Recovery from the disease of addiction

a reply to: intrptr

Couldn't have worded that better if I tried.

I have been to maybe 100 meetings.

The program has really changed my thinking for the better and I still have a long way to go.

a reply to: chelsdh

It’s a volatile thing (all addiction is)

It is cunning, baffeling, and powerful.

Anxiety may not be an addict ion but it sure is a symptom of the untreated addict brain.

I used to have very bad anxiety that I managed to overcome with everything I learned in recovery.

I know what you mean by anxiety being a default place for our mind to go.

I was so used to being anxious, that feeling ok felt weird to me at first.

originally posted by: GoShredAK
a reply to: intrptr

Couldn't have worded that better if I tried.

I have been to maybe 100 meetings.

The program has really changed my thinking for the better and I still have a long way to go.

Outstanding!

a reply to: GoShredAK
My husband tries to stay busy looking for ways to lift others (big or small ways) as part of his recovery. Says if he can redirect his energy into good then it’s much easier for him.

I’ve also learned that when I am focusing on myself I tend to get in a ditch. Isn’t the last in the 12 step program to help others”m? We forget too often that when we lift others, it lifts us.

Russell Brand gave his take on the 12 steps, and it’s good:

originally posted by: GoShredAK
a reply to: SatansPride

The trick is not to take control back. It's when we surrender all control to a Higher power that things start working out.

Nope...

a reply to: GoShredAK

More in depth...

Do you believe addiction is a disease?

Drug and alcohol abouse is like a disease, It is debilitating and progressive; the more you imbibe the more you develop resistance, the more you need to take to get the same effect.

This leads to health issues eventually, that can give rise to diseases of the body that can be fatal. Thats a long road for some, other seem to go quickly. How many friends you know died from your drug of choice? If you live long enough you can't easily count them.

Do you believe addiction can be cured?

Yes, withdrawal and sobriety are only the first steps, identifying what led us to become addicts in the first place , working on that is how we effect a 'cure'. Sometimes a cure is impossible, but understanding the process and triggers, helps us to fight against relapse.

Is addiction just a chemical dependency, or is there more to it?

By now you understand that the dependency to chemicals is the physical part. Getting clean so we can begin to work on underlying issues is the "more to it".

Is addiction hereditary?

Form what I understand there is a hereditary genetic process, a 'predilection' to addiction, triggered by our early use of drugs and or alcohol. Its not an addictive gene, its a marker that is triggered by drug use, if we start. If we never start that gene remains dormant.

Could an alcoholic ever drink like a normal person?

Some people never become addicted, they can have a beer or wine at dinner and it never goes beyond that.

If you like the feeling and it makes you have another and another, you have an addictive type personality, you drink for the feeling, and can never just be a normal drinker. Sorry about that.

a reply to: GoShredAK

Continued:

Is cannabis a drug? A gateway drug? Is it possible for a recovering addict to use only cannabis and not eventually relapse?

A little is too much and a lot is never enough. Or "stinking thinking", if you ever heard that before...

"Can't I cut back, try something else, use smaller amounts?"

Is recovery possible without God, or a higher power?

Some people use others and meetings as their higher power, get a sponsor if you haven't already, lean on them when you have questions and or 'episodes' were you are tempted to relapse.

I can tell your desire to change is growing, use all the tools you learn to keep from falling back into the cycle of abuse.

On the other hand, understand too, quitting is a process, will involve relapse as a matter of course. When it happens, don't beat yourself up, get back up , never quit quitting.

What role does willpower play in recovery from addiction?

You may not have the desire all the time, you may need to lean on others, say a prayer, whatever. Toughing out the times you want to use are all about will power, especially early on. You do have responsibility. Just be patient, it took you a life time to become an addict, quitting takes time too.

Forgive yourself, applaud yourself, don't give in to giving up.

You'll learn to face life differently over time.

a reply to: intrptr

Forgive yourself, applaud yourself, don't give in to giving up.

This! I honestly feel that this is what life is about. Keep trying. If you fall and wallow, that sucks, but keep trying. Even if you are barely crawling forward. Just keep trying to be better than you were last year, last week, yesterday.

a reply to: GoShredAK

It's defiantly about taking control back, I'm an ex alcoholic, quitting cold turkey is useless, you end up indulging when you drink again years later. Control & will is key. Addiction is only you will getting controlled by substance. Methadone is not harder at at, it's what people fall back on so it makes dope easier to quit. It's still not easy. & It's not about giving yourself to a higher power, we have the power, most choose to stay addicted. Its about what you really want in life, I need a lot, doesn't matter though cause I'll still do what I want. & Alcoholics drink their alcohol poisoning away, it's way easier to dt & get it over with. It only takes like a half year of cutting down or a lil more to make your body not dependent anymore. It's about will power. Control of your feelings & mind. Ive seen people quit cold turkey & when they drink they can't stop. I live much happier with my will than still controlled by a substance I don't do. & Dope is one of the hardest, I know people who have barely survived dting off it.

originally posted by: chelsdh
a reply to: intrptr

Forgive yourself, applaud yourself, don't give in to giving up.

This! I honestly feel that this is what life is about. Keep trying. If you fall and wallow, that sucks, but keep trying. Even if you are barely crawling forward. Just keep trying to be better than you were last year, last week, yesterday.

Absolutely. Most of the time we are so hard on ourselves, we give in to pressure , then beat ourselves up for 'failing' to cope. And all we have to do is forgive us our daily mistakes.

Is okay we are human we are imperfect we should laugh more at us. There'd be a lot less trouble in the world.

Some times dependency is created by a change in enzyme creation in the body. Other times it is created by an off balance gut microbe population created by the chemistry you are ingesting.

If you consume a lot of things that create dopamine in the brain, your body compensates by creating more enzyme to break down the dopamine and it changes homeostasis of the body. This causes a dependence till the enzymes are lowered. I just hit on dopamine, lots of other brain chemistries can be effected. If you drink a lot of caffeinated coffee, the body starts making more enzyme to break down the caffeine, then when you don't have coffee, it leads to a dip in the methyl in the body. Some people need the speed chemistry as medicine to create needed methyl cycle operation, others just get addicted.

Yes, there is both physical and psychological addiction. But these addictions do not make a person bad, they just are addictions. If something causes a disruption in acetylcholine, (lowering) that can cause some people to go bad because they cannot comprehend their actions properly and rely on others around them to steer them. There are many ways to skin a cat, alternate food chemistry can balance an enzyme and medicines to treat some addictions have been created.

It seems that some people practicing modern medicine are not trying to balance the homeostasis, they tend to treat the symptoms. A good addiction program should fix the problem, not shuffle it down the road by supplying unnatural chemistry to supply the homeostasis at the same place. That will just make the person go right back to using drugs when they are available again. The enzymes to detox the body from drugs can cause other problems too, they are often hard on the liver and organs. Keeping them high for a long time can destroy sections of organs and almost make it impossible to fix the problems.

a reply to: badw0lf

Sounds crazy but it's true.

I've met dozens of people who have completely turned their lives around and what they all have in common is the twelve steps.

Then there are the countless testemonies found in the literature that say the same thing.

It's a sort of magic that happens when one honestly works the steps.

a reply to: chelsdh

I love Russel Brands way of explaining the 12 steps and recovery. I have seen that clip a couple times. I would like to try and read the book.

You're absolutely right about helping others. Life in recovery is all about altruism.

You are supposed to take care and love yourself though.

I've been told a few times to check my motives..........like why am I doing or saying the things I am right now? To help others because it's the right thing to do? Or just to help myself because I am selfish?

a reply to: intrptr

In my case addiction is not hereditary. Neither my parents nor my grandparents have had a problem.

I'm still not completely sure what it is about me that planted the seeds of addiction.

I just remember when I had that first beer at age 14. Suddenly I was the life of the party, I was cool and sociable. So I fell in love with that feeling and I could not stop.

a reply to: intrptr

. 

On the other hand, understand too, quitting is a process, will involve relapse as a matter of course. When it happens, don't beat yourself up, get back up , never quit quitting. 

That is encouraging. Like I said earlier I had accumulated 109 days for the first time since I was 14. I was definitely riding the pink cloud.

Then I got back into a codependent relationship, stopped working the program, and relapsed.

I was and still kind of am devastated. I didn't realize how good I had it.

a reply to: SatansPride

Suboxone and methadone are both much harder to detox from than heroin.

I was in withdrawal for over 20 days coming off subs.

I can appreciate that it is good to be strong willed, but I think it's wise to be humble and get out of the drivers seat sometimes.

originally posted by: chelsdh
a reply to: intrptr

Forgive yourself, applaud yourself, don't give in to giving up.

This! I honestly feel that this is what life is about. Keep trying. If you fall and wallow, that sucks, but keep trying. Even if you are barely crawling forward. Just keep trying to be better than you were last year, last week, yesterday.

I have a tattoo that says pretty much exactly that in fewer words.

Addiction and alcoholism are confusing because nobody believes it can happen to them, and it does. Recovery is confusing, because only a few addicts and alcoholics actually want it.

What most addicts and alcoholics want more than anything is to continue to use or drink without negative consequences, an impossibility. This obsession for the impossible is often used to define the condition.

Addicts and alcoholics are eminently exploitable populations, financially for the pushers and purveyors, who make incredible fortunes on them, and even on the recovery side: those who financially exploit them holding out unworkable schemes that exploit their basic obsession to continue using and drinking without consequences.

Why would somebody want to continue doing something that has eventually had disastrous consequences on their lives? If users and alcoholics are no longer using drugs or alcohol, they at least are no longer exploitable by the pushers, who will go to any length and expense to persuade them to take the first dose or drink again and start the lucrative, vicious cycle up again.

Disease? Addiction and alcoholism have a progressive, irreversible course marked by predictable degenerative stages and ultimately resulting in comprimised function, physical and mental pathologies, and ultimately, death. Does that meet the standards of a disease? I'll let that be in the eyes of the beholder.

The last people to rely on for meaningful information about addiction and alcoholism are those who "claim" to have engaged in controlled using and drinking, or from practicing users and alcoholics, themselves. Even the variety of "pay as you go" recovery modalities can cynically rely on relapse to make money. It typically takes at least a year or so of sobriety for addicts and alcoholics to begin to realistically assess the damage that their habits have had on themselves and others.

Addiction and alcoholism burrow deep into the core of the brain's appetite mechanisms, and addicts and alcoholics believe in spite of killing themselves that they need the substances to "survive". Yes, alcohol is a drug, but all drugs have different chemical interactions, durations, withdrawals, and mechanisms of action to provoke their mind altering reinforcements.

The recovery issue tends to be muddled, because recovery is multi-layered and multi-factorial, spanning not just physicl issues, but issues of morality, habit, ethics, philosophy, interpersonal relationships and concepts of spirituality. Recovery requires change and community support.

Successful recovery has an odd empirical bent. If you look at the people who have succeeded, then you see them relying on a combination of community, philosophy, and daily support with few exceptions.

There is no "cure" per se. Anybody who uses and drinks again, falls into the same patterns where they left off. However, there are individuals in long term sobriety who stay sober based on a daily program of recovery maintenance and a daily commitment to abstinence.

a reply to: GoShredAK

I’m finding it can be hard to find the balance between self care and selfishness. Is the natural man inherently selfish? I kind of think so.

I’m not sure what your “higher power” looks like, but Jesus (and many other great teachers) taught that saving the self will ultimately lose the self. Saving others will save us. But where is the line? I have had this on my mind a lot lately. I had to cut a person out of my life. I wondered if it was the right thing to do. What helped me was knowing that continued contact with that person made me physically ill. It stressed me so badly that keeping him in my life was masochistic. And that is where I draw the line.

originally posted by: chelsdh
a reply to: GoShredAK

I’m finding it can be hard to find the balance between self care and selfishness. Is the natural man inherently selfish? I kind of think so.