Author: Tryingtohelp
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:57 pm
I really, really need some help knowing what to do about my boyfriend. To make a very long and painful story short he started on Suboxone in January due to being unable to manage the cravings for a long-standing opiate addiction and chronic pain due to two auto accidents. I have been as supportive as I know how to be considering I have never dealt with addiction before. He was switched to Subutex (24 mg a day) after about a month due to the cost and the fact that he didn’t have health insurance. Until recently, things were going well except that he wasn’t going to group or to NA meetings once a week as his Doctor requires (his Dr is aware of this).
A week and a half ago, he exhausted a 21 day supply of the Subutex 8 days early. He told me he was going through it too fast because he works in the heat all day and is "sweating it out faster." I didn’t tell him I didn’t think it worked like that because we got an appointment with his doctor who I thought would straighten him out or adjust his dose if needed. He a suggested I wait in the car instead of the waiting room but I made an excuse for that in my mind. I don’t know what happened in the Doctors office but he came out with another 3 week Rx at the same dose. The doctor also put him back on an antidepressant they had switched him off of because it made him sleepy.
Friday, 11 days later, he came home at 7:00 and said he wanted to go out to pre-celebrate my birthday (birthday was Saturday) and then laid down on the bed while I put away laundry and proceeded to sleep for 18 hours. The next day we went to the mall "for my birthday" where we met up with a coworker of his who takes Suboxone. He said the guy had run out so my bf gave him Subutex to hold him over and now the guy had seen his doctor and was giving him the Suboxone to replace what he got.
This doesn’t make any sense. My bf should have had 19 days of med left. If he did "trade" with this coworker he should have been able to get through the weekend and not needed to go get it Saturday. Then we worked on a side job we’ve been doing for about 5 hours and then we ate supper and then he slept another 12 hours, worked for 4, then worked for 5 hours then slept another 15 hours. Then my bf called in sick yesterday (supposedly to finish a side job we have been working on) but he worked for like an hour and then went home to "relax" since we have been working so many hours. He is not a lazy man, I want to point out. He works very hard doing physical labor 14 hours a day and has the right to be tired, but to me the sleeping seems excessive. I drove home on my lunch break and asked was he out of Suboxone which he confirmed and said the guy was giving it to him two days at a time so he was getting more today but it just doesn’t add up. He’s also been drinking a LOT lately and his personality has totally changed. He says it’s the stress from the side job.
Have I lost my mind? Does it sound like hes abusing his subs? He is drug tested regularly and this would allow him to use and still "pass" due to his Rx.
What do I do? I’m feeling so alone and like my life has spun out of my control. I can’t live like this, I’ve alienated all my friends to hide his problems, have hid it from my family, because who would understand? I have been having a total emotional breakdown, especially since he let me down on my birthday.
I feel like he is ruining my life, but like he needs my support to get/be/stay clean.
