Drug/Sex Addiction: Essential Tasks in Early Recovery –

Dr. David Fawcett

If you use sexual drugs, it is important to respond to and stabilize any emergency situations you may be experiencing. You must ensure that you are safe and that your health and life are not threatened. This may mean seeing a doctor for a physical or going to the emergency room if you are experiencing a medical emergency. It may also mean entering inpatient or intensive outpatient treatment if you are unable to stop using or exhibiting sexual behaviors. If your substance of choice is a stimulant, you may experience paranoia and other psychiatric symptoms that will need to be evaluated and stabilized.

In addition to the obvious and immediate measures, you should also:

• Practice self-care.
• Learn to control your triggers and cravings.
• Learn to regulate your emotions and don’t dwell on your addiction.
• Build a support network.

In this post, I will discuss the first step to overcoming substance/sex addiction: practicing self-care.

Physical wellness involves taking care of your body, ensuring that your needs for water, food, shelter, safety, rest, and exercise are met. During recovery, you will need to eat healthy, regular meals, stay hydrated throughout the day, exercise daily, and get seven to eight hours of sleep each night. These basic interventions can increase emotional resilience, improve mental function and focus, improve impulse control, and promote an overall sense of well-being.

Many people in early recovery report difficulty sleeping. The most effective way to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep is to practice good sleep hygiene. This includes going to bed and waking up at approximately the same time every day (including weekends), turning off all screens at least an hour before bed, taking a hot shower and cooling down the room—both of which lower your body temperature, which signals the brain to prepare for sleep. That being said, in early recovery, you should be prepared for sleep disruptions. I remember being frustrated with sleep throughout my first year of rehab. I also remember how frustrated I was when my sponsor told me that no one had died from sleep deprivation.

In my next post, I will discuss regulating triggers and cravings, regulating emotions in healthy ways, and building a recovery support network.

* * * * * * * * * *

If you or someone you love is struggling with sex, pornography, or drug/sex addiction, Seeking Integrity can help. In addition to inpatient rehab, we offer low-cost online workgroups for newly recovered male sex addicts and male pornography addicts. Click here for information about our sex addiction workgroup. Click here for information about our pornography addiction workgroup.