About Melanie Solomon Expertise I can answer all questions relating to drug and/or alcohol abuse, symptoms of withdrawal, and can help you find the treatment that is right for your individualized situation.
Experience After being in the recovery "merry-go-round" of rehabs, sober livings, 12-step meetings, relapse, OD, and back to square one for 9 years of my life, I finally realized there had to be another way. This led to major research which stated there were MANY ways, and this led to my book, "AA-Not the Only Way; Your One Stop Resource Guide to 12-Step Alternatives," so I could share my vital findings with others
Organizations NAADAC- The Association of Addiction Professionals
CAADAC- California Association of Alcohol & Drug Addiction Counselors
Publications NAADAC's December 2005 newsletter, in "Reader's Corner"
SMART Recovery newsletter
Recovery Times.com
Education/Credentials I have a B.A. in Psychology, with Honors from the University of Michigan, but more importantly, I've lived for almost 10 years in the recovery system, so I know, firsthand, where you, or your loved one, has been, and how to now say that there is hope.
Expert: Melanie Solomon Date: 7/20/2006 Subject: My gf is addicted to Percocets.
Question Hi! I've never done anythign like this before but I really need to know how to get over this. Me and my girfriend have been together almost 2 years and she met up with an old friend from a couple years ago, and she started snorting Percocets. As a recovering perk addict I told her to becareful and whatnot. Well we broke up and she 'stopped' using them until about a week ago she told me she was addicted but going to get Methadone. Now I can't trust her and I want to help her in as many ways as I can. I love her too much to see her deal with this alone but it also hurts too much to be there. How can I trust her again and how can I help her at the best of my abilities? Is there things I should and shouldnt say or do?
Answer Hi,
As a former pill addict, and as a person who has also been on the other side of the relationship, loving someone who had a problem with drugs, I really do understand what you are going through. You are in a very difficult situation, since you love your girlfriend, but can't trust her, and it almost hurts too much to watch her do what she's doing to herself. And there's only a limited amount of things you can really say or do because if she feels like you are pushing her into getting sober, or feels like she's being judged, (and when you're on pills, even the slightest remark can feel like an extreme comment of criticism and judgement), she will push you away even more, and it won't help her in getting off of the pills.
As you know, they are very, very hard to get off of, probably one of the most, if not THE most, due to a lot of reasons. But, WHY is she getting on Methadone?? This is even HARDER to get off of than the Percocet itself! Unless she's a hard core heroin user as well, I would not recommend this course. There are definitely much better options than this. For one, there are a couple of medications available now that have proven to be VERY effective at controlling the urge to use. I even have personal experience with one of them myself, and it works well. Also, if it seems too daunting to quit entirely, that's ok. There are several options to that as well, such as harm reduction therapy.
I would be happy to speak with you, or your girlfriend, or both, regarding what's the best action to take from here. I offer a free, 30 minute consultation for just this reason. Also, you might get a lot of help from my site, www.aanottheonlyway.com, where there is a lot of information that you can't find elsewhere, and then if that interests you, consider buying the resource book, which will provide you and your girlfriend with a large amount of treatment options, many of which I'm sure you've never even had the opportunity to hear about.
One more piece of advice...if your own sobriety or peace of mind is going to be threatened by getting too close, then I would recommend just taking a step back. You need to take care of yourself first, making sure you are on solid ground, because I have often seen it where the person on drugs takes the people closest to them down with them, ok? Take care. I hope I've helped you in some way today.
Melanie Solomon-member of NAADAC/CAADAC
www.aanottheonlyway.com
msolomon@aanottheonlyway.com
800-240-7141
