My mother who is now 42 has had a drug problem off and on my whole life. I am 21 and was raised in and out of NA and AA.I have a 22 yr old brother who is in and out of prison.And twin sisters who are 15. One is now 5 months pregnant. We knew of my moms addiction,and often confronted her of it.My mom was addicted to methanphetimines. Also known as crank,speed and dope. We found tooters and foils. Then we noticed needles. We tried to talk to her but as dope addicts do she turned us away. We noticed she was wearing and ace bandage around her arm.She said she fell and hurt her arm. One night she complained of a sore on her leg. But never mentioned her arm. She was treating her own wounds. What happened was she had missed a vien in her arm when shooting anhiedris dope in her arm. Then her friend tried to shoot her in a vien in her leg. They missed,Due to the shame my mother felt about what had happened my mother refused medical help. Her arm and leg both got majorly infected. Gan Green set in her wounds and they began to smell. We made her go to the hospital. She was rushed into emergency surgery. They removed a mass of infected muscle from her arm ,And a mass of muscle from her leg.She now needs skin graphs done to cover a wound in her leg. She openly admits what happened to her and deals with the scars she has to see every day. When she was released from the hospital me and my uncle dressed her wounds and treated her. We now all have become closer and talk about it and are working through this tragedy. She has gained enough strength to walk now but we continue therapy with her and are active in NA. I need help in finding assistance with medical treatment funding.My mother does not have insurance nor can she get it now. I Have tried to find programs that assist with recovering addicts and treatment with now handicapped addicts.I cannot find anything. If anyone knows of how I can help my mom get the rest of treatment needed please email me at say_what_20@yahoo.com. I almost lost my mother once and refuse to lose her due to lack of medical help. I have taken the initiative to treat my mom my self to help cut costs even though seeing her wounds,and her tears is extremely emotional and painful to deal with. I am reminded daily of how close we were to losing my mom to a drug addiction. Something that only love support and forgiveness can mend. Physicaly she needs more treatment.Please give me feedback. I need help to save my family.
Amy
I am so sorry to hear about your mom, and very sorry that you and your family have to even deal with this horrible disease. I am glad to hear she is okay now. I just wanted to let you know I have been in your position, not to this extent, but in a way, I know how you feel watching your parent use and self destruct. I can't help with finding a treatment place, but there is hope. There are places that will take your mom,even if you don't have money,it is about her LIFE. You need your mom. Keep up the search, you can pay the treatment place back. You can't get your mom back if this disease kills her. Good luck- i will pray for you
Yes, I am very glad your mom is recovering from her wounds. As you probably already know, addiction is a three fold disease. It is physical, mental and spiritually destructive. The physical part is easily understood. Mentally, addicts have a distorted way of thinking about most things. They need to change their entire way of thinking which is much easier said than done . Spiritually, they need to believe that there is a greater power than themselves, one that can help them to kick the habit. However, an addict must first believe that he/she has a problem with a drug. Untill one reaches this point nothing, I repeat, NOTHING will help. If your mom has reached this point then she is ready for treatment, if not no amount of treatment will help. You say that you have no insurance, perhaps there is a state or county hospital in or near your town. Look up alcohol and drug treatment centers in the phone book. Call one of them and explain your situation to them. They will be more than happy to help point you in the right direction. While your mom is being treated you and your siblings must also get treatment. Addiction is a family disease as children are reared to think pretty much just like their parents and this is where addiction really starts, in the distorted thinking. Even if your mom is not ready to admit that she has a problem, I hope that the rest of you can see that you each have a problem by being reared by a drug addict. Your entire way of thinking and feeling (or not feeling) has been affected by a drug addict. I don't know if there are any support groups for family and friends of crank users but there is ALANON for those who have been affected by alcoholics. Perhaps ALANON can be helpful to you as well. After all, addiction is addiction regardless of the users drug of choice. The phone number for ALANON can be gotten from the phone book or from any one in AA. God bless you all and hang in there!
Dear Amy,
If you are willing to share the area you live in (state and city) perhaps I can help in locating some treatment facilities for your mother.
If you are willing to share the area you live in (state and city) perhaps I can help in locating some treatment facilities for your mother.
