People Seeking Drug Treatment Weren’t Ready for the Pandemic—Here’s What We Learned About Relapse and Recovery

[Joey]

People Seeking Drug Treatment Weren't Ready for the Pandemic—Here's What We Learned About Relapse and Recovery — Health

Before COVID-19 took hold, the nation was already gripped by a different epidemic fueled by opioid use. When the two collided, recovering addicts and their support systems suffered.

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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, America was gripped by an epidemic of opioid use—resulting in a troubling rise in overdoses caused in part by the introduction of fentanyl to the country's illegal drug supply. 2010 saw 38,329 drug overdose deaths, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Nine years later, that number rose to 70,630, per the CDC.


Now, evidence suggests that the rising trend may have been exacerbated by the pandemic this year: A report published by JAMA Health Forum shared that an estimated 19,416 people died of drug overdoses in the first three months of 2020, compared to 16,682 people during the same period the year prior. Those numbers came from the CDC, which also estimates that 81,000 overdose deaths occurred between May 2019 and May 2020. Should this rate of overdose deaths continue, the report concluded that "the United States is on track to reach a new all-time record for overdose fatalities within a calendar year."

Though it's been less discussed, the COVID-19 pandemic has also likely led to a rise in relapse rates for those in recovery from drug abuse. Official data on this rise doesn't exist yet and likely won't for another six months to a year, Neeraj Gandotra, MD, the chief medical officer at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), tells Health.


But anecdotally, experts in the drug abuse and recovery fields say they've witnessed a surge in relapses during the pandemic. Lindsey Staymates, a former supervisor at Foundations, tells Health she specifically saw "some spikes in relapses" even among patients who had been sober for five years. Timothy Brennan, MD, director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai West and the Mount Sinai Morningside Hospitals in New York City, said the pandemic had an effect on his patients as well: "People have a foundation in recovery. When that foundation has been shaken it's really scary. I do think we've seen a lot of relapses."

A January 2021 article published in The New York Times added even more anecdotal evidence. The piece recounted the experience of Jackie Ré, a woman who runs a substance-use disorder facility in New Jersey. At the outset of the pandemic, Ré gathered the 12 women living in her facility to let them know what was going on—that the pandemic had forced the facility to limit its contact with the outside world. The women were upset by this news, and over the next six months, nine left the program against staff advice, and all but one relapsed. Ré told the Times she had "never seen anything like it," regarding the string of relapses.

 

[JessFR]

Not surprising. I had been off heroin for 2 years when covid hit, I relapsed a few months later and I don't think it was a coincidence.

Live instability makes relapse more likely and that's what covid did, big time.

 

[PtahTek]

My drug use certainly spiked around april last year and lasted til about the beginning of october. I think it was all documented here at BL. Previously I had been doing fairly well at just saying no. Although I will more than likely be a lifer regarding drug use, my grip on controlling substances had become tenuous indeed.
These relapses and "fallings off" have as many root causes as different substances and as those who experience them... IMO.
I tend to believe that my slipping was due to energies pent up, sudden change of lifestyle and rising anxiety. There was no one to take out my everyday angst on, limited options to physically exert myself = work past anxieties or privacy (time away). It was the two of us 24/7 and after noticing a subtle turn in my nature... started hitting benzos and gabas pretty heavily for a while to chemically work past issues. Not sure if it ultimately helped or harmed will have to further reflect.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Covid didn’t make me relapse after 4 years but it certainly ensured what could have just been a single long weekend of unplanned debauchery into a year long marathon and struggle to keep my head above water.

Because I was taking so much drugs I really didn’t notice just how existentially depressed lockdown made me. It was only when I came through the other side I could see just how soul destroying a hard lockdown was.

 

[Joey]

Covid didn’t make me relapse after 4 years but it certainly ensured what could have just been a single long weekend of unplanned debauchery into a year long marathon and struggle to keep my head above water.

Because I was taking so much drugs I really didn’t notice just how existentially depressed lockdown made me. It was only when I came through the other side I could see just how soul destroying a hard lockdown was.

I was 100% ready for rehab in April, long term, coming from a detox, and then no one was taking anyone. The by summer Ingot into a 2 week program but bailed on the detox before it even started. Felt so sick and I didnt handle it well at the time. Ever since Ive called a place thats open twice but the waitlist is about 3,476 years or so.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I was 100% ready for rehab in April, long term, coming from a detox, and then no one was taking anyone. The by summer Ingot into a 2 week program but bailed on the detox before it even started. Felt so sick and I didnt handle it well at the time. Ever since Ive called a place thats open twice but the waitlist is about 3,476 years or so.

That’s a real bummer. I know that feeling of being committed in your head to getting straight but really needing some help when none is available.

Even though my cravings are almost entirely psychological they can get uncontrollable. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like for people getting dope-sick on top of that.

Have you ever done a full inpatient recovery before? I’ve done 3 over 20 years and really got a lot out of them. Enough that I could manage myself + drugs from time to time without my life becoming to a total clusterfuck again.

I’d do one now but I’m pretty sure I actually know the program inside out and it’s on me to use the tools and maoe them work now.

Can you get on any kind of outpatient substitution therapy? Sorry if you explained your situation already elsewhere - I’m catching up.