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April getting/staying sober thread v. April showers

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Anyone have some advice for handling cravings after the acute WD's are over. Every time I've tried getting clean, I end up using after the acute period is over and I'm feeling pretty good that's when I get massive cravings and/or anxiety. I usually justify it due to my legitimate back pain issues. Problem is I can't take pain meds as Rx'd. I'm done this time, I'm just worried about next week when I'm feeling better?
 
Mocmoc said:
Anyone have some advice for handling cravings after the acute WD's are over.
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Hi Mocmoc, nice to see you back.

The SMART recovery handbook has good information about dealing with thoughts, feeling and emotions, as well as cravings, urges and impulses.

They basically endorse a 4 point program of

1) Building and maintaining motivation
2) Coping with urges
3) Managing thoughts, feelings and behaviors
4) Leading a balanced lifestyle (balance between momentary and enduring satisfactions)

I think that what we are focused on doing here is a difficult task.

But the SMART program at least appears to have some good "rational-emotive behavioral therapy" type techniques that might be able to be used in changing how we think.

There is obviously no easy answer, but I find SMART to at least attempt to offer some techniques that are geared towards moving us in the right direction.

I find that I am able to build motivation, but have a hard time maintaining it.
Also, I can wait a craving out for some time, but then it always seems that I "cave," which just shows that I have some more work to do.

I got my taper down quite a bit, I have failed very recently to maintain it, but I haven't given up.
Quitting is the only acceptable option and that is what I am going to do.

I can also highly recommend a book by the name of The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal Ph.D.

It is very detailed and based on the latest research in the psychology of "self control." There are many, many behaviors available that are seemingly counterintuitive to the goal of self control. Like how guilt over "slipping," results in the urge to return to using (as well as techniques to sidestep such problematic pitfalls).

Things like daily meditation of focusing on the breath (to bring us back to what we are doing now, as well as to teach / reinforce the formation of new habits), regular exercise (one of the biggest will power boosters), or, perhaps spending a day making such small changes as saying "yes," instead of "yeah," not swearing, or stirring your coffee with your left hand (training the brain to "recognize what it is that you are about to do before you do it, and then choosing the more difficult thing").

All of these practices strengthen and train the neocortex to function better, just like a muscle. I don't think it takes a lot to do this for normal people, as due to the preponderance of the neocortex' function in the brain, the brain overall is already biased towards doing the harder thing (like getting up off the couch and going for a walk).

Problem is that in the addicted brain of we "special people," the neocortex has become numbed by alcohol or drugs, causing it to try to function with "one hand tied behind its back," so to speak. This is why Rational Recovery doesn't even start teaching until a preliminary state of sobriety has been established.

Even after quitting, habitual pathways linger, which must be actively challenged when the urge to use arises, which is where it seems like you are at, at the present moment.

Sorry for the long ramble, check out the books, I think that they are a good logical starting point for what you are trying to accomplish. :)

-SF
 
SF thanks for the ramble, I appreciate the time it must have taken you to put that together. I'll definetly check out the books. I've done the twelve steps before, spent 60 days in inpatient rehab then 60 more in a sober living home for alcohol 9 yrs ago. I had five yrs of sobriety and they were great! Then came the slipped disc and all went downhill from there with the pain meds. I've switched doctors gotten pills from friends, dabbled in Poppy Seed Tea, gotten fresh and dried pods for Pod Tea, found a pain doctor that was ok with giving me more and more opiates and decided I had had enough when I was trying to find out how to get my hands on herion. The twelve steps worked for me for alcohol but I think I need a different strategy for opiates. Funny, I never really had cravings for alcohol and couldn't relate to others in rehab that had them. I can relate now!
 
Kicking off early tonight.. hope you are all having a great day/night!

another 24 down=D

good_night_my_friend_by_andrekosslick.jpg
 
@Mocmoc, When I'm having a craving I try to remind myself that the craving is going to pass regardless of wether or not I use, it isn't going to last forever and the more times you hold strong and don't give in the easier it will get to overcome them. Likewise, the more times you give in to the craving the stronger they will become and the more difficult it will be to resist the urge. If you're having a craving, it's been my experience that the worst thing to do is nothing. To just sit and be in your head while you're craving is dangerous, most times in the past that I have relapsed are times when I had a craving and allowed myself to be alone and think about whether or not to use. Often once I started considering using or not, I didn't know it but had already decided I was gonna do it. So nowadays, if I have a craving I immediately try to either find someone to talk to like one of my roommates or a friend, and if talking to another person isn't an option for whatever reason then I find something to occupy my mind be it homework, reading, a good movie, video games, working out/running, etc.


another 24 down. 331 days here.
 
@Space I would say that it helps with pain more than the meds I've been Rx'd, however it has some major drawbacks. It didn't really get me "loaded" but did mask the pain, I thought it was great cause I could focus on work, not really feel high and the pain was gone. The drawbacks included:
-Very expensive and time consuming to make.
-Made my arms go numb while I was sleeping, not just pins and needles but painfully numb if that makes sense.
-Couldn't control the dose, I was on the verge of OD three times.
-WD was awful, I stopped cold turkey and thought I would be ok cause I had a script for oxy. WD was he'll for probably 10 days even with the oxy.

My advice, don't EVER do it!!!!
 
Hi again guys. Hope you are well.

I've been on an upswing. Have not Iv'd anything in months now, and have used less than 4 mg of dilaudid orally this month so doing well on that end.

I switched doctors and I really like him and for some reason he makes me want to be healthy. I see him often outside the office, so it makes me want to try harder I guess. He wants me off all controlled substances and wants me to wean off my ambien.... Which scares me. Ambien helped me kick the narcotics. He's recommending trazodone, but I wanted to do more research. He's ordering my ambien for now, but wants me to switch soon. Anyone do well on another med for sleep even with a drug tolerance?
 
Hey rabbit.. congratulations on all the great accomplishments you have done!! nice work. What else have you tried to promote sleep? I was on benzos and other things for anxiety and sleep, what i found is that after a short time is that i felt much better off six hours natural sleep then I did of ten hours medicated sleep. I had almost no sleep for the longest time when I came off the benzos and opiates.. no sleep for almost two weeks and then 3-4 hours for about four months.. then the opiate receptors shut down and I was able to sleep for 8-10 hours finally. Now I still get better sleep after six hours of natural sleep than I ever did getting 10 to 12 using benzos or ambien. Just thought I would share my experience.. oh and I guess I use melatonin some of the time now and I only receive good things off it and no bad. I take three mgs about two hours before bed.
 
whitexrabbit said:
Hi again guys. Hope you are well.

I've been on an upswing. Have not Iv'd anything in months now, and have used less than 4 mg of dilaudid orally this month so doing well on that end.

I switched doctors and I really like him and for some reason he makes me want to be healthy. I see him often outside the office, so it makes me want to try harder I guess. He wants me off all controlled substances and wants me to wean off my ambien.... Which scares me. Ambien helped me kick the narcotics. He's recommending trazodone, but I wanted to do more research. He's ordering my ambien for now, but wants me to switch soon. Anyone do well on another med for sleep even with a drug tolerance?
Click to expand...

I think trazadone is great. When I was in detox(and a few days after)I was on trazadone and it really helped me. My fiancé is on it right now too. I'm trying to get Medicaid so I can get meds for depression and sleep and I think I'm gonna ask about getting trazadone. It kinda seemed like it would make my RLS act up but I'm not worried about that anymore.


31 days clean:) life is getting better and easier
 
@Oxy Ghost awesome job on 31 days. I'm on day 2. Feeling good, I'm glad I could stick to my taper, I've been tapering since Feb 4 with one hiccup at the end. I've got nothing left now and that should help. I tried jumping about a month ago and still had a script left. I made it 4 days and couldn't stop thinking about what I still had. Now I can't stop thinking that now I'm going to be a much better husband, son and boss now that I'm getting clean. I can't wait to live life with a clear head.
 
Even though I'm on methadone I've been learning how much harder it is to deal with emotions and hurtful things while not under the influence of heroin. I think i'm doing pretty well, but things are stinging alot more now.
 
^Ive had the same issue for years, outside of withdrawal it is the main reason I stayed on opioids.

congrats on clean time.
 
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