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Do you tell doctors about drug use?

InMyLyricalMind

InMyLyricalMind

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Joined
Dec 10, 2006
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I have spoken to several people about this and I wonder what the general consensus is... The way I see it, if I'm going to a doctor to get help with something or to try to work things out, I should be upfront and honest so the chance of actually figuring out what's going on is better.

I have told my doctors (physician, neurologist, etc.) about ALL of my present and past usage. Everything I've done. I usually get a stern "drugs are bad" and then we move onto what substance I'm currently using regularly and how it could interact with prescriptions or pain killers or whatever.

A lot of what I've heard from people is that they don't want to tell their doctors about drug use because they don't want the doctors to not give them good meds. Maybe they feel they'll look more like a drug seeker if the doctor knows about the usage? In my experience it's helped me to get the right meds because I am all of 5 feet tall and about 110 lbs, so doctors look at me as a tiny little thing with low tolerance but my tolerance is wicked high.

So how about it? Do you tell them or not?
 
I used to go to as many doctors as possible when I quit my Heroin-OC habit after going to rehab in 2006, so they all know I used to be a junkie, and already gave me the stern look for my PAST drug usage, so how the fuck would I tell them I was smoking weed daily? I just kept asking for reccomendations and going to more docs and telling themabout my use and what I think could help me out and such, and they all treated me as a junkie and only wanted to hand me out SSRI's....until one day I fond this doc who was way younger, way more relaxed, always wears a mason ring, and it's a total character (sometimes he's at his practice wearing shorts and a L.A. Lakers shirt), and he told me alright you stop smoking weed daily aand I'll give you that extra lyrica and clonazepam and clonidine you think will make you feel better...now he knows I relapsed on painkillers, and even was hospitalized on november after mixing my pk's with a big bottle of Jose Cuervo, all the other docs would have put me on a 28day program and took my rx.s right away, but instead he said all the liver work done at th hospital was bullshit with all the alcohol I had taken and made me go test my enzymes and have a new hepaogram done a month after, and he was right my liver wasn't as fucked up! now he's gonna put me on bupe patches that have just been released here to treat my chronic opioid addiction, unluckily we didn't have bupe before and methadone was the only choice....of course I lie about the ammounts, but if I did coke in the past mointh 10times I tell him I did coke 3 times, of course he totally disaproves, but asks me what I felt, how it was etc... and if you source him to pubmed and bring him valid papers and abstracts and the sources he's totally open to try drugs you think might work on you. He knows I'm planting cannabis and doesn't likes it at all but says since it'll keep me off the streets and coke dealers at least it's better...took me almost 50 different docotr visits and thousands of dollars to find this Doctor, but was totally worth it!!!! This year we'll start the ultra slow GABAergics wash-out, he ain't no quack, he knows what opioid addiction it's like, a chronic mutherfucker, so we try together to get me the best quality of life I can possibly get with my chronic disease...and I have to tell him the truth to have the privilege to be treated the way I am :)

But as I said it took me about 50 different consults and thousands of dollars, with doctors it's like with girls, there are so many that aren't the right ones for you, so you have to keep searching until you find the one, and of course she ain't gonna apprive everything you do, but as long as you're not risking your life or your health severely, knowing your clinical(or life history if it's a girl) and accepting you for who you are and empathizing with you.....think how hard it's with girls, I think that all the other docs were like one night stands and my doctor for the past 5years has been like the girl who loves me and I love her back equally...actually I thibk t's easier to find an exscellent doctor than finding an excellent girlfriend :p and both are long proccess that require time,dumping,and spending loads of money for nothing at all :p, hope you liked my analogy.
 
Yes, always be honest with your doctor. If they have a problem with it, find another doctor who is more open minded. I'm lucky to have a GP who is very open minded. He's fully aware of my history of drug abuse, and yet he's still happy to prescribe me medication - including my benzos. He knows I'm not a drug seeker. So yeah, I think it's important to tell doctors what substances you are using. Especially if the doctor prescribes you something that could interact dangerously with the illicit drugs you are taking (e.g. if you are taking amphetamines or ecstasy, and the doctor decides to put you on MAOI anti-depressants without knowing).
 
^ this is the best thing to do always be honest with your GP my doctor is sound about it if he wasnt i woud get a new one
 
Thank you for the link Sweet P... I think that because I see a neurologist I'm more inclined to disclose all drug use than I would if I only had a general physician. My neurologist checks with my GP before my appointments to see if there have been any prescription or behavioral issues because I have a mild traumatic brain injury and so I kind of feel like for my own benefit I should be telling them everything.
 
I dont tell him, but I'm really careful when I get to on anything to make sure its not going to interact with any of the drugs that I use. The way that I look at it, most doctors, if they know you abuse drugs, can't really give you abusable meds. Isn't that them walking the line the possibility of losing their jobs?
 
I have been honest about my recreational drug use past and present... including my recent opiate relapse... the only thing i don't tell my doctor is that i misuse/abuse the meds i'm given...
 
pirat3 said:
I dont tell him, but I'm really careful when I get to on anything to make sure its not going to interact with any of the drugs that I use. The way that I look at it, most doctors, if they know you abuse drugs, can't really give you abusable meds. Isn't that them walking the line the possibility of losing their jobs?
Click to expand...

I'm a drug addict, I'm honest about it with my doctor, and he still prescribes me meds that can be abused (clonazepam and diazepam). Soon I might also be prescribed dextroamphetamine. Being an addict doesn't automatically mean that you can't be prescribed drugs - it just means that the doctor may keep a closer eye on you, or prescribe smaller amounts at a time to keep your usage under control. If my doctor suddenly refused to prescribe me more benzos, I'd go into serious withdrawals which are potentially fatal for me (the convulsions once nearly killed me, as I stopped breathing and turned blue). So it's obviously in my best interests that he keeps prescribing the medication!
 
Yeah I have a steady script for clonazapam but I don't abuse it... If anything I use it less than I'm supposed to because I almost feel like if I overdo it one day my depression skyrockets the next, and it's just not worth it for me. That's not to say there aren't times I double up my daily dose when I'm having a particularly depressing day, but I really try not to do it.
 
I believe it was the Young Geezer who said he has a young doctor... I do too. My doctor is about my age and she told me she was shocked at how honest I was being but really appreciated it because it better helped her to understand what I'm going through and what I need. I would advise getting a younger doctor and kind of feel them out before divulging any information.
 
Yeah, it seems like the younger the better. Older doctors label me as a drug seeker right away.
 
i was wondering if after you tell a doctor about usage.. or if you go in the er after doing too much of a drug.. if you can get in trouble with the police.. or does the patient doctor confidentiality thing keep that from even going to the police... i know this sounds dumb but ive never got a direct answer lol..
Thanks
-Stellar.
 
Stellar.Bomb said:
i was wondering if after you tell a doctor about usage.. or if you go in the er after doing too much of a drug.. if you can get in trouble with the police.. or does the patient doctor confidentiality thing keep that from even going to the police... i know this sounds dumb but ive never got a direct answer lol..
Thanks
-Stellar.
Click to expand...

Patient confidentiality should protect you from that. The only time you'll get in trouble with the police is if they have to restrain you and take you to hospital themselves - which recently happened to me. Several cop cars showed up while I was spun, I was thrown to the ground and cuffed, before being taken downtown and then transferred to hospital for a dose of anti-psychotics.
 
^ I'd smoked and IV'd 4 grams of crystal meth in one night.

Then when I was in hospital, I had a large dose of haloperidol shot into my ass to bring me down.
 
I haven't told my gp anything, nor have I told any others. I do not take any other meds, so I don't feel it's necessary. However, if the situation were different, I would divulge. Better to be safe than sorry IMO.
 
Sweet P said:
^ I'd smoked and IV'd 4 grams of crystal meth in one night.

Then when I was in hospital, I had a large dose of haloperidol shot into my ass to bring me down.
Click to expand...

How long.. if you dont mind me asking... have you been smoking crystal meth? like did you start out snorting it... i heard the smoking it is way more intense.. but i dont want to do it.. i heard there are alot more side effects to your mouth and lungs than just snorting it...even though the nasal thing sucks lol
 
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