Lets compile a list of things that got swiy through some tough times...

[ex-junkie]

**first of all, this isnt a thread to list drugs that helped you through.

swim did a methadone detox in late 2005, and the things that really helped her to stay positive/survive included:

-keeping a diary for all her thoughts. in fact, if swim can find it, she will post it up when she gets blog priviledges. swim actually started her diary months before her detox, and she found it really helped to put things into perspective. on the flipside, making a thread on DF is essentially the same thing.

-swim made a scrapbook with pictures of people she loves, pictures of things she liked/wanted, verses from inspirational poems/cards from family and friends that she was given in previous times of detox. the scrapbook was only a small one, so she could carry it around and flip through it whenever she felt down.

-swim bought new address books, and filled them out WITHOUT the numbers/contact details of drug dealers/contacts, and changed her phone number.

-music! swim plays the drums and had hocked her drum set up a few years prior, so she made trips down to the music shop to play on the expensive electronic drum kits that she desired. (she ended up buying an electronic kit the following year). swim thinks theres a few people who are in this boat- ie, have hocked their beloved equipment, and have some talent going to waste!! electronic music production. now seriously, if youre into dance music then production is one thing that can fill your mind up with thoughts from morning till night. there is so much to learn when playing with audio/midi, and its a great distraction.

-drink lots of water! if the swimmers are anything like swim, then they neglect to keep hydrated. when dehydrated, you will find yourself very tired and lethargic, and unable to get up and go.

if i think of any more ill post them up, but at this stage these are the things that helped swim make it through.

edit: this thread is for all swimmers to participate, even if the longest youve had clean is a couple of weeks.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Useful idea for a thread, and some good personal suggestions.

[chillinwill]

This forum as a whole helped Red Rock not really get through withdrawal (although it has helped for this reason for many others) but to deal with the cravings and psychological aspect of the withdrawal. Red Rock just totally immersed himself into this forum and it has helped tremendously. Exercise has also helped Red Rock a lot. Whether it be running, walking, lifting weights, etc, it all has helped him relieve stress and cope with life's everyday situations.

[ScorpioSunshine]

Writing and music are two of swim's top things that help her through the rough times. Swim has an online journal which has helped tremendously.

Having a good hard cry when things seem bad can help relieve pent up tension and anxiety. Getting rid of the negative energy seems to make room for more positive thoughts and helps aid swim in planning an approach to resolving issues. Swim wants to be a positive person, but she also realizes there is a balance and that's it ok to not feel so great all the time.

Swim also recently removed herself from a dangerous situation (which needed to be done a long time ago). Being in a place where swim feels safe and can think clearly really helps. Even though things are still rough, and in some ways have become even harder for swim, just being out of a negative situation has helped to show swim that the path to easier times is not so hard and rocky as she once thought. In other words... a change of scenery.

Swim is also preparing to travel soon, which she is very nervous about and also excited. For swim, this is something new and challenges her comfort zone on a level that is very healthy and will help give her new perspectives. I think that's something most people can do to fit their own situation --just doing something different. Again, a change of scenery, but also going out of one's comfort zone/doing something out of the ordinary/something you've always wanted to do.

Swim also keeps a little notebook and jots down ideas and thoughts that come to her, and keeps a file on her computer for random thoughts/ideas.

Reach out to someone who has been there. Find someone who can really relate and someone swim can trust. Just knowing you're not alone helps.

Walking: Swim finds walking is very peaceful and gives her more energy. It's a good outlet for anxiety and other emotions, and it gives swim time to think with no distractions. Learning to be ok with swim's thoughts is a big step.

Help someone else who is in distress. Swim doesn't mean putting yourself at risk or going overboard, but even the smallest good deed to someone else in crises can help put things in perspective and give swim a sense of "goodness".

Listening to relaxation CDs, taking pictures...

and one of swim's favorites: Laughing. A good comedy or being with someone who can make swim laugh makes swim feel that it's all going to be ok.

[ex-junkie]

some excellent advice there scorpio sunshine.

[Mammon]

SWIM might be unusual here but he finds that in hard times he likes to be alone. When you’re down you’re vulnerable to shit advice, and friends who try to help often only tell you stuff that they recycle from T.V. or that their parents told them. The real answers only come from one place: yourself.

When alone he likes to get into discipline. Not some S&M shit, but getting up religiously at 9.00am, eating only nutritious food, no drugs or booze – don’t let everything slip or you’re fucked.

Lastly, physical exercise. Exercise hard. Run, swim (funnily enough), do weights, push-ups, climb until your body is in more pain than your mind – then have a hot bath. SWIM has used this formula to get over everything from an MDMA induced nervous breakdown to a heartbreak that he thought he’d never come back from.

Nothing lasts forever.

Still, that’s just SWIM, and that guy is a fucking weirdo.

[cra$h]

anything to keep your mind busy is the best for mental sanity.

But when times got rough all over, a good night of drinking always brought swim back. Just chillin with a couple close friends, either at a bonfire or at a house, and drinking recklessly was some much needed stress relief, and it's amazing what a break can do.

but as far as non-drug related coping mechanisms, music is definitly number one. Playing guitar or drums ( really any instrument) is a great way to let out what ever's going through your mind out your fingers, and some of swim's best music came out of this. Listening to music is great too. wether it's something upbeat that brings back the good ol' days, or something that's exactly what you're feeling, it's all good, and puts some perspective on things.
Number two would be friends. Surrounding yourself around people equal to you, that listen to what you say shows you're signifigant, and they're a good distraction from your internal, family, or other friend problems.
Sleep is another great way to escape, and dreams can be very metaphoric on one's life.
meditation's a good way to keep yourself from thinking those thoughts you shouldn't think. It's always made situations more clear, almost as if you're looking at it from a 3rd person point of view, and somehow, some way, it's made swim more optomistic and generally more upbeat, even you're meditating 10 minutes a night, it's still enough.

[ex-junkie]

swim found that giving her keycard/money to her mother helped her a lot. also to explain to people who are trying to help you financially, ie. help pay a bill, go pay a bill for you, to physically pay the damn bill themselves. swim knew the bill wouldnt get paid, etc.

swim found when she was honest to those who were supportive of her, they were able to help her appropriately. obviously these are things that need to be blurted out, and acted on before your mind gains control. the sooner you can put the anticipation of scoring to bed, the better. had swim not blurted these things out, her mind would have 'convinced' her scoring was a good thing/better than paying bills etc.

[Dickon]

My cat found that writing "Screaming in the night air" on here was a God-send, as well as "Smack the monkey hard" for letting out abuse (these threads can both be found in the opiate section). My wife swears thinks that DF was an absolute godsend, and I think cat was going pretty crazy as he finished off his methadone reduction.

For the physical side of things (although this will vary with the drug being withdrawn - I'm talking about opiates here) clonidine helps a lot, diclofenac (or other NSAIs) a little. I took lots of supplements which may or may not have made things easier: they had no obvious short term benefits.

A little exercise helps if you can do it, but I think forcing the pace in early days might be a bad idea: I went swimming a few days in a row, and got ill at that time.

Music can help especially as a way to vent raw emotions. One other thing that helped was an excel spreadsheet, where I made a graph of Cat's dose reduction from 225mg of methadone down to 0mg over the course of 5 weeks or so. I could see his progress, and I didn't want to "spoil the effect" by letting cat increase his dose. When it got down to zero I added a little chart to count the hours, which I kept going for a few weeks. It sounds a bit silly, but it really helped as a focus to motivation.

Having a wonderful wife who helped out when I wasn't able to do anything was invaluable, and I am so lucky to have such a loving partner. She has never shared Cat's problem, which really helped. There are an awful lot of other things I've got into after Cat's initial w.d. such as Zen meditation, yoga, tai chi, 5 rhythms dancing, massage, a little college course, aftercare groups, and 1-to-1 sessions, but they all came into play after the w.d.

One absolutely counter-intuitive thing Cat did once was to drive about in mid-winter with the windows down. He'd do that, go indoors, and for a few moments it would stop that freezing sensation without replacing it with a boiling-to-death feeling. Oh, and lets not forget hot baths!

Good idea for a thread ex-junkie

Dickon

[Leftöver Crack]

swim finds listening to certain bands helps ALOT in an odd way...the odd way being it's bands who have been addicts, and often sings about addiction, desperation, etc., or just knowing the band members have been or are addicts. being into punk scene swim guesses pretty much everyone shares this trait...

[ex-junkie]

^interesting post. swim found that listening to marilyn manson and NIN was putting thoughts in her head. it took awhile to realize what some of the breathy lyrics were about, and swim wondered if it was contributing to the problem.

swim found that listening to pantera and sepultura, and shouting along was quite therapeutical. lol.

in fact swim is sure screaming lets of some sort of brain chemical, because swim always feels good after a good vocal explosion.

[yaba]

Swim had a few withdrawals from different drugs, he had to move away from Amsterdam to stop with yaba.

But for opiates he finds that the first few days (3-4) staying in bed and in the house as much as possible. And on day 4 go out for walks and go and do new things that what swim normally wouldn't do. Like go to a museum spend some time in the sunshine in a park or go and spend some time with friends who don't use.

And cursing the drug what is making you feel like this ! Swim's last withdrawal (tramadol) he used to wake up at night sweating and shaking and telling his now ex girlfriend, FUCKING TRAMADOL !!! The support of a loved one is the best someone can have when going true absolute shit !

Also make a plan this has helped swim with all his withdrawals just saying "I am" stopping tomorrow after lets say 4 years of heroine use isn't going to make it easier, swim would start thinking about it (mental preparation) and then pick a date use in the morning and then slowly getting used to it.

The main thing is to stay of whatever swiy is stopping with, swim found this hard specially with nicotine !

Swim thinks if someone is determent then he/she needs to change the life style, you can't stop with heroine and hang out with users. Same for all drugs even now swim couldn't be in the same room with someone who is using yaba or heroine without swim wanting to take some to.

Think the thing is to replace a addiction with something else. Before swim was addicted to yaba and all was about getting money to pay for it, then using it and then after 5 days without sleep or food having a 24 hour sleep, eat and sleep again, this used to go on for about 3 days. It was in a big city and swims life only involved that.

Now he likes to take his dog out for long walks, going out for a meal and going to the cinema all the normal things in life instead of "the drug cycle"

Sorry to go bit of-topic but this is swims view on addiction and how someone can change, or at least it worked for swim ! And what others already have said helps swim to like listening to music and reading about the very thing swim is trying to kick, how bad it is and how life will improve over time, he did this daily with nicotine while being on champix at the same time.

To all of you who are going true a shit time, be strong, stay positive and think one day it will be better. And don't give up !!!

[ex-junkie]

addiction definitely needs a replacement. something constructive though. exercise and/or music seem to help the masses around here. making lurrrrrrrrrrrve stimulates those tasty brain chemicals we all desire so much as well.

<3

studying seems to be a good one too. swim is studying music technology, and its exactly what she needs to keep her brain BUSY as well as STIMULATED.

STIMULATION GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH GAGGING FOR SOME MORE. lulz.

[Leftöver Crack]

yeah marilyn manson wasn't exactly what swim meant that would maybe be THE last thing swim would pick...it works best with punk/hardcore/metal something and not soft slow crap, but really it's the lyrics that make it work, especially if it's solely about drug addiction, for example

swim tried posting a lyrics link but was informed he can't yet.

[ex-junkie]

definitely. pantera and old machine head are wonderful. not too depressing, upbeat, groovy as fuck.

phone help lines were beneficial to swim too. she always hung up feeling refreshed. sometimes its nice to speak to an unjudgemental listener. if anyone is isolated, or has noone to talk to, then they should use them. the internet is wonderful, but at the same time verbal contact is much needed.