“It’s Either Me Or Your Vicodin”

I’ve been really surprised at the significant amount of husbands, wives, parents, sisters and friends of people who have gotten stuck in the opiate addiction cycle that have come to Withdrawal-Ease for help. They all want the same thing; they want their loved ones back. And they’ll do almost anything to get him or her back. The vast majority of you out there who have contacted me or bought the product have done so without malice or judgment; you just want to help in any way that you can. You are exhausted from worrying and being disappointed; it doesn’t do any good anymore. “Just tell us what we have to do and we’ll do it ok? We just want John back”

But getting to that place of calm pragmatism and resolve is quite a long journey indeed. When a friend or family member emails me, they’ve been through a lot; and it’s really uncanny how many of these stories that I hear are so similar to one another.  If I could somehow meld all of these emails and personal stories together they might sound something like this:

A fictional email to George from “Robert”: The Husband Who Wants His Wife Back From Vicodin:

Hi George. My name is Robert and I found your site after doing a lot of searching on the internet. My wife was in an accident about 2 years ago and her doctor put her on pain killers (Vicodin 7.5/500? Is this right??) for her back pain. They helped a lot with her pain but for a while now I’ve been concerned about how much she takes.

I’m ashamed to admit that lately I’ve been going through her purse and there are several prescriptions from several doctors for all kinds of pain killers (what is Soma?). I think she may have become addicted. I haven’t really brought it up until recently. Over the past few months, she’s been really moody and either just lying on the couch in a bad mood or acting all crazy and “over-happy”. Then the rest of the time she’s really depressed and just not very interested in doing anything and she seems sort of “distant”. Lately, I’ve been saying things like “Honey you sure are taking a lot of those pain pills, do you really need to take that much?” and she’ll say something like “Bob (she calls me Bob), I need them for my pain ok? They don’t work as well anymore so I need to take more for my back. I’m not doing anything wrong and the doctor wouldn’t have prescribed them for me if I was taking too many. Just get off my back ok?”

And then there are other weird things George. She’s always so concerned about how many pills she has and empties out her bottle to count them like 4 times a day for some reason. She always has to have her bottle with her and there have been times when we’ve left the house and she has forgotten her Vicodin and we actually had to turn around and go back and get them. It’s almost like those Vicodin are more important to her than anything else. Then there are other times when she gives me her bottle and tells me that I have to give her 4 pills 3 times a day for the following 6 days. Why can’t she do this herself?

Sorry for this long email George but there’s nobody that I’ve been able to talk to about this. Should I call her doctor or pharmacist and talk to them? I’ve just about had it with this and I’m worried that she’s going to take too many one day and hurt herself.

Finally the other day I basically said, “It’s either me or the vicodin, so you choose.” I feel really bad but I just can’t take the moodiness and depression anymore and I really think it’s the pills. I don’t want her to be in pain but I don’t think she’s taking them correctly, and with all of the different prescriptions from different doctors, it seems like she may be taking a lot more than what they prescribed. I even counted the pills the other day to see how much she takes and in ONE day she took 20 Vicodin (5/500’s ? I don’t know there was some number and then the name Watson on the other side…Vicodin right?). Isn’t that enough to kill a donkey???

I’m really sorry that this is so long…will your product help? what do I need to do? Am I overreacting? I’m just so frustrated and want it to end. I just want my wife back!!! - End of email

In this case, I would probably tell Robert that my product can help but not until his wife can come clean about her use. She’s probably feeling just as stuck as Robert is and probably even more frustrated about her addiction. And she knows she’s addicted alright. It’s all she ever thinks about. Believe me. But until she can get herself to say, “Yeah, I can’t control myself and the pills are stronger than I am right now. I need help. I’m ready to end this” she will never be able to get her (Or Robert’s) happiness back.

Having said all that, it is for this very type of situation that I started Withdrawal-Ease. The overall goal for this site is to give people the knowledge and a tool to help them take the first step a lot easier. When I quit, I didn’t have all of this information and I didn’t have this product, all I had was the option of going to a rehab or some sort of detox center for 30 days and 30 thousand dollars. Which was exactly 30 days and 30 thousand dollars more than I had at that time.  Now I strongly believe that Withdrawal-Ease provides a better, more affordable and easier way to take this first step to quit pain killers and get on the right path to getting you or someone you love re-engaged with life.

So if you’re out there Robert (Bob), you can tell your wife that you love her and will support her in any way that you can, but she’s got to be prepared to take that first step any way that she can. You can tell her that there are a LOT of people out there just like her and that there’s nothing to be ashamed of. You can provide her with the options that are available to her and tell her that the only false move is to not move at all. You can tell her that you know for a fact that she’ll be much happier when she’s off of the Vicodin.

What do you have to lose Bob? You’ve got to take that first step too…

-George

If This Blog Was Interesting To You, You might consider These Other Posts:

“Getting Un-Stuck”

“Life Without Pain Killers - A View From The Other Side”

“Ready For Takeoff!”

“The Brain’s Reward Center”

“When You’re Ready To Quit”