From my personal experience, I am certain there are better ways to deal with opiate withdrawals.

It is one of the most agonising conditions known to humankind, and they treat us like dirtbags when we volunteer to go thru it. I had not even been "to the streets" yet, mine was all prescribed, and then I get this attitude...

Thats the first thing - I would offer at least a token bit of compassion. And understanding. And some room for individuality in what they need to de-tox. Options are good, anything that would keep more of them going thru it just another hour...

Also, there could be a scale of agony, a chart made up, and when the level of suffering passes a certain mark, the addict should be given some dope and rest for one day. Instead, when addicts can't take it anymore, they leaave the de-tox centres and go wild again on the street morphine -0 isn't it better just to encourage them to stay "with just one dose"?

It is the length of time spent withdrawing that gets to most addicts - its at least three days without sleep or food or respite from the pains of withdrawals. It really IS hell.

Addicts will let the nurses know how they feel, and based on verbal responses and number oif times, and if they are getting any sleep, if they are rolling around on the floor, throwing up - all these will be charted and used to arrive at a "agony factor". Sure its a lot of trouble for nurses, but these addicts are suffering a lot more. Just a few extra staff, there seems to be lots of money these days[sponsorship scandal, Iraq, etc]

Just providing a room and some meals isn't enough. Thats ridiculous. A lot of addicts were like me, and got the pills allways, allways, from a doctor and didn't realise what it meant to become addicted to opiates, morphine. Why should I have to go thru this on my own.


Three days of terrible agony is 'okay'. Thats how it has to be.
Agony 'beyond the beyond' should only be for two days!!
"Absolute agony" after two days of terrible agony might be too much.

Sure it is difficult to define, but trained nurses would know who is suffering too much...
The patients are often honest, saying, "not bad, pretty squirmy but okay", and later on its "my feet are burning up, it hurts it hurts all over", and thats still okay to keep going... and when "this is really horrible, I don't know how much more of this I can take, followed an hour later by "please help me die, I can't even cry now, I can't move or scream anymore", and then, after two hours of that, or 10hrs, but not 72 hrs of it, give them one shot of their drug - a half or quarter of their usual dose maybe will do it - and let them sleep and eat and go at it again a day later.
Makes sense to me.

For those with an underlying pain condition, it can be too much, obviously, and some guidlines would give them comfort, knowing that they won't suffer beyond a normal ability to tolerate suffering, loosely defined and charted over time to arrive at a score where they will be given opiates at the facility instead of from the streets where they will undoubtedly take more than they need.

These are 'options to stay with it', one shot won't start anything new...

Karlin [been there]