how to minimize the effects of cocaine and crack withdrawl

[lookin4advice]

Greetings all,

I used cocaine pretty heavily from Jan until about 2 weeks ago.  Then I switched to crack because my nose was getting messed up.

Anyways, when I have tried quitting, the withdrawl effects make it difficult to function normally in the day to day.  I have nearly zero desire to actually use the drug, but the only thing that keeps me at least semi funtctional is to smoke up.

My questions are:

1) How long would the withdrawl symptoms last for a user like myself as described above?

2) I have been researching ways to minimize the effects of the withdrawl symptoms and there seems to be a lot of scattered information out there.  Has anoyone had success with prescription or non-prescription medications that will help?


Every few days I throw everything away, but after a day or two I find myself going back to stay normal.  Outside of that, I have zero cravings.

Thanks,

[dyblue]

I am on a antidepressant called celexa works for me.  had to try quite a few to find the right one some made me speedy and some sleepy this one just feels normal. I used along time ago mda for about 6 months everyday , there has been other drugs too over the years but the point being coke if  you use it the depression that follows is brutal.  I had a friend that killed herself from using coke , I think if she just got on the antidepressant it could have helped. the brain chemistry get all messed up sometimes permentatly I think thats what happened to me.  all I know out of all the bad drugs out there speed ,coke SPEED KILLS THATS A COINED PHRASE and theres a reason for that one .  try it it may work for you.  Good luck.

[tammyk_40]

i looked up crack cocaine addiction and it said some symptoms are hallucinations, depression,damage of the pleasure receptors in the brain, irritability,anxiety,paranoia,and the worst one, intense cravings. so if youre not having cravings, maybe youre not really experiencing withdrawal symptoms. im glad you stopped. please if you want your dignity and you respect yourself, dont start back again. it will take everything from you. so run away from that devil drug!!! tammy

[CATUF]

There is no withdrawal, per se, from coke/crack - it's just catch up time!  If you were anything like me, and all the crackheads I was hanging around, then you are sleep deprived, under nourished and dehydrated.  Thus, the primary "prescription" for cocaine detox is lots of sleep, good food and lots of water.

You were doing enough toot to be getting nose bleeds, so I'm guessing that when you hit the stem it wasn't for just a puff now and then.  That life style, actually more than the drug itself, take a huge toll - you can recover from it, but you need the sleep, food and water that you've been depriving yourself of for these past 2 or 3 months.

I jumped on to my first crack run at the very bottom of a 5+ year addiction to hydrocodone.  My brain was hard-wired for addiction by that time and when I introduced crack I took off like a bat out of hell.  I lasted about 8 weeks and was shipped of to a 28 day rehab.  

I was like a new man when I got home, but I thought (KNEW) that I "needed it just one more time" and relapsed w/i 36 hours.  Within 3 days I was using daily again.  I assume you know how it goes from there . . . wasn't too long before I gave up the pretense of being clean and just went at it most of the day every day.  The last 2 weeks were basically 24-7 - I remember that one day I honestly felt like I was ahead of the game and doing well because I actually slept for 20 minutes in a chair.

My 2nd rehab started 4.5 months after my 2nd run started and that rehab lasted exactly 4 months.  For the 1st week I was an absolute zombie and I was still testing positive for cocaine after 9 days.

Besides sleep, food and water, the next most important thing for getting clean was addressing my brain chemistry.  That was done through fairly intensive amino acid and conventional vitamin supps.  I highly recommend the book "End Your Addiction Now," by Charles Gant.  Starting in Chapter 4 or 5, it qives you a few short (15 question) tests that will tell you exactly what amio acids you need to get the neurotransmitters straightned out in you brain - coke (especially crack) really does a number on them.

As important as all the other stuff that rehab did was the simple fact that it provided me with a safe place, where I could slowly get better while I was virtually unable to function.  There were so many days when I was trying to quit on my own when I "just needed a blast to get me going," which just started the whole ride all over again.  

If you haven't tried NA or AA, try that too.  I actually go to 5 or 6 AA meetings a week.  It really helps if you can just surrender to it and not focus on how other people are different or how you don't fit in, etc.  There's a standard that says you should hit "90 meeting in 90 days" - if you can do that (whether you like it or not and whether it seems to be helping or not) you'll be well on your way.

CATUF
Day-660
(guess I better watch myself in 6 days!)