Addiction

[bball]

Stopping drugs or alcohol addiction causes withdrawals. I've been told that the only two "chemical dependencies" that will actually kill you if you have a bad habit and quit cold turkey, are alcohol and Zannex. Hopefully Brad or someone else will tell us if this is true?

Don't know about the Zannex, but the alcohol and quitting cold turkey doesn't make any sense to me. I know when you get locked up for 35 days without a drink you don't die. And I would think a lot of druggies and drunks get locked up regularly. I'm curious as to what the pro's have to say.

Many of the chronic alcoholics (think alcohol in bloodstream chronically, not just a few drinks everyday, but literally have alcohol in bloodstream chronically) are brought to ERS to be medically cleared before being transferred to the jail. They almost always (if a true alcohol dependent pt) end up with a 72 hour EDO(emergency detention order) in an ICU to stabilize. They are not turned over to LE until medically stable- no matter how long that takes. LE does not want the responsibility of having a dt'ing pt go into cardiac arrest or seize while in their custody-which is why they demand the medical evaluation and clearance before maintaining custody.

 

[JMJ Farms]

i used to have a buddy of mine. HelI of a nice fellow. He would take 10 Zannex at the time. Pills. Coke. Pot. No meth that I'm aware of. Drank liquor like none you've ever seen. Straight outta the bottle. No chaser. No mixing. He even gets up and drinks in the middle of the night. Drinks while he takes a shower. Just liquor. No beer. Minimum half gallon every day. VO Gold till he got broke then it was Lord Calvert. He's 36 years old now. This was 6-7 years ago. He hasn't even slowed down. Been to rehab countless times. I tried and tried to help him but he ain't ready yet. Sad too bc he had it made. Best personality of anyone you could ever meet. But he's worthless to society in his current state.

 

[dun]

I found that out to not be the case for me. I needed to get away from my comfort zone and start over. It's a shame some folks are so addicted that it kills them before THEY see the light.

I didn;t do it that way either. I just put my big boy pants on and sucked it up. Dam tough for the wife to go through it though

 

[Ouachita]

On the note of opioids. My oldest sister ( older by 25 years) is a forensic scientist for the state drug lab. She gets called to meth labs or drug overdoses almost every day. Stuff such as meth or heroin needs to be fixed. I believe that it is a choice that turns into a disease but people still need to remember that they made the decision to shoot their first bit of heroin and they bought that first bottle of pills completely on their own , it spiralled out of control but how much of it did they do to themselves? The high school I go to has a big problem with drugs. Now I can't understand is addiction at such a young age a choice or is it hereditary?

Most opiod use begin with a doctor's prescription.

Mine too. When I was 30 years young. At the time, I couldn't believe the effectiveness of the meds. I was amazed at how much better I felt. My quality of life was back..........then as time rambled on, the meds didn't work as well, so doc increased my dosage.
Fast forward 16 years. About 5 years ago I realized I had a dependency problem. Not bad; I could quit any time. I mean that, and I have for weeks at a time. But my condition is chronic and I need something. The doctors tell me not worth the risk at my age if we can manage the pain with drugs. I now question those opinions.
It has been a tough row to hoe, but I've managed to reduce my intake to less than the doc is offering, and have been for 2 years now, with my wife's help. I guess I don't take enough of the pain meds to experience withdrawal symptoms when I get pizzed at them and stop taking them. I do get flu like symptoms in about 24 hours after my last, that take about 12-18 hours to clear up.
I'm pizzed at the doc. She should not have started me out on a near maximum dose. Now I'm wise.

 

[JMJ Farms]

The only pain pills I've ever taken in my life were hydrocodone, three different times when I hurt my back and couldn't walk, twice when my gout became unbearable, and three times with kidney stones. Worked very well for everything but the gout one time when it didn't even touch the pain. Finally got some relief that time with a dexamethasone pill about half the size of a tic tac. Amazing. When my back was injured once I literally couldn't walk. One hour after taking a pill I was running a backhoe. I don't even want to think about trying to pass a stone without one. They work really well for me.

I said all that to say this. I don't like them. I don't like the way they make me feel. But my wife on the other hand, who rarely ever takes one unless she has a severe headache, says they make her feel good. So I guess different people are affected different ways. We had a bottle of 30 her doctor prescribed to her after she had her tubes tied in 2012. There's still some left. Why would a doctor prescribe 30 very strong pain pills for a tubal? Wouldn't 5 be plenty?

 

[True Grit Farms]

Everyone's pain tolerance isn't the same is my guess.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Everyone's pain tolerance isn't the same is my guess.

I agree with that.

 

[dun]

I take 2 - 4 hydrocodone a day. Doc says not to worry that I'm taking too much. Back in the 70s I got a helluva electric shock and they gave me an open perscription for a pill that was a mix of muscle relaxer and some sort of pain killer. I took those things like candy after a while. I called them give a sh crap pills. A fifth of booze and the pills and I didn;t give a crap about anything. in 1968 I dumped a jar of them down the craper and pulled the perscription from my health records and burned it. Withdrawal was something interesting. Kept using the booze but quit the pills. In 1972 I quit drinking. I've managed to stay off that kind of crap until the past few years but now it's just the hydrocodone