Dallas Bragg explains how people quitting meth often swap it for other dopamine hits: overspending, obsessive gym sessions, workaholism, endless scrolling, chasing drama, or avoiding solitude. You quit the drug but kept the cycle running.
Sometimes men will get into chemsex recovery and replace the dopamine they were getting from meth with other things instead of doing a dopamine detox in recovery. Here are some signs that you may be replacing meth that you may not think about. Overspending. You find yourself shopping a lot, buying a lot of things for yourself. That could be your way of coping. Endless gym hours. Nothing wrong with being addicted to the gym. I get that. You're going to know when it's too much and when you're doing it for the wrong reasons. Workaholism— devoting yourself to work because you don't trust yourself, devoting yourself to work to get that validation, to move up, up, up— that could be a dopamine cycle you're on. Hours of phone scrolling— you have replaced the Grindr with TikTok. If that's the case, you may want to do a detox there. Increased life drama. Some people get dopamine hits from drama. They will create more and more and more drama in recovery just to get that dopamine hit. And finally, never alone. You cannot spend any time by yourself. You have to be around other people. That could be a sign that you are getting your dopamine external from other people, which can be volatile. If any of these resonate with you, let me know in the comments. Or have you noticed something else that you've been doing to replace meth? Thank you.
