General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDo you know an addict first hand? Talk about it if you wish.
56 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited | |
Yes | |
51 (91%) |
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No | |
5 (9%) |
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1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
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WhiskeyGrinder
(23,635 posts)elleng
(135,525 posts)Dorian Gray
(13,705 posts)I know many. Raised by two. Sister to one. Sister in law to another. Wife to a recovered addict. Aunt to an early abuser of substances. Friend to many.
Some of the closest people to me. I'm happily in a place where the friends who I've met in my adult life are NOT big drinkers, and it's made a huge difference in how I approach parties and events. (I don't avoid them like I used to when I hung out with my college/high school friends who mostly do drink way too much.).
unweird
(2,939 posts)For the opiate ods. Couple of city events this summer had free Narcan inhalers and we picked up some.
AZSkiffyGeek
(12,506 posts)That should be SOP for every opioid script.
True Dough
(19,899 posts)and was given opioids for the pain. I took one pill each night before bed for three nights. Then I returned the rest to a pharmacy for disposal.
No need to take one more pill than I absolutely had to.
AZSkiffyGeek
(12,506 posts)A friend's son is on opioids and has been on the street for a year or so. He recently was admitted to the hospital after being hit by a car. While checking him out they found some weird infections that would require surgery and months of antibiotic treatments. We were excited that he was in the hospital, getting care and would be detoxed while getting treatment.
He checked himself out after one night and was back on the street. Fortunately his estranged girlfriend convinced him to go back in - basically gave him the ultimatum that she wasn't making excuses and would cut him off from his daughter.
We're praying that it sticks this time.
Stinky The Clown
(68,384 posts)I wish your friend and her/his son the good - the very best - kind of "stick".
AZSkiffyGeek
(12,506 posts)His mom was sure he was going for one last fix (well, we all were) - but those "last fixes" can be "last" for other reasons. Fortunately he called her when had checked back in. Apparently the other homeless were telling him to go to a different hospital that had more lax visitation rules - and he decided to go to the one that would have him isolated.
Skittles
(157,978 posts)he was 11 months older than me
elleng
(135,525 posts)I married one.
Dave says
(4,891 posts)Lung cancer killed my mother, but my family and I think the cancer was enabled, if not caused by, her alcoholism. She was a very heavy drinker, never completely sober and often unable to even walk.
My ex-wife became a heroin and fentanyl addict after we divorced. She chose her brother over our marriage. He was a heroin and crack addict. My wife excised him from most of her adult life (criminal, abused women, lots of very bad stuff) until he showed up at our front door one day, his 18-wheeler parked at the curb. Their relationship grew to the point she and he were sleeping together while I was traveling on business. Sex and sleep in front of my pre-teen daughters who were too scared to say anything to me. In fact, I kept denying most of the stories until after I divorced her (she also went through 6 figure savings behind my back - that was the immediate cause for the divorce).
A friend of mine, an ex-Navy Seal, told me I should write the story of my life with her and the kids, but Id have to call it fiction because it was so extreme no one would believe it could be true. Trust me, it far exceeds the little I say here.
Anyway, I got the kids. We have a happy life together (theyre both in their 30s now). My ex-wife, despite support from me and her dad (an ex-CFO at a Fortune 500 company), has been living on the streets for a couple of decades now. Were all amazed shes still alive.
Johonny
(21,848 posts)Only 39 years old 😞
Walleye
(34,843 posts)I guess the disease does run in families. We had a great uncle who was a binge drinker. He would come for my father to take care of him when he was drunk. So many years ago, we were way too young to know what was going on. Coming from an immediate family of teetotalers
Duncan Grant
(8,453 posts)This questionnaire was created for the friends and families of alcoholics but its transferable.
Are You Troubled by Someones Drinking?
Stinky The Clown
(68,384 posts)As you say: transferrable.
nolabear
(43,072 posts)My grandfather was an alcoholic. It killed him eventually. He was both a terrible burden on my grandmother and loved by just about everybody. Im probably sane because of his unconditional, fierce love.
And Ive known a number through being a therapist. If they were seeing me they were trying. It was often just miserable. The disease has a vise grip and is triggered by so many things. I saw some genuinely good people do desperate things. Ive always been grateful that no one else in my family seems to suffer from it. In some ways its pure luck and in some its privilegethe ability to get support and help.
Emile
(28,678 posts)was going to a special pain doctor who was arrested for over prescribing pain meds. I keep my distance from him and his strange mood swings.
Elessar Zappa
(15,421 posts)Addicted to opiates for four years. Low point was stealing my dads painkillers after he had some from a surgery. Really shitty move. I went into treatment after that. Ive been on suboxone now for seven years and I dont plan to go off it because I fear relapse. I empathize with Hunter and feel for Joe.
boston bean
(36,420 posts)So I can see how an addict would answer no on an official application under perjury.
Even some who have been in treatment do not call themselves one, especially if they have relapsed.
GusBob
(7,488 posts)I knew too many addicts. Every man woman and child is co dependent to some form of addiction.
The day before I left, 2 of my patients, meth addicts both, were gunned down in a targeted cartel shooting. I could tell a million stories and have heard many sad tales
Am working for another rural tribe and addiction is an issue across the county and cultures here too. I dont live on this Rez so its not in my face 24/7.
The problem now is addicts are getting busted and sent to jail and not getting treatment. They get dope sick in jail and then clean. When they get out their tolerance is down and most of the overdose deaths are within 2 weeks of release
ismnotwasm
(42,419 posts)Myself (in recovery) my sister (has cocaine and meth induced psychosis) my son (fentanyl, active addiction) Possibly my brother, who has other issues, my father (dead) my grandfather (dead) my GREAT grandfather from what I understand (dead, obviously) My aunt (we dont talk)
I am a nurse on a transplant unit (livers, pancreas, kidneys, small bowel) I have seen hundreds of people with alcohol use disorder or substance use disorders. We focus on harm reduction these days.
cloudbase
(5,722 posts)Duncan Grant
(8,453 posts)Sincerely wishing you peace of mind and comfort. That goes for everyone on this thread who shares this experience.
cloudbase
(5,722 posts)tinrobot
(11,444 posts)I was in my 20's at the time. Stopped drinking soon after that.
bif
(23,795 posts)Been sober for 5 1/2 years.
shrike3
(5,370 posts)A relative of mine died in the same fashion. He left behind a wife and two children.
mdmc
(29,162 posts)Auggie
(31,758 posts)High-ranking position, stole from the office and co-workers to support the habit. And he wasn't even fired.
Quixote1818
(30,128 posts)Stinky The Clown
(68,384 posts)WhiteTara
(30,115 posts)No whore like a reformed whore.
Wicked Blue
(6,520 posts)Paladin
(28,711 posts)He came back from Southeast Asia and out of the military with a raging drug problem. All our efforts to help him were for nothing---he ended up taking his own life. It's been almost 50 years, and it still hurts.
sakabatou
(42,910 posts)ecstatic
(34,245 posts)I really hope Hunter has an amazing support system. It appears that he does.
Deep State Witch
(11,156 posts)She was on fentanyl extended release patches for pain management. One of them must have been damaged, and it was giving her 3 days dosage at once. I got home to find her high as a kite. So, I told her to sit her ass down on the sofa and called 911. They came, I explained that she was on fentanyl patches, and they took her to the hospital. In the ambulance, they gave her Narcan. By the time she got to the hospital, she was better - although she had a splitting headache.
That's why I keep Narcan handy. Just in case something bad happens.
iluvtennis
(20,718 posts)Nothing that we the family did for him brought him out of it.
Several times in prison as he supported the habit by stealing from businesses (
never broke into anyones home, just businesses
).
After released from prison about 15 years ago, he buddied up with another recovering addict and they helped each other stay clean and not get back with the same old druggie folks.
Hes been clean for 15 years now
SKKY
(12,174 posts)..."In September my cousin tried reefer for the very first time. Now he's doing horse. It's June."
Tree Lady
(12,128 posts)because he got hooked on drugs. He's been clean last 15 years, I am glad for my kids who see him now. We split 30 years ago. He traded drugs for carbs and sugar, very overweight. To me sugar is an addiction too. One I also struggle with.
LudwigPastorius
(10,615 posts)The accident really messed up his back. He was prescribed opiates so he could function, then his doctors pulled the prescription from him after a year, so he sought out another source for pills.
He was functional for a while, but he started doing heroin because it wasn't as expensive as black market pills. The chronic pain, and the daily chase looking for "medicine", did him in.
At the age of 55 he bought a gun, wrote a note, parked in a hospital parking garage, and blew his brains out.
NanaCat
(2,332 posts)I've known several. All of them are dead now, so I no longer know anyone who's an addict.
Conjuay
(2,018 posts)Google at the neighborhood I grew up in. It became disturbing as I pointed out house after house of people I knew. There must have been a dozen people from my class and the class just before me that had died from heroin.
The more I thought about it, I realized I knew no one who died, say in a car wreck, or in Vietnam.
Everyone I knew who passed in the late '60's early '70's was because of a needle in the arm.
As for the original question for the last 16 or so years I've been a former drunk.