The First 30 Days
What withdrawal, early recovery, and the emotional torment actually felt like.
I find physical pain far easier to deal with than emotional pain. Both are all-consuming, but at least with physical pain you can pinpoint the source and cause easily. I can’t count how many times I’ve been in the first ‘30 day’ cycle. Three weeks was my absolute max when I first properly committed to giving recovery a go. So I went round and round, making it through the acute withdrawal, then crumbling when emotion, grief, shame, and guilt crept in.
Three weeks is often described as a cliff edge. Getting past that stage can feel brutal for both biological and psychological reasons. Like my first post in this series, I want to give a bit of scientific background to explain why this happens, before I go on to discuss my personal experience.
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