UR Addiction Recovery: Medications and Pain Management

Medications and Pain Management for the Recovering Addict  
A Formal Expression Series (please leave comments regarding what helps you and others in recovery):

Brandon Bruce Dellario LMSW LASAC

Every addict in recovery has their own particular path.  
When it comes to addiction recovery, in relation to specific drugs that can or should be used for medications, opinions vary.  Be it prescription or over the counter,
each recovering person makes decisions regarding their own recovery and the drugs they will ingest.
This is done with the guidance of a sponsor, peer or another accountability party, as well the supervision of a medical doctor.  The doctor is the professional, and does have the final say, though doctors may not be informed regarding the disease of addiction and appropriate treatment medications or procedures.  It is up to the doctor and the patient together to figure out the best course of medical treatment.  As with most addiction treatment methods, this can only be done with the addict’s full disclosure.
I myself will tell the doctor immediately upon their entry to the room, “I want to let you know, I’m a recovering addict.  There are certain things I do to manage medications, and I need your help in doing so. [Or, I will simply declare]  I’m an addict and I know to tell you this before we proceed.”
    Over the years in my own recovery, I have undergone four surgeries.  I've been on a variety of pain medications as well as several psychiatric medications.  One might ask how someone who is on a medication be considered clean from drug use.  Also, how can anyone in recovery insure they stay clean (meaning abstinent from drug misuse).  The following is my personal experience which may differ from others.  I mean only to share my own story with you as to allow others to find their own personal path in recovery.  As they say in twelve-step programs, “take what you need and leave the rest behind.”
    Many people in addiction recovery find recovery-oriented programs necessary in order to stay clean.  Early on in my recovery, I attended 6 or 7 twelve-step meetings per week.  During my first year clean I attended over 300 meetings.  It was in those meetings (including sponsorship meetings) I laid much of the groundwork for what I call my foundation in recovery.  I still attend meetings regularly, but it was that first year I learned much of what I can and cannot do in order to stay clean.  I learned that
With medications, we take the minimum amount needed to manage the pain or condition.  We take meds only as prescribed, as directed and as needed.
    Of course, most psychiatric medications were nothing to worry about regarding abuse because they didn’t get me high.  They just slightly change me in some way or another.  On the other hand, there are many psychiatric medications that I abused in my using days, such as the many benzodiazepines commonly used to treat anxiety, and the myriad of stimulants used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder.  I have had to turn down these medications down left and right from the many Dr. Feelgood PhDs out there.  Alternatively, if I feel like I absolutely need one of those meds to treat my condition, I will accept the medication and consult my sponsor about the method I will (or will not) take it.  I take these "controlled substances" or "drugs of abuse" only as medication, and only in a very special way now-a-days.  Here is what I’ve learned from other addicts in recovery, as well as the particular ways of my personal sponsorship line in a twelve-step program regarding medication use:
·    Upon arrival, 
I tell doctors, and occasionally nurses, that I am recovering from addiction.
·    Upon consultation I request information regarding the suggested medications, and I Inform the doctor if I feel the prescribed medication is dangerous for me to moderate (as a recovering addict).  Working together, my doctor and I can figure out the best medication for me to take.  Doctors know that I have a voice in my own treatment.  I know better than to think I can control my own use of certain mind or mood-altering drugs.
·    If there is no alternative medication or treatment (which often times there is not), 
I call a friend or family member and ask them to pick up the prescription with me and hold onto it.  I then delegate that person, or another trusted person to dole out my medications as needed, specific to the dosage and time of day.  I also do this with the many “non-narcotic” medications which are frequently prescribed.  These meds can be every bit as mood and mind-altering as their more traditional counterparts.
Once I feel as though the pain is manageable without the next dose of my medication, I will cease to take it.  After a short period of trial without the medication, I will ask my trusted friend to flush the medication down the toilet in order to eliminate any avenues of procurement.  There is always a chance I will have desires to use.  I continuously strive to avoid the people, places or things which might place me back in my old ways regarding drugs of abuse.  

     To the average person, these measures may seem extreme.  However, we are dealing with a disease which is more than elusive.  In my recovery, I have found it is best to lean into what other recovering people tell me about making appropriate decisions.  It is not an easy way to go about things, but is a part of the path I've been given in freedom from active addiction.  My own ways of doing things never kept me clean, no matter how hard I tried and no matter what I did.  I now know to ask the people who have been there and helpful professionals for suggestions.