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...
Here's where we have the biggest form of thievery possible. Here's my experience...
My son wants help. He asks if i can help him find a doctor with a license to prescribe suboxone. A few years ago it was more
Difficult then it is today. So I made what seemed
To be about 100 calls to every psychiatrist I could find. Here's what they told me.
Yes we do prescribe suboxone. No we don't take insurance. It will cost $500 for the first visit and $150 each visit there after. So do the math. They go every day for the first week to show they are serious. Then every two weeks. Then once a month. Medicaid will pay for the suboxone. Yay homerun.
I'd do anything for my son to stay alive. So we get the suboxone. He's clean a few days and starts looking high. Seems he was trading his drug dealer the subs for heroin. And when he needed to pass a drug test he has to buy some back for the couple of days he needed to be clean.
Does anyone on this board actually believe this country (US) wants our kids/loved ones clean? Does anyone see that getting these kids and loved ones addicted to pills or drugs is such a money maker? Everyone has their hand in the pot. In my state (NY) if the court orders someone to treatment it is to the court appointed programs. These programs are funded by the state and no one could care less about a job so important because they are paid hardly anything. Our kids and loved ones never feel comfortable sharing in these programs because everything is reported back to the court...and since they get paid by the state these programs milk the money paid to keep them open. Who's getting help this way?
So back to suboxone. What kind of money are the pharmaceutical companies making off this? Give the kids the pills...and then sell them a cure. But to get it one must hand over their pay checks to these theives called Doctors. And I apologize for the small handful of honest ones out there. But I actually challenge someone to find a doctor in NY that will take insurance to write a script.
Our loved ones are going to keep being addicted because it's a money maker. It's a joke.
I'm not cynical. I have been dealing with this system for 20 years. No one is fixing what the real issues are. thoughts?!!!
My son wants help. He asks if i can help him find a doctor with a license to prescribe suboxone. A few years ago it was more
Difficult then it is today. So I made what seemed
To be about 100 calls to every psychiatrist I could find. Here's what they told me.
Yes we do prescribe suboxone. No we don't take insurance. It will cost $500 for the first visit and $150 each visit there after. So do the math. They go every day for the first week to show they are serious. Then every two weeks. Then once a month. Medicaid will pay for the suboxone. Yay homerun.
I'd do anything for my son to stay alive. So we get the suboxone. He's clean a few days and starts looking high. Seems he was trading his drug dealer the subs for heroin. And when he needed to pass a drug test he has to buy some back for the couple of days he needed to be clean.
Does anyone on this board actually believe this country (US) wants our kids/loved ones clean? Does anyone see that getting these kids and loved ones addicted to pills or drugs is such a money maker? Everyone has their hand in the pot. In my state (NY) if the court orders someone to treatment it is to the court appointed programs. These programs are funded by the state and no one could care less about a job so important because they are paid hardly anything. Our kids and loved ones never feel comfortable sharing in these programs because everything is reported back to the court...and since they get paid by the state these programs milk the money paid to keep them open. Who's getting help this way?
So back to suboxone. What kind of money are the pharmaceutical companies making off this? Give the kids the pills...and then sell them a cure. But to get it one must hand over their pay checks to these theives called Doctors. And I apologize for the small handful of honest ones out there. But I actually challenge someone to find a doctor in NY that will take insurance to write a script.
Our loved ones are going to keep being addicted because it's a money maker. It's a joke.
I'm not cynical. I have been dealing with this system for 20 years. No one is fixing what the real issues are. thoughts?!!!
She went through a living hell, the withdrawal from suboxone was worse then opiates and it lasted longer. So to help ease the pain and make her more comfortable they gave here clonopin. She just traded one addiction for another and I think this one was worse, she nodded off all the time and I can't count how many car accidents she got in, she got really mean and nasty. I finally had it and made her leave my house when one of our fights got physical and I ended up in the ER with a concussion and all bruised up.
Now here's the good part, she went back to the same physc hospital because she was so "depressed". I had everyone calling sucks e caseworker the nurses and the doctor I told them all I was done and she could not come home they asked if any family would take her in and I said no, I refused all her calls and after being there for almost a month they gave her the name of a sober house. She has been living there since April and is really a changed person. This house is run by a Christian Ministery and has strict rules which she needed. I am angry because she had been in that hospital at least 10 times and I begged for help and nobody told us about this place! When I was at the end of my rope I got the phone book out and called every place I could find and couldn't get help, still no help. It took me having to make my daughter leave my home and refuse to let her back before someone told her about this place. I wonder why? I think it was because they knew she'd keep going back to that hospital and they were making the all mighty dollar off her. I went through 10 years of hell before we finally got the right help.
As of today she is doing really well she was just allowed to spend one night a week at home, she usually comes over on Friday because I have her son on the weekend's and stays all day Saturday but she has to leave by 7 because she has an 8 o'clock curfew. Our relationship is healing but I still don't know when I will be comfortable letting her back home.
I really understand your frustration because I was in your shoes. I hope you find some help and it doesn't take to much longer. One thing you have to remember is your son has to want the help, we can't fix them as much as we would like to.
Our health care industry sucks and believe me it's not just NY, I think its an epidemic.
Pat
This post really is meant to enlighten those who still have faith in our medical industry and pharmaceutical industry. It's all about the money. We are so busy trying to save our loved ones that it's hard to see what is going on. It's corrupt.
And NO our government and medical community is NOT helping our issues by any means.
The trick will be to get more centers open for rehabs and STOP rehabbing them for 30 days and dumping them back out. Addicts need at LEAST 6 months of rehab to come close to a successful run at a sober life. But until our communities start getting these programs in place, these addicts don't have the real help they need. And the big pharma just keeps lining their pockets with those two 'miracle drugs' being pumped. SMH....it's a vicious circle and sadly our government is NOT stepping up!
You are NOT cynical, and I'm not into conspiracy theories, but I find it HARD not to think that way when I look at the information right in front of us, the poppy fields, the big pharma, the lack of actual TREATMENT centers, the lack of insurances helping to PAY for actual treatments and the lack of centers taking the actual TIME for helping addicts rehab. Like hospitals do, get 'em in, get 'em out. SMH.....arg....
Dead on. Ive been thru the system for 20 years frustrated and hopeless.
And one more thing I want to add about our communities opening programs......
NO ONE CARES unless it directly affects their family. We are viewed as parents who didn't do their job correctly.
Well here is my view on that. Maybe some were lucky. Lucky their kid graduated with honors and they moved onto be productive human beings. Great wish I knew what that felt like. However...those kids could have kids who aren't so lucky. And then what happens? I would wish what I have lived on anyone. So unless you come from a different community then I do....you are on your own. And good luck working your way thru the system.
I don't buy into conspiracies either. But what I do buy into is the facts. And the fact is they want people hooked. Its a profitable business.
Part of the problem that makes the Suboxone something that can be traded is that Suboxone doctors are only allowed to treat a certain number of patients by law. That limits the supply of the drug that's available. (I'm surprised by this because one would think that Big Pharma would have lobbied against a limit like this). When there's a limited supply and people who actually want treatment can't get in to a doctor, they go to dealers for the Suboxone supply. The dealers get this from people who have figured out a way to "pay" for their heroin by trading for Suboxone.
Congress has finally figured this out and I think I heard that legislation is being introduced to fix this problem, possibly by Rand Paul.
Our insurance company will pay for the doctor if it's through their contract provider for addiction services. The provider requires the patient to attend group therapy sessions a couple of times per week at their clinic and they will randomly drug test. They also pay for most of the cost of the drug through the prescription benefit, with a small co-pay.
I have heard of many success stories for methadone and Suboxone, but there are also stories of abuse. These aren't a miracle cure. They are a bridge to sobriety for people who want to get clean. Yes, it's trading one addiction for another, but they aren't going to OD on Suboxone and they should be able to get the drug legally. That gets them out of contact with dealers and allows them to live a normal life. Then, when their head is on straight and they've been away from the heroin for awhile, they can very gradually withdrawal from the Suboxone under a doctor's supervision. I agree that sudden withdrawal from methadone or Suboxone is hell, and can be worse than heroin withdrawal.
I have a whole lot of problems with Big Pharma's role in this whole story, but it's not from the Suboxone end. My bigger problem is with the opiates going into prescription medicines, which is how most people get addicted in the first place.
I will no longer support the suboxone or methodone concept. It's a crutch for them. I do support a week of detox using it. My feeling is when they want to get clean...they will. My son is not on suboxone in his treatment program. He detoxed a week with a taper. Yes he found it difficult the second week. Now he's playing basketball and lifting weights. He feels good. I pray he stays on this path.
The only thing suboxone did was empty my wallet and have him trade for heroin.
I disagree that the big pharmaceutical companies aren't in on all this. Yes I agree with them hooking these kids on pills. But making a "cure" makes me furious. One more thing to screw them up with.
If my son and detox after seven years of shooting up and being revived with narcam...so can any one serious about getting clean. Just my opinion.
My brother was there for more than a year and half, outpatient. We did not pay a penny.
I have a very hard time understanding all this privitasation of health and the concept of a 30 days rehab stint. It takes a long, long time under the supervision and guidiance of psychiatrists and addiction specialists to get back on the horse. Although things here are far from perfect (there's an actual waiting line to join rehab programmes which are understaffed, too), I know deep in my heart that addiction treatment should be FREE for ALL. It's a grave social issue for heaven's sake.
In the US you can write to your senate and make yourself be heard. You can mobilise influencers, you have this culture of active citizenship, which we don't really have here. It's mind-boggling to see how easy Big Pharma has it with opiate subscription and selling good drugs like suboxone to anyone who owns a clinic or has a medical practice.
My brother was on a coctail of "good" drugs for more than a year until they wean him off suboxone completely. But, at the end of the day, it was up to HIM and HIM only to follow the rules and fight.
I'm not trying to say how good we have it here, I just wanted to share our experience with suboxone and a system that is open (despite the waiting list) to ALL. Rich, poor, legal, illegal, black or white.
It's useless writing any politicians (in my opinion) as their elections have large donations from the big Pharma.
Not sure of the answer. But what we have going now isn't it