What made you decide to quit?

For all you ex-users, I really need to know what finally made you decide to quit. Was it a gradual thing, or just all of a sudden the "light bulb above your head started to shine"?

I remember talking to a man named Dave a while ago. He said that it was simply his 27 yr. old daughter asking him to quit. This man had been an addict for his daughters entire life, and it was just something in her voice or the way she looked at him when she asked him to stop that "rang his bell", and he never used again.

What I am basically looking for is what made you finally realize that it was time to quit, without first hitting rock bottom.?

Catherine I saw the light one day when I was driving the 20 miles to town, an ambulance was following me in no apparent hurry. I mentioned to my friend Travis that it wasnt looking good for the passenger, if there was one. I got back home a few hours later to hear that it was my friend, neighbor, and occasional hook up for meth. She died injecting ICE..... and I had a total emotional meltdown.
I found this site, started going to 12 step meetings regularly and working hard at preventing myself and others from dying so tragically. I had been trying to get clean and stay that way for over two years, I had attended meth funerals and still kept relapsing at 2 week to 4 month intervals, but the day the ambulance follwed me with my friends dead body, was the day I finally "got it". I knew I was next.

it kind of sounds like from your question that your trying to do whatever form of meth you do, but avoid hitting rock bottom as those around you have done.
guess what, unless you quit, and i do mean STOP doing ice, speed, meth like, right now, today... chances are in a few months... could take years, you'll be hittin that rock bottom. and never realize on the way there-that that is where your headed. it'll hit you one day. either cuz you have a close call yourself or cuz of someone else's degeneration.
or cuz you find yourself sitting in the rubble of what was your life.

sorry if that sounded jaded - i wouldn't be on this site tho if i did not truly care about ex users and helping each other.

The reason that I am asking is for a once very close friend of mine. I refuse to give up on him. I want to say or do something that will slap him awake and make him want to seek help. So far I have not been able accomplish this. I want to help him sooooooooooooo bad. The person he has become is not who I want to know. I want that person back again.

This is pretty much for all of us who love or have a wonderful friend addicted to meth.

We all say we want the person we knew prior to the use to come back...

Do we really? Shouldn't we remember that the person we say we want to see again in those eyes is the person who became the addicted?

For myself...I just want the people I love, the people I am fond of and the people I know to be...healthy, happy and whole...whatever that happens to be for them.

I want the pain to stop. For all of us.

I agree Ma. We can never have that person back. Whatever their experiences are while using will affect them when they finally stop.

And I also agree that I would take him healthy, happy and whole. Even if it meant I never saw him again.

I had lost everything - AGAIN. I got sick of living the way I was living, got humble, and finally admitted to myself that everything that was happening to me was my own fault.

I got sick and tired of being sick and tired.

i understand... i've looked at other ppl and thought that about them--then i've looked in the mirror and wondered who the hell i was looking at! your friend is fortunate to have a friend so caring.
i don't know if you have ever done drugs... if not, i would suggest that you (just like ur doing) learn everything you can about it and maybe not even let him know that you know as much as you might about it. i know from being on the defensive, secretive end of things, that the last thing you want is a straight person gathering all this info and facts about you! lol... it's crazy to you and me, but not when you've been up for 2-3 days.
just be there for him.. you may not see the normal person in your friend for a while.... but i'm betting that if you be the caring-straight person for him when he crashes and burns (and he will..... ) and between now and then.. don't say much of anything about the drugs-in fact you may have to distance yourself from him, but he will come back to you for help, cuz you ARE the straight one.
as an ex tweaker... i had a friend like that and that is exactly what she did to me... we wern't that close when i was using, but (she had been thru this years before) she knew about the dope...and would refused in a nice way, when offered and wasn't offended that i had offered. but she just listened to me... what i wanted at that point was someone i could talk to who understood the craziness and how out of control your life can get when your on drugs but that was all. i would have lost all respect for her if she had done any with me.
don't bug him about it, treat him normal (even tho, he does know that he's changed-you can't look at yourself after being up for 3-4 days and NOT know it!) just be his normal, straight friend. you'll be the one he comes to for help later on.
best of luck

Well,

I quit for a combination of reasons. Everything came togather conspiring to get me clean at once it seems like. My best frien in the world moved back to town who is like a sister to me. I was arrested again.. and this time I was in a lot of trouble if I didnt clean up. I was ready to be clean because i saw what using was doing to my life. A very good friend of mine was a jail... half the hookups I knew were in jail and I was getting tired of the dope game.

I quit because people really cared about me and were there to tell me so. My best friend used to hang out with me even before I quit and usually didnt bring up meth.. but if it ever came up she was very firm that she hated it and didnt want to see me destroy myself. So, when I got arrested this time I quit. Every other time I just left and never showed up for court. I lived alot of my time on meth with warrants out for my arrest.I had my best friend there who was willing to hang out with me every day to keep me away from the *&^$ I was into... I had random drug tests for court constantly... and my mom let me stay at her house as long as I was testing for her whenever she asked me to. So while I wasnt very serious about my recovery at first... It was the only way for me to make my life what I wanted it to be at that point. I didnt want to goto prison... and I wanted to be with my best friend. I was tired of all the BS backstabbing people who I used to be surrounded by.

Kinda long I know... but it was a complexe situation that finally made me drop meth and really turn to recovery.

peace.

For me it was the severe paranoia and the very last time I got spun I had a severe headache to the point I thought I was going to have a stroke. Also, being naturally thin, I had lost too much weight so it was very noticable and embarrassing. Being clean for three weeks has allowed me to gain back my weight and I feel back to my old self again. I have to desire to ever use again.

Thanks for all of your responses, but I have another question. How do finally disassociate with all of your druggie "friends", when they are basically the only friends that you have and have had for years? To me, that part seems incredibly hard to do, especially when they all live so close?

dis associating yourself from the crowd you've always hung with IS one of the hardest things. esp. if you don't have straight friends from when you were straight to kinda fill in the void. i'm going thru that right now.... it sucks, esp when you had friendships w/ some of them, not just a hookup. y'know?!
if you feel like you have to explain to them why your gonna drop out of the scene, i've not heard one yet say anything but good for you--tweakers usually respect the one person who DOES have the strength to do it.

oh yeah, one huge factor that helps ALot... real simple...... just don't answer your cell phone. your doing this for you, not them. cold hearted m/b, but no one cares for you and has more invested in YOUR well-being, than you do... take care of your challenges first and foremost and let the chips fall... etc.
yeah, it sucks, cuz you don't ususally just walk into a group of straight ppl immediately! but hey, it's a new start all the way around. who knows who you might meet on the non-skitzer side of the tracks!
good luck....

Catherine, what I did was just be honest with them. I made it clear that I was trying to get off the dope, and to do that meant I had to be away from the dope. To be away from the dope, I had to be away from them too. Funny thing is this - most of them lost interest in me once I stopped using - that was all most of us had in common anyway.

There are a handful of people I used to get high with that I will always love, and I am always happy to see them. I don't go looking for them, but when I do run into them at the store or wherever, they tell me they are proud of me, and that they understand. Not all drug users are "bad" people, it is just bad for me to be around them.

I have new friends today who love me for me. They don't want anything from me. These are the friends I have made in recovery - most are also recovering addicts and THEY understand me well.

As an addictions counselor, one of the questions I used to ask my clients whenever I would start a new group is:

How bad would it have to get for you to quit?

When I am dead - was a very common response.

Sometimes the light can go on in an instant, and sometimes you need a new light bulb, new wiring, find a source of electricity... and then the right person, place, thing, or event to hit the switch—and pray for the best.