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Anyone's A's have problems with meds they've been put on while trying to quit drinking? When my ABF went into rehab they put him on three different meds to help with the trembling and anxiety and depression. So after he gets home he goes to see his regular physican and he keeps him on them. Well after a while it doesn't seem to be working for him so the Dr. changes them up. Again, there are side affects and really not working so the Dr. changes them. Now at this point he's having severe ups and downs and headaches and just plain erratic behavior. Again the Dr. wants to change to yet another med. We are both thinking ENOUGH already! He makes an appointment and we both go in and have a long talk with his doctor. We all three come to the agreement that all this medication has him totally screwed up! So he's gonna try to be completely off of them for a week and see how it goes. He's a little scared but ready to get off the roller coaster ride he's been on with the meds. I just need to put in my HP's hands...Let Go and Let God! Yeah I am working on that! :)
When my fiancé got sober, they put him on a pretty heavy dose of benzos to control the shaking and prevent seizures. In his early recovery he kept relapsing and every time he would relapse, his doctor would put him back on the benzos and taper him off slowly. When he got with a good sponsor and started outpatient treatment, they told him his doctor was putting him on way too many meds, especially for a person in early recovery and had him dump the pills. The sooner your BF is off all drugs, the better, although, he should follow his doctor's advice. Perhaps, he should look into finding a Dr. who has a specialty in/experience with addiction treatment if he hasn't already.
Also, my advice from 3 months down the road is try to let him handle his doctor's and all that himself, the sooner you extricate yourself from his recovery process and start focusing on your own recovery process, the better it will be for both of you. It wasn't helping either of us to have me asking questions about his meds all the time. I'm sure he'll be fine off the meds and it will let his body really start cleaning up and really making progress. Good luck with your travels.
My AH was put on klonopin while he was "trying" to quit by himself and I'm convinced this hastened his "downfall" last summer. The problem with these drugs are if they are not taken in a controlled environment (such as rehab, detox) and someone continues to drink, the effects of both become multiplied. In fact the combination can often be deadly. My AH continued drinking and taking Klonopin and in a matter of weeks he lost his mind and went on the binge that finally got him to check himself into inpatient rehab. Bottom line is one has to be very careful with these drugs - I am not a fan of taking them outside of a medically controlled environment. I think some physicians may mean well but really don't understand how dangerous they can be.
It just seems to me physicians want to throw meds at everything without understanding whats really going on. His doctor even said he had been trying to make things better for him but obviously made it worse. And if him getting off the meds didn't help he would send him to someone more specialized.
In my opinion, it may be helpful for your partner to find a medical service that specialises in alcohol and drug issues when it comes to medications. I work in this field and it is quite specialised in regards to various aspects of the medications.
Even for a future doctors surgery he will need to find one that understands addiction. My Dad was careful when he got sober and found a good doc that even helped him when he had a cold etc so the medication didn't have alcohol in it which alot of it does.
I totally agree with Linda and everyone else who has shared. Yes, we were having issues for a while. The meds def hasten the issues. Hellloooo .. DUI .. not that a DUI wouldn't have happened at some point down the road I do say the meds were a def contribution to the issue as a whole. He was put on meds by his GD and that Dr truly had no business doing that when the real issue was the drinking.
Hugs P :)
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Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.- Maya Angelo
I dont know much about this.. my AH was put in Prozac in and after rehab... he says he's not sure if its helped him or just the praying and spiritual stuff and his sponsor and 90 in 90 and outpatient.. but he does think the Prozac has helped his anxiety. not sure.
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Michelle!
No one can take away your peace of mind unless you let them.
