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Reading the comments is both depressing and uplifting.

Depressing because so many people were in bad shape at some point but uplifting because so many got out and/or are on the way up. Congrats folks!

I never viewed myself as an addict although I have autism and have an obsessive streak = I like to form heavy routines that are not often healthy.

Gave up drinking entirely 6 yrs ago since I was in a bas situation and was drinking a beer every day and it started bothering me. I quit smoking hookah about 2 months ago but I still tell myself its a pause since thats easier for me. I did the same with alcohol.

„Taking a break“ is what worked for me since my mind can’t tell me that I wont make it since there is nothing to „make“. I‘m just taking a break (which now lasts 6 yrs in the case of alcohol). It could have something to do with demand avoidance which can be a problem for autistic people (and others?).

Thanks for reading my ramble and have a nice day.

It depends on the addiction and the individual, some may need help, others don’t.

Personally, I reached a point where I was feeling so terrible (and was undergoing a battery of medical tests to find out why) that I just felt like I couldn’t keep on drinking. So I stopped.

To get off of alcohol, I sat in the house and smoked pot heavily for a month. To get off of weed I just stopped. To get off of nicotine I smoked CBD weed heavily for a week and then stopped smoking weed again. I smoked regular weed on for a random week because I found out CBD could cause false positives for THC on a drug test, then I quit again.

Alcohol free: 306 days

Weed free: 25 days

Nicotine free: 50 days

I quit smoking by gradually stepping back until I got to the last 4 darts, which I just couldn’t shake. Then I moved to vaping, not trying to quit, but to be less worse for my health… Then my vape broke repeatedly in a short period and I realized going without wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Certainly not as bad as other methods of quitting it tried. So in this way I finally quit.

So I don’t recommend vaping as a way out really. It’s more that if you consciously realize which cigarette is your last you’re gonna freak out and relapse. It’s more that if you reduce your intake, then replace, you can step off more easily. Don’t focus on quitting or changing your lifestyle drastically, just keep taking steps. Eventually one will be the last.

Smoking: easy way to quit smoking plus weed during the worst withdrawal to avoid snapping at everyone

Weed (earlier lmao, I still use sometimes but less than a gram a year really): having other things to do that require concentration and memory I enjoy. Weed is easy as it’s mostly habitual. The sleeplessness is the worst and it’s only a couple of days

Opiates: Exercise, avoiding boredom (v hard! video games, gardening, easy books, podcasts etc), lots of walking those restless nights, preparing easy food for the worst few days, counting days to know it was going to end. Be careful after surgery kids that shit sucks to come off.

I was able to quit drinking 10 months ago thanks to the piss water know as Miller Lite and the ready availability of delicious Nonalcoholic IPAs. Thought I would be a drunk till the day I died. I slowly stepped down from drinking everyday for over 10 years by starting with 2 Miller lite tall boys and slowly stepping down to 1 then a smaller tall boy, and then finally the smallest tall boy. I had previously quit a year before and had terrible night terrors, then i relapsed aftet my father unalived himself. Still can’t believe I’m sober, recently went on antidepressants and have gone over a week without smoking weed because i guess i had a severe serotonin deficiency which the antidepressants fixed. Its crazy being sober and I like it. Highly recommend reading Epictetus’s Discourses or other stoicism to help you build up the mental fortitude to quit. It ain’t easy, but if i can quit anyone can. You got this shit OP!

Had a really bad weed addiction (yes I know it’s psychological but imo it was harder than quitting cigarettes)

Whenever I tried to quit I wouldn’t be able to sleep for up to 3 days at a time. If I got past that I could be clean for a month or two before caving and falling back into weed usage.

Turns out I had really bad OCD and PTSD and zero serotonin (thus, no sleep). I got put on Lexapro and the obsessions were 90% better after that, and the weed usage has gone from daily to once every few months, with friends. The hard part has been adjusting, and developing, a new lifestyle and hobbies to replace the drug use. I also have Been grieving the decade I lost to addiction and trauma.

My tips: addiction is a response to something else going on. It’s not laziness, it’s not lack of willpower, it’s not because you are a monster. It might be due to covering up pain, or because you’re self medicating and don’t realize it. Be kind to yourself, because the world is unnecessarily shitty to addicts.

Stopping was the easy part, I drank myself into liver/kidney failure. I’ve stayed sober one day at a time.

Getting counseling, a psychological evaluation and a prescription for my anxiety helped me learn about the root cause of my drinking and how to manage it in a healthy way.

Naltrexone and a change of scenery.

The hubbie used to smoke. When we got together, I informed him he gets smoke or me, and he put himself on a plan to quit and stuck to it. He still says he made the right decision, many years later. If he smokes I can smell it even days afterward, but it is one every six months, and he always eventually tells me about them, so in my opinion he kept his promise of quitting.

I recommend a sympathetic friend or quitting partner as the most effective method.