Cold Turkey

OK, so my son says he is tired of all these people involved and it is all my fault, yes, we all know that by now! He asks me if I would "be happy" with him going cold turkey at home and then finding some other service to provide counselling/therapy....but maybe he doesn't even need it, he can just make things better himself at home.



Well, first of all, if that were the case why has he not already tried to make things better? Also, as his plan is revealed as to how he will go cold turkey at home, its clear it is not a good plan. He would require some funding to obtain the proper medicines to help him go cold turkey: i.e.. muscle relaxants, anti nausea meds, Tramadol, Valium, among others. These are the types of medicines that patients receive in detox rehab while they are going through the painful and dangerous detox period (he says). Will I help him get these? No, I will not. Go and talk to the drug advisor, the GP, the Dr at the clinic....not me.



This is the part that I am adamantly disagreeing with my son about and I would think that any recovering addict would take my side, but please correct me if I am wrong: "I can give up the opium tea, but I don't need/want to give it up forever. If later I feel like having a cup, I can. It does not mean I will start my habit again. If I want to reward myself, or have a good time, or whatever, I can have the occasional opium without getting back into the habit of using it daily".

If anyone who has been a smoker and has given up knows, you can not quit smoking and then casually have a cigarette and that's it, no more. Or the recovering alcoholic knows that you can not treat yourself to a drink when you think it is well deserved and then, that's it,  no more. Any addiction is the same. Of course my son tried to be smarter than me and said that nicotine and alcohol affect the brain differently, and that it is a short term physical satisfaction and that is why you need more, whereas opium works on different parts of the brain and stays in your body for a long period and the affect is therefore longer and you feel content.....bull shi* if you ask me!




I can only offer my "ignorant, unfair, judgemental, selfish" advise to my son. Go speak to the doctor. Speak to a different drug counsellor. Go to a N.A. or A.A. meeting and talk to others who have been through it. No, he does not like my ideas and thinks I am being unreasonable.

When he says to look for other therapy possibilities, I ask him where he will find such possibilities. Well, how silly of me to even ask. The answer to that question...I bet you know....I WILL, not him. I said it would be up to him, but even if we do find other services, what service would take him on that  #1, is part of the NHS and not private since we can not afford private doctors (as we are already on the NHS service now and he doesn't like it); and #2, what therapist would take you on while you are self medicating?  He has no answer to the first issue, but to the second, "they don't need to know about the drugs".....OMG!!





Come on....people in similar situations must agree; "you can't do this alone, you need help"!?!?