crack cocaine

[Missy]

Is there any type of drug than can help with the relapse of crack users, to decrease craving. We have tried N/A and i have went to Nar-Anon. He has relapsed 2x since summer....before that he was clean for 2 yrs.  He was a user for about 7 yrs before that. He claims that he craves alcohol first...after he drinks he craves the crack cocaine.....he presently goes to AA, which i am not to sure how much good that does....any suggestions???????

HELP ME PLEASE TO SAVE MY FAMILY!!

Missy

[gizzy32]

Great. We are all here to support both of you. I hope he comes on and posts. Crack is one of the toughest drugs to stay clean from, the mental part is extremely difficult, but there is always hope. He has to want to help himself before you can help him. Best of luck and hope to see you keep posting.

[sunshine_32]

Thanks gizzy at this point to get us back he is willing to do anything to stay clean and sober for himself. I have also offered to do some kind of counciling with him to support him but i just feel so lost cause I never saw it! I will def check out  that link and talk to him about coming on here to talk!

[gizzy32]

I think it was started in 1994 or so, but I could be wrong.

[DayToTry]

Wow 10 yrs ago!  How old is this forum?

[gizzy32]

This post was started 10 years ago. If you hit post question on the top of this page and start a new thread you will get more feedback. There are no physical withdrawls coming off crack like opiates, but there are other syptoms when coming down and it's horrible. Glad to hear he is 2 months clean. Would he be willing to go to meetings and seek support to fight the cravings? Would he come on here for a start?

Alanon or narconon meetings would also really help you. Here is the link.

http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/english.html

[sunshine_32]

I have been Married to my husband for 3 yrs now together for 5. We have 3 children 2 r his. We have been through alot from the mood swings to violence from him. I did leave I knew he had some issues but never saw the signs of him using crack. I knew he had a drinking problem and a smoking problem (weed) I never saw the signs of crack addiction. We have been through hell and back and we have recently started talking again due to him be sober for 2 mths now! I am super proud of him but what r if any the withdrawls from crack and how does he help himself to stay clean cause hes doing it for himself so he can get his fam back? I am so oblivious I guess to this r he just hid it good.What else can I do if anything to help him with the cravings he says he still craves he is currently not using or doing any drugs or alcohol. Is there any help?
Trying to get fam back

[gizzy32]

Jay this is a really old post. U can post your own question if you want. I just wanted to say the good news is you have only smoked 3 months, the bad news is it will still be hard to quit. If ya wanna talk about this send me a pm or go to top and post a question. I am a cocaine addict and for awhile watched some people close to me get involved with crack and it will take you down quicker than you can imagine. This is probably the best advice you will have gotten, cause your life depends on it right now, get some help now cause you can stop, 3 months from now you will have reached another level and there is no turning back, please believe me. Wishing you luck man, hope to hear from ya.

[Jay10000]

I hate crack. I hate the drug so much. I have only been smoking for 3 months a couple of times a week, and I consider myself an addict. This is how deadly this drug is. I am so scared of the potential to lose control of this drug, that I quit, and have not smoked in 3 days. It's NOT worth it. The awesome 3 minute high is NOT worth the days, weeks, and years of pain. ANd definitely NOT worth that health problems associated with this junk.

[timetochange]

I have been a crack addict for 4 years and I am sitting here, at my mum's house having been told by my wife she does not want me home until something changes. I have read a lot of your comments and found them useful. Crack is an incredibly enticing, but ultimately destructive horrible drug. I am so ashamed of where the drug has taken me - I have begged, stolen, lied, deceived, broken promises. I learnt to hate myslelf - from a confident man with a wonderful life to a pathetic, immoral sex and crack addict that lets prostitutes into his house, dresses them in his wifes clothes and ends up begging for drugs when they are all finished. And then I ask for my wife to have me back? Yes - the drug has made me insane.

[stephison]

Please Help.  I have been married for 9 years.  My husband is addicted to crack cocaine.  You don't know how hard it is for me to admit this.  He has been addicted for about 8 years.  I believe he has gone a year without using, but it always come back to haunt me.  I now sit here at home on Friday (his payday) with a sick feeling in my stomach wondering if he will be home with any money left in his pocket.  This past year has been the worst.  I have had to go to a dealers house and collect my truck that he left for collateral for drugs that he had fronted.  I have had to sneak on someone's property and literally steal his truck for the same reasons.  I have had multiple things "stolen" from the house by him and traded for drugs.  We have two beautiful children and I know that they need a more stable life.  However, I can't help but feel that if I leave him either he will get really bad and I won't be strong enough to say no.  I could really use some guidence.  I hope someone is still reading this.

[Greatgreebo]

This post is over 7 years old. Hit the Back to Forum link (in blue) at the top or bottom of the page to get to a current list of what is going on. Start a new post of your own.

Greebs

[meem50]

I did crack for two years.  I loved it at first.  I had a lot of money and a lot of credit in the beginning so I used a lot.  It was really fun.  Part of my addiction was the fun of getting my pipe ready and buring the screen and making a pusher.  i liked cooking my own too.  I'd spend hours perfecting my method.  I loved the adrenalin rush of going to pick up.  Sometime during the second year though it changed.  I was always scared - no, paranoid.  If we were inside, like in one of those cheap motels we would rent just to use, I always thought there was a hole in the wall and somebody was watching us or the cops were going to bust in any minute.  When we were smoking on the street at night (stupid) I'd see things that weren't there like the light bar on top of a cop car.  My boyfriend used to just light up without bending down under the dash to hide the light.  It drove me crazy!  Later I started thinking there were some wierd living organisims crawling around under the skin on my arms and legs and I'd pick and pick to get them out.  I have scars all over my arms and legs from that.  I couldn't wear short sleeve shirts for a whole year.  We always used glass pipes and I started thinking that the glass was melting and it was in my throat or that little pieces of glass mixed with the smoke was all over my bedspread where I would sit and smoke for hours and that it had permeated the skin you know where.  My paranoia got worse and worse until there was absolutely no enjoyment from smoking at all.  It was terrifying from the very first hit.  One time I was smoking alone in my van on the street.  Suddenly I heard helicopters going around and around, which wasn't really unusually in the area I was in, but I heard the megaphones and footsteps right outside the door.  I lay motionless on the floor of the van for what seemed hours until I didn't hear anything anymore.  When I finally looked out, there was nothing there and nobody around.  I still don't know if anybody was really there or not.  We got rolled up on more times than I care to remember during my using days.  Somehow the cops only took my boyfriend.  I never went to jail.  The reason we were outside alot, by the way, and why I was using in that van is because I lived in it.  I had all that money because I had sold my house and was using all my equity, my inheritance from my mother, to buy dope.  When it was all gone, I started on the credit cards.  When they maxed out and I couldn't pay the bill, i started pawing stuff or trading stuff for dope.  In the beginning all the dealers loved me.  I was treated with respect.  By the end of the second year, I was just a dirty, homeless crack head and they made sure I knew it.  

You guys who are still using and "liking it," listen to me.  You are going to read stories like this over and over and over.  Do you know why?  Smoking crack is not like going to the neighborhood bar for a martini.  This is an incidious drug that will chew you up and spit you out no matter who you are.  It changes you, it controls you and it ruins everybody who touches it eventually.  It might be too late for you.  You might have to lose everyting before you will be willing to reach out for help.  You need to see that drug for what it is:   a hideous monster, an evil demon, Satan's tool - or simply a chemical that can and will have a devestating effect on your health, your life and the life of anyone close to you.  To this day, when I think about using, I get that adrenalin rush and I have been free from that stuff for 2 years and 6 months.  But I'm sooo afraid of ever reliving that nightmare that I have been able to resist it with relative ease.  Stay away from this drug at all costs.  Don't touch it.  

[meem50]

Crack took me from being an affluent legal secretary to a homeless bum in 2 years.  On October 25, 2006, I quite and haven't gone back.  I sure hope it isn't true what you said about "once a crack addict, always a crack addict."  If it is, I might as well go use today because it hasn't been easy and, if I''m going to use again anyway, I might as well start today.

How could you say such a thing to people looking for hope?  I have a message of hope.  I had to lose everything I ever had before I hit bottom, but there was no one around to encourage me (or threaten me) to stop.  I think it is like that for most addicts.  When I think back on where that drug took me, its like a nightmare - dark and gloomy- frightening!  I will never go back there again!  To those of you in despair because of the addict in your life, you will probably have to leave your addict.  That will be one of his/her consequences, but it will be a big step toward that person's bottom.  Don't help him/her prolong their own misery by enabling them (and you) to stay sick.  Believe it or not, my brand new husband of 6 months (a Christian I met at my church), is totally hooked on crack.  That foul demon has found it's way back into my life.  I am terrified, so am preparing for the enevitable.  I will have to leave.  I can't save him from that stuff.  But I can save me.  May God comfort you all and give you strength.

[IBKleen]

You are posting on an old thread. It will go to archives and it may get passed over. Go to the top of this page and start your own post. Hope to see you in the forum.

[byronh]

i had been smoking for a few months.crack is very addictive.when i looked at myself and what i had become that made me stop. you have to get sick and tired of being sick and tired.

[Jessie26]

I have a hard time understanding my b/f and his addiction. I know thats its tough to quit, I know he has to want to quit,(hold on he tells me he wants to quit) I know I need to support him and I do all of this, yet he still insists on telling me lies. Oddly enough, I know every single time he is out using. With just one missed call I know. The knots in my stomach begin, another missed call, how much money does he have on him? Then when he finally answers, his tone is different. If I see him in person, he looks different. His pupils are dilated. Yet he can look me straight in the eye and tell me he hasn't taken any drugs. All I can do is laugh at that point, cause its a big joke!!!!! Then he tells me he WANTS to quit. Well, if thats true then why hasn't he. What is he waiting for????? I tell him he doesn't want to quit, if he did he would have already..... apparently I just don't understand his disease. Maybe I don't, but one thing I do understand and that's the power of the mind. If he truly wanted to quit he could! Thats the bottom line.I am still with him, to this day but feel like our relationship will inevitably end. I have made this very cler to him and he just keeps telling me he wants to quit. Last time I checked I didn't have STUPID written on my forehead.  I feel like he takes me for an idiot. You want to quit then QUIT!!!!

[Wchloe]

What the majority of people say is "the addict must want to stop or it will NEVER happen" - that is the truth.  It is all up the the addict, but we can at least not be their enabler.

[Troublex2]

There are ways to help him but he has to want to be helped and who is he really without the drug.  People change when they use.  I think the worst thing to do is walk away but talk to him sober and tell him how you feel.  Tell him you will be there every step of the way to his recovery

[drekimash]

doesn't this seem like an endless fight?!! to all of you who are married or in love with an addict, i know what you are going through. my highschool sweetheart of 13 years is a crack addict. has been for about 4 years that i know of, and he just admitted that a few years ago - I had always thought it was marijuana and bars. He has never done it in front of me, thankfully out of respect for me and my daughter. But so many times we have seperated over this, only to get back together and try something different. He has got involved with a Men's Ministry and a rehab class at our church. At first it was going well, but here we are again -- ANOTHER relapse. He took my car a few days ago, and I haven't heard from him since. I am so sick of this disease. But what do you do? You are SUPPOSED to stick by your other half through good times and BAD, not just give up. But, I am not able to help him anymore, no matter what i do, he keeps going back. We have a 10 year old daughter and she is having to miss gymnastic practices now when he wants to just take the car and leave, its like he forgets we have a life too! Thanks for letting me vent. I am glad I found this site.

[FLaddict]

Your welcome Alexa..  my email is in my profile if you need someone to talk to..

I have been there done that as far as being your age and doing drugs and being boy crazy.. so I do have some experience there for sure. i also worked in a rehab center for 3 years. And ran NA meetings in a teen addiction facility for a few years on and off.  Young people your age are even harder to try to get them to see the light so you have your work cut out for you with your friend. They think they are invicible and that nothing bad can happen I too was like that when I was a 16 yr old heroin addict. But I finally got clean from that and will have 8 years clean from heroin and hard drugs on the 16th of this month. I had a run with pills after I had surgery 2 years ago.. and i couldn't stop taking them so now i am off those too. Have hope for your friend if you believe he can quit maybe he will start to believe it..

[helplessly in love]

Well people like you make me smile even when everythings wrong. and ur right it is very frustrating. but just like you stopped i know he can. and i'll make sure to look up that sight and see what they can do for me. i thought i was hopeless. i'll always suport him and just like your husband i don't judge him, i think he is making mistakes he'll regret but i'm going to stick by his side until he wakes up. when there are so many great things about some one, i can never see a reason to give up. i've tried drugs like oxy cotton and pot, but i never did it again. i'm proud of myself and my parents don't know this, but someday i'll get the courage and tell them. I guess if he doesn't quit and i tried to help i won't feel as bad as if i didn't try to help and something bad happens. i may possibly send them a lettter or maybe even make a call, i just can see some i love ruin there life. Thank you so much.
if you have a myspace look me up. my email is party baby 22 @ aim . com   hopefully that showed up just take away all the spaces. and thats my e mail. or if u have some time, maybe you could talk to me? thats only if u have time and want to. I've got piles of homework so i'm heading out, but thank you so much! i'll be on tomorow so hopefully hear from you. its nice to have someone who understands and has been through something like this.
thanks, alexa <3

[FLaddict]

you could try the approach of  'when he is off the drugs to call you" maybe that will make him realize that his drug use affects the people in his life. you could ""anonymously" tell his parents. send them a letter or something..
It does help to talk about it... there are meeting called Naranon meetings, they are for friends or family members of drug addicts. you could see if there is one near you get support for yourself so you can help him when he is ready. they have a website you could google it and see if there is a local one for you to attend or the guidance counselor at your school may be able to tell you about a support group.
The best thing you can do is just be there to support him when he is ready but don't let him pull you into his negative world stay strong.. my husband was so supportive when i was ready to quit taking pills, he never judged me or put me down and now i have been off for 4 months and he is still amazing..
you sound like you have a good head on your shoulders for your age.. your parents should be very proud of you. stay just as you are, don't try to fit in, be yourself..

I hope I helped some, i know this is frustrating..

[helplessly in love]

ugh. i know its hard but i would do anything for this boy. i want to tell his parents but i don't want him to hate me. and i 've been looking alot into what can happen how he can die if he drinks alcohol and does coke at the same time, and i know he is a heavy drinker, so i'm really worried. should i just talk to about it? or should i tell him that until he straitens up i don't want to be in his life, but when he is done screwing up his life to call me? or something like that? thank you so much FLaddict. ur reallying helping me. i haven't talked to anyone about this problem and it feels so good to get it off my back.

[FLaddict]

Honey, its hard to get someone to quit doing drugs, they have to want to stop. i would hate for you to put all your energy into something that is impossible and you will waste the years of being young. All you can do is support him when he is ready to stop.. until then you can try to convince him but he will probably just push you farther away.

Good luck to you..