Staying clean takes recovery care

[avisg]

Recovery care is not discussed nearly as often as it should be on here .Once you have gone threw the physical withdrawal its time to get recovery care ...Getting clean is the easy part staying clean is the hard part ..The forum is GREAT but it is NOT recovery care it will not keep you clean .The only one that can keep you clean is ourselves and the program we get ourselves on to stay that way ... For some AA/NA is what they choose for others an addiction specialist or a therapist  others see there pastor what ever works for you .Just make sure you get something if you don't chances are you will find yourself relapsing ...Dont do that to yourself

[JohnnyDanger]

Thanx Sara! :)

[SophieShine]

bump for the newbies out there!

[dominosarah]

bump

[dominosarah]

Now that is what we like to hear!!  way to go on 36 days clean!!!         sara

[JohnnyDanger]

NA was a life saver for me... Just a month ago I was posting on here about all the terrible withdrawls from OXY. For those going through it...HANG IN THERE!!!! It gets better! And PLEASE go check out a AA/NA meeting. It really helps one understand addiction and its damages. Now 36 days clean... I  slowly forget the hell I went through just a month ago. BUT with NA by my side... It reminds me why I will never go back!!!!

[Beccabeccalynn]

I rock AA 3-5 times a week . Sometimes my family will even say hey why don't you hit a meeting looks like you need it. True story.
Becca

[dominosarah]

Great post tellit2her.  Congrats on 54 days!!  It really does work if you work it......sara

[tellit2her]

Greetings avisg, great topic that you have brought up, and speaking from experience I know that if you do not have an aftercare plan, recovery is nothing more than a blurr and relapse is inevitable. This topic, like you stated, is not much of a discussion on this site. All I read is how people have been clean for 4 or 5 days and all the misery that takes place during that time, but NO comments on what the healing person has plans for the future at all. I tried this so many times myself and it the end results were always the same. I finally took some action after so many failed attempts with "white knuckling recovery", and attend therapy sessions, see a councelor, outpatient treatment, groups and a good dose of AA. So far after 54 days, things seem a little more clearer with purpose and meaning. You can only drop and apple on the floor so many times without it getting bruised up to the point where its no good. I am glad for recovery programs that are available to those who suffer from this grave disease. Thanks a million, mike in nc

[dominosarah]

angel......This is exactly the reason you need to go back to your meetings.  I am willing to bet that alot of them have been in your shoes at one time or another.  Its more than okay to walk in and say I need help, I cant do this alone......

Narla......when you are ready to go to a meeting you will know.  You are going to a therapist and working your recovery.  All this takes time and you are working thru your demons slowly but surely......You are doing just fine girl.......sara

[avisg]

angel,
you know you have  be honset .You are not the first to relapse they will not judge you they will support you..it will be ok

[angelmaybe2u]

This is the first time I have posted here. I have been clean from painpills since Halloween 2008. I went to aa meetings almost everyday, got a sponsor & actually talked to her, got another just in case 1st one wasn't available. read my big book everyday & prayed alot. I begun to feel peace for the first time in a long time-I felt like my life did matter. I got a pt job at night * stopped going to meetins & doing things I listed above. My whole attitude changed from positive to negative. I started getting depressed(I'm also bipolar & take meds). I then got it in my head that I could smoke weed. I've done so a couple of times but it didn't really do anything except make me focus on all the neg. I know I need to get back in the swing of things, but for the life of me I can't make myself! I don't want aa people to know I relapsed-I know honesty is everything in recovery. My depression has gotten so much worse & i'm going through med changes for that. I am also on suboxone but almost out of that. I HATE starting over. I've done it so many times!!  I just don't understand myselg-guess I just wanted to be "normal" Sorry for the long post!!

[narla]

avisg and dominosarah-I'm 151 days clean I still haven't been able to get myself in aftercare, here there is such a stigma attached to addictions I'm worried someone will see me.I do see a counsellor,not for the addictions though,But we do discuss it every week,we are also discussing cross addictions, I see my Dr regularly too is that enough.  

[SophieShine]

Our addiction has roots that we have to be aware of and the roots are very deep for some, there's no way to recover without some type of aftercare.
It's when we become clean that the real work begins. Staying clean is an everyday job.
Thanx Avisg and sara for reminding us what this is all about...
Best of luck to all of you.
xoxoxo. sophie

[avisg]

sweatin,
what were you on before you got clean? I dont think I have ever read that LOL

[dominosarah]

bump

[sweatinit]

Thnaks for that post. I will post shortly about my aftercare and how much it has helped me. If it weren't for you guys, this site would have been my before, during and aftercare. Thanks so much!! Day 22...sweet freedom. xxoo

[dominosarah]

Nice to see you waving and hollerin with us now!!!  You go girl!!    sara

[wanttobeclean]

Great thread.  After getting off the drugs only to be sucked into a new addiction (alcohol), I wisened up and realized I was honestly back to square one.  SO then I started yanking, pulling and banging my head against the locked door, missing the open window right beside it...the one sara and Avis were waving and hollerin' from ...aftercare with AA

;-))

Thanks again

[dominosarah]

Google NA meetings in your area.  Some people talk with their ministers also.  

[avisg]

cat if you are low on funds aa/na either one honestly can do the job I believe if you go to either the aa or na web sites you can put in your info about where u live and they will give a listings of meetings in your area ...Not every meeting is suitable for every person you may need to go to a few different places in your area until you find one that you feel is a fix for u ..We have several members that found themselves more comfortable in aa meetings so if na meetings dont work for u dont be afraid to try the aa meeting s

[catlover8]

I have a question for you all. I am embarking on detox this Thursday. I am trying to decide which aftercare is best for me. I want to keep posting, but I understand I need aftercare as well. I was thinking NA. How do I figure out where to go and when meetings are? Also, what are some other aftercare options that do not cost much money?

[dominosarah]

bump

[worried878]

we were just messaging today bout the time we spend on this forum reaching out...and u r right..we need to also do work on ourselves..more and more work...i am bad about being a caregiver cos i guess that is my profession and my so called role in life..but i need to also take care of myself//and i do know how quickly life can close in around me and hit me off guard
u brought up the "i feel like a million bux" at 8,12, 18 days thing...i read these posts and dont wanna say u may not always feel so great..I hate to burst bubbles and I nevr want to sound negative on a positve post//and sometimes i avoid posting what may happen..but since it happened to me too..feeling great then taking a nose dive into depression..it is hard not to sometimes..the pink cloud is real for most of us...and being positve is so very important to recovery///but being realistic is also part of life,,,so i will say realistic vs negative when i mention everyday is not a good day//cos it is not//life doesnt always dish out good days//and without bad days there would be no good days
Aftecare is the only way most can hang on/at yr and 1/2 clean my life came crashing down around me and where did I run? Not to my DOC cos thought that would be too dangerous  LOL..turned to alcohol///talk about dangerous!./but having posted here and realizing what i was doing i pulled out///for a month i just didnt care and dint even post here cos i was lost//again..at over a yr clean..I WAS SO LOST...and realized my work on myself was not even near completed cos i ran to my old coping mechanism..ESCAPE!

great post..-

[guv338]

There is a time for sugarcoating things, when newbies are trying to get started and then theres a time for tough love, when someone needs to know the truth.  My experience with your postings, are that you care about the recipient and try to give the needed response.  Life is not always pretty and neither is reality.  Some of the posts that helped me the most, back in the early days, were the ones that told it to me straight.  The 3-5 day detox was not in order for me, so I needed to know that after being such a f...,  up for so long, that I was going to have to pay the piper for a longer period of time.  It was that tough love and Truth, that gave me the knowledge I needed to push forward.  You just keep on being dominosarah and all will be well.
Thanks for all you do.  guv