Tonight... We're gettin F**ked UP!

So, it's day 487 of the COVID-19 pandemic aka May 5th, 2020. You and a group of friends are spending time celebrating the holiday together. Several shots later and someone pulls out a joint. Fuck it! You don't have work tomorrow or you work from home- you're drunk so it's unclear. Everyone is slowly creeping up from library voices to stadium cheers at the Super Bowl and you are upsetting the neighbors. You continue to pass the joint around and have a good time. The neighbors have asked you to lower your volume but you shrug it off. You start feeling off, but you think, that's just the buzz from the alcohol. When you take the next hit, the nausea sets in and everything gets hazy. Everyone has a twin and the room is now reminding you of why you hate the teacup rides. You continue to walk and dance and you begin to stumble into a fall on the cou...

The room is bright as you open your eyes slowly, you do not know where you are but you hear a lot of noises in the background. There is a sharp feeling in your hand and you look down to see there is an IV in it and you are on oxygen. It takes you a minute but you then realize that you are at a hospital. The nurse walks in and confirms that you are in the hospital and that you are lucky to be alive. You start tuning her out while she tells you of the treatment course and you look up to see that the news is on and that today's date is May 11th, 2020- the anxiety rises up immediately. The doctor and nurse are able to calm you down and explain that you came in and needed to have emergency care for alcohol poisoning and an overdose on fentanyl. FENTA-FUCKING-NYL...! You are not someone who does hard drugs and you only smoke weed and drink socially. As you think about it, you realize you did not see what was in that joint you smoked and it could have been laced with something more. The treatment team suggests resources for you to receive the help you need moving forward so that you can experience sobriety long term. Turns out, this isn't your first hospitalization for a substance overdose. 2 weeks ago, you were admitted for issues with cocaine use and a month before that you came in for alcohol poisoning and prescription opioid abuse. The social worker comes to see you last after the treatment team leaves and has a heart-to-heart with you about everything that has gone on. You report feeling isolated since the quarantine, your job had to close temporarily along with all your favorite spots to be social, so you have been home alone with your thoughts. Old habits and unhealthy coping skills have set in with your recreational drug use. Substance use and depression have set in for many people when this pandemic hit the world. You may think- wow, you have some imagination! Your creative writing skills are wonderful- love that imagery. I wish I could say that this is not one of the many I have heard.

My first jump into medical social work was after I graduated with my MSW and I worked with many patients who had a lot of different backgrounds and stories; all that needed help to get to the next part of their stories. The story I just told you above is a paraphrase of one client's experience once I finally was able to get a breakthrough and talk to her. That is where this story was born, her story of substance use that started as recreational or social and ended up turning into something deadly.

Fears, depression, and anxiety have taken over for so many and it is either hard to reach out for help or it is hard to find it when you do, so self-medicating usually wins with the management of depression symptoms, anxiety and panic, and fear of the unknown since this pandemic started.

Substance use and abuse has gone up during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. From January 2020 through June 2020 substance use went up by 13% and it was reported that most of the increase was due to the self-medicating for the stress and emotional distress with everything happening... and not happening. Everything is shut down but liquor stores are all open... I am sure you can see where I am going with some of the reason for this increase. Substance use has been a nasty cycle with even more complications from this pandemic. Stress from the isolation can lead to substance abuse, which can lessen how strong your immune system is and while you are out getting the substances you are more likely to get COVID and either become ill, or be asymptomatic and possibly spread it to others unknowingly.

The best ways to lessen the stressors that can lead to substance abuse are:

-lessen how much you are watching the news or on social media

-do things that are good for your self-care habits and boost you up, such as; exercising, taking bubble baths, eating healthy, going for walks outside, reading, picking up a hobby, and other things that don't involve too much extra screen time that could negatively expose you to other stressors about the pandemic.

This pandemic has been hard on ALL of us. I am a healthcare professional and I constantly fight back tears regularly thinking of how much work my staff and I do everyday in the clinics. We also know that as mental health professionals, we will manage the trauma, depression and substance abuse effects of this pandemic long after the medical side of it is more well managed. Even when we return to a level of previous normalcy and have herd immunity- we will still be busy taking care of those other of our healthcare brothers and sisters who have been working hard nonstop, of our police, firefighters, and first responders who have to still work through this pandemic and are constantly exposed while doing their jobs. To the CPS/APS workers, social services workers and DSS staff who still have to conduct homevisits to ensure the continued safety of those vulnerable groups they so desire to protect. To the teachers and school staff who are still teaching in person for their kids with special needs and to those who will be returning in the coming weeks as students slowly return to the buildings in person. To the grocery store workers who were never able to work from home and who helped keep our stores and homes stocked with everything we needed to survive this pandemic. Thank you to all the public health professionals working hard to create vaccines and do research in overdrive to help us get to that light at the end of this very long tunnel. These are the faces of the essential workers (and everyone I did not mention) who need our prayers, smiles and thank yous.

I want to thank you for all your support of all us frontline peeps- it means the world to us! If you enjoyed reading this, please like this story, follow me and read my past post and all the future posts to come. Please also consider sending your support monetarily via sending a tip- you can see the $ at the top to send money. I hope you learned something from reading this and can help someone you know a bit better who may be struggling. Have a wonderful day and please stay safe.

Also... wear a damn mask!

Need resources for help with Substance Abuse?

https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/psychiatry/programs/addiction-center/coronavirus-covid-19-addictionrecovery-resources

https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/comorbidity/covid-19-resources

Open Path Counseling, a database of therapists and practices that will offer discounted services to you and your family for those who need it and cannot afford it or access it

Psychology Today; database for therapists and counselors that you can search through and be matched to the exact person that has the training or qualities you may want or need

SAMHSA's National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

Your local Emergency Room for help if experiencing withdrawl symptoms from drugs or alcohol, or negative drug interactions (bad trips)

https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm

https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/437608/Alcohol-and-COVID-19-what-you-need-to-know.pdf

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/other-at-risk-populations/people-who-use-drugs/QA.html

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/alcohol-use.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/other-at-risk-populations/people-who-use-drugs/list-of-resources.html