to ask you to remind me why coke is BAD

[OilySnatch]

apart from the cost, which can feel, I keep forgetting why it is not a good idea?

pants are not entirely flameproof so please don't go mad with judgemental joy

You don't need to steal to get it, you can afford it. Currently. But your use has increased steeply and probably will continue to do so. Can you afford £200 a week? £250?

You are using it to get back to your normal level. You are also using an anti-psychotic drug, off prescription, to manage the come downs. You really are an addict. Yes, you need to have some treatment to break the addiction. You will need to deal with whatever issues are causing you to turn to coke in the first place. You can access very good therapy for much less than £100 a week.

OP Nothing anyone says will convince you to stop if you need convincing. You know it's bad for you, and for other people and you still do it, cuz it's coke and coke's like that. If you really want to stop then you have to remove yourself from the company of others who do it and fill your time with something else. Simple as that

Also, everybody's a candidate for therapy!

Mate, seriously, if you cant get through the week without it you need to stop.

Not judgy.
Not drugs are the work of the devil

Just if you find you are thinking about when you are going to get the chance for a bump you need to stop for a bit at least.

Exercise is a great idea if you are a bit of a thrill seeker natually.

Or crosstich/ knitting/crewlwork

Yes OP, that's what I said when I was addicted. As long as I could afford it, then I wasn't addicted.
It won't be long before you are neglecting everything else just to pay for your habit, which won't make you high, just 'normal'.

I hope you make the effort to stop now, but you sound so like me when I was using (making excuses) that I worry for you.
However shit your life is, believe me drugs will only make it shitter.

If it were legalised then the very unpleasant people would not be supported by it, the quality would be assured and you'd pay tax on it thus supporting the whole Uk economy. Also, the bankers and stock exchange dealers would have one less tax free perk.

My son just told me his friend's brother died last night

All anyone knows is he was taking cocaine and drinking alcohol...as apparently he usually does at weekends without a problem.

He collapsed in the Nightclub and was rushed to hospital. This morning he's dead aged 21

Having said that, no-one knows why he died at this point but he's always been very healthy according to his brother.

It's not off prescription, it's on my repeat thing, I just don't usually request it because I ended up stockpiling it and that wasn't good. Plus it made me fat. You know what they say about the difference between a dealer and a psychiatrist being little more than some medical education.

I don't think therapy is an option but there are plenty of other useful ideas here, am quite taken with idea of training for marathon. Would be good way of warding off any impending depression.

Sorry to hear that worraliberty, what a terrible shock for everyone.

Yeah it is a bit of a shock. I didn't know him very well, but I've known his 19yr old brother since he was 3yrs old...and obviously he's in bits

A close friend of mine has battled with a coke habit on and off for about 10 years. She also drank socially and the two went together turning her into a PITA drunk who didn't give a damn about other peoples feelings. She even gate crashed a stranger's wedding reception, was incredibly rude to the guests and drank their alcohol (and that is tame compared to what she did in her personal life.) she was never the stereotypical drunk or drug addict, but was awful when on them.

Anyway she went to AA ad is now three years sober. I suspect you have misgivings about your cocaine use - AA is an option if you feel it's out of control.

Bit tragic but mostly am not out doing coke crazed antisocial behaviours, just normal things. Often at home. In lots of ways am less fidgety and annoying on it than off.

But anyway, am looking at the six month marathon thing and other ideas.

What an off thread.
read this and make your own mind up

odd not off

Well that's good Oilysnatch. I hope your marathon idea works.

If you're using coke at home to "feel normal" I think you need to consider if you might have a problem? [speaking as ex amphetamine user and drug cousellor - not at same time I might add!]

Yeah that's a bit sad isn't it. On plus side am recruiting people to run with, although might be best to do it alone too in case they drop out and I lose momentum. Also have endurance ride in July to train for (and get horse fit for), am sure all this physical stuff is the way forward.

Idea of never doing it again is quite horrible though. Maybe I do have a mild dependency problem.

Just do the day at a time, thing. Nobody wants to think they're giving up something forever, so don't think of it like that.

Join a running club - a lot there will have the marathon as a goal.

On the plus side, you'll be mixing with people whose aim is to be healthy - that can only be good, can't it?

On a separate note - if you want the biggest kick ever, write a book.

Oily, why do you think therapy isn't an option? In my line of work I hear that a lot and it is about denial 90% of the time. Some of the things you have said probably need to be challenged and not by a group of internet talking heads.

If the marathon/one day at a time/avoid users thing works, great. But, I think you have a drug misuse issue and they rarely clear up without someone to talk to who will go into certain things with you. For example; stockpiling drugs; believing you are better on drugs than off; buying into the idea that a dealer and a psychiatrist are comparable; feeling horrible when you think of not doing it again; dealing with possible MH issues by using. Some therapists are really down to earth and no bullshit. Likable in RL IYSWIM, honest.

In addition to the other answers - have you considered the large numbers of Jamaican and West African women who are duped/blackmailed into smuggling this stuff into the UK. And then get caught and given massive prison sentences.

I recently read an autobiography by the British woman who got life imprisonment for drug smuggling in Bangkok (her name temporarily escapes me). The prison she was in was full of young children born there to women given life sentences for drug smuggling. It was all they had known. Incredibly sad.

If it wasn't for people like you sticking this crap up your nose, then there'd be no need for impoverished and disempowered women to end up like this.

Therapy isn't always (or even often?) a harmless intervention, nobody I have discussed it with in the past few months (consultant, lower ranking psychiatrist, cpn, gp) thinks it is a good idea for me. They came up with 'positive coping actions' instead, the same will probably apply again. I can see why therapy as a whole appeals and how some therapies might help some people, but surely you don't think everyone is suitable?

It depends why you use it, how often etc....but clearly you are starting to recognise it may be a problem.

Oilysnatch Have you seen the film Awakenings with Robbie Williams and Robert Di Nero? Its a heart rending film that has nothing to do with cocaine. It is about a incidence of encephalitis in the united states in the 1950s, i dont think they ever got to the bottom of the cause of it, but basically, people were turning into statues, completely catatonic. Anyway, Robbie Williams portrayed a doctor who did some research into the condition and found out it was a problem with Dompamine receptors in the brain and administered dopamine substitutes to the patients, with nigh on miraculous results - but the side effects were catastrophic; paranoia, aggression, schizoid episodes. It was awful, it got to the stage where the drugs were withdrawn and the patients reverted to statues - it was based on a true story.

Cocaine works by interfering with Dopamine receptors in the brain. Dopamine is one of your feel good hormones. Cocaine over stimulates the receptors and this becomes a vicious circle and the cells produce more receptors (receptors help the dopamine into the cell to do its stuff), more receptors put more pressure on the pre-synaptic cell (the nerve cell producing the dopamine) to produce more dopamine, and it can't so this will be where the come down comes from, and long term why people who take cocaine would end up suffering from depression and anxiety, and worse become schizophrenic like in their behaviours and experiences. WHY would anyone take a drug that would have this sort of risk involved. OK, so the film wasn't a direct representation of the effects of cocaine and i might be slightly off, but it isnt much of a jump when you consider the drug works on the same biological system depicted in this film.

I also agree with Tryharder you are breaking the law and the law is there for a reason, you and others like you are responsible for a great deal of human misery.

I have seen people close to me die from drug misuse and i have to say, my sympathy is reserved for their families, no one forces you to snort this shit up your nose. If you have children, then doubly, you should be ashamed.

Oh sorry, having read to the end of the thread i realise you are trying to stop - i feel very strongly about drugs, i didnt mean to be harsh. Do please please do your best to stop, for yoru families sake and your own

It dampens your dopamine receptors which is why you need more and more of it to feel normal. Because your dopamine receptors are dampened, you also cease to gain pleasure from 'normal' activities e.g. Spending time with friends and family, unless you're on more and more coke. It can take up to two years for dopamine receptors to return to normal after you quit if you are heavily dependent. So, it alters the chemistry of your brain, long term, in a very negative way.

It also makes you talk shit. I went to a party a couple of weekends ago where a very old friend was coked up. I was looking forward to catching up and he gave me a huge over the top greeting. He then talked loudly and boastfully about himself for about 20 mins and just switched him attention to someone else when I walked away. A few years ago I'd have joined him and I'm so glad I stopped when I did. It's extremely addictive and I still have dreams about it so know how powerful even the memory of it is.

A gram or two a week is a lot. Good luck with the marathon idea.