Aftercare course Session 06
Primary care, dental, screenings, and the unglamorous list of appointments that turn into one of the higher-leverage things you can do for recovery.
What you'll learn
01
Primary care visit with a real history. Bloodwork. Hepatitis and HIV screening if your history warrants it. Vaccinations you may be behind on. Age-appropriate screenings. Hormone evaluation if you've been on opioids long-term. Boring. High-leverage. Overdue.
02
Cleaning, with X-rays. Most people in early recovery have something brewing under the surface. If significant work shows up, get a treatment plan with prices and triage it. A specific note: if you have an opioid history, tell every dentist before any procedure — non-opioid pain plans are usually possible.
03
Two weeks of seven hours of sleep changes mood. Two weeks of three real meals changes energy. Two weeks of daily movement changes everything. The body responds to care faster than the mind does. Start with the worst one. Add the next when it sticks.
What's actually treatable
There is a particular kind of grief that comes up in early recovery, the first time you go back to the doctor or the dentist after years away. The cavities you can see in the X-ray. The number on the liver panel. The blood pressure reading. The list of things that are now problems that didn't used to be problems.
That grief is real. It's also, in most cases, walking into a room where the answers are better than you fear. The liver regenerates. Cardiovascular health improves with sobriety, movement, and sleep. Hepatitis C is now cured by an eight-to-twelve-week course of medication in most cases. The teeth get fixed. The hormones rebalance. The body, given a year of consistent care, gives back a version of yourself you had forgotten.
Recovery is not a punishment for what you did to your body. Recovery is the long, slow apology your body has been waiting for. And the apology, like all apologies, is in the behavior — the appointments, the sleep, the walks, the water, the cleaning, the bloodwork, the follow-through.
Your worksheet
The list-makers' worksheet. Practical, unsentimental, exactly the kind of thing the body has been asking for.
Session 6 · Worksheet
Ten quiet minutes. Answers save on this device as you type — no account, no upload.
Three reflection prompts for the week
For the calls
Make three appointments this week: a primary care physician (find one if you don't have one), a dental cleaning, and — if your history warrants it — a screening for hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and HIV. The act of making them is the practice this week. The visit itself can be weeks out.
For the visit
Bring two pages to the first primary care visit. Page one: every medication you're on, brand and generic, dose, who prescribed it, why. Page two: an honest substance use history, anything that hurts, anything that's been off, family history they should know about. Hand both at the start of the visit.
For the daily
Confirm or add the four daily-care pieces: sleep window, three real meals, one movement session, water through the day. Pick the worst one. Build it for two weeks. Then add the next.
Up next
MAT, MOUD, antidepressants, ADHD medication — and how to handle the people in some recovery rooms who will tell you that taking what your doctor prescribed isn't really being sober. They're wrong.
Continue to session 7If this brought up more than it answered
CVR recovery coaches work with one client at a time. Private, one-on-one, no scripts. If you want to talk to someone, we can usually get back to you within a few hours.
If you need help right now
These lines are free, confidential, and open 24/7 — for you, for your person, or for anyone you love. You don't have to be in the worst moment to call.
Overdose or medical emergency
911
Signs of overdose: slow or stopped breathing, blue or gray lips or fingertips, gurgling, unresponsive. Call 911, give naloxone (Narcan) if you have it, and roll them onto their side. Stay on the line.
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
988
Call or text 988 any time you — or someone you love — is in emotional crisis, thinking about suicide, or just can't carry it alone tonight.
SAMHSA National Helpline
1-800-662-HELP
Free, confidential treatment referral and information for individuals and families dealing with substance use. In English and Spanish.
Never Use Alone
1-800-484-3731
A person answers, stays on the line while someone uses, and calls for help if they stop responding. No judgment — harm reduction, not intervention.
Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-7233
Substance use and abuse often overlap. If you're being hurt, threatened, or controlled — physically, emotionally, or financially — trained advocates can help you think through what's next.
Naloxone (Narcan)
Get it free
Naloxone reverses opioid overdose. It's available over the counter, and many programs mail it for free. Keep it in your house, your car, your bag — even if you don't think you need it.
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