Trapped...

Woodsong

Bluelighter
Joined
May 2, 2011
Messages
233
Location
Georgia, USA
I'm 26 years old. I've been addicted to opiates for four years (mainly oxycodone), and been on buprenorphine maintenance for one.
The past six months of my life have been a living hell, starting with the sudden death of my father in late April...
This is a brief and condensed version of the events that have taken place in the wake of my father's death...

A week after my father died, my boyfriend, a man I truly loved, broke up with me and moved across the country. Being unable to handle the stress and emotional turmoil, I turned back to oxycodone, and even found a new psychoactive friend: Xanax. I went on Xanax binges that lasted several weeks at a time, and I would wake up one day when I'd run out and not have a single clue what I'd been doing in that time. My co-worker and good friend (at the time) did this with me, but he had also relapsed on methamphetamine. His halfway house had shut down, and he was staying with me for a couple days after he got kicked out. I noticed him acting bizarrely one day, while we were packing his stuff into my truck to move him to a new place. We got into an argument, and he tried to choke me to death in the middle of my apartment complex parking lot. After begging him, he finally stopped. My stepmother, the new owner of the company we worked for, found out about our little altercation, and fired him. When I came back to work a week later, I pretty much had no job anymore because most of the things me and my co-worker did required two people. I went about my work days, trying to find things to do, all the while trashed on Xanax. I simply didn't know what else to do, or how else to handle what was going on in my life. My stepmother gave me several warnings and long talks about my drug use in the following weeks, until I came to work one day slurring and stumbling a lot more than usual, and she finally got fed up with me completely and fired me. Unable to pay my rent and bills, I got evicted from my apartment. I now live with my real mother, grandmother, little sister, and their six cats in a little house in the ghetto. Shortly after I moved in, I ran out of Subutex. I went completely without opiates for approximately a week, until my unemployment started coming in and I could afford to go to my psychiatrist again. That week, I spent all day and night kicking the bed, throwing up and screaming into my pillow. No opiates, no benzos, nothing to help me. I thought I would be able to make it through cold turkey, that is until my money came in, and being unable to stand the withdrawal any longer, I went back to the doctor... Whatever higher power may exist in this universe, I thank it that I never developed a physical dependence to Xanax... I'd taken it on and off for close to four months, and would typically take upwards of 20mg a day... I don't know how I came out of that unscathed apart from very large and long gaps in my memory, and a high level of anxiety for a couple weeks.

Things have finally started to even out for me, but one thing now worries me the most: That I'm going to be stuck here for the rest of my life. I'm in the middle of the goddamn ghetto. There's nowhere I'd feel safe working in this area even if could find a job. My truck is also on its last legs, and there's absolutely nothing within walking distance. My unemployment isn't going to last forever. My father had always been there to provide an anchor for me whenever I fell... There's no one in my life that I can rely on to help me anymore, financially or emotionally; my stepmother has completely abandoned me, stolen my father's company and assets... I feel that I'm going to end up wasting away the rest of my life in this dirty little room, with nothing and no one... When my grandmother finally passes away, I won't even have this house anymore. My mother is in the same boat as me; she's been here for nine years like this... I don't want to end up like that, but I don't know what to do. I barely have the strength to get out of bed in the morn-- er, afternoon...

I just wanted to get my story out there... I'm sure it's not as bad as some of your situations out there, but it's more than I personally can handle, and I don't know how to handle it... I've been to psychiatrists and therapists; they don't help, I come out of sessions just craving Xanax like a damn fiend more than ever... And that's it, really, that's all I have to say... If you've even read this far, I thank you...
 
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I'm glad that things are evening out for you. That's a lot to lose in a very short period of time and I'm sure that part of what is going on is still grief for your father mostly but also your ex, not to mention someone trying to strangle you. Give yourself a huge pat on the back for being a survivor.

I wasn't totally clear from your post whether you have gotten off everything or whether you are still on bupe and some Xanax?

I know that it sounds like there is so much against you right now but look at the positives: you are 26, single, no children, capable of working and you have a place to stay while you are trying to become independent from your mom and grandma. A bad neighborhood can be stressful but it doesn't actually change your options by living there. Have you thought about trying to get into a community college for a practical degree that might help change your circumstances?

It sounds like you need to work on sobriety and regaining some hope in your life. Look at this time as the low that you are trying to build your way out of. Find someone in your life that you admire, whose lifestyle you could see yourself living, and try to see what they did to get where they are. If they are someone that you know well enough you might even ask them for advice if that feels comfortable. Just because you are in a hole right now there is no reason to project that as your whole future. It sounds to me like you are hardly helpless--in fact you sound amazingly strong and capable. I'm sure that a lot of what is going on is simply that you experienced one of life's perfect storms and it has badly shaken you.

You may have had bad experiences with therapy but that is such a crapshoot that maybe you just didn't get a good fit or weren't really ready to do the work (they aren't magic--just tool providers). I hope you will try again because that is a lot to deal with on your own.<3
 
@herbavore
I'm still on the bupe for now, but I haven't taken any Xanax in over a month... Good lord I want some, though. Worse than any oxy cravings I ever had... However, just thinking of all the stupid shit I did while on it, I should have died a hundred times over... I woke up one day with two black eyes, gashes, scratches and bruises all over my body, and not a goddamn clue what had happened... I may have been in a wreck or had my ass kicked for all I know...... I guess that's what happens when you eat 20 bars in a day. I have absolutely no control whatsoever once that initial dose kicks in, I'll just keep taking more and more and more and more, until I black out or run out. But I keep fooling myself into thinking I'll be able to handle myself, and the cycle starts all over again... It's insanity.

If I have the strength and capability, I just can't seem to find the motivation to apply it to anything... I dunno. I went to a state-funded clinic, who kept bouncing me around to different doctors that "evaluated" me a million times, and all of the ladies that did so were very nice, I had no problem pouring myself out to them; but when I got to the big-wig doctor in the place, this short Indian guy, he didn't seem to have a clue why I was even there, and I couldn't really even understand what he was saying clearly. With his attitude, he seemed to think I was just there trying to get drugs out of him, when all I really wanted was talk therapy... All he basically said was that my dad was in Heaven, get over it, you need to take antidepressants, no? sorry I can't help you then, get a job... It really kinda pissed me off...
 
^What a horrible experience! I get so angry at the state of healthcare in this country--especially mental health care. I am always telling people on here and IRL to seek therapy but I know that if they are in america that is often not even available either because they can't afford it or there is no competent practitioner available. And psychiatrists today are mostly pill pushers. Still, I would not give up. Keep looking.

As far as the benzo cravings go, I guess the best thing you can do is to keep reminding yourself of what you wrote: that you have no control with them and that both the experience on them and coming off of them is horrendous and that the more time you stay off, the easier this will be. My son used to say that every bad decision he made had benzos as a starting point.

Have you ever tried this website? https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome It's a site where you can skip the therapist altogether and just do some work yourself. Good luck. It sucks to feel unmotivated. I think I fear that state more than any other.<3
 
The same here, your truly strong woodsong, I undestang feeling trapped in the hood, one day I feel I"ll just be another saginaw homicide, like so many freinds. One day I'll be free from this....

Your future depends on what you want it to be.

i used to live in pretty bad areas when i was younger, but i was lucky enough that my dads dream was to get out, and he did.
If he hadnt, already at 11 years old i knew that i wouldnt live like that. Would not let it happen.

Chase what you want guys, thats all that determines your fate ;)
 
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