Notices

Something's bothering me... need opinions

Old 10-26-2011, 03:45 PM
  # 1 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Hellertown, PA
Posts: 33
Something's bothering me... need opinions

I just posted yesterday about being 1 month sober (still sober, don't worry). But the thing that's been nagging at me is that I'm also currently being treated for depression and anxiety (caused by drinking, or did those things cause the drinking in the first place? Who knows?).

Anyway, I'm on a daily dose of Lexapro (which is helping tremendously) and I also take Xanax on an occasional basis for panic attacks. I take them as prescribed.

But here's the thing: If I'm taking substances to help me feel better, am I really "sober" or "clean"? Some people would say no. I don't want to feel like I'm using any kind of crutch. I don't know.

Any thoughts on the subject?
ljames103 is offline  
Old 10-26-2011, 03:53 PM
  # 2 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Dee74's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,043
Personally, I think your meds are between you and your Dr.

There's a vast difference to me between taking drugs to get high and taking drugs, legitimately prescribed by your physician, because you need to.

I don't think your sobriety is compromised at all

D
Dee74 is offline  
Old 10-26-2011, 03:57 PM
  # 3 (permalink)  
Member
 
soberred's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Where the sun is always shining
Posts: 425
If you are taking them as prescribed by your doctor, no. Antidepressants are generally prescribed due to the body not producing the proper brain chemicals. For some, it would be critical for them as it is for someone taking thyroid medicine to regulate their thyroid. It's not a crutch. Please ignore what others are saying. Your doctor knows what is best for you. I have used antidepressants on a couple of occasions. This last time was a live saver for me. Xanax is considered a narcotic but is prescribed and can be effective for anxiety attacks. As long as it is used as prescribed, you are doing what is best for you. As ALWAYS, if you have concerns, please talk to your doctor.
soberred is offline  
Old 10-26-2011, 03:58 PM
  # 4 (permalink)  
I'm here to learn!
 
eJoshua's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: I'm on it!
Posts: 2,038
Originally Posted by Dee74 View Post
Personally, I think your meds are between you and your Dr.

There's a vast difference to me between taking drugs to get high and taking drugs, legitimately prescribed by your physician, because you need to.

I don't think your sobriety is compromised at all

D
+1

Taking prescription drugs as prescribed IMO does not compromise your sobriety. It does warrant extra caution to make sure that you don't begin to abuse them as well, but otherwise you are good.

Congrats on 1 month!
eJoshua is offline  
Old 10-26-2011, 04:34 PM
  # 5 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Anna's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,328
My antidepressants are not a crutch.

I have a chemical imbalance and they help to level the playing field for me.
Anna is online now  
Old 10-26-2011, 05:07 PM
  # 6 (permalink)  
Member
 
wpainterw's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
I agree with what has been said as regards always following your doctor's advice. I have these additional suggestions however. First, it's important to make sure your doctor is up to speed on treating persons with alcohol and substance abuse problems. Second, it's important to be completely candid with your doctor and disclose all the facts. Third, to protect yourself, or, rather, to help your doctor protect you, I suggest that you have an arrangement with him or her to limit the amount of each prescription and the number of refills. That way your doctor will have control over whether you are following the instructions. I say this because of my own experience. In a period of forty years I saw a great many doctors and some of them were not helpful. For example, one gave me a prescription for 100 Xanax with two or three refills. The first doctor I ever went to gave me a prescription for chloral hydrate (a highly addictive narcotic) in liquid form (possibly with an alcohol base) which was perpetually renewable (you could do that legally in those days). I became addicted to that over a period of three or four years. Sometimes I would combine it with alcohol, which creates a life threatening situation. A third doctor treated me for insomnia by prescribing seconol and sodium amytal (a fast acting and longer acting barbiturate) to be taken together. These were not quack doctors. They all had excellent credentials.
So with these additional comments I would agree with what has been said.

W.
wpainterw is offline  
Old 10-26-2011, 06:47 PM
  # 7 (permalink)  
Member
 
Impurrfect's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 31,179
I'll just share my experience. I have abused a lot of substances, was totally addicted to crack. I say abused lightly...got a DUI with alcohol a couple decades ago, lost my nursing career to opiates. However, I quit them both quite easily. Didn't get into recovery, found crack.

The first time I met my dr. I asked him if he had time, then told him all about it. Told him what my "preferences" had been in the past, and if I ever asked him for a certain medication (anti-anxiety) he'd BETTER question me.

A few years later, he was the one treating me for PTSD, I had over 3 years in recovery, and he was one of those that wanted to know..how I was doing in school, what was going on at home (dysfunction junction), how things were going at work, etc. I ended up on the very medicine I'd told him about, but not without answering a lot of questions.

Fast forward, he left the practice and I have a new dr. She doesn't know me so well, so she wants to see me more frequently, re-evaluate whether I still need the med. As I WANT to be held accountable, I took in the prescription, showed her that I was NOT abusing it, nor even using it as prescribed.

She's being cautious, wants to get to know me better and the huge difference is, I'm not only okay with that, I WANT it.

Do I consider myself in recovery? You bet - 4-1/2+ years and counting. I don't want to get high, I don't want to get numb, I just want to be able to function as a responsible adult.

Whether people agree with me or not stopped affecting me a long time ago. I work my recovery, I've been through some REALLY rough times, I try to give back all the great ES&H that's been given to me, and I don't get numb. I'm not cured, I know that. I'm a recovering addict and there will always be that little voice that says "get numb"...I just work, really hard at shutting it up

Hugs and prayers,

Amy
Impurrfect is offline  
Old 10-26-2011, 06:55 PM
  # 8 (permalink)  
Member
 
Cardio's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 117
Amy that was a very powerful comment. Thank you for making it.
Cardio is offline  
Old 10-27-2011, 03:01 AM
  # 9 (permalink)  
Titanium
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Tolland County, CT
Posts: 45
Originally Posted by ljames103 View Post
I just posted yesterday about being 1 month sober (still sober, don't worry). But the thing that's been nagging at me is that I'm also currently being treated for depression and anxiety (caused by drinking, or did those things cause the drinking in the first place? Who knows?).

Anyway, I'm on a daily dose of Lexapro (which is helping tremendously) and I also take Xanax on an occasional basis for panic attacks. I take them as prescribed.

But here's the thing: If I'm taking substances to help me feel better, am I really "sober" or "clean"? Some people would say no. I don't want to feel like I'm using any kind of crutch. I don't know.

Any thoughts on the subject?
hmmm...i guess i don't know what to say. if you're like me, then xanax is a benzo is a trigger is a direct route back to my DOC, so it's total abstinence for me.

There are alternatives to benzodiazapines though. Vistiral for instance.

Here's a pamphlet on recovery approved medications, and medications that might be a problem for recovery, and those that should be avoided at ALL costs if you value your sobriety.

http://www.talbottcampus.com/pdf/MedGuide.pdf

But i do echo one post that your meds are between you and your doctor. HOWEVER, we in recovery MUST be strong advocates for ourselves. Doctors who do not have training in addiction sometimes have to be put in their place when they attempt to prescribe certain medications.

a brief story: I know a guy that was addicted to heroin. He got clean for 90 days and was happy, healthy and abstinent. He was involved in a car accident. In the hospital he screamed "no opiates!!!" keep in mind he said this about ten times. Well a new nurse came on and didn't talk to the rest of the staff, saw a standing order for morphine, and administered it. He said "was that ******* morphine?" (he of course knew it was).

Well he fell off. Granted he chose to cop, but the morphine woke the beast, and his hard won recovery was gone.

So please, be an advocate for yourself.

bren
XbrenbrenX is offline  
Old 10-27-2011, 03:14 AM
  # 10 (permalink)  
Member
 
Taking5's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: LA - Lower Alabama
Posts: 5,068
While I agree that your meds are between you and your Dr., you can have a script, use as directed, and STILL be hooked or abusing.

It is very easy for a Dr. to write a script for meds, and too many of them do, too often, IMHO.

I will not say if you are sober or not. I will say to be darn careful.
Taking5 is offline  
Old 10-27-2011, 03:25 AM
  # 11 (permalink)  
Titanium
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Tolland County, CT
Posts: 45
i had scripts for:

ativan
flexiril
ambien
adderall
oxycontin
percoset
vistiral

and buying roxi's on the street

doc's are not always the best at helping us be sober they treat our symptoms, whether they be psychosomatic, or real.
XbrenbrenX is offline  
Old 10-27-2011, 06:32 AM
  # 12 (permalink)  
Member
 
Charon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 1,927
Originally Posted by ljames103 View Post
But here's the thing: If I'm taking substances to help me feel better, am I really "sober" or "clean"?
My 2 cents - you are not taking your meds to "feel better" you are taking them to feel normal. May sound like semantics but I assure you it is not. Some of us, due to physiology, psychology, or something else don't have a balanced biochemistry. That puts us in an unnatural state which can be very stressful.

My Mom suffered from periodic bouts of fairly severe depression. So do I and so does my Daughter. My Mom went undiagnosed and untreated and suffered - a lot. My Daughter and I have been diagnosed and are taking meds. I think she takes Lexapro and I'm on Pristique. Without the Anti-D I get suicidal thoughts. Don't think I'd act on them but it's a real dark place. With the meds I am normal - not happy, not great - just able to deal with life without going off the deep edge.

So, in short, of course you are sober and clean. If you had diabetes would you refuse to take insulin?
Charon is offline  
Old 10-27-2011, 06:50 AM
  # 13 (permalink)  
Member
 
humblestudent's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 256
To me, taking antidepressants is like taking insulin for diabetes. Not everyone is the same - however my depression is definitely "clinical" and well established. I had clinical depression from the time I was about 10 years old. Never received anti-depressants until I was about 23. They changed my life. When I take my medicication, I am not high, or giddy, or euphoric, or weird. I am what I approximate to be "normal". When I do not take my medication, I sob at the drop of a at, isolate myself, am irrationally negative about everyone and everything, and generally have zero, and I mean ZERO motivation to do anything but sit around and think about ways out. My meds are no crutch. They are necessary for me.

Also, again, I know everyone's different - but in spite of my love for alcohol, and how it lights up my brain in neon, I've never had an affinity for any pill. Not even benzos, which have cross tolerance with alcohol. Pills just never interested me. To me, they are like taking cough syrup - only for when you're sick, and then when you're not - done. So, it is possible to LOVE alcohol, bathe in it, and have zero interest in other drugs/pills.

BUT - you must talk to your doctor about this. Not us - because if you ask, you'll get 10 opinions telling you your not sober, and 10 telling you that you are. I personally believe you are sober by the way. Are you drinking? No? Ok. Are you high from your anti depressants? I doubt it. Ok. You're sober! (In my humble opinion).
humblestudent is offline  
Old 10-27-2011, 07:24 AM
  # 14 (permalink)  
Member
 
Nirvana1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 325
This was a tough one for me. I had been taking Xanax for anxiety and panic attacks for years, and also abusing alcohol. I decided to quit everything I was doing all at once. I never felt I was abusing xanax, but also knew I was taking more and more to try and feel normal after hangovers, etc.

My sponsor in AA with 27 years of sobriety was very clear that benzo's can threaten sobriety. He told me he wanted me off xanax completely, but to call him if I felt like I needed to take any.

I think I have put off going to the Dr. because if I tell my Dr. about my anxiety he would probably write me a benzo prescription, and my mind would then say "I have a free pass".

Since I've learned that I am an alcoholic, I am making sure that abusing alcohol was not the reason for all my anxiety first. My anxiety has gotten way better since recovery, but at times can be quite high. First dates, job problems, and big events definitely trigger my anxiety, but I am getting better and better at learning how to deal with them.

What I think you need to do is really look at yourself like I did, and see if you are really taking the medicine as prescribed. Make sure you are not over using, or taking it for the "high feeling". People take anti-d's to feel "normal" not "high".

Also, many people say that their anxiety went away when they quit drinking and got into recovery. It's extremely hard at first, but the only way to find out is to get off all addictive medications and see if it helps. That's what I did, and I can say that my anxiety is way down, even compared to treating it with xanax.
Nirvana1 is offline  

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off




All times are GMT -7. The time now is 11:35 AM.