• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Coach of Choice

Making wise choices

  • Choice!
  • Contact
  • About
    • My coaching style
    • Diana’s Resume
    • FAQ
    • Why Hire a Coach
    • Codependence-Addiction
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
You are here: Home / Archives for Addiction

Addiction

Reduce Drug Overdose Deaths with this Conversation

By Diana Gardner Robinson 1 Comment

Not long ago a friend lost a family member to a drug overdose. The tragedy, which happens way too often these days, reminded me of something that I wrote a while back. I decided to create it at the length called for  on the Op-Ed section of my local newspaper, and to submit it. My title was “A conversation that could reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths…” which of course was far too long.  They shortened it to “Opioid conversation can prevent deaths.”

Some people familiar with the issue have suggested that I should publish it as a blog. As I’m not too sure of where the copyright lies, I am instead posting a link to the piece. It concerns a conversation that is very rarely to be heard in addiction treatment facilities (and I explain why). I must add that another reason to the reason mentioned in the piece is that most people assume that knowledge about drug tolerance and its place in the world of overdoses is common sense. The truth is, though, that in the horror of drug craving, common sense rarely gets a chance to speak.

If you know anyone involved in drug use, and most importantly if you know anyone in recovery, please read this article that I wrote for the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Just click on the link below.

(Sorry about the ads, I have no control over the newspaper website.)

Opioid conversation can prevent deaths

 

Perhaps it’s not ONLY fentanyl: What very few people in addiction are told…

By Diana Gardner Robinson Leave a Comment

… and if they were, lives might be saved.

(I do not usually write of addiction issues in this blog, but the current death rate due to heroin use is too horrifying to ignore. Accordingly, I am using this opportunity to point out something that, I hope, might keep some folk alive who might otherwise die. I hope that you will spread the word, especially if you know folk in early recovery.)

Most people know, from media headlines or from the loss of dear ones, that the death rate from heroin overdose is horrifyingly high. They know that sometimes the addition of fentanyl is to blame.  However, what I am writing about is something else that leads to relapse and sometimes death that is less well known, and that very few people in addiction have thought about. Greater awareness could save lives.

Over time, when people regularly use a drug, their tolerance increases. As their bodies’ become accustomed to the drug their systems adapt to the drug’s presence. The effect of the drug weakens because the body has learned how to adapt to it. In the usual process of addiction, people start to use more and more of the drug in their effort to re-experience the earliest effects of the drug – effects that may have been strong because, initially, there was zero tolerance for the drug. With continuing use, their bodies continue to adapt to larger and larger drug doses. We call this “increased tolerance.” After some time – often a surprisingly short time – tolerance is so high that the individual is using at a level that could have been fatal at the beginning.

Conversely, though, when people stop using drug, the tolerance starts to drop. Because abstinence from the drug once again becomes the new normal, the body “forgets” the adaptation it had previously learned. The adaption is reversed and tolerance decreases.

What happens when someone decides, once and for all (we hope) to stop using a drug? They do whatever they need to do to stop using – detox, rehab, 12-step, “cold turkey”- and, as thousands of mourning families have sobbed, they are “doing so well!” Sadly, although the drug may have left the body, the disease has not left the mind.

Whatever the reason for going into recovery, relapse can happen, and here is where the issue of tolerance becomes a very ugly topic. During the time of abstinence, the tolerance has headed back toward what, prior to use, was normal. Unfortunately, the individual still remembers how much of the drug was last needed to achieve the desired effect, and is likely to take that as a guide. Very few users will add their recently reduced tolerance into the calculation. If relapse occurs, the quantity used is likely to be greater than the newly reduced tolerance can handle. The result is an overdose, which may or may not be fatal.

I have talked with many addicts in recovery about this, and asked if they had ever been told of the dangers of reduced tolerance when relapsing. Not one has ever said that they were educated on this topic.

As a former addictions counselor I know that relapse issues are covered in addiction treatment – usually very thoroughly. My concern is that many addiction counselors are reluctant to talk about this particular aspect because it involves “safe relapse.” They don’t want to sound as though relapse is okay. It is very like the parental dilemma of discussing safe sex with their offspring.

“Am I giving them permission to go ahead and do it?”

“I don’t want them to think it is okay just because I’ve talked about staying safe.”

I’ve faced those decisions both as a parent and as an addictions counselor. How does one give guidance that makes a potentially harmful act safer without making it sound as though it is okay? In the case of addiction, because withholding information has the potential for death, in my opinion there is no choice.

The issue of tolerance, and how both active addiction AND newly achieved abstinence can affect it, need to be an essential part of every form of drug education both in addiction treatment facilities AND on the street. Information about reduced tolerance can save lives.

Please, if you know anyone who may be in danger of relapse (which means anyone in recovery), make sure that they know that their recovery, which is a wonderful thing, has reduced their tolerance. If they believe they HAVE to relapse, they must do it at the level of a beginner if they are to stay alive.

The Addict’s plea…

By Diana Gardner Robinson Leave a Comment

I don’t know why I am posting this today. I wrote it a while back, prompted by things I’d seen and heard when working in the field of addiction counseling. I usually find that when I publish something on impulse, I hear from a reader somewhere that the timing was precisely what they needed. I hope that is the case today. Diana

Touching bottom, Lord, help me climb back up.
It hurts down here, where I’ve put myself
(There’s no one to blame but me).
I’ve gotta stop now, I can see that it’s true.
Can’t do it alone, can’t win without You.

Touching bottom, Lord

I lost a good job today.
Fine job, nice folks, nothing wrong with the pay,
But a friend came by with a beer in his hand,
And I followed him, off to the promised land.
So I lost a good job today.

Touching bottom, Lord…

Left my best friend alone today.
He needed my help, and I’d promised, but, say,
The phone rang again, with a tip on a pony,
The chance of a lifetime, so said someone’s crony.
My friend managed his crisis alone, today.

Touching bottom, Lord…

I hit my wife today.
Not her fault, rent was due, and she had it to pay.
But I wanted that money, and she held it tight,
So I yelled, and I freaked, and we had a fight.
I injured my wife today.

Touching bottom, Lord…

My daughter’s birthday today.
A party, her friends, and some kids’ games to play,
So I laughed, and I drank, and I had a ball
Till I saw her face.  One look told it all.
I embarrassed my daughter today.

Touching bottom, Lord,

I lost a true lover today.
I took it for granted that she’d always stay,
She’d keep giving her love, and her help, and her care
So I took, never gave, while my mind was elsewhere,
And I lost a true lover today.

Touching bottom, Lord.

Once again, I have lied to my friends.
They care, that I know, they’re with me to the end
But I want their respect (though I don’t have my own)
So I played the big man with a fax and a phone,
And I lied, once again, to my friends.

Touching bottom, Lord.

I scammed my mother today;
Took her trust, and threw it away.
I thought I could buy my way out of my pain
But instead I feel like I’m going insane.
I scammed my mother today.

Touching bottom, today.

My life is a nightmare today.
I keep spinning, and turning, and trying to hold on, but everything’s flying away:
Dreams destroyed, friends betrayed, nothing’s immune,
Addictions, addictions are playing the tune.
My life is a nightmare today.

Reaching up, Lord.

I can take the first step today.
Can’t put everything right, but at least I can pray,
I can build my support group of people who’ve found
The way to the good life with feet on the ground.
I can take the first step today.

Reaching up, Lord.  Help me climb back up.
It hurts down here, where I’ve put myself
(There’s no one to blame but me).
I’ve gotta stop now, I can see that it’s true.
Can’t do it alone, can’t win without You.

Lord, help me climb back up.

© 2016 Diana Gardner Robinson

Some signs of codependency

By Diana Gardner Robinson 2 Comments

There is a very fine line between being a kind, giving person, and being codependent. We used to think that codependency existed only in conjunction with someone else’s addiction but it is now understood as a problem in its own right. The biblical Martha, rushing around, choosing to be “cumbered with much serving,” but becoming highly resentful while she does it, is considered by some to be illustrative of codependency. Of the symptoms below, some may simply indicate your generous and selfless nature. However, if they occur often enough to prevent you from living your own life and feeling good about it, then think carefully about why you do what you do. Some signs that may indicate codependency are:

1.  You spend a lot of time doing things for others, but you also feel resentful about it.

2.  You rarely do anything for yourself or spend anything on yourself beyond bare essentials, and you have forgotten what “having fun” feels like.

3.  You find it easier to say yes, and then feel badly about doing whatever you agreed to, than to say no in the first place.

4.  In relationships, you treat your partner as well as you hope s/he will eventually treat you, and wonder why s/he doesn’t follow your example. You allow this to continue indefinitely.

5.  You find yourself sacrificing some of your values to fit in with how your partner or friends choose to live.

6.  When friends and family are in trouble you see it as your responsibility to save them, even if they brought the problem on themselves, even if they need to learn from their own consequences if ever they are to change.

7.  You allow others to invade your boundaries because it makes you feel needed.

8.  Even though your own life is in order, you attract dysfunctional people who immediately start to depend on you. You allow this.

9.  You have difficulty thinking about yourself as central to your life. Even if asked about yourself, you somehow end up talking about the people who are in your life rather than about you.

10.  If you were drowning, someone else’s life would probably flash before your eyes.

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to our newsletter “Work in Progress (because we all are!)”

* indicates required






Email Format

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Tips for the new Supervisor
  • Risk-Taking
  • Some Ways to Make Difficult Decisions
  • Adventures in the Smog
  • Top Ten Steps to Obtaining Forgiveness
  • Pigeon Holes & Stereotypes: They Hurt… Everyone!
  • Reduce Drug Overdose Deaths with this Conversation
  • Coincidence? Or not?
  • Family roles, family trap?
  • Goals and True-Goals
  • Do You See Life’s Signals?
  • Before you take a break…

Privacy Policy
Contact Information

© Diana Gardner Robinson 2020

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

The Coach of Choice
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.