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Just For Today

Up Or Down

'This is our road to spiritual growth. We change every day.... This growth is not the result of wishing but of action and prayer.'

Basic Text, p. 35-36

Our spiritual condition is never static; if it's not growing, it's decaying. If we stand still, our spiritual progress will lose its upward momentum. Gradually, our growth will slow, then halt, then reverse itself. Our tolerance will wear thin; our willingness to serve others will wane; our minds will narrow and close. Before long, we'll be right back where we started: in conflict with everyone and everything around us, unable to bear even ourselves.

Our only option is to actively participate in our program of spiritual growth. We pray, seeking knowledge greater than our own from a Power greater than ourselves. We open our minds and keep them open, becoming teachable and taking advantage of what others have to share with us. We demonstrate our willingness to try new ideas and new ways of doing things, experiencing life in a whole new way. Our spiritual progress picks up speed and momentum, driven by the Higher Power we are coming to understand better each day.

Up or down - it's one or the other, with very little in between, where spiritual growth is concerned. Recovery is not fueled by wishing and dreaming, we've discovered, but by prayer and action.

Just for today: The only constant in my spiritual condition is change. I cannot rely on yesterday's program. Today, I seek new spiritual growth through prayer and action.

pg. 238

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Pain Pills

Pain Pills HISTORY

MORPHINE:

Is a narcotic analgesic. Morphine was first isolated from opium in 1805 by a German pharmacist, Wilhelm Sertürner. Sertürner described it as the Principium Somniferum. He named it morphium - after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. Today morphine is isolated from opium in substantially larger quantities - over 1000 tons per year - although most commercial opium is converted into codeine by methylation. On the illicit market, opium gum is filtered into morphine base and then synthesized into heroin.

Morphine was first used medicinally as a painkiller and, erroneously, as a cure for opium addiction. It quickly replaced opium as a cure-all recommended by doctors and as a recreational drug and was readily available from drugstores or through the mail. Substitution of morphine addiction for alcohol addiction was considered beneficial by some physicians because alcohol is more destructive to the body and is more likely to trigger antisocial behavior. Morphine was used during the American Civil War as a surgical anesthetic and was sent home with many wounded soldiers for relief of pain. At the end of the war, over 400,000 people had the “army disease,” morphine addiction. The Franco-Prussian War in Europe had a similar effect. In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act required accurate labeling of patent medicines and tonics. Various laws restricting the importation of opium were enacted, and the Harrison Narcotics Act (1914) prohibited possession of narcotics unless properly prescribed by a physician. Despite legislation, morphine maintained much of its popularity until heroin came into use, it in its turn believed to be a cure for morphine addiction.

Morphine addiction develops very rapidly when an individual continues to abuse morphine. Morphine's addictive nature activates the brain’s reward systems. The promise of reward is very intense, causing the individual to continually crave Morphine and to focus his or her activities around taking Morphine. The ability of Morphine to strongly activate the brain's reward mechanisms and its ability to chemically alter the normal functioning of these systems is what produces morphine addiction. Morphine also reduces a person’s level of consciousness, harming the ability to think or be fully aware of present surroundings.

Morphine side effects may include (but are not limited to): anxiety, involuntary movement of the eyeball ,blurred vision / double vision, "pinpoint" pupils, constipation, chills, depressed or irritable mood, itching, cramps, dizziness, rash, diarrhea, drowsiness, rigid muscles, inability to urinate, exaggerated sense of well-being, seizure, dreams, light - headedness, swelling due to fluid retention, dry mouth, nausea tingling or pins and needles, facial flushing, sedation, tremor, fainting / faintness, sweating, uncoordinated muscle movements, floating feeling, vomiting, weakness, hallucinations, agitation, abdominal pain, headache, allergic reaction, abnormal thinking, high/low blood pressure, appetite loss, accidental injury, hives, apprehension, memory loss, insomnia, overdose, and possible death.

OXYCODONE:

Approved by the FDA in 1995, an opium derivative, which is the same active ingredient in Percodan and Percocet. OxyContin is intended for use by terminal cancer patients and chronic pain sufferers. It has been linked to at least 120 overdose deaths nationwide. OxyContin (oxycodone hydrochloride controlled-release) tablets are an opioid analgesic supplied in 10 mg, 20 mg,40 mg, and 80 mg tablet strengths for oral administration. The tablet strengths describe the amount of oxycodone per tablet as the hydrochloride salt.

Oxycodone is a very strong narcotic pain reliever similar to morphine. OxyContin is designed so that the oxycodone is slowly released over time, allowing it to be used twice daily. You should never break, chew, or crush the OxyContin tablet since this causes a large amount of oxycodone to be released from the tablet all at once, potentially resulting in a dangerous or fatal drug overdose.

Oxycodone is a white, odorless crystalline powder derived from the opium alkaloid. Oxycodone hydrochloride dissolves in water (1 g in 6 to 7 mL). It is slightly soluble in alcohol (octanol water partition coefficient 0.7). The tablets contain the following inactive ingredients: ammonio methacrylate copolymer, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, lactose, magnesium stearate, povidone, red iron oxide (20 mg strength tablet only), stearyl alcohol, talc, titanium dioxide, triacetin, yellow iron oxide (40 mg strength tablet only), and other ingredients.

OxyContin is an opiate agonist. Opiate agonists provide pain relief by acting on opioid receptors in the spinal cord, brain, and possibly in the tissues directly. Opioids, natural or synthetic classes of drugs that act like morphine, are the most effective pain relievers available. Oxycodone is manufactured by modifying thebaine, an alkaloid found in opium. Oxycodone has a high abuse potential.

Oxycodone is a central nervous system depressant. Oxycodone's action appears to work through stimulating the opioid receptors found in the central nervous system that activate responses ranging from analgesia to respiratory depression to euphoria. People who take the drug repeatedly can develop a tolerance or resistance to the drug's effects. Thus, a cancer patient can take a dose of oxycodone on a regular basis that would be fatal in a person never exposed to oxycodone or another opioid. Most individuals who abuse oxycodone seek to gain the euphoric effects, mitigate pain, and avoid withdrawal symptoms associated with oxycodone or heroin abstinence.

The powerful prescription pain reliever has become a hot new street drug that has resulted in more than 120 deaths nationwide. It will give you a high much like HIGH GRADE heroin but with worse consequences. 5mg of OXY has has as much active ingredient (oxycodone) as One percocet. So chewing/snorting a 40mg OXY is like taking 8 percocets at once or a 80mg Oxy is like taking 16 percocets all at once. Overdose Symptoms: Slow breathing, seizures, dizziness, weakness, loss of consciousness, coma, confusion, tiredness, cold and clammy skin, and small pupils.

OxyContin should be used to fight extreme pain. Doctors commonly prescribe it to cancer patients as an alternative to morphine. The drug is addictive, expensive, and when misused, it can be lethal. OxyContin abuse is becoming an epidemic in several rural states.

Physical dependence, which is sometimes unavoidable, develops when an individual is exposed to a drug at a high enough dose for long enough that the body adapts and develops a tolerance for the drug. This means that higher doses are needed to achieve a drug's original effects. If the patient stops taking the drug, withdrawal will occur. Just like heroin it is almost impossible to do alone as the withdrawal symptoms of OxyContin are worse than heroin and last longer. Professional help from a heroin detox center is the best and safest way to do this but there is NO painless way.

Drug craving is the result of the drug's imprinting in the memory of a pleasant association of euphoria with the drug. The subconscious memory then motivates the individual to seek this drug because of the false imprint. The brain, in effect, has been trained that using the drug is the fastest way to feel good. This learning process then produces a new appetite or drive to seek the drug which we call craving. This craving is most often activated by, a) memory of pleasure, b) when we feel bad and have a habit of using the drug to rapidly feel good, c) when we are in a situation with people, places and activities in which a previous habit pattern of drug use has been established.

Prescription drugs, like other addictive drugs, are able to short-circuit your survival system by artificially stimulating the reward center, or pleasure areas in your brain, without anything beneficial happening to your body. As this happens, it leads to increased confidence in the drug, and less confidence in the normal rewards of life. This first happens on a physical level. Then, it affects you psychologically. The big drug lie results in decreased interest in other aspects of life, as you increase your reliance and interest in the drug. People, places and activities involved with using drugs become more important. People, places and activities or lifestyles that worked through your normal reward system, before using the drug, become less important to you. After a while, a heavy drug user will actually resent people, places, and activities that do not fit in with that drug use.

Addictive drugs mimic the action of chemicals your brain produces to send messages of pleasure to your brain's reward center. They produce an artificial feeling of pleasure. Most addictive drugs are able to produce pleasurable effects by chemically acting like certain normal brain messenger chemicals, which produce positive feelings in response to signals from the brain.

The result is a dependence on the immediate, fast, predictable drug which, at the same time, short circuits interests in and the motivation to make life's normal rewards work. More and more confidence is placed in the drug while other survival feelings are ignored and bypassed. The result of this addiction cycle is a lack of concern for, and confidence in, other areas of life.

Side effects of oxycodone products include: Breathing irregularity or respiratory depression, increased pressure of cerebral and spinal fluid, headaches, nausea, dizziness, seizures, heart failure, low blood pressure, overdose death due to cardiac arrest or slowed breathing (especially when ingesting crushed OxyContin tablets)

HYDROCODINE:

Is an effective antitussive (anti-cough) agent, and as an opiate it is also an effective analgesic for mild to moderate pain control. Five mg of Hydrocodone is equivalent to 30 mg of codeine when administered orally. Early comparisons concluded that Hydrocodone and morphine were equivalent for pain control in humans. However, it is now considered that a dose of 15 mg (1/4 gr) of Hydrocodone is equivalent to 10 mg (1/6 gr) of morphine. Hydrocodone is considered to be morphine-like in all respects.

There are over 200 products containing Hydrocodone in the U.S. In its most usual product forms Hydrocodone is combined with acetaminophen (Vicodin, Lortab), but it is also combined with aspirin (Lortab ASA), ibuprofen (Vicoprofen), and antihistamines (Hycomine). Both tablet and liquid forms of Hydrocodone are available (e.g., Tussionex) Hydrocodone will react as a normal opiate in the available field test kits.

Hydrocodone is abused for its opiate-like effects. It is equivalent to morphine in relieving abstinence symptoms from chronic morphine administration. The Schedule III status of Hydrocodone-containing products has made them available to widespread diversion by "bogus call-in prescriptions" and thefts. Three dosage forms are typically found (5, 7.5, and 10 mg) and their behavioral effects can last up to 5 hours. The drug is most often administered orally. The growing awareness and concern about AIDS and blood-borne pathogens easily transmitted by syringe needle use, has made the oral bioavailability of Hydrocodone attractive to the typical opiate abuser.

As with most opiates, the adverse effects of Hydrocodone abuse are dependence and tolerance development. Its co-formulation with acetaminophen has also increased the likelihood of acetaminophen-induced hepatic necrosis with high dose acute dosing, but slow escalation of dose over time seems to protect the liver during high dose chronic exposures seen with this drug.

Side effects of hydrocodine products include: anxiety, constipation, decreased mental & physical performance, difficulty breathing, difficulty urination, dizziness, drowsiness, dry throat, emotional dependence, exaggerated feeling of depression, extreme calm (sedation), exaggerated sense of well-being, fear itching, mental clouding, mood changes, nausea & vomiting, rash, restlessness, sluggishness, tightness in chest, overdose, and possible death.

CODEINE:

Is a member of the drug class opiates. Opiates include all naturally occurring drugs with morphine-like effects such as codeine and all semi and fully synthetic drugs with morphine-like effects such as heroin and meperidine (Demerol). Codeine was first discovered as a natural constituent of opium in very small concentrations, in the range of 0.7% - 2.5% by weight. Most codeine found in pharmaceutical products today is synthetically produced via the methylation of morphine.

Addiction is a major risk with prolonged use (over 2-3 weeks) of narcotics. Even moderate doses of some narcotics can result in a fatal overdose. When increasing doses of narcotics, the person may first feel restless and nauseous and then progress to loss of consciousness and abnormal breathing. Other risks include withdrawal symptoms that may last for months.

Addictive drugs activate the brain’s reward systems. The promise of reward is very intense, causing the individual to crave the drug and to focus his or her activities around taking the drug. The ability of addictive drugs to strongly activate brain reward mechanisms and their ability to chemically alter the normal functioning of these systems can produce an addiction. Drugs also reduce a person’s level of consciousness, harming the ability to think or be fully aware of present surroundings.

Repeated use of these drugs can cause long-term changes in the way the nervous system functions. Common side effects include: Stomach, bleeding, kidney, damage liver, "itchies", constipation, nausea, hangover, tiny pupils, blurred vision, poor night vision, impair your ability to drive, lowered heart rate, blood pressure and breathi, disorientation, convulsions, hallucinations, depression, sexual problems, agitation, tremors, seizures.

VICODIN:

Is one of the most commonly abused prescription pain medications today. One of the most widely prescribed medications, Vicodin and its related medications, loricet, loritab percodan, and oxycontin are opioid-based pain medications. Vicodin is a derivative of opium, which also used to manufacture heroin. Vicodin successfully diminishes pain, but it is highly addictive and withdrawal symptoms of Vicodin addiction are very similar to the pain it was relieving.

Over months of Vicodin use the Vicodin effects will become greater and more damaging. At first the user will endure such effects as constipation, speeding up or the slowing down of the heart rate, nausea, and dizziness. As the use grows the Vicodin effects will come in the form of blurred vision, hallucinations, and sever confusion.

Many people taking Vicodin longer than medically necessary keep using it thinking that if they were to stop taking Vicodin, their pain would return. In reality, the fear of Vicodin withdrawal can be a strong motivating factor in the continuing use of Vicodin, and more importantly, the feeling that more Vicodin is needed to combat the same pain. Over a period of time more and more Vicodin is needed to have the same pain relieving effects and to ward off Vicodin withdrawal symptoms. Many people end up taking more and more Vicodin or changing medications and switching to a strong medication such as oxycontin or loritab and taking more and more of these, due to the highly addictive qualities of these medications.

The Twelve Steps		The Twelve Traditions
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptlym admitted it. 11. Sought though prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.		1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity. 2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. 3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. 4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole. 5. Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. 6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose. 7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. 8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers. 9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve. 10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy. 11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films. 12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.