A fresh start after the nightmare of addiction
Created: 04/16/2022, 08:04
By: Ulrike Osman
Painkillers can be addictive.
© MiS/imago
Easter is the festival of resurrection, in the broadest sense of the new beginning.
That's exactly what the Puchheim native Doris G. did.
Puchheim – The mother of five children was dependent on painkillers, the addiction almost cost her her life.
Now she wants to wake up others.
Slipping into an addiction is faster than you think.
And it can happen to anyone - Doris G. has experienced this firsthand.
The 32-year-old swallowed painkillers until the consequences almost cost her her life.
Now she wants to help other sufferers.
For her, this includes changing the way society thinks.
Because far too often one experiences stigmatization as an addict and has to wait too long for help.
G. deliberately goes public with her story: "I would like to say what is being hushed up." Those affected would often feel ashamed and not find an open ear.
back pain
The 32-year-old gets messages from addicts and their families every day on social media.
People are looking for a hearing, for understanding, for help.
“You can see what a huge topic it is.” Doris G. wants to shake people up.
Addiction is a disease.
“There is always a person and a problem behind it,” she says.
"You don't look for yourself."
Her own story is the best example of this.
She started with chronic back pain.
The woman from Puchheim woke up with it in the morning, tormented herself through the day, and fell asleep with it in the evening.
She went from doctor to doctor, tried therapies, but nothing helped.
"I didn't know a pain-free time for years," recalls the 32-year-old.
As a mother of five children, the geriatric nurse had to function somehow.
The doctors considered her to be out of therapy.
One finally shoved a narcotics prescription across her desk.
G. knew what the drug would do.
She took it anyway.
"I really wanted to be pain free for a few hours a day."
Always more
In the beginning it worked wonderfully.
The Puchheim native was happy that the complaints calmed down for a while.
But soon she had to increase the dose of medication.
“You develop a certain tolerance,” she explains.
"That's how you slip into dependency very quickly." Replenishment wasn't a problem, she got one prescription after the other.
At some point, Doris G. swallowed so many pills that it became dangerous.
She got epileptic seizures.
"I knew I was gambling with my life," she says, looking back.
She tried in vain to get off the drugs.
But the counseling centers had waiting lists for months.
And the doctors she turned to wanted to send her into inpatient rehab - that was the only way.
But going to a clinic for several months was not an option.
"I couldn't leave my husband alone with the children for so long." Then came the day when Doris G. suffered a particularly severe epileptic seizure.
Finally someone is listening
"If my husband hadn't been there, I wouldn't be alive anymore," she is convinced.
Soon after, she sat across from a doctor for the first time in the kbo-Isar-Amper-Klinik in Bruck, who really listened to her and responded to her needs.
"She asked the right questions.
And for the first time I felt like I was being listened to.”
With the help of this doctor, she underwent an outpatient rehab in which the dose of medication was gradually reduced to zero.
Her family was by her side, the doctor could call her day and night.
After six weeks, during which every day felt like an eternity, the physical withdrawal was over.
(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular FFB newsletter.)
Getting off the medication mentally took longer.
"You think you can't live without the pills." During this time, G. began to keep a diary.
It made her realize how many people felt the same way as her.
"And maybe they have no family, no real contact person."
training
She wants to listen to these people.
The Puchheim resident is now completing a ten-month training course in addiction counseling and prevention.
She wants to work as a psychological counselor in an addiction ward and offer talk therapy.
“As a former sufferer, I know how you feel and what you need.
We want to be understood.”
She says the sentence several times, it comes from the bottom of her heart.
The 32-year-old would also like to do educational work in schools.
Wants to show where the risks are of getting into an eating disorder, gambling or cellphone addiction.
"The danger already begins with the pressure to perform in the higher classes."
The back pain has come back since she stopped taking the pills.
They will probably never disappear completely.
But the 32-year-old has learned to live with it - with the help of sport and a good osteopath.
You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.