If a person needs a specific drug but lacks the self control to take them as prescribed would somekind of secure dispenser be feasable. This would be set up with the pharmacy or health manager system presently in place and throw a flag if tampered with. I assume there would be a monthly charge to be on this system.
Amazon has all sorts of lockable pill dispensers, some with timers.
If you live with an addict an are charged with managing the key they will drive you nuts. If you are not home they will take a hammer to the lock device. It has to be a system that they have no hope of beating, the slightest glimmer of hope that they can get a pill will will drive them to do almost anything. If they cheat or tamper with the box it should automaticaly be shut down for a minimum of 24 hours until it can be service and inspected at the owners expense. Continued abuse would lead to no more pills period.
I live with an addict and I alwasy end up giving in after watching them squirming in imaginary fits of pain for hours at a time. I am not capable of managing the key.
If you are not at home can’t they just go out and buy what they want (on the street)?
It hasn’t come to street drugs yet. It is now limited to running out of drugs 3 weeks early and compensating with alcohol. She was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and the already existing drug problem magnfied. Her prognosis is very good. She is at stage 1 a which has a very high success rate.
Talk to her doctor. Yes, there are centers and pharmacies that will dole out a day’s allotment at a time. The doctor should know that she’s having a month’s (guessing that’s the amount) in one week, and then none at all for 3. There are also patches for some drugs, which might be a better option for her. She gets one patch a day, and the medication is time released.
I would also share with the doctor the news about her drinking. Cancer treatment can be very hard on the liver. If she is drinking heavily, the doctor needs to know.
Patches are not for addicts. Too many ways to abuse.
Good to know.
OP - please share all of this with her doctors.
Another vote the docs need to know. Addiction treatment is certainly an option.
The possible outcomes from cancer treatment range from total remission to promptly dead. How hard the patient works to help themselves has a huge impact on where they fall in that range. Mental attitude, proper eating, proper sleeping, avoiding abusing other aspects of their body; all these things and more play a role. Doing everything optimally is no guarantee of success. Doing stuff majorly wrong is pretty much a guarantee of failure.
She had surgery on her lung 3 weeks ago and because of damage from a previous surgery about 5 years ago they were not able to reach the tumor. So far she has had 3 biopsies all negative for cancer but the Dr’s insist it looks like cancer. I am going to try and check her into an inpatient program but if she refuses to go I don’t know what I will do. For the past two weeks she has missed all of her Dr. appointments.
Slightly off topic, but are you getting support? It sounds like you are living with an addict. There is a lot you can’t control about that situation. She is also now potentially seriously ill, which you also can’t control. Is there a support group you could join or a therapist you could see? I think you might benefit from getting help for you.
Yes, as Sunny Daze suggests.
Most oncology practices either have in-house support groups for family or, for smaller practices, connect with other practices to offer such. It’s a vital part of keeping the caregiver(s) healthy enough not to become a basket case along the way.
I may need a therapist or support group if it keeps up like it has been going. We haven’t even got into the treatment phase yet and the addict mentality is of taking advantage of every situation is already kicked in. I would have no problem seeing her through the treatment and illness phases as I have done it before but I am feeling like she has her claws in me every second of every day and I don’t think I can deal with it much longer.
My sympathies for what you are going through. As you already realize addiction has it’s claws in her and you are just suffering the results of symptoms. You must get her to addiction therapy as soon as possible, and you need support also. This is clearly a terrible situation with the odds against any kind of happily ever after ending, but you can try to reduce the impact of addiction on her life and yours to make the most of the rest of both your lives. I truly feel for you, this sounds like the worst kind of addiction, true pain as the result of illness made even worse by serious physical dependency on drugs. You have to be concerned as much for yourself as for her, she can’t rationally express that to you because of what is happening to her but I’m sure she would if she were free of the agony. I hope for a miracle to make it all right again, but it sounds like a you have a long hard ride ahead, you deserve praise for what you’ve done so far and your willingness to continue looking out for another.
A complicated case. Frankly she needs a very good addictionist in addition to her oncologist and the rest of her medical team. She might well be appropriate for opioid maintenance therapy on buprenorphine. Then, if she does have genuine malignant pain from an active, progressive disease process, additional buprenorphine (or other opioid) doses could be added for breakthrough pain.
There are other strategies to maintain an addiction in the face of severe pain also.
But it’s a tough row to hoe, and needs a motivated patient and an informed treatment team and family.
Al-anon provides good support for family members in these situations.
HoneyBadgerDC, this thread has some useful information on how to find resources for support for family members of addicts. I thought of you when I read it.
Thanks I will look those up.
No.
YOU need help NOW. Before things overwhelm you. If you don’t take care of yourself you can’t take care of her.
Get help for yourself NOW. Please.
Listen to Broomstick!
She’s exactly right. The benefit of therapy, (and support) for you, (and ultimately, her benefit, as well!), will be so much less effective if you wait until you’re truly underwater and overwhelmed.
NOW! Find support and therapy, for yourself, NOW ! While it still has the potential to ease what you are both suffering through. NOW!
If you wait, you will only see through the fullness of time, how you waited too long. Until it was too little, too late.
If she was thrashing and gasping for breath, would you call an ambulance?
Or wait till her lips turned blue and she’s unconscious?