Help. I just found out that my best friend as an addiction for sleeping tablets called Stilnox. She doesnt only take them to help her sleep but she takes them evey day soon after she awakes. She takes about 5 a day. I keep tryin to her she dont need them but she is adamant she does and cant stop. I dont know how to help as i dont know much about Stilnox and the effects it has on you. But this is serious as she has been on them of 5 years now. She is on and off depressed and im sure its due to her addiction.

talaniman

Krs I know you feel helpless for your friend and unless she wants help nothing anyone can do. As a friend you can be honest and try talking but she'll deny its a problem. You have every right though to protect yourself from her by removing her from your life if necessary. I know it sounds extreme but addicts can cause a lot of harm and heartbreak to their family and loved ones. If YOU get to that point don't hesitate to kick her to the curb and let her know why.

J_9

Krs,

Tal is right. Sometimes it takes "tough love" for someone to see that they are on a destructive path. Unfortunately friends and family get hurt sometimes, but that may be what it takes for her.

I am noticing that your post was in March. How is the friend doing since you last posted?

Jesushelper76

You may feel helpless with your friend. Her doctor is a quack. For filling out that kind of prescription. Very highly addictive. Used in small quanities for sleep, but when used in larger quanities during the day and forcing yourself to remain awake can create strong feelings of peace. These medications should be limited and only used for short periods of time. The longest these medications are not to be used longer then 6 months. Many many people end up addicted to prescription drugs. It is so easy to get dependant on them. It is just like any other drug, or any other alchohol. This prescription could also be a treatment for epilepsy or even muscle pain. She needs help from an addiction group. Obvously she is in denial. Obvously she is addicted and to cut her off her medication would have more severe effects on her, and could have more devastating results on her then if taken of slowly. If taken off right away she could end up falling back on more severe drugs. Get rid of one addiction and it is often times replaced with another if not treated. I do not know what else to say. Maybe if there is a way for her family to talk to her doctor. Or to AA and explain the situation and see if there is any intervention that could happen.

Krs

Hi Guys

Thanks for everyone's concern.

The situation hasnt changed.
Went out with her for a girlie night, and i realised she is very confused and doesnt know what she wants in life.

She was saying how she wants to leave her bf, and that she never loved him, he is the reason why she takes stilnox every mornin, afternoon and evening!!! and he is also the reason why she dont need councelling no more coz she knows this has to do with her bf, then a few days later over the phone she says she was over reacting.

She confuses the hell out of me, she really does.
She is such a sweet girl, with a heart of gold. But i dont always understand her.

She is hard headed, i doubt she will every stop these stupid tablets

Krs

Thats exactly what she says she feels when she takes them... peace and tranquility.


No, she isnt on good terms with her family and she wouldnt want her family knowing she takes them.

K_3

Your friend saying it is he bf's fault. That is typical addict's behavior. It is always something or someone else that makes them do it. I have also noticed when someone tells them they have a problem, they are suffocating them, or pressuring them or don't understand. That makes it their fault again. It is hard trying to help someone like that because until they decide to take responsibility for their own actions and get sick and tired of being sick and tired, what can you do? My best friend in high school is a nurse and got hooked on prescription drugs. I finally went to her doctor and told him what a problem she was having. I told him I knew he could not say anything to me about it, but I could certainly tell him and he could take it from there. I told her what I was going to do. I told her I loved her and was not going to let her destroy herself, she was to terrific a person. It was awful for her to get off them. She actually had to spend each night in the hospital under suicide watch. She worked in the day. I am so sorry for you, it is hard to watch a good friend hurt and you know she does. You could understand her because she does not understand herself right now. Her mind is always out there because of the drugs.

Krs

Its true K_3 what you say.
Its horrible!

She yesterday told me that they (the tablets) are her bestfriends.

K_3

That is truly sad, I have noticed with addicts, the drug of choice is their best friend. When they are bored, happy, or sad, they celebrate, or cry with it.

valinors_sorrow

It is the nature of addiction -- to be required to fulfill the need over any other obligation or relation is part and parcel of how addiction is even defined. If the addiction allowed any choice at all ..... it would simply not be an addiction. She isn't taking the pills, the disease is, she isn't doing the talking, the disease is. Part of what makes recovery so hard, at least in the beginning, is you stop when you don't want to stop. But you do it by thinking of it in different terms, more like escaping a terrible sentence or being rescued from a torture chamber. I didn't come to AA to quit drinking-- I came to end the suffering and it just happened to require that I end the drinking too.

Be cautious with heightening all the "victim" elements to it with sympathy that borders on enabling though, okay? It is no more helpful than if family and friends stood around the hospital bed of a serious cancer patient and wrung their hands in distraught grief. There is nothing to be gained in that, especially for the one in the fight for their very life.

Its important, I think, to talk straight to addicts -- "I love you and I don't want to watch you to die". Talk like that, honest and accurate, is very freeing to you and it may plant seeds that take time to bloom. Its a "who-knows-what-timing-God-has-in-mind" kind of deal....

jurplesman

The moment people realize that addcition is a real treatable disease the better treatment outcome.

See:

Alcoholism (Addiction) is a Treatable Disease.