My friend, we will call her Justine is wondering about alcohol. She drank too much a couple of times when she was very young, then did not drink much in her later teens. She began to abuse when she was 18 and her Dad died, to numb the loss. By the time that she was 22 she stopped drinking all-together. She did not drink for 11 years. Her Dad was alcoholic and others in her family were as well. She thought that she scared herself enough to never drink again. Wrong.
She has suffered with chonic pain since she was 19. In her mid 30's she was diagnosed with her disease and tried all non drug treatments for pain. All failed. There is no cure for her disease. She is now 43.
When she was in her mid 30's she was placed on various opiate drugs and opiates became her drug of choice. She quit opiates 3 times in her life. Always to go back due to pain. She has come to realize that she is an addict but is not at this time physically dependent on opiates. She takes them occasionally for pain. That is once per month for 2 weeks. She takes Darvocet. If the pain gets really bad she had also drank poppy pod tea, but not for 2 weeks, 1 day. She does not experience withdrawal aside from paresthesia.
2 years ago she began to use alcohol to treat pain. She slowly progressed to an every day drinker. She has been mostly an every day drinker for about 1 year. Sometimes she has taken breaks from drinking for about 1 month at a time. She used to get horrible hangovers. Since becoming mostly an every day drinker she usually does not get a hangover. Tolerance, this is not good.
She did not notice that anyone has mentioned paresthesia, tingling, creepy crawlies of the skin. She understands that this can be a withdrawal symptom. She used to get this when taking opiates daily or when quitting opiates or opiods... She now experiences this evey time she drinks. If she stops drinking she will experience this mostly at night for about 1 week.
Paresthesia is very annoying and it is difficult for her to fall asleep at night. She wonders if anyone else is experiencing or has experienced this symptom?
She has not touched alcohol or drugs in 4 days today. She realizes that she needs to stop or that she will eperience paresthesia no matter if she ingests alcohol or opiates.
She has a husband that has a drinking problem as well. He is not very supportive. He drinks in front of her often. She knows what she has to do to get help but is not sure that she is ready to give it all up, partially due to the addict in her but also due to the fact that she is in pain much of the time. Even with the annoying side effects or withdrawal symptom. She feels that this is an ugly sign of a true addict.
She knows that she is an addict. She has not really been sober in years except for short stints. When she was a child she would sneak drinks when her parents would have parties. She would ingest over-the-counter cough syrup and anything that she could get her hands on if she was feeling sad. She has a history of depression and it is in her family as well. She feels that she has been attempting to self-medicate for years. Not only for pain, but also for whatever her mental condition may be.
She also feels that it is important to mention that she never lets things get really out of hand. She guesses that she is a maintenance user, if there is such a thing. She still takes care of her responsibilities in life. However she understands that she is not on a good path and this could change.
This is the most honest with anyone or herself that she has ever been.
She apologizes if this post was placed incorrectly. She did not know where else to put this.
08-10-2009, 17:21
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