While I certainly think
permaculture and natural approaches could go a long way towards addressing the psychological aspect of opioid addiction, I think there's serious need for caution and a willingness to include at least medical supervision, if not intervention because of the physical side of it and the dangers that go with that.
Many years ago, when I was still fairly bought into a more allopathic approach, I was prescribed tramadol (an opioid) for my supposed fibromyalgia. It sort of helped, but I would get crazy irritable and angry if I missed a dose by just an hour or so. I didn't like the way it made me feel upon taking it and the way it made me act when I would miss it scared me. Plus, it didn't make the pain go away, just made it possible to mostly ignore, which I think was actually harmful. Anyway, I was wanting to stop, but then I lost my health insurance and thus, ability to get a refill so I could do so safely by tapering down. Going from taking it multiple times a day to not at all was genuinely scary and difficult. At times, I had episodes that felt and looked like seizures. My boyfriend at the time nearly called 911 during one of these. I called the doctor and asked for help, but they said there weren't any withdrawal symptoms for that drug and it was no big deal. Even though the prescribing information (which they clearly didn't read) said there were serious and potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms possible. The nurse suggested I just do some yoga. While I did do that and found great benefit from it later, it was crappy and uncompassionate advice at the time.
I eventually got through the withdrawal period on my own and found better solutions to my pain. I realized that much of it was my body telling me that the circumstances of my life were hurtful to me. My romantic relationship was abusive, I had no friends to speak of, no hobbies, no exercise and no sense of meaning or purpose. Once I dumped the
jerk, found some friends, started practicing yoga and hoop dance and enrolled in massage school, I felt way better. The more I've moved towards a
permie life, the better I've felt. It's been a continuous journey, as I've continued to realize deeper levels of unaddressed emotional pain.
Back to my point though..this was not a particularly high dose and my understanding is that this is not one of the stronger opioids. I think it could be extremely dangerous or at the very least, quite scary and difficult for someone addicted to opioids to try to stop without some kind of medical professional helping them. This is not to say they couldn't use complementary therapies, like counseling, yoga, herbs, bodywork, time in nature, etc to make that process gentler and aid in their continued recovery once the physical withdrawal passes.
I think that lack of connection is a major part of what fuels addiction. So many people don't have healthy and meaningful connections with other people. Some have experienced trauma that might make that feel totally impossible or at least, that they don't know how to do that. Then there's lack of connection to a sense of purpose. And definitely a lack of connection to nature, something I think many people don't even recognize as a problem.
Permaculture can clearly help with all of these. Of course, there may be other things behind the addiction too, like pain, having friends/family that are addicted, etc. Getting to the
root cause and addressing that seems essential.
Obviously, herbs to address any physical pain could be helpful. As could herbs that promote emotional stability. But I don't feel qualified to offer suggestions, since they might vary from one person to another. I imagine lots of therapy would be vital. Personally, I have found somatic experiencing to be a more helpful approach than talk therapy, but finding therapy that works is such an individual thing. In addition to therapy, I think a safe and strong support system of friends and/or family would be essential for any effort to be successful. I think for this to be addressed on the larger scale, a lot of changes to our society need to happen. Starting with how we treat people with addiction and other mental illnesses. We must stop shaming people and judging them harshly. They're just trying to function in a sick society, which inevitably makes them sick.
Honestly, I feel ill equipped to speak to solutions. This is really hard to address. I just wanted to share my
experience and thoughts. I don't think I had it that bad. I didn't want to keep taking the drugs, it was fairly easy for me to stop, if painful. I know others aren't so lucky. I know that relying on willpower isn't
enough. These are extremely powerful chemicals. And the mental and/or physical states that set people up for addiction to them can be very challenging to address. It makes sense to want to avoid that much pain. But as Brene Brown says, you can't selectively numb. If you numb pain, you numb your capacity for joy and everything good along with it. I hope we can find holistic solutions so that people stop needing/wanting to numb and so that we can all live lives with more joy, connection and fulfillment.
To anyone struggling with this, I wish you compassion from yourself and others. You're not alone. It is hard, but with help, hard work and patience, you can overcome this. Be gentle with yourself and ask for help when you need it!
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