addiction struggles still

[kindness]

I'd like to start a blog some how to record my struggles with the various addicitons I've had over the years and the reasons I figure they are part of me in the first place.  Is there a simple way to start a blog? any suggestions?

 

bloody poppy plant derivatives have me by the nuts currently and I cant get hold of the plant medicines known to help with this.  I've been in contact with some guy in africa who just seems super suspect wanting western union transfers etc for hcl extracts.  I just don't trust it.  So im stuck looking at the 'program' which im not that keen on as i dont want to just get stuck on that forever.

 

boo fucken hoo I guess.  I don't feel sorrhy for mhyself really though.  I am just interested in anyone else who has beaten this thing in other than orodox ways and wouldn't mind sharing their eperience.  particulary if those methods are attatinable with a small budget and dont require flying to peru to do aya!

 

thanks friends. you have always been there for me in one way or other and I have lernt so much here. im endebted to you all

peace

 

[TheMooseZeus]

Have any other medicines helped to enforce your eagerness to get free from the substance? 

Doesn't have to be aya.

Good luck brother 

[Halcyon Daze]

It's psychological as much as physical so you have to beat it with the mind as well. 

 

I would suggest not looking for some easy painless solution, it doesn't exist and you won't beat it if you're waiting for an easy answer to come along.

 

Gotta do it the hard way.

 

You couls also try replacing your addiction with alcohol, cigarettes, coca cola, mcdonalds, violent movies and pop music.

[Siggor]

Hahaha Halycon are you trying to turn him into a neckbeard?

 

Kindness the way I overcame it was being abstinent, make up your mind to not take your poison of choice and stick to it there is no other option, if it rears it's ugly head up to say hi

1. Tell it to fuck off.

2. Go throw some heavy metal objects around the room.

3. Move your body run, walk, get out into nature.

4. Go eat healthy fulfilling foods. 

5. Be active keep your mind busy do whatever it takes. 

 

I used to think that I could take subsititutes for the addiction but your are still reinforcing the wiring to seek out substances, it didnt work, not until I made up my mind to not use ever again.

Even years later through some low periods the craving still pops up to say hi, but is easily manageable and goes as quickly as it came on.

 

This is the exact advice that I've recieved for 10 years and rejected it for that whole time, but it actually works.

 

Edited March 18, 2018 by Siggor

[Insequent]

Hey ya, Kindness.

 

After listening to a couple of talks by the likes of Gabor Mate, Gordon Neufeld and Robert Sapolsky, I started looking behind my addictions to find the reasons for the pain I was treating with substances. The pivotal point being "why the pain" rather than "why the addiction". I already understood why these substances made me feel better, but I wanted to know why I needed to feel better. This started me on the path which lead me, among other places, here to SAB.

 

Long story short; I somehow managed to cease taking opiates by deciding I didn't want to take them any more. I pretty much followed what Siggor advised above, but whilst handling the cravings got (somewhat) easier the longer I had abstained, there were times when they came crashing down on me like I'd never stopped. I have no doubt I would have relapsed because my pain, if not the cravings, would eventually become too much. Well.... either relapse or end it.

 

What saved me was The Shroom. I took a number of trips last year and did a couple of courses of micro dosing. I can't say this cured me; I've still got me issues , but I'm somehow changed. I no longer suffer the crippling depression and anxiety and I'm able to look into my past to try and work through the cause of my PTSD without the stress of triggers smacking me down.

 

The most amazing differences though, are 1. the complete loss of the cravings and 2. taking more than a small amount of any opiate makes me physically sick. As an example of what I mean here, when I needed to rely on codeine, I could take anywhere up to 300 or 400mg. Now I find it uncomfortable to take more than 15mg. At 30mg, I'm throwing up. These changes were not gradual. Within 2 weeks of my first 5g Shroom trip, which was at times incredibly beautiful and other times incredibly difficult, I just 'lost' the cravings and my body seems to now reject opiates. 

 

Now I know of a number of others who have tried the Mushy to deal with addictions and mental health issues without success. Perhaps you already have. I know I'm so very lucky for the success, but I'm continuing my work with Shrooms (and in other areas) in the hope of finding more answers, seeing how so many suffer.

 

There's quite a bit more than what I've described here. But I'm alive and where I am, I believe, all thanks to the humble Mushy and a couple of very special people here who gave me support. I'm still a long way off understanding why it worked, but if ya have any questions and you think I may be able to help, flick me a PM.

 

 

[Mapacho]

I posted something up recently but Jordan Petersen covers addiction in a very helpful way on some of his youtube vids.  The guy is a prodigy.  Understanding the psychological/emotional shadow and the neurophysiology at work from his vids is really helpful to identify what is at work when the craving arises.  Knowing is half the battle.  He also has other points on how to approach getting through it.  

Ibogaine does help physiologically aswell as psychologically but isn't the be all and end all of treatment.  Any short term plant medicine work will probably help but not get to the root of relapse which is the conditioned "circuits" of the reward pathway and the associated perceptual/emotional/psychological/social triggers because these can still activate for months after kicking the physical act of taking the substance.  The antidote to these triggers is to identify each of them thoroughly and avoid exposure and/or routed around with conscious behaviour change until the new behaviour becomes the "normal" circuit and the old behaviour circuit weakens and the triggers fade. 

We know this can be enhanced by medicines.  Not only do plant medicines show us the goals we need to set and find meaning which creates reward for new behaviour, plus it is shown that Aya and psilocybin do generate enhanced neuronal branching in the hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with memory and learning.  So, anecdotally I have a mate who has used (good) LSD initially and then later on microdosing shrooms to be very helpful along with the occasional deeper journey.  l have been shown that asking the plant to "teach me how to..." or "show me how to..." do something in a simple humble and grateful way is very effective method of directing towards the desired results.  

Also, find meaning in ending your addiction in what way calls to you, and then align your efforts and the specific steps needed to do so, which will create their own reward circuits due to that goal resting in what you give meaning to.  Jay Shetty has a good vid or two on youtube about ikigai, a method of searching for personal meaning if you're stuck for what matters to you.  All the best with your process.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Mapacho

[SirLSD]

try everything before going on the program. its 14 years and counting and i cant take it back. there are things available that can take to taper down. program will only dig you deeper.

are you in aus btw?

[Northerner]

Acacia for extracts sobered me. Took about a year of semi regular use, but 20 years of poly drug use suddenly ended. 

 

I can't say it's a path for everyone, but for those who can walk in the fire and come out feeling better for it... It's a viable option that may just help.

[Alchemica]

 I agree with what others say in this thread.  I don't have your solution but for me, I really need to go through 'The Hells of Trying to Become Well'. It hurts but if you can find growth through that pain, sometimes that's the way forwardish.

 

Anything pharmacological, even more spiritually plant medicine (unless used rarely with intent and full integration) was as others say, reducing intrinsic systems. I could find myself reliant on stronger plant medicines, they gave me some relief and turned into something to chase.
 

I'm using a lot of anti-hedonism to attempt to restore more self-disciplined goal-directed socially orientated drive.

 

In a place where I could seek the full pharmacopeia to try and feel well... but instead...

 

In the morning, feel drained and like absolute Hell. Solution: vigorous exercise training.
Felt absolutely drained after that. Solution: do boring shopping. Do gardening. etc.

Healthy eating. Channel addictive urges into teas and the health food shop, that's what I did for awhile.
Taking the focus off yourself to propagate plants for other etc, slowly things like that
Normally I'd have this uncontrolled executive drive that would associate a fb post with a morning hit of dopamine, solution: I've been trying to re-write that so that a social interaction is the outcome. Got to adopt essentially re-writing substance cues with a healthier outcome
If I feel like having something hedonistic food wise or anything of those hedonistic ways, from upping nicotine to feeling anything root chakra that's not serving my growth, solution: channel it into really cheesy creativity...

 

Lately, I've been trying to restore some higher order PFC governed aspects. That means avoiding stoking hedonistic subcortical pathways. Re-writing eudaimonic wellness from OFC reward expectancy obsessions, through a social medial pathway, form those vmPFC/dlPFC Self governance pathways, through engaged more moral goal directed effort. I can feel this energetic shift when I have a day that's healing, like my frontal lobes have had a workout...
 

I'm being very strict on myself. Keeping some unhedonistic stuff to keep neural progenitor cells doing their thing, keeping polyphenols high, omega-3's and lots of exercise.

Wishing you all the best. PM me if you need to chat @kindness