Meth addicts, crystal meth
I love Facebook - truly. Depending on your intentions, it can be everything from a singles bar, to an online portfolio, to a group discussion, or just a plain old bullshit session online. I travel a lot (I mean A LOT) and most of the time I'm there are no friends or family with me. Facebook gives me a way to have a semi-intelligent conversation, make a few online friends that I hope to meet one day in person, or just get online for a few minutes and swap dirty jokes/videos from YouTube.
I am Facebook friends with an MD who lives on the opposite coast from me. Never met the man; I don't know that I ever will. I can tell he's very passionate about helping people and we recently shared an exchange about crystal meth and what it's doing to people. I dropped my two-cents on his wall as a reply, and since then I've been thinking about addictions, alcoholism and perceptions. Rather than post all of this to his wall, I'll make it my first entry for ezines.
If I make it a few more months, I'll celebrate 22 years of sobriety. I find it nothing short of astounding to be able to say that. I identify as an alcoholic for simplicity's sake: I didn't discriminate when it came to using. If I thought it was going to get me going, then I tried it. Me and DOW, Incorporated: Better living through chemicals. While my post is going to be about addiction and crystal meth, I'll be tossing around the word alcoholism pretty liberally. To me, "alcoholism" and "addiction" are redundant and interchangeable.
A few years ago, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of medical students about alcoholism. Now, to be clear: I am NOT an MD. I have an EMT that I got many, many years ago and I keep my certifications current. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on television. I was invited to talk to these students from the perspective of a recovering alcoholic and looking at the disease from the perception of an alcoholic. Medicine can do wonders for an alcoholic. A decade or so of drinking and using can take its toll on the body and by the time you're ready to throw in the towel it is going to take some time on the reassembly line to get put back together.
Here's the punch line I shared with the assembled masses:
As an alcoholic, my problem is not alcohol.
How's that for a show-stopper? You could have heard a pin drop when I threw that one out there and I'm sure there was more than one person wondering if my sobriety time was indeed intact. If, as an alcoholic my problem was alcohol, then detox centers would turn out winners 24/7/365. Simply stopping drinking would be enough. Put the bottle away, say goodbye to my favourite watering holes and begin life anew - right? If that logic were true, why do so many people return to drinking? They know they have a problem. They might be in hot water at work; their family situation may be tenuous. And still they keep at it - over and over and over again. I've personally witnessed people keep going at it just one more time to the exclusion of all else, and often with tragic results. Their families leave for good, they get fired from one more job or worse; they wind up dead. Everybody I got sober with at the skid-row mission I cleaned up at is dead. They all decided to try it one more time, and none of them survived.
Why do alcoholics and addicts do this? It's intellectually astounding, isn't it? You put Humpty Dumpty back together again in the ER for the 8th time, talk to him about his drinking and using, and he swears it will never happen again. You believe him when he tells you this too. The alcoholic believes it when he's saying it!
So, what is the fix? It's so simple; it'll blow your mind. If the alcoholic doesn't do something to change their perceptions of reality while they are not drinking, then they will drink again. Eventually, stopping drinking - by itself - makes life such a painful, untenable state of being that the alcoholic will drink again just to numb down the feelings that they've never dealt with sober. This is the answer why you almost never see a case of alcoholic psychosis; it's almost as rare as bubonic plague. Why? Because when life becomes so unbearable and reality so painful, the alcoholic will drink just to make the pain disappear. The same can be said for any addict - any substance you're choosing.
Alcohol for me, changes my perception of reality - the same can be said for any drunk, really. The vast majority of my friends are not alcoholics, and I can drink them under the table any day of the week. Drink for drink, shot for shot, I could take any of them on. They are going to get buzzed. For me, alcoholic changes the reality of my world; the buzz is just a perk. One drink for me, and I'm better looking, funnier, I fit in more. One drink for me and what I'm feeling inside matches the outsides of the people around me. Insecurities vanish, paranoia disappears. I've altered my perception of reality with two fingers of tequila, or a hit off my bong, crack pipe, or whatever I happen paraphernalia I happen to be using at the time.
Meth addicts are no doubt physically addicted to the substance - no question about it. But there is also their altered perceptions of reality that have to be addressed or they will use again. I'd bet my life on it, and I do so every day of the week that I stay clean and sober.
I am Facebook friends with an MD who lives on the opposite coast from me. Never met the man; I don't know that I ever will. I can tell he's very passionate about helping people and we recently shared an exchange about crystal meth and what it's doing to people. I dropped my two-cents on his wall as a reply, and since then I've been thinking about addictions, alcoholism and perceptions. Rather than post all of this to his wall, I'll make it my first entry for ezines.
If I make it a few more months, I'll celebrate 22 years of sobriety. I find it nothing short of astounding to be able to say that. I identify as an alcoholic for simplicity's sake: I didn't discriminate when it came to using. If I thought it was going to get me going, then I tried it. Me and DOW, Incorporated: Better living through chemicals. While my post is going to be about addiction and crystal meth, I'll be tossing around the word alcoholism pretty liberally. To me, "alcoholism" and "addiction" are redundant and interchangeable.
A few years ago, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of medical students about alcoholism. Now, to be clear: I am NOT an MD. I have an EMT that I got many, many years ago and I keep my certifications current. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on television. I was invited to talk to these students from the perspective of a recovering alcoholic and looking at the disease from the perception of an alcoholic. Medicine can do wonders for an alcoholic. A decade or so of drinking and using can take its toll on the body and by the time you're ready to throw in the towel it is going to take some time on the reassembly line to get put back together.
Here's the punch line I shared with the assembled masses:
As an alcoholic, my problem is not alcohol.
How's that for a show-stopper? You could have heard a pin drop when I threw that one out there and I'm sure there was more than one person wondering if my sobriety time was indeed intact. If, as an alcoholic my problem was alcohol, then detox centers would turn out winners 24/7/365. Simply stopping drinking would be enough. Put the bottle away, say goodbye to my favourite watering holes and begin life anew - right? If that logic were true, why do so many people return to drinking? They know they have a problem. They might be in hot water at work; their family situation may be tenuous. And still they keep at it - over and over and over again. I've personally witnessed people keep going at it just one more time to the exclusion of all else, and often with tragic results. Their families leave for good, they get fired from one more job or worse; they wind up dead. Everybody I got sober with at the skid-row mission I cleaned up at is dead. They all decided to try it one more time, and none of them survived.
Why do alcoholics and addicts do this? It's intellectually astounding, isn't it? You put Humpty Dumpty back together again in the ER for the 8th time, talk to him about his drinking and using, and he swears it will never happen again. You believe him when he tells you this too. The alcoholic believes it when he's saying it!
So, what is the fix? It's so simple; it'll blow your mind. If the alcoholic doesn't do something to change their perceptions of reality while they are not drinking, then they will drink again. Eventually, stopping drinking - by itself - makes life such a painful, untenable state of being that the alcoholic will drink again just to numb down the feelings that they've never dealt with sober. This is the answer why you almost never see a case of alcoholic psychosis; it's almost as rare as bubonic plague. Why? Because when life becomes so unbearable and reality so painful, the alcoholic will drink just to make the pain disappear. The same can be said for any addict - any substance you're choosing.
Alcohol for me, changes my perception of reality - the same can be said for any drunk, really. The vast majority of my friends are not alcoholics, and I can drink them under the table any day of the week. Drink for drink, shot for shot, I could take any of them on. They are going to get buzzed. For me, alcoholic changes the reality of my world; the buzz is just a perk. One drink for me, and I'm better looking, funnier, I fit in more. One drink for me and what I'm feeling inside matches the outsides of the people around me. Insecurities vanish, paranoia disappears. I've altered my perception of reality with two fingers of tequila, or a hit off my bong, crack pipe, or whatever I happen paraphernalia I happen to be using at the time.
| Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_J_MacDonald |
Labels: crystal meth, Meth addicts
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