How to help a person with drug addiction?
Drug use causes irreversible harm to health and is life threatening!
Drug addiction is a disease that is formed in the body due to psychophysical addiction to psychotropic plant and synthetic substances. There are several types of addiction:
- Pharmacy addiction – the use of medical drugs that cause addiction, changes in the body similar to narcotic
- Cannabinoid use – smoking herbal substances (cannabis, marijuana, hashish)
- Opiate use – taking substances that have the active ingredient opium (heroin)
- Stimulant use – abuse of chemicals for brain and motor activity (amphetamine, cocaine)
- Use of synthetic drugs – taking substances that do not contain herbal ingredients (ecstasy, spice, mephedrone) to obtain psychophysical changes in the body and euphoria
- Toxicomania – use of legal chemical substances for obtaining state of altered consciousness
Different types of drug addiction differ in signs, symptoms, consequences and treatment methods. But regardless of the form of addiction, relatives and loved ones of addicts ask the question – “How can I get rid of drug addiction?”
Is it possible to get rid of drug addiction?
It is possible to get rid of a person from drug addiction with quality treatment with the help of specialists. Drug addiction affects not only the psychological and social aspects of human life, but also physical health. That is why drug addiction treatment is a complex process that relieves psychophysical dependence and is aimed at helping a person recover from the consequences of drug abuse.
Some patients and their relatives do not want to make the addiction public, so they prefer drug addiction treatment at home. Home recovery is not recommended by doctors due to the fact that prescription drugs are needed for effective treatment. Without a doctor’s prescription, the patient will not be able to buy medication and his or her struggle with addiction will be based on substandard methods.
Motivation for treatment is an important part of recovery. A motivated patient has a lower likelihood of relapse, and the desire to get out of drug addiction will be higher. Motivation is also important for initiating treatment – Articles 97-104 of the Russian Criminal Code forbid forcing a drug addict to go to a hospital. Voluntary consent of an addict is considered legal, so it is easier to persuade a motivated patient to fight with a disease addiction.
The most terrible consequence is irreversible mental degradation
It is necessary to recognize the addiction as early as possible and begin its treatment.
Drug addiction treatment methods
Various methods are used to treat drug addiction. Some people do not trust modern medicine, so they resort to using folk remedies, hypnosis.
Treatment with the help of folk remedies is based on the use of decoctions of herbal ingredients to cause the patient’s aversion to the object of addiction. With the help of hypnosis, the person is compelled to believe that he/she does not have an addiction to drugs. The effectiveness of the methods has not been proven by official medicine, so doctors recommend outpatient recovery under the supervision of medical professionals.
Inpatient treatment for drug addicts is provided voluntarily and involuntarily. Voluntary treatment is provided if the patient has accepted help and agrees to cope with drug addiction. Compulsory treatment is prescribed by a court decision.
Medication-assisted treatment in the hospital follows the following steps:
- Diagnosis of the disease, prescribing a course of recovery. A narcologist determines the disease, the degree of the disease, forms a treatment that will help the patient and will not harm the body
- De-intoxication of the body. Gastric lavage, purification of the lungs. To continue treatment, toxins, poisonous substances are removed from the body. Depending on the severity of the poisoning, intoxication lasts from a few hours to 10 days
- Withdrawal of drugs. Taking medication to alleviate the suffering of “withdrawal”. The patient is indicated for bed rest for 5-6 days to get rid of withdrawal syndrome
- Symptomatic therapy. Use of medical drugs for treating the symptoms of drug addiction
- Elimination of craving for narcotic drugs
- Coding. An implant with a drug is implanted under the patient’s skin, which causes negative feelings when taking drugs
- Psychotherapy. Psychological therapy enables the patient to refuse from drugs at subconscious level.
- Apparatus therapy. With the help of influence on the brain the person’s emotional stability increases, craving for drugs decreases
- Psychopharmacotherapy. The body rhythms are restored, the person is at peace and understands that he/she can enjoy himself/herself without drugs.
- Restoration of the organs’ functions. Taking medicines, using special methods for restoring organs and systems damaged by drug addiction.
- Social rehabilitation. A former addict returns to society, the patient adapts to a life without drugs
Is it possible to get rid of drug addiction on your own?
Self-treatment of drug addiction is based on the fact that the patient does not want to give publicity to his disease or to be in a medical institution. Motivation and willpower are important when trying to get out of drug addiction on your own.
The patient will suffer psychologically and physically when he or she withdraws from drugs. To get rid of addiction on your own you must:
- survive periods of withdrawal
- cope with irritability, aggression
- cope with psychological pressure from others
- Maintain a desire to quit using drugs in your head all the time.
Self-treatment is not recommended by doctors because of the fact that the patient cannot legally get the medication that will help to relieve the addiction, relieve the suffering. Also, when a person struggles with drug addiction on their own, they may begin to have mental problems due to the fact that Psychological support comes only from their loved ones, who are not always able to properly assess the problems and find a solution.
How to get rid of drug addiction: quickly and effectively
How to quit drugs on your own? Of the huge number of addicts only a few manage to get out of the swamp of drug addiction, all the rest suffer, trying for a while to be treated, undergo detox procedures, but then a passionate, irresistible desire to experience euphoria again takes over the person. In these cases, drug addicts come to the rescue. But if you have seriously decided to take care of yourself, we hope that our tips will help you.
In this article, we have collected practical advice and feedback from those people who really managed to quit drugs. This is recycled in a separate article stories of drug addiction from the real people of the forums, and not just unsubstantiated and superficial statements made by those who have never faced this problem. In addition, at the end of the article, we will give the opinions of experts, drug addiction, which will complement the practical advice of addicted people once.
Let us help you to quit drugs
How to get rid of drug addiction yourself: the tips of former addicts
- Periods of withdrawal.
- Episodes of irritability and aggression.
- Attitudes to their actions of loved ones.
Always keep in mind the goal: Why are you trying to get rid of drug addiction?
IMPORTANT: An addict wants to quit using himself less than the people around him want to make him stop using. So be prepared for the fact that your desire to quit will constantly disappear. Keep the goal in mind. Fix it, repeat it. Write it down everywhere you can. Remind yourself why you should quit.
The addict is in anticipation of the euphoria. As addicts themselves write on forums, the soul is completely blocked. And all the attempts of their loved ones to reach out to them are shattered. The addict simply ignores the words, the beliefs, the frightening stories. Only a situation can stop an addict, and both relatives and friends can create it.
What to do for those who observe an addict and see that the addiction takes its toll: useful recommendations for getting rid of drug addiction
Resolved to quit drug addiction and get rid of drug addiction for good? Ready for drug treatment and sober living education?
Then you come to us: call our hotline
Advice No. 1 to the loved ones of an addict
- At the moment of taking drugs, the addict is happy, relaxed or generally disconnected.
- The gaze is glassy, meaningless, wandering. Pupils are either constricted or dilated, and do not respond to light source or darkness. The sclera of the eyes and eyelids are red.
- The color of the skin changes, and there is either dryness of the mucous membranes, or profuse salivary secretion. In either case, thermoregulation of the body and biochemical regulation and metabolism in the body are impaired. This may manifest itself in tremors, sudden change of appetite, stool disorders, cramps in the body, pain sensations or their absence, uncoordinated movements, incoherent speech.
- The mental state changes. Emotions and reactions of consciousness alternate polarly in different phases of narcotic intoxication. Schizophasia (illogical speech, nonsensical word count), slowed down or overly excited speech, hallucinations, delusions of persecution, fears, anxiety, euphoria, irritability, aggression, uncontrollable laughter can be observed. Emotions may alternate sharply and require no external stimulus to change. In other words, the addict behaves completely unpredictably.
Tip #2: Everything an addict hides must come out
The presence of addiction can be determined by the fact that the addict constantly observes some kind of secret life: there are incomprehensible phone calls, meetings, the phone book is full of strange names. At home there are unusual items of unknown purpose, although they just may not be: addicts are good at masking the traces of their crimes, but it’s at first. Then the evidence is found anyway. This can be blistering of pills, plastic bags, knives, spoons with dark burnt bottom, matches, syringes, ampoules, packages and boxes, strange powders and weed with incomprehensible odors.
In general, the entire abode of an addicted person with its chaotic, the presence of small dirty things and even some strange smell gives away something wrong. It is even difficult to describe, rather it is recognized by the indirect manifestations: disorder, chaos, the presence of small debris, the general neglect of things, careless handling of objects.
Tip #3 don’t do unhelpful things
- Lecturing.
- Threatening (by the way, this may provoke a retaliatory aggression, and there’s no telling how it will end).
- Attempts to control or catch you in a lie. If he wants, he will twist and find a way to use.
- Exhortations and pity pressures.
- Ensuring free access to family finances, having the addict’s right to sign documents to sell property and belongings. All opportunities to sell something, take from the house should be limited as much as possible.
Advice #4 to a loved one to stock up on patience
Just stock up on tantalum patience. You will have a long period of communication with the recovering person. Some “recovering addicts” have unreasonable bouts of aggression that last for months or even years. This must be seen as a consequence of the disease, rather than trying to sort things out and press on that the person is wrong, an addict and nothing at all. This is exactly what will provoke the attempts to go off again into the drug “paradise”.
Tip #5: Don’t Become Addicted to an Addict
No connection between people can not break just because someone has made a volitional decision. Until a certain situation is lived out, people will continue to “boil” in a co-dependent relationship. So to help yourself and your loved one, start to deal with your internal problem. Why do you live with such a person? There are psychology courses, there is the help of healers, there are Narcotics Anonymous clubs, there are narcologists. Take care of yourself and the reasons for your dislike of yourself. A person who respects himself, who appreciates himself, just do not get into such a dependence on the sick, in what you are.
Therefore, you must recover from your addiction.
and only then will you get rid of the addiction.
An addicted person is defined simply: how to identify an addict
- Is afraid of criticism and negative attitudes.
- Wears rose-colored glasses and point-blankly ignores the problem, making excuses for their loved ones in the most stark situations. For example, a wife-beating addict is constantly justified by her. She acts almost like a zombie, sinking more and more into a state of apathy. And indulging his illness.
- Out of fear of being unrespectable, inauthentic, she screams, swears, controls, emotionally, lectures. At the same time, he does not take any real action, just dumps his irritation, unable to change anything.
- Continues to pity the addict, gives money, fears anger and outbursts of rage, is controlling and easily seduced by the addict’s pleas and deliberately affectionate tone when the addict needs something from a co-dependent relative. Doesn’t know how to say “no.” Afraid of conflict.
- I’m sure he’s healthy, but it’s the addict who’s sick. But he is not. The addict is essentially the same “addict,” only his drug is his self-loathing and his fears.
In rehabilitation centers after drug treatment, patients are given a list of so-called “boundaries.” In other words, those events, things, routes, acquaintances, which can prompt the thoughts about drugs. Such a list can be made by yourself, and you have to ask a close person who really knows you, who knows where and how you get drugs to help you. And this person must know you and want to help you, and not be your fellow sufferer or even more so the dealer. They are certainly not interested in you stopping your use.
When people write: “Help get rid of drug addiction,” first of all, they mean psychological support, although they themselves believe that they will be given advice on what drugs to take, what exactly to do. But without support, even when you make a list, you can’t cope.
One has a very strong psychological stiffness. This is a delayed switching to a new way of behaving. If there were no such mechanism, a person (anyone) could be abruptly readjusted to anything, like a robot. But this same rigidity is a hindrance, especially for addicts. If a person remembers that, for example, he can order drugs through the Internet, then his ability to use the Internet must be restricted. If he is used to walking down the street, where his fellow addicts live, it is necessary to choose a different route, and ideally he should even move to another city or at least the neighborhood.
If your favorite music, food, books remind you of drugs, you have to stop listening to this music, read these books, eat foods that cause a desire to use or remind you of any events. The exception remains the loved ones, who, in fact, also remind of the presence of addiction. And this is where both parties need to work.
Since co-dependent family members react painfully to criticism and have great difficulty getting rid of their habits, the work on themselves will be very difficult for both people, whether they are spouses or parent-child couples. Don’t avoid the opportunity to consult with an addiction counselor. They have a lot of experience in such situations, and they will give sensible, working advice on how to normalize the psychological situation in the home. You may not have to go to the hospital, it is your choice, but you will have to change the atmosphere and ways of interaction in the family. Otherwise, drugs will not let you go.
How to get rid of drug addiction on your own at home, if there is no possibility to delineate the boundaries and block the reminder of the fact that you use
In this case, you need a reliable partner, a friend who has been through the situation. You need someone you can call (preferably at any time of the day or night, which is ideal). This person should, first of all, know the truth about you, because there is no point in hiding the reasons and your behavior. That’s lying to yourself. How will it help you if you don’t tell them that you are using because of, for example, anxiety and fears, resentment, or memories of a painful event. Second, the person you tell “help you get rid of your drug addiction” should not betray you. This again reduces the circle of possible helpers to a minimum person. It is better if it will be a volunteer of a rehabilitation center for drug addicts, a member of the Narcotics Anonymous club, these people have already been on the other side of the problem. And it is easier for them to understand you without judging you.
Is it possible to get rid of drug addiction with pills and without doctors
We strongly advise against self-medication. There is a basic reason for this. All the remedies that block cravings for drugs are themselves powerful substances. That is why addicts “get hooked” on, for example, “Lyrica” (“Pregabalin”), which is actually a drug designed to alleviate certain conditions of the patient. It turns out that one drug will simply replace the other, and no one knows which one will pull you deeper into the whirlpool of addiction.
Without exception, all drugs for drug addiction have side effects. How the drugs will affect you, no one can predict. Only a doctor can control the process of taking the pills. Most drugs are not freely available, only by prescription. Even if you have managed to find a channel for selling illegal drugs, not the fact that it is of high quality, and not the fact that you will cure the addiction, reading the articles and instructions for the drugs. You are not a doctor and you don’t do any tests. There is no guarantee that after self-treatment pills you simply do not remain disabled. And the chances of that are extremely high. As for the treatment with herbs and dietary supplements, you just need to understand that they also have their own side effects, which need to be taken into account. And any medication treats the body, not the soul. Until you understand what you want, exactly what you want to get rid of the problem, no drugs by themselves will turn you off drugs. However, dietary supplements, and drugs that you were prescribed by a doctor, and herbs, and vitamins, and any sport – it’s still a great help to strengthen the body. And physiological addiction coupled with weak motivation and suppressed willpower are reliable chains that are hard to break. So don’t refuse pills and vitamins in any case. But the pills – only under the supervision of a doctor or in a drug treatment clinic with round-the-clock supervision!
Tips on how to get rid of drug addiction. Forum. Experience and feedback from former addicts
Is it possible to get rid of drug addiction forever? This is the main question that worries those who are trying to survive withdrawal from drugs. The hardest part is not this at all. Then comes the moment of remission, after which almost 100% of addicts snap again. The question is why.
Because life remains exactly the same. And also because drug addicts are unable to adapt normally in society. It is impossible not to talk about their past, because someone wants to open their soul. And when addicts open their souls, they encounter negative reactions from those around them. It is as if an invisible “curse” of society has been placed on drug addicts. And they have to live with this burden. This does not help recovery at all. Social adaptation is essentially an attempt to get used to a normal life with normal (non-dependent) people.
Again, this requires a partner, a friend who can influence you and loves you. He himself should be more established in society, reach out to you and show you the possibilities of living a better life. This can in principle be a psychologist, if you are willing to pay, and a paid drug therapist. And this is a very effective measure. But it is better if it is just a loving person, who will tell you step by step, from small things, how you can live a better life.
Today you change your clothes and look better. Tomorrow you go visit friends. Gradually it will turn out that there are many interesting things in life that bring pleasure. There are goals that you want to achieve. This is what the process of adjustment is all about: life should be interesting and enjoyable. And pleasure must be attainable. There should be a thirst for victory, for achievement, for discovery. Satisfaction from their victories.
In this sense, some alternative way to occupy your psyche are computer games. But this is a surrogate and the same addiction, though without drugs. It’s not easy to get rid of games, either, but it’s still easier than drug addiction, where there’s also dependence at the level of physiology.
How to get rid of drug addiction alone: myth or reality!
- You are ALREADY an addict. Even if you don’t do drugs. Even if you “only smoke pot, because it’s nothing. Even if you don’t do it very often. Drugs are too insidious. Today it’s weed, tomorrow it’s salts, the next day it’s injections. The time frame varies from one to five years. After that, it’s a slow death. When former addicts look back on their past, they say with one voice, “I didn’t even notice it happened.” Start seeking help now. This is no joke. All 100 percent of first-time addicts deny that they are addicts. “Anyone but me!” And all 100% fall into the addiction trap. Don’t lie to yourself!
- And don’t lie to those who love you. You’d rather have a fight and endure yelling and threats, but they can help you and stop you. Are you afraid of appearing bad, wrong? As if you are not already bad and right? Don’t hide it! Tell the truth and become right and good, it is a false shame. It will be much more embarrassing later, when everyone will notice that you are an addict. But then it will be much harder for you to stop.
We hope that we have given you useful tips, whether it is possible to get rid of drug addiction yourself. If you need more effective and prompt help, we are always ready to provide it
