Good morning everyone,
22 days with no chemicals, and I feel better than I have in YEARS. Thanks to everyone here and the meetings I have been attending. I have a question for some of y'all with more sobriety than myself. I have become friends with a guy in my home group with 6 years of sobriety. He is a doctor, type A personality, and just a very cool person. Anyway he was at the first meeting I ever attended and really helped me alot. I go to AA, along with all the other dope fiends in my area because there simply are not any NA meetings within an hours drive from my home. The folks in AA know this and welcome us with open arms. Back to my question, I never told my new friend what I was on at first, but after the second meeting he asked how I was doing with the opiate withdrawals. I was like how the heck did you know that? He just laughed and said, that's not important, but what is, is how are you doing. I told him physically I was much better, but mentally I was struggling. He said it will take some time, but things will get better. I hit 2 meetings a day everyday no matter what period. That's just what I have to do, but I like it so it works out well. Anyway I asked my new friend to be my sponsor (seemed like a no brainer right) I mean he's a doctor, lots of sobriety, very cool guy. He said no he refused, I was a more than a little disappointed, but then he told me why. Turns out he has severe back trouble, several operations etc. then I noticed he really had trouble just getting around, even just going over to get some coffee, and getting back to his chair.
As we talked he said he said he had a severe morphine dependency after his second surgery.
Anyway he said he hasn't had a drink in 6 years, but due to the pain he has to take 3 5mg lortabs a day. He feels tremendous guilt about this and believes it is a roadblock to his spiritual growth. I am way out of my league when it comes to this because I am just a junkie, never used due to pain, just wanted to get high. He is a great guy and I want to help him, he says just seeing me in meetings helps him, but I don't really understand that yet, but I know a lot of folks have dealt with similar issues. I tried to tell him the amount of hydro he is taking is almost nothing, but that didn't seem to help. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks y'all :)