Unfortunately for many addicts, sobering up is not as simple as removing all traces of a drug from their bodies and then experiencing substance-free days for the rest of their lives. Relapse happens more often than many patients would like to admit. The first step to overcoming addiction is to identify when you are most likely to fall back into drug use. Before you end up relapsing and having to head back to a Malibu addiction center for assistance, there are often some very clear warning signs that you can watch out for.
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Being Too Confident About Your Recovery – Relapse first sign
When you start feeling better, it can be easy to think that you no longer need to keep the treatment going. This is the same sort of thinking that often gets people with a mental illness into relapses of their own. Since they start taking medication, they start to feel better. Once they feel better, they may think that they no longer need to keep taking their medicine. Because they no longer take their medicine, they experience a crash right back into the awful symptoms they were avoiding in the first place.
For addicts, they may stop taking medicine designed to help them with withdrawal symptoms, or they may stop going to therapy or to group meetings, which they need for emotional support.
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Not Getting Enough Sleep Every Day
Sleep does not just keep you healthy, but it also helps you recover from addiction much more effectively. That much can be said based on a study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, as cited in NewsWise. According to Dr. Nicholas Rosenlicht from the University of San Francisco, treating patients for insomnia, especially in the earlier stages of recovery, resulted in decreased chances of relapsing. Interestingly, some patients may use drugs or certain medications such as sleeping pills to help them sleep. Helping patients get enough rest each night could also assist in resisting the temptation for them to use substances.
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Trying to Help Too Many People at Once
A popular practice in many drug addiction treatments is to have sober patients sponsor another patient still undergoing treatment. While this can be an encouraging relationship for both people, this could be detrimental to the sober person if they try to help too many people at once. The stress could cause them to start using their preferred substances again.