Fam member going to detox - what to expect and how to help

Hi everyone.  I have a family member who is expecting to enter a detox facility for his addiction to prescription meds.  He presently takes haldol, wellbutrin, tegretol, buspar, klonoin, vicodin, oxycodone and kadian (in addition to BP, GERD and diabetes meds).   Thankfully he has agreed willingly to enter the detox program.  It is a facility that will move him to suboxone.   Has anyone on this forum had any experience with this type of detox?  What sort of things can the family do to help him through this?   Maybe there are things that we haven't thought of that your experience could suggest.  We are starting to plan for the next step when he gets out of detox.  Obviously a change in doctors is in order (yes, one doctor prescribed ALL of the above for him).  

Thank you all in advance.  God Bless you and give you strength in fighting your battles.  You are all worth it.  

~ T

[sway1]

bless you for wanting to help. in recovery asking for help can be very hard. your willingness to help is great. i hope that there is a 12 step mentality in this facility as that will help him to remain clean for the rest of his life. if you follow the guidelines and priciples in NA or AA it is just about impossible to fail. they are there for him whether the facility uses them or not and they are without a doubt the best chance for success any addict has. that said, don't you wish that the doctors who lead aide us in becoming addicted or just facilitate us, were held accountable in getting us back out again when the medical need is gone. i used my doctor to get clean. then one day i went back and got him to write me a prescription for methadone. he is a hopeless rx writer! i have a new doctor now. i am on suboxone, probably long term. is he going to be on it for a while? it has already saved my life. it doesn't get me high, only takes away the desire to use. best wishes. sway

[IBKleen]

Hi & Welcome,

Seeing family members supporting someone who is suffering just warms my heart.

You mentioned that he is going to a detox facility and will be put on Suboxone. Am I to guess this is a short-term detox and not a treatment center? If so, they generally do not participate in counseling meetings, etc. Their goal is to get the addict through the first five days safely.

In order to stay clean, which is the hardest part, he will need aftercare in the form of counseling, meetings, as I mentioned.

I am providing the link to a meeting guide. Follow the instructions to find the meetings near your home.

http://portaltools.na.org/portaltools/MeetingLoc/

As far as the family goes, there is a fine line between helping an addict and enabling an addict. As addicts we are liars and thieves in our active addiction so be careful if you see that type of behavior. Suboxone can be a helpful tool if used properly but the chance of relapse is statistically high.

Protect yourselves and read as much about addiction as you can. Ask away here with any questions you may have. Every question is important.

Best of luck to all of you and God Bless. Please keep us informed.

[tangm]

Thank you both so much for the quick response!  

Sway1 - the facility does follow the 12 step principles.  I do not know how long my BIL will be on the suboxone.  We will know more once he has the medical eval.  As I understand, the complete program is 30 days.  The first 3-5 days are in intensive detox until they are medically cleared. I have not heard that the suboxone will be completed by that time, just that he will be taken off narcotics.   The insurance covers 2 weeks of it so that is very frustrating but thank heavens he has some coverage.    After the 30 days, they will help place him in a transitional / intensive outpatient facility.   We haven't progressed that far.   So the suboxone cuts the cravings?  That is one thing my BIL shared with us.  He said that he wished that he could wake up and not have the cravings.   Thank you again for sharing

IBKleen - I mentioned some about the facility above (to Sway1).  This facility does have daily counseling and self-help meetings.    Thank you for the link to the meetings.  This will come in useful when he is ready to return to his home state.    Can I ask more about what you wrote re: suboxone and relapse?  If suboxone cuts the desire to use, what brings about the relapse?  Is it that the underlying "pain" was never addressed?   Is it a more a perceived mental than physical need?   Thank you so very much for your ongoing assistance.  

[sway1]

the reason that i chose suboxone was so that i could be free of the cravings long enough to install some good lifestyle changes and change my behaviors. i need some time and distance between now and my last "get high". i too want to see what ib kleen has to add about relapse. forwarned is forarmed! good luck. i am here to help! sway

[tangm]

Update.  Well hopefully today we can get him into a center.  Ran into a snag last week as the intended center called back and said they weren't dual diagnosis and couldn't fill his pysch meds.   Then we called other facilities and BIL wouldn't admit to abuse - only taking as prescribed so no one would admit without doc approval first.   Finally he came clean yesterday and admitted to the doc shopping and abuse.  How my heart breaks for anyone that has to go through all this by themselves.  Some of the people that answer the phones / intake at these centers need to be slapped silly.  

My prayers are with everyone on this forum.  Sending you strength for a positive day.  Don't let anyone / anything drag you down.

~T

[tangm]

No such luck yet.  Its apparent that we are going to have to contact all of the doctors who were prescribing and have each one sign off on the detox.  Some of the psych meds are narcotics as well so I don't know how that is going to be handled.  Furthermore, we are going to have to find a pain mgt center that will handle his future non-narc meds for pre-existing pain.     We've easily contacted 30 centers/hospitals with no success.  Was I ever naive thinking that a detox center was going to handle all of the above.  Seriously, how does a struggling addict with no support go through all of this?