sundrop19

So today i got the courage and called my primary doctors office.... within two seconds they already made it quite clear that they couldnt help me.. so they told me to call another place and i did... they told me they could not help me.... so i called another palce where they told me they could help me... but they could not write me a note from work so i could get help and not get fired... so now what...
Finnaly opening up and reaching out and then get turned away......
I have hit a whole new feeling of loney and sadness....
now what???

Impurrfect

(((Sundrop))) - keep calling other doctors. I wouldn't mention the work excuse thing until I actually got in to SEE the dr., but that's just my personal feeling. Look up doctors that specialize in substance abuse. When I was dealing with PTSD from a violent robbery at work, I looked up counselors that dealt with PTSD and substance abuse (I'm an RA) and there were a lot of them. Some had sliding scale payments, but I was stubborn and decided to do it on my own.

When I went to my dr., I was already in recovery, and he was awesome. He just moved, have met the new dr. and was glad to have the nurse who's known me since my first visit, as she told the new dr. my history and said "she's legit.." as I still have to take something for sleep since the robbery.

I don't know where you are in GA, but there has to be someone who will help. Have you tried the ER? Most of them will give you a referral (I used to work at Grady ER as a nurse). If you can't find anything, pm me and I'll see if I can find someone.

The reason I say I wouldn't mention the work excuse as dr's are inundated with people who just want a work excuse, so they're pretty suspicious when that is mentioned. Meet the dr., explain your work situation and that you want to get off the pills and go from there. They aren't going to get a "feel" for you, whether you're "legit" or just wanting an excuse until they meet you.

Hugs and prayers,

Amy

Spica

First of all - DO NOT GIVE UP!!!

Many of us have walked along this same path.

Can you do an internet search to see what other facilities are in your area? There may be a detox center nearby that can help you. I understand that if there is a local Salvation Army chapter near you they may be able to refer you to someone to help. Help is out there but sadly it sometimes takes a bit to find. Please do not go away. Keep posting and let us know how things are going.

Is it just me or does is seem that there are getting to be too many doctors out there that are ok with prescribing copious amounts of painkillers and then not bothering to clean up the mess afterwards - a very sad state of affairs. But then again maybe it is just me - I am clean but still have an idiot brain to contend with...

Hang in there Sundrop - and please feel free to PM me if you need to chat!!!

LostinLaLaland

I applaud you for your determination. You don't have any vacation you could take or something even a week off would be great help, not sure how long you need for your doctor's thing though. I'm assuming you have insurance because I do not, but if you don't either and they were willing to help you that will give me a bit of hope here??? I would not have the job problem as I managed to get myself fired last week, but no money either.

sundrop19

I keep calling and keep getting turned away...
I can't take much more of this.....
I can't stop crying as we speek... this hurts.
I JUST WANT TO GET BETTER!!!!!! I want someone to tel me its okay we are here to help but not one person has!!!

sundrop19

i do have vacation time but they want like two weeks notice.... and i need help now!


but at this point im just like screw it.. atleast I know the pain pills will always be here for me...they might not want to help me... but they are here for me....


I guess ill just keep doing what im doing until my work will give me vacation time???

texas729

It's been my experience that Drs. tend to treat things like this in a more cold manner. Everything I do is with referral from my therapist - she understands and is a substance abuse counselor.

suki44883

Of course it's up to you, but you could go to your employer and explain what is going on and tell them you need to take off now. I have no idea how it works at your place of employment, but mine was very supportive when I admitted myself into detox without any prior notice.

Spica

It is always a tricky thing to talk to an employer - I am thrilled that yours was understanding. The corporate culture I was in frowned heavily on this stuff and people who admitted issues were eventually let go. Each case is different...

Sundrop, I just want to share that the longer you stay on an opiate the more chance that the withdrawal stage will be a little more uncomfortable.

Do you have any sick time? Maybe I missed this discussion - if so I apologize. You cannot help it if you come down with a bad case of the tummy flu and that is pretty much what your withdrawals will feel like (with a little bit of shaking and insomnia to go with it...)

If there is no way to avoid work and you have insurance there is always the option of going to the doctor and being put on suboxone - that way you are only uncomfortable for a day and then can continue on with work. Just as a warning though - you will eventually have to detox off of that but it would buy you some time. Not an inexpensive option but a doable one.

I have personally talked to several folks who succesfully used suboxone to wean off of painkillers (I was not one of them but there are success stories here).

Please hang in there - sometimes these things seem insurmountable and then when we least expect it a solution presents itself.

sundrop19

im just going to beg my work for my vacation time as soon as possible....
i called a place that is a little out of my way for suboxone and the soonest they can see me is next monday so thats what im planning on...
i have nothing else in mind and nobody else has reached out to me... due to all the phone calls and emails today.

did you take suboxone? im afraid to be put on it.. but at this point nothing else is working and i just cant quit....

Spica

I was on suboxone for awhile (on and off). I actually first heard about it here on the forum when my escalating oxy use first started to scare me. One of the members who has been clean for a long time helped a lot of folks understand the suboxone process. It worked great for him and many others. There is a suboxone thread right below this one that is a good place to start -there are success stories and stories where people weren't so happy - as with everything it is an individual choice.

While it worked for me for a time - I was able to wean myself down to 1mg a day for several months but I had not lost anything to my oxy addiction at the time and fooled myself into thinking I was ok and could go back to using oxy and control my usage this time...It all fell apart after that. Not everyone has to lose everything to get clean - I am just incredibly hard headed.

If you cannot get time off of work the suboxone is a good route but if you have a doctor that does not start to taper you down on your suboxone dosages you will need to find another - I am sad to say that there are doctors out there that are more interested in the monetary gain than in truly helping their patients... (Oh, pooh, how many forum rules have I just violated?)

ARTEMIS

Don't give up.There are good docs that will hep you.

Impurrfect

(((Spica))) - I don't think you violated any rules...you're just sharing your ES&H. There is a forum about suboxone, though I don't think it's as active as this one, but you may want to check it out (((Sundrop))).

I have no personal experience of subs, but from what I've read, it's best to work a program of recovery while taking it. If we don't change our thoughts and reactions to things (oooh, bad day, wanna get HIGH!), then we're not really addressing the root of our addiction. I used to avoid feelings I didn't want to feel. Until I addressed THAT, recovery just wasn't gonna work.

Hugs and prayers,

Amy

Spica

Whew, thanks Impurrfect, I try to keep my diatribes to a minimum but also hope to see folks get better.

turnforturn

keep trying... My head is dizzy just thinking about all this, it's too soon to my own attempts to get off of suboxone, so I can't believe I'm trying to help someone get on them, but as far as I'm concerned my problems with subs, as unfortunate as that might have been, was a blessing compared to my problems with pills... so if I can think of any way to help you I would, but I'm new here and we aren't supposed to give medical advice?... anyway I'm new to all this and by no means someone who anyone should probably ever listen to. What I can do is tell you my experience looking for the stuff I guess? I'm pretty sure wen I was looking I had to call dozens of different places and most couldn't help me, a lot because I was on state health insurrance and the coverage was picky.. finally what happenned is I got in contact with some program who I'm pretty sure is run by the pharmaceutical company who makes Suboxone... I think it's like heretohelp or something.. it's still in my emails, anyway I called them and they were really really nice over the phone, wonderful even... and they were very happy to put me in contact with local doctors to my area who could prescribe subs... so with that list I called all of them until I could finally one who could make an appointment with me. Even the one who could take me the soonest was like, an appointment I had to make weeks and weeks in advance. That was the soonest. Of course I couldn't wait weeks. I ended up having to contact the very people who would sell me the pills, and they could usually sell me subs too... wouldn't yah know it, surprise surprise, if that tells you anything about subs... so that's how I started. For the month and a half I waited until the appnt came I was on subs when I couldn't find pills and on pills when I couldn't find subs.. and when the appointment arrived I went through the motions and got put on subs and have been off pills ever since. Subs will help you... I get sick thinking about them because I guess I want one so badly but I can't have one.. but at least thank god it took the sickness and sheer panic of withdrawal away. It gave me time to distance myself from all the people I used to associate with, it gave me a chance to get things back in order... for that I'm grateful, even if in the end I became just another person who couldn't get off subs, or wouldn't get off subs... though I finally did, and it wasn't as bad as it could have been... to give you some hope.

Outside of that, everything will be okay... I promise you. This sucks now, I know it does... but once you get past all this **** things will get easier.. subs will seem like a blessing in disguise compared to the hell of opiate addiction... but just becareful.. I know some people would get surprised a higher dose than they needed... that's no good... just take care of yourself... that's all.. good luck hun.

RubyRose

I never went on suboxone so I have no experience with that. I only know what I've read here and some it's worked great for, some, not so much. My Dr. was my lifeline, I didn't say what my appointment was for but they knew me there so no one asked either. I just went in and blurted it all out to the Dr. and with all the bad, bad feelings I was having I did a lot of crying through it all. He actually gave me a choice of weaning off but I said I'd already tried that - didn't work, going cold turkey with other drugs to help, or just cold turkey. He did push a bit for the just cold turkey because he said I'd be better off in the long run (it's just to easy for an addict to become addicted to anything.) So that's the route I took. I had no idea the w/d would be so bad so I figured if I quit on Friday I'd be ok by Monday. Well, that was pretty stupid of me I realize now, but by Monday I had to go to the ER and actually was there a full 24 or more hours with IV fluids for dehydration and gravol and immodium. Work had no problem hearing from a nurse that I was very sick and in hospital and they don't have to tell them why and your job has no right to know anyway.

I ended up off for almost 3 weeks and when I went back everyone just kind of avoided me anyway. I found out later a rumor had spread that I had Swine flu! That good old rumor mill. I don't work there anymore, I found a much better job that I could never have done while on Oxy!

Whatever way works for you, in however way you can do it, don't give up. The world is so much bigger and brighter without those 'Oxy Shades'. Keep coming here too, it was my other lifeline and I needed two!

...Ruby...