I attend a couple of different types of meeting each week. One is sponsored by my church. I have been attending off and on for about a year. I missed a couple of weeks, and when i enter the room and sit down, sitting across from me is my internist. He says hello and then says "I know you from somewhere?" I honestly was not going to offer that I knew him, and how, but since he asked in front of everyone, I answered quietly as I could: "I'm one of Your patients". Well let me tell you, that was a conversation stopper. When we went around the room introducting ourselves, he stated that he was an addict and alcoholic. He did contribute to the discssion during the meeting and interacted with others afterwards. All I wanted to do was bolt for the door, which i did as quick as possible. This is a doctor that i shared my struggle with alcohol with and told him about buying from a Canadian pharmacy Naltrexone, hoping he would write me a script for it that i could have filled in the US. He did not offer, so i did not press it any further with him.

After that encounter, i am wondering if i should make an appointment and see him, letting him know that I will never break his annonymity? Should I switch doctors? BTW, he has not been back to the meeting for two weeks. I don't want him to feel that he cannot attend the meeting because one of his patients attends. It must be really tough for doctors who are addicts to get help. During my next visit with the doctor who is administering the Vivitrol shots, i asked him about the situation. He said that he counsels physicians who are in recovery and he said i should give my doctor his card.

Has this happened to anyone else? If so, how did you handle the situation?

movergal

Are you sure there is a situation? It's not unusual for people in a support group to cross paths with someone they know from outside.

What Melissa said. He knew it was a risk. If I were him, I would interpret any other action on your part as meddling. Your other doctor's suggestion of giving him a card is way out of line, IMHO. If he's avoiding the meeting because of you, I'm sure the last thing he wants is for you to seek him out and talk to him about it.



You may not want him to feel that way, but if he does, there's nothing you can do about it. Addiction is embarrassing. Just because you know someone else is struggling with it, that doesn't mean that you have to feel comfortable talking about it in front of her. Lots of people avoid meetings for that reason. It's their prerogative.

Far beyond that, physicians admitting an alcoholic addiction can have extremely serious consequences with their professional organizations. Or licensure by the state.