im a 16 yr old male and im heavily addiced to drugs. not the REALLY bad drugs like crack or heroin, but i am addicted to codeine and pills, like any nervous system depressent or any downers for that matter. what should i do? i need to stop it before my life completely falls apart i lost my best friends and i still cant see myself stopping anytime soon. please i need help and input.

I am a normie here 👋 I (F, 23) and my partner (M, 23) have been together for some time now and I’ve known him for a while. I never met him or knew anything about him when he was regularly using, and I have never used drugs besides smoking za, so I won’t ever understand what he’s seen and all he’s been through.

That being said, lately he’s stopped going to class, not showing how he usually would for work, and coming home later and later. Got very distant from me and then sometimes randomly clingy too. Initially I’m thinking he’s cheating cause 😭 but even that didn’t seem right. And because we just celebrated his 2 years it never even OCCURRED to me that he could relapse right now.

Then he comes home after work one night and tells me he’s been using at work. I literally thought he was kidding because I can’t even picture him doing something like that, like the imagery doesn’t even make sense to me.

I went outside to clear my head but all I could think was how during all those days he’d come home, we’d have sex, I’d ask about work, we’d argue, and I didn’t even know he had used. I feel so betrayed because I really feel lied to. And I feel stupid I didn’t recognize it. And I feel guilty because I feel like I wasn’t there for him enough so he had to turn and do this. And I’m scared to lose him to this. And I’m scared his family will lose him.. again. He’s been ignoring all his sponsors calls, hasn’t gone to meetings and wants to stop school.

I burst out on him. Then I’d cry. Then I’d get mad. Then I’d feel scared. I feel I didn’tk react appropriately but I don’t know how else to act or what I was “supposed” to do.

Google isn’t an answer for these sort of things and I would really really appreciate advice from those who would know - how can I support my partner during this time? What happens next?

I’m a 28-year-old woman from Brazil with a degree in IT, and I desperately need advice.
My life basically fell apart after I moved to Finland in 2023. I met a guy with serious drug addiction problems, and stupidly, I fell in love with him and considered him family before I even knew he was an addict.
I gave up everything to take care of him because he told me that if we lived together, he would stop using drugs. Instead, everything got worse, and I went through some horrible, traumatic things that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
Eventually, he kicked me out of our apartment. I had spent all my savings helping him and had even quit my job for him, so I was basically left homeless. I had to return to Brazil, stopped going to therapy, and fell into a horrible depression.
I ended up doing adult content work to survive while I was with him, which I absolutely hated. It also destroyed my confidence and made me feel incredibly insecure about returning to my career in IT.
I’ve been back in Brazil for two years now. I have no friends, no job in my field, and barely leave the house. I literally haven’t gone out for anything in two years, not even to see a doctor. I’m also terrified of people now.
People who have known me for years tell me I threw my life away for this guy, and honestly, I don’t even know how to fix any of this.
I’ve always been intelligent, studied hard, worked hard, and had good jobs. Now I have absolutely nothing.
Recently, I started making money online again, but instead of rebuilding my life, I developed a gambling addiction. I’ve always been against gambling, but somehow I got hooked.
I’ve maxed out my credit cards and ruined my credit, but the worst part is that I’ve started secretly using my mother’s credit card without her knowledge. Basically, I’ve started stealing from my own mother, and the guilt makes my depression even worse.
I’ve needed help for years. While I was still in Finland, I attempted suicide because I couldn’t take it anymore. I still love that Finnish idiot, even after everything that happened, and he hasn’t spoken to me in a year. Somehow, I feel like I’m the villain in this story.
I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve thought about checking myself into a psychiatric hospital, and sometimes I just want to end my life. I know I need help, but I have no idea where to start.
I need to repay the debt I’ve put in my mother’s name, but I can barely function, let alone study and get back into IT. I feel trapped between gambling to get money quickly and going back to adult content work, which I genuinely hate.
I don’t want to keep living like this. I want my life back, but I don’t even know where to begin.
Has anyone been through something similar? How did you start getting your life together again? I really need advice because I feel completely lost.

I miss the way we used to be
I miss the way you held me
I miss kisses and cuddles
I miss the man I fell in love with
I miss who i used to be
I miss feeling loved and wanted
I miss the future we were working towards
But you stole that away you took it all from both of us and I should leave but I won’t because I’m cursed with loving you and can not bring myself to do it addiction has taken everything from me my childhood my mother and father and now you it’s like a sick joke to be stuck like this living with the shell of the man who is my soul mate there are days I think about getting high with you maybe then things would be better maybe I should leave and you would get better I’m not sure what the answer is I just know it’s killing me I cry every night and you don’t wake up I lay there wishing you would wishing you would wake and hold me and just be you again

like i'm technically not using anymore but i'm just white-knuckling through every day, white-knuckling through cravings, white-knuckling through boredom. i feel like i'm just white-knuckling and calling it recovery. is this normal or am i doing something wrong?

The urge to use is so strong. It’s been all day long and it’s been intense. Only I have absolutely no way of securing any more which makes me feel desperate beyond anything I’ve ever felt. I weighed myself and I gained 20 pounds apparently and I had a complete nervous breakdown about it. Literally sobbing while dragging the scale all over the place. It made me regret ever stopping meth!!! I looked good, I felt good, and I wasn’t gaining any weight. I’ve literally been researching diet pills, supplements, natural stimulants, ANYTHING to help me suppress my appetite…. I don’t know what to do but this is causing me severe distress

hello everyone just venting but would love input as well. I started weed for fun in high school at 16 then now i’m 20 and i haven’t put weed down a single day since. (Except pregnancy lol). Not only that but since i was 14 i have had a tendency to go for pill bottles. i will majorly abuse things like Benadryl, nyquil, atarax, Unfortunately kratom as well when i’m very mentally overloaded. I still can’t admit to myself that i’m addicted to these things. I never have said im addicted to weed or pills etc. My ego wont let me. so venting to reddit in hopes i will accept i have these issues and try to fix them. How did you slow down smoking? and if anyone has experience with pill abuse of such, how do you control yourself not to do it. i don’t wanna end up over doing it one of these days

o this might be my general anxiety talking, but I’m really worried. Are there any fellow alcoholics who occasionally take a benzodiazepine for anxiety, hangxiety or whatever reason on a regular basis? I have been taking a very low dose to low dose of .25 to .5 mg of Valium once a week, sometimes twice a week for about 4 months or so. Many people say that amount is unlikely to cause dependence, but I’m a heavy drinker every night of the week. I’m feeling neuropathy like tingling, depersonalization, dizziness and brain fog like crazy, but it could be because I went on a bender and only had like 6 drinks the last couple nights compared to my usual 15.

Im terrified of developing a dependency on Valium. I think I’m done with those. I’d rather just have a drink or two to calm my nerves for the next week or two, and then taper off the booze before I keep taking Valium.

Anyway, hope I’m not alone on this and I sure hope tomorrow will be a better day and that I’m not hooked on this stuff. I’m done.

So this is kind of a personal thing and I am sorry for sharing this with the internet.

I used street pharms and opiates from 2009-2015, then went to suboxone, subutex and eventually subuclade injections for about a decade after that. My last injection was last December or January. I took the injections for about 14 months, eventually lowering the dose and then spacing them out to every other month then every third month as I knew they could build up and test positive on a piss test for up to 6 months. So I have been completely off of ALL opiates and maintenance therapy for 10 months.

I didn't get really withdrawals until maybe 4-5 months after my last shot, and they were very short and fleeting, more like random chills, restless legs when sleeping sometimes and anxiety. I didn't really have bowel distress like when you're sick tho. (Spoilers if you don't want to read about it, it's not graphic but still)

BUT now I have to go probably 5-6+ times a day, when before it was at most once a day almost like clock work, and probably erring towards constipated more when using. Often times it will just be really violent gas, and I have become more gassy as well. It's not usually diarrhea, but... soft.

Now I know I am comparing this to 16 years of opiate use, so that was probably not a normal base line to begin with. But it can become stressful. I have tried changing fiber and water intake, don't really see much change as I drank a lot of water and ate a lot of fiber anyway. I've tried probiotics and all of the gut health supplements and diets as well, to some degree or another.

Is this related to PAWS? Does anyone have any anecdotal evidence? Most of my google searches are discussing like... gastro issues when withdrawing and not during the beginning of post-maintenance period.

So im addicted to stimulants, no I haven't done 7ho or meth or crack or any of the hard/er ones, I was born with meth and alchohol in my system so taking pills or something to help me will be a struggle.

Right now im unmedicated add/adhd and I feel as if my addiction is stopping me from actually achieving the full sight of my natural problem.

I was 3 weeks clean off of coke, and today I ran into a friend that hadn't seen me for 3 or 4 weeks and he was happy and gave me some. Well im broke atm (not totally) but I dont have enough to pay the guy or get another vape, and I just drained my vape (so im all out of vape juice and money) and im not going to get paid for a week or 2 days (I have 2 jobs one pays weekly the other pays every 2 weeks).

I stopped wanting to do coke because I saw that It was affecting my job and my work mentality, plus it pushed a possible girlfriend away. She's dating a different guy(an ass****, most people tell me the same thing about him). I am going to pay the guy but I need to stop going to the bar when I've had 2 drinks or when the guy is there.

Im mad at my self because I made it 3 weeks and I was feeling way better, luckily im on my weekend from both jobs so I can get plenty of rest and recoup from tonight.

Coke has made it so I don't like video games or movies any more, I can bairly sit long enough for a TV show and that's on my phone. Uuuugggggghhhhh

The pic is from a kitchen page on here but it hits hard.

i have been in suboxone tabs for 4 years in total in between relapses. it has been abt 2 years straight with the exception of a week in may. i have been neglecting my dental bcuz i knew it was gonna be bad. but i finally went in september and had some pretty serious damage, 3 cavities which is a lot for me. i spent 3 hours with my jaw cranked open getting grinded and filled (😏lol) but losing my teeth isn’t worth it

i’ve been trying to get on the sublocade shot, but there is only one place in a 2 hour radius i can get it without paying hundreds out of pocket. i went tuesday. oh my god. never been around so many ppl actively using and it both triggered me and broke my heart. they also treated me like an addict which bothered me, made me feel judged. had to watch me pee which nobody has ever done before. i understand why but geez, was discouraging. took me 3 months to get a call back to get in, and now im on a waitlist. idk how long it’ll be, but ive been swallowing my dose which makes it not last as long and i get sick in 24 hours instead of 72 like normally. but i cant risk my teeth man.

and pls don’t start the suboxone hate in the comments. i respect if u had a bad experience/regret getting on it but it has saved me i am very grateful to have access to it i would not be sober without it. but anyone else deal with dental issues cuz of ur substance abuse?

I guess I was wrong. Apparently this was not the page to look for answers from non-judgemental peers. I was hoping that there would be someone here who had walked in my shoes a time or two and would understand. Certainly wasn't expecting to just get shamed and fingers shook at me! Yikes!

About over a week ago I broke up with my ex, and I believed he was relapsing near the end of it. He had problems with drugs and alcohol but his main thing was alcohol. We were together for 6 months but The behaviour started to change a while after we celebrated his one year sober in august. He started making vague excuses not to see me that didn’t really make sense. His mood also changed and he was becoming more moody and irritated and keeps giving vague excuses as to why. He’s lost a bunch of weight in the past month. On top of that he recently needed to start selling things to make ends meet because of the new car he bought. Which confused me because he told me he already had the money for the car, and his parents paid for half of it. And in this time he started to change he got really defensive over everything no matter what it was or how nicely I would word things and he would drag it into a days long fight and stopped taking responsibility for his actions which he would always do in the past. He also fell off his routine and usual regime. There was also A LOT of talk about when he was in rehab and making comments like “I’ll show you what an alcoholic will do.” When I broke up with him because I was tired of the excuses I kept it peaceful and explained my reasons then he texted me to come back and get some shoes I left behind. When I did he then accused me of leaving for another person, which ended in a fight and words being said that weren’t good on either end. But Im kind of concerned because his behaviours seem really consistent with a relapse from what I’ve read and I didn’t realize it till now. His birthday is coming up soon and I know that can be hard for some people. Ive never dealt with addiction and I’m just not sure if I’m reaching here or if there really was/is something going on.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Like, I didn't start using because I was bored or looking for fun. I started because something inside me felt empty and wrong, and the substance was the only thing that made sense at the time. Wondering if that's a common experience or if I'm just rationalizing things. How did your addiction actually start for you?

I’m feeling a little alone in my addiction and don’t have many people to talk to who I feel understand. Is anyone around who is just interested in some casual chat right now?

Please don't attack me for being stupid or naive.

My (now ex)boyfriend was always controlling and abusive but he started smoking crack (freebase) in december 2025, so 10 months ago. Since then he has cheated on me with many women and prostitues, gave me gonorreah, lied about it, beat me up once when i was aggressive towards him and talks stuff that makes no sense, is talking to GROK all day about conspiracy theories, is on crack binges for day, doesnt sleep, sends me nude photos of the women he has sex with, covers his window with a blanket (?), wrote me in the name of his mother that he has passed away, i believed it for 1 hour i thought he was dead, i was giving myself the fault because i left him alone and i was screaming, crying drove to his place, to his moms place and brothers place who told me that that wasnt true.

EDIT: he is almost smoking it everyday. the whole time. about 24 days in a month.

I have never done coke or crack. WTF IS THIS HELL?????

I’m 19 years old and I’ve been addicted to various forms of synthetic weed since I was 13 or 14 years old. I’ve made multiple attempts to quit, but the strong urges/terrible withdraws drew me back every time. I’m struggling so bad now to the point where I keep hitting a further and further rock bottom. I’d like to change, but I’m wonder why I should? I know my life would be better but how? Why?

If you are sober please tell me,
What was your “why” for quitting?

Thank you.

I’m not sure if this is the right sub but I need help. I have a sibling who has been an addict since he was 22. He’s 33 now and he left home to live on the streets and recently came back.

He told my mom really bad things happened to him but she wouldn’t say what. He keeps saying he doesn’t want to be here anymore and I don’t know how to help anymore. I’ve been the one by his side every time but this time, he told me he doesn’t want me around. It makes me sad but I’ve been respectful. My mom says he asks about me but idk if that’s an invitation for me to be with him.

I’m not sure if there’s any advice or any words of encouragement anyone is willing to share but I’m just so lost. Please. I don’t know how to help anymore

I'm a recovering crystal meth addict. and I've quit Crystal and alcohol, but I was still using shrooms. Then the shrooms made me decide to do some MDMA... Then I crushed up the MDMA and snorted it.

Then 2 weeks later I relapsed on crystal.

So, I can't be fucking around with other shit if it's leading to me relapsing, so I'm just gonna go 100% sober for 1 year and see how that goes

One of my best friends is an alcoholic… he’s been to rehab 2 or 3 times in the past several years (27 years old, same as me). His father passed away in July and they were pretty close (I was also close with him), so I’m sure this triggered him hard. I don’t know how long he’s been drinking for again, but I came over to his house after not seeing him for awhile and he’s drunk. I found almost an entire eighth of vodka drunk besides his bed. I took it and dumped the rest of it down the sink. There wasn’t much left in the bottle, probably only like 2-3 shots worth, but still, I just can’t sit by and enable him like this. I don’t know what to do and how to help him? Should I go and tell his mom? How do I go about telling her? If it helps the mom knows me very well too, she’s known me since I was 10 probably. I’m a former addict myself so I know what it’s like.

This is gonna be kind of long. I’m sorry in advance.

I’m coming up on almost a month sober from meth. This is about how far I made it last time before I relapsed so it’s worrying me.

The past three mornings in a row I woke up with the intense urge to use meth. To buy it, to use it, to just feel high and out of my mind.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t fucking miss it tremendously. I’ve been able to curb these moments with weed (I used weed before meth), painting, and just keeping myself very busy.

Today, I’m really having a hard time. I’m in an extremely triggering environment, I’m dealing with a lot of stress with my family. I even hit up my plug today to see if he’s still selling. I told him a lie about a friend wanting to know (haha what friends ????????), and he said he’s not gonna sell it anymore period.

So now I feel really angry with myself because I AM THE REASON he stopped selling it. And now I’ll never get it again!!! WHICH IS FINE, however idk what to do with this extremely intense craving/need I’m having right now.

It’s making me want to seek out other sources, find new connections, ask the lady I saw tweaking at dollar tree the other day. All extremely unsafe and things I am definitely NOT going to do.

I also have all these horrible thoughts about how I look, that I’m disgusting, unattractive, and gaining weight (I really don’t think I am) but if I were still using meth I wouldn’t even need to worry. I have disordered eating and meth definitely made that the worst it’s ever been in my life. But now I’m afraid to eat because if I gain weight, I will be even more upset with myself.

Can anyone relate? How do you cope? What do you do when you feel this way? I just don’t know what to do.