Tommy Rosen, Yoga Teacher and Founder of Recovery 2.0 brings you this “Protocol” – How to get off Opiates.
Hey everybody this is tommy rosen and i’m excited to share a protocol with you and this is the recovery 2.0 protocol for getting off of opioids an opioid is any of the drugs that come from the poppy plant originally that’s opium or heroin vicodin percocet any of the opioids are painkillers they kill physical pain and we are very very happy to have them on the planet
Earth when we’re in an extreme physically painful situations such as being in a war situation or a traumatic accident of some kind we are very happy to have the opiate family available to us because they work they really kill physical pain they make it possible to get to break the pain cycle and to begin to heal interestingly this class of drugs also deals with
Emotional pain in fact all pain that you might experience as a human being is taken away when you take this class of drugs interestingly also that the more of these drugs that you take the more you actually have to take for their effects to work for you to feel their effects that’s called building a tolerance so we very quickly very quickly build a tolerance to drugs
In the opiate family the more that we take the more we have to take them eventually we become physically addicted to these drugs when you’re physically addicted now you don’t really feel a sense of being high from the drug any longer what happens is you actually become normal again when you take the drug it’s a way of managing the somewhat horrendous biochemistry
That you’ve created in your brain and body by taking so much of these opioid drugs that you now have to just take them in order to get back to a normal state of being able to function in the world and if you don’t get the drugs to be able to get back to that state of normalcy when you’re fully addicted like this it’s about the most horrendous most painful most
Uncomfortable thing that you could imagine on the planet it’s literally like being on fire so imagine you are on fire what wouldn’t you do to put the fire out well you do anything you do anything at all you would steal you would act in any kind of way you had to you would manipulate in any kind of way you had to in order to put that fire out that’s what it’s like to
Be a heroin addict or a an addict to any of the opiate drugs let’s say that you come to that very fortunate place where you’re ready now to stop what do you do okay i’m just going to assume that you’ve got a full-blown opiate addiction and that you have to have these drugs in order just a function at this point and you’re now realizing it and you’re recognizing like
I can’t go on living my life like this and i want to change there’s only really a couple of things that you can do the first part of the process is going to be a physical detox off of opiates i strongly recommend that you get medical support for that detox here’s why number one you are going to appreciate some of the pharmacological that’s drug based solutions to
Help you through the difficult period that you’re about to face five to 14 days of extreme discomfort the likes of which i would not wish on anybody to alleviate some of those symptoms of discomfort there are many drugs that exist now to help somebody through the the period of withdrawal the drug that i most want to discuss right now is suboxone suboxone is like
A wonder drug for helping a person and get off of an opiate to get to go through that withdrawal process unfortunately i believe that the drug was only meant to be used 7 to 14 days unfortunately it is now being prescribed for long-term use and there are reasons why doctors decide to do that and why pharmaceutical companies push for that kind of long term use i
Don’t want to get into that discussion here i will simply say suboxone is a wonderful thing to help somebody who’s addicted to an opioid go through that withdrawal process and get off in the best of all circumstances as far as i am concerned after 14 days maximum you then get off of suboxone and you’re now in a path of recovery and that path of recovery includes
Things like the 12 steps it may include inpatient treatment or outpatient treatment it may include various forms of therapy all that kind of stuff but the main thing is is you’re on a path of recovery and you’re engaged in that recovery and you’re getting support lots of support from people because you’re going to need it if you’re gonna stay off heroin and other
Opioids so if you can get medical support through the withdrawal process that first seven to 14 days that’s going to be a wonderful thing there are other drugs involved as well in that process where people are doing what they can to make you feel comfortable through that process often also you may opt for an inpatient treatment facility that also is connected with
Or has a medical detox facility in house so you can sort of knock tubers out with with one stone by getting your medical detox and you’re in treatment right there at the same time really great if you’re committed and have the money to afford those services but let’s say you don’t have the good fortune or the willingness to go into a hospital or a treatment facility
What do you do well quite frankly you find a room preferably somebody who really really loves you and cares for you who is going to sit with you through the horror of the next five to ten days and they’re going to do things like make food for you clean up your your piss and your and your vomit they’re going to put cold compresses on your head when you need them
They’re going to wait on you hand and foot to help you get through this period of dread what’s really happening in the body is that your brain in your body the cells of your body are detoxing from something they’ve become extremely used to we’ve setup a condition in the body that’s so painfully addicted so painfully in need of these substances that when we remove
Them for those first number of days until the detox is complete well you kind of feel like you have something like the bubonic plague mixed with migraine headache mixed with 104 degree temperature mixed with something that makes you have diarrhea and makes you throw up you get hungry but you can’t really eat you want to go to the bathroom but you may be constipated
At times it’s you’re all over the map and your body is quite frankly in a state of disarray like the worst disarray you can imagine it’s no wonder that nobody wants to quit and go through this process it’s not hard to understand why a heroin addict wouldn’t want to go through that process which is again why i stress it’s really helpful to have medical support during
This time but if you’re in that room and you’ve got that person to take care of you you have to realize that during that period of time you’re going to be thinking one primary thought most of those days i want to leave here i want to get my drug of choice and that thought is going to be the predominant thing that you’re facing pretty much 24/7 you’re gonna be scheming
Manipulating creating stories telling lies and that person who’s taking care of you needs to understand all that and they’re gonna look at you in the face they’re gonna say guess what you’re not leaving we’re staying here until this process is complete i will take care of you but you’re not leaving this room you’re not getting out of here until your detoxed once
Your detoxed we’ll have another conversation so you go through that and i’ve been through that with a few people now over these years and it’s a very unpleasant thing and i’ve been there myself as i speak from personal experience just how unpleasant this is so you see i tell you this not to scare anybody but i actually want you to succeed i have seen people get sober
By going into a hotel room and sweating it out for five days i’ve even seen people do it alone without the support of a human being that could take care of them there it ain’t pretty but up against a lifetime of heroin addiction it’s it’s the better choice now what happens after three or four days you start to feel a little bit better but that mental that mental
Thing that that phenomenon of craving is very strong still and it may remain strong for a little while to come so immediately you must one must absolutely throw themself into a program of recovery right away 12-step programs inpatient treatment if you can get it i strongly suggest it getting out of your normal routine out of your normal community the environment
Where you’ve been using drugs is going to be so important it will stack the odds in your favor of being successful with this attempt to become sober and ultimately happy content and free you need to know what’s possible you need to know that it’s possible and what you must have around you are examples of victory almost every day you have to have somebody around
You that says hang in there i’ve been there i know what it’s like you can get through this so you put yourself in the middle of 12-step meetings or or a community of people that can support you who understand this thing you put yourself around doctors and healers you put yourself around mentors and sponsors and therapists and you get a little momentum you detox
You’re now physically detoxed off of the opiate of your choice this is a incredible opportunity for you to take that to the next level which is to begin to get recovery true recovery can only really begin once your detox and once you’ve committed yourself to each day approaching your recovery the same way you would have gone after your drug of choice just a few
Days before i’m a yoga teacher some of you know that and i look to the saints and the sages in the past for good information and there was a saint an amazing yoga yoga teacher named sri ramakrishna sri ramakrishna said approach illumination which we can look at as recovery approach illumination approach recovery like a person whose hair is on fire would approach
A pond just the same way you felt like you were on fire because you needed heroin or you needed your drug of choice that’s how you go after your recovery with that same intensity with that same singleness of purpose i must have this thing called recovery so that i can be free and furthermore so that you can enjoy your life and sing the song that you came here to
Sing as an addict stuck in this kind of addiction your choices are very few when you become free the power of choice is restored and you can begin to choose habits relationships experiences for yourself which will bring you altima lee an incredible sense of joy and purpose and aliveness if you’re watching this and you’re stuck in heroin addiction right now don’t
Wait another day if you’re stuck in any kind of opiate addiction oxycontin or whatever it is don’t wait another day go through this process of detox find a group of people who can support you get into recovery and buckle up the most extraordinary ride awaits you i wish that for you and if we can be of support to you in any way here at recovery 2.0 come find us
We’re all over the web easy to access so the horror of opiate addiction can be done for you and it can be done for anyone that you love as well it’s gonna it’s gonna be a little bit difficult at first but it will get easier and then it will become joyful that’s been my experience take good care and i’ll see you on this incredible road of recovery
Transcribed from video
How to Get Off Heroin, Oxycontin, Fentanyl & other Opiates | Recovery 2.0 Protocol By Tommy Rosen – Recovery 2.0