[Krs]

Help. I just found out that my best friend as an addiction for sleeping tablets called Stilnox. She doesn't 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 trying to her she don't need them but she is adamant she does and can't stop. I don't know how to help as I don't 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 I'm sure its due to her addiction.

[fredg]

Hi, Krs,
Your friend isn't going to change anything until she finds out for herself, and admits to herself, that she has a problem.
Many addictions are started by prescription medications! I'm not sure if this particular one is a prescription or not.
The only thing you can possibly do, is try talking her into seeing a Doctor.
If she will, and will explain to him/her what she is taking and for how long, she can get a Professional opinion. You might even suggest you will go with her. I do wish you the best of luck.
Also, here is a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolpidem
Scroll down to the heading "Side Effects". I don't think I would want to be taking this drug on a regular basis. It is for short-term use only.

[phillysteakandcheese]

Unfortuneately, you can't force help on someone.

Five years is a long time, and I gather that she's been able to function normally for the most part.

I would try and draw parallels that lead her to see that the addiciton is causing problems. Bluntly stating something logical to her - like you did in your post - might make her take a step back and take a look at what she's doing.

I would also seek a professional's help. There should be some kind of addicition hotline listed at the front of your local phone book. I'd call and ask what I could do to help.

If you think she might also be abusing alcohol or anything else that puts her in immediate medical danger, I would call 911.

[Krs]

They are prescription sleeping pills, and has a doctor who just gives them to her like sweets. She copes well with day to day life, she works part time, she goes to college part time, she can be happy but she can also be sad, she lets the stupidest things make her depressed i.e a dirty kitchen!

[fredg]

HI,
Depression is a side effect. She really, really needs to see a different Doctor. Some prescribe medicines like they are going out of style, with no follow up. This particular Doctor might be just wanting to keep her as a patient, getting money for her visits!

[jurplesman]

Hello Krs,

Stilnox usually is also know as Ambien or Myslee and is a sedative sleeping tablet for short term use only. It is very addictive.

It is commendable that you want to help her, but as other posters have already pointed out it is very difficult to help a drug addict. She herself has to want to be treated for drug addiction.

The problem is that most drug rehabilitation programs are not very helpful and generally have a low success rate.

I believe this is because people have a poor understanding as to the biological nature of addiction.

The first step in treatment is the gradual withdrawal from the addictive drugs under the supervision of the doctor. There are some nutritional tricks that will help people withdraw from drugs. See:

Treatment of Drug Addiction.

Drug addicts have been found to be hypoglycemic, meaning that they have a problem of metabolizing sugars in food into biological energy called biological energy (ATP). This energy is required for the body to produce the feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin.

Therefore it is essential that an addict adopts the Hypoglycemic Diet, whilst withdrawing from drugs.

The hypoglycemic syndrome can be tested with the four hour Medical Test for Hypoglycemia. It can also be tested with a paper-and-pencil test called the Nutrition Behavior Inventory Test (NBI) .

If you score high you are likely to be hypoglycemic.

Once withdrawn the person needs to be treated for the biological disorder that brought him/her to take drugs in the first place. Most addicts are found to have a pre-existing hypoglycemic condition, that is partially of a genetic nature ( it may run in the family) and partially acquired due to for instance a high life-long sugar consumption. There are many other medical conditions that can contribute to depression and wild mood swings that the person tried to treat with drugs.

For an explanation of the biochemistry of addiction see:

Alcoholism is a Treatable Disease.

The same prinicples apply to most forms of addiction.

Of course once the biological aspects are being addressed it helps to do a course in psychotherapy, specifically dealing with a negative self-image and the development of social skills.

This therapeutic program for drug addiction has been more fully explained in my book "Getting off the Hook" (see below).

[jeffatl]

Very dumb last night. I guess I woke up in the middle of the night, so I took another to go back to bed... stupid indeed.

[cheechthecheechy]

Well, a hard and fast rule for stopping addictions, is to get the person to understand their problem. Accept it, realise they have a problem. Much like how I was addicted to buying canteen food, even though I wasn't hungry (dont laugh, its true).

The hardest part is realising that you have an addiction when the cravings start. Tryt break her routine, or get her distracted, so she won't think about the pills.

[valinors_sorrow]

I am wondering where the mind is of the friend taking the pills these days since its been some time since the first post here. Can she talk to the prescribing doctor about feeling addicted. Can she consider getting a second opinion from another doctor? What is she capable of doing... because that will determine where she seeks help.

[cheechthecheechy]

Well, she could be taking the pills because she needs them mentally or physically. She probably started of taking them because they helped her sleep, when she was moody or sick. Then she started to use them whether she needed them or not. Now she probably relies on them.

Best to get her in touch with an addiction councillor or something. They will guide you through the whole process I guess.

Good Luck!

[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 it's 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?

[JoeCanada76]

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. 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 dependent on them. It is just like any other drug, or any other alcohol. 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 hasn't changed.
Went out with her for a girlie night, and I realised she is very confused and doesn't know what she wants in life.

She was saying how she wants to leave her boyfriend, 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 don't need counseling no more because she knows this has to do with her boyfriend, 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 don't always understand her.

She is hard headed, I doubt she will every stop these stupid tablets :(

[Krs]

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.

That's exactly what she says she feels when she takes them... peace and tranquility.

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.

No, she isn't on good terms with her family and she wouldn't 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]

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

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. It's 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.