He's moving out of sober living

[in a daze]

He's been at this place for over three years.

He contacted the landlord, called his sister to have a look at the place. He has the deposit.

He says he's a different person now, from when he was using.

He thinks he can safely take benzos ( this came up during the psychiatric visit. Psychiatrist and resident were trying to figure out a medication he could safely take for sleep). I am sceptical

He goes to his psychiatrist and therapy appointments, takes his medications, works out at the gym, goes to his part time job, and pays for everything but his rent. Sober for a year and a half. We're still trying to move him on to a full time job and self sufficiency, the last frontier.

Stay tuned for further developments....

 

[GoingNorth]

Ack! NO Benzos! Has he tried Trazadone? It's not addictive, has little to no recreational value, and is effective in most people (in high doses sometimes) at inducing sleep.

Recovering addicts/alcoholics should NOT take benzos.

 

[in a daze]

Ack! NO Benzos! Has he tried Trazadone? It's not addictive, has little to no recreational value, and is effective in most people (in high doses sometimes) at inducing sleep.

Recovering addicts/alcoholics should NOT take benzos.

j

He's been on trazadone. It interacts with the mao inhibitor patch he takes so he had to discontinue it.

They put him on a small dose of seroquel so we will see how that works. His options are limited because of the mao inhibitor and his addiction history.

 

[susiestar]

With ANY history of addiction, addiction to ANYTHING, the psychiatrist should not even be willing to consider any sort of benzo!!!!!! I have seen several psychiatrists, and taken my kids to MANY of them over the years. One of the EASIEST ways to sort the quacks from the decent ones is how easy they hand out the benzos. I am NOT NOT NOT joking!!!! If you have a history of addiction, the doctor should not give you benzos of any sort. I am not just speaking of xanax (alprazolam), I am speaking of all medications in the benzo family. There are a TON of medications that work for sleep. Benzos are NOT the medication that should be a go to and any doctor worth his salt should be able to try many other medications before having to go to those.

If your son is even asking for benzos then the doctor should be on high alert that the addiction is still active and in need of treatment. Three years in sober living is a long time, depending on how sober he was there, but moving out and being put on a benzo at the same time are not things that should happen - WAY too much at once, and the benzo is just a bad thing.

I can honestly say that I don't know a good psychiatrist who would give a benzo to someone with a history of addiction. I would RUN from a doctor willing to do that. But of course you cannot make your son do anything.

 

[in a daze]

Doubt if the psychiatrist will give him benzos. He and the resident were just running through the options, which are limited. That's why he's on the seroquel. He's abused ambien in the past, so that is also out...I mentioned that at the appointment. Not to worry, Susie, psychiatrist is very aware of his addiction history and D.C. was under his care a year and a half ago when he checked himself into detox for kratom abuse.

 

[Copabanana]

I slept like a baby taking Benadryl, one tablet, for a couple of years and only stopped when I was told there was an association with dementia in older adults. As far as I know the relationship is not proven to be causal, but I stopped nonetheless. At different points I have used Melatonin and Ambien (which is not addictive). I too cannot understand why a psychiatrist would play with fire.

As far as being a changed person, what can you do? It is his life to live. He will either have to learn or not through his mistakes, but then, at 30 years old his mistakes will be his own, not yours to fix.

I wish this was easier...for all of us.