Palm Trees

What It Takes to Kick Drugs

You’ve come to the decision that you want to get off drugs. Or someone you love has said they’re ready to kick their habit. Is it as easy as that? What’s really involved in ditching drugs? What does it really take? How do you know you can even do it?

The issue here isn’t the physical steps you have to go through to get off drugs: detoxification, individual and group counseling, learning new coping skills, relapse prevention, aftercare and continuing care and support group meetings. The real crux of the matter is what it takes inside to be able to kick drugs.

Cutting to the chase, all it really takes is two basic requirements:

·         Genuine desire to quit drugs and remain drug-free

·         Willingness and commitment to go through treatment and abstain from drugs forever

Can it be that simple? The answer is: Yes and No.

 

What You’ll Be Giving Up

By allowing the thought to enter your mind that now’s the right time to get off the endless drug cycle, you’ve already consciously considered how negatively drugs have impacted your life. There’s something that’s definitely not okay with how you’re living. You may have lost your job, your family may have disowned you, your spouse or significant other may have called it quits, your children may have turned against you, your friends are ashamed of you and don’t want to be around you – any one of these or all of them may be applicable. And you don’t like it one bit.

When you think about giving up drugs, what comes to mind? What will you actually be giving up? Here are some possibilities, although it’s by no means an exhaustive list:

·         Lying to yourself and others

·         Stealing to support your habit

·         Drug-using friends

·         Frequenting places where people use drugs

·         Engaging in criminal behavior

·         Low self-esteem

·         Lack of confidence in your abilities

·         Poor physical health

·         Confusion, difficulty learning, memory impairment

·         Uncoordination and poor motor skills

·         Unreliability

·         Untrustworthiness

·         Anxiety, depression

·         Insomnia

In addition, you’ll say good-bye to waking up in a drug-induced haze, chills, tremors, sweating, convulsions, complete disregard for the welfare of others, and many other adjunct charactistics of a life consumed by drugs. Good riddance!

That’s what you’ll be giving up. But what do you have to look forward to if you decide to quit drugs?

 

 

What’s In Your Future If You Quit Drugs?

Focus on the long-term outlook. That’s what’s really important in your decision to quit drugs. You want a life worth meaning – to yourself, to your loved ones, to your friends. You want to make a contribution to society, possibly to make up for the wrongdoing you’ve committed during your addiction. You want to love and be loved – and to be worthy of the admiration of others. You want – and need – to assume responsibility for your actions, to have people able to rely on your word again. In short, you want to rejoin society and be the best possible person you can.

All of these are possible for your future in recovery. Will it be easy? No. Will it happen overnight? No. But you can do it. You just need to take it one step at a time.

 

 

Quitting Drugs – What Happens In Treatment And Recovery

Stand solidly behind your desire to quit drugs. Act on that thought until it becomes an active decision. What you need to do next is find out about treatment. Inquire about the types of inpatient or outpatient treatment programs available for your particular addiction. Do more than just a Google search for addiction treatment. Ask a trusted friend, family member, your family physician to make a referral or give recommendations. Call a referral hotline operated by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) at (800) 662-HELP or find a drug treatment center in your area by visiting the SAMHSA treatment facility locator at http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/about.htm. 

With a few treatment centers you identify, get further information. Go to their websites and gather as much as you can. Study it. Make a list of questions and call the facility or center and ask the questions. Then go visit the facility to see if it’s the right type of environment for your healing. Find out in much more detail the types of treatment they offer, what’s covered by insurance, if there are any scholarships, sliding scale or ability-to-pay programs, or loans available. Make sure the facility and the staff are licensed and credentialed and that they have expertise in treating your type of drug addiction.

If you like what you hear, and if the place is conducive to a personalized treatment program specifically designed for you and your circumstances, take the next step: the evaluation and assessment. This is basically an interview, conducted by the treatment center’s professional staff, possibly a physician, that asks questions regarding your background, family history, drug use, type and duration, and others. There will be a physical examination, to correlate your stated drug use with the actual chemical substances in your body. This enables the professionals to design a drug treatment program to best meet your needs.

You sign the necessary papers and the process of quitting drugs begins. The first phase is detoxification – purging your system of all the drugs you’ve ingested. You have to be clean and free of drugs for the next phase to begin, which is treatment. Depending on the type of drugs you’ve been using, strength and frequency, along with whether or not you have dual diagnosis (more than one drug, drug and alcohol addiction, drug addiction and mental health problems), the detox period may last from 2 to 3 days to 2 weeks. Heroin addiction, coupled with other diagnoses, is tougher to quit than an addiction to marijuana, for example. Your discomfort from physical withdrawal will be managed so that you are as comfortable as possible, but it won’t be a walk in the park. After all, you’ve ingested toxic chemicals. These take their toll on your body and your mind. Getting them out of your system will be unpleasant, but your detoxification will be medically monitored to ensure your safety. But once the substances are out of your body, you go on to the next phase – in other words, that’s where the real work begins.

Why did you begin using drugs in the first place? You will learn what caused you to start using. More important than why you began using is learning what you can do to prevent your using in the future. This involves learning coping skills so you can deal with the stresses of daily life, the triggers that cause you to run back to drugs, techniques you can use to prevent and overcome drug cravings. Don’t think that just because you get clean and go through treatment that somehow the drug cravings will magically disappear. It doesn’t work that way. For some newly-recovered individuals, they may not experience drug cravings for a long time, while others get them right away or frequently. In some cases, drug cravings go away and recur months or years later. But you will learn how to combat them, and it’s important that you pay special attention to those skills and techniques – because you will need them the rest of your life.

Your treatment program will consist of individual and group counseling, educational lectures and activities, physical exercise and group activities, family counseling (if appropriate), entertainment and other events. The program will seek to restore balance in your mind-body-spirit, so that you are able to leave treatment and resume your life – albeit with a lot of changes. You will have to give up your drug-using friends, quit frequenting places where people use drugs and alcohol. Instead, you will be making new friends, among whom will be your allies in your support group meetings. It is through the strength and assistance of these members of your support group that you will be able to weather and endure the many challenges that come your way following treatment when you are in recovery. They are your lifeline, your own personal insurance policy to help you keep on the path of abstinence.

How long will it take to get clean and drug-free? Again, this depends upon the individual, the type of drug or substances causing the addiction, frequency of using and length of addiction, and other factors. Treatment may last 30 to 60 days, or it may take 6 months. But continuing care, aftercare and support group meeting attendance go far beyond treatment. It is recommended that recovering addicts regularly attend support group meetings for at least 2 years following treatment. Many of those in recovery make attendance at support group meetings a weekly priority – and more often during times of crisis.

This is not a bad thing. In fact, when you look at all the positive things you will be able to achieve when you’re clean and drug-free, your support group should be at the top of your list. Through the friendship and support of others just like you who have gone through the same process of overcoming addiction, you will be better able to map out your own future, achieve your long-buried dreams, and be the best you can possibly be.

In the end, the simple truth is that what it takes to quit drugs all boils down to you. Do you really want to change? Are you ready and willing to do what it takes to get off drugs? Will you commit to it wholeheartedly? You are ready. Take the next steps. Do it for yourself and your future.

Related Reading: LA Weekly on claims of an addiction cure