Narcotic restriction being lifted

SheelaDavis · Jun 23

Here is how I reasoned at 1 year in which I accepted my narc key back.

1. Have I been strong in recovery and participated with meetings, therapy, etc? Yes.

2. Am I going to practice as a nurse for the rest of my career without narc privileges? The answer is No. Not possible. Times change, jobs change, relationshios change, people move. Not having narc privileges is also a restriction or encumbrence. I don't want that career wise. Would I lose potential great jobs in the future with a narc restriction? Yes, I likely would.

3. I have to go through an emotional time when I get my narc keys back. That time can be now, 3 years, 5 years, or 10 years, but there is no avoiding it. Get it over with. Waiting 2 or 3 or 5 years is Not going to remove the emotional investment/task that needs completed. Go through it at 1 year. Complete the task and get it over with.

4. The brain is forever changed when one crosses the threshold of addiction. It doesn't go away at 2 or 4 or 10 years of sobriety. The disease is always there. Waiting until 2, or 4, or 10 years to get narc keys back doesn't add a benefit regarding risk for relapse. As a matter of fact, I would argue that statistically, the one year mark is beneficial and preferred and protects you More compared to 3 or 5 or 7 years. You are new to recovery, motivated, you know about relapse, you firmly believe you have a disease. You go to meetings. 1 year is the perfect time to get keys back. Your PAWS (post acute withdrawal syndrome) is completed at 1 year. After 3 or 5 or 7 years of sobriety, many addicts revert to believing the lie and convince themselves it really isn't a problem because after all, 3 or 5 or 7 years have passed, so "Surely it was just a one time moment in the past." That thinking is dangerous and more likely yp occur years doen the road, not at 1 year. Fact is, you are Better Off and statistically less likely to use, divert, relapse when getting key privileges back at 1 year compared to getting them back at 2, or 3, or 5, or 7 years.

5. Yes, it was emotional for me, but I had no cravings. I actually had anger. Anger at the narcs for temporarily ruining my life. Obviously, narcs are not "alive" and I temporarily ruined my own life, but I found myself Not having cravings, but actually sickened and angry with narcs. Those emotions lasted 3 days and that was it. It became routine. I knew I could lean on my recovery.

6. Get your keys back. Dive in. Take on the task. Complete it. Lean on your recovery and if I were you, increase your recovery meetings 3 weeks before and 3 weeks after you get your keys back.

You got this!

NurseJh13 · Jun 26

As a recovering addict myself, I would not recommend starting a medication like suboxone or methadone at this point. If you have been clean for that long and have not had cravings or thoughts of use, it sounds like you'll be fine. I was in the thrusts of addiction, I would get terribly sick if I didn't take opioids. I went to a clinic and started suboxone and it took me 3 years to get off that stuff. I wouldn't recommend it unless you needed it. It sounds like you've dealt with whatever you were struggling with, so just have confidence in yourself that you got this and go live your best life. And if you start to have thoughts of using, lean on your support, and be open and honest with your team. Good luck!

SheelaDavis · Jun 26

Hazelden in Minnesota, which puts out more recovery research than any place in the world and is the frontrunner on recovery recommendations and guidelines backed by research that they do. They are the gold standard for recovery. They did a study years ago that tried to assess the biggest risk, indicators for relapse. What did they find.....

The single biggest indicator was lack of meeting attendance or a dramatic downturn in recovery meeting attendance. Now, there were tons of other variables and factors that contributed such as what you would think.....major life stressors that come up such as health of family or self, financial stressors, major life changes like moving, chronic ongoing untreated pain, or a major surgery where addicts get pain meds for recovery, death of family, moving, job changes. All of these alone or in combination can contribute to relapse, but the most powerful one they found that contributed MORE was a major decrease in recovery meetings (for example you did or do 2 or 3 per week and you drop to one per week or 1 every 2 weeks) and/or simple lack of attendance in meetings all together.

Now, the above is alarmingly scary when some addicts in recovery hear this because there are some out there that say, "they hate meetings," or "meetings don't do anything for them," or "they don't do well sharing with others in public." Not to be offensive to anyone who has that opinion, but it has DANGER written all over it. It wreeks of relapse if you go by statistics.

There are few people that go the rest of their lives without relapse IF they don't attend meetings and their research has shown this. Are there exceptions? Yes, there is, but it's Rare. Unfortunately, addicts convince themselves they will "be one of the few" to not need meetings and they will still stay clean. That type of thinking is also what got addicts to become addicted because we convinced ourselves that just a few times using wouldn't lead to addiction and we convinced ourselves that we would be the exception.

If you have been off of opiates for 1 year, for the love of God do not start them (Suboxone or Methadone). If you have cravings, go to meetings and keep trying different ones until you find one you like and take Vivitrol if cravings are that bad. AA meetings are as diverse as humans. None is like the other. Similarities? Sure, but each is different. Same for Cel Recov and Smart Recov and NA (I don't do NA, no offense, but too many young kids around literally walking into the meetings high and looking to hook up with someone after the meeting to get high with.) Some NA meetings out there are better I'm sure, but they aren't my thing. The level of seriousness in my opinion seems much stronger with AA, CR, and Smart Recovery.

missaretha · Jun 27

Who gives a damn what the board of nursing or even the director of nursing thinks? You did the work, you'll have to keep doing the work. Get the keys back and do your job.