The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Bettering their lives
Removing needless stigma could help more people, says P.E.I. woman in recovery
MURRAY RIVER, P.E.I. – The car accident left Violet Woodliffe disabled and jobless.
It was 2005. She had just opened a cleaning business with her sister, but that was put on hold as pain took over her life.
But there was relief to the pain. It just brought its own, new suffering.
Woodliffe’s doctor prescribed opioids after the accident, starting with Percocet before increasing to the more potent Oxycontin — both being a formulation of oxycodone.
She became addicted and started abusing the pills. She would crush them up to snort but managed to stay away from needles.
She was conscious of the addiction and tried to take only enough to keep away the nausea, shakes and pain of withdrawal. She was also still learning to live with the chronic pain of her accident.
In 2012, the single mother got clean to save her relationship with her family.
After moving to Ontario in 2014, she went on methadone to maintain sobriety.
P.E.I. had a program at the time, but it had a multi-year wait list with no walk-in access. When she moved back to P.E.I. after nine months in Ontario, she was able to continue treatment.
For six years, Woodliffe stayed on a 30-mg dose of methadone. Patients generally start low and then doctors gradually increase the dose as needed, but Woodliffe was determined to stay as low as possible.
Finally, after years of treatment with no relapses or dose changes, a routine appointment pushed her to taper off entirely.
Woodliffe lives in Murray River, and she had missed a dose, so the clinic required her to take a urine test. Woodliffe understood the need for this in the first year or even two years of recovery. But, six years in, she found it undignified to be treated like an active addict.
So, she decided to get off methadone entirely.
STAYING CLEAN
This was a year ago, and Woodliffe has been clean ever since.
Her business is back on track, but the work is slow because of the pain she’ll always live with.
It’s enough that she wonders about handling the pain as she gets older, given the limited options without opioids.
In other jurisdictions, doctors prescribe methadone as a medication for people with chronic pain who are also in recovery, she said in a June 23 interview.
“What alternatives do people with addiction have?” Woodliffe said. “To get a pain management clinic appointment here, that's a long waiting list.”
Because P.E.I. mostly uses methadone for opioid replacement, there is more stigma, Woodliffe said.
“It’s not a dirty thing. When you go to the pharmacy, you see it where they’re off in the back room, and it’s like they have to be hidden. And it’s too bad society has to look at it like that.”
Peter Hooley, a physician with the Queen Street Recovery Clinic in Charlottetown, says there are some Island doctors who prescribe methadone as pain medication, including for people who are in recovery.
But the last 10 years has seen a shift in pain treatment, with a more holistic approach that involves fewer opioids in general, Hooley said.
“At a really well set up chronic pain clinic, you’re going to have physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a psychologist, a pain physician and a physical therapist, like a trainer."
EMPATHETIC HUSBAND
Woodliffe has found pain clinics difficult to access because of long wait times, and she doesn’t go to Narcotics Anonymous meetings or any other organizations. Instead, she gets support from her family.
This includes her husband, Darren Collings, who has also struggled with opioid addiction and spent a decade on methadone.
While he could empathize with what Woodliffe was going through, it was still hard, Collings said.
“You wish you could do more, but you know you can’t. You just have to be there to support.”
As a couple that used opioids together, Woodliffe and Collings were told they would never get clean. But they did.
“I was so proud of her for being so strong and doing what she had to do. But, it’s definitely not easy,” Collings said.
They both said methadone saves lives.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for it,” Collings said.
STIGMA
Because of their experiences, Woodliffe is keen to fight the stigma around methadone and other opioid replacement therapies.
For one thing, she pointed out treatment is not about getting high. While it’s possible to abuse methadone, people in opioid replacement programs are there to stop abusing opioids, Woodliffe said.
“If somebody’s on the methadone program, they are looking to get better. And they are looking to take their life back.”
She also pointed out the health problems addiction causes, like issues with skin and teeth. Providing support for these would help give dignity to people trying to get into and stay in recovery, she said.
Finally, people should be proud to be in the program and proud of those who are getting help, she said.
“I don’t want there to be a stigma attached to this. I don’t think people need to hide about it. They should be proud. Be proud that you’re not doing what you’ve done, (that) every day is a change and that you’re bettering your life.”