Can somebody please help me....my girlfriend recently went through detox due to being addicted to pain meds. This is her 3rd time going through detox that I'm aware of. The most recent was 2 years ago and that only lasted 6 months; therefore, she was using again for 18 months. Since her latest detox 2 weeks ago she's complained of having horrible bowel problems. Her dad is a retired doctor. He wrote her a prescription for diphenoxylate - an opioide that helps with the problems. I have 2 issues with this. The first being that she didn't tell me about the prescription and the second that the prescription is a narcotic. How does an addict deal with pain???
hEY SHELBYSANT! WELCOME TO FORUM...i was wondering why you though she should tell you about prescription but after i put together your sign on,i see you must be her aunt<duh!!!Anyway couple things,is she an addict attending program,?have a sponsor etc.? Also if her father is a doctor isnt he aware that opioieds are narcotics and she may be an addict??In NA we have pamphlets"IN TIMES OF ILLNESS AND also bulletins(e.g.I believe, #29 methadone ,substitue drug use and meetings etc)that can be purchased from the site NA.ORG under literature.I may suggest that you do not 'confront" but more or less see if she is taking any other help besides using narcotics for pain.She may be in a very vulnerable place right now .I am not a doctor and can only offer my 2 cents as a recovering addict.You can also blog the site and read what the IP'S AND PAMPHLETS TALK ABOUT TO GET A BETTER IDEA OF HOW WE HAVE TO LOOK AT DIFFEreNT SITUATIONS. Im sure there will be more info forthcoming from family here,good luck ,cmon back and let us know how everyone doing.peace.
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Hey, Mike. Thanks for the quick response. She is actually my girlfriend. I am the one that confronted her when she went through detox 2 weeks ago and since then we've talked at length about her sobriety and being honest. Therefore, I feel that she should have told me if the RX was innocent. My favorite Dr. Phil quote is "those who have nothing to hide hide nothing". With that being said, she had something to hide or she would have told me about the RX. And to discover that it was written for 10 pills - 1 every 6 hours - and it was written last night and there are already 3 gone. She left them on her counter when she went to work today so between last night and this morning she took 3 of them. Does that shed any more light?
I am not a doctor or an expert by any means, but I have worked with family members who both were addicts and had chronic pain. This is just my opinion and not advice. Pain is a complicated subject. The gate theory of pain says that there are many ways to stop pain. Pain is in your head. There are antidepresants, anticonvulsants, that change the pain gate. Massage, trigger points, hot and cold also help. Relaxation and meditation also help as well as treating any underlying mental health issue. Addicts can use opiates safely, but they need to be monitored by a team to prevent them from overdoing it. As long as they don't chew them, fentanyl patches are good. So she needs a pain manager, a psychiatrist, and a physiatrist (rehab doctor) to talk to each other.
-- Edited by Keli_A on Wednesday 20th of January 2010 05:25:02 PM
Your friend is a sick and suffering addict. Counting her pills and confronting her are not likely to do her much good.
If she is in NA call her sponsor and tell her what is going on. If she is not in NA encourage her to go to a meeting. Calling the local area hotline is a good start.
