
Families & Friends Of Addicts Support Group
Addiction affects more than just the individual. This community is dedicated to the families and friends of individuals suffering from any form of addiction. Mental health professionals are increasingly considering alcoholism and addiction as diseases that flourish in and are enabled by family systems. Family members react to the addicted person with particular behavioral...
Also we are closely monitored (at most clinics) regarding urine tests. Most of the unfortunate negative media surrounding methadone results from people who are not in clinics but buying it rather from pain clinic patients and THEN mixing it with xanax, Valium, antidepressants, etc. Methadone alone is not harmful until mixed with these other drugs. Unfortunately the overdoses are not called xanax related, or valium related but methadone related. Now as far as your question...she may very well need long term treatment. When I discovered this was a possibility my doctor told me to look at my addiction as a disease just like diabetes. As a disease I will need to take medication for my diabetes for life. Likewise, I will need to treat my addiction for life. As far as going to a clinic everyday that is not the case. Every clinic differs however every clinic has a system designed to allow take home medication after requirements are met. For example, at my clinic after 90 days of clean urine, meeting all scheduled counseling sessions you get 1 take home bottle. After 180 days you get 2, etc.
If this is totally not feasible for your sister to do & get her kids back all is not lost. Suboxone is a medication very similar to methadone that can be prescribed by a doctor, She won't have the watchful eye of the clinic and the counseling to help prevent her from taking her script too soon but some patients are very successful in moving from methadone clinics to suboxone. I regret many people see people at clinics as still addicted. Our families will tell you otherwise! It saved my life. So support your sis in her decision. We don't want to go everyday to a clinic but the desire to get clean drives us. I am in the end stages of terminal cancer and still go 3 days a week. I also take nothing else for my cancer pain. Thanks