octSOBER - let's do this!

[Roger&Me]

Hey guys,

I'm not much of a darksider, but I remember this thread from past years and I thought it would be cool to do it again this year. For those of you who don't remember, the basic idea is that we can try to support each other to stay sober for the month of october (or more sober than usual, or really just implement any type of positive change in our lives related to our drug use and try to stick with it).

Here's the original post by ocean from the last thread:

The point of this thread will be to support each other in achieving sobriety.

This is entirely optional, and however long you would like to be clean for, is entirely up to you......this can be a day, a week, or the entire month.

The point is to go without your DOC(s) for however long you can, or lower your intake.


It would be best if we could start off with your story, a little introduction to you and your DOC......what you think is behind your addiction and what your goal is.
If you are choosing to lower your intake and not go for the gold of total sobriety, than explain that and where you are starting off. (Meaning if you are now drinking 24 beers a day and hope to be drinking 2 a day, say that. That is where you are starting off, and your goal.)

We are hoping that this thread can be one where we support each other and hold each others hands through the temptations that may pop up.

Please be aware of the health risks which can occur from rapidly reducing consumption of your DOC(s).
So please do not put your health in unnecessary risk to achieve something greater than what is realistically and safely possible.

In this thread, be open an honest and just try your best.
I will open this thread early to get the introductions going!


edit- Medications you are prescribed are not going to count against your abstinence.

edit- Also, let's try and maturely handle "Octsober's almost up" talk as the month progresses. I know the month ends with Halloween, and people know what they know about tolerances and such. But let's try and keep the dialogue about making progress toward making more progress, not making progress as some type of challenge with other goals. Posts of the nature "3 more days of Octsober, and then it's party time," or downplays of such a theme, will be seen as triggering material and will not be given much room for tolerance. "3 more days of Octsober, I'm so proud of myself..it's almost completed" is different.

so yeah, here goes my own introduction:

I think I really need a sober month right now. Over the past two years I've kicked opiate and benzo addictions (the latter being pretty serious, and a long struggle), and I've made a lot of progress in some ways but gotten worse in others. Firstly, I smoke (well, vaporize) an insane amount of weed, and its actually become quite a problem, and has contributed somewhat directly to my girlfriend of seven years leaving me recently. I've needed to stop for a long time, and have had multiple failed attempts, but when I abstain from cannabis I can't eat or sleep and I sweat like crazy... I get migraines, insane light sensitivity, etc. Its really not fun.. like I said, I've done opiate and benzo withdrawal and withdrawal from serious overuse of cannabis is right up there in terms of sucking. I've been smoking about 2-3g of high quality stuff per day for almost a decade now, and my body is just sooo dependent on it, its hard to even believe I can have such a hard time quitting such a "soft" drug, but I do and there it is.

Also lately my drinking has just gotten fucked up and alarming, to put it mildly. I wouldn't call myself an alcoholic but more of a binge drinker and I turn into a fucking asshole when I drink... not violent or anything like that, just cynical and bitter and dark. I probably have some things to be cynical about in my life right now, but wallowing in that shit is just terrible... I really don't want to be like that, so maybe if I can get my head together with a solid month of sobriety, I can get a handle on that bad habit too.

The real hard part for me is going to be the weed, though.... I'm going to be kinda ill for a good week before I start feeling better, I think. It really feels terrible to stay up all night sweating, can't eat anything, stomach is in knots, with relief being just a hit away. Feels eerily similar to a milder (but simultaneously more drawn out) opiate withdrawal, actually. But fuck it, I dont even care-- I'm just gonna do it, whenever I feel terrible and just want to go pick up a fresh sack, I'll come and post in this thread. If I can just make it 1 month then I feel like it will give me some perspective so I can reevaluate things, I just feel like I need this shit so badly I could seriously get all emo and cry.

But more than anything, I'm excited to be doing something positive and I hope some of you guys get into this with me. Just a month, nothing too intimidating, and it could sow the seeds for future success.

 

[hthr007]

That's a great idea!

 

[Roger&Me]

^Thanks!

Octsober day 1, not feeling incredible but I'm enthusiastic.

 

[hthr007]

Same. I'm craving my DOC really bad because I used A LOT this weekend, but I'm determined. If I can go this whole month without using, ill be so proud of myself.

We can do it

 

[stardust.hero]

Thanks Roger for taking charge of this, this is a great idea

 

[Futedute]

Damn, I missed this post, so OCTsober begins tomorrow. (For Ethanol Alcohol)

Have a few RC stims left (new in area and don't know anyone to score anything decent. Have to rely on AM-2201, AM2233, and AM-1220 blend, to replace good old THC
I can actually feel where the synthetic cannabinoids are binding to which parts of my brain in several places, making the experience 'synthetic', and robotic like, which erm..... it is
Well THC has over 60 'binoids after all.

Going now as a little off topic.
♥

 

[freehugs]

Its weed for me. I just need to take a break because I haven't in over a year. Gotta clear my mind to deal with this shit we call the education system. 1 week to start it off, idk how long I'll go after that.

OH and Roger, try melotonin for your restlessness

 

[Roger&Me]

So, end of day 1. Still sober rockin', lol

OH and Roger, try melotonin for your restlessness

Thanks for the tip, I'll pick some up and try it out tomorrow night.

I feel like its going smoother this time than all the other times I tried to quit. Maybe its just because I actually want to this time, or at least part of me really does, so the psychological trauma isn't much of an issue. Anyway, its still just the end of day 1 but its going okay so far.

 

[RobotRipping]

i'd really like to completely cut out my benzo use or at the very least get it under control. My other goal is to switch from poppy seed tea to kratom. Day 3 of no benzos and the anxiety has been bad but it comes and goes. Doesn't help that i'm also tapering my poppy seed tea so that i can switch to kratom easier. It just so happens my plan to get a handle on my drug/medication use coincides with octsober

IME cannabis is very easy to quit if you really don't want to smoke anymore and impossible to quit when you do, your psychological state plays a huge role in how you feel about it. One thing that always helped me out a lot was diphenhydramine, sorts out the stomach and the sleep issues for the most part.

 

[pastelcircus]

Day one of octsober, currently
5 months and 9 days clean, my pink cloud has definitely diminished in size, otherwise I'm pretty straight.

I talked to an incredibly attractive guy at my na meeting tonight, that was definitely the best hug of the day

Pretty much I just plan on staying on the path of sobriety all this month and beyond, I guess we'll see how it goes~

Great thread idea btw

 

[Mysterie]

im going to take a break from weed as well

is diphenhydramine easy to get in chemists or OTC? what is it used for legitimately?

 

[mrflowers00]

i'm gonna cut way back on my medications so they last me the whole month ughh this is gonna be so Fin hard

 

[pastelcircus]

Mysterie, diphenhydramine hci is available over the counter in the states in the form of allergy meds, it's an antihistamine but may not be the same as plain diphenhydramine.

 

[badfish45]

I'm rooting for all of you. In support of all of you, I'm going to cut down my cannabis use substantially for october

 

[herbavore]

Best of luck guys. I'll see you all on the other side in time for NovBender.

Um....Busty?

edit- Also, let's try and maturely handle "Octsober's almost up" talk as the month progresses. I know the month ends with Halloween, and people know what they know about tolerances and such. But let's try and keep the dialogue about making progress toward making more progress, not making progress as some type of challenge with other goals. Posts of the nature "3 more days of Octsober, and then it's party time," or downplays of such a theme, will be seen as triggering material and will not be given much room for tolerance. "3 more days of Octsober, I'm so proud of myself..it's almost completed" is different.

 

[Captain Brewster]

Whoa, I was thinking about doing a dry October yesterday, no booze for a month, I think I'm up to it.

Got to drop my pst intake too, had huge sweats last night from my weekly use, hate insomnia.

 

[pastelcircus]

^Yoo can doo itt!

 

[Roger&Me]

day 2... still pretty fired up about this, so I'm trying to ride that momentum as much as I can. Feeling OK, not terrible. Some digestive issues, some sweating, goosebumps like crazy. Overall its manageable.

I'm already starting to feel sharper mentally, which is surprising to me. I feel like I have much more to say in conversations, and although my baseline level of physical anxiety seems to be increased, my social anxiety is almost nonexistent. So far, so good.

Good luck to all my octsober peeps!

 

[theartofwar]

I need to put down heroin for good , no more chipping and esp since this weekend i added coke back up in the mix speedballing - i know where that lands me REAL fast. Good news, no cravings and a great program I work - I also want to put weed down so I can get take home meds , but this is going to be a lot more difficult then I thought !!! (side note, i thought you didn't get w/d from marijuana because of the longevity it stores in your fat cells , yes ? no ? buehler , buehler .... fry?)

 

[Roger&Me]

(side note, i thought you didn't get w/d from marijuana because of the longevity it stores in your fat cells , yes ? no ? buehler , buehler .... fry?)

The cannabis withdrawal syndrome is well documented, both in the medical literature and in anecdotal reports, although its usually only seen in very heavy users. I don't want to clutter up the thread with off-topic stuff, but if you want to do some further reading then open the NSFW tab (its safe for work, just using it to avoid clutter).

NSFW:

the medical literature has described the cannabis withdrawal syndrome in depth, and there have even been several papers published recently that explore pharmacotherapy for cannabis withdrawal. The medical community recognizes the problem as a legitimate one. The bottom line is that in some individuals, cannabis withdrawal is a medically significant problem.

The real issue here is the most people will never consume enough cannabis to induce a medically significant withdrawal event, most cases of significant withdrawal are present in people who have consumed multiple grams of high-quality cannabis daily for years at a time. I think one of the main reason that so many people doubt the existence of cannabis withdrawal is that they haven't actually smoked a lot of weed, they just think they have: an eighth ounce of nugs per week, or even an eighth ounce every few days, is not enough to induce withdrawal. You need to smoke about that much every day for withdrawal to become a really obvious problem.

Here is a highly abridged list of the current literature, for all those who doubt me on this issue:

The cannabis withdrawal syndrome
By Budney Alan J; Hughes John R
From Current opinion in psychiatry(2006),19(3),233-8.

Cannabis and dependence
By Swift, Wendy; Hall, Wayne
Edited by Grotenhermen, Franjo; Russo, Ethan
From Cannabis and Cannabinoids(2002),257-268.

Review of the validity and significance of cannabis withdrawal syndrome
By Budney Alan J; Hughes John R; Moore Brent A; Vandrey Ryan
From The American journal of psychiatry(2004),161(11),1967-77.

A review of the published literature into cannabis withdrawal symptoms in human users
By Smith Neil T
From Addiction (Abingdon, England)(2002),97(6),621-32.

Withdrawal sequelae to cannabis use
By Rohr J M; Skowlund S W; Martin T E
From The International journal of the addictions(1989),24(7),627-31.

Oral delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol suppresses cannabis withdrawal symptoms
By Budney Alan J; Vandrey Ryan G; Hughes John R; Moore Brent A; Bahrenburg Betsy
From Drug and alcohol dependence(2007),86(1),22-9.

Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy in cannabis withdrawal and dependence
By Benyamina, Amine; Lecacheux, Marie; Blecha, Lisa; Reynaud, Michel; Lukasiewcz, Michael
From Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics(2008 ),8 (3),479-491.

Increasing treatment options for cannabis dependence: A review of potential pharmacotherapies
By Hart, Carl L.
From Drug and Alcohol Dependence(2005),80(2),147-159.

originally posted by me in this thread