thats my opinion.
 
I wouldn't advise using one night a week in an attempt to "not fall into a full relapse". I just don't see that working. Sure he may not get addicted using one time a week, but it's too hard once you start to limit it to that. Just my opinion.
 
I could sure never do it... I'd never recommend anyone try it. Inevitably it will spiral out of control again even if it works for a little while.
 
This person didn't get into this position for having tons of self control I'm sorry but that's the truth of the matter. Failures imminent.
 
If the person is using drugs even if it's a few times a month then they're not clean, and they are risking a relapse.
 
I would like to say I could but I always ended up using so much that I don't see the point of recreational use anymore.
 
Please bear with me as this is my first post and I am not sure if I am even in the correct place.

She's been battling opiate addiction on and off for about 15 years (now 33) Used to be vicadin & sometimes percasets. For awhile She was on Suboxon (9 yrs back) when it was In pill form and eventually was able to stop that, but then consistently gone through phases using and stopping, back and forth, and starting to feel helpless.

She had her son ( 16 mths ago ) they gave her an oxy at the hospital after giving birth.
Hence She fell in love with Oxys, had never tried them and realized that even 4-5 Vicodin would barely be felt.

She stopped multiple times but ONLY bc it's seems they have cracked down HARD In New York. The Drs that used to hand out rx like candy (not oxy, but perks/Vic's) are all only prescribing Tylenol 3!

Street value seems to be $1/mg. and sometimes more. Her tolerance escapes so quickly it's scary (would need at least 2 30 mg Oxys to feel good!! = 60 mg for a 3-4 hr. high.

She has a few questions, hoping some has an opinion/fact on or can relate, solution ?

** factually does your tolerance ever reset to square one, and if so how long does it take?

** is there any other legal medication (or OTC) that would work Proven .. for withdrawals in a similar way that suboxone does? Other than Imodium bc One must say it actually does help a lot with symptoms over all.

- is the ratio $1/mg consistent ?

- does anyone know If New York has changed laws that it makes it almost impossible to acquire from a dr now???

- has anyone used any antidepressants that were able to help them with this battle She has everyday bc it just doesn't ever seem to stop, the cravings.... ?

No matter how long She stops for, it's the first thing she thinks about in the morning ....
she is super upset and starting to feel helpless.
 
Sotellme said:
** factually does your tolerance ever reset to square one, and if so how long does it take? Personally I think no it doesn't ever reset to square one, but it can get pretty close. How long it takes will depend on the individual and their physiology and history. It could happen in a week it could take months/years.

** is there any other legal medication (or OTC) that would work Proven .. for withdrawals in a similar way that suboxone does? Other than Imodium bc One must say it actually does help a lot with symptoms over all. Yes. In the UK there are many things you can get otc that will help (promethazine, immodium, diphenhydramine, codeine....among others) and many more on script. If you send a message to the user neversickanymore he has a great list of meds for opiate wd.

- is the ratio $1/mg consistent ?

- does anyone know If New York has changed laws that it makes it almost impossible to acquire from a dr now???

- has anyone used any antidepressants that were able to help them with this battle She has everyday bc it just doesn't ever seem to stop, the cravings.... ?Citalopram seems to be helping me but it's early days. Naltrexone is also beneficial for very many people although it's not an anti-depressant.
Click to expand...

You mighyt get a better response in north american drug discussion or by breaking up those questions in to different threads in different areas but I will try to answer. I'm not from the US so can only offer limited help. Maybe a mod will help move stuff in to the appropriate place.

There's lots of good people here than can help you out though, stick around and have a read:)
 
Oh, and you don't need to speak in the third person here. It's fine to admit that it's you with the problem and does not incriminate you any more than pretending it's someone else or writing SWIM (not allowed here) or whatever.:)
 
Hahahahaaa, that's funny to me. Not really...it's more painful than anything.

I decided that I could return to recreational use of heroin a few months ago. Just on Fridays. No biggie! I could do it.

Cue an ever-growing tolerance and the effects of only having addicts and dealers as friends. Heroin became my life again in no time
 
I buy one or two eightballs a month to share with my band and use for making music. We will all be using it for 2-3 days and then Ill be sober till the next weekend or next eightball.


Besides this Ill sometimes buy a gram or two of heroin with it for the same purpose.. I used to be pretty heavily dependent on ampetamines / opiates daily.... but I quit heroin in 2007 with suboxone (only started using on/off again since about 7 months ago) ... adderall Ive been taking since I was 10, meth off and on since i was 17 and now i'm 28.

Mostly I go sober because it makes using the drugs so much better.... I know that the longer I go sober, the more kickass high when i return
 
An addict can't use occasionally and maintain any sort of control. Using just once is a relapse and the descent back into full active addiction will begin. Using here and there will prolong PAWS.
 
This is basically true.....^ ..... but i am much more careful with heroin cause i know its a dead end street.... the WDs are so horrid , i know thers a bunch of drug users who have a system or ,imits they place on themselves to regulate usage
 
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