The addiction thread: A safe place for questions or advice or really anything

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by fattus, Feb 3, 2016.

  1. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    Yeah I read up on it. Figured I’d wait and see what the dr says and go from there. All the bad symptoms I was having have stopped (puking/shitting yellow) but I just want to see what else I can do or if just not drinking is enough.
     
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  2. NoNatty

    NoNatty Keyboard Cowboy
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    Trying to self detox yourself (if you’re to the point where you having shakes) is stupid. Not worth the risk.
     
  3. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    Yeah I knew the risks but did it. It’s why I didn’t go cold turkey.
     
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  4. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    Not going to lie, I was terrified going through it. We had a “to go” bag packed with clothes and whatnot so if I felt to bad we could go to the hospital ASAP. I even set my heart rate on my Apple Watch so if it got to high I’d know. Slept in it and everything. When I first started my goal was to at least try and get off of hard alcohol even if it meant drinking beer and I wanted to drink less and less of it because it would make the withdrawals less severe but one day I woke up and wasn’t soaked in sweat and felt really good and I was able to keep tapering off at that point with no more issues with anything. I have anxiety issues as it is so it absolutely wrecked me mentally as well as I played out every single worse case scenario in my head all day and night.
     
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  5. NoNatty

    NoNatty Keyboard Cowboy
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    yeah, I just wouldn’t recommend it. Even if you don’t go cold turkey, it can be dodgy. Everything besides Benzos and alcohol people can detox themselves.
     
  6. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    Yeah I’m not sure how “far gone” I was. I didnt have the symptoms for an extended time before I made the decision to quit. It scared the fuck out of me so that’s when I made the decision to quit. At first I thought they were caused by the pain meds I was on after my surgery but once I finished those and the symptoms were still there I knew it had to be the alcohol and that I had to stop. I’m not a healthcare professional by any means and I knew the risks and at any point if it became too bad I was more than willing to go to the hospital or rehab. I have nothing against going to rehab I just thought I’d give weening off of it a try and see if it got any better and if it wouldn’t have I would have absolutely gone for treatment.
     
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  7. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    I’m definitely not trying to say this is a safe method, just that it worked for me. Everyone is different and has their own demons with addiction. I’m just sharing my experience with alcohol addiction and withdrawals. Please feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to help explain what I went through but I did consult my dr about it and I recommend anyone going through it to do the same.
     
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  8. TrustyPatches

    TrustyPatches Life is is a bunch of ups and Caleb Downs
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    I’m glad it worked for you hawk but I think it must be stressed just in case anyone is reading your posts and thinking of trying it themselves that they absolutely should not attempt it. Detoxing from alcohol can kill you. This isn’t like sweating out fentanyl, coke or heroin. Alcohol can kill you. I’m glad it worked for you and you’re safe and healthy, but anyone who thinks it may be an idea for them is wrong
     
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  9. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    Yeah as I said it’s just what worked for me. I don’t know what anyone else’s drinking habits are like. I was drinking like that for about 4-5 months so I don’t know if I wasn’t just not that far into it or what and maybe that’s how I was able to ween myself off like I did. It also affects everyone differently so I have no clue only what I went through myself. My wife’s grandmother drank for over 60 years and broke her hip and had to stay in the hospital and went through withdrawals there at around the same time I was going through my ordeal. She didn’t get the DT’s (which are often confused with just the shakes but apparently are much more severe with hallucinations) but it’s an individual basis. Some people can drink hard for years with nothing and some it hits quicker. Not a doctor.
     
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  10. 941Gator

    941Gator TMB's resident beach bum
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    Thread title is clearly at the top of the page, pal.
     
  11. joe-

    joe- yesterday is a hard word for me
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    Have been having some bad side effects from my antidepressant over the past month or so and started some pretty intense withdrawals today. Ended up taking one just to get me through to my doctors appointment on Tuesday
     
  12. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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    How long were you on them? What made you decide to quit?
     
  13. Pharm

    Pharm Right Handed
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    Depending in the half-life of it you should definitely be tapering off and not cold turkey it.
     
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  14. joe-

    joe- yesterday is a hard word for me
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    about two years. Over the past month and a half or so I suddenly had no energy, stopped sleeping, lost my libido and just felt overall pretty meh. at first I thought maybe it was the keto diet I was doing, and then I thought maybe I had the flu. went to the doctor and my blood test came back fine so the medicine was the only other thing. I didn't take it one day and slept through the night for the first time in over a month so that's how I figured it out
     
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  15. Zebbie

    Zebbie Hey Mike, guess what I have in my underwear?
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    Yeah, I don’t think you should ever cold turkey quit an SSRI from what my doc has told me
     
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  16. joe-

    joe- yesterday is a hard word for me
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    I wasn't quitting quit turkey and I don't take an SSRI. My current prescription is an extended release medication so I started taking a pill every 48 hours instead of every morning. Yesterday I tried to space it to 60-72 hours between doses and it hit me pretty hard at about 60 hours. I take wellbutrin fwiw
     
  17. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Can quitting anti depressants cold turkey put you in a state of psychosis? A murder podcast I listened to said a suspect used that as his defense
     
  18. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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    It would certainly fuck with your emotional state
     
  19. joe-

    joe- yesterday is a hard word for me
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    let me say that after feeling the way I did yesterday I could see that happening. I almost felt manic and “out of body”
     
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  20. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Scary. What were you taking?
     
  21. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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  22. Pharm

    Pharm Right Handed
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    Interesting. I would definitely talk yo your doctor, might be better to get an RX of the immediate realase for a taper. That way you can control the mg and how often. However, it has a long half life so what you were doing should have ok.
     
  23. joe-

    joe- yesterday is a hard word for me
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    yep I have an appointment tomorrow
     
  24. Vandy

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    You should be in the clear stopping Wellbutrin, it does not work in the same way as SSRIs. Those you definitely don’t want to stop abruptly.
     
  25. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    Just got back from gi dr. Have to get a ct on Thursday. Looks like I have a mass on my liver. Said it’s most likely benign but they want to make sure and I’ll have to just have routine ct scans to see if it gets any bigger.
     
  26. NoNatty

    NoNatty Keyboard Cowboy
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    the brain does weird shit and everyone’s is a little bit different. That said, no. Serotonin usually isn’t the issue with psychosis (from what we know).
     
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  27. Prospector

    Prospector I am not a new member
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    Ts and ps even tho you're a fan of the Cowboys
     
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  28. fattus

    fattus Well-Known Member
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    I'm pretty disappointed in my managers. We have a guy here who shows up for work drunk all the time. He also goes to his car and does shots during the day and will channel his inner Maurice Clarett and fill a water bottle with vodka and drink from that at his desk. Last week he is absolutely obliterated at his desk. Doing the old one-eye to see his monitor, randomly blurting out nonsense, basically your normal shitfaced behavior. My boss and dude are buddies. So my boss calls him a cab and sends him home without giving him a breath test, so now there's no proof so no discipline.

    They aren't doing this guy any favors. If he got away with it once, in his mind he'll get away with it again (and again and again and again). I just hope he doesn't kill someone on the roads driving drunk into or home from work.

    This guy needs help, not protection. Put him on FMLA and send him to treatment. We have really good insurance for that.

    The more you enable an addict the worse they get.
     
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  29. IHHH

    IHHH Well-Known Member
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    My god, how sad.
     
  30. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Is standard work policies if you blow for alcohol that you’re fired or sent to rehab?
     
  31. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    Depends on the company and polices but a lot of times you can go to rehab if you’re willing to admit you have a problem and agree to go for treatment.
     
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  32. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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    Getting breathalyzed at work would be quite humiliating
     
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  33. Tony Ray Bans

    Tony Ray Bans Most Overlooked. Most Overbooked.
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    A few years ago I worked at a start up and our VP of Sales had previously worked with me at Oracle. He was a pretty high up guy at Oracle but had been fired following this incident http://www.bellevuereporter.com/news/kemper-development-settles-munchbar-wrongful-death-lawsuit/

    This dude would be drinking at the office all day. Was almost always sloshed by mid afternoon. One morning I came in at like 7 and it was just me and him in the office. We were both getting coffee and i watched him pour vodka into his coffee. He sees me notice and goes "you want some titos?" Being that it was like 7 AM on a wednesday I told him I was good. I think he sensed that I was a little taken aback by it so he added "Its to ease the pain in my back." He then proceeded to take 3 hydocodeine and wash it down with the coffee/vodka. Dude was wild.

    That said, he was an incredible natural salesperson. He could close anyone. If youre valuable enough, you can get away with a lot.
     
  34. NoNatty

    NoNatty Keyboard Cowboy
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    this couldn’t be more true. A close colleague of mine who battled alcoholism now comes to work stoned everyday. He is universally loved by administration, staff, and patients though so nothing ever happens.
     
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  35. Hoss Bonaventure

    Hoss Bonaventure I can’t pee with clothes touching my butt
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    When I work on construction sites they have these things you blow into and the strip can detect alcohol and drugs. I’ve never seen them use them though. If someone showed up and was still drunk or hungover the foreman would take them to the safety rep and they’d always just have someone take them home. I’ve never seen anyone come in after that happens drunk again.
     
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  36. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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  37. fattus

    fattus Well-Known Member
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    In the least surprising news of the week, he did it again last week and it was worse than before. Caused a major disruption on the whole floor. A manager from another group had to intervene. He was finally fired today. I really hope they give him the option to come back if he gets sober for a bit.
     
  38. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    This has happened to me but we have random drug and alcohol tests
     
  39. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    Had to fire a friend last week, because of this. He's in a bad, bad place. He has a terrifying painkiller and lotto ticket addiction.

    He had already been to rehab when I hired him about 3 years ago. The problem was that every now and then little things would go missing here and there. He seemed fine for the most part, and I didn't want to automatically point fingers at him because I feel like it's not fair at all to use his past as a crutch. He never seemed high at work, and did not give me many reasons to question him.

    This is all until he must have gone into a full on relapse. In the course of 2 weeks, he broke into my office -- to the point that he broke the lock and door -- to get his paycheck, and then went on the company computer buying $2,500 worth of shit we didn't need from homedepot.com. I know it's his addiction demons, but fuck sake, that's a lot of money. Despite all of this, I wasn't initially going to fire him, but then he did a couple more things (lied about "losing" his key), lied, lied more, and then some more -- all after I had confronted him about the stuff above, so I had to fire him. Since he's an old friend, I also called his parents, as I thought they might be able to help.

    The day and ensuing night after I fired him was brutal. He sent me manic texts blaming me for his impending relapse and that I was the reason why he was about to go visit his dealer. He insulted me, begged for his job back, and sent me a picture of what I'm guessing is heroin (but I have no clue) among other things. I 100% was not going to hire him back, so I pretty much just stopped responding to him once I realized it was pointless.

    This all happened last Wednesday, and I've only spoken to his parents since. Since he's been gone, basically, every single thing that has gone missing, to me, is squarely on his shoulders. We are also noticing more and more of his wrongdoings and are noticing more little things missing as well. It's super frustrating. Not really sure what I'm asking or really why I'm even posting this, but wanted to get this off my chest.
     
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  40. Owsley

    Owsley My friends call me Bear
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    Sorry to hear this, but you absolutely did the right thing. I’d stay in contact with his folks to see if there’s anything you can do to help them cope with this. Hopefully he gets the help he needs.
     
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  41. RonBurgundy

    RonBurgundy Well-Known Member

    You did the right thing. Don’t enable. Addicts manipulate, it’s not your fault he has the disease.
     
  42. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    Thanks. He probably sent 100+ texts after I'd stopped responding that day, but some of them were along the lines of me judging him and in another life I'd be the addict and all of this. I really wanted to respond to some of them, saying something along the lines of "I'm not judging you, and I only let your parents know because I'm honestly worried for your safety." I didn't, because I'd already sent similar texts multiple times earlier in the day and figured he was high and probably going to be unreasonable.
     
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  43. Pharm

    Pharm Right Handed
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    Correct, I might would reword to addicts in active addiction manipulate, but spot on. Once a person has realized they have addiction issues ( dude went to rehab) it's own them to keep it in remission.

    Just like if you have diabetes and keep eating cake or stop your medicine. Gin buckets you did the right thing, being in active addiction doesn't excuse you from taking blame for your actions. He knew what he needed to do stay sober and he didn't do it.

    Gin Buckets if you ever need to talk shoot me a dm.
     
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  44. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    Thanks, fellas. :respek:
     
  45. RonBurgundy

    RonBurgundy Well-Known Member

    Good correction.
     
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  46. kslim

    kslim Guest

    Being an addictive person myself, don’t ever blame yourself. Ever
     
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  47. Marbles

    Marbles Trudging the road to happy destiny
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    I’m surprised he hid it for that long. If I start drinking again, I’ll be in a crack motel downing litters of vodka until I start throwing up blood and go to the hospital. Usually takes four to five days.
     
  48. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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    Jesus. Seriously?
     
  49. Pharm

    Pharm Right Handed
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    Is he also possibly bipolar? A lot of times addiction and other mental addictions go hand in hand. I still wouldnt feel bad at all about fireing him but yeah he needs to get some help.
     
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  50. Eric The Viking

    Eric The Viking Nitro, the All Knowing
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    What’s the best option here?

    One of my best friends has been drinking I’d say between 15-20 beers/day, for over a decade. I’ve recommended tapering off, but I can’t be there with him. He works from home (and I’m guessing is successful with his job $), and since his divorce, has no one to hold him accountable or help. I’ve bought him a breathalyzer; made him call me for grocery runs/errands so he wouldn’t drive (he started using Lyft for most things); made him start using milk thistle...I just don’t know what else to do. He refuses treatment at a facility. The last time I visited, I found less beer (he has cut out liquor) in his usual hiring places, and his breathalyzer was showing him holding to his promise of tapering.
     
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