Posted by HoldenYosarian on February 13, 2005, at 0:50:07
In reply to Has anyone here effectively quit a coke habit??, posted by sunny10 on November 5, 2004, at 13:28:58
> I guess my number 1 question is this...
>
> Can someone who once did coke on a daily basis just stop?
>
> My SO says that he doesn't want to do any drugs anymore- apparently hasn't done any 'shrooms, acid, et cetera for about 9 months, but HAS slipped up and done coke three times in the past four months.
>
> Is it POSSIBLE for him to stop without some kind of program/therapy/something?
>
> He seems to want to, but is relying too much on me to help him. And I really CAN'T help- I've never done drugs and have no idea what he is going through.
>
> Any ideas, forum?
>
> Thanks,
> -sunny10I've been without question addicted to everything except for acid (and that's because you can't really get addicted to it due to the build up of tolerance) and have been heavily involved with recovery for the last 10 years. I can tell you that it's more than common for those with a long history of drug use to "slip" during their first few attempts to quit. And frankly, if you're SO has only slipped 3 times in the last four months, and this is his first time to try to quit, I'd tell you that you have little to worry about.
There are a number of questions you should ask yourself, though:
1. Do you truly believe that he WANTS to quit (i.e. did he just decide to on his own, or after you kept after him about quitting. If the latter, then he probably doesn't WANT to, and therefore won't. If he had to quit for any other reason, for that matter--job drug test, one particular incident of a loss of control that hasn't been repeated-then he probably doesn't really WANT to quit. And there's one thing you can be sure of...he he didn't reach the decision to quit by himself for internal reasons, then it's not likely
that he will for any length of time.)2. Are you sure he's only used 3 times in the last four months? For example, has he been making excuses to be away from you moreso than before--if so , he's probably lying about his use. And if he's lying about his use, then it's likely he'll need some kind of intervention.
3. You said he did it on a daily basis. It's pretty hard for someone who's done coke on a daily basis for any length of time to just stop without there being some recognizable change in their mood/reactions/personality. If he hasn't seemed to begin reacting differently, i.e. become moody, irritable, depressed, easily angered, indecisive---then chances are he's still using.
Yes, people who use coke on a daily basis can just stop. But be wary of signs that he hasn't, because it's not an easy thing to do. If you find that he's still using, give him another chance, as long as your situation hasn't become dangerous....it's his first try. If it becomes an ongoing theme, though, you can be sure that he has become an addict, and the best thing you can do to help him is to threaten to leave him if he doesn't get inpatient help, and then follow-through if he doesn't.
Hope I helped
poster:HoldenYosarian
thread:412198
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20050129/msgs/457042.html