Lest you think I am starting the new year with a bad attitude, I’m here to tell you I woke up full of piss and vinegar. That could be because I am actually on steroids. I went to an orthopedic surgeon yesterday, convinced I had bone cancer, only to find that the radiating pain in my hip was probably caused by, “Years of doing what you love to do…”.

For example, hiking up hills, running on the beach and the wearing of four inch heals. That, and a lack of space between the round ball of my hip bone and the socket it fits in. I am a bit crooked. I have lost range of motion in “bound ankle pose”.  I am occasionally in enough pain to limp piteously.

When an alcoholic is in pain…

To put this in the proper perspective, I have not been to a doctor in ten years. The whole process is so rarefied, that even filling out the insurance forms seemed novel and “fun”. I asked questions. And I couldn’t help but think of the opioids lined up like fluffy, white rabbits with fangs, on a shelf somewhere. I was asked three times, even before I made it to the examining room, what I took for the pain.

My response, “Um, nothing? Maybe an Advil gelcap when it hurts really bad?” was met with looks of incredulity. It occurred to me that most people take pain medication when something hurts… As an alcoholic, it’s weird I suppose, that I have always avoided medicine of any kind. Other than the three bottles of elixir I used to drink per day, of course…

To the young man who took my vitals (excellent), I said, “I’m an alcoholic so I can’t take anything, you know, strong…” It felt like TMI, or at least like I should have had the proper name for what I couldn’t take. Narcotics? Opioids? Oxys? Corticosteroids? I’m an addiction professional for God’s sake!

To the x-ray technician I said, “I wish this would just go away…” She laughed, but I meant it. Miracles occur, why not me?

Bone Daddy…

I waited in the appointed room, with my x-rays pinned to the light box like a Damien Hirst exhibit. My hip and back bones looked fragile and lacy. It made me feel tenuous. As if a wrong step might snap my underpinning and I’d clatter to the ground like old pottery.

An hour and 1/2 later, I didn’t care anymore. I had studied my infrastructure ad nauseum, and sped read six Hello magazines (Megan Markle is divorced). I played with the models of joints. I thought about Tom Hager’s cyanotypes. I looked out of the sliver of window like a prisoner on the Bridge of Sighs… I just wanted out of there.

I mean, doesn’t everyone think of Thomas Hager’s cyanotypes while at the orthopedic surgeon’s office? Thomas Hager “Departure” cyanotype photograph.

When the great man arrived, I amused myself by thinking of him as Bone Daddy. He was actually super cool. And, get this, one of the first questions he asked was, “Has there been an alcohol problem in the past?” I nodded yes. “Are you an alcoholic?” Bingo…

Apparently my dicky hip could be caused by excessive alcohol consumption. The gift that keeps on giving, right?

I performed like a trained bear in one of those sad, roadside carnivals for Bone Daddy – over-anxious to please. I bent at the waist and touched the floor. I duck stepped in place. I lay on my back while he twisted my legs like pipe-cleaners. Does that hurt? How about that? 

Stoic or scared straight?

The doctor said I was “stoic”. That most people would have been shouting at him to stop when he pushed my knee to my chest even though it didn’t want to go there. But, I don’t feel stoic. And as with each new experience I have in recovery, I tried to process.

The bottom line, is that those of us in recovery must advocate for ourselves.

I have developed a condition that begged the alcohol question, but what if I had said, no? I volunteered the information about my alcoholism to anyone who would listen, but what if I didn’t? As it turns out, I left with a dose of Prednisone mild enough for “pregnant women.” And a prescription for an anti-inflammatory that “also coats the stomach”.

But I keep thinking about the question, “On a scale of 1 to 10 what is your level of pain?” What if I had said 10? Alcoholics are used to under-reporting. How many drinks a day? One? I am suggesting we also try to accept a bit of discomfort, when the fix is potentially addictive. And don’t be embarrassed by the TMI. 

In this case, too much information is a good thing…

E2E – I’m BACK…

The post An Alcoholic Walks Into a Pain Doc’s Office… first appeared on Waking Up The Ghost - Alcohol Recovery.

Do you remember the overdose scene in Pulp Fiction where the guy shoves a needle into Mia’s heart and she does that freaky, bride of Frankenstein gasp and opens her eyes? Sanford House staff were being trained by an organization called the Red Project, to manage an opioid overdose with a drug called Naloxone, and Al said, “Is it like the Pulp Fiction deal? We stick the syringe in the heart?”

Our trainer looked at him with a droll expression and said, “Only if you want a homicide on your hands…”

That was at the beginning of the two-hour training and we had a lot to learn.

First of All, What is an Opioid?

Opioids are natural, synthetic and semi-synthetic drugs or medications derived from the opium poppy. Synthetic opioids are produced in laboratories, but they have a similar chemical structure to other opiates and they produce similar results when taken.

And before you think to yourself, “I am not involved in this ‘national epidemic’ I keep reading about, I do not use heroin,” think again. Opioids are commonly used illicitly or illegally for their euphoric effects, but they are also prescribed by doctors to treat a wide variety of conditions including: chronic pain, acute pain, persistent cough, diarrhea, child birth and delivery, and so on. Opioids are also often prescribed as maintenance drugs or substitution therapy for substance use disorders. You have probably been prescribed an opioid if you have had a tooth pulled…

Commonly Used Opioids are: Heroin, Methadone, Suboxone, Morphine, Oxycodone, Vicodin, Darvocet, Codeine Cough Syrup, Demerol, Opium, Oxycontin, Tylenol 3 with Codeine, Percocet, Dilaudid, Fentanyl and more.

Overdose – It’s Not Just a Back Alley Thing Anymore…

The Center for Disease Control (CDC), in its article Understanding the Epidemic – Drug Overdose , says, “More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any year on record. The majority of drug overdose deaths (more than six out of ten) involve an opioid. And since 1999, the number of overdose deaths involving opioids nearly quadrupled.  From 2000 to 2014 nearly half a million people died from drug overdoses. 78 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. We now know that overdoses from prescription opioid pain relievers are a driving factor in the 15-year increase in opioid overdose deaths.”

An opioid overdose happens when there are so many opioids or a combination of opioids and other drugs in the body, a person does not respond to stimulation and/or breathing is shallow or stops. This happens because opioids affect brain receptors that also affect breathing. Oxygen starvation eventually stops the vital organs like the heart and the brain. This leads to unconsciousness, coma, and then death. People stop breathing minutes to hours after a drug or combination of drugs  are used. Usually there is time to intervene between when an overdose starts and before a victim dies. An overdose can sneak up on you, but there are warning signs: nodding, wanting to be alone, drooling, out-of-it, shortness of breath…

Which is why we were trained to use the Naloxone Rescue Kit by the Red Project. (And by the way, the Narcan is injected into the arm, thigh or buttocks…)

You Are At Risk of Overdose If…

• You Mix it Up:  Taking multiple drugs without a doctor’s supervision or mixing opioids with alcohol is a deadly combination

• You Have Been Sober for a While: If you have been in treatment for opioid addiction, or if you have been sober for a few months and relapse, your tolerance for drugs and alcohol has decreased, making you more susceptible to an overdose

• You are Using Unregulated Drugs: Street drugs may be laced with dangerous “fillers” and unregulated opioids are often augmented with other drugs to cut the supplier’s expenses

• You are Using Alone: No one can help you if you are all alone…

• You Have Diminished Health or Decreased Breathing Function: I suppose it goes without saying that the sicker you are, the more vulnerable you are

• You Have a Prior History of Overdose.

The post Why are so Many People Overdosing on Opioids? first appeared on Waking Up The Ghost - Alcohol Recovery.