Hi, I have been stalking these boards on and off for over 2 years. My son is 23 and a heroin addict. He has been in out of 2 or 3 rehabs, been to out patients centers. Most recently he relapsed after detoxing himself at home. He has a good full time job, pays his bills, but cant kick the habit. He lives at home with me, his sister and step dad. He is only happy when he is high. He is helpful when high he is a good person when high! I don't understand it, when he is not high he is lazy and not a helpful nice person. I have read there is absolutely nothing we can do to help him. He has never stolen from us or took anything from our home, but my fear is eventually we will end up at this path. I would like to cut it off before it gets there. He got a prescription for the pill something with a n .. named. He has not started it yet. He goes to speak to a doctor every week for depression. He does not attend weekly meeting of AA as he doesn't believe in god which is crazy to me but I cant control it. My question is do we throw him out now before the misery of him stealing from us. Do we try to help him with going to other meetings or insist on taking medicine to live with us? We are so confused on the right path. He has told us he is embarassed of his life and really doesnt value life anymore. He has said he doesn't want to use but its the only time he is happy and loves life... WTF I am shaking my head typing this. I just can't believe the only real times we like him is when he is high. Coming off and being straight he is not a good person. What a mess... any suggestion would be appreciated. My husband and I are planning on attending a NA meeting this week to try and get some understanding of what we should do.
Hi jm, I don't know if I know anymore than you know but I will tell you what I think after reading your post. Your son sounds like he doesn't want to be doing drugs but because of the addiction he can't get away from them. My daughter injected heroin too. It's a hellava drug and just gets a grip on our kids something awful. What my daughter did after years of being on heroin was went to the doctor and got put on methadone. But methadone too comes with a crutch because you have to go to a clinic everyday until you are trusted to take it home with you. A lot of recovering addicts prefer to take Suboxine to stop the cravings instead of Methadone. But one will work for some and then one will work for the other. Go on the message board here as there are ones for "Suboxone" and also one for "Methadone". The drugs are causing the depression as the heroin is sucking all the seratonin (I believe it's called) out of his brain. It's up to you whether you throw him out or not. He sounds a good kid holding a job down in spite of his drug use. So what do you do? I think NA might be a help there. Doctors treat these kids like crap. It's a pity you or your husband couldn't go with him to the doctors and get him on one of these opiate blockers. Seems to me he might be able to live a normal life if he could get the cravings under control with meds. It's the cravings that's causing the mood swings. I'm sure you know everything I just told you JM. But if you do just know I'm thinking of you and know what your going through. Your never alone when you come on here as we all have this in common. Take care and I hope things work out for your son and you. Mary.
Thanks for your reply. I keep reading of all these good kids gone bad because of this crazy drug. I am so afraid if we don't react he will end of up one of them. We spoke to him last night again and he is embarrassed he cant stop it. We agreed he will go on the naltrexone pill. We will watch him take it daily. I hate to treat him like a baby with the watching but we need to ensure he is taking it. We were lucky to find a local doctor that will work with him with a prescription for the pill. We also made it clear to him that is he uses again the consequences will be he loses his family and home. We cant take the chance of him ruining everyone's life because he cant so no. It was the toughest thing we have ever done, but I truly feel it might save him. It is heartbreaking to watch the devil drug hurt so many people. Keeping my fingers crossed the pill help him break the habit. My biggest fear is we push him to the pill and he tries to use anyway and we lose him. In the end i thinks its the only option and the right thing to do. I just hope he is smart and the pull isn't too strong. Thanks for the support.
Hey jmom,
I would not advise methadone only because in my experience I've seen it do worst before it does good. And being hooked on that is worst then heroin. If you can get your son on suboxone and the film strip form of subs that would be great! Addicts can still abuse the pill form of that medicine if they crush it up or just take more then required. With the film you have to see that he places it on his tongue and let's it dissolve. I hope this helps and best of luck to you.
I would not advise methadone only because in my experience I've seen it do worst before it does good. And being hooked on that is worst then heroin. If you can get your son on suboxone and the film strip form of subs that would be great! Addicts can still abuse the pill form of that medicine if they crush it up or just take more then required. With the film you have to see that he places it on his tongue and let's it dissolve. I hope this helps and best of luck to you.
