Nows your chance!!! Two for the price of one!!!
Today, for the low low price of a few moments of your time, you can join the fight against ignorance and addiction at the same time…
A… er… friend of mine is trying to quit smoking pot. After a few laughable attempts, he’s realized he has a serious addiction. Doing some reasearch on the matter led him to this article, which caused him some distress.
So the question(s)
How accurate are the facts of this article? I’m beginning to think a trip to the doctor might not be such a bad idea. (for my ah… friend, that is)
Any links or leads towards effective (pot/cig) addiction fighting/information sites would be much obliged.
Thanks.
[sub]third question: does this qualify as a GQ?[/sub]
Tell your friend that his “addiction” is psycological. Just with anything else, you can overdo something to the point it becomes habit and no longer is as pleasurable as it used to be. The proverbial rat hitting the feeder bar over and over again with no sense of responsibility. What if you ate chocolate constantly, or had sex constantly, or whatever. Eventually, it would lose it’s facination and you’d be depressed because your vice no longer gave you enjoyment. The point i’m making, food, or jerking off, or whatever is ONLY addictive in the psycological sense. If your friend wants to see what a real addiction is like tell him to try crack or heroin. Time to move on to something else, and if in a month or two your friend wants to try pot again, fine, and “they” will probably enjoy it again too.
And one more thing…
Tell your friend that it’s weak irresponsible assholes like him that have given marijuana the legalization problems it has today, not to mention putting a LOT of people in jail for a stupid victimless crime. I bet your friend watched “Reefer Madness” and believed every damn word of it too huh? :mad:
In reverse order:[ol][li]I’d say that this qualifies as a General Question (IMHO)[/li]
[li]I don’t have any links, but your friend might want to give a quick call to NA (If your friend is nervous about this, remind them that it’s anonymous; their friends never need to know.) I’ve known a number of people who are or were in Narcotics Anonymous and/or AA, and it seemed to work for all of them. They all seemed to get a lot out of it.[/li]
[*]I think that what’s written in the link could describe a lot of obsessive behavior: you have a good experience with something, so you keep doing it and thinking about it in hopes of topping your fading memory of that really good time. In the meantime, other parts of your life wither away. Personally, I’m addicted to the SDMB, and that’s why I’m logging off now, but message boards don’t interfere with lives quite as badly as recreational drugs do. Addiction is a very real problem, and there are solutions (which don’t include insults; please, let’s keep this in GQ.)[/ol]Hope your, er, friend calls someone. See you in the morning.
[[I’m beginning to think a trip to the doctor might not be such a bad idea. (for my ah… friend, that is)]]
I’m beginning to feel like a broken record (for those of you who remember those) tonight in encouraging yet another poster (or poster’s friend) to go talk to a real doctor. I would suggest you talk to your primary physician or a counselor/psychologist who specializes in addiction issues. Substance abuse can be “self-medication” and there may be Real medication (or behavior change techniques) that would work better for you.
JillGat, I went to a doctor today. Had a little chat about a lot of things and he sent me home with a pack of Paxil, which is used in the treatment of Depression and Social Anxiety Disorder. Heh. Big surprise. I go back next week for a follow up.
cornflakes, the NA thing I will try if the course my doctor and I have mapped out doesn’t work. I have friends who have been through and without exception, the reports were favorable.
Dani Filth, er… [sub]notthepitnotthepitnotthepit…[/sub] …thanks for taking the time to give us your informed opinion on the nature of addiction. :D[sub] <-insert gritted teeth[/sub]
Dani Filth:
Calling someone with an addiction a “weak irresponsible asshole” is not only an ineffective course of treatment, it is utterly rude. To treat someone like that to further a political agenda is beneath contempt. It is also fundamentally contrary to the Terms of Service you agreed to when you joined our community. It is a very fortunate thing that dewt can laugh at you and treat you better than you treated him. If he couldn’t, the results would be unthinkable.
This ends the hijack of this interesting and thoughtful thread Dani Filth began above.
Dani Filth:
Calling someone with an addiction a “weak irresponsible asshole” is not only an ineffective course of treatment, it is utterly rude. To treat someone like that to further a political agenda is beneath contempt. It is also fundamentally contrary to the Terms of Service you agreed to when you joined our community. It is a very fortunate thing that dewt can laugh at you and treat you better than you treated him. If he couldn’t, the results would be unthinkable.
This ends the hijack of this interesting and thoughtful thread.
dewt be aware that with Paxil you may trading one (psychological) addiction for a very real, physical addiction. My friend was prescribed Paxil a couple of years ago to combat his anxiety attacks and it proved effective. In recent months, he’s been trying to ween himself off of them but the withdrawl symptoms are killer. One time, on a business trip, his prescription ran-out and he suffered severe cold sweats, nausea and trembling. Luckily he was leaving for home that day, but he tells me he went through hell until he could get to the pharmacy.
Does anyone else see the irony in treating drug addiction with another drug? BTW, that link sounds like regurgitated propaganda.
This is not helpful, Hodge. Antidepressants are often prescribed nowadays to treat addictions - to many drugs, including tobacco. There is nothing “ironic” about this.
Some experts now suggest that the tendency to become addicted to certain drugs can be caused by chemical imbalances that cause them to “self-medicate.” Antidepressants can be very effective medication for some people, helping them to live healthy, normal lives. Yeah, one can add this line to any thread here if they wanted, “Oh yeah? I know someone who died from that…”
[Edited by JillGat on 04-03-2001 at 12:43 AM]
A couple of points. First, the link does not relate at all to my experience either in starting or quitting.
Your doctor may have also told you that you will face physical symptoms. From personal experience after a period of long term very heavy smoking I didn’t experience anything of the sort.
Paxil may assist with anxiety that arises from not having your favorite crutch around but I suspect its half placebo given the time it takes for ssri’s to become effective. It may be that underlying depression is a reason for your apparent overuse as was pointed out by another poster.
Cravings can get reasonably serious. I found taking a deep hit off a cigarette was sufficient to alleviate them as it was the habit more than the drug. Don’t mistake hunger for cravings, inspite of its reputation pot can supress your appetite so you reach for a joint rather than eating.
The only reason I had any difficulty was that there was always a big bag around the house. Once I moved it was no effort at all. I went almost a year without touching it again and haven’t had any problems with light use since. I might also mention that I never experienced any noticable mental benefits from abstention as others have claimed though my morning hack did clear up.
At the risk of starting a general debate, stay the hell away from aa or na unless your desperate and even then be wary.
Jill, my last post was made out of genuine concern for dewt. Too often, antidepressants are prescribed by doctors without adequately informing patients of their side effects and/or withdrawl symptoms.
As for treating addiction with antidepressants, I may be mistaken, but it is my understanding that there is considerably more debate about this than you let on. Of course this is more appropriate for GD.
I go back next week for a follow up.