Update: Detox and Suboxone

Yes you read that right and I am talking about myself! The fading ups and the lingering dreaded downs of the pain pills consumed me and I had to ask for help. I went to a mental hospital- the one that my son has been to- and they sent me to the ER to get medically cleared with the assumption I was returning. That didn't happen. it was determined that I needed a medical detox from the pain pills, so off to a detox program I was sent. I thank God it was a nice one and they kept me pretty comfortable. I was started on subutex 24 hours after my last dose of narcotics and for 3 days they checked my vitals and asked a lot of other quesions, which determined if I was in need of more subutex. After 10 days, I was discharged on suboxone. (Subutex has only  the active ingredient of suboxone, minus the extra one that deters abuse.) I could not go on to the inpatient mental hospital like I wanted because they cannot facilitate the suboxone.

I have a LOT that I want to share about my experience with all of this. Mainly my anxiety is sky high and it is preventing me from taking an active part in a lot of things, but it is particularly stunting my recovery. I struggle with reality. I have moments where I feel like I am in a dream, sometimes it is a bad dream that I just wish would end. I don't know how I am supposed to be advocating for my self when I can barely get out of bed some days. My son is a whole 'nother story. He is only about 2 weeks clean (he says) and I havent been able to get ua's for him started. Funny how he has needed them and I have been asking for them for MONTHS, but I get out of the hospital and I am now labeled an addict, my counselor drops me and puts me in the program Destin has been in and I get ua's ordered immediately. Wonder what their reasoning is in those priorities?

My substance abuse group is such a JOY. There are 4 other girls. 3 are around 25 and have lost their kids to social services or their parents, and are court ordered to be there, and yet they are STILL in there talking about their latest relapse and their still using boyfriends that are an obstacle to them ever getting their kids back. It makes me sick. Then there is the 34 year old stripper. Now she is really an inspiration. She sleeps all day while she puts her 3 year old in front of the TV, and then finds the energy to go to a hotel wide Halloween party where she proceeds to "do lines (of coke)  in every room and get loaded until four in the morning."

So my counselor at the mental health center that I have been seeing for almost 6 months has dropped me saying that I am an addict in need of an addictions counselor, but they dont have an individual one so I am stuck in the above mentioned group for 12 weeks and I am supposed to drop my private psychiatrist and use their Dr., but if I miss 3 groups, I get kicked out of not only the substance abuse program (the wonderful group), then I also lose their Dr. (who would be my suboxone provider), and I lose access to any mental health meds or services. Way to dehumanize me and give me lots of hope about the future. Just when i decide to make a positive change in my life, they label me and take away my privalages as a mental health client because I am now a substance abuse client.

My private psych., who by no small miracle is a suboxone provider, has already given me my 1st prescription and although he recommended some form of group therapy, offered to bill the usually cash only suboxone visits to my insurance and said if the group doesnt work out, he can help get me some one on one intensive therapy with an addictions counselor. As I am writing this out, it makes me wonder why there was ever any debate as to which route I should go. So even though it takes me some balls of steel to go to group, it is going to take those same balls to quit (I don't like being labeled a quitter, especially at a fragile time like this) and walk away from the mental health clinic. I have not been treated very well even before going to their hospital and getting over medicated back in August, so in my heart I know its the right thing to do. My anxiety on the other hand makes me afraid of the permanency of it all, and my fear of driving and appointments makes it hard to instead commit to the private practice that is further away.

I have days where I am completely frozen by anxiety and fear. It was my Birthday yesterday and I was literally stuck in my chair for hours, sweating and freaking out. I couldn't even go to my ceramics class. I don't  know if this is extended withdrawals or if it is suboxone side effects, which are similar. I see my, MY, Dr. on the 10th and will be talking about my dosing, my debilitating anxiety, as well as the program at the mental health center.

There is so much going on and I wish I could get it all out, but I am lucky for the ability to sit here now and say this much. My reality has changed so much without the pain pills and the label of "addict" feels so harsh. When I was on meth, it was different. I chose an illegal substance and I continued to abuse it. This time a Dr. prescribed me opiates and when I became dependent and wanted off, I was labeled "addict."  Because of my meth addiction, I know there will always be an addict in me, but I don't think this time was the same and I think I should be respected for realizing I had a problem with the pills I was being prescribed and getting off of them. Maybe its the suboxone that says, "addict."

I have to take one day at a time, sometimes one moment at a time. I feel so raw and and I desperately need the healing to begin. I must believe that it will get better so that I have a reason to walk in these unbearable shoes.