Or a personality disorder. Borderline, dependent and narcissistic personality disorders are commonly co-morbid in addicts as well. With the obvious anxiety disorder especially in alcoholics.
Any detox med would prob be dangerous if he was still drinking. Something like naloxone or campral may help. Best he’d just establish a plan with a doctor. Some places have detox programs where you show up every morning, breathalize, then they give you a dose of tranzene or phenobarbital. May be a route with his work schedule.
I don't think he's bipolar. I think he's got low self-confidence for sure, but he's usually pretty even tempered. The manic texts just came from a place of desperation, he'd been sleeping in the plant, and didn't have a place to live, and was freshly out of a job. The texts were like a high, non-romantic version of the same kind of shit we have all sent and/or received during breakups. His dad came by today to bring back one of the bullet heaters he'd taken from the shop, and I felt awful for him.
Alcohol withdrawl is scary and deadly. I will only recommend physician assisted detox but tough with him not wanting to do that
Yeah, obviously you “can” self detox on alcohol alone but it’s really tough to do safely, especially how slow you have to taper, and how dedicated you have to be in self-tapering and not cheating to fuck up the whole process. Medication assisted detox is way easier and safer
How do I get him to visit a doctor, as a non-family member? Or are these meds that he can pick up at a pharmacy without a prescription? He won’t admit it, but I think he wants no proof of his addiction, and that’s why he doesn’t come clean to family (some family has written him off, and others are convinced of his lies that he is clean).
Prescription only. Your hands are tied. Just be supportive and give him the best advice you can, keep encouraging him.
I’ve never been through it, but I was a jail doc for a couple of years and have put a shit load of people involuntarily through it since we couldn’t continue their opioids on incarceration.
both need a doctor to write for it but neither help with the dangerous part of the withdrawl. That is done with benzos and wouldnt recommend giving someone benzos without doctor supervision. Unless he is a danger to himself or others there isnt much you can do
When my daughter was born I was chewing up about 10 LT 10s a day. Started Methadone @125 mg. Tapered to 45 MG then came off. Worst month of my life. No sleep, shit my life away and wanted to die every day.
He has had multiple DUIs, but nothing since his divorce, so there’s no way I can prove a danger to others. Danger to himself is subjective, I guess. He is slowly killing himself.
I’ve recently dropped 25 pounds and that seemed to strike a chord with him. I’m currently encouraging him to quit drinking, so that he can lose weight and go out and start dating again.
you are doing all you can do, remember no one will change unless they want too. Just keep being a good friend and be there when he reaches out.
What other people said. The danger of detoxing yourself is you don’t know how to taper it correctly without medical intervention, and seizures can happen. If you can get him to a doctor, either inpatient or outpatient, that’s the best route. opioid detox cold turkey is fucking awful, but suboxone detox is cake.
That's a lot to be chewing up. OC's are tiny with no filler but Lortab is like 99% bitter ass tylenol
I would grab OCs every time they weren’t in the hood. I would buy 3 90 count bottles of LT a month coming out of Texas and that kept me outta the hood. If I came in contact with Oxys elsewhere, it usually meant the only time I’d ever get high
Takes a while to break down in stomach you can start absorbing in the mouth immediately and bypasses the dissolution step in the stomach. Basically
Is there a more recent thread here on addiction? One of my oldest friends is about to lose everything in his life due to alcohol. He has lost friends, two jobs and now his wife (they have two young children) is ready to leave him. He also is showing clear signs of liver disease. I hadn’t seen him in forever until a few weeks ago and it was startling. Me and two other of his closest friends are meeting with him tomorrow to see if he will go to a facility his wife and brother have been trying to convince him to check into for over a month now. His family did an intervention a month back to no avail. His wife, brother and I have been talking a lot the past week. They cannot get through to my friend who thinks he’s fooling everyone outside of his family. This is my first time doing anything remotely close to this, would appreciate any advice.
Sounds like he isn't ready to change and unfortunately there isn't anyone that can make him see that but himself. There are options if you feel like his a threat to himself or others but if he ain't threatening to kill anyone then there isn't much you can do to make him go. And forcing someone typically doesn't end well Maybe if the thought he was a fooling you and sees he isn't will make him take a hard look. But if loosing two jobs and his family doesn't make him want to try to change I'm worried he might not be ready. It's different for everyone, but yeah just show you care about him and are worried and speak from the heart. Addiction/alcoholism sucks. I've never been your side of the situation, but know the choas it can cause. Basically, be there for him, but don't blame yourself if you can't get through to him.
What's the level of alcoholism? Can you talk to him to scale it back or is he just full blown mad man?
Out of my depth a bit, I’m not sure his level of addiction but I can provide context based on some first but mainly a lot of second hand accounts. He drinks to excess daily, hiding the liquor from his wife. Recently got fired a week into a new job for going to lunch, getting drunk and showing back to work. We have set him up for phone interviews and two different people told us he sounded drunk. These are very high paying jobs btw, people would kill to make the money he’s throwing away. His family has blown through all their savings during this time. His brother recently confiscated his guns but he went and got them back and drove three hours home. When he got there his wife said he was fall over drunk. She’s mentioned he starts drinking around lunch time each day. He’s been texting a group chat the last week clearly intoxicated around this time.
This is his wife/brothers hope. Plus he doesn’t believe them when they tell him the drinking is hurting him professionally. Since we all are in the same field they wanted us to reaffirm he can’t land/keep a job in this current state.
Has anyone done an intervention for a loved one? Or had one done for them? What works? What doesn’t? Just found out a loved one is addicted to Oxy and what to talk with them about it. I don’t want to do anything wrong. TIA
I fear this will be the outcome too. I have to I at least try. I have a certain belief in addiction and those beliefs will be bullshit if I don’t try to help someone I care about.
I agree. I still think you should try. I guess I’m just saying be prepared if it doesn’t work though. It probably still makes a difference. Most people that are way addicted need more than one try
He just wasn’t ready to quit. It was me, his dad and 3-4 other best friends that went to him. He seemed great the first few weeks of rehab like he was having an epiphany. Didn’t last when he got out though. Honestly, I think the main problem may be he moved to a bad place when he left rehab. Around too many of the old influences. You need to be somewhere safe for a while
Definitely a huge issue many addicts face when they get out. Particularly if they have been using for a long time, their whole life and social circle is centered around using. It can be incredibly difficult to cut all those ties and focus on the very difficult work of building a new life.
Anyone dealt with horrible insomnia when they quit drinking? I’m an insomniac and always used booze as self medication. I’m on sleeping meds now for it but since I’ve been sober they don’t seem to work. Have virtual visit with doctor in a bit but just curious if anyone else has this problem and what they did.
i think that may be pretty common after quitting, but over time it will get better. Your REM sleep should improve too without alcohol; in the long run you should level out and actually get a true hard nights sleep. Just May take some time.
Hey ya'll - just found this thread and happy to be a support resource to all. Lot of addiction in my family: my father is a recovering alcoholic, my mom has been on and off again with benzos over the years and we lost my sister to a heroin overdose nearly 4 years ago so unfortunately a lot of experience in this area.
Something to think about when quitting booze. It takes your body two plus weeks to recover from a hangover. So even though you ma not notice your hungover a few days after, your body is still adjusting.
This may be causing it as well, but I ran out of my Buspar for pretty much all last week and didn’t think anything of it and just never went and picked up my prescription. My sister in law is a psychiatrist and said that is a huge side effect from not taking it. I didn’t think it was a big deal. As mentioned above I’m an insomniac as well but usually the meds will still drop me at night but not even my prescription stuff with over the counter stuff is working. So I’m wondering if I fucked around and created a perfect storm
I smoke pot or CBD oil if you don’t like pot. I won’t smoke for at least an hour or two before I’m going to bed. Usually when the high is fully worn off I’m out and sleep hard. It also is the only thing that helps my back (fractured vertebrae and bad arthritis.)
Yeah do what got to do to sleep especially if dealing with pain issues, but THC can also effect the amount of REM sleep You get too. Not sure about CBD.
That's correct on the REM sleep. That's why I try to keep at least an hour and a half before I go to bed but it's usually 3-4 hours. I also don't get suuuuper baked. I hit it like twice. Then in 2 hours I'm good.