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What are cravings

Cravings are intense urges to use drugs (like ‘G’, ‘T’, ‘M’) linked to sex on chems. They can be strong, sudden, and emotional, and are natural, but can be challenging.  Cravings don’t mean you’re failing; they’re a part of change and recovery. Acting on cravings is different from having cravings. Every time you ride one out, you build strength and new wiring in your brain.

Why do they happen?

• Brain rewiring: Chems link pleasure, sex, and drug use together deeply in the brain’s reward system.
• Triggers: Seeing certain apps, photos, people, locations—or even feeling lonely or stressed—can ignite cravings.
• Emotional needs: Cravings often aren’t just about drugs; they can also be about wanting connection, validation and escape from painful feelings
• Body memory: Feeling horny can trigger memories of using and craving.

What cravings feel like

• Intense need: to use apps, find drugs, and hook-ups
• Restlessness: eg: racing heart, shallow breathing
• Tunnel vision: eg: focusing on getting high or hooking up
• Feeling guilty: desperate, or trapped in obsessive thinking

Ways to manage cravings

• Delay: tell yourself to wait 15 minutes. Cravings often pass.
• Distract: do something totally different (go for a walk, make a sandwich, take a shower).
• Ground yourself: use grounding techniques to bring your mind back to the present.
• Talk it out: contact a support person or recovery buddy.
• ‘Ride the wave’: know that cravings are temporary, they rise, peak, and fall like waves.

More on delay: 15 minutes

• During these 15 minutes breath. Smile. Breathe and smile some more.
• Playing the tape forward (all the way to the end) Reflect on this decision; whether to use or not.
• Reflect on the next 6 hours, the next 24 hours of your life, and what they’ll be like, if you choose to use.
• Reflect on the money you’ll spend, the good and bad things that might happen (based on past experiences).
• Reflect on the commitment you made to not use…
• And the reasons you made that commitment.

And after 15 mins… after this reflection…

Make your decision
IF you decide to use… cool. At least it is a calm, considered, reflective decision. That’s great progress.

Anxiety and co-factors
Never forget the anxiety you felt whenever you used: the poor sleep, the constant worry about leaving the house, and the dread that clung to everything. Keep that memory close. Find a picture or an object that captures that feeling. Let it be your daily motivation to stay on the path of recovery.

The “Craving Emergency Plan”
If you can, plan ahead and have a “craving emergency plan”, such as keeping this booklet to hand, ready for these vulnerable moments.