THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DRY AND SOBER
Throwing out your pills is the first of many challenges you face. You need to find meaningful activities to substitute for using optiates. You will also need to learn new coping strategies to help you deal with the anxiety you previously managed with opiates.
Sobriety is a lifestyle. At first it involves substantial planning to ensure that you do not relapse.
AA can help, but it's not enough for a vast majority of people, other recovery groups like SMART and Rational Recovery offer cognitive-based options in recovery.
If you want to stop, it's important to accept that this will be a life altering decision. Psychotherapy with a qualified counselor or physcian will help you prepare for the challenges ahead.
Opiate dependence also affects family members. It's important that the program you use, whatever you choose, has qualified professionals with specialized training in treating addiction and couples therapy.
To Kick or Not To Kick
Whether you are addicted to heroin or Oxycontin, you have options.
Buprenorphine (Subutex or Suboxone) is an effective method for managing opiate dependence safely. All of my clients who have switched from Methadone prefer it, and it's easy- click here to learn more.
You can use buprenorphine as an intermediate step in detox. Many patients transition to Subutex for a few weeks and then taper off. If they find the craving unbearable, they have the option of going back on the Suboxone for a longer period of time.
Get the joy of living back into your life
Opiates in your body, called endorphins, are responsible for reinforcing behaviors from a runner's high to the joy of sex. Endorphins dictate what a healthy body enjoys. Abuse of opiates highjacks this system, and for a little while it's great...but payback is terrible.
As you use higher and higher amounts of opiates, you no longer get the joy, and soon it's just a way to keep withdrawal at bay. When you finally stop the opiates, there is no joy, just an empty feeling. This is where supportive psychotherapy is so important. Most people need a real push to get through months two to six of sobriety.
Sometimes resetting your internal mechanism needs more than psychotherapy. I have found that in those cases combining small amounts of Naltrexone with psychotherapy, for a period of two to four months, helps people enormously. When you get off the Naltrexone, the small amounts of endorphins feel big again and you get to enjoy the things you should in life. Naltrexone is not right for everyone, and you need an experienced psychiatrist to help you figure out if it's right for you.
It is crucial to treat the underlying cause because unresolved psychiatric illness can contribute to opiate abuse and relapse. Many of my patients have untreated conditions including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder, that directly contribute to their inability to stay sober. Once the illness is treated, they find it much easier to control their cravings for sedatives.
Insomnia is also a reason people become dependant on opiates.
YOU CAN LIVE A LIFE FREE OF DRUGS AND ALCOHOL
It's not that you haven't been trying hard enough, but you need to try different things. The right psychiatrist can help you. Combining medication for your symptoms, with a personalized and progressive series of psychotherapeutic techniques to help you strenghten your skills, is the best way to get bettter.
GREAT TREATMENT DOESN'T HAVE TO BREAK THE BANK
The single thing that disturbs me the most are doctors who take advantage of people in need. The "Recovery" Industry is filled with bad people who will take as much money as you are willing to give them. I recommend avoiding any clinician, or treatment center that asks for money in advance, for a program. They are counting on your desperation!
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