If the crash is today
The crash has a shape. The next three days have a plan.
Three windows, in order. Nothing in this plan requires spending money or giving your name — it's the honest mechanics of getting through the comedown without making it worse.
The red lines come first. Chest pain or pressure, a racing irregular heartbeat, paranoia that won't ease, seeing or hearing things — that's 911 or the nearest ER, now. Not a nap. Not tomorrow. Stimulant emergencies are heart and mind emergencies.
- 1
Hours 0–24 — today
Sleep. Let it be weird.
Your body will take sleep in odd, heavy blocks for days — two hours here, eleven there. Let it. Blackout curtains if you have them, phone on do-not-disturb with two exceptions you choose in advance. Don't fight the sleep with more stimulants, and don't force it with alcohol or benzos you weren't prescribed — both trade one problem for a worse one.
- 2
Day 1–2 — as you surface
Eat and drink. Actual food.
You've likely barely eaten in days. Salted food, protein, carbs, water, electrolytes — before anything ambitious. Appetite roaring back is recovery working, not weakness. Keep it boring and keep it coming; your body is paying down a real debt.
- 3
Day 2–3 — this week
Decide nothing big.
No quitting jobs, no ending relationships, no 5 a.m. confessions, no grand promises typed into a phone. The crash lies about who you are — mood this week is chemistry, not verdict. Big decisions keep for one week. If day three still feels like day one, that's a reason to talk to a doctor — not proof you're broken.
Then: the flat weeks. Knowing the shape is the defence.
After the crash comes a stretch — usually weeks two to four — where everything is beige: food, music, people. It feels permanent. It is not. It's chemistry rebalancing, and most relapse happens exactly here, because using once ends the flatness in ten minutes. Waiting ends it for good. The full timeline of when feeling normal comes back lives on the home page.
Free guide
Crash Survival & Sleep Repair — the full guide
The complete first-72-hours plan, hour by hour, plus the sleep-repair steps for the weeks after. Free, and nothing in it needs your real name.
- The first 72 hours in order: sleep blocks, food, do-not-disturb setup
- Sleep repair for the flat weeks — rebuilding a schedule that holds
- What not to take: alcohol, unprescribed benzos, and why
- The red lines that mean 911 / ER now — printed plainly
Prefer to talk to someone first?
Ontario's ConnexOntario line is free, confidential, and open 24/7 at 1-866-531-2600 — ask about substance-use services. Every province has an equivalent. Or take the private 2-minute self-check, which asks nothing of you.
Ask us to connect youIn crisis right now? Call or text 988, any hour.