I DITTO Gnarly all the Way here!! Very, Very TRUE and to the point!!!!!
I too started at the age 13-14 and got clean at 56. Addiction runs very deep. The hard part is the Mental and trying to live life Clean & Sober without running to get a substance to change your Mindset at the time. For fun,too party, too get wired up & work, any reason at all, up to having some bad things happen, it all has to be changed or worked on in a whole other way in life.We cannot do this alone. It is a WE thing like he said.
I also found that learning all I can about Addiction in a more Scientific way, has helped me to understand what type of drugs, do what to those Brain Chems and so fourth, However, it takes me to live the Spiritual side of life to get through these days. I really enjoy my AA because it seems to be so much more Spiritual. Both AA/NA are great Support. I also find my Church to be so Supportive too. We just need others to lean on for more Strength in these times. NOT someone or others that will drain all your good strength from you.
The physical part of the detox will be over sooner. It is the Brain Chems that have to adjust back after we remove these type of drugs.
Make sure you are drinking tons of fluids to help rid these toxins out too. Water is the best, and as I had said before, pick up some of those vit/min that come in packets to add to your water. You will find some vit/min to help relax you, to some that will help you get going. YOU still will have some w/ds and have to go through these so called stages, but the timing and the intensiveness of it all depends from on person to the other. Lots of factors play in, like age, health, how long on has used, and how many pills or such they have come off of. YOU can do it!!! Just take it min by min at first. It will take TIME & PATIENCE..Trust me, I still have these issues too this day and it has been over 3yrs. YOU will finally learn how to live in your own Mind and Body. The Physical, Mental and Spiritual, has to find it's balance and on it's own Time. Just stick around here for Support too, also you can help yourself by helping others along the way.
Hope you have a Merry Christmas!
Vickie
What Gnarly said...times 2!!!
Count- just go my friend. After a while, you'll wonder why you waited so long.
Hey girl.....well you had a bad day....this is life on lifes terms...your really doing great just stick with it....keep in mind this is 1/3 phyical and 2/3 mental...today you took some for stress ...you will find it a lot harder mentally... then physically.... like me and most of us we take the pills to ''just take the edge off it''' and they work well... this is where the ''mental mindscrew'' come in to play... it is hard to do life without mothers little helper and you will need to retrain your brain....most addicts do not have good copping skills this is just one of the benefits of N/A it will teach you how to do life on lifes terms without the help of a pill...I started using one drug or another at 14 and dident stop until I was 47...I had no idea how to get threw life without something to take the edge off a bad day....I was tarifed at the thought of it...you will find getting clean is the ez part this is only the start long after the pills stop you still stuck with the addict that is alive and well inside your head...I cant stress enough how important aftercare is...I have tryed most but the N/A progam has given me my life back it gives your life structure something most addicts dont have it give you some plase to share anything that is going on where you wont be judged and the people will understand ...My wife was very support of me and she truly wanted to help but when I shared things with her I always got that ''deer in the headlight stare''...''normies'' just dont get it...addicts open up parts of the brain that normies never feel making it all but impossible for them to understand....with the N/A progam...one addict helping another addict is without parallel because one addict can best understand another addict....I know this may all sound foreign to you and the thought of going to a meeting with a bunch of strangers is out of most peoples comfort zone...I was tarafied the first time I went all I did was lissen went to another one and lissend more..all the storys people shared about seamed like they where reading my mind..how could they possible know the way the very way I think react and respond...the one common denominator...we where all addicts....after a few more meeting I finely got the courage up to share and for the first time it was like a giant weight was lifted off me...I then stared to stay after the meeting to get to know some of the people I found them to be friendly caring and full of support....today I have made many close friends and real friends that truly want to help and care about my well being I no long feel alone in all this.. what I cant do myself we as a group can overcome when I rolled my jeep I was in the hospital for 10 days from the first day I had groups of friends coming up to cheer me up...to help me get threw what had happened they even helped my wife by watching the kids so we could spend some time together it almost killed me but I dident have to go threw it alone...enough said Google a N/A meeting near you and step out of your comfort zone and go you dont even have to be clean the only requirement for joining is the desire to quit...now you can choose to go it alone this is not recameded most dont make it...this is a ''we'' program not a 'i' progam...you can sit there and get overwhelmed by all this or just take the chance that this old dope fiend in phoenix az may just know what it takes to do this...tonight you could be sharing how crappy your day was and how alone you feel and exactly how tarafed you or of what is to come....I cant over emasize how much this will help in your recover google a N/A meeting in your area and go...................................Gnarly..........................