Thread by @WesElyMD

1/🧵 Addiction is a family disease:

Drinking three 8-packs of Budweiser Nitro Gold daily for 10 yrs takes its toll on the entire family. I told my patient, “All you have to do is the next right thing.” Then…

#MedTwitter #Nurse

2/ His family was very upset when his “next right thing” was to check out against medical advice. I shared a quote from @MalibuMelB (M. Beattie): “Others don’t know what’s best for us. We do not know what’s best for others. Our main job is to determine what’s best for ourselves.”

3/ Terminology: Addiction vs. Substance-Use Disorder…there are many things people can be addicted to besides “substances.” Addictions to things like exercise, love, money, control of others, etc. For this🧵, I am referring to addiction broadly…and how it robs people of joy.

4/ Beattie goes on to say: “I know what you need.”… “I know what you should do.”… “Now listen, this is what I think you should be working on right now.” These are audacious statements, beliefs that take us away from how we operate on a spiritual plane of life.

#emotionalhealth

5/ Each of us is given the ability to discern & detect our own path, one day at a time (ODAT). This is not easy. We may have to struggle to reach that quiet, still place.

Giving advice, making decisions for others, mapping out their strategy, is NOT our job.

#copingskills

6/ Nor is it their job to direct us. Even if we have a clean contract with someone to help us—such as in a sponsorship relationship—we cannot trust that others always know what is best for us. We are responsible for listening to the information that comes to us.

#Recovery

7/fin
I am responsible for asking for guidance & help. Then it’s my responsibility to sift & sort the information, listen to myself about what’s best.” Similarly, this is my pt’s job as well. As his physician, I am a widget in his wheel of life.

Read another🧵on #addiction👇

https://twitter.com/weselymd/status/1401742711124865024