One Step at a Time April

[NoraC]

Mama is in the process of getting two root canals right now.

[NoraC]

Ugh, I am so glad they cracked down on unscrupulous pain clinics in Florida. We used to be the prescription opiate abuse capital of the country. I'm so glad I got that monkey off my back.

aihfl - I didn't realize that. We are in California. But, that clinics we went to. Oh my gosh. Scary! So many people there.

[aihfl]

Yep, I got hooked after a fall on a patch of ice up in New England one winter. I broke my tailbone. Doctors can't do anything for that except medicate the pain. After I ran out of pills, it was so easy to find an unscrupulous doctor and say, "uhhhh…my…uhhh, elbow, yeah, my elbow hurts." "Ok, here's a script for 60 lortab." I got detoxed off the pain pills almost two years ago and haven't looked back, especially given that my tolerance for alcohol was such that alcohol alone would no longer knock me out, so I drank AND took pills. I'm really lucky to be alive.

[NoraC]

Fantastic getting off the pills. Wonderful.

Yep - I know what you mean. So many things make me realize how lucky I am to be alive!! I was on a downward spiral for sure!

[NoraC]

aihfl - how long have you lived in Florida? Mama lives in Florida.

[aihfl]

I've lived in the Orlando area on-and-off for about 20 years. When I got here I had no intention of staying; it just wasn't that interesting a place at that time and it was only going to be a pit stop on the way to a bigger job. But here I am 20 years later, and it's actually kind of a cool city now. There is much more to this place than just theme parks - those are a way down the road anyway. I lived in the suburb of Winter Park for the 14 years I was married but I have an apartment now fairly close to Downtown Orlando and am loving it. I am discovering the Orlando Urban Bike Trail Network with a friend who is 6 years clean off crack cocaine and love being able to bike most everywhere I need to. On many days off I don't even get in the car. The only down side of moving back into the inner city has been that my car has been broken in to twice and my Ativan has been stolen (benzos being a controlled substance have street value) but that was my stupidness for leaving it laying out in plain view in the passenger seat.

[NoraC]

That sounds really great. I've lived in So Calif since I was about 18 months old. I'm 57 now so that's a lot of years. LOL

[SKendall]

Hello everyone. aihfl welcome and good job on your recovery.
Rusty, how are you doing? I hope your pain is diminishing. I just ordered a back brace, so fingers crossed. What is your long-term diagnosis?

Best wishes to Mama.

Hi Nora, how are you?

[aihfl]

How are you doing with the nal, Ne? I was jonesing for a drink before work one day and popped a nal (my shrink said it curtails craving) and I got acutely nauseous and started sweating profusely like I was going thru opiate withdrawal all over again. That happened a couple of times so he took me off of them and put me on Neurontin (gabapentin) instead. He gave me the Vivitrol sales pitch but I had such a bad reaction to the nal tablets it made me leery of getting nal in a shot. Plus, I hear from people who have gotten the Vivitrol shot that it is an extremely painful shot in the ass and I HATE needles, lol. I never could have done the IV thing because of that, thank God, because I've heard from IV opiate abusers in detox and rehab that once you go to needles you cross a line from which there really is no safe return. It was bad enough that I ground and snorted pain pills.

[Lizann]

Welcome aih

Ne, sorry your not feeling well.

Mama, how are the teeth?

Nora, wish I lived in California! It feels like February here today. Thanks for the little pep talk earlier. I am feeling good. Some days not so strong. I'm keeping myself busy and that really seems to help. Even if it's just annoying stuff like spring cleaning.

[Lizann]

Hello everyone. aihfl welcome and good job on your recovery.
Rusty, how are you doing? I hope your pain is diminishing. I just ordered a back brace, so fingers crossed. What is your long-term diagnosis?

Best wishes to Mama.

Hi Nora, how are you?

I hope the back brace does the trick.

[NoraC]

Hey all.....had hoped to be able to get on and chat/vent tonight. But, not going to happen. So I'll write what I can from my kindle.

Texted Mama earlier. Niacin gee was wearing off and she was beginning to hurt.

aihfl - really great about being able to bike around your area. Do you have a plan regarding alcohol........I mean abstaining or moderating? There are both on this thread.

SK- I hope a back brace helps.

Pauly - check in please. :hug:

[aihfl]

aihfl - really great about being able to bike around your area. Do you have a plan regarding alcohol........I mean abstaining or moderating? There are both on this thread.

To quote "How It Works" from the NA book, "Thinking of alcohol as different from other drugs has caused a great many addicts to relapse. Before we came to NA many of us viewed alcohol separately, but we cannot afford to be confused about this. Alcohol is a drug. We are people with the disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover." So in other words, I've got to completely abstain. Again, to quote the NA book, "one is too many and a thousand is never enough." This definitely applies to me with alcohol as well as opiates.

One thing I forgot to mention is that we have commuter rail in Central Florida now. Right now, Interstate 4, the main north-south drag through Orlando, is being reconstructed for the next 4-5 years and so anytime I have to go anywhere up or down I-4, I just ride my bike to one of the downtown rail stops and put my bike on the train. I feel so urban again like when I was a college student in Chicago!

[mama bear]

I am back from the dead and at work. I had two root canals and took baby pain meds last night and passed out.
Florida probably is the addiction capital of the world. There are ALOT of rural areas that have meth labs, and there used to be lots of pill mills, but those have been shut down.
I will read back later. Thanks for checking on me Nora.xoxoxoxoxoxo

[aihfl]

Hello everyone! Have the day off today so I cycled about 30 miles this morning with some people from a cycling group I'm in. They are hardcore and I couldn't really keep up with them but it is a lovely day today in Central Florida and the weather has been perfect the past couple of days.

Just had a tense conversation with the ex wife and missed the start of the noon AA meeting at Orlando Central group but I will make my regular 10pm meeting at a group called "Psychic Change" so I will still get my daily dose of spiritual medication. 10pm was around my "witching hour" so although it makes for a late night because we hang out in the parking lot for a half hour after, it is the perfect time for me to be at a meeting. I once went on bloodalcoholcalculator.org and figured out that I can chug a 750ml bottle of wine around 10pm and still be sober for work the next morning. If I only put that kind of effort in to being sober, I would have it made in the shade.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great day!