out of curiousity. what kind of drugs are doctors known to be addicted to? i mean you have access to all kinds of drugs, so you dont just get addicted to anything thats available. it must have some really nice euphoric effects. so what are they?
Addiction has to do more with the individual than the agent.
The agent is merely the individual's vehicle to
numbing reality the individual doesnt wanna face.
That being said, I'd say the most common drug doctors are known to be addicted to, hands down, is
alcohol.
In the anesthesia biz, your question becomes a little more dicey.
Because of our ability to put our hands on
every pharmaceutical grade opioid/benzo/induction agent/et al,
if you're in the anesthesia biz and you've gotta substance abuse problem,
you may be in trouble.
Even if you don't have a problem,
you still may be in trouble.
At my previous gig, before I got there, one of the anesthesiologists was found in the mensroom stall
dead from (probably) inadvertent opiod overdose.
😱
He injected a buncha sufentanil into a heplock in his leg.....was probably just looking for a
fix...probably didnt want to end his life that day, but only God knows his intentions during that episode...
Had a CRNA at previous gig addicted to opioids....retrospectively speaking, he did alotta opioid infusions to mask his addiction....
TRINITY......you remember who I'm speaking of, huh?
Looking back at residency, had a dude in residency who acted bizarre alot...
LESS THAN A YEAR after his matriculation into private practice he was popped for
shooting propofol in the OR. He was found in an OR, STUPOROUS.....LETHARGIC....WITH A PARTIALLY INJECTED PROPOFOL SYRINGE NEARBY.😱
Recently heard of another past-CRNA colleague succombing to opioid addiction....
SO TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, DUDE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR INTENTIONS ARE FOR ASKING, BUT DRUG ADDICTION IS A DISEASE THAT, LEFT UNTREATED, POTENTIALLY ENDS IN DEATH. THIS IS NOT A JOKING MATTER/THREAD/POST.
THIS IS SOME BAD S HIT.
substance addiction is a bad and potentially career-ending disease, with the addictive-agents ranging from the
very common to the esoteric.
IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR NUMBERS I'D SAY AMONG DOCTORS it is
NUMBER ONE: alcohol
NUMBER TWO: opioids....non-anesthesia dudes would be pills....percocet, darvocet, etc. Anesthesia dudes with opioid addiction will put heplocks in clandestine areas (foot, calf, or in the arm and wear jackets all the time) and feed their addiction with whatever opioid....fentanyl, sufentanil, morphine, meperidine, whatever is readily available.....
This is an uncomfortable post.
But an important one.
Recognize the potential for addiction. And recognize how to recognize a drug addict if you are an anesthesiologist.
You may save your best friend.
Or yourself.
Thanks for posting on a very important, yet very rarely talked about topic.
👍