User Name Here
Bluelight Crew
You will always be an addict, even if you are not currently using. It's what you are though (not trying to be a downer, just saying).
-
The Dark Side 💕 Welcome Guest 💕
Posting Rules Bluelight Rules Notable Threads Urgent Hotlines Bereavement Mindfulness Suicide Support Anger Management -
TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android
How long can one be sober to be consider not a addict??
- Thread starter shahab6
- Start date
hyroller
Bluelighter
The trouble is, people think their addictions define them largely or entirely.
When in fact, they do not.
When in fact, they do not.
I agree to this to a certain extent.
I beleive everyone in this world is addicted to something. Not always drugs though.
I dont beleive you will always be addicted to drugs or always have cravings for drugs. But I do beleive you will always be addicted to something.
Ive got a little over 2 years clean from heroin and dont have any urges to use. I dont fight it, or battle it in any way. But thats not saying im not adidicted to something else. Seems like once you overcome one addiction another pops up weather it be, gambling, sex, shopping ect ect.
This is my opinion
User Name Here
Bluelight Crew
Oh, I don't mean people will always be physically and mentally addicted. It's hard to explain but I mean that once you are an addict and go through the motions, you will always be an addict, even if you are no longer using drugs or alcohol anymore (or whatever it is you may be addicted to). Your personality is that of an addict. It can even be in your genes (I have gambling and alcohol addictions throughout my family but never picked up either, however, I believe I inherited an unusually addictive personality).
It's wonderful to hear that you are over your heroin problem. It's hard for people to make it as far as you have, so give yourself a pat on the back. You are on of the few survivors and this should never be forgotten.
I know that as far as I go, I STILL crave heroin and oxycontin, probably every few weeks or so, even after being sober for almost two years. It will randomly pop into my head and I will think about it for a few minutes; how nice it would be to do it again... Then I think about how wonderful life is now and how dreadful it was "back then." I liken the cravings to how I feel about smoking. I quit a month ago on Monday and I find myself craving them quite often, but they only cross my mind for a minute or two before I move on with things. I can actually remind myself that I don't need them as badly as I thought...
I used to make a six hour drive from the University of Mississippi to my hometown just to pick up my drugs so I could function. I slowly lost everything in the process... especially financial stability and my family's trust. It has taken me forever to move on but I'm doing it and every day is a new chance at life as far as I can tell. I literally wake up every single morning and think about how beautiful everything is after being so close to death. At one point I though I would die and I didn't even care, but after I got sober I realized how amazing life can really be.
I didn't mean to go off on a personal tangent but it feels good to get it out, you know? Anyway, congratulations on your sobriety! It is wonderful to hear of another person's success.
In my opinion, once you have been an addict you are an addict your whole life. But, that doesn't mean you can't use very occasionally and still maintain your life. I have been using opiates occasionally (less than once a month) for quite a while now. I definately realize that its kind of like playing russian roullette, but it works for some people
B9
Bluelight Crew
An addict is someone who uses drugs due to a physical/psychological need. Once you pass that stage you aren't addicted anymore therefore you're not an addict - relapse is easier once you have a taste for it tho.
To me it makes as much sense to say once a mountaineeer always a mountaineeer as it does to say once an addict always an addict.
To me it makes as much sense to say once a mountaineeer always a mountaineeer as it does to say once an addict always an addict.
It disgusts me honestly to see people let their addictions define them so easily. Example: Well im a morphine addict Me: Well do you do anything else? Yes im married, have 2 wonderful kids, have a job and i play hockey on weekends Me: Then why the fuck did you say morphine addict first?
Now ive been through the course of my years a raging alcoholic, a opiate addict, im physically dependant on benzos and ive used just about everything else. But i don't define myself as a addict because thats just bullshit put down through years of the "I am powerless over my addiction to such and such". I am alot more then just a addict.
Now ive been through the course of my years a raging alcoholic, a opiate addict, im physically dependant on benzos and ive used just about everything else. But i don't define myself as a addict because thats just bullshit put down through years of the "I am powerless over my addiction to such and such". I am alot more then just a addict.
personally i think people who go around calling themselves "recovering addicts" after 10 years sober get some kind of ego boost out of it. they need to identify themselves as a "recovering addict" because it makes them feel special or different from other people (sort of similar to what paranoid android was saying about people identifying themselves as addicts, people do the same thing when it comes to identifying themselves as recovering addicts). but on what bases can we say they are still recovering and not recovered? if they say "well i could relapse any time", it ignores the fact that any human being, even one who has never used drugs before, could become addicted to drugs at any time. after 10 years sober, the chances they will relapse at any time, are equal to or less than the chances a "normal person" will become addicted to drugs. the long term recovering addict mentality just reinforces the idea that there is some fundamental difference between addicts and non addicts and ignores the reality that just about all people are susceptible to addiction given the right circumstances.
^^^ I agree with you there on some points. However i don't think everyone can become a addict or atleast not based on what ive seen. How do you explain that i can take hit after hit of crack in the run of a night and unlike a few of my friends not go running to the dealers house the next day? Or on the reverse side see someone take a shot of morphine or dilaudid and have no such compulsion like me to go do it again?
Ive been infuriated at times by non addict friends/dealers who insist on making chit chat while all i want is my damn pills. Ive had to cut off people and say listen may i really need that dilaudid, kadian, esslon, MScontin now man im fucked up. They always look puzzled because they don't understand the need for it that i have.
Though i guess you could argue with opiate addiction that since it takes awile to develop (usually) that one shot or popping one pill isint going to create a addiction.
Ive been infuriated at times by non addict friends/dealers who insist on making chit chat while all i want is my damn pills. Ive had to cut off people and say listen may i really need that dilaudid, kadian, esslon, MScontin now man im fucked up. They always look puzzled because they don't understand the need for it that i have.
Though i guess you could argue with opiate addiction that since it takes awile to develop (usually) that one shot or popping one pill isint going to create a addiction.