Let's share some binge recovery tips!

We all know how shitty the hangover can be — it doesn't have to be as bad it is, however, so I thought I would share things that help me most. I suspect that failing to properly recover is a primary catalyst for cravings and habit formation. I'm typing this exactly 24 hours after a 60 hour meth binge, feeling pretty normal except for some residual muscle soreness (particularly in my eyes). Note that some of these happen to be helpful comedown routines, and possible tolerance reduction/prevention/mitigation items.

Things to do on the comedown/before sleeping

The key is to maximize your chances of getting lots of quality sleep. It doesn't matter what your day-after schedule is -- set aside everything if necessary, no matter what it is, unless it is absolutely critical. You will also want to begin some steps in rejuvenating your body/brain sooner rather than later.

First, acquire some melatonin or 5-htp. I'd recommend 5-htp since it mitigates depression and your body breaks it down into melatonin anyway. Take the maximum safe dosage at a time when your high is wearing off and you're planning to try to sleep. If you're using 5-htp, make sure to take lots of it (at least 200mg); you might want to take at least 100mg upon waking up, but be warned that this will increase the chances that you will have a long nap just 4-6 hours later (which is a good thing).

Second, make sure that the meal you eat on your comedown is nutritious and that you double-up on vitamins/multivitamins. Chances are that your sense of taste is still messed up at this point, so it doesn't particularly matter to you what you eat, but neither is it a good idea to only do this upon waking up -- you're going to feel shittier in the time period it takes your body to digest your food and absorb the vitamins.

That means eating a mixture of vegetables to replenish vitamin A and C levels, with vitamin C and antioxidant vegetables being helpful in ridding the stims from your system. Mix them in some rice for some fiber, if only on behalf of your poor heart. Eat nuts and lentils to help restore magnesium, protein, and vitamin E levels, then eat a banana or two to restore potassium.

It wouldn't hurt to take a vitamin B complex at this point, or at least a b12 supplement, as well as a magnesium supplement even if you have been taking them with your stims. The magnesium will help for muscle soreness and residual tension/jitter, as well as headaches.

Third, only use antipsychotics in a desperate situation. Most of them are partial dopamine antagonists and will tend to make your next 24 hours even more miserable. Same reservations should be considered when turning to alcohol. Benzodiazepines work well in making sure that you get lots sleep, but reports vary on whether it enhances or diminishes overall quality of sleep.

(If you're having trouble just getting to sleep period, some "natural" methods include taking an increasingly hot shower for about twenty minutes -- keep adjusting the nob ever so slightly until you're skin is practically steaming -- and continuously eating lots of carbs and antioxidants, alongside lots and lots of water, helping you rid more of the drugs out of your system and decreasing the chances of waking up three hours later unable to fall back asleep).

Things to do post-comedown

You main goal here is to massage your brain and revitalize your soul, that means helping restore normal dopamine/seritonin production levels and replenishing lost vitamins & minerals.

1. Either get a lot of protein e.g. via protein shakes or take at least 1000mg of the supplement l-tyrosine -- a useful precursor to the production of dopamine.

2. Supplements like l-phenylalanine, acetyl-l-carnitine arginat, sam-e, and mucuna pruriens are helpful for similar reasons. Chances are you don't need or can't afford such a large supplement stack, but make sure to at least get l-phenylalanine and l-tyrosine. High doses of 5-htp, the one I mentioned for sleep, is very helpful in helping restore normal seritonin production and thwarting post-binge depression.

3. Caffeine, nootropics like modafinil and rhodiola, etc. are very useful for combating tiredness and lethargy, as well as post-binge depression. But don't take them to prevent mid-day napping, you would just be harming your recovery.

4. Get some exercise as soon as your able. If you're like me, you're probably much too tired to do anything but walking -- there's nothing wrong with that, but you should eventually do something more intense like jogging. Don't try this while still high unless you're looking for a heart attack.

5. Do some yoga to combat muscle soreness and physical discomfort, combine it with 15 minutes or more of meditation (of any kind -- see 'types of meditation' section) to help you feel focused and grounded.

6. Continue to replenish necessary vitamins & minerals as covered in detail in #1, but don't fret over having a perfect diet/routine -- even if you just eat one healthy meal, pig out on fatty & carby-heavy stuff, and rely on supplements to pick up the slack, you will still feel improvements. Omega 3s are helpful too, especially as something you take while stimming because it helps lower blood pressure and diminish the effects of hypertension. Always be kind to your heart.

7. If your eye muscles get sore like mine, relax them by wetting a cloth in warm water and folding it over your eyes for 2-5 minutes at a time.

Oh, and don't be like me and forget to invest in some medicated lip balm.