On any habit I mean
Quit meth that way, fucking brutal. Worst experience of my life, and there’s a fair few shitty times to compare it to.
What was it like
Physically painful, mentally crushing. I didn’t speak to anyone for a week and a half, just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Everything ached, my skin felt like it was on fire in random patches that kept moving around, and I was more depressed than I had ever been in my life to that point.
Thanks for sharing. What was your daily usage, while you were consuming? How long have you been off off meth?
Daily usage was fairly high, I was snorting or smoking 4-6 grams a day depending on purity. Which…like… looking back? I’ve got no idea why I’m not dead. Between sleep deprivation, chemical intake, and not eating… definitely should have kicked off.
I’ve been clean off meth for 20 years in May or June this year, and clean off everything else except weed and alcohol for 16 sometime closer to September.
I actually don’t regret a single thing, I would highly advise against doing meth or any other chemical stimulant, but I learned a lot about myself and my breaking point. I regret being a smoker more than anything from that period of my life. I also regret that most of my friends from around then are dead or in jail. Two of us managed to move on and have a normal life, and the rest were either dead before 30, in the clink for another 5-10 or are living off the dole with no further aspirations in life than getting stoned and playing video games.
How did you get through all that?
Didn’t really have a choice. I had started to attract the attention of the law, and I could see myself spiraling out. Didn’t want that, I’m too soft for a life of crime. So… shear force of will? Stubbornness?
Vaping. Drank energy drinks for a week and then coffee for a few more weeks before the cravings got manageable.
How does that work?
caffeine. I was so wired from drinking like 5 redbulls every day that I wasn’t sleeping anymore, maybe a few hours here and there. I was starting to go insane. so I remember at one point on my work lunch break, February 27th 2024, I told myself I won’t ever drink these again unless it’s a situation where I need to be awake (like if I’m on an overnight layover with an early flight for example, which is rare enough). I sleep until about noon now on my days off, it’s fucking awesome.
I’m impressed that you wrote such a long response without any caffeine.
Eating. But failed after just 9 days. Cured a bunch of digestive stuff though, which is nice.
I did it for smoking. Decided to do it over Christmas years ago and my smoker friends supported me by not offering fags. It was alright.
Pot.
Cold Turkey is the only way I can quit. It fucked with my appetite to the point that I lost 25 lbs, and I was cranky, and had fucked up sleep for like 3 weeks.
I can’t slowly tappet off. The hardest time to resist getting stoned is the day after I got stoned.
Yep. Alcohol. It was the only way for me to quit. I had the shakes for a day, but that was about it.
I have the temptation from time to time, but I am stronger than it.
Soda, one night driving home from a movie set I stopped and got two of the largest vats of Mountain Dew for the 90 minute drive. As I was getting into my truck I questioned my decision and dumped them both. I switched to La croix (and later other brands).
Close to it with cigarettes. I took a week off from work and locked myself in the basement with a single pack of smokes (I was smoking 2-3 packs a day at that point). At the end of the week I had cigs left over and have never smoked since (20 years ago).
In high school I opened my locker one day and I had more empty bottles of vodka than I did books. I had one last bender and quit. Very similar with recreational drugs.
Snoozing my alarm clock. Went cold turkey about 10 years ago, 0 tolerance. Now my alarm goes off, I turn my lamp on immediately at full brightness, and get up and out of bed within seconds. Used to be really challenging, but now I do it without thinking.
Ever since I was a kid, my family had this electric bathroom warmer which has been my best friend for a lot of time. For 15 years, it has been the main reason for me to quickly wake up during school and work days. I needed the warmth and the white noise, even during summer. A few years ago I decided to “quit”, because it started too feel a little like an addiction, and not being able to spend at least 10 minutes in front of this thing would mean ruin the entire morning. Quitting wasn’t that hard, of course, but ever since I quit I have a severe problem with snoozing alarms. I need at least 30 minutes to wake up, rested or not rested it doesn’t matter, I just cannot help myself to step off off the bed as soon as the alarm rings. Tbh I do not see this as a serious problem, cause lukily it doesn’t fuck with my usual daily scehdule, but I will soon try to roll up my sleeves and see if I can improve my alarm2bathroom time
Did you know that there’s smart alarms, like apps, that track your sleep and will wake you at the right time? There’s also alarm lamps that slowly go on so you’ll wake up naturally.
I’m aware of them. I’ve never been comfortable with sleep tracking apps or wearables. I refuse to rely on technology for something that my body is perfectly capable of doing on its own. After decades of life, I’ve figured out what works best for me. I don’t oversleep, because I get up the moment my alarm goes off.
Ah if you’re into that you can also divide your sleep time by 90 minutes and be good at falling asleep
Yeah, when quitting cigarettes 12 years ago.
From alcohol but with medication to reduce withdrawal symptoms. Three times.
From soda. I drank a ton of water.
From cigarettes after I’d worked my way down from a pack a day to three per day. I’d gone back up to four and then five and stopped completely before it got back on top of me. Starting again (after seven years) was the worst decision of my life. I moved to vaping six years ago.
Stopped biting my nails after about 35 years of tearing them to the quick. It wasn’t my first attempt, but when I successfully stopped, it was cold turkey. It’s been over four years now. I buy a new nail tool periodically to keep them looking good. I’m proud of them despite how trivial. The novelty of tapping on things and peeling stickers hasn’t worn off.
I also came to say biting my nails! Quit through sheer willpower, every time I noticed I recognized it, let myself finish, then set my hand on the desk or my lap. Stopped not long after.
I once quit one of my antidepressants (venlafaxine) cold turkey and got to feel my brain throb nonstop for a month straight.
Went cold turkey for smoking about 15 years ago. I still get a crazy urge to smoke if i walk past a smoking pad or a designated smoking area. It only lasts for about 10 seconds but its not enough for me to take it back up.
Stopped smoking 7 years ago. I tried it two times before without success. This time was easy. Mindset is everything.
What made it work the third time?
By that time I really wanted to stop because I realized how every inhale put another layer of tar on my lungs and that thought alone made me feel bad about it. I believe the disgusting images they had to put on cigarette packs at some point in Germany made an impact on me.
It also helped a lot that less and less friends were smoking and that I had a significant change in my life due to me getting a dog at the same time, so I kinda went with the flow.
