Moving on...

[TooFarGone303]

Hello BL this is my first post so thanks for taking time to read it. A guy I know really well has been smoking about 2 grams of heroin daily for the past 18 months and has been struggling with heroin for the past 4 years or so. He moved to Colorado with his wife and children about 2 years ago to get away from the heroin and start new. He did a suboxone taper for 10 days and ended up being clean for 5 months unttil he met a dealer. Just last month the dealer let him and his family rent out the upstairs apartment at his house so now he doesn't even have to leave his house to get his dope . He has lost his job , his car, sold all his tools , electronics and pretty much everything he owns of value. He spends literally every cent he gets his hands on to buy heroin. About 7 months ago e started panhandling at the local grocery stores until he has enough money to buy 8ball to splits with his wife. He leaves every afternoon for the shopping centers and sometimes spends 12 or more hours panhandling he doesn't get home until after midnight every single night. He has done that every night for the last 7 months. Everyone in town thinks he is homeless. He has lost his car , been evicted from 4 houses up until he moved in upstairs at his dealers . I'm not even sure how he pays the monthly rent there but he has a 3 bedroom apartment upstairs . He used to be such a cool dude. Now he sleeps with a piece of tin foil because he has to smoke as soon as he wakes up or he can't get out of bed. He used to work full time. He was always taking his sons to the park , chuckee cheeses or the lake etc, with me and my sons. We rode to the dispensary to try new shit every single day literally. We would hang out smoke bud , take dabs and play his PS4. He had a PS4 with a ton of games and a PS3 with a shit load of games and a Nintendo Wii U for his kids. He sold all 3 systems in the same week . He had a huge grow with over $1000 in grow equipment but he sold his lights in the middle of his grow. This drug has taken everything but his family and I don't want it to get that far. I've talked him into quitting on the 2nd. I get my check on the 1ST so I am going to buy some suboxones and alot of weed for them like they did when the quit before.

I just wanted some of your advice on what he should do to stay clean ? (Should he move , NA classes , hobbies etc.).

What he can do to make the withdrawals less painful? They really kick his ass big time. He can't get out of bed in the morning without smoking.

Will he ever be the same fun ,happy go lucky , outgoing , ambitious guy?

He has lost all his muscle mass at least 75-100 pounds and looks like a druggie big time , will he ever look healthy again ?

Thanks for reading . If anyone did . All input is appreciated. God Bless .

 

[tacodude]

I recommend if he has insurance to find an in patient unit that does a phenobarbital based detox regimen. They should also be on ropinirole going trough detox and clonidine as needed. It will make the withdrawal process extremely easy even with a 5 day detox...

Doing it on one's own is eventually difficult as getting in and out of bed, making food, drinking liquids, going to the bathroom, etc all become a chore that when not taken care of makes the withdrawals 100 time worse.

If you want to be supportive plan 5 days to spend with him and manage him getting off. If you use the subs I've read one big dose and nothing more helps reduce acute withdrawal.

Edit: your friend may not be exactly the same as he was due to the experience, but once he gets through withdrawals he will definitely have more energy. It will die out at least the excess energy and once he gains the weight back he should be a lot better. There will be post acute withdrawals that can lay months of insomnia, lack of hunger, depression, etc.

 

[TooFarGone303]

Alright taco dude. I really appreciate it. What do u mean by one big dose and nothing more for the acute withdrawals... I talked to him today and he says he is excited to be clean again but he is morbidly frightened of the physical withdrawal

 

[Speed King]

He has to, or if your helping him, Google something about the subject mentioned. Those rapid detoxes usually are private practice doctors. I am not sure how insurance works, but may be cost prohibitive. The next choice is to get back on subs and not hook up with dealers. Intensive outpatient therapy, is not bad. They keep a short leash on people.

 

[Pucman]

Living above dealer he will never be able to stop. If you have the means get them out of there, into another apartment and get him to detox. He has to want it ya know. Plus if his old lady is in with a kid then that's double trouble. If you can get a talk in with him and see where he is at with it all. Sounds like he is pretty deep in his addiction. Really needs to move or there is zero chance. It's upkeep that keeps him going. Good luck now you see what a harmless little prescription can do to people.

 

[tacodude]

He has to, or if your helping him, Google something about the subject mentioned. Those rapid detoxes usually are private practice doctors. I am not sure how insurance works, but may be cost prohibitive. The next choice is to get back on subs and not hook up with dealers. Intensive outpatient therapy, is not bad. They keep a short leash on people.

I did in patient under Medicare free at a hospital cfr unit. They had beds available the day I called. If you're in the USA and have medicare call 211 and ask about local in patient medical detox then ask specifically if it's a bupe/done ORT rapid ween, social model, or phenobarbital based regimen. I'd go with the latter.

 

[MoreFeens4Morphine]

All of the previous posts have been excellent suggestions. You need to let him know that this will probably be the hardest thing he's ever done and it doesn't just magically go away. I've met people in AA meetings that have been sober for over a decade and then fell off the wagon one night and didn't get sober again until many years later. He needs to be committed, focused and want it with the desperation of a drowning man otherwise it's useless. I suggest a very long inpatient rehab center, followed by at least 6-12 months in a half way house. He needs to at least go to NA/AA meetings whether he gets a sponsor and actually follows the steps or not because just going to those meetings every day gives you a reason not to fuck up and let everybody down. Eventually, he will need to pick up responsibilities again and keep gaining more responsibility as the time passes. Keeping busy is one of the most important factors in my opinion, I've always used drugs just out of boredom since I was so used to these manic highs and lows and a roller coaster of emotions. He also needs to learn how to celebrate without drugs again. Most people don't fuck up when they're depressed, they fuck up when they're happy and don't know how to celebrate without drinking or drugging. Learning to enjoy very simple, basic pleasures will require a lot of work and patience but will pay off in the end. Once you've been doing drugs for so long you can't appreciate the simple things in life anymore like a delicious cup of coffee or a beautiful day outside.

Good luck buddy,
-MF4M

 

[tacodude]

The phenobarbital based detox into an in patient residential treatment, sober living environment, and/or out patient chemical dependency program is a way to approach the short term dependency treatment into long term addiction treatment.

Anyone in the USA with public Healthcare should take my advice to call 211 to find connections to proper health care. Also if AA doesn't float your boat NA is good if one resorts to the common to uncommon unregulated street drugs while PA is good for regulated pharmaceutical pill usage even if from non pharmacy sources.

There's many other ways to go about it to it just takes one own effort to find a better community that promotes sober living and not moving back. By sober I don't mean abstinence, but not allowing one to become dependent physically and mentally drawn to a necessity to use as I consider the necessity not to use that it causes a level of stress that could be as destructive as the use long term rather than immediately. It is a really complex issue that is made more complex by external systematic issues that shouldn't even exist creating social stress factors that become a whirlpool of an epidemic.