Welcome, Lilly,Nightengale,bmiller, & MaksMimi

Subject: Welcome, Lilly,Nightengale,bmiller, & MaksMimi Sun 18 Oct 2009, 3:15 pm

Hello Everyone!
We have four new members to welcome into the forum this afternoon. Our newest members are Lilly, Nightengale, bmiller & MaksMimi. Please join me in giving them the warmest welcome ever.

Welcome to all of you
My name is Dee and I am one of the moderators of the forum. We have two other moderators they are Barbara Rue & Beth. along with them we also have some of the nicest members that you will ever come across. I feel that we have to be one of the luckiest forums out there. Our members are always willing to help and support. All you have to do is be willing to participate.Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about Suboxone or your recovery. We are here to help. Plain and simple.
Please read the postings of the other members, if you see something that you can relate to please fell free to comment.
We'd like to hear form you. I know that when your new to recovery it can sometimes be hard to know where to start, but follow your heart. It will lead you to where you need to be.
I can assure you that once you start to type the rest will follow. Most people find that once started it is hard to stop and before they know it they have brought out things they haven't dared to talk about before. Rest easy, as long as you are a member of this forum I can promise you that no one here will judge you or ridicule you for what you might have done or said. We have all been where you are today. Ye,s we are all different but we are all also the same in so many ways.
I look forward to talking with all of you
yours in Recovery,
Dee

Congratulations to you all and welcome. I'm thrilled to see more people are coming to recovery. Please let us hear from you and get to know you. We have a wonderful family here and would like to see it grow.

Yours in the struggle,
Barbara

Welcome, Lilly,Nightengale,bmiller, & MaksMimi Holdin17

Hello & Welcome to our four newest members,
Lilly, MaksMimi, BMiller & Nightengale!!!! How are you all doing? I apologize that it has taken me so long to get here to welcome you to our precious forum. My name is Beth & I am one of the Moderators here with Dee & Barbara. I wish that I had responded earlier to you all, but I really want you all to know just how very happy that I am that you have joined us. Everytime that we get a new member it makes me feel so glad inside that another person is reaching out & no longer has to go through this journey alone. That is how I felt for soo long, too long and I cannot even begin to tell you what a Godsend this forum has been to me, as I have the same hopes for all of you. What a horrible feeling it is to feel all alone.. Well that is why this forum was created & I can make you some promises about how it works here. We do not care if you are on Suboxone, Methadone, have relapsed & are trying to get back up once again or are trying recovery for the first time ever, we will be here to support, encourage, love & help you in any possible way that we can. This is not a forum that permits anyone to be ridiculed or put down because of their struggles with this horrible disease of addiction or along their road of recovery. No one here will think less of you for being on a maintenance medication such as Suboxone or Methadone- we in fact promote it if its what is needed to keep you from using. Personally, I am a Suboxone patient & I can tell you all from my heart that I don't believe that I would still be here today if it had not been for this miracle medication!!! I had tried over & over to quit using on my own, always to fall back into that lifestyle because I didn't know how to live without using opiates. My brain's receptors were just "raw" to the world & I could never handle it until I found the Suboxone. I honestly know that if God had not led me to that doctor who helped me get into a Suboxone outpatient clinic that today I would be dead & if not, most certainly incarcerated, wishing for death. This life saving drug has been a miracle for me, as well as so many other people out there & we are PROUD of anyone who can recognize that they cannot stay off those opiates without the help & assistance of these medications. You will never be judged or told that you are not "clean" because you require more than just NA or something of the sort. I certainly am an advocate of counseling while you are on your road to recovery, as it gives you more tools to utilize in "trigger related situations" as well as possible answers to why you felt the need to use in the first place. Many of us started on these opiates under a doctors care due to pain, then once we became dependant, those same doctors said, "Oh crap, your addicted" & they proceed to dismiss you as their patient, but that doesn't change that you still NEED that receptor filled. So what do we do then? Go to another doctor (against the law), go to the streets (also against thew law), or try over & over again to stop on our own. That never worked for me & it made me feel weak & mad at myself for not being able to do it that way. My self esteem & self worth were gone. All that was left was this shell of a person that truly desired recovery, but could never quite get there. I was full of self loathing & really thought that this is how my life would have to remain, as nothing else had worked. It made suicide a possibility in my mind because I had no desire to live the way that I was any longer. Now I look back & I thank God everytime that I think of the door that was opened to me by turning to Suboxone. "But for the grace of God go I" Then, it was "only" the mental part of it that I had to deal with.. I had been off of opiates for nearly six months before I once again had God open yet another door for me by finding this very forum where I learned that I AM NOT ALONE!!!! I became a member here last November when the site opened up & it has been my "mainline" to remain in recovery. There were actually other people out there who were just like me & they opened their arms & hearts to allow me to enter. These were people that had walked through the very same shoes that I was attempting to walk in. I listened to them, learned from them & have ended up making my very best friends in the world right here, full of support & encouragement for my recovery. That is what I would like you all to know. No matter where you are in your addiction/recovery, please open up & share your issues that you are enduring so that we can help you the very best that we can. As our special Barbara told me when I first joined, "A probem talked about is a problem half solved!" And even though in my mind I thought "How can I go on here & tell these people that don't even know me about the very worst aspects of me?" Yet, they never judged me nor put down not even one word that I have ever said, I realized just how understanding they really were because of having been there themselves. I have been able to talk about the terrible mistakes I made due to using & now I can see the HUGE difference in me since then. I am not even close to being the same person that I was when I needed opiates in my life. I can be honest with my family, but more importantly, with myself. I can look in the mirror & maybe not quite love who I see, but no longer hate that person. I can live with myself today, knowing that I am not doing things that will fill me with regret. I am rebuilding relationships & trust with those closest to me that I have hurt the very worst and they are believing in me again. I have learned how to be open about these things by joining this very forum & sharing my ordeals with these special people who are in turn teaching me how to "cope" and actually enjoy my life in recovery. I won't tell you that everyday is just a bowl of peaches & cream, but I do know that the good days far outweigh the bad days. I didn't ever think that would even be possble for me, but I was wrong & I sincerely believe that the longer I go on living without regrets, the happier I will become.
So, on that note, I again would like to welcome all of you to what I consider my second family. I strongly encourage you to share what you are struggling with or how these such medications have helped to save your lives as well. I truly wish to get to know each of you better & for you to know that you are no longer ALONE in your battle for recovery. We are here for you & so proud that you have come so far. Please share about yourselves & your individual circumstances, as we are all different, but so much the same as well.
Welcome home my friends!!
God bless & look forward to hearing from you soon!
Yours in Recovery,
Beth

» Wishing you a Happy Birthday Nightengale
» Happy Birthday Beth, Carolina and nightengale