Ah yes…. another post about my book… Over the past few years, I’ve taken posts from this blog, posts from other sources that I’ve written, some sections of a ‘memoir’ that I have not gotten around to writing… and combined them in a book about addiction. The book does not Read more…
Another chapter from my untitled book, ‘Clean Enough,’ begins with comments from a reader of my blog. The picture has nothing to do with anything, except that the Packer win was pretty awesome. The view is from my seat at Lambeau during a game this season. I have been using Read more…
I am always impressed by how similar addiction progresses in one individual versus the next. The next reader’s comments and my comments afterward demonstrate a pattern that I have observed in one opioid addict after another. Throughout the book, comments that I receive from others will be italicized. I started Read more…
Why buprenorphine? The partial agonist nature of buprenorphine is behind the usefulness of the drug for treating addiction and chronic pain. Opioid agonists always cause tolerance, and the tolerance usually causes cravings for more and more drug– no matter whether the drug is being used therapeutically or recreationally. Tolerance is Read more…
Physical dependence vs. addiction Tolerance and withdrawal are signs of ‘physical dependence’ on a substance. Addiction, on the other hand, is a complicated term that has different meanings in different contexts, but generally refers to an obsession or attachment to a behavior, person, or substance. Many people mistakenly consider physical Read more…
What is Suboxone? Suboxone is the trade name for a medication that contains buprenorphine and naloxone. A similar medication, Subutex, contains buprenorphine without naloxone. Both are manufactured and sold by Reckitt-Benckiser, a company based in the UK with operations world-wide. Suboxone is FDA indicated for the treatment of opioid dependence. Read more…
Treating myself In the spring of 1993 I took codeine cough medicine for a cold. A few weeks later I was still taking the codeine each evening. It worked so well; finally I could relax and get some quality sleep! I started feeling more irritable in the morning as the Read more…
My Story (cont.) Local hero Interestingly, the heavy drug use came only months after a time in my life when I was riding as high as I ever had before or have since. During the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college I was working for the city Read more…
Chapter 2: My Story Nature vs. nurture I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, the son of a defense attorney and a teacher. I was the second of four children. I will not get into a drawn out psychodynamic exploration of my upbringing at this time except to Read more…
Introduction Bias of the book You will notice the several times throughout the book I take issue with people over what they say about buprenorphine treatment of opiate dependence. On my web sites I have been told by those who favor ‘total sobriety’ that I am biased in favor of Read more…
By now almost every opiate addict has heard of Suboxone, a medication for opiate dependence that has been around for about ten years. I admit to mixed feelings about Suboxone based on what I have seen and heard while treating well over 100 patients over the past two years. I Read more…