Overcoming Soma Addiction

Overcoming Soma Addiction

I was addicted to Soma for five years. Initially it was for physical pain and before I realized it Soma was part of my daily diet. It was my secret that burdened me with guilt and shame. Yet I was more concerned about having enough Soma to get me through the week than mustering the strength to stop.

The generic name for Soma is Carisoprodol, a prescription drug marketed since 1959. It’s a centrally acting skeletal muscle relaxant of the carbamate class, similar to the other drugs in its class, with one key difference: it is the only muscle relaxer to be classified as a controlled substance. Soma in particular is a bad choice because of its abuse and addiction potential, capable of producing all the effects associated with barbiturates.

Quitting was going to be hard. I’m not a meetings or counseling type of person and this was something I really didn’t feel like sharing. So I went online and came across brainwave frequency entrainment. That led me to light and sound stimulation devices and the need to create a recording, in my own voice, for listening while running a light and sound session. 

The light and sound device I chose was actually an Apple App called the mindLightz by Mind Gear. This was the ideal way for me to record the script, save it to my Playlist and listen to the recording in synch with the light and sound brainwave frequency stimulation. I needed to have the information imbedded in my subconscious mind and the mindLightz theta light and sound session was the perfect brainwave state to access. 

Knowing withdrawal was going to be the toughest part, my script dealt mainly with those symptoms:

“Now as I get deeper and deeper relaxed, deeper and deeper on down, in my mind's eye, I want to imagine the symptoms of withdrawal. I want to feel the nausea. Feel my stomach turning. Feel my muscles tighten. Like I’m tied up in knots and feel terrible all over and I want to take those feelings, take those feelings and I’m going to associate them with the drug Soma. Associate those feelings that represent the withdrawal symptoms with Soma itself. From now on instead of the withdrawing causing the symptoms, the drug itself will bring the symptoms about. For I’m conditioned just as much as if I'd said a nice thick juicy steak smothered in mushrooms or if I concentrated on a lemon, feeling the saliva, the organs would respond, and now I say that the organs respond to Soma. The organs respond by producing very uncomfortable symptoms so from now on whenever I take Soma these very uncomfortable symptoms begin to show themselves. As they show themselves, I feel them, I feel them deeply, very deeply. They are very uncomfortable.

As I withdraw from Soma, the symptoms, instead of getting worse, get better. I feel better. More alert. More awake, more vital, more full of life. More full of pep and energy than I have had for a very long time. I feel as though I am full of vitamins. It's going to be very easy for me to withdraw because the withdrawing makes me feel good, and the taking of Soma makes me feel bad. I’m going to be surprised about the reverse effect, but it's becoming a permanent part of my subconscious mind, never to be removed.

My need for Soma is gone. But I have a tremendous need to withdraw for if I don't, then I feel the symptoms. Now starting right at this moment, I’m going to begin a new phase of withdrawal. A withdrawal without pain, without nausea, without vomiting, and without troubles. Now I want to feel good all the time, and Soma is the thing that makes me feel bad. The thing that gives me nausea and the problems is the thing that ties up my guts, that's Soma. Now as I go deeper and deeper relaxed, and as all of the sounds fade away in the distance, all of these suggestions take complete and thorough effect upon my mind, body, and spirit. And I sink deeper and deeper and deeper. Nothing disturbs me. For I have begun my withdrawal right now. Now, sleep deeply and let these suggestions seal themselves in the deepest part of my subconscious mind. Way down.”

For six weeks every morning and evening I did a mindLightz session combined with my recording. Session length varied depending upon my schedule, and sometimes I did an afternoon session as well. This combination gave me the strength and motivation to stop. I post this in the hope that if you are having problems quitting Soma to explore light and sound brainwave stimulation as a tool for overcoming addiction and dealing with the symptoms of withdrawal.