In regard to my last post… There are many directions that we could take as we review that message. My overall impression, as I read the letter, was of a person struggling to accept the reality of his condition. Over and over, the person repeated the same behavior, starting Suboxone, stopping, and thinking this time … [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. Both medications are also used … [Read more…]
Some distorted thinking You see where this is going. My behavior was an example of cross addiction, where an addict stops one substance but continues to use another, only to find that the previously safe substance becomes the drug of choice. My use of alcohol increased, and soon I was drinking as soon as I … [Read more…]
My Story (continued) 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 codeine wore … [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 of Beloit Wisconsin, planting flowers … [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 note that I firmly believe … [Read more…]
Introduction: 2. Sharing my story The book begins with a description of my own descent to active opioid addiction, my climb back to sobriety, and my efforts to remain sober. It is important that I share my own story of addiction and recovery for several reasons. First, all addicts have some amount of internalized shame … [Read more…]