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How Hard Is It To Cure A Drug Addiction?

ZenG

ZenG

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Dec 13, 2013
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You can't get there from here
#1
I've read and seen these stories about people who knew they were addicted to hardcore drugs.

So they had someone lock them in a room they couldn't get out of and went cold turkey.

For some it worked. If the reported stories are true.

(btw I'm not hooked on drugs. I don't even use them).

Is it a viable solution for someone who is?
 
#2
ZenG said:
I've read and seen these stories about people who knew they were addicted to hardcore drugs.

So they had someone lock them in a room they couldn't get out of and went cold turkey.

For some it worked. If the reported stories are true.

(btw I'm not hooked on drugs. I don't even use them).

Is it a viable solution for someone who is?
Click to expand...

Have the person seek professional help.
This is nothing to screw around with.
 
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#4
ZenG said:
I've read and seen these stories about people who knew they were addicted to hardcore drugs.

So they had someone lock them in a room they couldn't get out of and went cold turkey.

For some it worked. If the reported stories are true.

(btw I'm not hooked on drugs. I don't even use them).

Is it a viable solution for someone who is?
Click to expand...
I don't know about all drugs, but I've heard that alcohol withdrawal can be fatal and I imagine it's not unique in that regard.
 
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#7
ZenG said:
The "professional help" these days seems to pander to addicts.

Where I live they supply clean needles and a place to shoot up.
Click to expand...
Sobriety cannot be forced, so giving those with an addiction a safe means to use their drugs is a great way to keep disease and infection in check until a person decides to give it up on their own.
 
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#8
ShredderMaximus said:
Sobriety cannot be forced, so giving those with an addiction a safe means to use their drugs is a great way to keep disease and infection in check until a person decides to give it up on their own.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong. Maybe I'm just sickened/exasperated by the carnage I view daily on deaths from Fentanyl up here.

Wonder what it is about the human brain that drugs do to it. What is the physiology involved that makes the brain unable to overcome it?
 
#9
A good friend of mine was a semi-pro female Olympic weight lifter. She had (and, I believe, still has) a few world records to her name. A career ending shoulder injury led to an opiate painkiller addiction, which led to a heroin addiction. She's successfully kicked both, but now she's stuck on the Suboxone she takes as part of her addiction therapy. She doesn't want ANY kind of addiction. Her doctors keep insisting the subox addiction is not an issue (because they make money off of it), but she'll have to take it every day for the rest of her life (because she's their cash cow). Her insurance stopped covering it earlier this year, so she's working three jobs just to pay for it each month. She's tried to ween herself off of it at least twice this year, but each time she felt like hell and ended up back at her doctor, who of course insisted she take it and feel better again. I feel bad for her, and keep telling her to ditch her current doctors and find someone else who's willing to work with her to get her off of it (the same advice her shrink gives her, btw), but she's not there yet. :meh:

Odd to think that probably the strongest person I know is also one of the weakest.
 
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#10
There's a TV show called Weediquette on the Vice channel.
One episode was called Reefer Rehab, where people addicted to hardcore drugs (in one case prescription opiates) go to a place to kick the habit with the aid of cannabis usage.
The THC helped patients with being able to cope with the painful effects of withdrawals.
Some criticized the program, claiming they were merely substituting one drug for another, but the one patient they were following claimed it was successful in helping him overcome his oxycontin addiction and was not left "addicted" to marijuana.
The host of the show appeared on Dr Oz and told the story on that show as well and Dr Oz seemed impressed and featured his own similar segment.
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#11
The difficulty of breaking an addiction varies widely depending on the individual and the drugs involved. Cold turkey works for some, but can be quite dangerous too. I think many recovering addicts will say that addiction can't be cured, but that the addicts instead can learn to overcome the addiction. "Once and addict, always an addict" I think is what the various "Anonymous" programs tend to say.
 
#13
ZenG said:
What is the physiology involved that makes the brain unable to overcome it?
Click to expand...
i think the physiology is about the same for everyone. it's the damn 'psychology' of the user that determines the addictive qualities of the various substances, not the substances themselves. lots of research on the subject.

but: the advice to leave the remedies to professionals can be wanting, however: it's a safer alternative to 'cold turkey', unless we're talking about cigarettes.
 
#14
Depends what you mean by cure. I don't know if I buy the common notion that once you're an addict you're always an addict. I wouldn't say I'm addicted to any drugs right now but I would very much enjoy a pile of cocaine. Just a beautiful white snowy mountain with little shimmering specks glinting at me. The acquistion. The ritual. All ultimately so much better than the act itself which always ends in disappointment. Then one day you're alone with a half a gram left and your guy isn't around so you start weeping hysterically and you think to yourself "this won't do." It wasn't easy for me but it was definitely easier than it is for a lot of people. There's no one answer but it's all about self control and a realistic view of your actions and their consequences, if you're lucky enough to be able to consider them rationally cuz you're not too far gone already. I'm not addicted and I don't really want any drugs but I know I'd enjoy them. That struggle is always there.
 
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#15
I'm not an expert, but I would guess there are as many different answers to that as there are addicts.

on a side note, a friend had quite a bad booze problem to the point where he wasn't really in control of his behaviour anymore. he said it felt like there was a big grinning monster's mouth hanging over him, calling the shots.
 
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#17
From my own personal experience as an observer, the chances are not good at all.

As a kid in High School through till now it seems my friends have always been casual to not so casual drug users. Of all my friends from high school till now, I have been the only square. I've never felt the need to try any of it. I grew up in a drug household and really despised the entire scene. Odd that my close group of friends are users. I'm not sure what that says about me, if anything. The thing is, of all those friends, only 2 have been able to get completely clean. In my 40 years of experience with friends who use, only 2 out of dozens.

My girl friends son is trying to recover from a crack addiction. It's been a rocky road this last year and her struggle has been immense.
 
#18
I went through horrible withdrawals from alcohol. Couldn't sleep for three days, audio hallucinations and really sick. That was just the beginning. Lots of people get past the withdrawels but end up going back to their addiction. The people I know who have beat their addiction have gone though a complete paradigm shift in their lives. That includes me. I have been clean and sober since 1981.
It was not about will power but about surrender. I cashed in all my brilliant ideas and lifestyles that were making me miserable. It was a gradual process but I let go of things like bitterness and resentment and a lot more. I had to drop the painful attitudes were causing me to self medicate. People in AA who had what I want really helped me.
It can be tough going to be honest with myself. I am still working on it.
 
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#19
OP you ask how hard is it to cure a drug addiction. There's no definitive answer because people who enter into NA or AA go through their "steps" for life constantly reminding themselves that with one slip they could fall back into their addiction again. @slobake mentions his experience with alcohol which IMO is the most serious withdrawals one can go through. If not done correctly alcohol withdrawal can kill you and is almost always done in a professional setting. Personally (because I have a background in mental health nursing) I think all addictions should be handled professionally.
 
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#20
Clark Dark said:
OP you ask how hard is it to cure a drug addiction. There's no definitive answer because people who enter into NA or AA go through their "steps" for life constantly reminding themselves that with one slip they could fall back into their addiction again. @slobake mentions his experience with alcohol which IMO is the most serious withdrawals one can go through. If not done correctly alcohol withdrawal can kill you and is almost always done in a professional setting. Personally (because I have a background in mental health nursing) I think all addictions should be handled professionally.
Click to expand...
I was l lucky. I watched somoene at de-tox have a grand mal siezure. His heart stopped and never started again. The ET folks came in with the paddles and zapped him several times. It was too late, he was gone.
 

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