I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone - updated in 1st post - LONG

She is a life long friend...her family is my family. I just found out she is addicted to Oxycodone and has been stealing from me and other people and is really bad off.

What can I do to help her? I dont care that she stole my pain meds....I care about HER and I need advice to help her.

****Updated 10/22/06****
Just to answer a few questions...

I've suspected something was up with her for a long time now. I just never felt right copming right out and asking "hey are you a drug addict?" because no matter how nicely I put it, I knew it could possibly end our friendship and at the very least make it extremely uncomfortable.

When I had Katie via c-section almost 6 mos ago, she was over and my brand new prescription of Vicodin disappeared. I convinced myself that I threw it away and that she would not steal from me (although I still had some doubts). About half of my oxycodone disappeared too.

I noticed things like she was really wired some days and then really sluggish and drugged acting others. She was sweating like CRAZY and she lost a TON of weight. She is 5'7 and my guess is she's about 100 lbs right now. She was also chain smoking like a fiend - something she didn't normally do.

There were a lot of red flags that only fell in to place when it was confirmed on Friday that she IS addicted to the pain meds.

Thursday afternoon we had lunch and she was wired and looked like crap. At lunch I saw her take 2 white pills but didn't question it.

Friday evening her husband came over and told me the whole story about what happened the night before. Two of her friends got to talking - one is seriously sick and needs pain meds to live day to day. They were disappearing like crazy and my friend was coming over to her house more and more. ANyway they both compared notes and put 2 and 2 together and called my friends Mom...who put more things together and they then went to my friend's DH. He then told them he had been finding empty bottle from pills with MY name on it and other friends names on it. He found empty bottles of codine cough syrup that she was drinking like coffee.
She's a RN and has access to meds and prescription pads and judging by ALL the many bottle and bags from prescriptions, she's been writing herself scripts and getting tons of oxycodone and vicodin.

Just to give you an idea, when I had my c-section, I was taking 5 mg pills of Oxycodone for the pain. I'd take maybe 3 pills a day. On Thursday alone she took 240 mg...that's 16 pills. That was just to get her through the day!!

It's a disaster. ANyway they had an intervention on Thursday night. They didnt involve me because A) it was a spur of the moment thing and B) my Dad was just diagnosed with cancer so they wanted to give me a break.

My friend does not know that I know yet. But I'm going to talk to her husband tomorrow and have him tell her I know. She needs to know that I'm here to help her and I think it would be better coming from her husband.

She is seeing a couple of doctors, they are not sending her to rehab just yet. They are detoxing her slowly...her husband filled a prescription of Oxycodone and keeps it in the safe and administors it to her. She's starting at 80mg a day and over the next 2 wks will go down to 0mg.

It's so unbelieveable. Out of all my friends she is the LEAST likely to be in this position - or at least I thought!!

Message edited 10/22/2006 6:12:31 PM.

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

I don't have any advice but I too have 2 friends addicted ,both in the medical field and professionals. It's so common right now, it's scary!!!

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

She is also in te medical profession! Scary!

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Is she married? Does her DH & parents & siblings know?
How did you find out? Does she know you know?

I am not posing these questions so that you answer them.....only that these are the things you need to consider before you can help her.

If her family knows....maybe an intervention or rehab.
This could ruin her career so I hope your friend gets the help she needs

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

That drug is so dangerous. She needs some help. If you call the Long Island Crisis Center - 516-679-1111 they can give you referrals.

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

You can just be there as a friend. I'm sorry, I know this can be devastating. When she wants to stop and get help, she will.

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Of course the obvious too - make sure she can't get her hands on your meds and if you know the others she's stealing from be sure they know to make sure there meds are locked up or hidden away from her. It won't help the underlying addiction but you don't need to make it any easier for her to get her hands on it.

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Oh my, no more advice other than what has been said.

for your friend and all involved.

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Is she married? OR is there a family member your really close to that you can confide it ? Have them help?

Does she know YOU know?

I guess it depends on if she thinks she has a problem. If she does, you may be able to convince her to get help ASAP. If she doesnt, then WOW...thats a bad place and I would guess Iwould pressure her into understanding that it IS a problem and try to figure out why she feels she needs to take them.

Good luck Kathy. YOu have a lot on your plate right now. Hang in there

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Can you contact her close family and friends and stage some kind of intervention? Just to let her know that you know and that it IS a problem and that you want to help her. Be armed with facts about programs she can go to, etc. Be prepared for her not deny there's a problem and not try to get help. She's only going to get better when she is ready to, but you and others close to her can definitely give her the tools she needs to turn her life around.

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

sorry to hear about your friend.. i will say a prayer for her

stupid question, but what is Oxycodone?

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Prescription pain killer

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Posted by MrsERod

sorry to hear about your friend.. i will say a prayer for her

stupid question, but what is Oxycodone?

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

the stuff is really bad- I hope she is just taking the pills and NOT breaking the time release

she needs help- but she has to want help- it's a really gross and scary thing

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Oxycodone is very powerful! I pray she gets the help she needs

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

You have FM

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Posted by JenniferEver

Can you contact her close family and friends and stage some kind of intervention? Just to let her know that you know and that it IS a problem and that you want to help her. Be armed with facts about programs she can go to, etc. Be prepared for her not deny there's a problem and not try to get help. She's only going to get better when she is ready to, but you and others close to her can definitely give her the tools she needs to turn her life around.

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

I heard of someone else that became addicted to pain medication. She would go to people's houses that just had a baby with a baby gift & then TAKE their pain medication.

I can't imagine how strong an addiction must be to steal - especially from family & friends.

I agree that an intervention is the best thing - other than that if it doesn't work you need to cut her out of your life. Do you really need someone knocking on your door down the road looking for a place to sleep?

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Posted by MrsERod

sorry to hear about your friend.. i will say a prayer for her

stupid question, but what is Oxycodone?

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone

Posted by BlessedBMommi

Posted by MrsERod

sorry to hear about your friend.. i will say a prayer for her

stupid question, but what is Oxycodone?

Vicodin....the newest RX painkiller addiction. It's very common among teens and young adults. People get their RX filled for a $5 co-pay an sell them on the street for $10 per pill...........

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone - updated in 1st post - LONG

i updated in the 1st post - its really long!

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone - updated in 1st post - LONG

Many many many prayers to your friend.

I just really hope - she wants the help and that they are not forcing it on her.
This happen to someone very close to me and now this person doesn't talk to us anymore

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone - updated in 1st post - LONG

Re: I just found out my friend is addicted to Oxycodone - updated in 1st post - LONG

Very scary stuff. Good luck to your friend. I'm sorry you have to go through all this, with her and your dad.