medication in addiction recovery

7/30/2019 Medication In Addiction Recovery

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MEDICATIONIN RECOVERYBy Shaun Shelly

Many have come to accept

addiction as a disease, and one of

the downsides of this belief is that

can be easily treated via

pharmacological interventions. Accordingly, many recovering

addicts are dealing with their

symptoms via medical intervention.

I think this is a mistake. Here’s why:

The Problem

When in early recovery, every addict is going

to suffer an array of “symptoms” which could

very easily be strung

together to present aseemingly valid diagnosis of

a multitude of disorders

which in “normal”

circumstances would require

medication. The particular

group of symptoms and

severity may be influenced

by a number of factors such

as drug of choice, period of abuse, support

personality, predisposition, circumstances,

expectations.

Almost without fail there will be depression,

abnormal sleep patterns, mood swings,

obsessive behaviours, reduced pain threshold,

lethargy and more. This is to be considered

normal for the recovering addict.

Anne Wilson Shaef said this about early

recovery: “Something that required the best

of you has ended. You will miss it.” This is not

only superficially true, but also true to a much

deeper level. The narcotics have had a

profound effect on all areas of the addict’s

life.

Physically – biologically and chemically – even

the mildest of narcotics change the way ourbody functions. They must, otherwise there

would be no purpose in taking them. So

consider the addict who has taken massive

doses – doses that would often kill a first time

user – repeatedly over an extended period of

time. When they stop, they will miss that

thing that required the best of their body,

mind and soul.

In today’s world we tend to treat each of

these three areas – body, mind and soul – inthe same way: symptomatically and usually

via chemical intervention.

Balance – Body and Mind

High school biology teaches us that they body

works on an intricate system of balances and

feedback systems. Addiction destroys that

balance. It is only because of that initial

balance that the drugs had such a profound

effect, but once the balance

is lost the initial high is anelusive dream. Most poly-

drug abusers will get mystical

about the precise

combinations they

developed just to feel

normal. It takes years to

perfect addiction. As soon as

the massive “weight” of the

abused substance is removed from one side

of the balance, the body starts see-sawing

madly to try and regain some form of

equilibrium. That oppressive weight was not

put there in a day; it was slowly built up over

the period of substance abuse. And now the

weight is gone. Instantly. The body needs time

to regain the balance. Physically the addict

needs time to let the equilibrium return

without putting further pressure on the

system or disguising the symptoms. This is

IMPORTANT: This article deals with treating post-

detoxification addicts who have been weaned from their

drug of choice under medical supervision and those who

don’t have a co-morbidity that presents an immediate

danger to themselves or others .I am also not talking about

those who are on a supervised substitution or

aversiontherapy. I accept that there is a minority amongst

us for whom a life free of medication is an unrealistic goal.

In today’s world we tend to

treat each of these three

areas – body, mind and soul –

in the same way:

symptomatically and usually

via chemical intervention.



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addiction 101, tolerance and withdrawal. But

it goes further than the mere biochemical

scales of balance and early withdrawal.

Psychologically the addict will invariably suffer

from some sometimes very severe symptoms

such as depression, mood swings and

cognitive impairment. This is part of theirrecovery and is the rule, not the exception.

This may be the result of a chemical

imbalance, or it may be an imbalance of the

mind or soul. Right now, it’s unclear.

Into the void

To the uninformed it may seem that life

would surely get better once the addict is

clean, but if it was so simple relapse would

not be such a regular occurrence. If we took a

normal (a non-addicted) person and deprivedthem of their lifestyle,

cultural habits, friends,

hobbies and only source

of mental release, we

would expect them to

become depressed. This is

what happens to the

addict.

For every addict there is

the particular set of sub-culture behaviours that

are aligned with the particular drug of choice:

the meth user’s 3 day after-party, the party-

drug users rave culture, the stimulant users

high-flying lifestyle. These are generalisations,

but each drug has a community which users

belong to. Even the most private of addicts

who hides his addiction looses a lot: The rush

of the illegal, frantic meetings with the dealer,

the thrill of the double life they hide from

even their closest companions, the ritual of

preparing for ingestion. Their addiction allows

them to create their own private world. And

that’s before they’ve even had the chemical

benefit! When the addict stops using they are

no longer welcome. Membership expired,

entrance denied. There is a massive void in

their life.

To borrow from the British: when

disembarking from the train of addiction to

alight on the station of sobriety, “Mind the

Gap!” Especially since this train is an express

train and it’s usually still moving!

The Treatment?

If you accept what is said here, you may come

to the conclusion that there is an obvious

solution: The addict is suffering medical

symptoms due to the imbalance created by

their addiction, and these could lead to

relapse, so take away the symptoms. Reduce

the imbalance by using a counter balance,

bridge the gap, help make the void seem less

daunting – MEDICATE. Treat symptomatically

until all the problems disappear, or at least

become “bearable”. Let’s help the addict over

the initial hurdles – after all it’s better than

having and addict on our

hands. But is it? Are we

really helping the addict?

Or are we feeding their

addiction? I believe that

no-one is in a position to

answer that question

during the early stages of

recovery.

Why not:

I believe that all too often

medical professionals medicate the symptoms

the recovering addict is suffering at great cost

to the addict. Here’s why:

We need to give the body and mind time to

do what it does better than any other doctor

or medicine can: heal. The human body has

been created in such a magnificent way that it

more-often-than-not heals itself, physically

and mentally.

In the early stages of recovery we don’t know

if the symptoms are real – the result of some

long-term medical condition -or as the result

of the body trying to establish its’ own

equilibrium. When we add outside chemical

intervention we further confuse things and

delay the process of recovery and often deny

Psychologically the addict will

invariably suffer from some

sometimes very severe symptoms

such as depression, mood swings

and cognitive impairment. This is

part of their recovery and is the

rule, not the exception.



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the chance to make an accurate diagnosis

based on that individual’s natural equilibrium.

For example: The body needs more sleep to

heal, so the addict is constantly exhausted,

forcing them to sleep 12 hours a day. The

body is weak and heart overworked so

exercise seems impossible and old levels of

fitness seem unattainable. All thesesymptoms are there for a reason – to help the

body recover.

Mentally, many addicts became addicts

because of their inability to deal with life’s

issues. Often the drug of choice was a form of

self-medication to avoid dealing with these

issues. Now these same issues are there again

and still may seem impossible to deal with –

until the addict actually starts dealing with

them. This is why many addicts find help from

a 12-step program or professional counselling.

If we treat the symptoms that the recovering

addict displays through medication, the

symptoms may all but disappear. But does

this help the recovering addict? I think not,

because although life may seem easier and

the return to normality faster, the body mind

and soul have not really healed. Relapse is

around the corner – as soon as the drugs are

gone, the drugs will be back!

The Healing, growth and the character

required to conquer addiction take time and

effort. There are few short cuts.

My Advice

I believe that my experience has shown that

after detoxification the addict should receive

no, or as little as possible, medication to

alleviate the symptoms as described earlier. .

My advice to all those dealing with recovering

addicts is to avoid all medication for at least

12 to 18 months in recovery. Give the body

time to find its balance again. Understand

that the addict is going to require this time, at

least, to begin to operate as a “normal”

contributing member of society.

Rather have two years of struggle, allowing

the body and mind to heal, and move on to

enjoy a life-time free of addiction and

prescription medication.

FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

When I stopped using after years of active

addiction to stimulants I could not find the

energy to get out of bed. Over the following

months things improved slightly: I could get

up, but I was far from normal. It was

extremely frustrating that I could not get on

with life. I wanted to live up to the ever-increasing expectations of those who were

supporting me in my recovery.

After 12 months my energy levels were still

very low and I could easily spend days in

bed. I thought that I needed some form of

medication. My justification would have

been easy:

“I’ve been clean for a year. I cannot function

normally. The drugs must have caused some

damage. I must be sick, so I need some

medicine. There are pharmaceuticals

designed to “heal” this problem – I can

legitimately take these. If I say the right

things to the right doctor he will prescribethese pills and I’ll be fine and still in

recovery.”

Thankfully, I sought the advice of some

informed people who helped me think

rationally:

“A year it’s nothing compared to the active

addiction. I gave my addiction time, give my

recovery time. Of course I cannot function

normally, the drugs caused damage, so give

your body time to heal before subjecting it to

more of the same. I’m not sick, I’m

recovering. This will get better. There are

pharmaceuticals designed to heal legitimate

problems, but chemicals are chemicals. A

script and printed box do not legitimise the

use. If I get a doctor to write a prescription it

will be manipulation. This is not logical

thinking but addictive thinking – deal with

life on life’s terms.”

So I stuck it out. It took about 18 months

before my energy levels reached a level

whereby I was able to function normally.

Today I have no such problems and things

are still improving.

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Copyright © 2012 Shaun Shelly

medication in addiction recovery

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