Coping and the future

When you’re using opiates the main response to hassles or trouble of any kind tends to be to score. When you have detoxed one of the main keys to success is going to be your desire to cope without opiates.

If you were using for a long time you may find that the ‘emotional roller-coaster’ takes a couple of years to settle down. Sometimes people feel bad about themselves for a long time too, and this can be made worse by people close to you taking time to accept that you have changed.

You will probably find that the more problems you have, the stronger the urge to use becomes, and the more difficult it is to resist. If you want to stay off it is easier if you are clear with yourself that whatever happens you won’t use. That way instead of asking yourself if things are bad enough to justify using, you’ll be asking yourself how you are going to cope.

People who you can turn to are going to help you more than drugs, and talking things through is usually much better for you than keeping them bottled up or blotted out with drugs.