I heard back from my friend who lives up in San Francisco. It seems he is doing better and was able to find the help he needs at the drug treatment facility I told him about. He told me when he arrived in Orange County he was experiencing a heavy detox methadone withdrawal; the shakes, nausea, and a host of other symptoms.
They took him in, set him up with Suboxone and he’s been attending individual and group therapy sessions right on the campus. I could tell his spirits were up because he was commenting on a possible move to Southern California. I just told him to sit tight and not make any big moves for at least a year if he could help it!
It is advice I freely give because it’s what I was told when I was first getting sober, oh so many years ago. There is a certain ‘pink, fluffy cloud’ that more often than not follows us when we are first getting sober. We sometimes believe that this is the time to make big moves. Sure, sometimes we need to clean up the wreckage of the past, which could include a move of some sort, but if the change is not ‘needed’ then sit tight and just let life begin. Changes can come later.
Are you newly sober? Have you made big changes in your life?
I received a call from a friend in the Bay Area this week. When I don’t hear from him, I worry, but that’s just part of my recovery life. I accept it fully. When I first lived in San Francisco, I moved into a house with two apartments. He lived across from me and I watched his life unravel due to meth.
Although I’ve worked, and lived, in the addiction/recovery industry since I was fourteen (way more than half my life), I’ve never watched someone’s life spin out like that. In two words? “Horrifyingly Amazing ” My neighbor/friend was in and out of detox treatment numerous times while I lived there, and then one day it just seemed to stick. He still hadn’t regained his good looks and needed to work out some past financial calamities, but he was on the road to recovery.
So, his call this week was surprising. It turns out he’s been using methadone and has become addicted. He stopped using and quickly began experiencing detox methadone withdrawal. He needed the drug to cope. His life was beginning to spiral down again, and he was afraid of overdosing.
I suggested an Orange County Detox facility down in Costa Mesa, CA. They have a great and successful reputation for using Suboxone for people like him. I am hoping he is on his way.
Do you have any stories of suffering from methadone addiction?
Typically Methadone is used as a substitution therapy in the treatment of an opioid addiction. As this medication is addictive, the users may experience a detox methadone withdrawal. In addition to addiction treatment, this medication can be taken as a pain management treatment, which it often is. This powerful narcotic can be misused and abused. Of course when this happens the patient will be subjected to a detox methadone withdrawal.
How do you know if an addiction to Methadone has started?
Typically the best way to discover an addiction is to stop using the drug or medication. Withdrawal symptoms run the gambit from chills, aches and pains, tremors, depression, delirium.
That sounds frightening. Maybe the person shouldn’t stop, right?
Well, that isn’t the best course of action. A lot of addicts tend to think that way. Long-term use and abuse to any narcotic will create other problems — social, health, economic — to the users. There are treatment options available that allow the person to detox safely, comfortably, and most importantly with results.
Have you had an addiction to Methadone? What did you do to get help?