4 Warning Signs that your Drinking and Drug Addiction is Running out of Control
By Carl Towns
Accepting you have an addiction problem is hard.
You probably still think is just occasional use, recreational or even an outlet for stress or problems. You think you are in control and you can stop anytime you want. How much of this is true though?
Your consumption has started to grow because the effects are not the same and suddenly the control you think you have starts to slip away. Your life starts to fall apart. You start to get away from family and friends. Your job is in danger. You have to sneak around all the time and drugs and/or alcohol start to be your only company.
Do you feel that you are losing everything? Or do you think that you have control over your substance consumption? Do you try to tell yourself that you don’t have an addiction, it’s just ‘a little something’ to help you in your routine? Have a long hard look at yourself and see if you can recognize any of the situations below and if you do, reflect and take action before addiction destroys your life.
1 You start to lose important things
Do you recognize the most important things in your life? Do you have a loving family, maybe a spouse, children, close friends, a job you enjoy or items you worked hard to get? Do you still have all of those?
If the answer is no, be sure your addiction has something to do with that. When you are consuming, you become a different person entirely, and more often than not that other person hurts everyone and everything around you.
Are you feeling abandoned and resentful towards your loved ones? Don’t be. Sometimes the only way for you to realize you have a problem is losing the things that matter the most, and the only way for them to survive your addiction is getting away from it.
2 You start to have health problems
Using drugs or drinking alcohol is not the best decision we can make. But abusing them will definitely bring you short and long-term health problems. Your overall health will start to deteriorate because of it. It can even lead to permanent disability or death.
Among the consequences you may be experiencing or will experience you can find accidental injuries while under the influence, losing unhealthy amounts of weight, STDs, several forms of cancer, heart diseases, strokes, cirrhosis, depression and it can lead to death by overdose (which is the number 1 cause of accidental death in the USA).
It is not all bad, if you catch yourself on time; it will be possible to reverse most of the effects that consumption has brought to your body.
3 You have lost control of your daily life
At the early stages what you used to do was pretty much consuming and having a good time, right?
You still did your regular activities, hung out with your people and worked normal amounts of time. Sadly, it has become harder and harder to do this until it has reached the point where the only thing you can think about is your next fix or your next drink and it has escalated to the point where you know you have no control, no matter how much you try to have it.
When you wake up (and feel conscious enough) you promise yourself you won’t use, it’ll be the last time, maybe just a little more and you will start to leave it little by little.
You start having anxiety which hits the roof. You feel broken inside, you are alone, you probably lost your job and many more things you used to care about.
Basically, you are now the slave of your addiction and you cannot act or think if not in drugs and/or alcohol. This is the most serious symptom and the one that should lead you towards professional help the most.
4 You have hurt people or yourself
As mentioned above, drinking or using drugs can make you become a completely different person. And even though you may feel like you’re behaving normally, that others are just exaggerating or you make up excuses to justify however you are acting, truth is that doing anything under the influence will most likely cause pain whether it is to yourself or others.
Substance abuse (of any kind) is involved in domestic violence incidents, half of sexual assaults, robberies, driving under the influence and accidents related to it.
Furthermore, all the regret, anxiety and shame addiction brings, if not treated properly and on time, can lead to several forms of depression that can lead to suicide.
Substance abuse (of any kind) is involved in:
Domestic violence incidents,
Half of sexual assaults,
Robberies,
Driving under the influence
And accidents related to it.
Abuse can fuel horrific acts upon yourself or your loved ones even if you cannot begin to think about it. There is a way out, you just need to get help.
Addiction is a disease, don’t forget it. It is something that can be treated where you will have a normal, full life to live after you’ve moved past it.
If you are reading this, it means there is hope; you know you have a challenge and you know you have to overcome it.
The four facts above are just a few among many signs that can tell you how ready you are to take that next step and begin your treatment. Don’t be afraid. Take the reins of your life back.
Please share this post to at your friends and family that you know are having issues with addition.
Carl Towns is a 28-year-old wanna-be writer; He is also a recovering addict in the path of self-discovery. His goal is to learn as many things as possible and to seize every single moment he lives…Pretty much trying to make up for all that he missed on the years he was lost in drugs and alcohol (among other things). He is in love with tech, cars and pretty much anything that can be found online.
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