Welcome to Gaia! ::

hey, the virgin post. woot!

Let's see, I've been addicted to a couple things over the years, but the one that damaged me the most, and lasted the longest, was my addiction to stimulants that I'm still fighting.

It started for me when i was about 13. I had been being abused and neglected for about a year at that point, and was suffering from deep depression. One of the biggest things that was done to me was that i was locked in my basement whenever they didn't need me for anything, like cleaning, cooking, or making money doing s**t in the neighborhood to feed my parent's drug addiction. While i was in lockdown, the only thing i could do was study, and one day i came across one of the medical books my mom gave me, and stumbled across a section on stimulants. They had been known to produce a false euphoria and an appetite suppression, which would take the edge off my hunger and let me stay sane just a little longer.

After that, the next time i was sent out to mow lawns or do whatever i must to make money, i would skim a little off the top, and run to the nearest 24-hr store, which was a walmart behind my house, and sneak out in the dead of night (if they caught me during the day, I'd be beaten rather badly) and find anything with herbal stimulants that i could buy.

this went on for years, and my tolerance, as you can guess, grew to the point that i can drink an entire pot of espresso and it's like nothing but hot water. I started spending every bit of money i could spare chasing the feeling of euphoria that the herbal stimulants with higher and higher amounts of things like guarana, taurine, and caffeine until about a month or two ago I developed a severe arrhythmia that almost became a heart attack after drinking three rockstars, a full throttle, a NOS, and a Rocket Shot (a highly concentrated energy supplement) and finally, at the urging of my closest friends and my wife, have begun to ween myself off of stimulants. it's a hard struggle that constantly messes with me physically and mentally every day.

My addiction has lasted almost 7 years.


*Note* I know that my addiction may not seem as real or as debilitating since my drug of choice doesn't bear the risk of jail time (since my preferred method of ingestion is completely legal) and doesn't have much of a risk of death, but it still ruled and controlled my life, which makes it an addiction to me. I have a heart problem that leaves me susceptible to heart complications, arrhythmia, and chest pains for no apparent reason, and my doctor believes it may have been caused by stimulant abuse, or at least they contributed to it.

it's my pleasure dear, I prefer to think "What use is having knowledge, whether it be good or bad, if you don't share it." Stimulants, legal or not, have a high chance of addiction (I think i remember hearing somewhere that caffeine is one of the most addicting substances on the planet) and can have horrible side affects if not handled correctly. I'm a bit surprised no one else has posted anything. How about you, Nikolita, any drug or alcohol abuse in your pass?

I'm so so sorry I didn't see this sooner. redface

I have never been diagnosed with being addicted to anything, but I've had a suspicion for a long time that I have a caffine addiction. I don't drink lots of coffee or tea - rather, pop is my "drug of choice" so to speak. I make sure to drink other things too, but Diet Pepsi is my preference if I can get it. When I don't have it, I get cravings and I think about how I can get it a lot.