The recovery community is shaken by the death of actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was reported that he was more than 20 years sober. He had a relapse earlier this year. Then the reports of drug use, more drinking, heroin and death.
Shockingly there are some--even in recovery-who think "that could never be me". But it could. We might, those of us of a certain age who were addicted to alcohol, think, "Well I'd certainly never do heroin; even if I relapsed I'd probably just drink and then come back. But as this heartbreaking story shows us, coming back can be very, very hard.
What we forget or do not realize is that if we relapse on alcohol we would certainly "forget" that we don't do drugs. It's a new world. That's what we have to remember. Alcohol kills pain but heroin does it better. And these days heroin is cheaper than a cocktail, you do not have to go to a bad part of town to get it, and very nice people--very nice people that you know--will offer it to you.
Research shows that the longer we are in recovery the less likely we are to relapse. But--if we do relapse we are much more likely to die and die quickly.
While we pray for Hoffman and his partner and their three children and all of his friends let's please remember that we are not immune. We have a chronic illness and the remedy is ongoing.
Here is the link to an article in today's New York Times detailing the last days of Hoffman's life and what those around him saw. This is progression. This is tragedy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/nyregion/a-complicated-actor-philip-seymour-hoffman-in-his-last-days.html?_r=0
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Philip Seymour Hoffman suffered from a chronic medical condition that required ongoing treatment. An admitted drug addict who first sought professional help more than two decades ago, Hoffman apparently succumbed to his illness with an overdose despite a return to rehab last March.
"Here you have an extraordinarily talented actor who had the resources, who had been in treatment, who obviously realized the problem of drugs and had been able to stay clean," she said, adding that Hoffman's case shows how devastating addiction can be.
Success has no more bearing on drug addiction than it does on heart failure, doctors say: Both can be fatal without consistent care. And while rehab may be part of treatment, it's no antidote. Amy Winehouse and Cory Monteith had both been to rehab before eventually dying from overdoses.
"Addiction is a chronic, progressive illness. No one can be cured," said Dr. Akikur Reza Mohammad, a psychiatrist and addiction-medicine specialist who works as a professor at USC's Keck School of Medicine and is founding chief of Inspire Malibu Treatment Center. "If someone is suffering from addiction, they cannot relax at any time.
"Addiction does not discriminate, the same way high blood pressure and diabetes do not discriminate," Mohammad said, adding that 100 people die in the U.S. each day from drug overdoses. Those numbers are increasingly fueled by prescription painkillers, which tend to be opiates, like heroin.
"Here you have an extraordinarily talented actor who had the resources, who had been in treatment, who obviously realized the problem of drugs and had been able to stay clean," she said, adding that Hoffman's case shows how devastating addiction can be.
Success has no more bearing on drug addiction than it does on heart failure, doctors say: Both can be fatal without consistent care. And while rehab may be part of treatment, it's no antidote. Amy Winehouse and Cory Monteith had both been to rehab before eventually dying from overdoses.
"Addiction is a chronic, progressive illness. No one can be cured," said Dr. Akikur Reza Mohammad, a psychiatrist and addiction-medicine specialist who works as a professor at USC's Keck School of Medicine and is founding chief of Inspire Malibu Treatment Center. "If someone is suffering from addiction, they cannot relax at any time.
"Addiction does not discriminate, the same way high blood pressure and diabetes do not discriminate," Mohammad said, adding that 100 people die in the U.S. each day from drug overdoses. Those numbers are increasingly fueled by prescription painkillers, which tend to be opiates, like heroin.