What was everyone’s "bottom"?

Author: tearj3rker

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:50 pm

I don’t really believe in the idea of "one rock bottom to end them all". After reading this thread, I see that some people have had this experience, but I don’t think it really applies to my addiction story.

Rather I had a few extremely low points of my addiction, the kind I cringed over for years. And interestingly enough, it wasn’t the times I had nowhere to live, was in trouble with the law, in debt etc. The lowest moment for me were after I did something really low. One of these "low" moments involved stealing from a good friend, a good "samaritan" who gave me a place to live in an hour of need. On the way to scoring, I remember waiting at the train station, and I realised for the first time I was a junkie. I was maybe 20. I’d done some quite bad things before then, but that was one of those "low" things.

I struggle with the idea of one "rock bottom" to end all bottoms, because the biggest revelation in my recovery, and the closest thing to "surrender", didn’t happen at a point where I had lost everything. It actually happened, I feel, on Suboxone, and quite recently. I’d just "sworn off" the heroin after a binge, while I was on Interferon treatment. I was quite "broken" though, sick from the using, and very crazy from the interferon. My girlfriend whispered some stuff to me before she went to sleep, and I stayed up all night thinking about my life. At about 3am, something in my head "clicked", and that’s the only way I can describe it. I knew something big had shifted. All I can say is that for the first time ever, since I was a child even, I felt like my life had some value. I haven’t really wanted to use since. This all happened while I had money, wasn’t homeless, hadn’t been doing crime, and only had a little bit of debt. Go figure?

My 2c.

Random drug testing and pill counts

Author: travispnorton

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:37 am

In 2001 I was among the first wave of buprenorphine patients in Minneapolis and my first doctor (the first Suboxone prescribing Dr. in Minnesota, actually!) He required me to bring my pills in each month for a count and would give me UA’s once monthly for sure and would on occasion call me in for a ‘surprise UA.’ I’m sure some doctors still operate like this today, obviously yours does; thankfully my current doc does not! In asking him what to expect of his practice when I sought him out a couple years ago, I asked him how often I would be tested (because I was concerned about the cost) and he said never. He subscribes to my philosophy that as inaccurate and easy to forge in whatever way one wants UA’s are that there is more or less no real reason to give them other than procedure for the sake of procedure. Also, for someone to tell you that you tested positive for Dilaudid specifically seems fishy unless it was a blood test as I’d be really surprised if Dilaudid was part of an office based panel test. Typically as far as opiates go there is one panel for opiates (which includes morphine, heroin, codeine, hydromorphone, hydrocodone), one specifically for methadone/propoxyphene and one specifically for oxycodone. Unless your doctors office has paid a lot of money for many, many panel tests with each opioid listed separately this accusation seems fishy to me.

As far as marijuana, I can see both sides of the argument. Yes, MJ is illegal so if your doctor is the type of person who will dismiss someone for this type of behavior, then, well, salud! I’d find a different doctor, personally. I don’t use marijuana but I know it certainly doesn’t cause the devastation that almost every other drug is capable of (including alcohol.) In a ‘traditional’ treatment setting it is one thing to have a hard-stance about marijuana, but in the case of buprenorphine maintenance it does not really make sense to discharge an opioid addict from an opoid replacement medication that is effectively keeping them off of opioids because they used a non-lethal drug that really isn’t being treated with the buprenorphine.

Good luck in hopefully finding a new Dr.!
Travis

Subs + Adderall

Author: indigochild

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:40 am

travispnorton wrote:
I’m a good arguer, too. Okay, I do believe that there are some people in the world that legitimately can benefit from the use of amphetamines, which by the way are not narcotics, they’re simply amphetamines, which, yes are Schedule II controlled substances. Traditionally the term ‘narcotic’ is reserved for chemicals derived from the opium poppy and synthetic analogs of these opiates. There is no contradiction pharmacologically between amphetamines and buprenorphine, as in they are completely safe to take together. For people whose benefits outweigh risks (which are pretty great with amphetamines) the cocktail is completely fine. I absolutely believe that amphetamines are WAYYYY over prescribed, however, and that a large percent of the people who are prescribed them can, in fact, function just fine without them. For addicts I believe this tenfold. I believe ADHD is wayyy over diagnosed in that many people who are diagnosed as having ADHD, ESPECIALLY after being newly clean (even up to two years) simply DO NOT have ADHD. It’s crazy to me that someone can live 20 years never having been diagnosed with ADHD, have made it through grade school, middle school and high school, maybe even college, have been using chemicals to the point that they need an opioid replacement therapy, then shortly after they clean up at an age of 25+ they are diagnosed with ADHD and are given some new (or old) upper drug. Amphetamines can be a godsend for certain populations, no doubt about it, but typically addicts are not in that population that does really well on amphetamines. Amphetamines DO cause euphoria, they DO cause concentrated attention, alertness and wakefulness. I have seen, too, that amphetamines when taken ‘legitimately’ by ‘recovering addicts’ have a way of bringing out addict behaviors such as justifying, rationalizing and straight-out lying. It’s a slippery slope, amphetamines. Be careful everyone! This has been a public service announcement from Travis Norton..

i just have to ‘second’ this post and give it my blessing(whatever that means LOL)- i too have seen MANY addicts clean up and mysteriously have ADHD- my pharmacist told me they are done making ADDERALL IR for the remainder of the year. this always struck me as a funny name, ADD-YER-ALL! BE ALL U CAN BE kids, and adults(of course).
Side note:
there is a quack in our area; he writes -180 oxycodone 30 IR, 120 oxycodone 15 IR Breakthru, of course, also ADDERALL 30IR #90 and of course XANAX 2mg for everyone anxiety! i never heard a variation of scripts, same scripts, no mri, cheese only. lasted a whole 3 months before the DEA busted thru, kicked everyone out, off the sidewalk! LOL, didn’t even have a sign yet! it’s so nice hes been gone fur 3 months!

S149 effect of transdermal buprenorphine and fentanyl on de

Author: news_poster

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:00 am

(Source: European Journal of Pain Supplements)<div><p>MedWorm Message: Please support the <a>DoctorsInChains.org</a> campaign for the health workers in Bahrain. #FreeDoctors</p></div>

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S103 buprenorphine but not morphine modulates nerve excitab

Author: news_poster

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:00 am

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T601 comparison of spinal analgesia with lidocaine plus bup

Author: news_poster

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:00 am

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F284 transdermal buprenorphine (norspan®) pk in elderly

Author: news_poster

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:00 am

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$522!!!

Author: hatmaker510

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 5:54 am

You could try dropping your dose to save a bit of money. Of course that depends on how well you’ve been doing and how you feel about trying to drop your dose. But if you could say, cut your dose in half, and still have no cravings, then you’d be able to save quite a bit of money. Just a thought. So maybe think about it and speak to your doctor about the possibility of reducing your dose. Again, I have no idea what your long term sub plans are or even your addiction history, but even if you did cut your dose in half, 8 mg is still a good dose, comfortably above the 4 mg ceiling. Let us know what you decide. Good luck.