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Do the cocaine cravings ever stop?
I have been off cocaine for about 6 months, However I did have 2 slips during that time. I think about doing coke everyday, I still want to do it. I would probably still be doing it if I had better contracts (dealers). My question is how do I stop these cravings or will they ever stop?
I was a regular weekend user for many years. The recovery got harder between uses over the years. Depression, extreme exhaustion, serious nosebleeds, lack of interest in anything. Despite all that, I'd be at it again Friday night through Sunday, no sleep in between. My face aged dramatically. During my final session my nose started bleeding profusely. Upon blowing my nose a large piece of cartilage came out. I haven't been able to breathe properly through my nose since. I haven't touched it since. I've been clean for 15 months now. I do still crave occasionally but remind myself why I stopped and that in itself prevents me for doing it again. I hope it never gets this far for you and wish you all the best!
The cravings never completely go away, but they become more manageable. I haven't done coke in 10 years, but still do a double take when I see flour scattered on the kitchen counter. Sad but true
been fighting for ten years and pretty much wasted everything good about my twenties I miss out on everything fun because I can't save money because I always **** up my friends are getting over me and so is my family Iam in debt and I can never get out and every time Iam doing good someone offers it to me and I don't say no And once I start I just keep going until I pretty much completely **** up my life like if it's there I'll keep buying and fronting and using even if it goes on for days usually I only make it till 7 am because I can't find anymore I just got a dui and it stupid because I got the brethalizer thing and now Iam trapped somewhere I don't wanna be waiting for the alcohol to exit my system Iam pretty much a joke and different person I can stop for about two weeks max! Then he cravings get so bad I pretty much throw up and have anxiety that makes me pace and sweat **** sometimes I hope I just die from overdose just so I don't have to deal with this but I know that's weak Iam 27 and Iam missing out on everything awesome sometimes I go so deep I'll be 5 6 hundred dollars in debt pay it back and go right back into that debt and that continues for months Iam retarded but I can't help myself I live with my parents too, Iam pretty much a loser but Iam also egoed out but that's only to hide that fact that Iam so insecure I used to be good looking but I look like skeleton now with acne on my back and I just wish I could have fun without anxiety like even hanging out the anxiety is what ***** me it's like I can't sit still I'll just walk around in circles arguing with myself but I always end up charging anyone tell me something good please
I have been "clean: for over thirty years, I have recently started a relationship with an amazing person, an admitted coke user, who has been off it for about 4 months. Over the past two weeks there has been some conversations as to how much they miss it and would have a problem if we found ourselves in an environment where it as available. We try to keep away from them, but sometimes, there it is..We usually leave. My partner really does want to stay off it. And respects my "condition" of having this relationship was No Hard Drugs. We both smoke a little pot.......I feel I am losing this relationship because of an invisible hold that coke has....Just needed to vent...I will support as much as I can. We all have limits.
Thank you so much for your honesty! I was thinking the same thing! been trying to battle this stuff for 20 years! It has been over 2 months since ive had any, the last few days im craving like heck and am thinking I am doomed to failure the rest of my life.. :( God help us..
Thank you so much for your honesty! I was thinking the same thing! been trying to battle this stuff for 20 years! It has been over 2 months since ive had any, the last few days im craving like heck and am thinking I am doomed to failure the rest of my life.. :( God help us..
Hello everyone! I am new to the site, this being my first visit and first post. I have been clean from crack use 6 years, going on 7 in February. This year has been particularly trying for me. I had a close friend die from his long term alcohol use and several acquaintances die from heroin overdoses.
Throughout the past 4-5 years I had cravings on and off, but nothing like I am now. With the most recent passing of my brothers friend, I am having strong feelings of guilt and helplessness, accompanied by cravings to use. I am worried the stress of my job and being a single parent with the fellings of grief, helplessness and guilt, might be more than I can handle.
I'm thinking I may have set myself up.....I don't have a strong support system. I got clean when finding out I was pregnant. I ran from all the people I used with and for the last 6 years focused on climbing the corporate ladder and raising my daughter. Slowly, I got back in touch with my true friends that don't use but really only have two I feel comfortable hanging around. I don't go to meetings and I don't have a sponsor....looks like this was a big miss on my part! The reason I never did was because I found not being around other addicts was easier for me. Hearing stories in meetings and watching others go back was a trigger that never made me successful in the past. So this time, I did the opposite and kept to myself rather that surrounding myself with sober addicts. It's worked for 6 years but now I'm not so sure this was the right move.
The past few days, in my free time, I have been researching ways I can give back and support the education and prevention of addiction. I need to help others get and stay clean and prevent people from ever picking up in the first place. The research and reading stories of heartache from family/friends of addicts, has sent me into an urgent reaction mode, and brought on the cravings.
It's odd to have the intense need to save the world but want to self destruct at the same time! I'm so angry we keep losing so many good people to this ********! I want to help but I'm scared I'm losing myself in the process. I HATE THESE DRUGS!
Any advise or help with pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks!
Throughout the past 4-5 years I had cravings on and off, but nothing like I am now. With the most recent passing of my brothers friend, I am having strong feelings of guilt and helplessness, accompanied by cravings to use. I am worried the stress of my job and being a single parent with the fellings of grief, helplessness and guilt, might be more than I can handle.
I'm thinking I may have set myself up.....I don't have a strong support system. I got clean when finding out I was pregnant. I ran from all the people I used with and for the last 6 years focused on climbing the corporate ladder and raising my daughter. Slowly, I got back in touch with my true friends that don't use but really only have two I feel comfortable hanging around. I don't go to meetings and I don't have a sponsor....looks like this was a big miss on my part! The reason I never did was because I found not being around other addicts was easier for me. Hearing stories in meetings and watching others go back was a trigger that never made me successful in the past. So this time, I did the opposite and kept to myself rather that surrounding myself with sober addicts. It's worked for 6 years but now I'm not so sure this was the right move.
The past few days, in my free time, I have been researching ways I can give back and support the education and prevention of addiction. I need to help others get and stay clean and prevent people from ever picking up in the first place. The research and reading stories of heartache from family/friends of addicts, has sent me into an urgent reaction mode, and brought on the cravings.
It's odd to have the intense need to save the world but want to self destruct at the same time! I'm so angry we keep losing so many good people to this ********! I want to help but I'm scared I'm losing myself in the process. I HATE THESE DRUGS!
Any advise or help with pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks!
I have been a cocaine user for the last 24-25 years. I haven't used in 2 weeks now. Before anyone gives me a pat on the back, I will say almost all of my use happens on the weekends. I have kept this from my family, wife and kids all this time, I thought I was so clever. I would wait till everbody goes to bed and than it was party time. I would pound back some vodka or beer or whiskey to get that buzz going...the one that makes coke feel, taste so good. Then I would waste hours at looking at porn on the internet (enter second addiction). It got to the point where it felt i was overdosing several times a year. You would think someone would learn after the first horrifying episode where you think your heart is going to explode...laying on the floor whispering barely audible "god, please dont let me die on this floor and have my kids find me". I have had enough of this goof drug. I feel so ashamed of myself for cheathing my wife and kids out of family vacations, always being late on bills..so much regret. I get cravings, but i just ask myself...Is it really worth dying over or losing your family? It seems to snap me out it. Wish me luck
I've been using since I was 18 years old I'm now 25 years old . Last week I was rushed to hospital after bombing 3.5 g of base in 24hrs and I suffered a mild heart attack. I really want to stop I'm so un social I can't go out and talk to people I freeze up I think this was a warning but i don't know how to start again
I have been off coke now for 7 years. I finally went to rehab. The first time didn't stick and I went back to it hardcore. When it completely took over my life I went to rehab again. Craved it every single day for over a year. Still craved it often for a couple more years. Then I slipped and did it one night. That night reminded me how bad the comedown made me feel and I actually flushed the leftover rather than doing it. That day I decided it just any worth it. I still fight with a pill addiction but very rarely get a craving for cocaine anymore. It gets better but it's a long battle. Keep fighting. I'm so thankful it is no longer a part of my life. Congrats on how far you have come
You will have post acute withdrawal symptoms anywhere up to 5 years after using. cocaine unlike other drugs, when you have a craving the way my program described it was, other drugs leave a track ingrained in your mind making you want to use and crave, coke/crack leaves a giant rut and is A LOT harder to stop and curb the cravings.
You have to want to stop using at all costs, the craving will never fully go away but there are things you can do. brain damage you obviously can't fix but, this sounds routine but it actually works our whole group has changed these and our craving have really subsided compared to what they used to, you need to eat right, sugar makes you crave horrible because it acts as a drug in your brain making you want to crave more of food and drugs, so eat healthy. Exercise, go for walks and by exercise I don't mean lifting weight because that doesn't help, you have to do cardio, and in the long run you'll feel better anyway and look better too because your eating healthy and getting out and being healthy. Excessive use of caffeine and nicotine will make you definitely crave more because they cause anxiety and we treat our moods as addicts with drugs(we use to celebrate and we use to medicate) so definitely cut down, don't cut out cold turkey or you could cause yourself to relapse. Poor stress management, you need to figure out how you can better handle your stressful situations, start getting into the routine of journaling, meditating, deep breathing, it doesn't sound fun but it really actually truly does help.
If you want to get serious about this though and take your life into your own hands and be able to actually not ever use again, you need to stop white knuckling it, we can't do this on our own you need support if you could do it on your own, you would have and you wouldn't have relapsed(plus, you haven't had that long clean if you've relapsed, you aren't being honest, and secrets harbor sickness, you need to be honest with yourself and everyone else around, when you aren't it will make you stressed) You need to go to a proper treatment center they are great and will teach the tools you fully need to be able to take hold of your life and to not go out on the street. The thing you have to remember with sobriety, YOU GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT! If you don't do the work properly and throw yourself completely into it, you are going to relapse again and again and keep kicking yourself in the ***, and you know how many 20 or 30 year olds i know who have had triple by-pass surgery due to using coke. You need to get proper help, the internet will never give you the proper tools and support you need to get clean. You might feel ashamed or embarrassed to go to a treatment center but it's more shameful and embarrassing to be eating out of garbage cans, begging for change, homeless on the street stealing or finding anything you can for a 5 piece of crack and don't say you'll never do crack because crack is coke, and shooting up is only a step away. The stuff people are cutting it with these days is disgusting and insane, I know people whose whole bodies have huge gaping sores everywhere needing deworming meds and people who have actually lost limbs, or worse they are dead. What is more important? your life or your pride. At the end of your life you'll only have you and no one else will matter, do yourself a favour and do something that is actually going to lead you to a happier life that you never even knew you could have or existed!
Good Luck, you'll need it. I know I sure did and I haven't used crack in a year, I was shooting up i was on the verge of selling myself for drug money and I realized how I didn't even know who I was anymore because the old me would never have even thought about going anywhere with a stranger let alone going to there houses to get a blast of crack or to sell myself for drugs.
I got clean 3 times on my own, I was white knuckling it and each time i relapsed it was worse than the last don't let it get that bad. The thing is you have to want this more than anything when the pain of being lonely, sick, tired, and just at the end of your rope is greater than the need for that next high that is when you will be able to fully take everything in. Don't waste your time going to treatment if your not even going to be there for yourself and to learn whatever you have to, to save your life and to build the best relationships with the people around and live a fully happy free life. You have to be willing to give up all those old contacts and friends that aren't healthy, you need to be able to give up the paraphernalia, delete those numbers, get yourself away from your old using area, whatever reminds you of it, or is a bad influence you need to let go because your life is more important. Losing the friends and not talking to them was hard I didn't have friends for a long while but now i am making real meaningful relationships that have substance and truly matter. We aren't using each other for drugs or abusing each other.
We can all do it, just believe in yourself and do the right thing and get professional because if you could do it on your own, you would have and you wouldn't have relapsed. I wish you all the best!
Good luck! It works if you work it, so work it, your worth it!
You have to want to stop using at all costs, the craving will never fully go away but there are things you can do. brain damage you obviously can't fix but, this sounds routine but it actually works our whole group has changed these and our craving have really subsided compared to what they used to, you need to eat right, sugar makes you crave horrible because it acts as a drug in your brain making you want to crave more of food and drugs, so eat healthy. Exercise, go for walks and by exercise I don't mean lifting weight because that doesn't help, you have to do cardio, and in the long run you'll feel better anyway and look better too because your eating healthy and getting out and being healthy. Excessive use of caffeine and nicotine will make you definitely crave more because they cause anxiety and we treat our moods as addicts with drugs(we use to celebrate and we use to medicate) so definitely cut down, don't cut out cold turkey or you could cause yourself to relapse. Poor stress management, you need to figure out how you can better handle your stressful situations, start getting into the routine of journaling, meditating, deep breathing, it doesn't sound fun but it really actually truly does help.
If you want to get serious about this though and take your life into your own hands and be able to actually not ever use again, you need to stop white knuckling it, we can't do this on our own you need support if you could do it on your own, you would have and you wouldn't have relapsed(plus, you haven't had that long clean if you've relapsed, you aren't being honest, and secrets harbor sickness, you need to be honest with yourself and everyone else around, when you aren't it will make you stressed) You need to go to a proper treatment center they are great and will teach the tools you fully need to be able to take hold of your life and to not go out on the street. The thing you have to remember with sobriety, YOU GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT! If you don't do the work properly and throw yourself completely into it, you are going to relapse again and again and keep kicking yourself in the ***, and you know how many 20 or 30 year olds i know who have had triple by-pass surgery due to using coke. You need to get proper help, the internet will never give you the proper tools and support you need to get clean. You might feel ashamed or embarrassed to go to a treatment center but it's more shameful and embarrassing to be eating out of garbage cans, begging for change, homeless on the street stealing or finding anything you can for a 5 piece of crack and don't say you'll never do crack because crack is coke, and shooting up is only a step away. The stuff people are cutting it with these days is disgusting and insane, I know people whose whole bodies have huge gaping sores everywhere needing deworming meds and people who have actually lost limbs, or worse they are dead. What is more important? your life or your pride. At the end of your life you'll only have you and no one else will matter, do yourself a favour and do something that is actually going to lead you to a happier life that you never even knew you could have or existed!
Good Luck, you'll need it. I know I sure did and I haven't used crack in a year, I was shooting up i was on the verge of selling myself for drug money and I realized how I didn't even know who I was anymore because the old me would never have even thought about going anywhere with a stranger let alone going to there houses to get a blast of crack or to sell myself for drugs.
I got clean 3 times on my own, I was white knuckling it and each time i relapsed it was worse than the last don't let it get that bad. The thing is you have to want this more than anything when the pain of being lonely, sick, tired, and just at the end of your rope is greater than the need for that next high that is when you will be able to fully take everything in. Don't waste your time going to treatment if your not even going to be there for yourself and to learn whatever you have to, to save your life and to build the best relationships with the people around and live a fully happy free life. You have to be willing to give up all those old contacts and friends that aren't healthy, you need to be able to give up the paraphernalia, delete those numbers, get yourself away from your old using area, whatever reminds you of it, or is a bad influence you need to let go because your life is more important. Losing the friends and not talking to them was hard I didn't have friends for a long while but now i am making real meaningful relationships that have substance and truly matter. We aren't using each other for drugs or abusing each other.
We can all do it, just believe in yourself and do the right thing and get professional because if you could do it on your own, you would have and you wouldn't have relapsed. I wish you all the best!
Good luck! It works if you work it, so work it, your worth it!
there is no escape. once you start down the dark path forever will it dominate your destiny. Never been addicted to a substance before but yeah, this one grabs you and won't let go. Best I've ever been able to do is try and manage to stay functional.
went 4 days clean then ****** up today. not feeling good now its gone and wish id neva caved in. was doing so well am gutted wiv myself :(
Hi i am now at the stage that i know im addicted to coke. 2 yrs ago i had the worst yr of my life and became addicted to speed, but i overcome it myself when i realised how bad it had become. Now ive gone from a social coke user to a regular user and im scared. ive tried to beat it alone but its harder than speed, the cravings are soo strong n i think i need help. Are drug councellors any good or is there a way to beat the cravings when they start, cos they r so strong and im helpless. feel like a failure n guilt is terrible but forget that when craving comes on.
whatever you do, don't do any other powerful stimulants like E or Ritalin or even switch to opiates thinking it will ease up on cravings. In about a week you will crave it even more. I found doing puzzles helps (pls don't laugh) it occupies your mind (and kind of symbolic too, since you have to put your own life together). Going for long hikes, visit with cousins that don't use. But what helped most of all was moving away. Look for jobs in towns at least 2 hours driving distance away. You won't be too far, but you are probably not going to get dope as easily.
1 Comments
It´s true, live far away helps. I did cocaine very unadulterated in a country where is easy to get it, I did a lot for many many years. Cravings never ending, but be sure they don´t last most than 1 minute. I have 5 months clean and I´m living in a foreing country where I can´t find cocaine so easy and cheap how I used it. Just think to buy it for more than five dollars one gram is sad, even being caught for the aggresive police of this country helps to me to stay clean and sober.
They will go away at some point. When? Can't put a time on it on it but I imagine the start is when you acknowledge that your sooo pissed off at your cravings that you say "to hell with this". I went thru 6 years of periodical cravings and then,,they went away. That revelation was 6 years ago after the first 6. I couldn't get my body to tingle for it if I tried now. Not even that self created rush where your mind says" It's ok,,you can handle,(just a little). Make a choice and stick with it. You will be one step closer to them going away. It will take time though. To continue the mental battle and then use leads to nothing but disfunction and disaster for your body, not to mention the legal consequences if you get caught up in such..Along with the false reality's it continues to create in your mind to justify continued use..Hope this helps. Best of luck.
My cocaine addition has been going on off and on for ten years. I have stopped for a year two times. I'm down to a twenty sack two or three times a month. I have been like this for years. I want to stop. Wat do I do?
first off, lets be honest. You ain got 6 months "clean time" if you had 2 "slip ups". sorry it don work tha way. sure wish it did, cuz id be much further along LOL.
also, I agree with mma, you gotta be really willing to make some life changes to kick cocaine. Not just havin ****** dealers.
cravings are a real *****, I outta know. but they will ease up after 90 days of TOTAL clean time. IE- no slip ups. I notice that after I log 90, the coke dreams cease, and I no longer think of gettin high non-stop. but them first true 90 are hard to get thru. I joined this site because I CANNOT make 2 years clean. I have made a year here n there, but it seems I wont let myself breathe easier till I get at least 2 years in.
only suggestion I can give ya on the cravings is to find a hobby. something (anything with no chemicals) that can help you occupy your time. another thing i learned from cathy that is totally true.... cravings are time limited!!!!
this means if you find something to occupy your mind and body while your craving THEY WILL PASS SOON. Get on here and post when they get real terrible. or call someone that doesnt use and talk. ya ain gotta tell em your craving, just talk to em and pass the time . your gonna find that by doing that you have pushed thru that craving. I know that another one comes wayyyyy tooo soooon, but we have to push thru that one as well. I HAVE TO BELIEVE THEY CAN BE BEAT! its either that or give up , which is not an option. One more thing id like to throw in...... theres 2 ends to addiction. recovery or death. good luck n much luv...
also, I agree with mma, you gotta be really willing to make some life changes to kick cocaine. Not just havin ****** dealers.
cravings are a real *****, I outta know. but they will ease up after 90 days of TOTAL clean time. IE- no slip ups. I notice that after I log 90, the coke dreams cease, and I no longer think of gettin high non-stop. but them first true 90 are hard to get thru. I joined this site because I CANNOT make 2 years clean. I have made a year here n there, but it seems I wont let myself breathe easier till I get at least 2 years in.
only suggestion I can give ya on the cravings is to find a hobby. something (anything with no chemicals) that can help you occupy your time. another thing i learned from cathy that is totally true.... cravings are time limited!!!!
this means if you find something to occupy your mind and body while your craving THEY WILL PASS SOON. Get on here and post when they get real terrible. or call someone that doesnt use and talk. ya ain gotta tell em your craving, just talk to em and pass the time . your gonna find that by doing that you have pushed thru that craving. I know that another one comes wayyyyy tooo soooon, but we have to push thru that one as well. I HAVE TO BELIEVE THEY CAN BE BEAT! its either that or give up , which is not an option. One more thing id like to throw in...... theres 2 ends to addiction. recovery or death. good luck n much luv...
You say that you would probably still be doing it all the time if you had good contacts, this isn't a good sign if you want to stop. I'm not saying you can't do it, but you have to have more faith in yourself than that if you truly want to be drug free. It is a good thing that you don't know a lot of people to get this from as it will only help you in your journy to get clean.
I did cocaine on a daily basis for about 2 years. I would be clean for a year or so, and then a friend would have some and i would do some. However, my DOC was opiates so it wasn't hard to stay away from the cola.
About the cravings, each craving typically lasts about 15 seconds but if you fantasize about doing the drug it can prolong the craving or you can have multiple cravings over a short period of time. Certain things can trigger unwaranted cravings, things as simple as driving by a house where you used to get do coke. And for addicts, cravings can last a lifetime for some.
I would say the best thing you could do is occupy your time as best as possible and look at your surroundings and make sure you are in a positive environment. But remember you're only going to stay clean if you really want to stay clean.
I did cocaine on a daily basis for about 2 years. I would be clean for a year or so, and then a friend would have some and i would do some. However, my DOC was opiates so it wasn't hard to stay away from the cola.
About the cravings, each craving typically lasts about 15 seconds but if you fantasize about doing the drug it can prolong the craving or you can have multiple cravings over a short period of time. Certain things can trigger unwaranted cravings, things as simple as driving by a house where you used to get do coke. And for addicts, cravings can last a lifetime for some.
I would say the best thing you could do is occupy your time as best as possible and look at your surroundings and make sure you are in a positive environment. But remember you're only going to stay clean if you really want to stay clean.
I used a couple times a week and mostly weekends for about a year and a half. I still use occasionally (every couple of months) and am finding I am constantly craving coke. I only do it when I go back to the city I used to live in (moved back with the parents and purposely don't have contacts here). I am hoping these cravings go away but it seems they keep getting stronger.....
hi krissy, i was a long time coke user...and used alot of coke....it was a little over a year before the cravings eased up...from that point oni thought less and less about the coke..at 5 years clean i seldom ever think of coke...on the rare occasion when i run into an old dealer or like worried said i am super stressed....it does get better...just takes time...stay strong!!!! CONGRATS ON 6 MONTHS CLEAN TIME...
i think many crave for a while...cocaine dumps dopamine for a euphoria like narcs but in a different pathway...ends up u r dopamine deficient and u crave....for me the craving has passed and i dont think about it all the time...stress will trigger it tho still..to where i wish i could be on the calgon commercial and let the pills take me away! it gets better with time and it is not everyday i think of them
A friend of mine quit for two years then started up again. He lost everything (his girlfriend, his money, a great job and his luxury apartment) because of going back and was using coke everyday. The longer you stay clean the less the cravings but they will probably never go away completely. You have to decide if the "fun" is worth ruining your life...and it will ruin you if you continue. One day of "fun" becomes seven days of "fun" eventually and you will wind up in jail or dead. I told my friend to move to get away from his sources and to go to a N/A meeting but no dice...he is still using and now living with his parents. Only you can decide it is your life. I pray you make the right choice
(I used to use everyday and I am clean for 100 days today. I still have some cravings but I know I can never go back to this ever again. I want to be like almost everyone else and not high all the time)
(I used to use everyday and I am clean for 100 days today. I still have some cravings but I know I can never go back to this ever again. I want to be like almost everyone else and not high all the time)
Only when you really decide you want to quit more than you want to keep using. Once you walk away and make the decision final will the cravings begin to ease. They did with me several years ago ----- I was doing a lot of coke but got tired of always trying to find it and the hangovers were horrific - not to mention the feeling several days after a weekend binge --- I would feel so bad that I would swear that I was never going to do that to myself again -- but then the weekend would come and I would be right back trying to score. I finally said "Enough" and that was it. I still craved for awhile but they got less intense until they left altogether. Hey, all the best.
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