I had a pretty serious addiction to pain meds once. Had a couple surgeries from all the sports I played in high school that finally broke me down which is what started it. After the dr stopped prescribing it I started buying them from a couple buddies who sold. Long story short I caught myself taking over 20 10mg Norcos a day at $5 a piece. Then I moved on to Oxys which were $20 a piece and worked my way up to about 5 per day. I ended up having another surgery and when they prescribed me norco I ended up taking a the whole bottle in 1 day (30 of em). Thats when I realized I had to do something. So I started trying to space them out until I healed. Once I was somewhat healed I went to a Dr and got put on suboxone. From that day I have never taken another pain pill and it has been over 2 years. When I look back at how much money I spent on that shit in a 5 year time period I couldve have bought a couple Mercedes. I started thinkin about heroine towards the end and I had enough willpower to not let myself go any deeper and got help. If there is anyone here struggling with this same thing I highly recommend suboxone treatment. It was a miracle drug for me. All the money I all of a sudden started having allowed me to treat myself when I reached certain milestones to keep my mind off it. I can only imagine someone who isnt as strong minded and how far down taht rabbit hole one could actually go. I have a stepsister who just graduated with honors 2 years ago who is now a heroine addict. In fact a couple months ago the police found her in the mall parking lot with her door open passed out. She refuses help and I wish I could get her the help that I got. Its still a work in progress...
The best thing you can do for your sister is stay clean yourself. Be her example and show her that it can be done but don't push, ok?
Most of the time, trying to 'make' an addict recover will build up resentment and drive her deeper into a downward spiral.
Lead the best, fullest life you can and stay close to her so that she sees what you've accomplished. Exposure to that will make her want what you have.
Suboxone is a double-edged sword so be careful in thinking it's a cure-all. It's nothing but synthetic ****** without the high and affects each addict differently.
Both my wife and I are recovering addicts and her oldest son is in active addiction. The only thing that keeps the two of us clean is working a daily program of recovery. My stepson had 11 months clean- he was incarcerated for six months of that- when his P.O. offered him early release from probation if he got on Suboxone. 5 months out of jail and working a program, he had a decent job, his own place, had repaired the relationships with his children- basically, he was doing great.
16 days on Suboxone, and he relapsed, was rushed to the ER to save his life... overdose. Literally within hours of his release from the hospital, he was arrested for trying to shoplift so he could buy more drugs.
He's been in and out of jail since then, always on Suboxone and still can't put together more than a few days clean.
Unfortunately, for every one person that drug replacement therapy helps, two others are driven deeper into addiction by it. We see it every day- my wife now works at a residential rehab and I volunteer there. Since the first of the year- 12 residents have been kicked out for drug use and all but 2 were on Suboxone.
In contrast, over the past two YEARS, only 3 residents have been expelled that weren't on Suboxone and two of the three were for rules violations, not drugs.
I'm very glad that it worked for you and I'm thrilled to hear that you want to help others but please don't expect the same results for your sister, ok?
Find an NA, or other program meeting and ask how to best set that example for her and then be ready to help when she's ready.
I'm glad you found this thread and thanks for sharing your story.
Have a Blessed day, my friend.
