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Talbott/Glenbeigh Medication Guide for Recovering Individuals

From the Talbott Recovery Campus

Welcome to the Talbott Recovery Campus guide for a safe and sustained recovery.  This document was developed through a collaborative effort between some of the best minds in addiction care today and will help you make wise decisions, ensuring that medications you may be prescribed and incidental exposure to alcohol do not threaten your hard won recovery.  

This guide is divided into three sections and is based on the drug classification system developed nearly 20 years ago by Dr. Paul Earley and recently expanded on by Bruce Merkin, M.D., Renee Enstrom, Nicholas Link and the staff at Glenbeigh hospital.  Part one provides a way of categorizing medications according to their safety.  Part two offers a list of liquid medications that do NOT contain alcohol.  Section three was developed by Greg Skipper, M.D., FASAM and provides a list of common household products that contain ethyl alcohol and could produce a false positive on testing for alcohol.  Avoiding these products will decrease the likelihood you will absorb or ingest small quantities of alcohol that could sensitize your system and threaten recovery.

Please remember that this guide is only intended as a quick reference and never as a substitute for the advice of your own personal physician.  It is essential that you inform all of your personal physicians, dentists and other health care providers of your chemical dependency history so that medications can be prescribed safely and appropriately when they are deemed necessary.  Never discontinue or make any changes in the doses of medication that you may have been prescribed. Doing so may result in unexpected problems such as withdrawal reactions, which in some cases can be life-threatening. The bottom line is that a recovering addict or alcoholic needs to become a good consumer.  Remember that “Recovery Is Its Own Reward.”  Being healthy and regaining a happy life is your responsibility!

Bruce Merkin, M.D.   Glenbeigh Treatment Facility Rock Creek, Ohio

Paul H. Earley, M.D., FASAM   Talbott Recovery Campus, Atlanta, Georgia

How to Use this Guide

There are many types of medications that may present a hazard to a person beginning the journey of recovery from chemical dependency. These include prescription and over-the-counter medications. The danger is not always that a recovering addict may develop a new addiction (though this certainly can happen), but that one can be led back into dependence on their drug of choice. The latest scientific research has proven that all the dependence-producing drugs act on the brain in the same way to produce addiction, despite having different effects or a different kind of “high” when taken.

In addition, if urine drug screening is part of the recovering person’s continuing treatment program, use of many types of medications can result in falsely positive tests for the more highly addictive classes of drugs, resulting in negative consequences.  Therefore, it is very important for a recovering person to learn about the different types of medications and drugs, as well as which ones present a special risk to continuing recovery and sobriety. The commonly available medications and drugs are divided into three classes – A, B and C – to indicate three levels of risk.

Class A drugs must be avoided completely, as they are well known to produce addiction and are the most dangerous of all. Only under very unusual conditions can Class A drugs be taken by a recovering addict or alcoholic, and only when given by a physician or dentist and with the consent of the addiction medicine physician that follows your care. These exceptional circumstances can include severe illness and injuries, including major surgery, car accidents and other trauma, and tests or procedures that can only be done under sedation or anesthesia. Medication treatments for certain psychiatric conditions are in this category as are medications used for drug detoxification.

The street names for relevant drugs are also included in Class A.

The medications in Class B are also potentially dangerous, especially when taken by recovering persons without the guidance of a physician or another health care professional. However, under certain circumstances, the Class B group can be taken safely under a physician’s care. We strongly urge you to have an addiction medicine specialist follow your treatment when you are prescribed these medications.

Class C medications are generally safe from the point of view of addiction recovery. However, overuse of any medication, even the common over-the-counter remedies, can result in unwanted side effects. People who have struggled with drug addiction or alcoholism must remain aware of the tendency to look for external solutions for internal problems and should avoid taking any of these medications on their own in order to medicate emotions and feelings. The tools of recovery, including participation at 12-Step fellowship meetings, working the Steps, or talking with a sponsor, counselor or doctor, provide safe and healthy ways to deal with the strong feelings that can come up at any time in early sobriety.

The three classes of medications that appear on the following pages include both the brand name (i.e. “Valium”), as well as the generic name (i.e. “diazepam”), as the majority of prescription bottles are labeled with the generic name. On the following pages, look for the brand name listed first, followed by the (generic name) in parentheses.

For street drugs, the common name is listed first, and the chemical name or street name is in parentheses. For each drug group in Class A and B, there is also a brief explanation of the dangers associated with taking the medication or street drug. At the end of the document there are two reference guides. The first is a list of alcohol-free products grouped by therapeutic category. The manufacturer is listed next to each product name.  The second is the Incidental Exposure Index, which details common OTCs and products that contain alcohol.

Table of Contents

Introduction                                                                                             2

How to Use this Guide                                                                                3

Class A Drugs (Absolutely Avoid)                                                                  4

Class B Drugs                                                                                           8 (With Addiction Medicine Specialist/Doctor Approval Only)

Class C Drugs (Generally Safe to Take)                                                        12

Alcohol-Free Products                                                                              16

Incidental Exposure Index                                                                          22

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