Let not your vulnerability during Covid -19 pandemic consume you
The outbreak of coronavirus outbreak has brought about unprecedented changes to our lives. With self-isolation causing increased worry or stress among all of us, here is a safety guideline for people in early recovery to stay safe during the pandemic times.
Addiction as it is, is a very complex disease and is far deeper than most people consider it to be. The persons who overcome this disease and start a life of sobriety again are no less than war heroes in the sense that their willpower to abstain from drugs or alcohol is simply outstanding and their endurance nearly paid them off. But, unfortunately, the real challenge lies in fighting off the pandemic blues when isolations and lockdowns started hindering socialising and accessing emotional support for the early recoveries thereby creating compulsions to abuse the substance again.
It’s now important than ever to understand how this situation may affect your behaviour and how to take steps to look after your health and wellbeing during early recovery.
How can you Identify the danger bells of relapse?
- Feel tempted to abuse substance again to overcome boredom.
- Be in recovery and still feel at risk of relapse
- Have loved ones affected by covid which may push you into depression
- Have noticed that friends and family aren’t appreciative of your effort in becoming sober
- Feel isolated because of losing the peers who are addicts
- Experience financial crunch due to unemployment
Covid might have affected the way many things work for you including the support services you use, access to your support groups and access to your rehab as well.
Under these circumstances, It is always preferable to remember the struggle you have been through and the endurance you with held in the rehab to get well as well as the motive behind your struggle. Accepting that the entire world is in turmoil right now and it is just a passing phase can come a long way in controlling your impulses to relapse. Avoiding relapse knowing that you can never come back once relapsed helps you cope through these difficult yet hopeful times. Engaging yourself in a meaningful hobby or passion that may might as well serve the community at large during these pandemic times helps release dopamine in your brain that helps fight your cravings.
Despite all these measures, if you still find yourself relapsed or using substances again. Do not worry. Some bad chapters do not mean that it is the end of the story. You can save yourself by following the below mentioned precautions while simultaneously trying to taper off and contact your rehab at the earliest for re-admission.
Precautions to be taken to reduce risks
- Covid means non-availability of resources, meaning possible contamination in the drugs you buy. Therefore, try to take drugs in the minimal possible amounts till you are sure they are safe
- Start low and go slow. Start with a small amount/test dose and wait for at least 2 hours before taking any more as the drugs may not have taken full effect by then.
- Try to maintain physical distance with masks on if you are administering drugs in your peer group.
- Since you had a break in drug use, your tolerance levels might have reduced. This means you need less to feel the same effects. Do not overdose.
- Keep a tab on the frequency and amount as you may end up using more than usual out of boredom.
- Do not forget to take nutritious diet as lower immune system means higher vulnerability to Covid-19.
- Try not to be alone while using drugs as you may overdose and find nobody around to help you.
- Don’t mix and match: Avoid combining drugs with other substances including alcohol and prescription medicines. Mixing up drugs can lead to dangerous, unexpected and unpredictable effects.
- Avoiding infection: General hygiene when you’re on drugs is important to help minimise the risk of becoming Covid-19 infected or passing it on.
- But above all, it is the most import call to contact your rehab as soon as you feel vulnerable to relapse and get re-admission till your vulnerability is ruled out.
Phoenix Rehab Services is a leading Rehabilitation Centre in India for Substance Abuse and Behavioural Addiction. At Phoenix, we can help provide the right tools to you or your loved ones on the journey to lead a healthy life free from addiction. Our reliable & effective Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Program is headed and supported by experienced & dedicated de-addiction therapists and is driven by motivated staff that is equipped to handle the various needs of patients and has years of experience in treating addiction.
Our top inpatient de-addiction program in the world, expert team handling this program, our state-of-the-art facility located in Hyderabad, India and our multi-disciplinary and medically guided holistic approach to individual patient scenarios will help you heal from your physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual ailments towards total Recovery.
Our Integrated Drug & Alcohol Addiction Recovery Program is a 12 Step Program approved by the World Health Organization. We are proud to mention that we enabled hundreds of successful recoveries from around the globe. In fact, the very first in-patient in our rehab happened to be from overseas.
