Hello everyone, I have been in recovery for 6.5 years and had to change my sobriety date because of an addiction to prescription pain medication. I wondered if there was an "official word" by AA concerning narcotic pain medication prescribed by a physician. I was able to locate a reprint of a Grapevine article that Bill W. published in 1945 on the internet. Link is below.
There is some good info here - mainly what I took from it is the one line - "when medication is needed, don't let the alcoholic hold the bottle", meaning pharmacy bottle of medication. Pretty much sums it up. I held the bottle, I got loaded. And this was to the point of wishing for death and contemplating suicide on a daily basis for over a year. I never took a painkiller in my life until I was sober (because I had never injured myself, and also because in my opinion strong narcotics were not routinely prescribed until the mid 1990's - and all that took was a letter from the AMA to physicians urging them to treat pain more aggressively. I won't get into the whole capitalist-for-profit healthcare system we have, but you connect the dots).
It sucks to turn all your coins in over something that was completely avoidable. And it is avoidable - but it seems I can't go to 5 meetings anymore without someone standing up and saying "well I have to take this pain medication, my sponsor said to enjoy the freebie" and it just makes me wince. That's how it started for me. Dangerous, hazardous advice. Even if you have no drug addiction in your history, your body and mind will probably thoroughly enjoy being intoxicated again. And pain meds are the #1 cause of relapse back into active alcoholism or addiction. At least according to a friend of mine who has been a CDP and a treatment center counselor for 17 years.
I'm glad to be truly sober again and my only bit of advice for someone in recovery thinking of taking prescription pain medication is - if it's something like cancer pain or something really major, ok, as long as the Dr knows you are in recovery, and you have someone hold the bottle who knows what the shot is with you. Anything less than major, severe, chronic pain, trust me it's better to go through a few days or weeks or even months of mild to moderate pain than to suffer the pain of narcotic addiction.
ALSO - Prescription-strength 800 mg Ibuprofen (IBU-8) works as good as Vicodin at pain relief and will not get you high. Now that you know this, if you opt for the Vicodin now, you've chosen the Vicodin and you just busted through the starting gate in one hell of a crappy ride...
Just noticed they won't let me post a URL so just google "Those Goof Balls" Bill W. Alcoholics Anonymous and you'll find it. T