What made you relapse after being clean long term?

[ChrisNev]

This is a question for those who used for a long period of time, and stayed clean for longer than a month, and ended up relapsing, after the withdrawal pain and cravings were gone.

For me, a few things that made me relapse:

Just plain boredom, and not having fun doing the things I used to enjoy doing

Wanting to feel happy and sociable on a first date in a long time

Finding a big bottle of vicodin in my best friends bathroom that he didnt care about.

I quit dec 31st. its my new years resolution to never take another painkiller. And so its been almost a month. No withdrawal pain or cravings. I just hope I dont get injured down the road and have to make the choice between chronic pain or being an addict, because after 6 years of abuse I know that I cannot do the weekend warrior thing. It's all or nothing.

Its funny how when you're going through withdrawal, you think that if you can make it that 2 weeks and survive it, the rest is easy. Then after you pass that point, you realize that staying off it is harder.

[ChrisNev]

Can a mod move this to Featured Conditions?

I posted this in the wrong place.

Or delete it.

Thanks.

[mpvt]

Once an addict always an addict. Opiate addiction is no different then any other addiction in that it's always there. If you give into the urges or justify to yourself that "I can handle a couple morphine here and there" then you end up in relapse. As long as you're back trying to stay clean is all that matters. Good luck to you and hang in there.
Also, a month is great to be clean but it's still not long enough for your brain chemistry to revert back to it's normal state.
Try and eat a high protien diet for a couple months and get out a couple times a day for a walk. This helps promomte endorphin production which will lift you out of the depression and dark days......Dave

[money_chick]

I think you'll get a better respomse in Need To Talk forum.....

As for me, after being clean over three months ( the longesttime in at least 10 years) I relapsed and now am at day 5 clean agian.

Why did I do it? Well, I thought I could go out and drink and resist the temptation, and I was wrong. Someoone gave me some, and in true addict fashion I took them. Then I wanted more.

The old adage one is too many, and one hundred not enough is true.

I just kept taking them for a few weeks, knowing I had to stop, but fearing wds. (thats the lie the drugs tell me...). I'm over it now, but I know I have to stay one step ahead of my addiction at all times, not just the first few months.

[MaisieC]

For me it was the delusion that I could handle it, take pills in a limited way that I could control, and just have loads of fun doing it. My biggest relapse came at a time when I had just been handed a load of work to do, and I knew that I could be productive when I was high (that's not true anymore, but that's another story). So yeah, start using again, be really happy, get a ton of work done, make lots of money. I think I actually thought I could handle it at that time. Now I know I can't and never could and never will. But I've relapsed many times telling myself the same story...even when I knew in my heart it wasn't true. The addiction is a powerful pull.