I completely agree wtf right ? You just said all i am thinking – iwasnt sure there was anyone w the same mindset – truth be told our govt could stop these drugs and alcohol but never will !! I had my addictions and will til im dead …wether its hotdogs or coca. Cola !! It will be the death of me – no drugs anymore but i get addicted to everything like food or nicotine patches – i no longer smoke but am hooked on patch!- can fucking win

Dear broken. I know someone That has power over evil has power over death even. Christ tells us to put our hope in him. If we believe in him and ask him to forgive our sins with a true heart he will revile himself. If all hope is lost what else have you got to loose.

Pandemic? Why did you say that in 2016??

Back in my early twenties, I was so depressed that I intermittently contemplated suicide for a while. I lived with my parents due to the recession & at one point we got in an argument & I was so pissed at them that I threatened to overdose on antifreeze and at one point my dad said, “if u want antifreeze, I will give u antifreeze!” It took me a while to get over that statement and then I just decided to forgive as I realized that it takes 2 to tango. Then I became a mom 3 years ago which resulted in me being traumatized from that statement, along with a bunch of other cold hearted horrible remarks they made to their own child.

I agree. Depression is a hard illness to cure. My depression developed at 10 years old. I never knew why I felt so sad. In hindsight, it had a lot to do with my mother beating me and screaming at me and my father looking the other way. All in all, my doctors have been very good. I finally was strong enough to go to Europe to do my Masters. Unfortunately, the darkness there made me a bit depressed again so my doctor referred me to an ‘expert’. Well, that expert prescribed me the wrong prescription which was not even used for depression, not even off label, and I got even more depressed. Finally, I just had to quit school and retreat back home. It took me years to get over quitting my masters. It was only until recently reading about the particular drug the ‘expert’ prescribed me that I realized it was most likely that drug that triggered the major depression. I should have known when I was talking with her about my troubles in school and she said ‘Why are you still here then?’ to which I responded ‘What do you mean? I’m here for school’. That was the beginning of a downward spiral where I almost took my life. It was like I was tied down and being tortured constantly. They have since found that depression and physical pain have the same neuro-pathways, so no wonder I described my depression to my doctors as almost physical pain. That’s what depressed people are trying to get away from with suicide. It’s akin to all those people in chronic pain who don’t want to live anymore because it’s unbearable.
Anyway, I still deal with difficult days sometimes, as does everyone, but at least I’m not clinically depressed. The future looks good.

Completely agree! Some people have NO clue about the endurance of physical and emotional pain. How they feel they can comment on such deep rooted, individual and personal situations 8n a general matter is just plain ridiculous!

Hi Jeana
My heart goes out to you hon- I lived with chronic unremitting pain for 12 years after a spinal cord injury (caused by EDS type 111) caused scoliosis and paralysis. I know EXACTLY what it feels like to feel life cant go on like that. The pain was unbearable and unremitting.. I was finally offered oromorph and matriphen patches for pain- which really worked but then was told by a neurologist a year later that I was now an addict and needed to go into rehab to come off them! That was the lowest moment of my life- There I was in a wheelchair, partially paralysed, in adult nappies, unable to care for my son age 13, unable to do the job I trained so long for, and told that the pain meds that had made life liveable had turned me into an addict……. So I paid for a top pain specialist to review my case and he told me that as long as I took the meds only when I was in chronic pain and kept to prescribed doses I would not become addicted. Such meds can be very effective for chronic pain sufferers and can dramatically improve their quality of life but sadly are often viewed fearfully by many doctors now. I chose to trust the pain consultant, didn’t go to rehab, and continued to take them. That was ten years ago and those pain meds enabled me to have a life, albeit limited by my disability, but to be present for my growing son and not to be overcome by the neurological pain. Then (as a non believer in miracles -famous last words) I was encouraged to go on a course run by Aliss Cresswell In London Uk and was much to my utter shock was healed… I was able to come off the meds and finally prove to myself once and for all that neurologist had been wrong all along, and the pain consultant right …
My prayers and heart goes out to all those who live with chronic pain. Its exhausting debilitating, demoralising and takes HUGE courage each day to face and live through.. Unless you’ve lived through it its very hard to understand the depth of endurance needed … But know that those that do face each day in chronic pain are extraordinary people-so courageous – Jeana – hang on Hon- I know it feels unbearable at times but you have such courage to be able to express your feelings so honestly and to keep on pushing through. It inspires others who will then know that they are not alone in their struggle.

I sincerely doubt anyone has ever committed suicide without having spent a large amount of time thinking about it. However, the actual act of suicide is often brought on by extreme recent circumstances. For example a good friend of mine was suicidal for years due to his struggles with drug abuse and depression and legal troubles. I personally talked him out of suicide several times by reminding him that he had so many great things to live for and that he had so many people who loved him and believed with all our hearts that he could beat his demons and have a future full of happiness and love. Eventually he got treatment and started to improve. He no longer spoke of suicide and started to talk about the goals he wanted to achieve and his plans for the future. Then one night he made the mistake of driving after having a few drinks and was observed speeding by police. Due to his previous legal problemss he was facing a significant amount of jail time should he be convicted of another crime. So with his plans for the future now ruined he decided not to pull over. Instead he led police on a high speed chase and after about 15 minutes he spotted a huge boulder on the side of the road. He took off his seatbelt and drove into it at approximately 80 mph and died on impact. I don’t believe he ever would have killed himself had those events not happen that night. I also believe if he had never been suicidal in the past he would not have decided to drive into that rock.

I imagine most people who do cross the line to end up dying from a suicide attempt are in no way of sound mind. They are either inebriated or so immersed in a depression that they have had very little contact with anyone outside of their own reality– people in pur own reality don’t notice signs like an outsider would. In addition, family and friends of addicts will often hear their addicted family member or friend talk about self harm and/or suicide because most (not all) addicts suffer from what is called Dual Diagnosis– this means addiction is not their sole mental illness. It’s often the clinically psychological illness or disorder which causes the person, who eventually succumbs to the disease of addiction, a disease that lies dormant within the DNA of persons genetically predisposed to addiction/abusing any substance which can act as a form of escape from the persons reality, to seek out reality numbing substances. More often than not, the necessary mental illness to begin addiction is half DNA and half environmental, i.e. a person is born to a sober mother, but the father is addicted to drugs or alcohol, therein the appropriate genetic predisposition exists within the child. Due to the very dysfunctional life, living with an addicted father, inciting all the various facets we know addictions contributes to– poverty, spousal abuse, neglect, inconsistency, constant fighting, lying and disrespect, the predisposed child has the 2nd piece of the puzzle plugged into him via that form of environment within which he is brought up. The environment sets up the otherwise dormant mental illnesses, including addiction, to surface. As far as I’m concerned, there only need be ONE factor in bringing t of dormancy genetic, predisposed mental illness, including addiction and that is serious low self-worth. If a person is not nurtured, they are neglected, they see the same things occurring to the parent who’s not the addict or more chaotic in his or her mental illness, making them wonder “why me?” And eventually coming to recognize how, if the parent who actually cares for them is the same parent who allows the abuses to continue to him or herself as well as her child/ren, the child/ren will also form a poor self.

thats the whole “bi polarness” of addiction. its so sad. i know for myself when i got clean for a couple years and i relapsed… my romance with suicide got stronger. i knew what i could do and what i was capleale of, and i just couldnt do it. i felt SO stuck and so doomed. and its even worse when your loosing people you love to overdoses, or watching somebody you love kill themselves too. Somehow i felt like it was a choice too… and that i just couldnt convince myself to stop but its so much more then that. On top of all that there is also the trauma that perpetuates addiction to begin with. My heart goes out to all these people.
As sad as it is that alot of these people got sober and died in sobriety, at least they found that sobriety. i always say, if i relapse, i just dont want to die of a od. i dont want to be remembered like that. such a sad existence. i am now sober over a year again, but i have this sadness that lurks within me that is never going anywhere.

i dont even know why i said all that… but ill end with Rest in Paradise, all you beautiful soulds

Hi Katherine…I am so sorry for your loss….the grief from the loss of a child is unimaginable…addiction is a horrible thing, and I believe relapse is part of the recovery process…can’t understand why she was not allowed to return to rehab…I believe she would have worked through her issues….just want you to know both you and your daughter are in my thoughts

Cheryl, I 100% agree with you but Intervention is an old theory thats outdated and hardly used anymore. This is why the show is obsolete. If you look at the statistics Methadone and Suboxone are a more reliable and proven treatment. I’m someone who has been there and tried every mode of recovery probably twice. That is except Methadone it has taken almost 3 years and I’m down to 15 mgs but I’m confident this time I will make it.

I had a bad fall at work. I shattered 2 disks in my neck and herniated one in my back in 1988. I needed to work so I did heavy pain killers until I retired in 2018. I never did street drugs but was on 150 mcg of fentanyl patches and 600 of the lolly pops. The dr said you’re not addicted you’re dependent. Ok take them away for 2 days and i’ll show you an addict asshole.

My point is I feel sorry for all the families involved addict and family alike. I mean that but until the recovery money machine realizes that their method is at best 10% effective. Total abstinence doesnt work know matter how much money they make. MAT medically assisted treatment has a much better % of clean addicts.

I know someone who has a 28 year addiction and was offered Vivitrol by an addiction Dr board certified by the way. This is like giving them a gun and saying have at it. We need to look at this in a different way.

The statistics are all there if you search for them. Good luck to everyone addicted and loved ones.

I’ll sign myself “Someone who has found the way named Tom”

i completely agree. and i dont know why it would be an entirely different show because there are many paths to recovery and sobriety..people could still get an intervention, and get on methadone or suboxone.. I personally believe somebody on MAT is completely sober. For me i found the 12 steps, and others who dictated the word sober, to be very detrimental to my sobriety.. it took me many years of relapses and ups and downs to realize that every path to recovery is different and ive never had a better life. to some people complete abstinence works and its all that works, but for others a very productive life can be sustained while still smoking weed, or drinking responsibly, or on MAT.

I do notice though that in the early episodes, the way they talked about methadone being an addiction in its self and almost demonizing it on the show (really pushing that abstinence route). Also, they would class methadone as any other drug and i truly dont believe it is, if your using it properly and with other recovery methods as well (groups, therapist ect.) and now i realize they dont demonize it as much. if that makes sense… lol i was actually watching older episodes and thinking that.

Dizzy is right. They are practicing a certain type of Intervention that they’re trained in. I forget the name. They won’t bring up MAT, because they aren’t doctors.

Katie is doing great! Amazing, actually.

I messaged Marcel on fb and follow him on Ig,he’s doing great and has been a lighthouse in the darkness for me.he’s a kind and big-hearted guy,that supported me,even if he didn’t know me in person.his story of addiction and his bond with his brother were similar to my story,and I could relate.So glad he’s clean, sober and happy.

Ok thanks Bruce. What was his last name? I should be able to find something eventually. I wonder if he was sober when he passed away.