TDS A mom curious about the extent of a son's addiction

[happyginny]

Hello,

I have a son who is a heroin addict. I know it is a horrible disease that has him in a death grip.

I know that he shoots 9 bags at a time. I have seen him use less, but I believe that is because that is all he has. As for how many shots he does a day I know that I have seen him do 5 in one day but do not know for sure how many he does. I believe he would do as many as he could.

I read a post on BL where the poster said he used 50 bags in 3 days. Someone commented that this was a large amount.

My question is about the amount my son does. I know that no addiction is GOOD. It breaks my heart that my son is suffering. Doing the math on what I know I have witnessed my son do, well, that is a shit load.

IS that a large amount? Will he be able to kick it without rehab?

I have told him that I will stand beside him, prop him up and have his back. I love my son, addict or not. This has taught me a valuable lesson. When we look at people we do not know who have an addiction, all we see is an ADDICT. When I look at this ADDICT, all I see is my son. Every addict is someone's child and we should all remember that.

 

[T. Calderone]

Wow Ginny I think maybe we talked before, maybe a few months back. It's hard to measure how much is "a lot" since heroin varies so much in purity. Does he want to quit now? Agree that no addiction is good and he can kick at home if that's the goal. I've read about the "Thomas Recipe" to ease the symptoms of withdrawal. All you can do is be there for him and I admire your spirit. My son's an addict too.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

You should really encourage him to want to kick the habit without rehab, but whether or not that's a real possibility is hard to tell.

If he's tried to quit on his own several times already (most of the times this is already the case), then you should help him get into a Suboxone appointment or a Methadone clinic. Both are life savers for opiate addicts.

Much peace and to your family.

 

[MiraLuv]

Hi Ginny. Your post made me sad. I hate to admit this and I have been wanting to make a post about what's been going on so I'm going to tell you a lil about me! I'm a single mother to a two year old son. We live alone together I fully support him and I'm a student. I'm a good good mom but I have a bad addiction to all opiates pills heroin anything and I've first got addicted 15 years ago when I worked in a pharmacy. Most of the pharmacists didnt care if we popped some pain pills time to time but I took it to a crazy extreme. Well my parents found out and made me leave my job and go to out Patient rehab. Since then I have been to rehab 5 or 6 times for opiate and benzo addiction and eating disorder. In 2008 they kicked me out and I spent some time in a recovery home. One on the west side of Chicago one in a cute little part of the city. I enjoyed that and stayed clean no slips I went to meetings bought myself food and went to AA and NA meetings. When I moved into my own place the slips started again but got better as I went to meetings. My son was born in 2010 and I suffered ppd and got dx with borderline personality disorder. I started slipping and not going to meetings. Anyway I recently relapsed on heroin. It's a short drive away from my house to the west side were they are out on a corner. Bad news. Well I stopped on Monday went to my mtg tues and the withdrawal has gone away as of today. I know this story seems hopeless but I want to tell you your son may be able to do it with out rehab but he will need some support. Some people don't like meetings. I do. I also think short term suboxone treatment is good. I've done it before but not now. I just know as a mother I would be very upset if my son had to deal with this. I hope this helps you.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Hi Ginny, it sounds like you are asking about the extent of your son's physiological dependence as opposed to the extent of his addiction. To put it in extremes, someone can be extremely mentally addicted to a drug even if they don't get withdrawal symptoms when they quit, and someone can be physiologically dependent on a drug without any mental addiction (the latter is not normally the case with IV heroin though). I think it's safe to say that your son is both addicted and dependent, and that he will get substantial withdrawal symptoms if he stops abruptly. As T. Calderone said, it's hard to determine how much heroin he is actually using because all street heroin is impure and has fillers in it, and the purity varies greatly. Regardless, how severe his withdrawals are going to be and whether or not he will be able to quit at home depend on WAY more factors than how much heroin he uses each day (ability to quit has to do with a lot more than severity of withdrawals). Deaths from stopping heroin are very rare, if you are concerned about the safety of quitting without direct medical supervision.

Does he want to quit?

 

[BlueHues]

I've put my mom through hell with my heroin addiction, and she's never given up on me! she's bailed me out of so many horrible situations.....without my family there to catch me, I can't even imagine where I'd be, if I was even alive.....

Being there for an addict to help them with the essentials of survival and to help them get off the drugs is NOT the same as enabling them! Please don't buy into the "tough-love" hype....

I'm lucky. my familiy is not rich, but theyve worked hard enough that theyve had a little extra money to use to help me from time to time.....and by this, I mean things like....money for new clothes so I could look for a job, money for traffic tickets so my license didn't get suspended, money to bridge the gap when I was short on rent....All these things couldve turned into major disasters had my family not been there to help me.....some people are of the mind that giving addicts ANY financial help at all only encourages their drug use.....I believe that, while you should never just hand over large amounts of cash to an addict, withholding the hundred bucks that they need for rent or the 50 dollars they need to get some food is not going to miraculously make them "wake up" and quit drugs.....

suboxone and methadone treatment do cost a good chunk of money, but theyre MUCH cheaper than a private rehab! And chances are, all a private rehab will do is teach the same concepts that you can learn for FREE at an NA or AA meeting....

In fact, the main focus of the 5-6 rehabs I've been to was drilling into our heads to go to 12 step meetings when we left! For the most part, rehabs are usually FOR PROFIT businesses and they don't really offer much in the way of treatment that you can't get elsewhere for free or a fraction of the cost!

In other words, don't take out a second mortgage on the house to put your son through rehab thinking it's a magic bullet! Those places will gladly take your money promising you the world! And the "admissions counselors" that you talk to are most likely nothing more than "salesmen" working on commission!

I know I'm really going into the financial shit here, but helping someone with your sons problem can drain you financially and there's plenty of people that go into the substance abuse field to prey on terrified parents who are afraid their children are gonna die! It's just the truth....

As Captain Heroin mentioned....I think a smart investment would be Suboxone or Methadone treatment....It stops withdrawals and alleviates craving to a large degree....While you're on these drugs, it gives the addict time to work, go to school, meet new healthy friends and re-build their lives....

Speaking as a long time IV heroin abuser who's known countless others with the same issues, this has been the most effective route that I've seen at tackling your sons problem....

And he doesnt have to be on these drugs forever....He can slowly taper off these drugs at a comfortable rate while he rebuilds his life....

Of course, this is just my opinion....I wish you and your family the best of luck with this difficult situation...

-Blue

 

[RedLeader]

^ Good stuff, I agree wholeheartedly!

People start using heroin to numb any number of things that have been going on in their lives. But what happens is that the heroin use itself causes problems (anything that is very addictive, expensive and illegal will in time), and the addict has trained his/herself to solve all problems with heroin. Using heroin to deal with the problems caused by heroin, this is the loop that is a dope habit. A lot of people are forced out of. It by death or jail, others are sent kicking and screaming to rehab . But the ones who ultimately stay out for good are the ones who deep down want to be clean more than they want to be high (phrased like this since it's impossible to ever completely stop the obsession...it just can be treated effectively).

A tough-love approach leaves the addict in a terrible mess at his or her weakest. And with a raging addiction. This is when people end up hanging themselves in a homeless shelter bathroom (or whatever, that's what happened with my dude last year). Tough-love makes 1 person get clean and 20 others do fucked up things that only make the big picture worse.

Here's what you do. Approach your son WHILE HE IS HIGH (yes...), give him a hug and tell him you love him. Tell him that whenever he is ready to quit you will go with him to a doctor, hospital or treatment centre. Tell him that you won't judge him for any bad things he did to the family and that you just want him to have control of his life again. Trust me, once he is clean he will beat himself up enough in his own head for any lying, cheating or stealing, and he will apologise to the right people.

 

[neversickanymore]

^^ I agree with the idea of the replacement therapy from what I read. Allot of times it allows for an addict to pull themselves back together and to prepare for the big fight of detox while also stabilizing the brain chemistry away from so many highs and lows, all addiction wants is as many highs as it can get and often it can help to stabilize on a long acting that isn't injected and with this stabilization an addict can then begin to address some of the issues that have undoubtedly been created from their use, in other words they can begin to heal and create a life that makes them want to take the next step and clean up entirely at some point. You should see a dramatic improvement once he is placed on one of those two drugs and figures out a good dose. The very best of luck to you both and he is your son, Don't be ashamed of this for him or your family!! you would be astonished at how many amazing people get rite to where your son is and are able to work their way back out again.. He can do it!! and that's good because HE is the one that heeds to do it. If addiction is a fairly new experience for your family then you may want to see if there is a good al anon or nar anan, they help a great many people meeting.. Here is what they are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nar-Anon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Anon/Alateen. Hang in there you are doing great!! good call on BlueLight He can do this!