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June Getting/Staying Clean/Sober Thread v. Sober Summer Fun!

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One good thing I have noticed with this long taper is my appetite has picked up. I lost a good bit of weight 30/35 lbs when I was heavily using. I've gained about 10 pounds back since April. Which is more than welcomed. Not to mention not spending nearly as much money on opiates. Which is wonderful as well.

I am still tapering and stretching out only dosing after dinner. Obviously with my taper I am not really experiencing any WD symptoms except in the late afternoon the runny nose will start in. Plan on jumping off early next week. I am adamant on being successful this time around as my CT go back in March or April was not successful. Mornings are kind of rough getting up and moving as I would normally dose upon awaking. Energy drinks or a latte help with that. I know some people swear caffeine makes it worse but everyone is different.
 
My goal for summer is to complete the hep treatment and get back into shape. Working out has been off the table due to the symptoms of the hep c.

Good luck to all.
 
manboychef said:
My goal for summer is to complete the hep treatment and get back into shape. Working out has been off the table due to the symptoms of the hep c.

Good luck to all.
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Hope you get the opportunity to exercise again soon. Has given me a nice energy boost the last couple days. Just easing back into it.
 
Moving into the Zen Center of Los Angeles, which is gonna be awesome. Living in Zen Buddhist temple is gonna be sooooo cool.

Selling my car and buying a nice bicycle has been amazing. It is much fun to bike, I forgot how much I love it. I used to BMX race and do long distance road competitions as a teenager, so it is kinda lik meeting your first love again after more than a decade. Plus I am getting in great shape, as LA is huge so it requires many, many miles. I have had the bike for about a month, and have already put more than 800 miles on it. Really need to do some tune up work on it, poor thing has gotten kinda beat up. I need to be nicer, more gentle, kinder when I am riding her ;)

I would also like to hang with CH, but that is totally up to him :D ;)

I am also getting really into Refuge Recovery and more so Against the Stream. What a fucking awesome organization, an amazing alternative to the whole 12 Step paradigm and neat monopoly on recovery oriented meetings. I really need to make a sticky for ATS. I have so many project for SL though, it will probably take some time. First I need to so quite a bit of work on my mindfully based stress reduction resource sticky.
 
What do you people think about going into inpatient rehab after you have already quitted and are feeling quite well?

I get today an opportunity to enter rehab within two weeks and I am doubting if it would do me any good as most of the people are going there straight from using the same day they enter.

Of course there are group support and meeting psychiatrist specialized into addiction etc. support so those would do good.
 
MrRoot said:
What do you people think about going into inpatient rehab after you have already quitted and are feeling quite well?

I get today an opportunity to enter rehab within two weeks and I am doubting if it would do me any good as most of the people are going there straight from using the same day they enter.

Of course there are group support and meeting psychiatrist specialized into addiction etc. support so those would do good.
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It really depends on the type of rehab, length of stay, and what works for you. If I were in your shoes I would look for something along the lines of aftercare such as outpatient rehab, or therapy. Only you can decide what would work best for you though.

One thing to think about is that you have an opportunity to help other addicts that are just starting out. It is a hard time and having a person that has already quit and is working on their recovery might be helpful for someone...from an altruistic standpoint.
 
Totally depends, so without my knowing anything about the place in question take this with a grain of salt: all of the inpatient rehabs I experienced were really overbearingly negative experiences except one, so that is 1/6. Those first five did much more to harm than help, other than perhaps getting me not to use for X amount of time. So unless you are worried about using in the very near future, I would say you would almost certainly better off with a quality outpatient program than quality inpatient program. Inpatient programs are more for people in crisis mode. Are you in crisis mode? If you are just trying to get apart from society for a while, go on a meditation retreat for a week somewhere, you will find it as a beginner even much more benefitial.
 
toothpastedog said:
Totally depends, so without my knowing anything about the place in question take this with a grain of salt: all of the inpatient rehabs I experienced were really overbearingly negative experiences except one, so that is 1/6. Those first five did much more to harm than help, other than perhaps getting me not to use for X amount of time. So unless you are worried about using in the very near future, I would say you would almost certainly better off with a quality outpatient program than quality inpatient program. Inpatient programs are more for people in crisis mode. Are you in crisis mode? If you are just trying to get apart from society for a while, go on a meditation retreat for a week somewhere, you will find it as a beginner even much more benefitial.
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This was exactly what I was thinking! I just couldn't express the thought. It is important to do a pretty thorough self evaluation before doing something as drastic as going inpatient.
 
TPD and manboychef, I was thinking about the same that it is quite dramatic measure for me as I don't even have hard cravings or such. I'll get an info package posted and thus get more info soon than just an phone call from that place's secretary. Idk if this is some kind of mess up or if it was considered before I quitted my tapering early on as my original taper schedule would have ended at the same time as this rehab starts.

I would guess it is good in terms of what rehab facilities can be as it is under supervision by local university hospital and resides within mental ward area of that hospital but as a separate housing. Also it doesn't cost me at all as it is covered by our national healthcare. Length of stay depends on what a patient needs and is discussed about with Dr. when entering the facility and is 30 days at most. It is just 25km from my place so I can just drive away if I don't like staying there at all.

I guess I'll give my primary Dr. a call tomorrow as I am still pondering whether or not I need is rehab and if it helps me at all.

Main problem I guess is that there isn't any real outpatient programs except maintenance therapies for which I don't want to participate or won't even qualify for. All I can get is that if I enter in a outpatient program I would have to drive every morning to get my normal bi-polar drugs taken while supervision while having a 5min chat with a nurse.

I am trying to get my psychiatrist and mental nurse visits back but since I have been using too lately they won't yet take me back to normal psychic policlinic patient since I currently belong under drug psychiatric policlinic which sucks as I don't get real visits for psychiatrist or even a nurse since there are others who need those visits more.

TPD, next weekend is a retreat weekend for me but instead of meditation it is a Warhammer 40K tournament :P

I have been thinking about going to a retreat of silence which are being held here. I am not sure if it is worldwide thing but it is organized by church but you don't have to belong into church or believe like a christian and it consists of being as silent as possible during the retreat.
 
Well Chef, great minds do think alike now don't they :)

Nice! Hope you enjoy your tournament my sexy Finnish friend :D

Mindfulness/vipassana or Buddhist retreats are also silent in nature, so I imagine in some ways they will be similar. What kind of church is it? If you are familiar with the religion and like it then it might be a nice, healthy activity for you to integrate into your journey as you may still be a tad vulnerable since having sped up the end of your taper.

Finding yourself a good psychiatrist and psychologist or other licensed therapist would be probably better for you given the circumstances than any inpatient program, certainly better than a outpatient drug centered program.
 
It is held by protestantic church which is the biggest religion here and pretty much state church. I am familiar with it as both my parents worked for it although I grew up as an atheist and my brother is a Zen Buddhist :)

I know there won't be pretty much any religious influence as it is "marketed" for people with any kind of beliefs or those without beliefs and when they say that they always mean that it suits for people woth other views too.

I've been thinking about Buddhism retreats too as I do some meditation in my martial art training and on my own too and would like to expand the techniques and other insight. It is something I have yearned for years but couldn't been able to grab myself up into until lately.
 
Nice, well maybe you can try this out if it isn't too costly while you find yourself something more along the lines of a vipassana retreat in your part of the world. I am sure you could easily find one. Post about any questions you have in the MBSR Resource sticky and when you do choose and experience one, you can share about it there too. It would be nice to hear about retreats outside of N.America and S.E. and E. Asia, especially from a non-American, non-Buddhist perspective. Especially as far as I am concerned I mean. That would be so kind of you :)

It would be a great thing to do this summer, to find yourself a weekend retreat or a short 6-10 day retreat. Beware Goenka retreats, they are great, just super strenuous, kind of like many in the traditional Zen schools. Rigorous is good, it just may make it a little more challanging than necessary for a first timer.

Keep in mind the concept of dana, or the Buddhist idea of dharma scholarship. Kind of like you pay what you can kind of thing. The vast majority of vipassana/Buddhist places have some form of scholarship programs avaliable, so cost can be pretty darn reasonable, even for a 10 day or longer retreat.
 
Talked with my Dr. about this rehab and it was a "safety measurement" if I couldn't taper or quit and she just didn't remember to tell them that I don't need it. Instead of going to inpatient rehab I'll start going to a psychiatric policlinic in a nearest city once a week as they have best double diagnosis abilities available here.
 
That sounds a lot more reasonable MrRoot.

I think I could be silent for a week. I am a bit verbose at times, even downright loquacious. It might help me to think a little deeper about my feelings.
 
I climbed the side of a steep hill side in the Santa Monica Mountains, with my bare hands. It was awesome. Then I slided and crab walked my way down.

I'm very sunburned and my thighs ache something fierce but otherwise I am great :)
 
I can totally picture that true CH :)

I love biking because that is what it feels like. Ever go hiking in those mountains out closer to Port Hueneme and the Naval stuff over there?
 
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