Helpful books for addicts starting over?

[NewLeaf]

Hello everyone. I haven't posted in quite sometime and I would like to ask those of you who have experienced long term addiction to heavy opiates, including heroin, a question for my daughter.

Are there any books that have helped people out there begin life over again? Helped them feel better about themselves so they can start to do things again?

She has found it  very hard to actually get back into "Living Life" as a normal person. She has extreeme difficulties in doing just the normal things that need to be done during a day. Taking care of the kids most basic needs is about all she has had motivation for.

At the moment, taking care of kids is not a problem as she is back in jail for a max of 43 days because she couldn't even sort out her legal appeal steps, all the while she lied to me and others that it was taken care of. So, she asked me yesterday to send her some self help books to help her get over feeling like a piece of trash. Books that may have some guideance on how to start over, perhaps from an addict's perspective or not, anything that any of you have  found helpful.

Thank you all - New Leaf

P.S.  Dad still has all kids and I am just wondering how long it is going to take him to abandon that ship. He is still on a large methadone dosage and not ready to quit. My daughter, was down to 30mg a day and is now having to CT in jail. Yesterday, day 7 without, was the first time I saw her without pinned pupils for, I can't even remember how long,  and she said the withdrawls weren't that bad, she was able to deal with it. She said has finally reached a point that when she gets out, no more methadone, she is done with it, but will do followup therapy.   I hope so. Time usually tells.

[avisg]

End Your Addiction Now: The Proven Nutritional Supplement Program That Can Set You Free
by Charles Gant............      

[CATUF]

there are lots of great books on Recovery out there.  in early Recovery i found that it was very helpful to be constantly reading things that were narrowly focused on Recovery and relapse prevention.  

a great book in this area is Staying Clean & Sober, by Miller & Miller.  Also, Staying Sober, by Gorski & Miller (Be sure to read the Paws chapter from this book on-line - http://www.****.com/ar_pages/paw_part1.htm).  Another is Reversing the Regression Spiral, by Miller & Miller.  Don't discount the "Bibles" of 12 step recovery, AA's Big Book and NA's Basic Text.  

some great books about the role of nutrition & supps in Recovery are: End Your Addiction Now, by Gant; Seven Weeks to Sobriety, by Larsen; and The Mood Cure, by Ross.  i am convinced that paying close attention to this aspect has made a HUGE difference for me.

for me, and most folks i know in sustained Recovery, the process has been a journey of spiritual growth as much as anything else (not religious, spiritual).  it has helped me immensely to foster that process with Recovery-related spiritual reading.  you will find no shortage of this in any Recovery community.  a great book to start with is The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning, by Kurtz.  two that i see right here are: The Tao of Sobriety, by Gregson & Efran (it was OK); and Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addiction, by May

these days, i tend to see Recovery stories and lessons everywhere and in everything

good luck

CATUF
1025

[cathy5841]

hi, joyce meyers has an awesome book called how to succed at being me....it is great and you can get it online at joyce meyers ministries.  hope you can get it, it is really good.  she has several books that are good,  good luck
cathy

[troubleinohio]

Healing & Hope by Betty Ford...it has several stories from different women journies through addiction and recovery..

[addictedme]

The NA basic text

[mcray]

Is the NA basic text similar to the AA Big Book? I have the big book and if the NA text is the same basically, I won't bother picking it up. If it is different, I will pick it up because I find replacing "alcohol" with "opiates" mentally, a pain.

[addictedme]

Yes,there pretty similar,the differance is really just words. I would suggest a daily meditation book (dont know if aa has them) but you"d be suprised how many days that the reading is just what you need that day,,gl

[NewLeaf]

Thank you all for the start list.....

Avisg - Unfortunately she can't have supplements in jail but I will have it on hand for when she gets out.

Catuf - The list is going with me to Barns & Nobel

Cathy - i have checked out the Joyce meyers site - THANKS!

Troubleinohio - Will check out the Ford book when I next go to the center with my 7 yr old grandaughter

Addixctedme & Mcray - Sad to say, my daughter has had the AA & NA books since she was 16. This year she will be 29. Says alot. She also said they were available in jail so, we know where she stands on that one. This has been a long haul, I am almost ready to give up having any hope she will help herself anytime during my life time although, the happiest day of my life would be to see her finally through the tunnel and back into broad daylight where she can thrive, be sober and not want to use again. For her sake and for her children.

Thank you all again for the tips. Keep doing what you're doing, helping yourselves and others along the way. It gives me some hope that the possibility for my daughter to be sober does exhist.