Splash some cold water on your face, as well, especially if you’re on something other than booze. If you’re on a downer, this can help to wake you up and sharpen your senses. Try sports drinks high in electrolytes, which can help to get you a little sharper, replacing the electrolytes and potassium that drinking leeches from your body.
It’s a common misconception that eating bread or other carbs when you’re drunk “absorbs” the alcohol in your stomach. Alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly, and carbs only help to prevent drunkenness if you consume them before drinking. Avoid especially fatty foods if you’re trying to sober up. Greasy pizza or burgers will end up dehydrating you more, in the end, and interrupt your sleep. [2] X Research source
It’s a common misconception that drinking a cup of black coffee helps to sober you up if you’ve had a few too many beers. Not true. [3] X Research source Caffeine further dehydrates you, can impair judgment, and make it difficult to sleep eventually. If you’re too high on downers or psychedelics, having a cup of coffee can help sober you up and give you some sharpness, depending on your temperament. If you’re experiencing serious anxiety and feeling panicky, a cup of coffee could make it worse. Never take caffeine to sober up if you’re high on amphetamines, cocaine, or other up-drugs. It’ll just make it worse.
If you’re really high, taking a cold shower can also help to give you a rope back into the real world. Just going through the routine of washing will help you feel more normal.
The efficacy of these pills is often super various. Avoid the effervescent tablets that are little more than aspirin and caffeine, and focus on herbal supplements to see what works.
Don’t, under any circumstances, mix sleep aids with other drugs or alcohol. If you’re feeling really high or drunk, stop adding new substances to the mix, or you risk combinations that can make you sick.
If you’re an alcoholic, get checked out by a doctor. Chronic users of alcohol run the risk of delirium tremens and serious health concerns, including cardiac arrest, if you suddenly stop using completely. Tapering down and using prescription medication is sometimes the best way to detox. If you’re addicted to opiates, it’s important to get checked out by a doctor and consider “warm turkey” methods, using prescription medication to come off more slowly.
Setting a date helps addicts to taper down and start dealing with the psychological issues of getting sober more slowly. It makes it simpler than saying you’ll quit “Sometime in the future” or “Maybe next year. “[6] X Trustworthy Source Recovery. org Resource run by the American Addiction Centers organization providing people with educational resources about substance abuse Go to source
If you consume a certain amount every night, try spreading it over two nights instead. See how you feel. Eventually, try making that amount last three days when you feel up to it. Learn the “ten minute delay. " When you feel a craving coming on, just tell yourself that you have to wait ten minutes to take it. Do other things. Distract yourself. At the end of ten minutes, see if you’re still as desperate for it as before. Give it another ten minutes, if you can. It’s important to avoid using “tapering” as a psychological defense. If you postpone quitting because you’re still “tapering,” (but you’re actually not) then you’re not moving forward with your plan. It’s important to be realistic, if you want to get sober.
If you’re addicted to opiates, consider using suboxone/subutex to ease off. It’s more widely available, and often cheaper and easier to get than methadone, which comes with a host of secondary addiction problems. Both are effective treatments, however. If you’re addicted to alcohol, often naltrexone and other drugs will be prescribed, which create an uncomfortable nauseated feeling in your body when alcohol is consumed. This, combined with antidepressants, can be an effective treatment.
Get a friend to help you, if you’re struggling to throw everything out. They can help to take it elsewhere and make the whole process easier. Lean on your friends for help here. It’s important to not just throw it in the garbage (addicts aren’t above trash-digging), but to destroy everything. Dump the booze out. Flush the pills. Don’t keep anything in the house, for nostalgia purposes, or for cooking, or for other reasons. If you live with someone who uses, leave. Separate yourself from your drug physically.
Try to eat something, whenever you can. Keep bland food around, like peanut butter, crackers, and brothy soups, which you’ll be able to choke down, if you’re feeling nauseated. While it might sound like the last thing you want to do, getting outside and sweating for a while can help you address restlessness issues and take your mind off of things, giving you back some energy and actually easing your detox symptoms somewhat.
Sports drinks help your body stay hydrated and replenish electrolytes that drugs or alcohol might have leeched from your system. If the taste is too nauseating, cut it with some water to make it more palatable. Detox teas are commonly available at health stores, which are designed to promote liver health. Teas with licorice root, ginger, lemongrass, and dandelion are good choices for detoxing. Try consuming foods and drinks high in live cultures and probiotics, the properties of which will help to keep things moving in your digestive tract. Sauerkraut, kombucha drinks, and greek yoghurt are great detox diet choices.
It’s often difficult to get much sleep, and you’ll often be irritable and restless for a period of a few days, so it’s a good opportunity to take off work, if you can, and crawl into bed for a couple days. If you can’t sleep, just rest. Watch TV, read, listen to music, find some way to try to take your mind off things and distract yourself.
For some people, it’s effective to practice a buddy system habit, any time you’re feeling a craving. To learn more about how to find a support group and stay clean, read the next section. If you’re alone, and don’t feel like you can reach out, try journaling in a sober journal. Write down your reasons for getting sober every time you have the urge to use, instead of using. Keep this list in your pocket and find a reason not to use, every time. [8] X Trustworthy Source HelpGuide Nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free, evidence-based mental health and wellness resources. Go to source Try replacing the habit. If you want a drink of booze, have a cup of tea instead. Go through the same ritual you might go through with a drink, but replace it with the new drink. If you want to use, do what you’d normally do, but without drugs.
AA and NA aren’t for everyone. If the thought of listening to a bunch of addicts talk about using sounds like it would drive you crazy, it’s still a good idea to check it out for yourself and see what, if anything, you’ll be able to take from it. A therapist can also provide support while you’re working on getting sober. [10] X Expert Source Tiffany Douglass, MAFounder, Wellness Retreat Recovery Center Expert Interview. 10 March 2020.
Were you a fan of the after work drink? Find something else to do with that after-work time, to celebrate the end of the day. Schedule some exercise, or some time with a sober friend, doing a sober activity. It might be necessary to sever ties with some of your friends, and find a new support group to rely on, if they won’t be able to accept and support your sobriety. Make sober friends, doing new activities.
Most detox facilities and AA meetings are cigarette friendly. If you want to quit, quit later, especially if you feel like it offers you a good crutch in the short term. It’s a crutch that’s deadly, of course, but it’s a fight for another day. Eventually, it’s good to decide how far you want to take this sobriety thing. What does “sober” mean to you? Are you sober if you quit heroin but keep smoking pot? Are you sober if you quit drinking, but still smoke cigarettes? Do you have to be totally straight edge to consider yourself sober? Sobriety will be different for every addict.
Often, addicts use their drug or drink of choice as a reward, so this is a helpful replacement method, with a high success rate.
All you need is one person. Find someone you’ll be able to open up to and talk honestly about your addiction, and your struggles, but also abut regular things, too. Just getting through a regular Wednesday is one of the toughest parts of sobriety, and other addicts are experienced at it. They can help. Don’t try to explain your quitting to everyone. Why you quit using is your business. If you want to discuss it with other people because you’re proud and because it help you to stay sober, then do it. If it makes you uncomfortable, keep it to yourself. [13] X Expert Source Tala Johartchi, PsyDClinical Psychologist Expert Interview. 16 July 2021.
Keep track of your sobriety. Count up the days. Don’t focus on tomorrow, just focus on getting through today. Face tomorrow when it comes.
