Opiates - Part 1

Many people I talked to said opiates are a big problem. I had many informal conversations during my career with patients and providers about opiates.

 One thing is clear, they can be very useful for acute pain, but can be very addictive using long term. 

During our discussion Dr. Tedd Levin had mentioned that more people died of prescribed opioids then car accidents in the United States. We talked about that many people were prescribed opiate pills like Vicodin or Oxycontin first ten become addicted to other non-prescribed drugs. Prescription opiates can be very expensive Dr. Levin said, so people could not afford it and ended up buying heroin on the street. He gives an example of Oxycontin 80 mg twice a day costing over $1000.00 per month. Compared to that, heroin is a fraction of the cost.

Chief Jason describes doctors who are willing to give out prescriptions very easily. He feels there is a lack of standards to determine if a person really needs the pain medications or not. He feels it has gotten better over the years. He remembers when he grew up his mom would just call and get a prescription. Now people have to go in in person to see the doctor to get pain medications. Kayla describes opiates as a whole another problem. Especially when people had known that they can be addictive. She asserts that before a medication is distributed to the public there are more research that needs to be done around it. Additionally, more education for the people who are distributing it. Rory talks about opiate problems this country had before in the 1800's. He said it was outrageous. San Francisco looked like people were just draped over stuff. It was very common. Now the pill poppers are closing, they got shut down.

Tracy describes her sister who is 8 years younger from her and addicted to opiates. She lost her first child because of opiates and Tracy ended up adopting her sister's baby. Now her sister just gave birth again and the baby was born very ill with multiple problems. The baby was born 3.5 months early, had hydrocephalus, possible brain damage from that, cerebral palsy. Tracy feels like the cause of all this was the drug treatment her sister was receiving while she was pregnant. The doctors are saying not, but Tracy looked at the CDC website and the side effects are listed there. She is very frustrated about this. No matter what the baby will have the consequences for the rest of her life as well as the family raising this child. Her mother is helping her raise the baby. She is able to take care of the baby when she is sober otherwise mom helps said Tracy. Tracy describes her sister as a "pill popper" she has had periods of being clean and sober, been in treatment several times. Tracy's sister used to have a great job in the medical field then she lost it after stealing prescription pads from work and was writing out prescriptions pretending it was for her significant other and his family.

Most of the families Tracy works with people who are in trouble because of heroin. It is the biggest problem she sees out there now. We talk about difficulties to break the cycle of heroin addiction. It is very difficult. She calls it a tug of war how the drug gets hold of people. I asked Tracy if she had seen success stories when it comes to heroin addiction. Tracy describes success stories with heroin as little successes to celebrate the small things. She describes moms who go through treatment, get sober, follow support that was provided for them and even it is just for 6 months, it is a success Tracy feel a small one, but a success. She sees families coming back. Families that were doing great for 6 months, one year or two years, then there is a relapse and the families come back again. She feels like long term support would be helpful, all the resources she is aware are short term. Most things she describes are intensive and short term while addiction is a lifelong disease, need lifelong support.

I talk to Susan on the phone. She tells me about her older brother Emanuel who was a heroin addict for about 10 years. It was pretty bad. Luckily, he was able to get clean for 7 or 8 years now. Susan was 10 years old at that time. It was a lot for the family. I ask her for more details, it is still a painful memory. It was hard for her to understand at that young age what is going on. Once Susan was in high school, she started to understand more. Emanuel was homeless for a while; she would go and look for him on the streets of downtown Portland. He was missing for a while. After rehab, he was sober, the family was so happy that everything else from the past was brushed under the rug. It is very complicated she asserts. Susan never really talked more about this with Emanuel.

He is still very defensive about his addiction. 

Susan feels he did not work through it mentally what was going on with him. He is not doing any recovery work now. Emanuel went to rehab about 9 times. He was on methadone for a while, attended groups as part of that, but nothing else. He uses cannabis now. I asked Susan how their relationship is affected by Emanuel's heroin use and recovery. She was telling me that it is funny that I asked this they just got into a fight. She tells me about enabling. It is difficult for her to draw boundaries. Emanuel gets upset if she draws boundaries. Now he is been trying to move in with Susan and her boyfriend. She does not want to do this. Emanuel takes advantages of things. Susan describes her brother trying to make her happy, butter her up to try to get what he wants. He is manipulative. He has a job; he grows medical cannabis. Susan saw him high. Emanuel was on Suboxone for a while, he was out of his mind and talking to the wall. Suboxone had a funny effect on him. Susan's mom became a drug and alcohol counselor to be able to do something about it. Susan's brother still has difficulty today to take responsibility for his actions and would blame family for things that happened to him. He can't see that he did anything wrong. He stole things from his parents and took things to the pawn shop.

Thank you for reading,

Gabriella

This book is dedicated to the memory of

Bagóczky József my uncle who died at age 19 - alcohol related car accident

and to everyone else who has been hurt or lost related to addiction

Many people had been supportive and inspiring to me so I could create this book. Both of my wonderful children told me, just write that book mom. My mom. I could have not done this without all the stories provided and the encouragement love and caring from my family and friends, nurses, doctors, counselors, teachers, professors, friends who are dealing with addiction and staying sober; and children, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers of people who are dealing with addiction currently. Thank you for speaking up, sharing your stories and life experiences. Thank you for all the people who read this book while in progress to provide feedback, ideas and encouragement for me to continue writing. I would like to say special thanks to my friends and family for believing me and encouraging me to go on.

Front cover acrylic painting created by Andrea Mihaly October 2019

Our Society: Addiction and More Uncovered. Hear the voices of everyday people - collection of stories and experiences.

Copyright @ 2020. 1st addition on Amazon KDP. 2nd addition Jan 2021 Barnes & Noble. By Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi. All rights reserved. Dancing Elephants Press.