I need RECOVERY experiences for the health Pages

[avisg]

I had someone email me today asking me where they could go for info on recovery care long term because its seems that we do great with the first 30 days but then there is not any info about long term recovery .That got me thinking .I would like to make a health page with people experiences that are over 6 months clean .How did you get there what were the hardest parts ?What support systems do you have in place .You can either post it here and I will put it on the health page or you can send it to my IM.IPLZ IF YOU HAVE OVER 6 MONTHS TELL OTHERS ABOUT IT .It can make a big difference in peoples recovery.

[Dylan465]

This is a great idea. I went to one person's page b/c I related to him. I was a workout nut and I think I hurt myself. No doctor has ever diagnosed me. Sucess stories are great. Like I told him, I hear people say that the forum has helped them but I will be honest. I have that one poll. No one even answered it and I have had one person who has been a support. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I could use some support. This may be a bad place to bring it up but just being honest. I wish everyone here well and I have sucess stories myself. I never c/t, only tapered, worked everytime.

[Kobuk]

Hi, I've been in 7 one month substance abuse facilites.  I started out smoking weed, added shooms, acid, coke, speed.  I couldn't do them any more.  I was getting too high.  I then discovered alcohol!  I started drinking when I was 17, stopped to do drugs.  Then when I was 23 I drank.  I have wreck a car, blackouts, put myself into hospitals for detox so many times.  I met my husband - codependent of 25 years, we both drank and he dabbled in weed.  After he died I went off the deep end, trying to kill myself so many times.  I drank so much and didn't eat that I almost died.  Was in the hospital for 1 week.  10 years ago I went into a long term facility.  I had a good counseler.  He made me see alot of things that I hid by drinking.  I stayed for 4 months.  I had been sober for 10 years, and then last year I drank for 3 days straight.  I have been sober for 1year 3 months.  I do not want to drink again.  

[mtgoat911]

I have nothing profound to say about getting clean. I have had the opportunity to gather information slowly over a period of time. I was blessed with two loving parents who spent years helping me with my issues. If I had to list the number of times I have been in treatment the list would exceed the number of characters I am allowed on this post. I have been in at least 20 tx facilities; I have actively been seeking help for my problems since I was a young child. Of course I was not diagnosed with chemical dependency when I was a small child, but my defects were recognized early on and manifested in learning disabilities. I began taking narcotic psyc meds when I was 9 yrs old, when I was 13 I added anti-depressants to the mix. I was a major outcast in grammar school and part of middle school. As I got older, I learned that I could buy my friends, treat them to rides on my family’s boat and take them to our vacation home. Still I never bonded with people. By this time I had found out that life could be one big party as long as you had the money. It all started off innocent enough, spring break, concerts, parties, but as I was introduced to harder drugs I became less interested in the party and more interested in the drugs. I was 17 the first time I went to tx for addiction. Beautiful place, indoor pool, all clients were what I call high end junkies, I stayed for 30 days, and managed to stay clean for a year, which some would say “anybody can do” but to me one day clean Is a miracle,  a year = 356 miracles in my book. After struggling with my addiction for another decade, going in and out of tx, trying all the matience drugs, methadone, suboxone and revia, I just one day woke up and said no more. My last year in active addiction was much different than my expensive party days, at the end I was unable to leave my  bed without a walker, I had been on methadone for so long my body had become atrophied, I was just 29 yrs old. When my addictionoligist told me that I needed to get and stay on methadone for the rest of my life I believed her. I believed that I could not get clean, so did my parents. I ended up taking the advice I had been given by every rehab I had been too, I started going to 12step meetings. It was in these meetings I was told “you never have to use again”. What a concept. At first I just had to find one person who believed in me and wanted to help me in my recovery. I also had to see my life as unmanageable, not only with my addiction but other areas I had struggled with for years. I have learned that money, fame, obsessions, gambling, depression, attitude, anything I can do to excess has a potential to create problems for me by distracting us from reality. I had to get desperate enough to change. When I went to meetings as a teen, I honestly thought the people were losers, and I was better than them. I did not need this type of radical help. I was wrong! The God business turned me off too. Money had been my higher power for so long, it took a minute to work out my God issues. I got a sponsor within my first week, went to 90 meetings on 90 days, started on the steps and found noticeable relief when I got to step 10. I still do step 10 each night I use the guide “in living the program” . The first thing my sponsor asked me to do was call her every day, this allowed me to build that relationship I most desperately needed, plus I was not going to open up to someone I did not know. Next she told me to drawl my right and left hands on a piece of paper, on my right had I labeled each finger with a women  I could reach out to when I needed help. On my left hand I labeled each finger with a person I could help. 4 yrs later I am still doing this. The people on my network hands have changed, over time. From the start I was asked to write a daily gratitude and asset list, because a grateful addict never uses. It was hard to come up with stuff I liked about myself, and early in recovery I had lost everything so becoming grateful was a challenge. I would call my network for help. When I was 2 yrs clean I became really sick from hep c. I went through pure helll. I took someone from my recovery hand with me to my doctor’s visits because I knew they would suggest suboxone, and they did. I have to fight myself sometimes with this stuff. After all its legal and acceptable to take suboxone and I do have many legitament reasons to be on matience. I have to remember my detox, play the taper through, bounce my ideas off of likeminded people, then reminded that even on a legal drug; I still felt the same desperation and go through the same erratic behavior when I ran out, my body has no clue what opiate is legal and what opiate is bought on the street. I used the guide “illness in recovery” during chemo and it prevented a relapse. When I feel like I am going to relapse, or find myself depressed or confused I read “recovery and relapse” in the basic text and bring it up at a meeting or call my sponsor. I have done several behavioral therapy programs, and this was one issue I did not find help for. I also reached out to the people in my church and learned that they were very uncomfortable talking about addiction and had no idea what to tell me when I had cravings. I am told that the steps help us get along with ourselves and the traditions help us get along with others. I play a team sport these days and I wish my teammates followed the first tradition. It’s all about unity. Tradition one asks us to overlook the differences that may divide us and focus on our common identity as unified and equal members of a greater whole. I practice this in my marriage. My husband and I have a common purpose, to love honor and raise our children clean. Tradition 2 also attracted me to an, no one person governs a group, so our ideas are respected, and no one will sit on a high horse ordering you around.  I have found use for just about everything in the steps; I wish I could talk about it all. One last bit before I stop,,, parenting in recovery presented me with some overwhelming challenges, it takes energy and patience to raise children, for so long I had depended on drugs for that extra endurance. It took a while and a program to make that area of my life manageable. I used a Hazelton program called parenting in recovery; it was very expensive so I am working on putting a free workbook together for those that cannot afford the Hazelton program. The steps did not provide me with a false personality, they changed my perception, I am no longer the same person, and if you are clean today, know that you too have become something better.  My clean date is 8-23-04. My message is that anyone can get clean, no matter how deep you are in that hole we call bottom, there is always a member willing to jump down in there and show you the way out. Step by step.

[Florida_Guy737]

I was a jock all my life and just took it for granted that my bod would keep up.  In my late 30s while running my daily 7-10 miles, I fractured my knee (just broke).  Pretty painful stuff so they scoped the knee and said I messed it up pretty bad.  The docs started me with lortabs (never even heard of them before this) and started liking the feeling.  Long story short, within 5 years, I skipped to percs/patches and had completely stopped working out.  The docs even suggested knee replacement and methadone treatment.  

I finally said forget that and tapered for 3 weeks, quit, started exercising and dieting.  The exercise was extremely painful the first 6 months but how do you eat an elephant (one bite at a time).  Anyhoo...dropped 30 lbs, picked up some lean muscle mass again and can honestly say that I'm actually lifting stronger now than in my 20s...

I'll be hitting 15 months clean time soon (a milestone) and be looking forward to my 18 month and eventually 2 years.  I read that 2 years, everything should be pretty much back to normal...w/e that is :-).

This forum has really helped me stay clean...thx to all of you 4 sharing.

Guy

[Marxangel]

Hi, my name is Stephanie, Im new here to this web site so please be patient with me. I read your note and I would love to help out. I have two years clean of Meth and I am always willing to help the fellow addict! I would love to tell you how it did it, but how do i do that? do i just post it like i am now? do i send it via email? let me know and I would love to help!
stef

[problemboyfriend]

Success stories - I think that's what my boyfriend needs. He thinks it is impossible to quit his oxy addiction, so he's not even willing to try. I would love to give him some hope.