History Main / GoingColdTurkey

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* ''Webcomic/KarinDou4koma'': Under threat of having [[{{Hermaphrodite}} her penis]] snipped off by Aiina, [[LoveableSexManiac Elza]] spends 9 pages (7 weeks realtime) without sex. By the end of Aiina's visit, she has bloodshot eyes and wanders around aimlessly. At the end, she's so hypersensitive that simply connecting two parts of a building-block tower causes an explosive {{nosebleed}}, at which point a letter from Aiina finally arrives explaining that she had just been joking.

[[folder: Fanworks]]

''Film/{{Trainspotting}}'': When Renton tries to come off heroin, his cold turkey involves a long period shut up in his childhood bedroom, hallucinating about his parents appearing on a TV gameshow about Aids and a [[NightmareFuel dead baby crawling across the ceiling]].

* Part way through ''Manga/{{Rabuta}}'', Harundo quits smoking. When Fuyu asks him if he's suffering any withdrawl symptoms, he says that he hadn't been a smoker for long enough to really get addicted to it.

* In the ''It Matters'' collection of ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfictions, Matt has done this ''several'' times over the years, due to his [[FandomSpecificPlot ongoing struggle with opioid addiction brought on by having been separated from Mello]]. It puts a strain on his marriage to Mello.

%%* ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}''. It doesn't work for long, however.
%%* ''Film/TheBasketballDiaries'' : It doesn't work for long either.

** Steve Dallas tries to do the same, for medical reasons, with Opus' assistance. He lasts 37 minutes tied to a chair without a problem. Come minute 38, [[FreakOut he loses it]] and [[AxCrazy goes full]] ''[[Film/TheShining Shining]]'' on poor Opus. Eventually, Opus subdues Steve with a Hostess Zinger - but months later, he has to go to the Betty Ford Clinic for a Zingers addiction.

* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'': One of the protagonists is addicted to [[FantasticDrug Triptocaine]]. You can choose to either quit cold turkey or support his habit. Going without it is an incredibly painful proccess for him (even though it manages to span only four days). [[spoiler:As it turns out, the triptocaine actually helped offset the real problematic thing he was using, namely his VR glasses which can potentially kill him in the last segment you use them. So perhaps going off it wasn't the best idea.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' - "Two Feet High and Rising" - To prevent King Julian from banishing Mort, Marlene brings him to the penguins to help him overcome his crazed obsession over [[ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin King Julian's feet]]. Using conditioning to equate the touching of feet with electrical shocks, Mort gradually becomes "100% lemur foot-phobic". However, for [[StatusQuoIsGod the sake of status-quo]], this is all undone towards the end of the episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' - When Hank catches Bobby smoking a cigarette, he punishes him by forcing him to smoke an entire carton. The plan backfires when Bobby instead becomes more addicted, while the situation makes Hank and Peggy take up smoking again for relaxation. After days without a cigarette, Hank, Peggy, and Bobby are cranky and ready to kill one another, until they discover one stray cigarette in the house. After they fight over it, Luanne, having had enough, locks the three of them inside Hank and Peggy's bedroom until they finally beat their addiction. In the morning they all thank Luanne for helping them through it.
* ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' - To make preparations for a dancing competition, Cat puts an overweight Dog on a diet so he will be fit enough for the competition. This was often met with many setbacks whenever Dog kept hidden stashes of food, which he ate while exercising. Eventually, under threat of disqualification, Dog relents and loses enough weight for the competition. This backfires where a starving Dog finally breaks and proceeds to devour not only the buffet, but the entire theatre!

** Theodore Dalrymple's ''Romancing the Opiates'' discusses the difficulty of opiate withdrawal. Any number of people have done so without medical assistance. This is not the most advisable route, however, because opiates do build real physical dependency, which will not normally kill a healthy person, however, although the weakening of the body from addiction, the substance, and the great strain induced by withdrawl can weaken sufferers to where it isn't particularly hard for something else to finish them off. The longer term, heavier users suffer this more severely than those who partake less, and it only gets worse the longer it is delayed and only gets worse each time the attempt is made -- all the more incentive to really kick it the first time. Seriously, get proper medical assistance for kicking the narcotics, because if you delay, or fail and have to start again, it'll suck even more.

* Alcohol is normally harmless to quit cold turkey, not that it's particularly fun -- it'll definitely put a damper on you, even if you didn't drink very much to begin with. If you're a bigger drinker, you're liable to feel bored, unfocused, and gain a HairTriggerTemper. So one might not want to even start? The thing is that alcohol, provided you aren't taking dozens of drinks on a weekly basis, actually has health benefits including improved mood, increased creativity, slowed aging, protection against heart disease, boosts immunity, moderates stress, and most baffingly, actually makes [[http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/truth-wont-admit-drinking-healthy-87891 drinkers live demonstrably longer than abstainers]].

While quitting some drugs (primarily alcohol) cold turkey can become medical issues due to physical withdrawal symptoms, for others (nicotine, cocaine, opiates, etc.) this trope becomes TruthInTelevision.

* American soldier/actor AudieMurphy became dependent on a brand of sleeping pill called Placidyl, originally prescribed by his doctor. To combat his addiction, he locked himself in a hotel room for a week and just endured the painful withdrawal symptoms until they passed. Then he went and gave his doctor hell about prescribing him this stuff in the first place. Of course for him defeating a drug addiction through sheer willpower was par for the course.

* Part way through ''Manga/{{Rabuta{{, Harundo quits smoking. When Fuyu asks him if he's suffering any withdrawl symptoms, he says that he hadn't been a smoker for long enough to really get addicted to it.

** In another early example of celebrity rehab, JerryLewis kicked a 12-year addiction to Percodans (oxycodone with aspirin) in 1978, and was consequently featured in People magazine as one of the first mainstream celebs to admit to drug abuse. The tablets had been prescribed for a serious back injury from a pratfall that went wrong. Shortly after quitting, Lewis nearly died from a gastric ulcer bleed - caused by the aspirin in the tablets. The symptoms had been hidden by the analgesic effect. This is why the drug companies switched to mixing the oxycodone with APAP instead, to make the now better-known Percocets.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* {{Franchise/Batman}} overcame an addiction to venom by locking himself in the Batcave for a month.

[[folder: Fanworks ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

%%* ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenArm'': [[Music/FrankSinatra Ol' Blue Eyes]] has a rather harrowing one of these, especially for a film made in 1955.

In RealLife, [[NoMoreForMe breaking free of a drug addiction]] can be a lengthy process, and none of it is fun. For certain addictions, most famously alcohol, heroin, and sedatives, it may take months and require medical supervision. For some substances, going cold turkey in real life can be dangerous as the body can develop a physical dependency on the chemicals. Psychological dependencies can be equally agonizing, but they will only make one wish they would die. In fiction, however, people routinely overcome their substance habit by going through [[NailedToTheWagon a single self-imposed (and often painful) withdrawal phase]], after which they are no longer addicted. May involve throwing the drugs in the trash, flushing them down a toilet, or pouring alcohol down a drain. Frequently involves locking oneself up in a room or chaining oneself to a bed. Friends may be enlisted to [[NoMatterHowMuchIBeg help prevent backsliding]].

In RealLife, breaking free of a drug addiction can be a lengthy process, and none of it is fun. For certain addictions, most famously alcohol, heroin, and sedatives, it may take months and require medical supervision. For some substances, going cold turkey in real life can be dangerous as the body can develop a physical dependency on the chemicals. Psychological dependencies can be equally agonizing, but they will only make one wish they would die. In fiction, however, people routinely overcome their substance habit by going through [[NailedToTheWagon a single self-imposed (and often painful) withdrawal phase]], after which they are no longer addicted. May involve throwing the drugs in the trash, flushing them down a toilet, or pouring alcohol down a drain. Frequently involves locking oneself up in a room or chaining oneself to a bed. Friends may be enlisted to [[NoMatterHowMuchIBeg help prevent backsliding]].

->''Thirty six hours, groanin' in pain\\

Cold turkey has got me on the run.''
--> --'''Music/JohnLennon''', "Cold Turkey"

** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', the companion Cait has a Psycho addiction that cannot be kicked or cured by normal medicine, and you have to take her to a special detox facility in the heavily guarded Vault 95 to get her clean.

* American soldier/actor AudieMurphy became dependent on a brand of sleeping pill called Placidyl, originally prescribed by his doctor. To combat his addiction, he locked himself in a hotel room for a week and just endured the painful withdrawal symptoms until they passed. Then he went and gave his doctor hell about prescribing him this stuff in the first place. Of course for [[BadAss him]] defeating a drug addiction through sheer willpower was par for the course.

* Tony Stark goes through this in the ''Comicbook/IronMan'' storyline "Demon in a Bottle".

* ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}''. It doesn't work for long, however.
* ''Film/TheBasketballDiaries'' : It doesn't work for long either.

* ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenArm'': [[Music/FrankSinatra Ol' Blue Eyes]] has a rather harrowing one of these, especially for a film made in 1955.

* Creator/ChristianBale's character in ''Film/TheFighter'' is going through this phase in his prison cell.

* In ''Film/TheSevenPercentSolution'', Sherlock Holmes is forced to do this by Dr. Watson, his brother Mycroft, and [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Sigmund Freud]].

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC: Fanworks]]
* In the ''It Matters'' collection of ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfictions, Matt has done this ''several'' times over the years, due to his [[FandomSpecificPlot ongoing struggle with opioid addiction brought on by having been separated from Mello]]. It puts a strain on his marriage to Mello.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]

[[AC: Tabletop Games]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

[[AC:Musical Theatre]]

[[AC:RealLife]]
* American soldier/actor AudieMurphy became dependent on a brand of sleeping pill called Placidyl, originally prescribed by his doctor. To combat his addiction, he locked himself in a hotel room for a week and just endured the painful withdrawal symptoms until they passed. Then he went and gave his doctor hell about prescribing him this stuff in the first place. Of course for [[BadAss him]] defeating a drug addiction through sheer willpower was par for the course.
** In another early example of celebrity rehab, JerryLewis kicked a 12-year addiction to Percodans (oxycodone with aspirin) in 1978, and was consequently featured in People magazine as one of the first mainstream celebs to admit to drug abuse. The tablets had been prescribed for a serious back injury from a pratfall that went wrong. Shortly after quitting, Lewis nearly died from a gastric ulcer bleed - caused by the aspirin in the tablets. The symptoms had been hidden by the analgesic effect. This is why the drug companies switched to mixing the oxycodone with APAP instead, to make the now better-known Percocets.
* Note for the harder drugs this is not only a bad idea but could be a lethal one. Heroin Addicts that want to quit, normally have to be addicted to something else (like Methadone) then something else then they can quit. Opioid withdrawal could be considered a FateWorseThanDeath.
** Opiate withdrawal is (very) unpleasant. Sudden withdrawal of sedative-hypnotics (alcohol, benzodiazepine or barbiturates) can be fatal. Oh, and by some accounts methadone is even harder to quit than heroin.
** Theodore Dalrymple's ''Romancing the Opiates'' discusses the difficulty of opiate withdrawal. Any number of people have done so without medical assistance. This is not the most advisable route, however, because opiates do build real physical dependency, which will not normally kill a healthy person, however, although the weakening of the body from addiction, the substance, and the great strain induced by withdrawl can weaken sufferers to where it isn't particularly hard for something else to finish them off. The longer term, heavier users suffer this more severely than those who partake less, and it only gets worse the longer it is delayed and only gets worse each time the attempt is made -- all the more incentive to really kick it the first time. Seriously, get proper medical assistance for kicking the narcotics, because if you delay, or fail and have to start again, it'll suck even more.
** [[Music/{{Eyehategod}} Mike Williams]] was already in the process of kicking his opiate addiction as a whole (he had quit using heroin and was on a methadone regimen) before Hurricane Katrina hit, but he was arrested, convicted of drug possession, and jailed sometime after. During his stay in jail, he was forced to go without anything; as a result, he was unable to sleep for seven days and barely ate, subsiding only on slices of bread soaked in water so that he would not have to worry as much about vomiting them back up. After being released, he found that he had managed to kick it completely and was no longer addicted.
* Alcohol is normally harmless to quit cold turkey, not that it's particularly fun -- it'll definitely put a damper on you, even if you didn't drink very much to begin with. If you're a bigger drinker, you're liable to feel bored, unfocused, and gain a HairTriggerTemper. So one might not want to even start? The thing is that alcohol, provided you aren't taking dozens of drinks on a weekly basis, actually has health benefits including improved mood, increased creativity, slowed aging, protection against heart disease, boosts immunity, moderates stress, and most baffingly, actually makes [[http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/truth-wont-admit-drinking-healthy-87891 drinkers live demonstrably longer than abstainers.]]
** For true alcoholics, who are actually ''physically'' dependent upon alcohol to function, quitting cold turkey can actually be fatal. It's a condition called Delirium Tremens (Frenzy Shaking), and absolutely demands medical intervention, because it DOES kill people. Sadly, this has to [[HealItWithBooze be treated with booze]], and since the types who'd get Delirium Tremens tend to be the kind to [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption not be able to stop themselves,]] well... going through professional detox is pretty much the only option.

* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'': One of the protagonists is addicted to [[FantasticDrug Triptocaine]]. You can choose to either quit cold turkey or support his habit. Going without it is an incredibly painful proccess for him (even though it manages to span only four days). [[spoiler:As it turns out, quitting the drug makes him even more unstable. Way to go.]]