Posted by Larry Hoover on September 20, 2003, at 9:36:57
In reply to Re: Recovery and prescription meds » hog80ci, posted by Simcha on September 15, 2003, at 20:22:43
> I will never let some 12-step Nazi sponsor brainwash me into believing fear-based propaganda that says that meds are evil. I now realize that it is fear, projection, and ignorance that drive some of my fellow 12-steppers to insist that medication is evil. I find that I need to stand up for myself in my programs now that I know better. I hang out with the winners who accept me the way I am.
I have never understood what is up with the anti-med faction within the 12-step programs. The decision to medicate or not is one to be made by the individual.
Depressed people are up to 12 times more likely to self-medicate with alcohol or street drugs than are non-depressed people. Schizophrenics, up to 15 times more likely. Getting clean and sober does not address the mental health issues.
When I was one year into recovery, I had an excruciatingly painful joint surgery. My physiotherapy went on for 18 months, and I didn't go anywhere without opiate painkillers. I went to Narcotics Anonymous meetings with full knowledge that I was carrying with me substances that others in the room had abused. I took them to take the edge off my pain, not to get a buzz. In fact, if I got a buzz, I knew I could reduce my dose. It was just part of a medical problem that I had to deal with. I never let anyone know I was "carrying" at meetings. I only talked about it after I no longer needed them.
When some people heard that I had used opiates, they tried to convince me that I had been using, that I had lost my clean time. Bollocks. It was a matter between me and my Higher Power, and I was very clear on the decisions I made on a daily basis. When my pain subsided, I stopped using the opiates. No withdrawal. No issues of addiction. No denial. No craving. And nobody else's business.
The same issues arose around my major depression, treated with prescription meds. And my insomnia, also treated with prescription meds (again, the same sort that others in the rooms had abused). So long as I used my meds as prescribed, it was not affecting my clean time. It's not up to anybody else to tell me if I'm clean or not. I know.
There's a residential recovery home in town, and it's supervised by an AA Nazi nick-named Gestapo Al. He places prescription meds under lock and key (for good reason, obviously), but then he resorts to deception and tricks and outright manipulation to keep the residents from getting their meds as prescribed. I had to take one schizophrenic/alcoholic resident to the emergency room for an injection of Haldol because he began to decompensate after being denied his antipsychotic meds for eight straight days. I cannot fathom the logic behind people like this "addictions counsellor" (used loosely, here).
The appropriateness of the use of psychoactive substances, whether street or prescribed, is to be determined by the individual. No one can tell you if your use is appropriate or not. That is why the steps were created, so you can figure that out for yourself.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:258232
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20030903/msgs/261910.html