When will an Addict quit using?

NytePassion

When will an addict quit using?

A nice and simple answer to the ever-present question:

“When will an addict quit using?”

“ A user will quit when the pain of continued addiction is greater than the fear of withdrawal.”

lax2

Re: When will an addict quit using?

Why when I hear this do I want to revise it to read;

A user will quit using when the FEAR of continued use

Is greater than the PAIN of withdrawal.

At least thats been my take on it. I was able to quit when I was truly afraid that continuing to use meth was sure to kill me.

What do you guys think?

DeeDee

Re: When will an addict quit using?

As the saying goes and you all know.
They will quit using when they are "sick and tired of being sick and tired".
DeeDee

RIP

When

My take is.....

When the fear of remaining the same becomes greater than the fear of changing they will change!

freenclean05

Re: When

I have to agree with you all on that one. I think an addict will quit using when they are ready to "surrender" their weakness from using. Sometimes you have to hit "rock bottom", but then again that doesn't even get peeps to stop using. They will stop when they are ready to or when they are 6ft under.

RancidOne

Re: When

I quit using when I realized that continued use would lead to my insanity or death. The pain of withdrawl was much easier than the thought of loosing my mind.

Not to mention it was the only way I found to make the voices go away.

Barncats7

Re: When

I don't think my husband will quit using - that is my greatest fear.

Sfj

Re: When

If you believe he won't quit using, do you know why?

Barncats7

Re: When

Yes, a couple of reasons I feel this way.

1. He likes it

2. He would do it (quit) on his own and (in my opinion) it won't be enough - he will relapse over and over. He might be able to function for years this way. He is a very strong (type A) personality, lots of pride in his accomplishments. He scares me now with his talk of "if he loses everything he's worked so hard for - you won't want to be around me" kind of talk.

I'm having a pretty hard time watching and waiting for him to make a move. It tears me up but I'm trying to be strong. I just don't think he will be able to stop.

Thanks for asking. Do you have some advice?

Sfj

Re: When

Yes,

I have plenty, but as outspoken as I am, I’m still having reservations because there are so many people who are stuck on the old ways of thinking about things. When I bring up new ideas, there are a few who get offended.

Anyhow, I don’t think he wants to be addicted. Addiction sucks bigtime. Its like slavery. No one wants to be a slave, he’s so much like many of us. Quitting is too fearful a thing to think about. It isn’t that he loves meth as much as he is fearful of withdrawal.

There are ways of getting clean. Many ways. There are also many ways you can help him.

But you have to decide if it’s worth it.

Thinking About Quitting

Barncats7

Re: When

Thank you - I've been reading and practicing "everything" and I listen carefully too you. I've been here for almost a year now - starting with your website. I have a great deal of respect for you and feel that you know exactly who/what/how my husband is. If you would feel more comfortable you could always message me - I want to be a part of his life more than anything. I have to say, the situation is better than it was and it has alot to do with my attitude. I just don't know that remaining silent to what goes on is the best approach however, I don't know of any other way to get along. I'm taking one day at a time - not expecting too much and I know I wasted valuable time getting to this point.

I know this is going to sound corny - but I feel he is different in many ways to what I read about addiction, yet alot rings very true for him as well. He says he's not addicted - I think he's starting (just recently) to doubt himself. Which makes him more adament that he is going to finish these huge hurdles (projects - business) under the use of the ice.

It's discouraging to see him like this. No one knows him better than me - I've finally started to 'listen' to him since I found out. He takes on what most straight people cannot handle - but he is struggling. I think he knows now. I am here for him - I just have a bad feeling, but I am the pessimist/realist and his is the optimist/realist.

Thanks again for asking.

Sfj

Re: When

Ok,
Thanks, that was a very good reply.

It seems to me that you are more serious than a lot of people who come here looking for an instant fix.

The answers are not easy, but I am firmly convinced that there is hope and answers for everyone who is willing to put forth the effort. I'd be happy to communicate with you some more.

Have you read, "Crystal Meth They Call It Ice" by Mary Holley?

Barncats7

Re: When

No, I haven't read it yet. I caught some of it in your posts and got Theresa's take on alot of it. Would you suggest it for me? Is it new or something I could pickup from the library?

Can you tell me what you got from her book?

Sfj

Re: When

It is new, also cheap, less than twenty bucks.

nineyearsclean

Re: When

Quote:
At least thats been my take on it. I was able to quit when I was truly afraid that continuing to use meth was sure to kill me

It's interesting, really, because I was using so very much the last 2-3 years, that I believe I was inviting death. I had come to the belief that the only way I could stop was to die. And I welcomed death, if it meant I could get off the merry-go-round.

Then, on July 1, 1996, as I was getting dressed to go score some more (I had been snorting-never smoking or shooting or eating-a sixteenth a day for a couple of years by then), I was walking from my bathroom through my dining room to my bedroom, when out loud someone said: "IF YOU STAY HERE ONE MORE DAY YOU'RE GOING TO DIE". It stopped me dead in my tracks.

I had been hearing things, and seeing things (shadow people) for awhile, but this was a clear voice, not a muffled one, and as I stood there waiting to see what I might hear next, I heard it again: "IF YOU STAY HERE ONE MORE DAY YOU'RE GOING TO DIE".

It scared the @#%$ out of me. It was clear and concise and as if whomever said it was standing right next to me.

Now, I had first tried to commit suicide when I was 13 years old. I slit my wrist while in the bathtub. My mom and dad went out to dinner and I was babysitting, as always, my two little sisters and my baby brother. After mom and dad left, I fed and bathed the kids and put them into bed.

When I was sure they were asleep, I got in the bath myself and used a razor, like the kind you chop meth with, and sawed at my left wrist, ever so lightly, ever so careful, afraid of what I was about to do. Just then, I heard mom and dad come in the front door.

Something happened, I can't for the life of me re what, and they had to come home and cancel their dinner plans. I bandaged my wrist and went to bed.

That was the first time I tried. There were more than a few other attempts, the last one being 1991, I think. That one almost worked. I have a very, very ugly huge scar, in the shape of a V on my left forearm. I lost pints of blood and they had to do emergency surgery in the emergency room because I grazed a major artery, and I severed each and every tendon to my hand and fingers, and I grazed the nerve to one finger, and they did it all with no anesthesia because I had been drinking.

Anyway, my point is this: when I heard that voice warning me that if I stayed one more day I was going to die......for the first time in my life, I chose life.

So here it is: throughout almost my entire life, I secretly wished for death. It was only at the end of my meth addiction, that I realized what an ungrateful brat I had been for so very many years trying to give my life, my very life, back to my maker, like a spoiled little child who didn't like her BIRTHday present.

I quit because I realized that if I was going to die, then I wanted to die fighting the good fight. I could no longer accept that my life might end by my own hand. I had a moment of clarity that put my entire time on this good earth in perspective. I knew what I had to do.

I realized that I had been fearing life, not death....I had it all back asswards!

love...9

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