I was doing a couple hundred dollars a day of heroin at one point. The main thing that has helped me is the 12 steps of AA and a HP
3 Likes
I understand why everyone likes the meetings. But what about immediate stress relief.what do you do when the feelings are so overpowering that it seems like instant gratification is the only thing that works to relieve the pressure. I can’t always go exercise or meditate or whatever. Does anyone have anything they do in the moment to help with stress? Takes me ten seconds to pop some pills (opiates doc if I didn’t say that earlier) and then it’s allll smooth after that. What happens when I’m stressed now need something now?
there’s a lot of stuff i do in those moments you’re talking about most of all i pray. i’m not a religious person and never have been, but in moments like you’re referring to i pray and ask for help. ten seconds to pop a pill, ten seconds to take a pull of a bottle, and yea the ease and comfort from ingesting your drug of choice is incredible while in active addiction, but for someone like me to stay alive i just can’t drink or use. so now i take those ten seconds and i pray and the results are incredible.
i don’t know if you’re open to the idea of prayer or not. for what it’s worth i really don’t have any idea “what” or “who” i’m praying to, i just pray in general and ask for help. it’s been keeping me clean and sober the past 17 months.
best to you and keep at it friend! 
1 Like
If you have 10 seconds to pop a pill (more on this in a minute) then you have 10 seconds to pray.
Now, regarding the 10 seconds:
- Unless you literally have the pills in your pocket, it’s going to take longer than 10 seconds.
- If you just swallow the pill it’s going to take 10-30 minutes or longer before you feel the effect. By then whatever “triggered” you will have passed.
- Opiates don’t relieve stress. Whatever stressed you out will be there when you sober up. Plus all the guilt and shame that comes with a relapse.
Continuing the discussion from Fun new game:
5 Likes
Literally ALWAYS had pills in my pocket. But yes you’re correct there is the time it takes to hit the blood stream etc. but just the act of taking them/knowing it’s coming … eh you know. Prayers really not my thing.
Perhaps it’s time to make them your thing. If you had to pick between praying to who, or whatever, you want and taking pills which one would you pick? If stress could cause a relapse that quickly for me I would do anything to avoid it.
Continuing the discussion from Truth and tough love:
3 Likes
How to relieve stress? Pray to the imaginary man in the sky. Super helpful everybody thanks so much. You do you though go for it if it helps.
Love what you said here. Really great advice.
1 Like
Things that help relieve stress: Yoga, mediation, therapy, hiking, jogging, swimming, group therapy (AA/NA, SMART), journaling, art, nature, praying, cleaning, weight lifting, reading self help books…
My favorite way to combat stress is to figure out how to set myself up for success in the first place (find out what this is for you). When I find myself is a shitty place of failure, i document the steps that got me to that place/mindset and start to element those things in my everyday life that brought me down.
Some things are out of my control. But if I have been working on all the things in my life that I CAN control, usually that one fucked up thing that’s uncontrollable won’t be the piece that brings me down.
4 Likes
Personally, a lot of my stressors are self-induced. Although, others are out of my control. I try to tell the difference by asking myself, am I doing the best I can? If yes, then that’s that! If I procrastinate, I get anxiety, so I try to take care of things as they arise (if possible). I’m learning to challenge and reframe stressful thoughts as they come. My mind lies to me ALL the time! Many things I stress about usually work themselves out all on their own, and I worked myself up over nothing! I’m working to take the drama out of situations. Things are what they are. If I get too worked up, I breathe and shift my focus to only that. It’s a small shift in my thinking, and it helps. I know I can’t keep putting in to rid my stress, so I’ve got to change my mindset.
1 Like
Maybe you need to terms that there is no immediate way to relieve stress. It’s called life and it happens.
Sure you can pop a pill or 10 or whatever and you’ll have some temporary relief, but the thing that addicts need to learn is how to cope with life without drugs or alcohol or whatever the doc is right?
There are ways to manage stress, but the bottom line is you have to learn how to handle it without drugs or alcohol.
4 Likes
Thank you.
Yes exactly. That’s my question where to I begin to learn how to deal with life. And god help you if you tell me to pray.
Yep, there’s only so much you can really do when an acute stress starts tugging at you out of nowhere. It’s probably not the answer that was being sought in this thread, but it’s the truth. Sometimes there’s no other option than to just get through it. I started keeping a stress ball in my pocket and I squeeze the shit out of that little bastard on the regular.
See. Stress ball! Now we’re getting somewhere. And I understand the idea of you gotta get through it to get through it. But I’m gonna need some sort of railing to hold onto as I cross that bridge in the first bit of my sobriety here.
Yeah, I get that. Good luck bud.
1 Like
I’ve also got a business card sized list of reminders in my wallet of why I need to stay sober. I look at it occasionally when I’m going through a craving.
1 Like
Pray to the stress God.
And then go find a therapist or any kind of NA/AA/Smart meeting where you can build up those life skills. Seriously though. Everybody is different, but we are really all the same. As individual as we think we all are in our addiction we are way more similar than you’d think.
What works for me, might not for you though. I exercise. Stress builds right? It doesn’t hit you like a bat out of nowhere. Well usually it doesn’t. That’s why people meditate. I just workout.
You can clean, meditade, workout, find a hobby, draw.
2 Likes
I don’t pray, I talk to myself. “Megan, get that fucking thought out of your head.” “Megan, your thinking is stupid right now. FIX IT.” Sometimes I’m really hard on myself, other times I’m manipulative, and other times I’m gentle and encouraging. I’m not super good at the latter, but I’m always working in it. I’ve taken the negative things about my addict behavior and turned them into coping skills. What I do is self talk and any therapist for any issue promotes this. Usually it’s supposed to be a gentle self talk, but for me, the harder I am on myself, the more tough love I give myself, the better the results.
That’s not to say I’m not supportive and caring to myself, it’s just that my version requires a lot of cursing and pushing and jolting.
“Megan, you’re kicking ass today, don’t fuck it up.”
2 Likes
This is so similar to me. I talk to myself, tell myself that it’s not that bad, I can cope with this. If I do something good I congratulate myself, give myself a mental high five.
The amount of battles I’ve fought in my head when THAT voice starts on me. But I fight it.
@Lefttythree the more you fight it the stronger you get.
1 Like