How long before you became addicted?

[gizzy32]

I bet a lot of us here became addicted before we even knew it. it wasn't until i had used 4, 5 months that i realized i was in trouble and addicted, but i believe i was probably addicted to coke within a month. i know that you become physically dependent with pills, but what im curious about is how long you think it took for you to become mentally addicted where you woke up and thought about drugs and needed them. we are all different and sometimes addiction can occur slowly over time and sometimes it seems to grab you overnight. How long do you believe it was before you became addicted and what was the one of the first signs you saw to make you think so?

[gizzy32]

addictedme- i agree addictive behaviour can begin as a child for sure, but maybe i didnt' explain it right, but most answered what i meant. i just mean that once we started using that drug, how long before the mental addiction and those thoughts started afterwards. your right, drugs are only a part of addcition.

avis- they only gave me ty 3's which do nothing, but give me a gut ache. i also got novo-cloxin 500 mg for infection. your right, the last thing i need is another addiction so i will be very careful. ty 3's are nothing though. im on a cane and can't walk, but when they are gone they are gone. i will be careful ty

[avisg]

gizzy ,
I am just wondering I know you were in pain yesterday did the doc prescribe you anything ? PLZ becarful I know pills are not your DOC but plz be aware these drugs sneak right up on ya ...

[addictedme]

Your question was "how long before you became addicted" and most answers referred to drugs and when you got addicted to that particular drug. My answer was that addiction can have nothing to do with drugs. Addictive behavior can start as a child in many ways . I"ve learned from listening to thousands of addicts that their addiction started long before they used a drug. So I guess the question you asked is when did everyone introduce drugs to their addiction.

[kboot]

i first got pills from my dentist. i can still remember the first vicodin i ever took. i loved the feeling it gave me. unfortunately i found a steady supply from a lady who got 120 a month. she didn't like them so she sold them. it was 8 months later that i realized i had a problem. i ran out of pills and i went to a doc in a box and faked back pain. it actually worked. doctor should be held accountable in some cases for getting a person addicted. the lady i was buying them from is over 50 years old and the doctor just keeps feeding them to her for arthritis in her knee. it is probably a good thing she doesn't like them and a bad thing for me that i do. the final straw for me was when my wife and my daughter gave me a picture collage for fathers day. when i looked at the pictures i realized i was high on pills in every pic. that sucked. i am on day 10 and i feel good. normal again.

[gizzy32]

well that is not the question i asked at all. as we begin to use any drug, many changes occur in the brain and like worried said, a lot of it is mental. i did not crave coke before i ever tried it and after a  few months that's all i thought about. that is what i was asking, so im not too sure what your point is

[addictedme]

Since drugs are only a symptom of addiction then when I started using really has nothing to do with when I became an addict just when that certain drug became a part of my addiction.

[worried878]

Crept up on me..took years tho for me to becomed physically addicted..used for 4 years but dose kept creeping up as my tolerence would creep up...I had quit last July for a month...mentally i wanted them...no physical wds really...then when i quit in February i did have all of this..wds the whole 9 yards and i knew i was physically addicted like in novemeber of last year...was in denial about it tho...I often wonder if the reason it was eaier in july when i quit was because i knew it wasnt forever...i quit to get my tolerence down for a surgery/btw:  didnt work!...but i knew i would use again..it was not a quit forever thing like the time in february was////i do think alot of it is mental

[BoboR]

And thanks for making us think, Gizzy. LOL--My poor brain needs all the exercise it can get right now while I'm recovering. Sometimes I'm a scatterbrained mess. Thank goodness for this forum and the people on it. I don't know if I could have done it without the support here.

[BoboR]

Well, it probably took a few months for me. I started out with legal pain pill scripts after a surgery. I had taken them recreationally before, but not on a daily basis. Opiates was not even my DOC back then. I had some surgery complications and wound up taking them about 3 or 4 months, off and on. I realized I felt better on days that I did take the pills, and started taking them every day. I was addicted in less than 6 months. After about 4 years of taking those, I "graduated" to methadone, got addicted to that immediately--within a month or two. Took methadone for about 5 years.

[broknbck]

well i did not discover it until i had been taking it for a couple of years and ran out once. i thought i was like gonna die and then i found this forum and could not believe it. i was having withdrawl!

thinking back, i was probably addicted like after a few months.

[dominosarah]

Gizzy you always make us use our brains dont ya!!!!!  I think the first time i drank the tequila and the first pill i took it was all over but the crying.  That was way back in the olden days!!! (early 70's)                     sara

[gizzy32]

i remember when i started using within the first month i started to smell coke when i wasn't using and my nose would twitch, it freaked the hell out of me, but i told myself i would never get addicted. i think i already was at that point

[GoingToMakeIt]

It crept up on me, like a thief in the night. I think the thought that there was a possibility of addiction was there long before I entertained the reality of being an addict. Later on, I do remember being asked by a Dr;"Do you think you're addicted?" I didn't even hesitate and said yes.

[avik7]

i started to use coke when i was 14 i knew i was addicted very quickly, but i gave it up at age 18. i also started using pills at 14 for back pain (lortab) i didnt become a problem until prob 2 yrs ago when i noticed. i was able to get my hands on 180 tabs every two weeks and sometimes more. i dunno..i think its more of when your ready to say your addicted