Dec 15
Of course, you can let the chance slip by. Alison, a cannabis addict and alcoholic, remembers how she missed the chance to get well. ‘At the age of twenty-five I was living with a rock group and we had a very hefty evening – a lot of drinks and a lot of drugs. A lot [...] [...more]
Posted: under Anti-Smoking.
Of course, you can let the chance slip by. Alison, a cannabis addict and alcoholic, remembers how she missed the chance to get well. ‘At the age of twenty-five I was living with a rock group and we had a very hefty evening – a lot of drinks and a lot of drugs. A lot of dope. At 6.30 a.m. I got up dehydrated and did all the washing up, and I finished up some red wine, and then white wine and then cognac.
‘By 11.30 a.m. I was in a suicidal depression, so I rang the office up and said “I’m going to kill myself.” They sent round Susan, my friend. She arrived and I said to her, “I think I’m an alcoholic.”
‘ “No, you’re not,” she said. “You’re a nice girl.”
‘That was the moment when I could see I was suicidal because of the drinks and the drugs. I could make the connection, but because Susan said what she did, the moment passed. I went on drinking and taking dope for a further three and a half years.’
Many addicts and alcoholics have similar moments of truth, which they let slip by. How many times have you told yourself, ‘I’ll really do something about it’? And then you’ve done some more drugs or had a few drinks, and the feeling of urgency has evaporated.
It’s the old excuse: ‘I’ll quit tomorrow.’ But will you? Will you even get the second chance? Have you ever met an old addict? You haven’t? Well, ask yourself why it is there aren’t any old addicts.
Or perhaps you have decided you will act. You’ve told yourself you will stop using drugs or drinking. And you have – for a few days, perhaps even for a few weeks. But then you’ve hit a bad patch and you’ve gone back to drugs or drink. Or perhaps you simply decided you deserved a reward for good behaviour and started again with that excuse. And you’ve probably told yourself: ‘It’ll be different this time.’
If this is the case, we come to what is probably the single most important fact about giving up drugs.
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Nov 24
When you feel you just can’t go on any longer, you have hit rock bottom. And it feels like the worst place in the world to be. Everybody has a slightly different experience of hitting rock bottom. But most recovering addicts and alcoholics agree that until they have this feeling they are not forced to [...] [...more]
Posted: under Anti-Smoking.
When you feel you just can’t go on any longer, you have hit rock bottom. And it feels like the worst place in the world to be.
Everybody has a slightly different experience of hitting rock bottom. But most recovering addicts and alcoholics agree that until they have this feeling they are not forced to change. When at last they feel they can’t go on any more as they are, then finally they are willing to get help.
Tracey’s rock bottom came after trips to doctors, psychiatrists, casualty departments and even acupuncturists. She had finally been put in yet another treatment centre by her parents, but had been thrown out because of her disruptive and uncooperative behaviour.
‘When my parents discovered what had happened, they told me to get lost,’ she recalls. ‘I was literally out on the streets. I didn’t have a penny. I remember thinking “I’ve got two options. Either I’ve got to do something, or I’d better take a load of barbiturates and finish it now.” A girlfriend took me to Narcotics Anonymous, and I started going to their meetings.’ Her five years of drug-using ended that day. She now has a happy life.
Hitting rock bottom doesn’t have to involve anything very dramatic. Elaine, a woman in her sixties, was dependent on tranquillisers which she topped up with a tumblerful of whisky every night. An almost trivial incident made her realise she had a drink and drugs problem.
‘I had a horror of water in my flat, and a leak from the flat upstairs (as I thought) upset me. I called the plumbers and they found that the rug on the bathroom floor was completely wet. They told me that the bath must have overflowed and I wouldn’t believe them. After they’d gone, I began to realise they must be right. I had been too knocked out by pills and booze to notice it at the time. I said to myself: “There must be something wrong. I can’t go on like this.” A few days later I went to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.’
That incident was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She suddenly realised that she was ill and that she needed help.
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