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Poly drug addiction recovery

Zephyn

Zephyn

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Messages
2,054
Are many of you/were many of you abusers of multiple classes of drugs simultaneously? Either combined or switching from one thing to the other? In all my times going to rehabs, I never seemed to meet but 1 or 2 people, who like me, didn't really have a DOC, but was seriously addicted to many different types of drugs, using one thing to stave off another, etc. Seems more common on BL than other places I've met drug users
 
in rehab i was the only non-alcoholic.

i identify as a polydrug addict.

started smoking weed every day at 16, and i really do consider it an addiction. also just did whatever drugs i could get my hands on.
at 19 got addicted to benzos.
about 22 i added alcohol to the mix- but not badly enough to affect my phd work somehow, but every day.
then at 25 i added heroin and for a while was using all 3 daily. my doctor was getting really concerned about my benzo and alcohol use (didn't mention the dark) and i preferred heroin anyway so managed to cut those down slowly enough not to give me issues the smack wouldn't mask. then cut out the weed too. so heroin was like my miracle drug cos it'd got me off these things i'd have problems with for years.
then at 30, having smoked crack regularly for a few years, i started smoking it daily. lost everything within less than a year and ended up prostituting myself.
during that period i was still on the gear and frequently taking benzos, pregabs and quetiapine but i wouldn't say i was addicted to those 3.

most of my using friends seem to have gone straight to hard drugs way earlier than me so skipped the intermediary addictions.

edit- i got basically forced into rehab at 32 and have had 2 short lapses with hard drugs but am now drinking in a manner i consider problematic, but not daily. did 2 years of mostly complete abstinence. it was hard as fuck. i have CPTSD and had a lot to work through. not exactly cured but my life is a lot better.
 
chinup said:
in rehab i was the only non-alcoholic.

i identify as a polydrug addict.

started smoking weed every day at 16, and i really do consider it an addiction. also just did whatever drugs i could get my hands on.
at 19 got addicted to benzos.
about 22 i added alcohol to the mix- but not badly enough to affect my phd work somehow, but every day.
then at 25 i added heroin and for a while was using all 3 daily. my doctor was getting really concerned about my benzo and alcohol use (didn't mention the dark) and i preferred heroin anyway so managed to cut those down slowly enough not to give me issues the smack wouldn't mask. then cut out the weed too. so heroin was like my miracle drug cos it'd got me off these things i'd have problems with for years.
then at 30, having smoked crack regularly for a few years, i started smoking it daily. lost everything within less than a year and ended up prostituting myself.
during that period i was still on the gear and frequently taking benzos, pregabs and quetiapine but i wouldn't say i was addicted to those 3.

most of my using friends seem to have gone straight to hard drugs way earlier than me so skipped the intermediary addictions.

edit- i got basically forced into rehab at 32 and have had 2 short lapses with hard drugs but am now drinking in a manner i consider problematic, but not daily. did 2 years of mostly complete abstinence. it was hard as fuck. i have CPTSD and had a lot to work through. not exactly cured but my life is a lot better.
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I've never had a friend who wasn't a drug user, only some who stuck more with some than others. Lost a lot of friends even due to the hard drugs. But all of them were substance abuser nonetheless. I know 2 people who wound up getting clean and big into 12 step, but we mostly don't talk much anymore because of that. Actually, one of them is one of the few people I still talk to that I knew when I was a kid
 
🙋 here. I like everything, and have gone through addictions to many different substances. Anytime I'm asked my DOC idk what to say.
 
I have a DOC (meth) but I have been rehabbed for alcohol, cocaine, and amphetamines as well as having self-rehabbed for benzos.

In my rehabs, poly drug addiction was well understood and most people were like me. Had a preferred or most commonly used drug but would use anything and everything.

There are also a very large number of people on BL who admit to using uppers and downers regularly either in sequence or together (eg. Meth + heroin) and who also drink.

There is a tendency to think one’s drug habits and psychological problems are extremely unique - but the first thing I learned in rehab was just how many people there were like me.
 
I've always been the type of guy who will buy 2-3 different drugs instead of a larger amount of 1. I've never had a true DOC, but I do generally prefer downers above all.

Probably why I cut back to kratom/cannabis/alcohol. It's kinda like a stim, a downer and a psychedelic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Pretty much everyone I've ever known who's a serious drug addict regularly used multiple drugs. Usually a stimulant + an opioid...I mean people have their DOCs but it gets to the point where if you're doing drugs to pick yourself up, you might as well do drugs to relax and unwind when you're feeling too keyed up. Or vice versa, you need a pick-me-up because you're nodding off at work or something. Never been to rehab but that's just what I've observed
 
I would also classify myself as a poly-drug addict, even though alcohol and opiates are my main problematic substances, I can and have been addicted to many, many things, always reaching for whatever I could get my hands on. It's a very difficult thing to overcome because once you recover from one substance you then move on to something else in order to cope. And then there's always the difficulty of being addicted to several substances at the same time e.g. benzos and alcohol. Getting off that combo almost always requires hospitalisation.
 
Zephyn said:
Are many of you/were many of you abusers of multiple classes of drugs simultaneously? Either combined or switching from one thing to the other? In all my times going to rehabs, I never seemed to meet but 1 or 2 people, who like me, didn't really have a DOC, but was seriously addicted to many different types of drugs, using one thing to stave off another, etc. Seems more common on BL than other places I've met drug users
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Opiates and a little bit benzos from a long time,weed very often-all together.Numerous rehabs with medicines or those without nothing ,but working hard and read a bible
 
Poly-drug addiction here too.
The holy trifecta was alprazolam, morphine, and later amphetamine.

I never had a clear DOC. Benzos and opiates have always been there, plus whatever I could get my hands on.


I was more addicted to being high I think.
 
I havent always had the cash to buy what i wouldve liked. But OTC & prescription pain meds, uppers and alcohol of course.

One thought i have is the likelihood of a primary unnadressed issue for the polydrug user. I dont mean to psychobabble, it seems practical to consider. Only recently began to think about my anxiety. Its always been low-level & background. I think some of these meds were poor ways to seek an anti-anxiety effect. Alcohol or even nicotine are obvious ones, but codeine, pregabalin. Maybe the primary i was seeking relief from is anxiety. Or grief or depression or trauma or bipolar or adhd etc.

Which leads to the zeitgeist of trauma/ptsd.
Generally might be helpful to reflect if theres something that underly one's poly habits. And if there are proxy/stand-in drugs in the mix that kinda do or kind don't work.

Gabor Mate is someone who has written pretty extensively on the links between early imprints, various trauma & poly drug use. Writing as an user himself.

I'm looking forward to trying baclofen soon which reportedly can work for both anxiety & cravings. It seems like a less potentially addictive alternative to benzodiazepines. Animal studies have shown less compulsion to administer not just alcohol but cocaine & speed. Perhaps it'll work for me. i think im looking most forward to the reported effects on anxiety, physical tenshun & rumination.
 
blue kringle said:
I havent always had the cash to buy what i wouldve liked. But OTC & prescription pain meds, uppers and alcohol of course.

One thought i have is the likelihood of a primary unnadressed issue for the polydrug user. I dont mean to psychobabble, it seems practical to consider. Only recently began to think about my anxiety. Its always been low-level & background. I think some of these meds were poor ways to seek an anti-anxiety effect. Alcohol or even nicotine are obvious ones, but codeine, pregabalin. Maybe the primary i was seeking relief from is anxiety. Or grief or depression or trauma or bipolar or adhd etc.

Which leads to the zeitgeist of trauma/ptsd.
Generally might be helpful to reflect if theres something that underly one's poly habits. And if there are proxy/stand-in drugs in the mix that kinda do or kind don't work.

Gabor Mate is someone who has written pretty extensively on the links between early imprints, various trauma & poly drug use. Writing as an user himself.

I'm looking forward to trying baclofen soon which reportedly can work for both anxiety & cravings. It seems like a less potentially addictive alternative to benzodiazepines. Animal studies have shown less compulsion to administer not just alcohol but cocaine & speed. Perhaps it'll work for me. i think im looking most forward to the reported effects on anxiety, physical tenshun & rumination.
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Baclofen can def help, but it's not super strong. I take 40mg every other day. I think I have taken up to 60mg but still not gotten a huge effect. Not recreational necessarily, but it has helped me the most with physical anxiety. Like when I was wding from benzos it was literally the only thing that would get me to stop shaking like a leaf. My shakes haven't returned yet...
 
Oh thats right ;)
I'm trying to keep my expectations low. What i've gathered so far is there is a lot of of variation in efficient doses from person to person - at least regarding dose for alcohol cravings to shrink. I would assume the same principle might affect its anxiolytic effiects. Which is great for you, and for myself i'm not really chasing any recreational value from it either.
 
blue kringle said:
I havent always had the cash to buy what i wouldve liked. But OTC & prescription pain meds, uppers and alcohol of course.

One thought i have is the likelihood of a primary unnadressed issue for the polydrug user. I dont mean to psychobabble, it seems practical to consider. Only recently began to think about my anxiety. Its always been low-level & background. I think some of these meds were poor ways to seek an anti-anxiety effect. Alcohol or even nicotine are obvious ones, but codeine, pregabalin. Maybe the primary i was seeking relief from is anxiety. Or grief or depression or trauma or bipolar or adhd etc.

Which leads to the zeitgeist of trauma/ptsd.
Generally might be helpful to reflect if theres something that underly one's poly habits. And if there are proxy/stand-in drugs in the mix that kinda do or kind don't work.

Gabor Mate is someone who has written pretty extensively on the links between early imprints, various trauma & poly drug use. Writing as an user himself.

I'm looking forward to trying baclofen soon which reportedly can work for both anxiety & cravings. It seems like a less potentially addictive alternative to benzodiazepines. Animal studies have shown less compulsion to administer not just alcohol but cocaine & speed. Perhaps it'll work for me. i think im looking most forward to the reported effects on anxiety, physical tenshun & rumination.
Click to expand...
Gabor Mate is incredible scientist.Wrote very interesting articles about drug addiction the reward system and possible ways of treat it
 
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