If you’ve ever pilfered a pill from your parents’ medicine cabinet, borrowed an ADHD drug from a college friend or taken more than your doctor’s prescribed dosage, congratulations! You’ve abused a prescription med. Pills have become all the rage, and not just because they’re the dance floor-portable, legal, low-cal alternative to alcohol. It’s because they’re just so easy to get—as easy as the swipe of your physician’s pen.
The rates for substance abuse in the LGBT community are thought to be two to three times higher than in the general population. One reason? Chronic Minority Stress brought on by years of bullying and family rejection that later turns to stigma and discrimination.
According to research in the 1999 Annual Review of Psychology, untreated chronic stress can result in serious health conditions, including anxiety, insomnia and muscle pain—all conditions that have people calling a physician, most leaving with a prescription to a potentially addictive drug.
But who am I to fault a lady (or ladyboy) in pain? Especially if the drug helps soothe physical suffering that may have been brought on by a lifetime of societal abuse. Frankly, I’m just sick of people dying at an early age!
According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 24,000 deaths were caused by an overdose of prescription medication in 2015, and it’s on the rise. Addictive drugs are used to treat all the maladies on the gay hit parade: ADHD, fat, anxiety and sleeplessness.
Still, there is one standout drug among the others: opiates. Used for pain, it’s the big daddy of addiction and eventual death. Opiates account for 72% of prescription drug deaths (or 17,000 per year), which averages out to 46 people each day.
Not a newcomer to the party scene, opiates have been around for thousands of years. Derived from the poppy plant, opium or heroin may come to mind, but the real star players on the pharmacy team are Oxycontin, Vicodin, Percocet, Codeine and their synthetic cousin, Fentenyl.
One study in 2010 presented in the Journal of Addiction Medicine looked at 75 patients hospitalized for opiate addiction. More than half said their first taste of the opiate was through a legal prescription for pain after surgery or injury.
Once the addiction takes hold and the doctor-shopping dries out, things take a darker turn. In the study, 92% said they eventually bought the drugs off the street—primarily heroin—because it was both cheaper and more potent than prescription pills.
If these drugs are so dangerous, why haven’t we done away with them altogether? Well, if you’ve ever had a debilitating accident, surgery or cancer, you wouldn’t ask. Needless suffering can completely incapacitate someone. These drugs help the sufferer become more autonomous, form friendships, care for family members and, yes, participate in their own recovery from the condition that had them taking the pills in the first place.
If you need higher doses or have withdrawal symptoms, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re addicted. It could mean that you’re simply physically dependent on the drug. Addiction is a chronic disease that is characterized by compulsive use of the drug that causes harm or life dysfunction. And the addict continues to use despite harm to his body, family, relationships, job and personal welfare.
So how do you know if you’re addicted? The following seven signifiers apply to all prescription medications.
1. You think about the meds a lot.
If your meds occupy your mind more than sex, your fat percentage or Kylie Jenner, you need to take note.
2. You take more than prescribed.If one works, five should work better, right? Wrong.
3. Doctor-shopping.Do you visit more than one doctor for the same “pain”? Lie to your doctor or go to a “pill-mill?” You have a problem.
4. You get your drugs from more places than the pharmacy.The internet, your trainer, a friend who never checks his medicine cabinet. Hmmm.
5. You’ve been using the pills for a while now.You started with genuine pain but now re-enact scenes from Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl to get more? If you’re not dead yet…
6. You feel angry if someone talks to you about your use.How dare they?! But if they didn’t care about you, they wouldn’t say a thing, right?
7. You’re not you.Everyone else sees this before you do, because apparently every mirror in your place is broken. (Revert to number 6 if they say something.)
If you started taking pain pills for medical reasons, talk to your doctor first. (Yes, the person who prescribed these to you in the first place.) The benefits of these drugs sometimes outweigh costs. Be truthful about your use and its effects. You may just be dependent but not suffering from addiction. If you want to cut down or stop altogether, you still need a doctor’s help.
Why? Because getting off the drugs is a bitch.
For opiates, ceasing use is like having a severe flu; nausea, fever, body aches, itching and profuse sweating are common, along with high levels of anxiety and even panic. It’s so bad that many will do anything to avoid it (including going to the streets to buy heroin). Most will benefit from a medically supervised detox.
When seeking help, you’ll want to find a specialized treatment for opiates —or your drug of choice—and LGBT issues. Since those are rare, you can split things up. Get detoxed first, then transfer to a facility that has the staff and program to treat the real psychological pain of growing up “other than hetero.”
If you chose to go the outpatient route, combine treatment with your physician and mental health professional or program that specializes in both LGBT issues and prescription drug abuse. You’ve compromised your health up until now. It’s time to get real help.