• 🇬🇧󠁿 🇸🇪 🇿🇦 🇮🇪 🇬🇭 🇩🇪 🇪🇺
    European & African
    Drug Discussion


    Welcome Guest!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
  • EADD Moderators: Shambles

i love my gp - a minor triumph in common sense

steewith2ees

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Nov 9, 2013
Messages
5,760
Location
the piss artist formerly known as stevesircull (th
Despite struggling with heroin addiction for 10 years, id never approached any health proffesionals for help - ive always c/t'd on my own and ive never needed any help relapsing either. As well as my dependence ive suffered from acute anxiety attacks since my late teens for which my gp has always let me have a reasonably small amount of diazepam to help me manage (around 280mg in 5mg tablets every 6 - 9 months or so). Of course, this has been a powerful motivating factor to keep my doc in the dark as i assumed that there would be no more diazepam as soon as the word 'junky' had been stamped all over my notes. Ive since surrendered after spending only 2 weeks abstinant from gear over the last 18 months resulting in a methadone script.

Ive also gone bananas with the rc benzos over the last 6 months (mainly diclazepam and flubromazepam), and while they do work i find i need massive amounts for them to have an effect (average doses, 8-10mg diclaz, 24-32mg flubro) and despite the reasonably long duration of action, i find they tail off very quickly leaving me with very uncomfortable rebound anxiety and i often struggle not to re-dose over consecutive days. After a really difficult weekend with my dimenting mother, i found myself taking the last of my diclazepam onMonday afternoon, awaking yesterday with close to criplling anxiety and no chance of any further rcs until Friday at the earliest. I did however have an am appt. with my gp which i managed to compose myself for, my first with her since 'coming out' about my addiction.

I just had to test the water here. Despite feeling edgy as fuck i managed to play it cool, told her that i was getting on ok with my meds, going as far as telling her that i still found benefit in the diazepam, and, just for effect, that i had a couple of tablets left.

'Hypothetically speaking' i asked her 'now you know im a drug addict, would you still be prepared to prescribe me diazepam as i do use them legitimately for anxiety and they do help..'

'The other docs wont' she said 'now the casenotes say you're a drug dependent, but as far as im concerned id rather you took 10mg of diazepam from time to time than resort to heroin to help manage your anxiety. Give me a ring when you run out'

Before i could leave the office tho, she changes her tune for an even better one. 'Problem is, im on annual leave for 8 weeks from the end of August. I'd better give you some now' and she prints me off a script. So after starting the day on the verge of a panic attack, i find myself leaving the chemist with 56 5mg's.

Half an hour and 20mgs later and im feeling the most relaxed i have in weeks. 20mg generic (activis) diazepam vs all those rcs i was taking? Really shows the gulf between that inconsistent internet garbage and the real thing. 24 hours down the line and i feel fine. no anxiety, no lingering sedation.

A minor but significant result in an otherwise pathetic junky existence
 
Valium on tap, excellent.

"Give me a ring when you run out" + an anwsering machine for repeat receipts, and you're all set.
 
Yep my GP is sound , let's me have 28 5ml on repeat prescription a month ,don't even have to go see him there sat waiting in the chemist for me.
I only use them 2/3 times a week , he's never tried pushing the idea of ssri's after I didn't get on with the couple I tried.
He knows about my addiction and has never been hard work.
And dudes younger than me he probably just thinks crack on son lol.
 
I can suggest lots of stuff to my doc and he is willing to try most of them if my motivation is reasonable. But he's also quick at seeing through my fiending/escapism, which has saved my skin a few times when I was going overboard on the wrong prescription downers and when I tried to push my painkiller script too high.

Beta-blockers, Bediol (high-CBD cannabis) and calcium-channel blockers like pregabalin/gabapentin are my preferred anxiolytica now, instead of the benzos (I do keep a stash of diaz and temazepam in the cupboard). With the odd promethazine for sleep. I'd like to try buspirone and (ar)baclofen sometime.
 
Its good to find a doctor that isn't either a stingy cunt, or someone that will allow someone to suddenly be 'dropped in it', as in, suddenly cut off something like an opioid or benzo, especially with sedative/hypnotics, given the actual physical danger such withdrawal puts people suffering thusly in.

I've probably got drug user in my records, pretty sure I do in fact, as I used to, although I don't now, have a major problem controlling my use of downers, and my doc still lets me have a bi-daily dose of chlormethiazole, 4x30mg XR morphine capsules (which I much prefer to the tablets, as they don't turn to a gel which is a nightmare to filter when prepped, along with 2x10mg MS contins and a couple of oxy IR tabs a day, along with some tizanidine (a muscle relaxer related to clonidine, which I also get,)
And was even willing just recently, to let me switch the sedating antihistamine I take from crappy chlorphenamine maleate to cyclizines.

Probably not very many people in the GP profession like that these days, the younger ones all seem to have such a pathological degree of benzo-phobia that they should actually probably be ON some benzos themselves. This guy knows that I experiment with various compounds on a non-abusive basis, quite a lot of them, although far from all, recreational in one way or another, presumably from noticing some of the reading material I often take with me to read in the waiting room, rather than those boring, shitty pamphlets and fossil-era magazines about cars or gardening. There was another guy, a Dr Owen who used to work there at my practice, who was younger (late 40s at a guess), who has now retired, due to depression, but when he was there, christ...

When I went in completely unable to cope with my knee pain that day, and with my hip screaming out in pain, the doc I have now tried switching me from oxy80s to fent patches, and when the latter proved to be underdosed enough not to be able to hold the shoulder-monkey at bay and I went straight back in first thing the next morning to beg back my oxy pills, the guy didn't argue, and didn't even, to my surprise, ask for the remaining fentanyl back. I'm not a huge fan of it to begin with, but its alright when IVed. That was both a shock, and a very pleasant surprise windfall.

Used to get given pain meds and chlormethiazole by the bottle full, the latter to take 'as needed', as well as plenty of the other stuff from the old guy now retired, he really was a 'dr feelgood' type, if that makes sense, not irresponsibly selling scripts or anything, just didn't give too many fucks when it came to prejudice against using any such potentially recreational or addictive/dependence-inducing drugs. Real decent, friendly, easily approachable dr, as is the one I have now, although my current one is at least healthily cautious. But he hasn't cut me off, which he could easily just go ahead and do, as he knows that my problems are genuine and do need treating.

(haha, thinking about it, he probably knows full well that if he DID cut my morphine/oxy scripts off, or the chlormethiazole, that I would be forced to find an alternative, or make the morphine and heminevrin, at least, although oxy would be more difficult. One thing he isn't, is stupid enough to think I'd sit there and endure the joint pain and bursitis, or just accept the fact of having autie overloads without taking matters into my own hands were I simply to be denied my meds. Its taken me a fair while to find the right ones, but now I have, pretty much, and feel a lot better for doing so.
 
Despite struggling with heroin addiction for 10 years, id never approached any health proffesionals for help - ive always c/t'd on my own and ive never needed any help relapsing either. As well as my dependence ive suffered from acute anxiety attacks since my late teens for which my gp has always let me have a reasonably small amount of diazepam to help me manage (around 280mg in 5mg tablets every 6 - 9 months or so). Of course, this has been a powerful motivating factor to keep my doc in the dark as i assumed that there would be no more diazepam as soon as the word 'junky' had been stamped all over my notes. Ive since surrendered after spending only 2 weeks abstinant from gear over the last 18 months resulting in a methadone script.

Ive also gone bananas with the rc benzos over the last 6 months (mainly diclazepam and flubromazepam), and while they do work i find i need massive amounts for them to have an effect (average doses, 8-10mg diclaz, 24-32mg flubro) and despite the reasonably long duration of action, i find they tail off very quickly leaving me with very uncomfortable rebound anxiety and i often struggle not to re-dose over consecutive days. After a really difficult weekend with my dimenting mother, i found myself taking the last of my diclazepam onMonday afternoon, awaking yesterday with close to criplling anxiety and no chance of any further rcs until Friday at the earliest. I did however have an am appt. with my gp which i managed to compose myself for, my first with her since 'coming out' about my addiction.

I just had to test the water here. Despite feeling edgy as fuck i managed to play it cool, told her that i was getting on ok with my meds, going as far as telling her that i still found benefit in the diazepam, and, just for effect, that i had a couple of tablets left.

'Hypothetically speaking' i asked her 'now you know im a drug addict, would you still be prepared to prescribe me diazepam as i do use them legitimately for anxiety and they do help..'

'The other docs wont' she said 'now the casenotes say you're a drug dependent, but as far as im concerned id rather you took 10mg of diazepam from time to time than resort to heroin to help manage your anxiety. Give me a ring when you run out'

Before i could leave the office tho, she changes her tune for an even better one. 'Problem is, im on annual leave for 8 weeks from the end of August. I'd better give you some now' and she prints me off a script. So after starting the day on the verge of a panic attack, i find myself leaving the chemist with 56 5mg's.

Half an hour and 20mgs later and im feeling the most relaxed i have in weeks. 20mg generic (activis) diazepam vs all those rcs i was taking? Really shows the gulf between that inconsistent internet garbage and the real thing. 24 hours down the line and i feel fine. no anxiety, no lingering sedation.

A minor but significant result in an otherwise pathetic junky existence

Wow I need to change my doctor. What was her number again? :D

Evey
 
Sorry for being a stick in the mud but go easy using Diaz every day, or you're going to end up with an unbearable withdrawal. If you can weather your symtoms once or twice a week, if you can have a day or two off the Diaz, your tolerance will rise only very slowly & the chances of addiction is reduced & delayed. Ideally, you would also take a week off entirely about once every 2 or 3 months.

I'm having alot of talks with my doctor at the moment. I have suffered a deterioration in my asthmatic health after being exposed to an unknown gas/smoke/fumes emminating from beneath the floor at one of my clients houses, who are having an enormous basement installed in a £5 million house. Alright from some, innit? Anyway, some evil fucking gas/smoke/fumes leaked into the property whilst I was working & locked up my lungs, brought me to my knees & caused a minor siezure before I could get into fresh air! We're trying to find out what the fucking stuff was at the moment. My doctor is very worried. I had to have a paramedic attend an asthma attack a couple weeks ago, & when I showed my client the paramedic docket she clearly got the fear (she knows my health has deteriorated whilst their work is being done) & she terminated our contract a couple hours later. As I was self-employed, I believe the government is liable for any harm I suffer at work, but I think the stupid bitch thought I was planning to sue them or something so they got rid of me asap lmao Nice huh, 12 years I've been cleaning their fucking toilets, watching over & putting up wth their irritating kids, & I get "fired" coz their building work has made me ill. Money don't make good people, does it?

Anyway, as I'm still suffering fucking Brain Zaps, sleep disruptions, anxiety & depression after my infamous 5-mapb foul up, I've decided to start talking to the doctor about this too. I'm using weed to counter-act all the symptoms, even zaps are eased by a good Indica, but weed is expensive & difficult to source for me, so I need Diaz, Xanax or something to aid sleep & counter anxiety. I won't ask for it though, I just bitch about my symptoms until he prescribes something I like. SSRI's can go to hell!

So, my GP is goiing to be earning his money!
 
Sorry for being a stick in the mud but go easy using Diaz every day, or you're going to end up with an unbearable withdrawal. If you can weather your symtoms once or twice a week, if you can have a day or two off the Diaz, your tolerance will rise only very slowly & the chances of addiction is reduced & delayed. Ideally, you would also take a week off entirely about once every 2 or 3 months.

I'm having alot of talks with my doctor at the moment. I have suffered a deterioration in my asthmatic health after being exposed to an unknown gas/smoke/fumes emminating from beneath the floor at one of my clients houses, who are having an enormous basement installed in a £5 million house. Alright from some, innit? Anyway, some evil fucking gas/smoke/fumes leaked into the property whilst I was working & locked up my lungs, brought me to my knees & caused a minor siezure before I could get into fresh air! We're trying to find out what the fucking stuff was at the moment. My doctor is very worried. I had to have a paramedic attend an asthma attack a couple weeks ago, & when I showed my client the paramedic docket she clearly got the fear (she knows my health has deteriorated whilst their work is being done) & she terminated our contract a couple hours later. As I was self-employed, I believe the government is liable for any harm I suffer at work, but I think the stupid bitch thought I was planning to sue them or something so they got rid of me asap lmao Nice huh, 12 years I've been cleaning their fucking toilets, watching over & putting up wth their irritating kids, & I get "fired" coz their building work has made me ill. Money don't make good people, does it?

Anyway, as I'm still suffering fucking Brain Zaps, sleep disruptions, anxiety & depression after my infamous 5-mapb foul up, I've decided to start talking to the doctor about this too. I'm using weed to counter-act all the symptoms, even zaps are eased by a good Indica, but weed is expensive & difficult to source for me, so I need Diaz, Xanax or something to aid sleep & counter anxiety. I won't ask for it though, I just bitch about my symptoms until he prescribes something I like. SSRI's can go to hell!

So, my GP is goiing to be earning his money!

What makes you think he's just going to 'give you what you want?' Most GPs won't hand out benzos n you'll probably just get SSRIs

Evey
 
My doc was in the local paper actually today (or at least I read it today, a recent issue, yesterday at the lastest) making a statement, in their coverage about awards for best practice and best doctor. I'm not surprised he got some publicity of that kind, my main GP really kicks arse; not sure where I'd be without him.

In a whole lot of constant, severe pain without a doubt, and overloading a lot more than ever happens now. If I do get a sensory overload nowadays, I can just shoot it out of the sky with a dose of heminevrin and clonidine. Not sure some of the hospital staff think the same though, apparently, according to my old man, one time when I had a seizure and needed a brief stay in hospital, the paramedics asked who my doctor was, and upon being told 'its Dr *****' they rolled their eyes and pulled a face.

I haven't known him be irresponsible though (and whilst I wouldn't STOP him, I could still tell the difference between sensible, yet generous prescribing, and a pill-mill), and he has always been very compassionate, in that he isn't the sort to let prejudice against for instance, painkiller, sedative use full stop, get in the way and result in a patient being simply left to suffer.

I know of another dr there, who told me, he doesn't prescribe benzodiazepines, at all, to anybody, for any reason, for any length of time, even though at the time I just wanted a single day's dose of a single tablet to sleep after getting none whatsoever for over a week. I think such blanket bans on the use of a drug or drug class, refusing to ever give them out to any patient, ever, is quite irresponsible, not to mention heartless in its own right. I don't think this guy would even allow an epileptic a diaz script for seizure control.
 
The mad thing is the doc is probably a bit younger than me though it wasnt her that instigated the prescription initially - it was first given to me by one of the old guard whos since retired - this doc inherited me when she first started working as a gp in our village in 2005 or there abouts.

Si - id like to think your preaching to the converted as any regular bluelighter who uses benzos illicitly or for medical purposes should know that less use = more benefit and should be concious of the problems they will experience if they get into a habit of using them on consecutive days
 
Top