• H&R Moderators: VerbalTruist | cdin | Lil'LinaptkSix

⫸Welcome! Health & Recovery Guidelines⫷

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HEALTH & RECOVERY FORUM
Forum Guidelines

This forum is for Bluelighters who are interested in living a healthy/healthier lifestyle. In Health & Recovery (H&R) we focus on sharing information and giving support so that we all can make better decisions concerning our health.

Tl;dr: Here are just a few of the things that we discuss:
Harm prevention and reduction
Moderating your drug intake
Sober living
Treatment plans
Rehab plans
Recovery journals
Detox plans
Nutrition, healthy eating, and recipes
Aerobic and anaerobic exercise
Vitamins and supplements
Mainstream and alternative medicine
Anxiety and mental health
and much, much more!
Don't forget that the healthiest thing you can do today is smile =D

The mission of the Health & Recovery (H&R) forum is to create a community of support for those desiring to manage addiction and pursue a sober lifestyle. This forum supports a broad range of approaches, from 12-step and Smart Recovery, to individual and personal journeys outside of standard approaches. We recognize that a supportive and understanding peer community is essential to this process from the first step of recognition of the problem, to managing withdrawals, to information sharing about transitioning from a life of drug use to a sober lifestyle and all the challenges that entails. Many of us came to Bluelight as drug users and now find ourselves in the position of needing to close that chapter. The aim of this forum is to create a community specific to that goal.


It is of utmost importance to understand that this is not a site for medical advice. This forum is not staffed by qualified medically trained personnel.Any medical information obtained from the Internet should be researched and cross-referenced and ultimately discussed with a qualified health care provider.



Introduction

Welcome to Health & Recovery!

The purpose of the Health & Recovery (H&R) forum is to create a safe, specific community for people working towards addiction recovery. Many members of BL have experience in addiction and recovery, and continue to offer guidance and support to others who are just beginning to develop new ways of managing and coping with their own personal struggles with drug use. This is a place to discuss treatment options, medications and support group information.

This forum is a judgment-free network of support for the journey to a sober life. Your friendly staff members for the H&R forum are:

Moderators

@cdin
VerbalTruist

Senior Moderators

D's
cduggles

We encourage sharing your experiences with sensitivity to others issues, and with an understanding that each person's experience and circumstances are different.

When it comes to Support Groups, there are many different options; we do not endorse one system over another and in the spirit of helping others, we encourage everyone to keep an open mind and not pass judgement on what may work for some, but not yourself. Everyone is here for a common goal, we should be sure to celebrate a persons success through whatever form of Support Group they find effective. Please offer advice with that in mind.

Through sharing information and experiences on transitioning into a sober lifestyle, assisting each other in reaching our own personal goals in recovery, developing and exploring the many options available, as well as offering information and open discussion on various Support Group options, we can all work towards developing a more informed approach to overcoming substance abuse. Our goal is to create a positive, empowered self-awareness in order to bring peace into our lives.

The remainder of this thread contains information intended to A) help you improve your own experience as a member of the H&R community, and B) let the entire H&R community participate in keeping our shared forum thoughtful, helpful and well organized. If you're new to H&R, please read through this document at least once.


Forum Rules
Given the sensitive nature of this forum, it's inevitable that rules must be enforced. Forum guidelines are in addition to the Bluelight User Agreement (BLUA) that is enforced across Bluelight.

As said above, Health & Recovery is primarily here for people who are suffering from addiction of some kind, are looking for a base of support, and have questions or answers about others experiences, types of therapy, support groups or medications to assist in reaching their goal .

Recovery is a difficult road and any posts, images, videos or any other material a moderator deems may be triggering will not be permitted.


Specific guidelines for posting in the Health & Recovery forum:
  • Never advise anyone to start, alter the dosage or abruptly stop a medication. Abruptly stopping or inadequately tapering a medication can have disastrous effects.
  • Never advise the use of legal or illegal drugs to self-medicate. Self-medication can lead to larger problems when not regulated by a knowledgeable practitioner.
  • When sharing personal experiences, opinions or anecdotal information regarding medications or treatments it is important that readers understand that what you are saying is your own valid perspective but not necessarily objective fact.
  • Always remember that people may be vulnerable or in crisis. When posting advice, it is good practice to stress that the person also seek professional help in addition to the support of Bluelight.
  • Rude or abusive posts will not be tolerated. Mental health diagnosis and treatment is very controversial. It is a complex subject that we all feel very passionate about for extremely personal reasons. Always keep in mind that the goal of discussion and debate is to expand knowledge, not to contract it.
  • To encourage discussion, please do not post articles without any comments. Links to articles (and not their full text) accompanied by your own thoughts and discussion points are welcomed.


Additional guidelines for posting in Health & Recovery:
  • Never advise anyone to start, alter the dosage or abruptly stop a medication. Abruptly stopping or inadequately tapering a medication can have disastrous effects.
  • Treat others with respect; i.e. no "flaming," "trolling" or posting of "memes."
  • Do not use SWIM; be honest about the subjects within your stories.
  • "Tough Love" is appropriate at times, but keep in mind the mental state of the individual in need and use appropriate discretion.
  • Do not post images of cuts, burns, wounds and the like - self-inflicted or not.
  • Do not post pictures of drugs or alcohol.
  • Nudity will not be tolerated.
  • Do not place "triggering" material, even behind NSFW tags. If it's questionable enough to feel the need to do so, don't post it at all.
  • If a post is edited by a Moderator, do not edit the post. You can PM the Moderator or any other H&R staff member including the Senior Moderators to discuss the edit or removal of a post if you are not clear on why.
  • Refrain from posting anything that may be triggering to others.

Safety Disclaimer
Even though some TDS/MH/H&R members are in professional positions in real life, Heath & Recovery is a non-professional support effort. We don't diagnose or prescribe here. It is better to give our ideas about the nature of other people's problems or the tactics they may use to get better as suggestions rather than as declarations.


Abusive Posts
Many threads throughout the Recovery Section, including Health & Recovery, require more tactfulness than ordinary posting situations. Posts that are intended to shame, humiliate, or provoke are not acceptable here.

If a member is a continuous irritant to another member, but is not attacking anyone nor breaking any rules, then the best solution is to put the member you have problems with on your ignore list via the User Control Panel.

If someone is creating a hostile environment, breaking BLUA or forum guidelines, we ask you to please use the report function (the exclamation point icon that appears in the top-right corner of every BL forum post). The report function calls the situation to the attention of the entire MH/TDS/H&R staff. It's often tempting to reply to such posts, but by using the report function, The Recovery Forum staff will use their best judgment in order to remedy the situation.

You may also reach out to any of the H&R Moderators or Senior Moderators if you feel that after reporting a post, the issue has not been dealt with appropriately.


Triggering Post Guidelines for the Recovery Support forums

As part of our continuing efforts to make our new Recovery Forums as welcoming as possible to those who are working to become or stay sober, we have a rule which is unique among Bluelight's forums: the no-triggering rule. I just wanted to use this opportunity to remind people, that even though we now have The Dark Side, Mental Health and Health & Recovery forums, this rule is in effect across all three sections.

Basically, it means that one shouldn't post content of any sort that may trigger someone to relapse. This can include things like glorification or fond remembrances of drug or alcohol use, photos of drugs or obviously intoxicated people, etc... This rule, while important to how Recovery Support functions, can be difficult to enforce, as what may be triggering to one person may well be fine for another, even if they are both recovering from addiction to the same substance.

In focus threads, and other threads dealing with specific addiction or withdrawal issues, the rule remains the same: discussion is permitted, but no glorification. In the social threads, no discussion of drugs, legal or otherwise, save for caffeine, will be permitted. The rationale behind this is that there are plenty of other threads in which to discuss the ins and outs of one's drug use, and therefore this shouldn't stifle social conversation.

Discussion of psychiatric drugs in threads should be kept to personal experiences only. Also, please refrain from suggesting anyone to stop or change their medications abruptly without discussing it with a GP first.



H&R users, please report inappropriate content to the Moderators

If you find content or behavior in H&R that you think doesn't belong here, please use the report button. When you see spam, drug soliciting, trolling etc, please let us (your forum moderators) know so that we can take steps to remedy the situation. It really helps the mod team keep this place functioning when you help out.

Reporting inappropriate content is real simple. Look at the right side of the screen above the posting window. It's a triangle with an exclamation point inside it. Click it and it will take you to a different screen where you can enter a simple explanation of why it needs to be looked at or hell just put a letter or number if you're feeling lazy. The staff will see it and check it out pretty quickly.

Thanks for being awesome and helping out.




Health & Recovery Prefixes

To help other Health & Recovery readers, as well as your Health & Recovery moderators, we have created an optional system of prefixes that you can apply to threads when you create them. The idea behind the prefixes is to give readers a quick idea of the subject matter your thread is about. We encourage the H&R community to use a prefix when creating new threads. However, please note that use of prefixes is completely optional.


Prefix Descriptions
1. <Recovery Journal>
Choose this prefix if you want to document your journey from the “recovery” perspective. This brush carries a very broad swath. After all, we all have something to recover from, and anything that is meaningful or important to you is significant when it comes to your recovery. We encourage the use of the Recovery Journal prefix in particular for those who wish to keep a journal or diary documenting the progress, successes and/or setbacks they experience moving forward with recovery - regardless of the stage they find themselves at.
2. <Addiction Journal>​
Still engaging in that harmful behavior? No problem! To some degree, we all are - even Buddha screwed his creditors over towards the end of his life. If you want to document your story from the point of view of the harms substance use and related behaviors have caused us, please apply this prefix to your new thread. If you don’t feel it is appropriate to give your thread the "recovery" label, give it the "addiction" label! Remember, we love the darker side of substance use just as much as we love what life offer's as we emerge from the darkness.​
3. <Tapering Journal>​
Are you dependent on an opioid (oxycodone, Suboxone, etc) or gabaergic type substance (alcohol, Xanax, etc) and want to discuss how you can help maintain stability in your life while transitioning off it? Use this prefix! This may seem similar to the <Detox Journal> prefix, however the specific focus is on how to best manage an incremental, gradual, longer term detoxification process rather than just the process of jumping off to zero. We will help guide your through the process of getting off what you have been using in the smoothest way possible.​
4. <Detox Journal>​
Oh the agony of withdrawal! The fear and trepidation of the DREADED KICK! Go with this prefix if you want to discuss anything withdrawal related. Topics include symptoms of acute and post-acute withdrawal and ways to manage them. When it comes to detoxing, acute and even post-acute withdrawal is a fairly predictable process. The uncertainty for the individual experiencing it is what makes it the most difficult. Use this prefix to wrap your head around the process or to document your experience in order to help others understand their own. And remember, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.​
5. <(Re)Lapse>​
Another loaded term! Forget the cliches, use this prefix if you want to discuss anything from a minor bump in the road to a major life changing fuck-up. Perhaps you’ve been sober for years and ended up with a habit and want some support getting yourself back together. Or perhaps you have been struggling to get sober and keep returning to old patterns of behavior after short stints of abstinence. We will help support you get back on track to accomplishing your goals with this prefix! Failure tends to present us with the most fruitful of opportunities.​
6. <Treatment>​
Use this prefix to talk about all things treatment. Outpatient, inpatient, residential rehabilitation, hospitalization, methadone maintenance therapy (MMT), buprenorphine replacement therapy, naltrexone, naloxone. Use this prefix for discussing anything clinical or treatment-oriented in H&R.​
7. <Recovery Housing>​
So you’ve been through the whole addiction treatment process and you’re looking to step down to something a little more structured than just going back to the shooting gallery, your parent’s basement or the sidewalk downtown? Use this prefix to discuss topics related to sobriety and communal living situations (commonly referred to as Sober Living housing, Oxford Houses, Halfway Houses, Transitional Living, etc.).​
8. <no prefix>​
Undecided or unhappy with your choices of prefixes? Don't feel the need to use a prefix? Use this prefix! ;)
9. <recruitment>​
If you don’t already know, don’t use it.​

NO DIAGNOSING - While some medical professionals contribute to H&R it is impossible to diagnose medical conditions online. We do not have access to your medical history, and cannot physically examine you. If you are concerned for your health, *please see a Doctor*. Posts seeking online diagnosis will be closed and/or deleted.

ZERO BULLSHIT - This forum is a place for serious discussions. Trolling of any description will not be tolerated. Posts violating this rule will be edited or deleted, and may result in disciplinary action.

RESPECT FOR OTHERS - Posts that are blatantly offensive, rude, disrespectful, abusive, hateful, harassing, racist, threatening or otherwise obnoxious to other members will be edited or deleted, and may result in disciplinary action.

ILLEGAL MATERIAL - Posting links to sites that offer or discuss ways to obtain drugs, drug paraphernalia or other illegal materials like pirated software/music etc is not allowed. Any links to external vendors of any description are considered as spam and will be immediately deleted, and that BL account will be permanently banned.

ON-TOPIC REPLIES - All posts should be of a constructive nature. If you do not have anything worthwhile to add to the thread, do not post. The moderators will edit or delete any irrelevant or inappropriate posts.

NO PERSON-TO-PERSON POSTS - If you just wish to contact someone please don't make a new post about it. Person to person posts do not belong in public forums. For personal communication you should use the Private Messages function.

THINK BEFORE YOU POST - The more thought out your post is, the better it will be understood by others. Not only will a well thought out post get more replies, it will get better quality replies.

LOCATION, LOCATION! - Bear in mind that this is an international message board. If you require answers that are relevant to your area or country only, please be sure to state where you are located to ensure you receive quality replies.

If you're ever in any doubt about these guidelines or anything else to do with the forum, please do not hesitate to contact a Moderator or Senior Moderator (staff members are listed above, in this document).
 
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