Addictions

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Does anyone here have any personal experiences with addictions of either the chemical or mental variety? Any links to good literature on the subject? Any tips on how to control cravings? I need info and personal experience from my friends here on SP -- and even my enemies, too!

 

I was a heavy smoker for about 14 years. I used the patch to quit last year, and I'm tobacco free for about 9 months now.

 

Heavy nicotine addict here, using snus/snuff or whatever the English term is. As far as I know there is no good one but a few American brands are Shoal and Copenhagen. Heavily addicted, cannot imagine myself quitting in the near future. You have to find some strong inner motivation and actually want to quit for yourself or it is doomed.

 

Well, I smoke and drink quite heavily... addicted? Perhaps, but I don't think so. I could stop if I wanted. That's not denial, I seriously reckon I could stop if I wanted! It's just something I enjoy, so I do it.

 

What kind af addiction are you looking for help on? There are many kinds of addictions, and different ways to deal with them, but treatment for one addiction is not necessarily going to be effective for another.

 

The Mormons have a looked at the 12 step program for AA, and modified it to a more Chirst centred basis. It's available on the church website. Here's the link to the information page. The manual is available in PDF format.

http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,6629-1-3414-1,00.html

 

"I'm addicted to love" and "there ain't on cure, there ain't no cure, there ain't no cure for love"

It's true, though. No way round it, no way through and "the world is not enough" for me to find love. "You know it's sad but true"

 

Totally agree. The first time I tried to quit smoking was several years ago. However, at the time, I didn't really want to quit, and therefore I was not properly motivated and I failed. It was the upcoming birth of my son last year that provided the necessary motivation for me to quit.

That said, I also am inclined to agree with Barmy - if you don't want to stop you won't - regardless of whether you are addicted or not. The smoking addiction is a much more likely than an alcohol addiction. Unless you get the shakes at work because you haven't had a drink all day, chances are you do NOT have an alcohol addiction.

As for a nicotine addiction, I don't know how much you smoke or your smoking habits throughout the day, so it's impossible for me to say. My wife smoked about a pack a week for several years, but because she smoked so lightly, she never became addicted, and was able to easily stop when she decided to. If, on the other hand, you smoke a pack a day, you may find that stopping is much more difficult.

 

How mysterious of you not telling your addiction before asking, must be something embarrasing. I personally tip it's licking frogs.

Me myself have never been addicted to anything.

 

It's not anything like that, Morgoroth, you sicko! I'm gathering data to help my idiot stepson (more to the point, his mother, my wife.)

Licking frogs, indeed!

 

During my military times there were some strange rumours circulating around about me licking frogs, I can't possibly imagine what caused such preposterous rumours to surface.

In any case I'm not much of help with addiction, I've had people around me with plenty of addictions but since I have little expirience of them myself I'm not really qualified on giving advice. One that comes to my mind is that you need to focus 100% on fighting the addiction and somehow I read the from between the lines that it might not be the case in this instance.

 

I didn't know you were stationed in France.

 

LKD, I am not asking for any specifics, yet it would be helpful to know the type of addiction you are interested in. Nicotine, alcohol, gambling... the list is long, though I must admit that the way your post was written made me think of chemical illegal substances.
Again, I may be wrong, but if this is true, the name of the substance would help. Addictions differ greatly. Are we talking of a stimulant or a depressive, a hallucinogen or pain killer?

Physiological symptoms are nowadays treatable, in most cases. Special rehabilitation centers exist in many countries. Many withdrawal symptoms of chemical substances are lessened chemically, too.
Psychological symptoms... are harder to fix. Something has to snap inside, so that you can rebuild yourself. Will is crucial. (imo)

I've seen addiction, or at least its consequences.
Someone... one of my childhood friends... got addicted to marijuana and later heroin. She was fifteen when she died. Her name was Suzana.

We used to play as kids and went to the same grade. I don't know what happened. She wanted to grow up so badly. We grew apart. I was always childish and she served beer at her eleventh birthday. At the time of her death we were strangers, an odd kind of friends who shared only past, nothing else, and yet friends, none the less. She rarely came to school back then. When she did, I tried to make her feel welcome, I tried to help, but I didn't want to be any more involved. I didn't know what to say. I am generally not good around people. Personal lives of others are just that - personal. I do not interfere. Here too, I continued acting like nothing had happened, like there was nothing to discuss.
I invited her to my 14th birthday, like nothing had changed since the time we were kids.We had pizza and ice cream and went for a walk. I live in a small town, and yet it seemed she and I knew two different towns. Every now and then she would point at some derelict building, or a secluded spot in the park and speak of the time she spent there... nights she spent there. I didn't even know those places existed. We parted when we met some of her acquaintances. She went with them and I returned home. About a year later, she was dead.

What I wanted to say is that if the problem in question is serious, then the person in question, who ever he/she might be, should treat it as such.

My only advice to them is: Pull out. Turn away and don't look back. Change everything if you have to, don't regret it, just walk away...

LKD, if your stepson's problem isn't related to drugs, I'll leave this post unchanged for a few days, and then, if no one minds, I'll delete the part in which my friend is mentioned. It's personal, and I'm only sharing it in hope that it will help, in some way.

Of course, it is quite possible that you started this thread with a relatively harmless addiction in mind, and that I made a misguided leap in logic. If that's the case, then I apologize... and also sorry for this post's length.

As for myself, personally – no classical addictions. I don't smoke, drink alcohol, coffee or tea for that matter.
Mildly addicted to PC games, though.

 

I appreciate your message, Loreseeker. I think the boy is dealing with Meth. Sadly, I'm not sure. I also think he has some sexual addictions. I can't get any more details easily, but I know my wife is pretty upset and I'm trying to figure out what to do to help her -- and rest assured, I'm doing more than asking on here. But you folks know all sorts of cool things and can give a different perspective on some things.

One thing I am pretty sure of is that he is not licking any toads or frogs, though At least, I hope to hell he isn't. That would send my wife right over the edge.

 

Some sexual addictions? There's nothing wrong with that, especially with a young lad! He might need help to knock the meth on the head though. That is horrible, nasty, evil stuff. I'd never touch it. I hope the lad can shake it before anything gets too serious, LKD!

 

It's already bad, Barmy, he's got 2 charges pending. By sexual addictions I mean A: spending so much of his income on whores (and meth) that he can't pay his bills and B: Groping unwilling women (that's one of the charges.)

I haven't even met this kid yet, and to be honest I don't want to very much, but I want to be able to help his mom because I love her (I haven't met him because he lives several provinces away and the money we could spend to go see him is presently going toward covering his bills.)

 

You probably already know this LKD, but meth could be the reason for his sexual behavior. (If this is news to you, I'll elaborate.)

Since you haven't met him... is meth mentioned in the other charge, or are you assuming he's using it because of the above mentioned link?

My recommendation would be to make sure it is meth, somehow.

I understand that you are unwilling to meet him, but it will be very difficult to do anything from a distance. Is inviting him to your place also impossible, (since you can't visit him)?

Direct involvement would (imo) be far better, but his mom would probably be the person who should have the main roll in this, giving that you've never met him.

If his mom knows more, find a gentle way to have her share the info with you. (I have no idea how, but you need all the info you can get.)

Anyway, if you need some assistance regarding meth pharmacology terms, I might be able to help (pharmacy student), and am willing to.

I'm afraid the rest is way out of my league.

I hope things turn out well, for all involved.

 

I have an uncle who I believe may have been addicted to meth, if not addicted he still used it. He was on a variety of drugs for years until he just seemed to finally come to his senses. I think it was a combination of pressure (more encouragement) from his family and missing out on his kids growing up that made him stop, but he did it by himself. He came to his senses and realized he was throwing his life away, so he put all he had into quitting. He didn't seek outside help in this AFAIK, so it was just willpower for him (not sure if he was addicted then) to get his life together again.

 

I can't really understand addictions, probably because I've never been affected by one.

Also, a mental addiction? Can someone explain that for me? o.O