I wish you success!

i'm sorry to hear this.
i don't think most rehabs are a month, but i can't be sure. i would say call the places, and start making an honest-to-goodness plan to get in and get clean.
good luck!

the shortest inpatient rehab I know of is 30 days and I'm not sure that will even work for you. You will come out of it stressed out more than ever (its not a good place for people with mental illness like bi polar) and feeling like you need even more drugs do deal with life.

Have you looked into out patient? there are outpatient treatment programs that you can go to after work. You may get away with that so you don't have to miss work. You can also take one week of detox. Since usually the first week in rehab is detox.

that's why I hate drugs like coke they have a very short high and as you develop a tolerance for them it takes more and more to get high.

I know this might be a bad influence but how do you feel about smoking some weed? That has a longer high and it will mello you out instead of hyping you up! (I think the high lasts longer but I never was a weed person. my drug of choice was crack)

You also might need to move I hate to say it but relocating is beneficial as it gets you away from the "known" drug dealers. I know drugs are every where and I know they are around where I live but I just use my ADD so I don't pay attention to it.

I'm not sure hun but if you don't get a handle on this you won't have to worry about losing your job any more you won't have a job to lose. I promise drugs rob you of every thing eventually the longer you use them the more and more you will lose.

If you pay attention in AA they will tell you, you have to work the program first and get clean if you don't do that you will lose every thing else any how. That's like the only AA thing I actually agree with. and why AA why not NA I think NA would be a little more helpful then AA at this point. if NA isn't working for you now I have bad news all rehabs are NA just an all day long version of it. It's just NA meetings in between meals and cleaning and a few smoke breaks. And more bad news they wont even allow you to have caffeine. No caffeinated coffee! They will probably send you to duel diagnosed meetings if you are lucky. If not you won't leave those four brick walls for a month. And a month goes by so fast!

But if you feel rehab will help you then by all means I'm not stopping you. I'm just telling you as an experienced addict, if NA isn't working rehab is just more NA, and when they send you out that door you will need NA for life. There is no getting around it you are stuck with NA.

I hope this can help give you and idea about rehab

http://blog.newportcoastrecovery.com/?p=96

I am sorry to hear this news. I had no idea and For the coke, I think -for me- I would need more than a month of intense rehab. But the good news here is you are beginning to start to commence to think about Rehab. Good Job~! feather

Gidday from Australia. I'm a 12 years sober alki in AA and I think your best investment in yourself is to take as much time as possible - weeks, even months with leave without pay if all other leave options are used up. The reason is that if, as addicted people, we don't go the full monty, go to any lengths to stay sober/clean, forget the job and everything else anyway, as it will all slip away anyway. So rather than seeking the shortest rehab possible, I would seek the longest one possible and I would recommend making it a 12 Step based one, where they hopefully also take you out of the facility to meetings. And any money you have to pay to do it is the biggest investment you will make in yourself in your lifetime.

Also, AA is the primary 12 Step Fellowship and obviously I owe my life to it. But's it's horses for courses too. You could gain so much by going to Narcotics Anonymous as well as Cocaine Anonymous if they are available to you, where you live. There are different dynamics with each of the substances. I would still go to AA too though, it is the oldest, the biggest and thus has so much experience, strength and hope.

wendy I do tend to agree statistically it has been proven that the longer you stay in treatment the more successful you will be over all. I personally think 6 months is really the best you can do for your self it did wonders for me.

How ever I know plenty of people who only ever went to NA and were pretty successful at staying clean. There is really no harm in him trying every thing else before taking the big bullet.

I can totally understand what it is to have a job especially if you like it and trying not to lose that job. Not too many jobs will hold your spot for 6months or longer. generally they send you to a 30 day treatment first and once you are in those doors they don't let you go until they've had there way with you. If the decide you need a further six months then there is no getting out of it you will be shipped off to a six month treatment. Well you can get out of it but they have a way of talking people into stuff they don't want.

doorknob, I agree with you on two points. One is that it IS possible to get sober (for me it was sober, not sober and clean as other drugs didn't figure aside from occasional pot use, very spattered across 18 years of blackout drinking) with a 12 Step Program alone. I did. I went cold turkey at home while going to AA meetings every day. In retospect I wouldn't recomment that to anyone - I needed at least a medically monitored detox as I had been daily blackout drinking and it was very dangerous to not be monitored. I had psychosis/halleucinations, "electric fleas" which is some type of neuronal response, the big sweats, the vomiting and the other end. The irony, and excuse my gallows humour but it IS sort of funny, is that I had full private medical insurance and could have had both a detox and a rehab!! LOL But I was two mixed up to realise that.

I was lucky that I had effectively done the 1st Step before I even got in the doors of AA, even though I didn't know the formal words - so I went in with my bum on fire and open to what was suggested. I did 120 meetings in 90 days. And when AA gets dissed for suggesting 90 meetings in 90 days, it pisses me off. We are dealing with a deadly disease here and we need to throw everything at it. It's not a part time diversion.

With luck meeting up with damned hard work from Day One, I have never had a drink from that very day, 12 years ago. So yes, it is possible to do it without a formal detox and rehab, but I would always recommend them if it is within a person's grasp to do them, as they add to the positive variables we need to put in place to gain and attain sobriety.

The second thing is that on the long term rehab that you did, my brother who has been unsuccessful in getting sober and clean and as a result proper psych help too, despite huge efforts on his behalf (although I know there is massive denial and lying going on) has just found a one in a million opportunity. He has no private insurance but he has found, or been directed to, a long term publicly funded rehab which is OPEN ENDED, as in , he can stay there as long as he needs to get sober and clean, get the psych stuff kicked off. I assume that's on the basis that it doesn't drink or use while he is in there - they are very stringent in these places about that and rightly so. So I hope and pray he has the success you did.

well using (not sure about drinking) is possible to sneak into rehabs but from my experience it is not real easy to do and get away with. If you got to rehab its fairly safe that you will stay clean. they generally don't let you stroll out the door when ever you please. They only let you go for certain reasons you can't have money. It's basically a nice prison. With tons of NA occasional therapy (if you could call it that) and they have a pdoc come in once a month. (for long term treatments)

But I'm not sure about state or public funded rehabs my honest opinion on them is not too high. And yes they claim you will get psychiatric treatment but it is very minimal at best. So I'm kinda sad to hear about your brother. I'm sure there is lying going on but really it's not going to be a fun ride for him. It took me 4 years after getting out of rehab to get my mental illness under control I had more problems mentally after coming out then going in. Some rehabs are very abusive especially the publicly or state funded ones. Private you might have a much better success rate. I'd see about trying to get him into a privately run rehab if that is possible if not well then he has to make best with what he has.

But I will say this just being clean for 6 months really helps clear the head. Drugs mess your head up so bad and you never realize it until you've been clean for a long time and I mean more than a week or a month. And the longer you stay clean the more your head will clear. So I agree rehabs are the best option for the very least at getting and staying clean.

But he is in a hurry to go in and get out. I have never heard of a two week program? And I'm very skeptical of 30 day programs because I was in one and 30 days buzzy by so fast. Your head will spin! It's a 90 day program jam packed into 30 days. Not really ideal for a heavy user. Also if the big heads decide you need more than 30 days and they often do you will be dragged kicking and screaming even if you don't want to go. all though they do turn people out that still have jobs and housing to worry about.

So yeah rather then see him lose his job I think out patient is something to look into its a compromise to the whole inpatient 30 treatment. But if it doesn't work then hey inpatient rehabs aren't going out of business tomorrow. I just hate to tell people yeah go to rehab. Rehabs have a low success rate, and are NA based any how. So why not just do what your gonna end up doing in the end go to NA go every day if you can and do outpatient. that will allow him to keep his job not have to take any time off and hopefully he can manage to get clean. But if that doesn't work then sure it's off to rehab with him.

not to scare any one but I also know plenty of addicts that finish treatment and as soon as they get out they go right back to using. They go in and out of rehab like its got revolving doors and it's their personal home. It's a sad and harsh reality for many drug addicts getting clean can take years of hard work. It won't necessarily be a quick fix. and 30 days is quick if you have a long history of alcohol and drug abuse.

And addiction is still life long even if you get clean you have to fight it for life. It's a demon. but mental health also has to be maintained if either one of those goes your in trouble.

I feel sorry for those of us who are duel diagnosed we have twice the problems as normal addicts. And rehabs aren't big on psych meds either. They generally do not like drugs of any kind. They have their uses but you need to balance out what is right for you!

also magemichael a heads up if you haven't already you need to stop drinking. If you go to a rehab they will tell you, you can not drink any way. Alcohol lowers inhibitions and that includes drug use. Many addicts return to drug use after a few drinks.

Michael, It is wonderful that you are coming to these realizations. You are not "still" addicted, you will "always" be addicted. Addiction is not an on again, off again thing unfortunately.

I have two sons who are recovering opiate addicts and it was a difficult road for them. They were in in-patient rehab for two weeks (all we could afford) and in out patient rehab for six months. They were also on Soboxone for almost a year. They are both clean now of opiates for almost three years. They fight their addiction EVERY day.

An important concept of addiction to remember is that while cocaine may be your drug of choice now, when you quite, you will seek another drug of choice if you are not careful. You are never "truely" clean unless you have NO addiction or drug of choice.

I wish you the best and the strength and courage you need to fight through this. It will not be an easy battle but it has to be your battle....xo

sorry, I meant they were in in-patient "detox" for two weeks.

I have lived my married life in an alcoholic family. They are ALL recovering (my inlaws) but I have learned a great deal from them about addiction. I have also learned a great deal with my children unfortunately, and their addictions.

People dont realize that "addiction" is not about ONE THING, ONE DRUG, It is a psychological need to replace or heal something else. Until we find that cause, we will always be addicts in some form. So, "drug of choice" just describes what we have chosen to feed our addiction.

I have to watch myself constantly because I have an addictive personality. I have been very successful in managing it but it took a long time to get here. I found the root and healed from it.

Michael, it takes alot of will and desire to WANT to be clean and healed. Most of us have to hit a rock bottom but some are blessed enough to have an epiphany of sorts and move on with our healing before that happens. You can do this but get as much support as possible, it helps more than you know.....

I too did coke, and it was and is and always will be my "drug of choice" You could put any other drug in the world in front of me and I could care less, I could walk away without touching it but not cocaine, I coul never walk away from it, I don't know why that is. I do know that It took many years, rehab, hitting rock bottom, finding out I was self medicating, treating the BP, and then physically moving 60 miles from where I knew it was readily available, deleting old phone numbers, therapy two to three times a month and constant support to get clean. Still in high stress and anxiety moments thats the first place my mind goes. Good luck it took many tries for me and many relapses, forgive yourself first and everytime for there will be slipups, it's part of the process.

28 day program is uselly but the depresion can be from withdrawels even if you use once you have to get it out of the system so if you using more then once it takes longer your taking the right steps trying to get help but work can fire you for a medical condition which you have there is laws to protect them from knowing and if you have a doctors note then they can pry any further

There are county run programs that can help you with rehab. They don't care if you have a job or not. At least most of the time. There is also a list of various rehabs usually at the Central Office of AA in your area. They list most as narcotics as well.

What do you plan to do after the rehab. Two most important times for an alcoholic/addict is the first 30 days and everyday thereafter.