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Addicts Craving Sweets
Lea






Posted: March 26, 2005, 1:28 AM
Can I ask a question?
Who do crack addicted people eat so much candy, ice ceam and sweets? I know they don't eat very much to begin with, but I have noticed that when they do eat, it's Ice Cream, Chocollate of freakin potato chips? I don't get it? Has anyone experienced this sort of behavoir?


Posts: 3423
Joined: December 31, 2004


Posted: March 26, 2005, 1:34 AM
Yes, can someone answer Lea's question as I sit here and eat a box of Mike & Ike's, Hot Tamales and Cheezits? I never craved sugar like I do now that I am clean and sober. VWGirl

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Peace & Serenity, VWGirl
cynical one






Posted: March 26, 2005, 4:34 AM

"Chocolate stimulates the pleasure centers, but only a few people compulsively eat chocolate or sweets. Apparently, stimulation of the pleasure center is only one small component in the entire addiction syndrome".
http://www.enotes.com/addiction/

'Several other drugs such as amphetamines, psychedelics, cocaine, caffeine, and nicotine temporarily increase the release of sugar into the bloodstream; this creates a "high" through a metabolic process similar to that involving sugar and alcohol. These drugs also duplicate the mood-inducing effect of the body's endorphins, chemicals which transmit messages to the brain that help to relax the nervous system, or make it smile".
http://www.healthy.net/scr/Article.asp?Id=903





Posts: 164
Joined: February 14, 2005


Posted: March 26, 2005, 10:52 AM
Good morning Lea... I know that at the beginning of my recovery, I craved ALL kinds of foods!!! I ate like crazy.....anything and everything. When I was useing I would go dayssssss without eating anything at all. And when I started my recovery , my body was so malnutritioned I figured that was why I was eating so much. I did eat alot of chocolate and ice cream. I am 25 days clean as of today ~~~ and "my" cravings for eating everthing in sight has come to an end. Thank goodness!....since I've been staying with my parents ( 2 months ) I've gained like 25 pounds. But I really needed to put some weight on. But I watch what I eat now. I try to eat as healthy as I can now. But I still like my chocolate every so often. As Always....EYES

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"The face is the mirrow of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart." (St. Jerome)


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Joined: March 27, 2005


Posted: March 27, 2005, 2:41 AM
I really like that question.When my husband and I were using meth whenever we stopped (bcause we ran out of money or our bodies just couln't handle anymore) we ravenously craved sweets.We would eat tons of kit kats , snickers, whatever we could get our hands on.It was like our bodies had been deprived of sugar and we were trying to replace it as fast as we could.I mean we would eat one after the other and it never tasted so good.We always wondered why we wanted sugar so bad after these binges.


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Joined: January 13, 2005


Posted: April 2, 2005, 5:08 AM
Hello Lea
Interesting question. I was at a recovery center which offered unlimited ice cream. One of the counselors would ask the group each morining if anyone had ice cream the night before. It seemed a minor question, until he repeated it every morining. Then I asked why he asked us every morining about ice cream. He smiled, and conveyed why. He introduced us to the subject of dopeamin, ( I don't know the spelling, can't find it). What he shared was very interesting. It may take some writing, so please bear with me.

His next question, was "Who have had using dreams"? This caught our interest, as many had had "using dreams, some explict. Any sweet can have this effect, yet ice cream is really well known for it. He went on to explain.

Dopeamin is a natural opiate within our brains. It is there to handle extreme trauma, as to prevent death from shock. Extreme pain, from broken bones, or other trauma, can invoke shock enough to kill a person. Dopeamin is the most addictive thing known to mankind. Synthisized in the lab, it was experimented with on rats. ( I don't condone animal experiments). When rats were given a 2% solution of alcohol in their water, they would die of thirst, rather then drink. Upon injecting dopeamin into the rat's brain, the rats where given 100% solution of alcohol. The rats immediately drank themselves to death!

Any opiate drug, alcohol is a drug, off-sets the natural balance of dopeamin, within the body. Sweets fool the cravings. Some alcoholics, have actually turned sweets into alchohol within their system. Ice cream not only satisfies the craving of the body, it induces using dreams.

These knowledges have been known since the fifties, as a result of research into alzheimer disease. The vast majority of drug withdrawel, comes from the "balancing out" of one's dopeamin.

A.A. had a convention in Seattle, some years ago. They ate Seattle's supply of ice cream! Any food line of free bread, the donuts go immediately. I am not a police basher, yet I wonder about the donuts? Coffee, sugar, it goes on and on. Imagine all the sweet cereals that are given to children? Is sugar a drug? Is it mood alterating? Is sugar a gateway to drug abuse?

Anytime you, or someone around you, talks of a using dream, ask them if they had ice cream the night before. Or any other sweet. I have found it really interesting.

Anyways, this is what I have been taught. As anything, take what you need, and leave the rest.

God Bless
Dave
Lea






Posted: April 4, 2005, 11:33 PM
Wow,
I must say that is quite interesting. (Dave)
I asked some recovering users and they all seemed to say the same thing.
1) It's quick and cheap
2) It's sugary and keeps you up. Possibley a generic crack high

That definatley opens my eyes.

Thanks
Lea






Posted: June 21, 2005, 10:59 PM
Wow,

Thanks for all your inputs. I guess it's probably a combination of price, sugar rushes and scientifics.

Thanks guys.
Lea
Hanging in....






Posted: October 9, 2005, 12:08 PM
When I was on cocaine, I opted for cool snacks, like jello and fruits. Since I knew that my temperature was going to go up, I made sure to keep some black grapes and melon around. Also fruitty candy, but not too much chocolate. When I was high, I didn't eat because I was hungry,because I was not. I ate to relieve the temperature, need for something sweet and dry cottonmouth.


Posts: 552
Joined: July 31, 2004


Posted: October 9, 2005, 12:38 PM
Sugar and caffeine, release the same chemicals to the brain as drugs and alcohol, in smaller amounts, and various degrees. Drugs trick the brain in believing that you will not be able to survive without it. Sugar releases the same chemicals giving the body the false sense of satisfaction, or relief. It is a very unscientific explanation for a very complicated biological process.
MARY






Posted: October 10, 2005, 2:54 PM
How long do these sugar binges last? My CH and A has been baking desserts for a week, while waiting for a bed in rehab to open up. I had been trying to focus on me and Weight Watchers, but all these desserts are sabatoging my plans. He has only been clean for a week. Thanks for any info.
guest






Posted: April 12, 2006, 12:08 AM
Found this on the coke board re:sweets

http://addictionrecoveryguide.com/m...=13921&hl=sugar

guest






Posted: April 12, 2006, 12:11 AM
sorry meant to post that on the ly/hy board


Posts: 397
Joined: March 17, 2006


Posted: April 12, 2006, 12:15 AM
Hi all! Lea, I just posted the exact same question over in the familys board!! uncanny!! thanks for the all the info, I was wondering about the connection!!

hugs
lovedove


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Joined: May 11, 2005


Posted: August 3, 2006, 1:20 AM
Bump for toto

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Joined: July 24, 2006


Posted: August 3, 2006, 10:56 AM
thanks cynical one. that was an amazing read. I am so thankful my wife is very health concious. she makes my lunch everyday for me to take to work so that i'm not eating fast food. there is a meal ready for me every night. I'm not talking any meal here folks. she is a fantastic gourmat chef. I eat a lotta fish & chicken, never fried along with veggies etc for a very well balanced diet.
whether its just me,2,3 or 4 of us eating at 6:00 or 6:30 the meal is 5 star.

my kids & I are always joking that we have no real anything in our house. everything is fat free etc.

kids were rarely allowed soda & candy. perhaps this will help to keep em from drugs but at the very least, they're not overweight & have beautiful smles

any bumps regarding the 12 steps would be greatly appreciated, for you are the bumpmaster cynical one. lol

ps wonder how all the above posters are doin? most replies were in march & I don't see many posting these days


Posts: 39
Joined: May 17, 2006


Posted: August 3, 2006, 12:32 PM
I have noticed when my husband is out of town he always buys tons of gum, and all kinds of mints etc, and I don't mean a pack here and there I am talking five or six at a time, and eats or chews gum right after another. Don't notice he does that when he is home for a few days at a time. Guess the imput of all people who are using or are in the process of quitting is very helpful for us less knowledgeable on the subject.
Once a person quits using drugs, how long if ever does the pleasures of life become pleasurable again without the use of drugs. Does the brain ever recover from always needing that drug to feel happy, excited?


Posts: 1586
Joined: December 22, 2005


Posted: August 3, 2006, 2:41 PM
Sherri

I use to chew alot of gum and suck on hard sweets to distract people from my swinging jaw.
I would have so many that i would have boils in the roof of my mouth that were so painful, but the cocaine blocked out the pain of these boils.
Looking back it is madness.

I was in a 21 day detox before rehab, i notice with me personally that my emotions good and bad came flooding back in the 2nd week of being there.
When i went into rehab i was still feeling tender and lost but within time you start to appreciate whats going on around you.
For some people this is not so.
For some people they are not really wanting there recovery this could be because they may feel pressurised into recovery, or they just aint ready for it yet.
Even after 16 months of sobriety for me i have more good days than bad.
Today i do not need cocaine to live my life, doing cocaine is not living.
I now get my enjoyment from living a clean drug free life.
Taking one day at a time.................................

Emily






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When God made me he was showing off


Posts: 160
Joined: July 24, 2006


Posted: August 3, 2006, 2:59 PM
great question sherri remember, i'm new here & can only tell you about my personal experience with coke/crack.

I wasn't a gum chewer & never was so I can't comment on that.

how long does it take? for me, not long at all. I snuck out after my wife fell asleep on july14th & smoked crack til 5 am. if I remember right, i did coke & snuck in some crack earlier that day. Again, I was very lucky I didn't get caught, but had my excuse ducks in a row if I did.

I felt ashamed & disgusted for living this doublelife & spending too much money. I came to office on sat morning & checked out some crack help sites & found this board. stayed clean over the weekend. my mo is to do coke & crack on thurs & fri to fri & sat or sunday. then I don't usually til following weekend.

read a bunch & a bunch more on this board thru the week & decided not to use anymore. I joined here the following monday I think. THIS WAS A BIG STEP FOR ME. I was & am ashamed of being a crack addict & wanted no one to know my dark secret. not even fellow addicts here

I did not have physical withdrawls to speak of with crack/coke. I think it is more of a psycological addiction, unlike heroin.

when did I start feeling good ? well I felt pretty good immediatly cause I thought I made a good decision. I knew very little about addiction except what I learned about quitting smoking, which I failed countless times. I felt better & better with each post & response here. I haven't really been counting too much, but I think this sat will be 3 weeks clean from crack & a little over 2 weeks from coke.

sherri, I cannot even begin to explain how good I feel about myself today. it is awesome & I have my decision & all the posters of this great board to thank & yes that includes you sherri. you have helped me to realize where I am right now by asking this question.

I have much to learn about my addiction but admitting to myself that i am an addict is probably the biggest step i'll take in this journey i'm on.

I'm not really having much in the way of user cravings and withdrawal symtoms of short,edgy,( yes I am at times) needing food or sweets doesn't seem to be there much or at least i'm not noticing them.

this board has worked wonders for me but I don't think it will be enough in the long term. I'm gonna need someone to talk things out with cause this addiction didn't just go away.

don't know if he's ready but imo this board is a great start for anyone willing to step up.






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Joined: September 21, 2005


Posted: August 3, 2006, 3:03 PM
I WAS THE SAME WAY.. HAD TO HAVE HARD CANDY IN MY MOUTH TO DISTRACT FROM MY "CRAZY" JAW...
I WAS SNORTING COCAINE, I NEVER DID CRACK.

ALSO, I STILL DO HAVE THE OCCASIONAL USING DREAM, BUT I HAVE BEEN CLEAN 19 MONTHS AND MY LIFE IS FANTASTIC. I HAVE FULLY RECOVERED, AND I AM AS "NORMAL" AS WHAT EVER NORMAL IS. LOL.

SO YES, PEOPLE TO GO "BACK TO NORMAL" AS U SAID.



PS: EMILY.... SEEMS TO ME WE HAVE ALOT IN COMMON! CONGRATS ON YOUR CLEAN TIME!!! =0)

This post has been edited by NY9377 on August 3, 2006, 3:05 PM
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