DUEL with the DEVIL
Viewing comments for Chapter 12 "DUEL with the DEVIL - Chapter 12"The problem of creating a non-addictive painkiller
17 total reviews
Comment from lancellot
Interesting rundown with Brian listing and giving us a brief overview of the facility and program he entered for his drug problem. So far everything seems nice with no resistance or issues with staff and youth. The writing and editing are strong.
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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Interesting rundown with Brian listing and giving us a brief overview of the facility and program he entered for his drug problem. So far everything seems nice with no resistance or issues with staff and youth. The writing and editing are strong.
Comment Written 07-Jul-2024
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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This will likely not be a completely accurate picture of most rehab facilities and the people who attend, but I have no personal experience of it, and it's what an hour's worth of research will get you. Rehab is such a small part of this story, I didn't feel like putting much more time into it than that to try to make it super-realistic. Hence this "nice" version of rehab.
Comment from Wayne Fowler
Well written.
I don't see how this is a 'hybrid' arrangement. It appears to be strictly outpatient'.
The addicts I've known, with 20 hours of freedom, would have absolutely managed more pills. There would be nowhere Fran could hide them.
Best wishes.
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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Well written.
I don't see how this is a 'hybrid' arrangement. It appears to be strictly outpatient'.
The addicts I've known, with 20 hours of freedom, would have absolutely managed more pills. There would be nowhere Fran could hide them.
Best wishes.
Comment Written 07-Jul-2024
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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You're right. I got the term wrong. It is strictly outpatient for Brian. A hybrid program has an inpatient portion followed by an outpatient portion. I will change it. Thanks.
Let's say Fran has a gun safe at home, being a deputy, and she hides them there.
Comment from Tom Horonzy
Oh-oh. I smell another romance in the making mixed with a harbinger of jealousy, perhaps. I could be wrong, but whatever comes along should keep my interest.
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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Oh-oh. I smell another romance in the making mixed with a harbinger of jealousy, perhaps. I could be wrong, but whatever comes along should keep my interest.
Comment Written 07-Jul-2024
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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Good instinct, but what do you see as the source of jealousy? Glad it's keeping your interest.
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Well, he spotted Julia, and there are other boys in the class, so 1 + 1 takes me there.
Comment from Rachelle Allen
This is a solid story, well told, that continues to build and hold my interest. I do think I could use a little more 'in-the-moment agony' from Brian. I hear AFTERWARD when he experiences an end of his rope, but while it was happening to him, I felt it was glossed over. The reason I didn't review the previous chapter was because I felt a couple of things felt too "Hallmark Movie of the Week."
For example, I don't think his-sister-the-cop would have left him alone that afternoon of his confession. Things were to tenuous. She would never have trusted that an addict wouldn't run. They're not exactly good about wanting to enter rehab. They would be more likely to retreat into more drug use to escape that reality. And also, they lie even when they're "coming clean" about the truth. They mitigate their part of it more times than not.
Also, I feel like Brian sometimes talks too 'adult.' BUT...and this I'm going to take care of today, I also have not properly coming apprised of his history, so maybe his verbiage is true to form and he comes by it honestly.
I hope it's okay for me to speak up like this, Jim. You know it's done writer-to-writer and because I trust that, were the situations reversed, you would do this for me. We have an addict in our immediate family, and that's why the situation and dialogue didn't ring true.
xoxox
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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This is a solid story, well told, that continues to build and hold my interest. I do think I could use a little more 'in-the-moment agony' from Brian. I hear AFTERWARD when he experiences an end of his rope, but while it was happening to him, I felt it was glossed over. The reason I didn't review the previous chapter was because I felt a couple of things felt too "Hallmark Movie of the Week."
For example, I don't think his-sister-the-cop would have left him alone that afternoon of his confession. Things were to tenuous. She would never have trusted that an addict wouldn't run. They're not exactly good about wanting to enter rehab. They would be more likely to retreat into more drug use to escape that reality. And also, they lie even when they're "coming clean" about the truth. They mitigate their part of it more times than not.
Also, I feel like Brian sometimes talks too 'adult.' BUT...and this I'm going to take care of today, I also have not properly coming apprised of his history, so maybe his verbiage is true to form and he comes by it honestly.
I hope it's okay for me to speak up like this, Jim. You know it's done writer-to-writer and because I trust that, were the situations reversed, you would do this for me. We have an addict in our immediate family, and that's why the situation and dialogue didn't ring true.
xoxox
Comment Written 07-Jul-2024
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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Don't ever hesitate, Rachelle. This is exactly the type of feedback I really appreciate. You have much greater experience with this than I, and it's good for me to hear what it really may be like. I hope your family member is getting the help they need.
He is an extremely intelligent kid and reads quite extensively, so his vocabulary and manner of speech comes honestly.
I will certainly consider a few changes for draft #2. That's why I enjoy posting the first draft on FanStory, because I get a lot of "beta-readers" that way, and the input helps to improve the stories. From a bona-fide author like you, your input is very valuable.
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This was why I didn't hesitate, Jim. I knew it would be accepted in the spirit in which it was being offered.
Our family member is being helped, but any day he stays clean is a big deal that we do not take for granted. He could just as easily fall off the wagon. He goes every day to a methadone clinic for his dosage has been for fifteen years now. But at Christmas time, He tanked and began buying extra doses off the street. Boom! All that time being sober, yet just like that, hecreturned to his old ways. There's no Sure Thing ever again when addictions are involved.
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Oh, that's so sad, Rachelle. It's hard for non-addicts to identify with.
A little preview about the direction of this story: Brian will try to find a means of separating pain relief from the pleasure that opioid painkillers can give. This won't be a cure for addiction, per se, but if successful, it should help prevent many from becoming addicted in the first place, who start these drugs mainly for the pain relief and then get hooked because of the pleasure they also give.
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His dad and I will never be able to relax again; that is the ugly reality of it.
Comment from Pam Lonsdale
Is this how rehab for opioids works? A slow withdrawal? I remember when rehab centers expected their patients to just quit cold-turkey. The success rate wasn't great.
Oh, boy, we get to hear the "cute one's" story in the next chapter. Brian thought he could never "find another" after he burned his bridges with Sandi, but that won't be the case. Seldom is.
I just hope we don't have a James Taylor "Fire and Rain" thing coming our way!
Good chapter, Jim.
xo
Pam
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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Is this how rehab for opioids works? A slow withdrawal? I remember when rehab centers expected their patients to just quit cold-turkey. The success rate wasn't great.
Oh, boy, we get to hear the "cute one's" story in the next chapter. Brian thought he could never "find another" after he burned his bridges with Sandi, but that won't be the case. Seldom is.
I just hope we don't have a James Taylor "Fire and Rain" thing coming our way!
Good chapter, Jim.
xo
Pam
Comment Written 07-Jul-2024
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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Thank you, Pam. Yes, most physically addictive substances, even alcohol, need to be tapered down slowly to prevent serious withdrawal symptoms. I don't think it's the same with non-physically addictive substances like marijuana (I went cold turkey with that myself in my late 20s with no harmful withdrawal).
Comment from BethShelby
I find this all interesting. I think addiction to pain pills much me very hard to overcome if you are in pain and you know the pills will make it go away. I've never been on anything that alter my mood in any way other that possibly coffee. When doctor give me perscription for pain medicine, I never fill it because I'm afraid I could get hooked.
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reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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I find this all interesting. I think addiction to pain pills much me very hard to overcome if you are in pain and you know the pills will make it go away. I've never been on anything that alter my mood in any way other that possibly coffee. When doctor give me perscription for pain medicine, I never fill it because I'm afraid I could get hooked.
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Comment Written 07-Jul-2024
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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It's definitely a conundrum. If only there was a pill that could give good pain relief, that is non-addictive, and doesn't provide the associated pleasure to make you less apt to become addicted so that you would be able to easily stop taking it when the pain is over. That's what Part 2 will largely be concerned with.
People have varying tolerance for opioid medications. Following back surgery for a herniated disc in 2007, I took Vicodin for 3 or 4 months, up to 5 per day, and it never once made me feel high, but it reduced the pain of the recovery significantly. It was easy for me to taper off in just a few weeks with no withdrawal symptoms.
Everyone is different, but if you can manage the pain sufficiently without opioids, that is best.
Comment from tfawcus
This chapter has some good scene setting. It sounds like an ideal place for Brian's rehabilitation. You leave us with the distinct feeling that he and Julia are going to help each other through this difficult journey.
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reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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This chapter has some good scene setting. It sounds like an ideal place for Brian's rehabilitation. You leave us with the distinct feeling that he and Julia are going to help each other through this difficult journey.
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Comment Written 07-Jul-2024
reply by the author on 07-Jul-2024
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Thanks, Tony. Good prediction about Brian and Julia helping each other.