Not doing well....

send yourself some positive energy and watch things that make you laugh. laughter can do amazing things for the body. Listen to your physical therapists and always always ALWAYS push yourself - safely of course, dont cause more damage. stay positive and never give up. the pt will be painful, stressful, discouraging, maddening, depressing, and successful. at first you will be hella frustrated that you cant make your body do the simplest things, but give it time.

my parents were in a nearly fatal head on collision by a drunk driver. my dad pretty much died several times. he broke close to every major bone in his body and was told there was a huge possibility he would never walk again. he went back to work 3 months after getting out of his rehab hospitilization. neither him nor my mom will ever be close to the same but they are living day to day. the nurses thought both my parents would die within the first 48 hours, and yet here they are today. if you have enough will power and determination, you can make your body do incredible things.

i know that staying positive in a hospital or rehabilitation center is almost impossible to do. try finding hobbies like things to do with your hands, crosswords, word searches, activity books - a good way to stimulate and work your brain, read, meditate and do some real self exploration, look at beautiful photography/art. make a graditude list and put positive motivating sayings close by where you can read them daily. put inspiring/breath taking pictures around your room - so you can appreciate some beauty. maybe take an internal look at why you were using drugs in the first place. maybe take a look at the twelve steps philosophy or take a look at groups like SMART recovery or my personal interest LifeRing. Maybe take some time to work on your spiritual connection. religion? guidance? community? meditation? anything that interests you. spituality can help in the darkest of times.

make a list of the hobbies you wanna try once your farther along in your recovery, with varying degrees of difficulty. like get back hand eye cordination by beatting black ops, find one activity you can do while relaxing like knitting, drawing, needle work, wood work, wire jewlery & wire/metal working, scrapbooking, writing etc. take a daily walk around your block without getting too tired. get yourself in a pool like at PT or join the Y. do a brisk walk around the neighborhood without getting too tired. work up to being able to take an aquatic arobice class or something of the like - water is less stressful and resistant on your joints, start jogging, work up to running. then move to more physical activities like biking, hiking, or something outdoors you enjoy or find interesting. try new activities, become a different, happy, content person, who faces their fears, and can handle bad situations.

stay positive and confident. you will get there. :)
 
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I suppose I see what you're saying. Personally, I remember that weed helped a lot of my friends through their oxy addiction, but I see how it could it differ from person to person. Sorry if I offended anyone or the OP. I would feel bad if I suggested anything harmful to an addict or a recovering addict.

I sorta agree because ive seen people NOT use Oxy for a while and kinda "maintain" using weed..but thats not "recovery"...if the argument is that weed is safer than oxy- i totally agree but in the context of "recovery" ..you cant get high..you just cant...
 
I've got to disagree with you there piebald. I've mentioned my reasoning in another thread, but in brief: black and white reasoning can, for some people, be very counter-productive when it comes to recovery. If the eventual goal is for a poly-drug user to be clean off of everything, then there's nothing necessarily wrong with tackling the big addictions one at a time. While I don't agree that it's necessarily a panacea, cannabis is pretty benign, and can be relatively easy to quit should the person want to.

Absolutism doesn't generally help, although if it worked for you then great! That doesn't mean that it will necessarily work for others though.

@uno: Why would that be helpful? His tolerance was almost certainly different than anyone else's, purity is always an unknown, and other situational things may have led to the original overdose. It's not really relevant.
 
I sorta agree because ive seen people NOT use Oxy for a while and kinda "maintain" using weed..but thats not "recovery"...if the argument is that weed is safer than oxy- i totally agree but in the context of "recovery" ..you cant get high..you just cant...

If that's what recovery is for you then that's fine but experiencing a high is not limited to drugs; everybody experiences all sorts of emotional states triggered by external factors and get attached to them. It can come from a drug or it can come from a pretty lady smiling at you from across the table. If you're not attached to either experience then it doesn't control you.
 
ok heres what i think..im not trying to piss anyone of nor come of as an "absolutist" hahaha" I just think there are TWO parts to my addiction i guess: there is the actual Practice, the use, the dependency the VERB part of it..and there is the other part..THE origin of the addiction, the part of you that drives you to do drugs..So in my experience i did alot of bad shit..dellt with the behavior stopped the bad stuff and kicked it down one rung of the ladder..but what i realized was i used to come home and get wicked high on tons of shit...now i come home and get sorta high..then it went to .i come home and get a little drunk..but the real issue was adressing why i needed to use and fixing that..that was hard..because i went from hard stuff all the way down the ladder..but i was still, in essence, repeating the SAME behavior..i needed something...to make me feel..somehow....again its not black and white and everyone is totally different and im just expressing my opinion and my experience...its easier to address the "practice" part of drug use" and you can turn to any number of things to filll that space..and thats what i was doing..there was a space..i used to to fill it with heavy shit, then lighter shit, then booze, then i finally was like "why do i need to use?" and you know what? I have NO FUCKIN CLUE! Trust me in not preaching, i would just be cautious about substituting one thing for another, cause it really, really doesn't change much except you'll save money and not be so fucked up
 
my ex-husband quit oxys and started smoking pot-when he was high on oxy's he geeked out in front the computer all night and didn't talk, downloaded music- quit oxys and started smoking pot- he geeked out in front of the computer all night and didn't talk downloaded music...this is just my observation..yeah he was safer and saved some money but the result was the same and that emptiness was still being filled with a substance and reality was being ignored and he was still relying on a substance..im not judging..i did it too for fucks sake...but does anyone see my point? a drug is a drug is a drug and you DEF need to step down slowly and smoke some pot, fuck yeah..but don't ignore the real issue..whatever the fuck that may be...if someone can fill me in id appreciate it
 
Yeah I agree with that I think it's the same principle if somebody needs oxy or needs weed everyday; even if the consequences of smoking weed may seem less severe. I meant more that just because somebody smokes a lot of weed or uses something else often doesn't mean they are dependent on it. If they are perfectly fine without it but just choose to use it for whatever reason then I wouldn't consider that a problem just a preference or choice.
 
Yeah I agree with that I think it's the same principle if somebody needs oxy or needs weed everyday; even if the consequences of smoking weed may seem less severe. I meant more that just because somebody smokes a lot of weed or uses something else often doesn't mean they are dependent on it. If they are perfectly fine without it but just choose to use it for whatever reason then I wouldn't consider that a problem just a preference or choice.
I feel you..i know what your saying....THERE IS a distinction between using and being dependent....pot is DEF better than most other shit and if its gonna help you get off the other shit then by all means..i wish i were the type of person who could do that but i just cant-it turns into full blown abuse-so all i know is what i went thru- but hey i went from Oxys on down the ladder and now im a netflix addict..i cant stop
 
Badfish, Piebald, Dave, OverDone, Legerity--this is such a vital conversation about a complex issue that so many people on TDS are grappling with. I know it is a conversation that I am very interested in, and I wonder if there is a whole thread about this already or, if not, it would be beneficial to start one?
I am really appreciating each of your contributions and think a whole thread for this would be awesome.
 
is an addict always going to need something to be addcited too? im off all the drugs but im literally addicted to friggin nextflix and running....no joke..So in theory, Im still indulging that addict part of me..ive just substituted the bad habits for more acceptable ones,I don't think ive SOLVED, or even been able to ,identify the real cause of my addictive behavior, Ive just been swaping one behavior for another, granted running and watching movies seem totally normal but i KNOW the same drive i had when i was a drug addict is STILL very active and dynamic and i just pacify it with less destructive behaviors- i freak out if i cant run and i can feel the part of me that made me junkie is still here, I feel like I'm merely re-directing it instead of getting rid of it...but ive given up at this point and just decided to just find novel and non lethal things to get addicted too. fuck it. maybe its just who i am..and thats that
 
addictive personalities are much more common than what we know about. take your favorite food, your favorite tv show, your favorite actor/actress for example. we eat our fav foods because we like 'em. we watch our fav shows & performers because we like em. we use our fav mind-altering substance because we like em. moderation is key. we don't eat our fav meal everyday, nor do we watch our fav shows everyday. balance & a happy medium can go a long way.
 
ummmm i must be way fucked up then cause i cant moderate or control my addiction drive..i see your point and agree with your ideas about balance and moderation but FUCK, thats hard for me! i don't have the luxury of being able to moderate if i were around drugs-the option of just doing a little or just doing stuff one time just doesn't exist for me (NOT implying its the same for everyone..dont want to piss anyone off) the ONLY way i got clean was to say "i have no control over this thing" and when i admitted i was just totally a fucking loser and i had no control..thats when i got help and got clean....we do eat our favorite foods because we like em, but enjoying a certain food or liking an actor doesn't even come CLOSE to addiction....balance is def important and i think its easier said then done for me. i don't do drugs anymore but its like im just keeping a wolf at bay all day everyday....its alot of work and i hope someday i don't have to be so fucking careful and vigilant..i hope someone else understands cause now i feel like im totally whacked
 
Hehe I don't think you're whacked; stopping all drug use is a logical approach and is probably safest. There's research that supports moderating but there's also research that shows abstaining is more effective. So the research is kind of useless it really depends what works for you.

I'm fascinated by everything about addiction and don't really have sobriety as a long-term goal for myself so I actually kind of enjoy learning about the entire process as I go through various pattern of use. I could just be crazy though who knows. If your goal is to live a more peaceful life without huge ups and downs then it makes perfect sense to just do other things that bring you pleasure. Certainly doesn't mean you are a loser with no control
 
i know but the terms "moderation and balalnce" are flung around as advice..if your NOT an addict that is certainly a great mantra..but once i crossed that line i realized putting that into practice was impossible....There is NO way i could use one night and not be thinking about getting more the next day. ..and the idea that an addict can use again in moderation sounds really inviting but for me its not possible i guess i feel kinda feel weird cause i have to go NA, i have to actually plan my life so that i wont be around drugs..i have to be really careful and its a huge fucking effort and it sucks but its my fault.
I just read a thread where some kid burned himself to try to get opiates at the hospital and most of the responses were "thats insane-ur twisted..etc" and i was like "yeah ive been there done that-many times-no shocker"-and then i think..am i totally fucked? No one else responded that way......ugghhhhh
 
If you know for yourself what you can or can't do then that's great. If you know you will get high every day and that is what you want to avoid then there is no need to try and find out. Sure it does take effort to change an entire lifestyle but that just shows you are determined not there is something wrong with you. I spent a lot of time in AA/NA and many people attend meetings it's not uncommon at all. If it's helpful for you then go for it :)
 
Moderation and balance work best if applied as prevention to addiction. :D

One can only find one's edge by approaching it, but then it's all to easy to fall over. I just don't think that every addict can be tarred with the same brush is all. Many need to abstain from all things to keep from falling back into addiction; others can be clean off their drug of addiction but still indulge in other drugs responsibly. Granted, the latter is more rare, but it's not impossible nor necessarily less legitimate than the former. That's all I'm saying. Many addicts either are or become 'all or nothing' people, but not all of them are.

I feel a lot better having had this discussion :)
 
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