I have heard some people say their addiction is in the past. They move on. That is where I would like to be. But maybe it is a chronic disease. Yeah man I spoke with a couple of therapists but it doesn't seem to help. Maybe I am just screwed. Thanks for reaching out
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What do your cravings feel like?
- Thread starter deuce85
- Start date
I have heard some people say their addiction is in the past. They move on. That is where I would like to be. But maybe it is a chronic disease. Yeah man I spoke with a couple of therapists but it doesn't seem to help. Maybe I am just screwed. Thanks for reaching out
thelung
Bluelighter
opiates are my drug of choice but i get cravings for crack that just wont go away sometimes. i dont get cravings for any other drugs (including opiates, as im on MMT) except for crack. i can usually get through them but somtimes i break down and succumb to the craving. i guess im a work in progress...
Captain.Heroin
Bluelight Crew
Maybe there's something missing from your life? Do you have a relationship? Job/school? Activities/hobbies/sports?
manboychef
Bluelighter
The obsession will never fully leave you. How you deal with it changes as you progress in sobriety. I like to garden. It takes my thoughts and makes them a little more lighthearted. It also eats up my focus so I don't obsess over my usual things I obsess about. I have OCD.
I haven't really had a craving in two years, and I'm extremely grateful, but when I'm super stressed or have extreme anxiety I sometimes wish that I could use something to disconnect from reality and have a break. I've gotten sober previously and learned that trying to do that just once opens the floodgates, so I just have to push through.
I don't know what you were addicted to OP, but if it was booze or opiates and you get regular cravings you may want to consider getting the Vivitrol shot for a while. I got it for 8 months after getting out of rehab and I swear it reset my brain back to pre-using days. I haven't had a legitimate craving for the last two years. The previous time I got sober I managed to stay sober off everything for two years, but the cravings were horrible and I white knuckles it the whole time. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of posts of the Internet regarding longer term Vivitrol use, but I have spoken to other addicts who have had a similar experience with it, who say they no longer get cravings either.
I don't know what you were addicted to OP, but if it was booze or opiates and you get regular cravings you may want to consider getting the Vivitrol shot for a while. I got it for 8 months after getting out of rehab and I swear it reset my brain back to pre-using days. I haven't had a legitimate craving for the last two years. The previous time I got sober I managed to stay sober off everything for two years, but the cravings were horrible and I white knuckles it the whole time. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of posts of the Internet regarding longer term Vivitrol use, but I have spoken to other addicts who have had a similar experience with it, who say they no longer get cravings either.
If I don't have nothing to do and I am feeling cravings I do a something I call simple situation check. It is something I learned in army and it is intended for those moments when you are all alone behind enemy lines trying to crawl back or get some shit done while in there. I have adapted it to better suit opiate cravings etc. anxious civilian moments so you don't have to check your surroundings for immediate threats or similar as the threats are coming from inside you.
The reason why it works is that it breaks your train of thought. Nothing magic in it.
1. Set up an alarm clock for five to thirty min depending how grave your cravings are
2. When it rings, check if your heart is beating and you are breathing
3. If your heart beats and you are breathing you are good to go
4. Set up the alarm again
The reason why it works is that it breaks your train of thought. Nothing magic in it.
1. Set up an alarm clock for five to thirty min depending how grave your cravings are
2. When it rings, check if your heart is beating and you are breathing
3. If your heart beats and you are breathing you are good to go
4. Set up the alarm again
mrsnowygrainius
Bluelighter
cravings to get high feel like something is hijacking my brain. I don't really get strong cravings to use dope anymore because Ive been on subs for awhile now, but when i get cravings to smoke hard its like this all consuming thought just takes over, it is the only thing on my mind, literally one thought dominating and thats getting high.... it won't stop until you actually go and get high.
manboychef
Bluelighter
I like that MrRoot. I am going to try it.
CfZrx
Bluelighter
This sounds right. I would add in the trigger of illness, always makes me consider picking up a few morphines to rise above the fever and tiredness. The good news is I just got over having a flu and I didn't buy pills, and (drumroll please) I didn't abuse the shit out of OTC cold medicine, thank god. Other than dealing with the hard times, sometimes when I am feeling great I ponder a shot of some very good H and how euphoric I would feel. I play the tape through to the next couple days when I feel heavy and tired and maybe snap at my gf or kill a fly (normally I would help the little guy outside). ----p.s. Mr Root, I like your advice above
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Burnt Offerings
Bluelight Crew
A lot of times for me cravings will be triggered by certain places. Like I'll be driving down a road I used to go down to cop and I'll feel the urge to use, etc.
simco
Bluelight Crew
what BurntOfferings just said ^^
those cravings kick me in the guts so fuckin hard.
those cravings kick me in the guts so fuckin hard.
Captain.Heroin
Bluelight Crew
It's always internal emotions/panic/flashbacks for me. Only rarely do external cues trigger me.
cj
Bluelight Crew
Those are the worst cravings for me. Those and dreams where I am about to get high on heroin then wake up right before I get too.
Lately my cravings have been more about nostalgia. I haven't used heroin in 10 months and while my life has improved in certain ways I miss the simplicity of having a heroin addiction. As long as I had heroin then everything was perfect in my life. Now I have all these other things to worry about. My credit score, being unemployed, being depressed, being lazy ect. I haven't been able to find the motivation to work since I got clean and that is taking a toll on my psyche as well as my relationship with my parents. I had really thought that I had my cravings under control but lately I have been really struggling with the urge to get back on heroin.
simco
Bluelight Crew
@cj, your last post gave me chills. I'm at about 7 weeks clean at this point, so 10 months is just a fantasy for me. But already I'm getting scared that the weight of day-to-day life is going to drag me back in. That was why I started in the first place, and I think now I'm only more damaged than I was before. Be strong, man.
Burnt Offerings
Bluelight Crew
It's interesting that you say this. Even when I was shooting dope and had dope around often, I would get depressed. I'd be high and depressed, there gets a point where drugs don't even make you feel mentally better (it was that way for me anyway). Because it's just such an empty life, objectively...I'd ask myself "why am I dedicating so much time to injecting myself with this gunk? what am I contributing to ANYONE?!" Those thoughts would bum me out. Also my deteriorating relationships with other people. It's difficult to describe being simultaneously high and sad but then again it's also difficult to explain how you could be high on dope & really angry at the same time, and "opiate rage" was something I experienced regularly as well (although I'd suppress that emotion because no one likes to be around someone who's bitchy on drugs)
simco
Bluelight Crew
when i was using hardest, up until i got on subs a couple months ago, i definitely reached a point where i could still get high, but the high didn't obliterate the depression. it made me care about the depression a little less. but i describes those highs as "thin", dunno why i used that word but it seemed right.
by that point, the only part of my habit that still got me off was the ritualistic stuff. copping. weighing a dose. prepping a shot, etc. the highs got thinner and thinner, but that ritual kept its nasty halo.
by that point, the only part of my habit that still got me off was the ritualistic stuff. copping. weighing a dose. prepping a shot, etc. the highs got thinner and thinner, but that ritual kept its nasty halo.
manboychef
Bluelighter
I had an intense craving this morning. For some reason I just really wanted a glass of wine. I could literally smell and taste it in my nose and throat. I have been stressed out the past two days, so that might have led to it. I ended up just watering my garden instead.
simco
Bluelight Crew
excellent work, chef!
manboychef
Bluelighter
Thank you. I find that if I can distract myself for a few minutes they pass rather quick. It was just strange how intensely I smelt it in my nose, and tasted it in my throat.