I am reaching out for help
 

Hello all,
I have been a bit consumed with life and haven't found much time to come back on here . My boyfriend is an opiate addict, who has started treatment for now his second time about two months ago. I guess what I am looking for is someone to help me understand. He isn't in a full time or part time rehab treatment but instead is doing one on one sessions with a addiction therapist and attending meetings, while also being placed on suboxone treatment. Coming from a medical background originally i was totally anti-suboxone but I have come to realize I may have misconceptions of this drug. I guess my concerns started when i found out his psychiatrist who is in charge of his suboxone treatment prescribed him klonopine. I understand one of the side effects is insomnia , and my boyfriend said that was one reason why he was given it. My other concern is the length of treatment, originally it was going to be 2 months but then that was extended to 6. Why would this happen? I find it hard for me to trust that he is really doing the right thing and I feel bad about that but in the past my gut instinct has proven to be correct. My lack of trust stems from the fact that I know while he was using in the past he would sometimes get suboxone to help on days he couldn't find anything else and to prevent doing into withdrawal. Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated.

so he is in Intensive OutPatient, it sounds like. Not residential treatment. For the next six months or so.

And ya know what? That is HIS business......and he will proceed in whatever fashion HE sees fit. If this works for him, great. Subs can be a great TOOL and a lot of addicts are prescribed klonopin, so none of that is a real surprise.

Whether HE is serious about this remains to be seen. And whether or not you buy into HIS chosen plan for RECOVERY is kind of irrelevant.....because this is HIS journey.

you'll know soon enough..........watch his actions. and you can also decide just how long and how close you want to be watching HIS stage production.

im a bit confused, I'm sorry if MY post comes off judgemental because that is not MY intent. I simple am asking for advice to better MY understanding. I understand this is HIS journey and full support that but am trying to help and support MYSELF throughout this considering I am choosing to stick around.

Add a note: No he goes in for these treatments 1 time a week maybe MY knowledge of intensive outpatient treatment differs from yours but to me 1 day a week is not considered "intensive outpatient"

My exbf also went on Suboxone for his opiate addiction. It started out as a tool in conjunction with meetings and one on one counseling with an addiction specialist. About 3 months into his "recovery" he was prescribed Klonopin which is a benzo and soon his addiction to those benzos kicked in and he was off and running full speed in addiction mode.

My experience looking at it from my view point was a pill addict was offered pills by a Doctor treating him for a pill addition. Clearly me a non-medical person has to ask "Whats wrong in that picture".

Funny, my ex used to say....well at least its not opiates!

I left when his benzo addiction turned into him taking bottles of xanax daily and losing his mind along the way.

So I guess you can say I;m just a little jaded with pills to treat a pill addiction.

My daughter has been in recovery for (I think) 6 years now, from shooting dilaudid in her veins. I'm not sure of the time frame because I stopped monitoring her disease a few years ago. However, I am certain that subs played a huge role in her eventual recovery after a few false starts.

I learned everything I could about her addiction in an effort to support her, but it never provided support for myself. That required an education about codependency, which it turns out is an addiction too. The 12 steps, meetings, and a kick ass therapist were the support I needed for me, to keep me focused on me and my recovery.

My daughter thanked me again yesterday, for taking care of myself :)

I completely agree with AnvilheadII here. If your gut is telling you something, trust it. My ex also heroin user used on suboxone just fine, all you got to do it miss your sub. IOP for 6 months, again, its HIS business. If he decides to get sober, he will. My ex used to "go" to IOP, buy someone's urine, drive to Baltimore, buy dope, get high, go back to IOP, pass the test, etc, etc, etc. Combinations of all this are endless when it comes to getting what an addict wants. Being on benzo and suboxone gets them an extra high, btw. It was my ex's favorite combo when h was not available.

I have spent 6 years trying to figure it all out, what he takes, how he takes it, also was against sub at first, then accepted it, spied on him, counted his meds, etc, etc, etc, while he used and used and used and used and used. Leave it alone and see what he DOES, using always looks like using :(