I celebrated 10 years this month. April 2016 I had my first and last heroin overdose. It scared me enough that I knew I had to change or I would die.
Fast forward 2 years. By 2018, I had my multi-year chip from NA. Resources allowed me to go to therapy, get diagnosed, and medicated. I was getting to the root of the problem. My job was lucrative and I was on the right path. But most importantly, I was happy, confident, safe, and sober.
Fast forward 2 more years. The pandemic hits the world and we are thrust into a complete unknown. I started a job at an alcohol store. My full time job shut down and I needed something to supplement. The job itself was fine, I had no real issues there. The problem was I started drinking casually but regularly. I hadn’t had that much free time in so long and alcohol was always readily available.
I never worried about it too much because my drug of choice was opiates. It was very easy for me to tell myself that alcohol was never going to be a problem.
I am sitting here today with 10 years clean but with 6 years of growing alcohol abuse. I fell victim to the all too familiar act of addiction swapping.
I’ve done it before and I believe I can do it again. I am an addict through and through.
It feels harder and scarier this time around even though I’m starting in a relatively better place than before…
After experiencing the problems that harder drugs gave me, I fell into thinking the legal drug alcohol was harmless.
I learned that’s not true.
I wasted a lot of time trying to make that legal drug work for me.
It doesnt work for me.
This place helped me put it down and keep it down. Welcome to awesome 24/7 support!
Thank you for sharing, I really needed to hear this. Addiction swapping has been an issue for me,first time admitting it. I have been sober for awhile now but still wanting to numb myself. I have not had a drink in almost 3 years but have been using THC edibiles off and on. I recently came across a podcast about Addiction swapping and it made me realize I need to stop before it turns into me using some other drug. I have not purchased anymore THC but I want to.
I had a huge support team back then but unfortunately that dwindled down significantly over the last couple of years especially as I’ve found myself deeper in the addiction. I’m starting here and slowly working on reaching out to the few people I have close to me. I’m uncertain if I want to return to AA/NA at this point.
Awesome reaching out. The good news is you know what to do because you have been there. Well done on getting started which for me, was the hardest part!
