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Old May 25, 2015, 11:24 AM
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spondiferous spondiferous is offline
Dancer in the Dark
 
Member Since: Feb 2012
Location: somewhere, i think.
Posts: 5,330
Hey FY, I'm sorry to hear of your struggles.
What options do you think would work best for you? I'm in Canada, and I don't know if it's different there but here, you don't have to be in withdrawals to enter any kind of program. In my experience, detox and recovery are vastly different processes for everyone. I was afraid when I came into recovery that I wouldn't be able to (and didn't deserve) help because I wasn't "sick" enough: I was "only" an alcoholic who only "occasionally" dabbled in drugs, and I didn't have delirium tremens yet. I wasn't homeless. So how bad could it be?
The truth is, I was done living the way I was living. I tried so many times to quit and couldn't. I had no access to help or resources. I didn't know what to do about it. What I ended up doing was trying the SMART program, which didn't work for me. I ended up relapsing. After a year of being "back out" (relapsed), I entered a drug and alcohol recovery house (inpatient treatment facility) with a minimum 3 month commitment, and ended up being there 4 1/2 months. It was 12-step based, and everyone, regardless of substance problem, went to both AA and NA meetings.
That ended up being the foundation that got and kept me clean. I am nearing my 9 year sobriety anniversary. I spent my first 3 1/2 years immersed in 12 step stuff, and don't regret a single day, though I know different strokes work for different folks. After those 3 1/2 years I did many other things, including 16 steps, various group and individual therapies, skills-based groups, clinics (for other issues), mental health help, spiritual seeking, etc.
I encourage you to figure out what it is you think will work for you, and try it. Outpatient can be difficult because you still have so many hours in a day to figure out what to do with yourself, and while millions of people get and stay sober that way, some people cannot. On the other hand, inpatient is not always an option for people. I don't know what it's like there, but you may want to look into as many resources as possible. If you want to know anything about my journey, or just need someone to talk to, please feel free to private message me. I rarely check the forums at times.
In the meantime, I wish you the very best in your recovery journey. It is ****ing hard, but I can promise you, no matter how life turns out, the sober way is the best way. However hard you have to work right now, it is worth it.
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