Originally Posted by
Vintersemestre Well it's sort of by happenstance that I post here, since before I was self-medicating my condition and people around me as well as ill-informed social workers and doctors informed me that I was indeed an addict and I had some severe family pressure to stop "using", even though it's something I took to maintain my sanity, not get high and vegetate.
So I started posting here when I was suffering really badly and I identified with alot of the mental problems I was reading, though none of the drug-seeking behaviour. After seeking better medical care and advice and being stabilized on medication, my odd/rare condition put me in contact with people from a university who study chemicals and pharmacology from a scientific and sociological point of view. They wanted to do some studies with me and I agreed and just through conversation they found that I had a profound, almost "idiot-savant" like understanding of body/brain chemistry, drugs (street and pharmaceutical) and was very good at thinking forwardly and creatively vis-a-vis applied logic as it pertains to the effects of said drugs and as we all know, science evolves from theory and creativity, testing and trial and error. This led to working not only in a laboratory environment, but in a place we call "The Wailing Praesidium", where we endure self-sacrificial injections of chemicals (often newly invented experimental ones) in a medical setting to study their effects. This place also has an outpatient treatment clinic for opiate and benzodiazepine addicts, where two physicians and one psychiatrist and six profesionally trained social workers are employed. I often talk to the opiate addict (if they want to and the social worker approves it, since I'm not professionally trained) because it's what I have personal experience with (as far as the physical dependence goes) and people like talking to other people with first-hand experience when in times of crisis. I believe that advice I have given has saved lives.
Anyway, I do have some valid knowledge to contribute in regards to how to best cease different types of drugs (which a lot of people here want to do) and I have always liked helping people (which is held in odd contrast to my unmedicated behaviour).
I came to befriend some of the people here and I like alot of them so I want to help, and even though I haven't experienced addiction for myself, I work with people who are addicted every day. Your argument is sort of isolationist and nonsensical from my point of view, but I understand where you're coming from; you view it as a brotherhood, but the way I view it is with the following analogy: just because I've never had cancer doesn't mean I don't know I'd feel horrified and scared if I did have it.
Thanks for the post! I do see the standpoint from which you are coming from. It is valid...a difficult ground to give advice from but nonetheless still a platform. While clearly those outsiders can many times help, their ability to win over the person they are trying to help is not as strong as it not backed by much.
From "To Kill A Mockingbird" the great quote, "You never really know a man until you step in his shoes and walk around in them". Thanks again!