Question About "Addiction Specialists" (Phreex, you there?)

[TDogge]

I have been addicted to OxyContin for about a year now. One month ago, I decided to tell my parents about my problem. They persuaded me to try to quit, which I did starting three weeks ago. I made it four days before I bought a pill. I had been through withdrawal before, but this was, by far, the worst. Even on the fifth day, I wasn't feeling the least bit better.
This Monday, while I was home for Thanksgiving (I'm a junior in college), I met with my psychiatrist and told her that I had started taking oxy again. She said there were a couple options: 1)I could start an in-home medical detox that day which would keep me home for at least the rest of the week, or 2) I could continue taking oxy for 17 more days until the end of the semester, and then detox when I came home.
I decided that since there were only two and a half weeks left in the semester, I would stay in school and continue taking drugs.
When my doctor asked me if I had enough drugs to make it through the next 3 weeks, I told her that I didn't. She said that she does not know enough about opiate addiction to try to "practically manage" my problem, but that certain doctors trained in addiction might be able to. I am supposed to meet with one of these "Addiction Specialists" on Friday. He is not a counselor, he is a psychiatrist.
If I leave school now, I will be wasting nearly an entire semester's worth of work...If I stay here, and don't find a way to get more opiates, I will start going through withdrawal sometime next week, and will probably fail all of my final exams.
My question, then, is this: is there any chance this guy will actually prescribe me opiates to get through the next two weeks considering the circumstances of my problem?

 

[Bonecutter]

Unless your psychiatrist is hooking you up with an "addiction specialist" that is by far the exception, no he wont hook you up. He'll suggest inpatient detox and/or outpatient therapy. If your lucky he might go the methadone route. Dont expect an addiction specialist to perscribe you oxycodone because you have special circumstances. You'll most likely hear something like this: School will always be there. You're health wont.
What did your psych mean by in-home medical detox??

 

[quale]

Yes and no. EVer since the harrison narcotics act it has been illegal for docs to prescribe opiates simply to maintain an addiction.
Your best bet (esp if you are near a big city) is a methadone maintenence program. That should tide you over until you get back. Also while my (much more mild) opiate withdrawal was a real bitch with immodium and shit you can probably live through it enough to sqeak by.

 

[TDogge]

I'm not familiar with the "Harrison Narcotics Act." Could someone fill me in on exactly what that is? If it just says that doctors can't prescribe opiates to addicted patients, then what the hell is a methadone clinic?

 

[TDogge]

To answer Bonecutter's question, "In-home medical detox" is an alternative to the traditional hospital detox. All you need is a willing doctor and someone whom you trust that does not use drugs. The doctor visits you once or twice a day at home and provides the same drugs that a hospital would: klonopin (or some other benzo), lots of acetominophen, and what ever else they give you. The other person (it would be my mom in this case) must be present for general moral support, and to make sure you don't give in and buy more opiates. I guess in a lot of cases it would be hard to find a doctor who is willing to come to your house twice a day. My doctor is a family friend and our next door neighbor, so it would work out nicely.

 

[Love In Vein]

If I leave school now, I will be wasting nearly an entire semester's worth of work...If I stay here, and don't find a way to get more opiates, I will start going through withdrawal sometime next week, and will probably fail all of my final exams.
My question, then, is this: is there any chance this guy will actually prescribe me opiates to get through the next two weeks considering the circumstances of my problem?
Regardless, you would be an idiot to just give up the semester.
Take your chances with this addiction specialist. If he can't help you, you might as well try to do the exams through the withdrawals anyways. At least you have a chance of passing the semester and it's not going to look any worse if you fail than if you simply stop going to your classes.