Hey everyone, I am wondering if I could get an opinion concerning my mother's ongoing addiction to opiates. I'll describe what I remember as best I can, as I am wondering what chances she has at recovering, if any. At the peak of her addiction she was on a whopping 900mg of oxy a day. She did everything from steal money from her children to pawn family heirlooms, and yet she still will not admit to ever even being addicted. She doctor shops under the ruse that she is in pain, and more than often her injuries are self inflicted. I know for a fact (Dont ask me how i know) that she is still doctor shopping, seeing a different doctor at least twice a week. I know she has not been able to get her old dose of 900mg a day, since her old doctor kicked her out of his practice. I don't know how much exactly she has been taking for the past year or two, but i think its safe to assume she is still seeking as many opiates as she can get. I recently talked to an addiction psychologist who said that at the rate her addiction has progressed nothing short of 3 months in in patient rehab and living in a halfway house for a year would help her stay clean I'd like opinions on two things: If her rate of doctor shopping continues in Colorado, how long should it take her to get caught? What are her chances of recovering from 900mg a day oxy habit without admitting she is an addict or ever has had a problem? I appreciate you advice.
I'm very sorry to hear about this. The chances of your mother getting caught, or getting hurt, are very high, as you can imagine. I think the addictions doctor was being realistic, if not optimistic. I have never heard of 900mg daily oxy habit before; how long has her opiate abuse been going on? how long has it been at this extreme level? She is obviously in a complete physical and psychological crisis.
900mg of Oxy per day? Seriously? I've never heard of that. I'm not saying I don't believe it, because it's possible. The LD-50 for Oxycodone taken orally is apparently pretty high. Look at the PDF file from Pfizer, which shows an LD-50 in rats of >2000mg/kg. Don't believe it? Check it out. Anyway, she obviously needs some professional help, either a Suboxone treatment program, or preferably a good inpatient treatment program. Wow.
honestly shes going to have to cut down, drastically. she needs to get down to atleast 120 mg a day before any treatment. I cant stress to you enough that Suboxen and methadone are NOT the answer. They are JUST as bad, and the withdrawals are worst than oxy/heroin. I know many people who have been on these " Substitutes " For YEARS!. Not a solution. She needs to go into a rehab thats Drug Free, or cold turkey with lots of support. This will be the hardest thing she will ever have to do, but you have to cut the dosage down, and be supportive, be there, and make sure when shes clean that she is away from anything that will trigger her, shes going to have to start over, once your addicted to opiates at such a high level your body cannot function without them, as well as your mind. Its really not as bad as it seems, and when she is 1-2 weeks into being sober and she see's what its really done to her family and her well being its alot easier to stay sober, but right now the drugs have control, and theres not much that will get in the way, i wish you the best of luck, and if you need anything, or have any questions, im happy to help, ive been through this my whole life, my parents, my father died from oxy when i was 6, i was addicted to oxy and heroin for years, but you can totally get clean and get life back and theres no reason your mom cant change her life, without getting killed or arrested, so dont think shes automatically going to die or go to jail, but while shes still around and okay, you have to take control and deal with this as a disease.
Honestly, if she is not willing to admit that she has a problem, she has no hope of recovering. The best thing for her might be to get arrested and hope that they force her into a rehab program.
a 900mg a day oxycodone habit does not come with the option of going cold turkey. She would die, and quickly I'd imagine. At this point her entire internal biochemistry is pretty messed up; all the endogenous (natural, inner) opioids that the body produces are dramatically, and permanently, down-regulated. She will always require some form of external opioid administration to simply maintain continuation of life. Her best bet at this point is to get on methadone at a very intensive inpatient program. Ideally a clinical trial of Ibogaine, Ketamine, or other psychedelic to help her along. 900mg/day . . . that's around ELEVEN OC80s every day. That's going to be in the neighbourhood of a 500$ a day habit. As for your question about her not even admitting she has a problem . . . This is the general model used to figure out where a person with addiction (or anyone) is with attempting to make a change. She is on #1, pre-contemplation. She's got a ways to go, and with opiate addiction, even light or moderate, it's really hard to even get to the last two . . . notice there is no "you win!" "finished!" the last step is "maintenance", because if they've let it go this far once, then the potential will always be there. I'm saying this to simply impress the severity of the situation on you, the severity of her mental space. I'm glad you are in dialogue with her addictions therapist, I encourage you to be much more aggressive in helping her. Wish I could do more.
Well, I've never even heard a rumor of a habit of that magnitude. My first impression was that this was an exaggeration. But sure, methadone sounds great as long as she's closely supervised throughout the process.
Thank you for the replies all. Just to clear a few things up, it was indeed 30 30mg's a day and she somehow managed to convince a doctor that she had a naturally high tolerance to opiates, god knows how. She did have very legitimate reasons to be prescribed opiates and i do believe that's how it all got started, she got prescribed some and then decided she liked it- a lot. Thus making it a little easier to acquire her drug of choice. Her addiction has been going on for at least 10 years. 900mg a day is practically unheard of, i know, but that was the very peak of her use and then she was forced to cut down when her doctor kicked her out of his practice. After that, she began doctor shopping. I don't know her current dose, but i do know she sees a doctor at least twice a week, though i will not mention how i know that. Once again, appreciate everyone's input. She definitely has a long road ahead.
As I've said in another thread - I really don't think going cold turkey is ever good. Taper off sloooowwwwwly! Let your body adapt and it will be grateful, I promise! lol
