By Prentice S.

I vaguely recall noticing, in my first foggy reading of the Alcoholics Anonymous “Big Book” while in rehab, that my profession seemed to be curiously over-represented. There are, in fact, three chapters in there written by medical doctors: “The Doctor’s Opinion,” “Doctor Bob’s Nightmare,” and “Physician Heal Thyself.” At age 26 and having graduated just nine months earlier from a prestigious school of medicine, I believe this fact encouraged me to keep an open mind to AA and its Twelve Steps.

It is quite clear to me now that I was and am still one of the very lucky ones. I like to say that I crashed and burned at age 26 during my medical internship. From the age of 14 or so, I was open to and did try any and every substance to escape the discomfort I felt in being me. That it began with alcohol and ended up with needles and diverted opiates wasn’t at all a surprise to me.

I’m grateful really for the way that my alcohol and drug career ended, as it came quickly and definitively. That I was illegally writing prescriptions for myself, stealing medications from unsuspecting patients (at times even jeopardizing their lives), and ultimately searching for a street source for my drug of choice was eventually enough to overcome the system of denial I’d built around my alcoholism/addiction.

What followed was a series of amazing coincidences, a considerable degree of dedication, and a moderate but earnest involvement with first Narcotics Anonymous and then Alcoholics Anonymous that has kept me clean and sober for over 29 years.

With Emergency Medicine as my chosen specialty and now with nearly 30 years of that work behind me, I’ve had literally thousands of interactions with patients who’ve been either in the grips of their disease or in various stages of recovery from it.

So what have I learned from all this that will be of interest and perhaps of use to the reader?

First, I can say with certainty that a career in Emergency Medical Services (doctor, nurse, physician’s assistant, paramedic, social worker, etc.) is a fantastic option for those of us in recovery. Never does a shift in the Emergency Department go by that I’m not given the opportunity to see one of us hitting their bottom. These interactions serve simultaneously as powerful reminders of the destructive power of our disease AND as opportunities to be of service. I believe these experiences have contributed greatly to my recovery.

Having been a patient myself on a handful of occasions, I can also share what I believe are the essential points of getting through medical situations successfully in recovery.

Good communication with your doctors is essential. Simply tell them you are an alcoholic and/or addict in recovery and that you need to be careful about which medications you take. Tell your dentist too. It’s as simple as that. Some will get it and some won’t, but I think more and more of us in the healthcare field are becoming sensitive to this issue. Alcoholism and addiction are like cancer in that almost everyone has been affected by them and that probably includes your doctor or dentist.

Early in recovery, I underwent arthroscopy of my knee for a partially torn ligament and insisted they do it under local anesthesia. I definitely cannot recommend that! Afterward it was obvious to me that I should have done what everyone else does and have the procedure under full anesthesia or a spinal block. We know from experience that pain medications (and other potentially mind-altering medications) can be used safely and responsibly by those of us in recovery. We are humans just like our non-recovery peers and don’t need to suffer unnecessarily. We just have to be FAR more careful about medication use than they do.

Just last week I took care of a nice older lady who was passing a kidney stone (reputed to be more painful than childbirth by women who’ve experienced both). She told me straight away and directly that she was 39 years sober and was hesitant to take pain medication.

As a doctor, I love it when patients share with me just how long they’ve been sober, so consider adding that detail; for me, it personalizes the degree of seriousness they bring to their recovery. We tried a non-narcotic medication without success and then confidently moved on to two small doses of morphine. That did the trick! A great example of honesty and good communication at work.

She gave me the nicest compliment the next day when I called to check on her (many Emergency Departments these days have “Call Back Programs” to see how patients are doing the next day … good public relations and good medicine). During that call, I tipped my hand that I was 29 years clean in the fellowship, to which she replied, “I should’ve known you were in the program … you were so sweet!”.

Her case raises another good point because she had an AA friend with her in Emergency. Be sure to include your sponsor and/or your close recovery friends in the conversation about prescribed medications. Bring someone along to the doctor visit if you think it will be helpful.

An example that points out a related principle was when I crashed my motorcycle and sustained some significant and quite painful injuries (concussion, multiple rib fractures, bruised lung, bruised kidney). Yes, some emergency doctors ride motorcycles! It was necessary and entirely reasonable for me to take an opiate pain medication (my personal drug of choice). For the 2-3 days that I was in real pain, I stayed in close contact with my recovery friend Henry who could be more objective about my situation and help me make good medication decisions.

I took my last dose on the third day when I was doing better. Interestingly, I had noticed that the medication had not up to that point had any real euphoric effect. With that final dose on the third day, however, there was a bit of a “high” which told me it was time to stop. It is known that for many patients, opiates have little or no euphoric effect when treating real pain. The bottom line is that the goal in pain management for those of us in recovery should be to use the mildest effective medication for the shortest necessary period of time.

And with that, I’ll thank my colleagues Dr. Silkworth, Dr. Bob, and the anonymous “doctor licensed to practice in a western state” for their contributions to “the Big Book” and to my recovery and I’ll hope that my experiences may contribute to yours.

About the Author

Prentice S. lives in Santa Cruz, CA where he practices Emergency Medicine and Sports Medicine. His home group is the Tuesday night Santa Cruz WAAFT AA meeting. His sobriety date is 2.11.87 so his 30-year anniversary is just around the New Year corner.

Audio Story

The audio version of this story was narrated and recorded by Len R. from Jasper, Georgia. Len is interested in starting a secular AA meeting in his area. If you would like to join him, please send an email to lenr.secularsobriety@gmail.com