Addict Dreams

[armrdhrt68]

Hi everyone. My name is Toni, I am a recovering addict, 37 days clean. This is the 2nd time I have gone through this, the first time was easier... I got addicted to something harder and took a lot longer to get through the withdrawals. I still have very strong cravings, although I am somewhere where drugs are not available to me, thank God. My point is that I have very realistic dreams about using, and it is almost every night. Even if I nap during the day, I usually will have a dream of using. I wake up disgusted with myself, but also having strong cravings. Is there any way this can stop? I am doing my 12 steps workbook from NA, just started step 2. Is there something I am not dealing with that is making me still dream of using? The dreams are soooo real. Thanks for any advice or comments.
Toni

[Astray]

I've had dreams like that too so I guess its not that unusual. I think its just yet another way of our addictions trying to play us.

I don't know of any way of controlling our dreaming unfortunately but just wanted to let you know you were not alone in this stuff.

[kolo13]

Wait a minute, do your dreams always end in frustration, You're trying to use but something goes wrong and it's not consummated. Something  gets lost, or something breaks, or you're interrupted, or it turns into something else. I always assumed that it was my unconscious mind taking its best shot. If I wake up frustrated I might be on the trail to using before I even fully wake up and think about it, in fact that's exactly how it has worked at times. But I do find that it is not impossible, at least at times, to reaffirm my commitment to not use ( or maybe just make it physically impossible to score) and thereby reduce the little tricks that my brain plays; like the frustrating dreams, and the faux-withdrawal symptoms, or creating a crisis whose solution just happens to put me near my dealer with money in my pocket. People say it gets easier but it is such a constant fight for me. Good luck.

[troubleinohio]

having those dreams are pretty common especially in early recovery. I know i had a lot of them. They can even haunt you later on too, but usually not very frequently. Hell, I just had one of those dreams myself about 2 weeks ago or so. Dreamt i was trying to talk somone into breaking into a house that had norco to steal for me! Its so stupid because i would never do that, even when i was at my worst in addiction- i never even considered burglary and felony theft, yet i had the dream anyways.  Im glad I only get drug dreams once in a blue moon now. But i did used to get them  a lot when I had just quit (my numerous times I did so). With the passage of time though, those kind of dreams diminished in frequency and they should with you too. Keep with your program and keep pluggin away, youre doing great!

[HealthySquid]

Yes, naltrexone should stop the cravings.  It can be taken orally or implanted.  Both of which must be prescribed from a doctor.

Fyi...naltrexone is NOT an opiate nor will it cause w/d's once you quit taking it or the implant totally dissolves.  It simply has more affinity for the opiate receptors in your brain than opiates have therefore opiates will no longer have any affect on your brain.  The drawback is that if you are in a car accident or in a situation in which you will need opiates for legitimate pain control, that pain control will not be possible with ANY opiate.  

I currently have had the implant for 38 days now.  I have had almost zero cravings.  Before I got off the pain meds, I too would have dreams.  After I got off and the implant was inserted, the dreams totally stopped.

Just my 2 cents...

[BIKERDAD1963]

Naltrexone does not stop cravings. Its purpose is to make you not able to get hi from opoids thus making you to not take opoids. It boots out any opoid drugs that you mite take almost imidiately so the drugs dont get into your system. It doesnt do anything about cravings however.

[dominosarah]

The dreams are very normal early in recovery.  They are very haunting and seem very real.  The dreams will lessen with time.  Talk about them at your meetings as that will help too.........Stay strong and remember you are in control of you now, not your addiction.            sara

[Holliee]

Hello I still to this day have dreams about using but not as often as I use to when I first quit sometimes they were so bad I would wake up in almost a panic attack and sometimes they were little oc's all the colors they come in dancing around stuff like that... Think it's your brain wanting them. But as time went on they got less and less. I am glad cause they really use to bug me.

[armrdhrt68]

Hey Kolo & everyone. Thanks for your responses. The first time I quit, I never had an addict's dream, I had heard of them. In answer to your question if I am frustrated in the dream because I don't get them, no, in my dream I talk people that I know have it into giving me some, or I buy them from my ex dealer, etc. I get them, and I do them in my dreams. I think it is because I really liked being high, unfortunately, and I was really hooked this time. It was my way of going away for a while, of course... I guess I still have that urge to not be in reality sometimes. Thanks for everyone's comments and support and best of luck to all of you struggling. Fight the good fight, it is worth it to have your sanity back. ;)