Addicts have a disease and always need to maintain that disease, just as one would if they had diabetes. There have been studies done showing that as many as 54% of those recovering from addiction experience a relapse at one point or another. Sometime addicts back off on the maintenance of their disease, such as going to AA Meetings, and start to slowly slip backwards. This may not even be intentional but occurs when life starts to fill up with all the rewards of staying sober. Before they know it they are in trouble and a relapse may occur. The symptoms and signs may actually start to occur before the relapse actually happens, so paying attention to your loved ones behaviors can possibly save them before having a drug relapse.
Most likely there will be counseling sessions and AA or NA Meetings that are being attended to daily. As life gets better and time starts to fill up with many things such as; going back to school, starting a family, getting involved in many activities. Sometimes these things make it difficult to show up at AA Meetings daily. As this happens the recovering addict starts to slowly and unintentionally slip away from their involvement of these things.
You may notice changes in the persons behaviors and attitudes. When confronted the recovering addict does not even notice this happening and usually will attribute it to other things such as a bad week. It becomes difficult to get back in the groove of things again so it is important to support them in going that direction.
Here are some things to watch out for:
Stopping medications
Hanging out with old friends
Isolating
Failing to follow treatment plans
Setting unrealistic goals
Changes in eating, sleeping, and energy levels
Dwelling on past issues
Avoiding things
Boredom
There are many symptoms to watch for and to spot signs of s drug relapse can sometimes be tricky.
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