Expert: Jurriaan Plesman, Nutritional Psychotherapist - 7/29/2008

Question
I'm roughly 17 years old. Beginning in the summer of last year, I started smoking copious amounts of marijuana. I quickly gained about twenty pounds from doritos and mountain dew, along with all kinds of other awesome foodstuffs, and by the time the school year rolled around i was both regularlly baked and overweight. In lieu of the schoolyear beginning, I began abusing the adderall prescribed to me and my brother in large doses both to focus and gain incentive both to excercise and not eat so as to loose weight. Using a mortar and pestel, I ground adderall into a powder, along with various other prescription amphetamines, and snorted it. For a period of about five or six months, I engaged in heavy daily drug use. I often times used both large amounts of amphetamine and weed everyday, usually about 250 milligrams of amphetamine and half a dime of high quality weed. I met a girl who motivated me to end my drug use. The thing is, before i started using drugs i felt a very high degree of happiness and health, socially, physically, and mentally. I lived a life that was pretty much perfect. Now, even though i've been sober for roughly three months and have no urge to use again, i don't feel like i used to. I don't feel like the same person. I struggle to find my old, comfortable self, and have trouble completing tasks i used to find easy, things as easy as styling my hair how i want, which i can't figure out. I don't even feel comfortable sitting down, i can't find any natural position. i feel socially out of place. I've tried eating well and excercising everyday, rigorously, and it seems to help a little bit, but what i want to know is, what exactly is wrong? is this a normal problem? i just feel out of place now, socially, even around my own family. i don't know what to say. i used to have a great sense of humor, and i occassionally still make jokes that get a response, but with nowhere near the same easy and consistency as before. Do i just need to re-develop all these traits? will my character re-develop? I'm fine for now, i guess, but i just want to know if this is what people mean by always being in recovery, because it sucks and it's gay.

Answer
Hi Greg,

Treatment of drug addiction does not mean just withdrawing, but you need to treat the underlying biochemical abnormality that made you enjoy the use of marijuana. Most people who enjoy drugs of addiction are usually depressed as the major forerunner to addiction, Thus you need to treat the condition that made you enjoy drugs in the first place.

Please read:

Treatment of Drug Addiction at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/treatment_drug_addiction.html

Drug Addiction is a Nutritional Disorder at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/drug_addictions_nutritional_disorder.htm...

Why Alcoholics Drink? at
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/WAD.html

Self-help Personal Growth Psychotherapy at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/self-help_personal_growth.html

and discuss with a Nutritional Doctor, a Clinical Nutritionist or a Nutritional Psychologist if you want to.

The above articles should help you understand why you have these problems. Going on a hypoglycemic diet is he first step ,in treatment.

_______________________________________________
Jurriaan Plesman
Editor of
The Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia.
www.hypoglycemia.asn.au
Author of "Getting off the Hook"
Freely available at Google Book Search
Skype: jurplesman