Hello /fit/. I have lurked on and off for 4 years. This board overall is pretty cool, full of good advice and good dudes. I was wondering if anyone here turned their life around from a drug or alcohol addiction, and if you did, if you would give me any tips?
I can't stand fatties who give up after a week and say they gave it their best shot. However I have a degree in biochemistry and am currently in a professional school and addiction is a real issue. Overcoming a deepseeded addiction with willpower alone is rare.
As someone who goes off and on (3 months on, 6 months off) consistently for the past 8 or so years, does anyone have any advice for me?
>>37057500
Get some close friends, people who you can trust and who can hold you accountable. They will be the difference between failure and successful
Op here, i should add that during my "on" months of cardio, lifting, and healthy diet 6/7 days a week I feel fucking amazing. The feeling of accomplishment from progression and just clean living is literally orgasmic. I don't know why I always slip back into drugs and alcohol. The second I touch the stuff during these periods of feeling amazing I immediately feel horrible, but a week later I will be on a 7 day drug and alcohol fueled bender.
Any advice from people who have broken the cycle for good would be appreciated.
>>37057521
What if I literally have no friends other than my parents?
All of my "friends", who i put in quotes, but I love them all a great deal. All of my "friends" though would not be "close" and hold me accountable given my age. I'm in my early 20's so telling all my friends that drinking isn't for me and drugs aren't good to me pisses them off.
and I understand the "well then they're bad friends, find new ones" but where are they?
And what do you do with my lifelong 10+ year friends who don't accept me for not drinking/drugs. I obviously still want have relationships with these people they're literally my childhood.
>>37057500
Hey, I've also been lurking/posting on/off for the last 4 years.
In 2.5 weeks I'll be six months sober (after 3.5 years of alcoholism). My addiction isn't like yours (3 months on 6 off for 8 years vs. progressively heavier drinking over more than 4 years with 3.5 meeting clinical standards for alcoholism) so take it with a grain of salt.
For me a couple things happened.
First there was a long and severe deterioration in my living condition. I ran a 2:43 marathon when I was 17- by the time I was 20 I was getting black out drunk off of mouthwash 7 nights a week (and a occasionally I would black out multiple times in a 24 hr period) and could barely run 2 miles at a shuffle without my heart exploding.
Hitting rock bottom certainly forced me to face my problem for what it was. Long story short I made an appointment with my GP, got prescribed disalfirum and that helped act as something of a firebreak.
Disalfirum is a drug that will make you severely physically ill if you consume alcohol alongside it.
What then followed was a 7 month long period where I was able to get my drinking down to 1-2 times a week. After a month or two into this period I had largely plateaued.
Roughly six months ago I did something borderline illegal while blackout drunk, got the cops called on me and was basically told that if I contacted X person or her staff again charges would be pressed against me. After that I resolved to quit drinking entirely. At this point I had finished college and was holding down a decent paying full time job (after having balanced several retail-tier wageslave gigs for 9 months or so while I had finished up my schooling with nightschool). Consequently I had more to lose and more of an incentive to not fuck up (of course this wasn't the first thing I had done while drunk that could've fucked my life up- it was just the first that made me want to quit and that was largely a function of the other, aforementioned changes in my life).
cont.
>>37057500
You either quit or you dont.
I wake up every day and the first thought in my head is I hate life and wish I had opioids, my second thought is suicide, and my third thought is I need to go work.
t. Heroin addict clean for 3 years
>>37057500
Hi OP, I want to help, but I doubt my own addiction was/is as bad as your own.
I quit smoking 2 years ago, but I can at least share my thoughts on that.
Simply put, I believed in myself.
I know you're probably thinking "Thanks a lot, asshole." but there's really no substitute for self confidence.
You almost need a moment of insanity to really break through the mental barriers you build for yourself, and a making multiple major life changes at once is an excellent way to catalyze that.
I think some introspection is always helpful as well.
Do you have any specific questions you want to ask a total stranger?
>>37057812
cont.
The second big change and the one which I most attribute to my continued sobriety is my current relationship.
I met my girlfriend a week after my last drink and we just clicked. I can't describe it any other way. She's been so incredibly sweet and supportive- I'm almost I would have relapsed had it not been for her.
Anyways, I'm taking the lsat in June and I scored a 175 last night on a timed practice test (placing me higher than 99.5% of test takers) and I think I have a very real shot of getting into UCLA or Georgetown for the 2017-18 school year (I'd aim higher but my gpa isn't quite there).
In the meantime I'm moving to asia for a year to work. My gf is coming with me. It'll be the first time in my life that I've left the country. I'm very excited.
Life can get better.
Two pieces of information I left out. After 2.5 months of sobriety I went to a psychiatrist (at my gf's urgings) and was prescribed an anti-depressant (bupropion) and it has done wonders.
I've also taken running back up over the last five months or so and have been cruising along at 40 mile weeks (running six days a week) for the last 3 months or so.
Exercise makes a huge difference.
You need a goal that means something to you. You've already seen what you can do off the booze vs on booze. So set a goal you can only achieve without alcohol.
Or realize that at a certain point, you will just be seen as a drunk coulda been woulda been. Fuck that, drop the bottle and pickup your dreams.
>>37057908
>>37057941
I appreciate the input.
At this point I understand my responses seem like i'm making excuses. I honestly despise people who make excuses, especially in regard to obesity. But I mentioned that I have a degree in Biochemistry and am currently pursuing a professional degree for a reason.
100/100 days I would rather feel like I do after 3 months sober than when I'm fucked 7 nights a week. But there is a very strong chemical component. It seems no matter what I do I will always be drawn back to this lifestyle. With the best available treatment options (most notably cognitive behavioral therapy) success rate (defined as 1 years sober) is around 15 percent.
Even when I was sober for extended periods and I KNEW my life was better for it (for myself, and for the conscious of my friends/family) it has never played out. If anyone has ever been in this delima I beg for advice.
It's a little cliche but it always comes to "what's the point". I feel on top of the world, have my life together, am full speed ahead on a perfect life when i'm sober. But I always slip back. Honestly i'm running out of times to do this and it is frusterating.
>>37058198
Wish I had the answer friend. At this point i've stacked up multiple addictions, thinking I could substitute one for the other and have just ended up growing them exponentially, still with the single original addiction not having gone away).
Mom died from alchoholism, sister tried to kill herself multiple times due to major depressive disorder, addictive personality just runs in my family. I always thought knowing my genetic predisposition in that regard would be enough to keep me scared straight, but the chips haven't fallen that way, especially the last couple years.
Hope you find the help you need, hope I find the help I need, and that we both make it.
>>37057571
Get out more. Get involved in a community sport such as softball, go down and play some basketball at the park, find a church if you're into that shit. To find friends who are more than partypals, you need to go to places that aren't just about partying
