03-04-2017, 11:02 PM
HEROIN
(No, it should not be prescribed). But to fight the battle of addiction medical professionals recommend a steady course of usually 1 of 2 things: Suboxone or Methadone. I personally don't have the experience here but do have people very near and dear to me (some family even) who have struggled MASSIVELY with addiction.
I could turn this thread into a rant about our prison / jail system, the courts, the absurdity of locking somebody up for drugs but offering no counseling or ACTUAL help to rid them of (what I think is) a mental health issue, but I won't .... TOO much.
Instead I want to highlight what is being prescribed to people to help them through their addiction and the sometimes WORSE side effects and health effects than the drug they are trying to free themselves from. And after that offer an alternative. An alternative that I am very familiar with as I've used the product MANY times for the other benefits that come with it.
SUBOXONE is one I'm familiar with because of my friends and family that have struggled with one addiction (pain pills on up to Heroin) only to find themselves in the grip of a State Sponsored addiction (like the one provided in the form of Suboxone). Suboxone is supposed to block the opioid receptors in the brain and thus limit or eliminate the withdrawal symptoms when people are either a) trying to QUIT drugs (pills or heroin) or (more often than not) find a "legal" high that they can get easily every month from a doctor and have no need to live underground anymore.
Sure, it's not as simple as just saying "hey doc, can I have some of this?" but a nice story about how you are ready to break the cycle is sometimes all it takes to get your fix. Most patients seeking Suboxone are required to take drug tests before their prescription is filled (which is intended to weed out the "recreational" users of the drug) but I can say with certainty most people know the exact day they will have to go visit the doc and provide a specimen. They have it planned down to the hour when they need to 'clean up'.
Once you are in the program it can be a big sigh of relief: No more late night calls / drives to meet shady people in equally shady spots, no more spoons and needles, no more high priced pills that you will lie / cheat / steal to get money for, and it's all yours. EVERY LAST PILL or STRIP!
Disclaimer: I am in no way saying the medicine is useless or hasn't helped probably thousands of people break the cycle. I'm just giving my own first-hand account of what I see happen to people on this.
With that said, now you have your fix. And it's a damn nice one. Doc said I can take 2 strips a day but I have an entire month worth on my night-stand. And when I take it, damn, it feels pretty good. So why don't I take 3 each day for a couple of days and enjoy this new freedom I have to be a patient of the state and not have to make even 1 small sacrifice to find betterment. This goes well until I start to run low (and still have 2 weeks before my next visit). The panic sets in. Cutting the dose in half to make it until my next appointment is the only way I can do this, but then the back starts to hurt. Legs are starting to burn. Sweating, agitated, and I get that deep fear down inside that I'm going to be experiencing painful withdrawals soon.
So starts the cycle. I can call up my friends and contacts and get my hands on a bottle of pills. If I take those for the next week then I will have enough Suboxone to take for my final week (and have plenty of time to get everything out of my system!).
Next month? Your friend doesn't have pills this time. That's ok, right? The guy down the block has what I REALLY desire and before you know it the spoon & needle find their way into my room again. Same story, use and abuse for a week or more and get clean the last week before the appointment.
And the next month? My friend said he'd flat out trade me some black tar for my Suboxone. He can sell them for $35 bucks each (and I get 60 per month?!) so I trade him 50 of them. And the next 3 weeks are a spiral of self-control and madness (again) until once again I get clean with my last 10 "Subs".
The next month? It turns out our police department doesn't stock each police officer with Narcan. The last thing I remember is watching a black bag zipper over my face while my parents are crying in each others arms talking to the coroner.
continued....
(No, it should not be prescribed). But to fight the battle of addiction medical professionals recommend a steady course of usually 1 of 2 things: Suboxone or Methadone. I personally don't have the experience here but do have people very near and dear to me (some family even) who have struggled MASSIVELY with addiction.
I could turn this thread into a rant about our prison / jail system, the courts, the absurdity of locking somebody up for drugs but offering no counseling or ACTUAL help to rid them of (what I think is) a mental health issue, but I won't .... TOO much.
Instead I want to highlight what is being prescribed to people to help them through their addiction and the sometimes WORSE side effects and health effects than the drug they are trying to free themselves from. And after that offer an alternative. An alternative that I am very familiar with as I've used the product MANY times for the other benefits that come with it.
SUBOXONE is one I'm familiar with because of my friends and family that have struggled with one addiction (pain pills on up to Heroin) only to find themselves in the grip of a State Sponsored addiction (like the one provided in the form of Suboxone). Suboxone is supposed to block the opioid receptors in the brain and thus limit or eliminate the withdrawal symptoms when people are either a) trying to QUIT drugs (pills or heroin) or (more often than not) find a "legal" high that they can get easily every month from a doctor and have no need to live underground anymore.
Sure, it's not as simple as just saying "hey doc, can I have some of this?" but a nice story about how you are ready to break the cycle is sometimes all it takes to get your fix. Most patients seeking Suboxone are required to take drug tests before their prescription is filled (which is intended to weed out the "recreational" users of the drug) but I can say with certainty most people know the exact day they will have to go visit the doc and provide a specimen. They have it planned down to the hour when they need to 'clean up'.
Once you are in the program it can be a big sigh of relief: No more late night calls / drives to meet shady people in equally shady spots, no more spoons and needles, no more high priced pills that you will lie / cheat / steal to get money for, and it's all yours. EVERY LAST PILL or STRIP!
Disclaimer: I am in no way saying the medicine is useless or hasn't helped probably thousands of people break the cycle. I'm just giving my own first-hand account of what I see happen to people on this.
With that said, now you have your fix. And it's a damn nice one. Doc said I can take 2 strips a day but I have an entire month worth on my night-stand. And when I take it, damn, it feels pretty good. So why don't I take 3 each day for a couple of days and enjoy this new freedom I have to be a patient of the state and not have to make even 1 small sacrifice to find betterment. This goes well until I start to run low (and still have 2 weeks before my next visit). The panic sets in. Cutting the dose in half to make it until my next appointment is the only way I can do this, but then the back starts to hurt. Legs are starting to burn. Sweating, agitated, and I get that deep fear down inside that I'm going to be experiencing painful withdrawals soon.
So starts the cycle. I can call up my friends and contacts and get my hands on a bottle of pills. If I take those for the next week then I will have enough Suboxone to take for my final week (and have plenty of time to get everything out of my system!).
Next month? Your friend doesn't have pills this time. That's ok, right? The guy down the block has what I REALLY desire and before you know it the spoon & needle find their way into my room again. Same story, use and abuse for a week or more and get clean the last week before the appointment.
And the next month? My friend said he'd flat out trade me some black tar for my Suboxone. He can sell them for $35 bucks each (and I get 60 per month?!) so I trade him 50 of them. And the next 3 weeks are a spiral of self-control and madness (again) until once again I get clean with my last 10 "Subs".
The next month? It turns out our police department doesn't stock each police officer with Narcan. The last thing I remember is watching a black bag zipper over my face while my parents are crying in each others arms talking to the coroner.
continued....