Do you know an addict first hand? Talk about it if you wish.

[Stinky The Clown]

60 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes
	55 (92%)
	No
	5 (8%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. Everyone does, whether they know it or not.

[elleng]

6. Right.

[Dorian Gray]

38. Absolutely

I know many. Raised by two. Sister to one. Sister in law to another. Wife to a recovered addict. Aunt to an early abuser of substances. Friend to many.

Some of the closest people to me. I'm happily in a place where the friends who I've met in my adult life are NOT big drinkers, and it's made a huge difference in how I approach parties and events. (I don't avoid them like I used to when I hung out with my college/high school friends who mostly do drink way too much.).

[unweird]

2. Narcan on hand

For the opiate od’s. Couple of city events this summer had free Narcan inhalers and we picked up some.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

5. When I blew my knee out a couple months ago they prescribed a Narcan inhaler with my pain pills

That should be SOP for every opioid script.

[True Dough]

22. I had arm surgery several months ago

and was given opioids for the pain. I took one pill each night before bed for three nights. Then I returned the rest to a pharmacy for disposal.

No need to take one more pill than I absolutely had to.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

3. This is hitting personally right now

A friend's son is on opioids and has been on the street for a year or so. He recently was admitted to the hospital after being hit by a car. While checking him out they found some weird infections that would require surgery and months of antibiotic treatments. We were excited that he was in the hospital, getting care and would be detoxed while getting treatment.
He checked himself out after one night and was back on the street. Fortunately his estranged girlfriend convinced him to go back in - basically gave him the ultimatum that she wasn't making excuses and would cut him off from his daughter.
We're praying that it sticks this time.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. You never know what "sticks". Time after time after time we had that hope dashed. Until it stuck.

I wish your friend and her/his son the good - the very best - kind of "stick".

[AZSkiffyGeek]

14. We were terrified when he checked himself out last Wednesday

His mom was sure he was going for one last fix (well, we all were) - but those "last fixes" can be "last" for other reasons. Fortunately he called her when had checked back in. Apparently the other homeless were telling him to go to a different hospital that had more lax visitation rules - and he decided to go to the one that would have him isolated.

[Skittles]

4. alcoholism killed my brother

he was 11 months older than me

[elleng]

7. Terrible.

I married one.

[Dave says]

13. Technically

Lung cancer killed my mother, but my family and I think the cancer was enabled, if not caused by, her alcoholism. She was a very heavy drinker, never completely sober and often unable to even walk.

My ex-wife became a heroin and fentanyl addict after we divorced. She chose her brother over our marriage. He was a heroin and crack addict. My wife excised him from most of her adult life (criminal, abused women, lots of very bad stuff) until he showed up at our front door one day, his 18-wheeler parked at the curb. Their relationship grew to the point she and he were sleeping together while I was traveling on business. Sex and sleep in front of my pre-teen daughters who were too scared to say anything to me. In fact, I kept denying most of the stories until after I divorced her (she also went through 6 figure savings behind my back - that was the immediate cause for the divorce).

A friend of mine, an ex-Navy Seal, told me I should write the story of my life with her and the kids, but I’d have to call it fiction because it was so extreme no one would believe it could be true. Trust me, it far exceeds the little I say here.

Anyway, I got the kids. We have a happy life together (they’re both in their 30s now). My ex-wife, despite support from me and her dad (an ex-CFO at a Fortune 500 company), has been living on the streets for a couple of decades now. We’re all amazed she’s still alive.

[Johonny]

15. Best friend two years ago.

Only 39 years old 😞

[Walleye]

28. I had a younger cousin who died of alcoholism at age 47. I quit drinking years before at age 45

I guess the disease does run in families. We had a great uncle who was a binge drinker. He would come for my father to take care of him when he was drunk. So many years ago, we were way too young to know what was going on. Coming from an immediate family of teetotalers

[Duncan Grant]

8. A little context on what it's like to know an addict.

This questionnaire was created for the friends and families of alcoholics — but it’s transferable.

Are You Troubled by Someone’s Drinking?

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Thanks for that. Nar-Anon has similar.

As you say: transferrable.

[nolabear]

9. Both family and people I treated in therapy.

My grandfather was an alcoholic. It killed him eventually. He was both a terrible burden on my grandmother and loved by just about everybody. I’m probably sane because of his unconditional, fierce love.

And I’ve known a number through being a therapist. If they were seeing me they were trying. It was often just miserable. The disease has a vise grip and is triggered by so many things. I saw some genuinely good people do desperate things. I’ve always been grateful that no one else in my family seems to suffer from it. In some ways it’s pure luck and in some it’s privilege—the ability to get support and help.

[Emile]

12. My neighbor is on morphine tablets and etc. He

was going to a special pain doctor who was arrested for over prescribing pain meds. I keep my distance from him and his strange mood swings.

[Elessar Zappa]

16. Yes. I am one.

Addicted to opiates for four years. Low point was stealing my dad’s painkillers after he had some from a surgery. Really shitty move. I went into treatment after that. I’ve been on suboxone now for seven years and I don’t plan to go off it because I fear relapse. I empathize with Hunter and feel for Joe.

[boston bean]

17. Many do not want to admit to being one.

So I can see how an addict would answer no on an official application under perjury.

Even some who have been in treatment do not call themselves one, especially if they have relapsed.

[GusBob]

18. I lived and worked on an NDN Rez for over 6 years

I knew too many addicts. Every man woman and child is co dependent to some form of addiction.

The day before I left, 2 of my patients, meth addicts both, were gunned down in a targeted cartel shooting. I could tell a million stories and have heard many sad tales

Am working for another rural tribe and addiction is an issue across the county and cultures here too. I dont live on this Rez so its not in my face 24/7.


The problem now is addicts are getting busted and sent to jail and not getting treatment. They get dope sick in jail and then clean. When they get out their tolerance is down and most of the overdose deaths are within 2 weeks of release

[ismnotwasm]

19. Yup

Myself (in recovery) my sister (has cocaine and meth induced psychosis) my son (fentanyl, active addiction) Possibly my brother, who has other issues, my father (dead) my grandfather (dead) my GREAT grandfather from what I understand (dead, obviously) My aunt (we don’t talk)


I am a nurse on a transplant unit (livers, pancreas, kidneys, small bowel) I have seen hundreds of people with alcohol use disorder or substance use disorders. We focus on harm reduction these days.

[cloudbase]

20. I did. It killed him.

[Duncan Grant]

25. A terrible thing.

Sincerely wishing you peace of mind and comfort. That goes for everyone on this thread who shares this experience.

[cloudbase]

30. Thank you.

[tinrobot]

21. My mother died of alcoholism at 48

I was in my 20's at the time. Stopped drinking soon after that.

[bif]

23. I was a heavy drinker for years

Been sober for 5 1/2 years.

[shrike3]

24. A young acquaintance died of an overdose. He was 19.

A relative of mine died in the same fashion. He left behind a wife and two children.

[mdmc]

26. many, many

[Auggie]

27. Heroin. A co-worker.

High-ranking position, stole from the office and co-workers to support the habit. And he wasn't even fired.

[Quixote1818]

29. Yes, they became extremely religious and a Trump cult member. Went from one addiction to another. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

34. That path is not at all uncommon

[WhiteTara]

37. old saying

No whore like a reformed whore.

[Wicked Blue]

31. My brother OD'd on crack

[Paladin]

32. My cousin. He's been gone for many years.

He came back from Southeast Asia and out of the military with a raging drug problem. All our efforts to help him were for nothing---he ended up taking his own life. It's been almost 50 years, and it still hurts.

[sakabatou]

33. I don't think so. Most have been second-hand.

[ecstatic]

35. I know Alcoholics, and I'm a carb addict.

I really hope Hunter has an amazing support system. It appears that he does.

[Deep State Witch]

36. When Our Friend Was Living With Us Around 2015

She was on fentanyl extended release patches for pain management. One of them must have been damaged, and it was giving her 3 days dosage at once. I got home to find her high as a kite. So, I told her to sit her ass down on the sofa and called 911. They came, I explained that she was on fentanyl patches, and they took her to the hospital. In the ambulance, they gave her Narcan. By the time she got to the hospital, she was better - although she had a splitting headache.

That's why I keep Narcan handy. Just in case something bad happens.

[iluvtennis]

39. My brother was crack cocaine addict for 20 years.

Nothing that we the family did for him brought him out of it.

Several times in prison as he supported the habit by stealing from businesses ( … never broke into anyone’s home, just businesses…).

After released from prison about 15 years ago, he buddied up with another recovering addict and they helped each other stay clean and not get back with the same old druggie folks.

He’s been clean for 15 years now

[SKKY]

40. It's like that Prince song...

..."In September my cousin tried reefer for the very first time. Now he's doing horse. It's June."

[Tree Lady]

41. My ex, divorced him got full custody

because he got hooked on drugs. He's been clean last 15 years, I am glad for my kids who see him now. We split 30 years ago. He traded drugs for carbs and sugar, very overweight. To me sugar is an addiction too. One I also struggle with.

[LudwigPastorius]

42. One of my best friends was hit by a lawyer in a BMW years ago.

The accident really messed up his back. He was prescribed opiates so he could function, then his doctors pulled the prescription from him after a year, so he sought out another source for pills.

He was functional for a while, but he started doing heroin because it wasn't as expensive as black market pills. The chronic pain, and the daily chase looking for "medicine", did him in.

At the age of 55 he bought a gun, wrote a note, parked in a hospital parking garage, and blew his brains out.

[NanaCat]

43. I have known them in the past

I've known several. All of them are dead now, so I no longer know anyone who's an addict.

[Conjuay]

44. I was with my son one night, looking on

Google at the neighborhood I grew up in. It became disturbing as I pointed out house after house of people I knew. There must have been a dozen people from my class and the class just before me that had died from heroin.
The more I thought about it, I realized I knew no one who died, say in a car wreck, or in Vietnam.

Everyone I knew who passed in the late '60's early '70's was because of a needle in the arm.
As for the original question for the last 16 or so years I've been a former drunk.