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Helping a friend battle an Oxicodone Addiction

Old 01-12-2011, 12:47 PM
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Helping a friend battle an Oxicodone Addiction

Going to meet with (lets call him J) J's family members and a friend or two about what to do with J's very serious addiction to Oxycodone.

Background:
We have been good friends for a long time. Now at 27 years old, J has been addicted to pills for 4 years. Started with Vicodine and Percocet. He has been on Oxycodone for over 2 years, sniffing them like coke preferably.

We have experimented and had our fun over the years. Alcohol, pot, coke, but pills seemed to be the drug that didn't let go.

He has tried to quit at least 10 times. Gets very sick and ends up back in it. He has lost his job, and sold off everything of value to buy pills. He even got in trouble with the law by forging a prescription for some and getting caught.


I have read a lot of very useful posts and have a plan on what he will need to do to get through the withdrawals.

I notice there are some drugs he can take to help him get off these pills. (suboxone)

I understand that he may get addicted to this drug, but how damaging is it. I would rather he be addicted to a different safer drug than continue letting the oxy's tear his body down. I am realistically doubting he can quit cold turkey.

Anyone on here quit by having the help of marijuana? We live in Oregon, I am a grower for a couple friends with serious problems that pot really does help. I have done many drugs my self but I have an understanding of which ones do legitimate harm. I have no doubt in my mind that pot is safer than Suboxone, so I am looking for a open minded answer on this.
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Old 01-12-2011, 12:56 PM
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Bret, you should be commended for trying to help a friend out. The very best thing you can do for him is get him to a doctor/rehab, and from there to an NA meeting. That is, if he truly wants to quit.
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Old 01-12-2011, 01:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Dopafiend View Post
Bret, you should be commended for trying to help a friend out. The very best thing you can do for him is get him to a doctor/rehab, and from there to an NA meeting. That is, if he truly wants to quit.
This is one thing we are worried about. I don't know if he wants to quit yet.

I do agree with a real rehab though. He has been taken to his mothers place for weeks at a time to clean up before. It doesn't work. He will have to agree to this though. Any tips?
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Old 01-12-2011, 01:40 PM
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Bret! I agree that you are a great friend for trying to help - it's not easy.

I was on pills for about 2 years and struggled with trying to get clean for about a year. I now have 3 months clean. I'm a little younger at 23 but it sounds like we grew up experimenting in a very similar manner.

I had legal motivation (drug court) to get clean and I still had trouble. I actually complete the program tomorrow but I plan to stay clean because things are going wonderfully. If he doesn't have the motivation to quit it's going to be almost impossible to get him to quit.

Anyways, pot will help with withdrawals a little bit but I am willing to bet it will not keep him clean. Suboxone is a great drug, I am on it. I've been taking it for a year (I would stop when I relapsed because it is an opiate blocker) and I am now down to 2mg a day. I think Suboxone will be the best thing to get him on. Some doctors don't really understand it yet because it's fairly new and they will prescribe A LOT. But I cannot give ANY medical advice because that is against the rules here.

Really, I'd recommend him quitting everything - drinking, pot, pills, etc because cross-addiction was a problem for me. I'd quit pills and start drinking like a liter of liquor throughout the night or smoke a bunch of pot or whatever. I think a lot of people will agree with me on this topic - that quitting everything is the only "real" way to recover.

If you'd like you can email or chat and we can discuss this further. I have google chat and aim which I'm not on very often but I'd sign in if you want to set up a time. I'd like to help as much as I can but I don't want to break the rules here.

email - allennyberg (at) *****.com
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Old 01-12-2011, 02:10 PM
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Originally Posted by OChromeIsClean View Post
Bret! I agree that you are a great friend for trying to help - it's not easy.

I was on pills for about 2 years and struggled with trying to get clean for about a year. I now have 3 months clean. I'm a little younger at 23 but it sounds like we grew up experimenting in a very similar manner.

I had legal motivation (drug court) to get clean and I still had trouble. I actually complete the program tomorrow but I plan to stay clean because things are going wonderfully. If he doesn't have the motivation to quit it's going to be almost impossible to get him to quit.

Anyways, pot will help with withdrawals a little bit but I am willing to bet it will not keep him clean. Suboxone is a great drug, I am on it. I've been taking it for a year (I would stop when I relapsed because it is an opiate blocker) and I am now down to 2mg a day. I think Suboxone will be the best thing to get him on. Some doctors don't really understand it yet because it's fairly new and they will prescribe A LOT. But I cannot give ANY medical advice because that is against the rules here.

Really, I'd recommend him quitting everything - drinking, pot, pills, etc because cross-addiction was a problem for me. I'd quit pills and start drinking like a liter of liquor throughout the night or smoke a bunch of pot or whatever. I think a lot of people will agree with me on this topic - that quitting everything is the only "real" way to recover.

If you'd like you can email or chat and we can discuss this further. I have google chat and aim which I'm not on very often but I'd sign in if you want to set up a time. I'd like to help as much as I can but I don't want to break the rules here.

email - allennyberg (at) *****.com
aim sn - fluxriffs
I appreciate your response, and congratulations on quitting the pills. I will keep all of this in mind tonight when I meet with members of J's family and friends. I wanted to go into this meeting with good information because it is the first time both friends and family are trying to help J together.

I am not too worried about cross addictions, he doesn't drink at all since his pill addiction. This has probably kept him alive. We did smoke a lot of pot in our early 20's but he doesn't fancy it anymore. Now that I think of it, he is on probation so smoking pot would just get him into more trouble.

He is addicted to cigarettes though. But in past attempts to quit the cigs went with the pills. After a line of oxy comes the urge to have a cig basically for J.

I think this medication Suboxone might be something that J will be into trying. He already loves his pills so it looks to be the easiest route. Getting him to a Dr will be a must it seems. (I am not too kind to Dr's and the pharmaceutic companies so this is hard for me, they are the ones that start these addictions)
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Old 01-12-2011, 05:15 PM
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I used weed to ease my withdrawals. There is no doubt in my mind that it calmed the nausea and allowed me to eat.
As far as the fatigue, shakes, headaches, hot/cold spells, and the restless legs it did nothing for that.
I only used it for the first three days.

Last edited by EntreNous; 01-12-2011 at 05:16 PM. Reason: Grammar
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