Dependency vs Addiction

[lisabarcellano1]

My husband used Vicodin/Hydrocodone/Norco/Soma for nearly 4 years. He went through a 7 day rehab program and was clean and sober for 16 months. He refused to enter the 30 day treatment program, and refused to attend any follow up support, meetings, 12 step programs, etc. He insists that he is not a drug addict, that his body was merely "physically dependent." He had the flu last week and his doctor was out of town. The doctor he saw prescribed Tussinex, and told him that it had a narcotic in it. He filled the prescription and I could immediately recognize effects. I looked up Tussinex on the internet, told him what was in it, and fully expected him to pour the cough syrup down the sink. He said I was overreacting, that it was just cough syrup, and proceeded to take it over the weekend. I had to relive the experience of watching him "under the influence." Would you characterize someone who, in their history, has used cocaine, marijuana, valium, and the above mentioned drugs, as an addict rather than as someone who was merely dependent upon prescription drugs? He believes that because he didn't "doctor shop" and because he has not sought out Hydrocodine during the past 16 months, that he does not have a drug addiction. Keeep in mind that I have been entirely supportive of him in his journey and sobriety. I realize that there is a fine line between addiction and dependence, but I would appreciate your insight. Thank you.

[DDDnna]

It is my thought that if you took a combination of drugs that your husband did....I would favor addiction vs. dependency or both (one and the same really anyway).  He was difinitely getting a speed ball type of high.  The soma brings you down and the vicodin brings you up. The combo of opiates and soma gives one sort of a herion high/feeling. Using them among other things for a four year term, an addict makes.   I am really surprised that any person could go into a five day detox and just never USE the drugs again & never think about them.  Maybe if he is just one in a million who had the experience, well bless him.  I just never ever heard of anyone in my life using different medications on a daily basis for any long term period...stopping after five days...end of story...never ever.  I would like to know how he did it.  Was it a detox center? How did he feel after ONLY five days?  It takes people months to feel normal after all that goig into their system. Did he talk about the pills afterwards?  Very curious.  I would be totally leary that he NEVER took them after sorry to say.  Just sounds like I said...one in a million or zillion.  Are you really sure he didn't continue to use and you just didn't know.  I am sorry to discourage you and I certainly do not mean to upset you but I would be leary if he put any substance in his body now or ever without the fear of full blown addiction reoccuring.  Well, based on what I know regarding addiction, this is what I had to say back to you.  Let me know the answers to some of my questions, I am really curious.  I hope after four years - five days turned his life around like he claimed....????

[lisabarcellano1]

Thanks for your comments. Amazingly enough, he did spend 7 days @ Loma Linda rehab facility - after nearly losing his wife and children. I can say with absolute certainty that he did go for the past 16 or so months without using any of his previous prescription drugs of choice. After 4 years, I knew the signs, and I absolutely would have known if he was using. As his spouse, I was very concerned about relapse, actually expected it. But to my husband's credit, he is an incredibly strong person. He really didn't believe that he even needed rehab, that he could quit on his own. In "conquering" his dependency - not addiction in his mind - he proved that he could do it. I would feel a lot better about his long-term chances for success if he had followed up with meetings and support, but I couldn't make those decisions for him. Some of the things he did which I thought increased his chance for success was to call the 2 pharmacies we use and have them put on his record not to fill those types of prescriptions. He cut off his source. Yes he could get it somewhere else, but if he did that, then he really would be - in his mind - an addict. In reading these forums, I'm getting the idea that there is disagreement between what constitutes addiction and what constitutes dependency. As long as he doesn't return to his old ways, I guess it really doesn't matter what we call it. Good luck!

[SamHan]

Howdy...wanted to offer some ideas...
I am a recovering alcoholic and addict.  From not only my experience but from what I've been told and what I've seen and what I've read, once someone uses at a certain level they may continue to be at risk for relapse either a long time or even the rest of their life.  There is a phrase about recovery from alcoholism-"once you pickle a cucumber it is a pickle, you can't turn it back to a cucumber."  It is scary to me when I read about repetitive opiate use (for whatever reason) and how it can cause permanent changes to specific areas of the nervous system.  Even after the use is stopped it takes a long time for the area to repair and even after repair there is still the possibility of relapse if the substance is introduced into the system.  
I have had long periods of total abstinence and then during a medical problem have taken Norco (which is like vicodin).  I remember the mind tricks that started ("well, one wasn't so bad, I'll take two, I mean the sky didn't fall down on me...," "I'm not stealing anything to get more so it is OK," "it is a medical problem so it is OK")...these are all rationalizations and for me one has lead to two, to four, etc etc and eventually a horrible w/d again.
Perhaps your husband who you say is strong toughed it out, or as we say "white knuckled it" with the threat of losing his family hanging over his head.
The following is not gospel but just a way of looking at it...
From my understanding dependency (from a conservative definition) is describing the physical phenomenon of repetitive use while addiction is broader and has a variety of behaviors and attitudes which make it up.  One can become "addicted" to things other than pain meds (for example, addicted to sex, gambling, shopping, video games) because of the desire to repeat the behavior, denying the consequences as a result of it, etc etc.  Dependency describes the physical discomfort associated with not using.  Taking a med to the point of the body "needing" it is dependency, the doc shopping, lieing, hiding it, taking more when not medically necessary is addiction.
Posting this for what it is worth, don't know if this helps...

[goingcrazy06]

I doubt your husband took all those drugs, all the time... all at once.

[lisabarcellano1]

Sadly, yes he did. I lived the  daily nightmare for nearly 4 years. Also, during the 2 months prior to rehab, he also was prescribed a narcotic patch, Fentonol (sp) I believe. It was an incredible downward spiral, where I was a willing co-dependent, which is why I am so concerned about something as seemingly innocent as cough syrup w/codeine.

[creek]

Thanks.  Your rationale makes sense to me.  Sadly I am an addict.  This is the first time I have printed this truth.  Thank you.

[KelVal]

Maybe he was able to do it in 7 days, because he was physically dependent, not an "addict", and once it got out of his system - once his body went back to functioning without it - there were no symptoms to address. Your confusion and suspicion over his ability to overcome the issue, is probably based on your insistence that it was something it wasn't.  If you consider that maybe he was simply dependent, the result of the 7 day "detox" makes sense.  Your right, demanding that he was addicted, makes his ability to get over it, impossible - which is why it doesn't make much sense to insist he was addicted when the signs don't fit.  My question would be, what was the pain condition that required the pain treatment and was that pain condition resolved?  Is he living with chronic pain in an attempt to defend himself?  And for the addicts and alcoholics...you can't throw everyone into the same box - there is a difference between a chronic pain sufferer and a person who "plays" with drugs and alcohol.  Most chronic pain sufferers do not become addicted to their pain medications...the stats are that about 7% will become addicted, but that is the result of a predisposition to addiction, it is NOT the result of long term use. If that was the case, we would have to assume some correlation between pain and addiction.  We would have to assume that a person with arthritis has a propensity toward addiction BECAUSE they experience chronic pain, and that's just ridiculous.  Here's something else to think about...if you're in debilitating chronic pain, the relief that pain medications give, is satisfying enough, getting your life back is enough of a reward.  Chronic pain sufferers don't have to "get high" on the pain meds, relief from pain is good enough.  It's those who have the addiction propensity to begin with who go on to seek the high, and THAT is what creates addiction...the "high, not the pain relief.  If you have someone in your life who suffers from chronic pain, educate yourself with regard to the difference between addiction and dependency.  You can't say you love someone and then demand that they live with horrific chronic pain, because you won't bother to educate yourself.  The next time you get a headache, or have the flu...choose not to take Tylenol or Motrin...because if you do, based on the idea that there is only addition, your desire to relieve yourself of the headache or body aches puts you in the box of an addict.

[dominosarah]

This thread was from 2007.

[BrotherFrankie]

yeah, long reply for an old post..