Taking Medication and Staying Clean

To just about any addict, the phrase, “Take as prescribed” is considered as a suggestion. Instead of one every four hours, they take 4, every hour. To recovering addicts, this is a joke. To others that think they don’t have a problem, this may be a warning sign.

Talk to Your Doctor, Sponsor and Friends

An addict’s body doesn’t know the difference between prescribed drugs and street drugs. A drug, is a drug, is a drug. So, when we go to the doctor for anything we explain that we are recovering addicts and ultra-sensitive to any mood or mind-altering drugs. We take a sponsor or another recovering addict with us to our appointment. We talk to our doctor about any alternative treatments that may be available. We find out if we can take a smaller dose. We can go to meetings and share about our upcoming surgery or let our support group know we’ve been suffering, and been in pain. The best policy is always honesty.

Feeling Good is an Inside Job

So, you’re clean and sober and your body begins the process by detoxing. Our bodies are ultra-efficient machines when they are working at their optimum potential. However, when we’re getting high and drinking, our bodies have been working overtime to filter out all the chemicals we’ve been abusing. Our liver is tired! Our lungs, exhausted! And our brains… worn out. Our bodies have been overworked and it, too, needs to recover.

Finger-Pointing Doesn’t Help

“Whose fault is it that I’m an addict?” Depends who’s doing the asking… Many people with the disease of addiction or alcoholism believe they are born that way. Please note, this blogger does not intend to go into any kind of deep psychological essay about the nature of addiction or physiological aspects of the disease. I am here to share to my experience and strength and hope; that an addict, any addict can stop using, lose the desire to use and find a new way to live. That’s it. I, personally, do believe that I was born with this disease.

When I first came to the program of Narcotics Anonymous in the spring of 1995, I had no idea I was an addict or that I even had a disease. I learned in Step One that I’m powerless and that my life is unmanageable. Come to find out, I have a disease, not a moral deficiency. The disease model, in the NA definition, works for me (and countless others) in that we can see ourselves more humanly. We were slaves to the drugs. Rather than me being a bad person, I was a sick person that made bad choices. I have a disease that tells me that I don’t have disease. It is also the only disease which I can self-diagnose. The First Step frees me: Every day, I admit I’m powerless over my disease.

Pain is Subjective

A bad car accident, a slip and fall, a pulled muscle, surgery… the list is endless as to why we must take pain medication. As varied are the reasons, so are the different medications available, depending on the type of injury from over-the-counter pain relievers like plain old aspirin to Schedule 2 (Class 2) drugs like Morphine and Oxycodone. According to the US Department of Justice, Office of Diversion Control, Class 2 drugs “have a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.” 1 This is the US Government telling us that these drugs are highly addictive!

One of the first preventative measures begins with telling our doctor that we are in recovery. Although many, if not most doctors are aware of the precautions in prescribing pain medication, they may not be aware of your history of alcohol or drug abuse. This is why it’s imperative to be honest with our health-care providers, so as not to invite disaster.

“Keep Coming Back”

We have a saying in meetings, “Keep coming back.” This expression means a lot of different things to different people. To the newcomer it means, keep coming back to meetings. To some it’s a derogatory comment, meaning you’re in need of more meetings. To others it means you’re always welcome to the fellowship. In AA and NA, relapse is not a requirement; it is however, a reality.

We Have to Do it For Ourselves

The short answer to the question, “Is there hope for the chronic relapser?” is “yes!” As long as you are above ground, there’s hope. When the addict/alcoholic comes to recovery for the first time, they do so for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s to keep the family together, or the job or a “nudge from the judge.” Experience has shown that no matter what the reason we come to the rooms, only when we realize that we have to do it for ourselves, do we stay.

“A Nudge from the Judge”

Perhaps, after your first, but definitely after your second DUI (Driving while Under the Influence) you have been court-ordered to attend addiction treatment. You broke the law, and you were arrested and as part of your sentencing, you have been court-ordered to an alcohol/drug rehab facility.

Protecting you from Yourself

Federal, State and Local judicial systems have passed laws (for the most part) to protect its citizens. In the case of a DUI conviction, the Judge is perhaps protecting you from yourself, as well as the good folks that may be in the way of your 2000 pound hunk of murderous metal, otherwise known as your vehicle. Since selfish, self-centeredness is at the core of alcoholism and the disease of addiction (otherwise known as The Disease), it may be difficult for people in the throes of their disease to comprehend the consequences and implications of driving drunk or high.

Am I running away from, or running towards something?

Addicts and alcoholics are natural escape artists. Every drink, every hit we took, was to escape. We wanted to escape the pain, the emotions, the feelings, the husband, the wife, the kids, the job. We lived to use and use to live. Now we’re confronted with reality, what we’re left with once we come to recovery and stay clean and sober. We have to face life on life’s terms. What do we do? We can either face it head on by working the steps or turn and run. If we run, are we running away from something or towards something?

How do we know the difference?

Wherever we go, we take the disease with us. We are used to running from things like responsibility, the law, the ex, reality. We rarely run towards anything, we run from things. How do we know the difference? We have to ask ourselves some important questions:

How to have fun and stay clean and sober

By the time most of us finally make it to the rooms of recovery, our idea of being social was keeping our seat warm at the bar. Perhaps standing in line at the coffee pot at our first meeting, we were greeted with a handshake or a hug, our first physical contact with another human that wasn’t violent or sexual. It’s difficult for addicts and alcoholics to get chummy, especially now without the “liquid courage” to hide our awkwardness. So, we clutch our styro cup of coffee tightly and venture to a seat in the back of the room.

After coming to the same meeting for a few weeks, the same person says, “Hi” to us again, and this time asks, “How are you? Do you have plans after the meeting?” After mumbling an incoherent response, we discover we’ve been invited to coffee after the meeting. While at coffee, we’re introduced to a few other members of the fellowship. Wait a minute, they’re telling jokes and laughing! They’re having fun! In fact, no one’s even drinking alcohol. They’re all stone-cold sober! How can this be? How can they be carrying on and having a good time without a drink or drug? Baffled, yet feeling exhilarated by the laughter, we smile.

We Only Have to Change One Thing

When we come to recovery for the first time, we're told we only have to change one thing: Everything! But just like it says in the Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text, How It Works, "This sounds like a big order and we can't do it all at once, we didn't become addicted in one day, so remember, easy does it." And we say, “But do it!” We’re told, the person we are today will use again, so change must happen in order for us to stay clean and sober.

Look where we’ve ended up! We are at meeting instead of a bar on a Friday night. Whoever would have thought this would happen? It is time to put away our old ways of thinking and doing and try something different, otherwise we are guaranteed more pain, suffering and misery. So where do we start?

Two Different Diseases, Similar Symptoms

Once again, after “Jerry” came down off his high, he was left feeling sad and depressed. He often felt lower than before he got his fix. This has been going on since college, maybe even high school. Every time it was the same thing. He’d be feeling down and then have a drink and pop some pills to feel better. This was his cycle, although each time after he came down, he’d feel worse and worse. Everything had been going well in his life; family, career, church, friends, people counted on him.

But lately, his concentration has been lacking and he’s been showing up late or not at all. The promises he’d made to his kids were often broken. His wife would often be angry and until she finally stopped talking to him. His co-workers were often left baffled by his behavior. Jerry had become unreliable and despondent. His boss finally confronted him about his behavior and attitude. “What’s the matter? Do you need help, he asked?”