Ok so I am new to this. So I will try to make it good. I have been ready alot online about drug addiction, or addiction in general. The bad part is there is nothing like personal experience. For many years now my husband has been an addict which I knew about, just not the extent of it. It only recently grew to be a major problem the last year. It did finally come to a head only recently.So now he is in treatment. But this is the problem:
Back when his addiction actually began he had never taken any kind of medication. Never had a need for it. That's great, anyone would say. Then a simple accident happened and changed his world forever. He liked the feeling of the meds and couldn't stop, he no longer had control of his life anymore... a little tiny pill did.
Jump ahead 10 years: He is now married (to me of course) and finally has sought of treatment for his addiction. Go him! But what about me? We keep hearing from doctors that it wasn't him, it was the drugs. O.k. well again, what about me? I now am looking for a therapist to be able to get some of the pain of the past years we have been together fighting against this addiction. Addicts do things that they would normally do sober. I know this. But that doesn't make it hurt any less. Unfortunately doctors don't stop and think when they pass out a script of oxycodone like it's candy. They don't think of the patient or of the cost to their family. We had a quack doctor that would walk in the room and ask what script you wanted that day and didn't ask anything else. My husband grew to love that because he was hooked.
Well now not only is he fighting his addiction but now I am fighting for my sanity again. My husband is a great and wonderful man, and I wouldn't give him up for the world, but I will think twice the next time he goes to a doctor. The next perscription that is being given to him, if ever. I am whole- heartedly for more intense regulations on pain meds and the doctors that perscribe them!
I'm sorry if it wounds like babbling, but if someone reads this and needs a little word of encouragement please feel free to write.
Hi Casie,
Welcome to ChronicPainConnection! Given what you have been through, I can understand why you feel as you do. It sounds like your husband's doctor was terribly irresponsible. In my experience, he is the exception and not the rule. In fact, many doctors will not prescribe opioid pain relievers at all and most others will only prescribe small amounts for very limited periods of time because they live in fear of the DEA, losing their licenses and being prosecuted because a patient misused his medication.
Actually, only about one percent of people who are given opioids for a real pain condition end up becoming addicted to them. Sadly, it sounds like your husband was one of that one percent. And, of course, he wasn't helped at all by his doctor. No responsible physician will give a patient any prescription he wants – especially not one for opioids. When his initial injury healed, the doctor should have cut out the opioids. If his injury resulted in a long-term pain condition, he should have been referred to a pain management specialist, who would have kept a close eye on his medication use.
As I said, I can understand why you would feel that pain meds should be more strictly regulated. But there is, as they say, two sides to every coin. I hope you'll read some of the stories here on ChronicPainConnection and see how many people live in severe, debilitating pain every day and can't find a doctor who will prescribe pain medications for them because, as I mentioned, the doctors are afraid.
Somehow, there has to be a way to ensure that legitimate pain patients can get the medications they need without being made to feel like drug addicts or criminals, while also preventing potential drug abusers from having easy access to pain meds. Obviously, there is no easy solution. I'm just afraid that even stricter regulations, though they may help the 1% who become addicted, will leave the 99% who don't in horrible pain with no one who will help them.
I'm so glad that your husband is finally getting help and hope you're soon able to find a good therapist who can help you work through the pain you have experienced through everything. I know that I can't begin to imagine all you must have been through. I pray that you, your husband and your marriage are able to heal and you can start the rest of your life together anew. – Karen
Casie,
Like Karen said, people that get addicted to their pain medications are the exception and not the rule. I am so sorry that your husband got addicted to his meds, but a lot of us in intractable pain use our medications as directed and do not become addicted to them.
As a matter of fact, people in real chronic and/or intractable pain, do not get high when taking their medication, they get pain relief.
I have been taking opiods now for about 6 years and I can tell you that I am not an addict. Due to a devastating injury to my spine, I am in pain 24/7. My pain management Doctor is a board certified professional that prescribes my medications responsibly and never, ever gives me "what I want", he gives me what I need to help me with my pain.
Is easy to judge all Doctor's the same way when your husband was treated by a quack that gave him medications like it was candy, but the grand majority of Doctor's are not that way, the majority of Doctor's are responsible and take the responsibility of prescribing opiods to their patient's very, very seriously!
I am sorry that you and your husband had to go through this, but do not forget that there are millions of people out there in need of these medications and that we are responsible patients,and we are seeing by responsible Doctor's, and we take our medications as directed because we know how critical they are for our survival.
Sincerely,
Millie
I really apprieciate your response to my rant. I do realize there are a lot of people that truely need medication to just get through the day. Unfortunately, there are those few that are a rare case, like my husband, that trys to treat his true pain and gets hooked. I am not against the patient, but I am against the doctors that don't actually treat the patient they are just drug dealers in white coats. And it isn't just the patients with real issues or even the people just looking to get high, it is the one's that love you that get hurt the most. Our wounds aren't seen. So I do believe that if all of the doctors or even just the doctors where a lot of heavy scripts are being written by were regulated a little more and checked on more then there would be less people out there like me. And I am truely sorry if that is mean to you in any way, it isn't meant to be.