Addiction Help/Support for Nurses

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Hello!

I am an RN from Minnesota and I want to share my story and offer other nurses help and support because it seems that it's hard to find and I don't think it should be.

I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis when I was 20. I became addicted to prescription pain medications when I was in my late 20's, after I had been prescribed Oxycodone and Dilaudid for about a year. I started taking more and more just to stay out of withdrawal and when my doctor suddenly left his practice, I was left on my own to find help for a huge addiction that I was very ashamed of. I was working in the ER and when my patient was ordered a dose of Dilaudid, I would over-ride the system and take out large doses, give them what was ordered and take the rest. I had decided to end my life and use the Dilaudid to overdose.

That was over 4 years ago and I am obviously here typing, so I survived both my addiction and my overdose, but I have had to deal with the consequences of my choices and it is my hope that I can help others in similar situations before they derail their careers, hurt a patient or hurt themselves.

I was fired once my employer found out that I had taken the medications and the board ended up suspending my license for diversion. My license was eventually reinstated, but it has been a very long road back. I have over 4 years clean and I want people to know that it's possible to get better and it's ok to ask for help.

If you are struggling, please know that there is help out there and you are not alone. You can contact me if you don't know where to start or just need some support or you can contact your monitoring service in your state (HPSP in MN), but please reach out and ask for help.

My email is [email protected] if anyone wants to contact me.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Hello, and Welcome to Allnurses!

It sounds like you went through hell, and came out a better person on the other side. Congratulations! Here at Allnurses, members support and learn from one another, and you've come to the right forum for that.

I would suggest, however, that you remove your personal E-mail address from your post and use the Private Messaging system once you've made 15 posts. The administrators can help you with editing your post if it's been more than a few hours since you posted this. As we all know, anonymity on the Internet isn't quite as anonymous as we would like it to be, so you may want to protect yourself by leaving identifiers out of your posts. :yes:

Thank you for sharing your compelling story. I hope to see much more of you around the forums. Enjoy!

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Hi VivaLasViejas,

I very much appreciate the support, thank you! As for the email, I really appreciate the suggestion, but I set up that account for this specific purpose. When I first started looking for treatment and then again when I started the process with the board, I felt very alone. There are very few threads and recent posts about this topic (at least that I could find) and I wanted nurses to have a place they could go and find answers or support. Hopefully it's ok if I leave the email in, otherwise I guess I will have to work my way up to the 15 posts. :)

Thanks again!

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Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.

welcome, i am proud of you.

we have a long list of interesting topics, in recovery.

please feel free to explore past stories

it is pissible to experience the promises, and live the steps

best wishes for you

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Specializes in Addictions, Adult Psych.

Congratulations on your recovery, and thank you for offering help to those who might need it.

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Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.

Wow! Glad you came through it and lived to tell your story!

Very proud of you and your recovery. There is a way out, there are others who I am sure need to hear this, thanks for sharing.

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