i use alcohol as an alternaive to cutting. its probably just as bad though...how many other people do this? using alcohol/drugs in place of SI...like...I cut when i'm not drinking or i'm drinking when i'm not cutting...
I do that too. I'm below drinking age and I I can rarely score any drinks tho, so I don't drink, but I mean I do drugs, and SI. Which one is worse varies on how much you do of each, and the ways cutting affects you. But yeah I can really relate to doing one when I'm not doing the other. They're both escapisms. It's probably a bad situation to be in b/c if someone only gives up one, the other would probably take over for it.
...I cut when i'm not drinking or i'm drinking when i'm not cutting...
^^ That quote pretty much sums it up for me.
I'm under drinking age tho, so how often I do it depends on how often I can get past my mom. But yeah, I understand that.
PM me if ya want. <33
All you wanna do is drag me down
All I wanna do is stamp you out
You're not alone in this, I think there is definitely a sort of spectrum of self destructive coping strategies that people can veer between, from cutting to EDs to substance abuse, and you can go from one to another depending on circumstance and opportunity. The methods of coping are just a symptom or outlet for your underlying deeper issues, and also a way of hiding from dealing with them and numbing bad feelings. At least that is how I see it, from personal experience... I swung between cutting, EDs and drink/some drugs from age 13 to 26, been now over a year free although if you asked me how I stopped it all, I couldn't give a proper answer (hospital did help though). Please feel free to PM me though if you wanna chat or anything x
I am a recovering alcoholic and chronic self harmer. I know exactly what you have found. I always thought it was either or, SH and drink. My CPN put me straight on this and said that was not true and I can function without the drink and the SI. I have now given up smoking aswell so I am totally drug free. It does require a lot of energy at times to stay drug free. I have not had a drink for 13 months and feel much better for it. Try to keep things in the day. You can do it try to brake the self harm cycle put something new in it place that is not damaging like alcohol or drugs. Try and treat yourself and praise yourself when you go without for any length of time.......
its like i flip flop between the two...when i'm trying to quit the SI i drink every night that i can...but when i do SI i rarely drink and i almost never mix the two. its kinda frustrating to go from one bad coping mechinism to the next....
that's what i did what i first stopped cutting was started drinking. i'm so glad i had awesome friends who realized i had just switched the two. it was easier to stop cutting because i didn't reallt stop SHing i just picked something else. it took a long time and lots of therapy to quit complety and i'm still not there yet. i still have to quit someking becuase i think i've just swaped the frist to for smoking.
It began when i started to drink in my early teens, or i may have even been 12 years old. But then i discovered weed, and this was MUCH better at stopping me from cutting. Then i used a bunch of other drugs
I used heroin for about 3 years, then started on buprenorphine. But this didn't stop me from using. So then i went on methadone, and increased my dose to the extent where my opiate tolerance is just too high to get any effects off heroin ((i'd have to shoot up at least half a gram of decent heroin to get any effects)).
Heroin definatley replaced cutting for me. And the same thing happened with methadone. Whenever i was on opiates, doesn't matter if it was when i was using codeine, i would get relief from cutting. I think this is because the opiates/opioids bind to the opiate receptors in my brain, and instead of cutting and getting endorphins and enkephalins binding to these receptors, i ALREADY HAVE THEM FILLED WITH OPIATES. So i feel like i do after cutting, except without the cutting. Instead of relying on my endorphins, i rely on methadone. And it has drastically reduced the amount i cut. It's also stopped me from using heroin and other illicit drugs, its even stopped me from drinking ethanol...i just "don't feel like it" so i don't take other drugs either.
Plus im on a benzo which helps reduce any anxiety i have...and im on an antidepressant that covers serotonin and noradrenalin...and i take nicotine ((don't smoke, never have, never will)) through the use of transdermal patches, and this covers DOPAMINE, and its proving to be a good antidepressant.
The ((all legal now, thankfully)) drugs i use that are most helpful are methadone, clonazepam, and nicotine. These drugs all make me feel better, and help reduce cutting. I STILL CUT though...just not nearly as much as i used to, and i feel MUCH better....i don't have really bad depression ((i only recently started using nicotine patches, at first they were a dissapointment, but now...i can really feel they are reducing my depression)) and i don't have really bad anxiety.
And after my drug use through-out my teens and early 20's...i think i NEEDED to be medicated with legal drugs to cope as i had messed up my brain chemistry.
But yeah....i used to use marijuana, heroin, ketamine, nitrous oxide to escape from my painful mind, but now i use legal drugs; methadone ((instead of heroin)), clonazepam ((instead of alcohol or downers, cos its a CNS depressant and i need a depressant in my system to feel better)), and nicotine ((makes me feel better due to dopamine release))...
Last edited by Crysainta : 12-06-2007 at 06:09 AM.
Reason: drug descriptions that could unintentionally encourage others to try it
Good bye to everyone on RYL, for various reasons im leaving this site and i will never return. This may make some of you happy, and others sad. Im not leaving because of the members... Good bye and have a nice life
It still makes me cringe to see people accepting methadone as a perfectly acceptable substance. I understand that it'll totally help you, and it helps so many people get off bad addictions, but it frustrates me how it's played out to be a really safe drug. In actual fact, it kills around 6 times as many people as ecstacy does, for example. Just thought I'd add that because it's a small safety bugbear of mine. Ta!
I have been drinking for 10 years,and for it me it was another way of coping,but it got to the point that i was drinking over 100 units a week,and was putting myself in some dangerous situations,and decided to get help a year ago for it.im now down to 25 units a week,but i can understand what you are saying about another way of coping,but please dont let it get to the amount i was drinking,i nearly lost friends through it.
take care
I'm underage, but for a graduation present I got a pretty big bottle of Tequila. So Yeah, I completely related to drinking in place of SI. It seems like a really healthy substitute doesn't it?
Last cut: May 21...2006!!!
Sometimes you just have to go where life takes you.
It seems like a really healthy substitute doesn't it?
people keep telling me just how much my liver hates me lol sometimes i wonder if i would b better off taking on drinking more and never ever SI-ing again...
Lewis said: It still makes me cringe to see people accepting methadone as a perfectly acceptable substance
Why is this so? Methadone is non-toxic, it doesn't damage the brain or any other organs in the body, it can be a tremendous help to people who are ADDICTED -i mean VERY addicted -to opiates. Would you prefer me to spike the vein and use heroin?
It's one of my pet hates ((sorry if im being harsh)) when people "jump on" opiates like their evil or something. SURE -when used irresponsibly and in the wrong hands it can cause serious injury or death...that is called darwinism at work. If you intelligent and use it correctly, it poses no heath risk what-so-ever.
Do you have a problem with people being on other drugs like antidepressants if they're depressed? or anti-psychotics if they're psychotic? If no, then why do you have a problem with a former heroin ((or other opiate user)) using methadone? It's the same thing. Drug (mis)use is a HEALTH problem and needs to be treated by DOCTORS, and sometimes requires certain medication.
As it currently stands, there are only two forms of opioid substitution available...buprenorphine and methadone.
Methadone has helped me save veins, it's helped me quit a dangerous and costly ((not just financially)) habit, its potentially saved my life. For injecting street heroin is surely more dangerous than taking a dose of methadone WHEN YOU KNOW THE DOSE and you are intelligent enough to know your opiate-tolerance, and how you will react to x-amount of methadone. This is why doctors don't start you out on 200mg ((or a very high dose))....if other people MISUSE methadone, and get sick and die, then its THEIR FAULT. You can't blame the drug. They should not have taken the methadone if they didn't know what they were doing.
And yes, methadone may kill more people than "ecstacy"...but "ecstacy" ((or REAL MDMA)) is FAR more damaging than methadone to the mind and body. It can cause serotonin syndrome, can be dangerous when mixed with other drugs ((e.g. DXM, others)), can potentially cause neurotoxicity, can cause hyperthermia and "muscle melt-down", and can also cause over-dose and death.
This pales in comparision to someone who is using methadone RESPONSIBLY...as directed by their doctor....these people won't suffer neurotoxicity, they won't O.D, they won't damage their liver, etc etc etc.
I think far too many people are biased against opioids, and methadone inparticular, because they are ignorant about the effects of opioids. Im not denying that opioids can cause death when used irresponsibly. But when used CORRECTLY, they are extremely safe drugs, and if you compare the damage done by someone using methadone for ten years, and some-one using "ecstacy" everyday ((like the methadone user)) for 10 years, you can guess who will be in a better state of mind. The methadone user hands down, without a shred of doubt.
Your comparing OCCASIONAL "ecstacy" use to DAILY methadone use, and high-dose use ((my dose could potentially kill 3 people)). But it has saved me from a destructive and extremely strong addiction.
Have you ever been addicted to opiates? Have you ever been addicted to heroin, using it intra-venously? If you haven't, then you really have no idea how methadone can help improve someone's life. I have money, i don't score drugs off unknown criminals, i don't put my life in danger because i no longer inject a drug of unknown purity everyday, im not in financial ruin anymore, i have time for other, normal things, and methadone has been the RIGHT medication to allow this.
Ok...im not attacking you. But when people "cringe" at the use of methadone, i think its due to ignorance ((im NOT calling you stupid)). Such people haven't and can't TRULY understand opiate addiction, and what it requires for some people to stop using their ((destructive and dangerous)) opiate-of-choice.
Like i said, methadone is NON-TOXIC, and completley safe when used under the supervision and direction of a doctor. If you plan on using it illegally...like using other peoples methadone, well then that's exactly the same as using heroin. You don't know what your really in for. When used RESPONSIBLY, methadone can save lives, and has saved lives. Who knows where i'd be now if i continued to I.V heroin for the past 3 years? I've been on methadone in that time, and not once have i come close to being arrested, over-dosing, meeting with criminals ((dealers)), etc.
So please, don't "cringe" when you hear of people using methadone and saying its perfectly acceptable. Cos it IS perfectly acceptable. And the same could be said for pharmaceutical heroin. If its prescribed by a doc, and you get a CLEAN -pharmaceutical -version of the drug, then it can be extremely safe, and extremely beneficial for the user, who may be unable ot quit using street-heroin without an opioid substitute.
I guess i've said my piece. No offence intended, just try to see it from an ADDICTS perspective, not from an ignorant ((never been in my shoes, you can't judge me, or the drugs i choose to take to better my life)).
Good bye to everyone on RYL, for various reasons im leaving this site and i will never return. This may make some of you happy, and others sad. Im not leaving because of the members... Good bye and have a nice life
Of course I don't understand opiate addiction. I wasn't aiming my comment at you, by the way, more the media which publicises it as a 'safe alternative'. Sorry if it looked like a personal attack on you - I guess I worded it badly!