Category Archives: Heroin

What I’m learning as I learn it.

Prayers Tonight (this morning)

Posted on July 10, 2011 | 2 comments

I suppose 4AM is “this morning” (even though it still feels like night).  Either way, here I am writing prayers.  I received a call an hour ago from Mike – my Ex – that he received a call that Al is in the hospital – possible overdose. So much for my cell-phone-detachment bragging rights.  We’ve had about four months of clean living in our family and I’m grateful for that.  And we’ve done this drill before.  Maybe I can approach it with some sense of serenity.

Anyway, over these months I’ve been writing Scripture-based prayers for all of my children, and in support of Al, I’m posting a couple of his here:

Psalm 42:5 “God, sometimes Al is discouraged.  Sometimes he is sad.  I pray that you guide him so that he puts his trust in you. So that he knows that you are his Savior and his God!”

Psalm 25:4-5 “Dear Lord, show Al the right path. Point out the right road for him to follow. Lead Al by your truth and teach him; for you are the God who saves him. All day long, may he put his trust in You.”

I join in prayer for all of you and your children.  I’m going to try to go back to sleep, since right now, the best thing I can do is stay rested and well.  May God’s peace be with you all.

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Posted in Addiction, Faith, God, Heroin, Parent of addict, Recovering Child, Recovery, Relapse, The Ongoing Story

His Next Move, Pt. II

Posted on March 2, 2011 | 5 comments

Update:  Al is hoping to be accepted into a sober living facility in either Kansas or Nebraska!  He is choosing not to try to come here or go back to Colorado.  If he accomplishes this, I will call it Check Mate and declare him a winner in this round.  God opens the doors, but we each have to walk through onto new paths.  And the boy is walking.  Amen!

5 Comments

Posted in Addict Child, God, Heroin, Recovering Child, Recovery, The Ongoing Story

His Next Move

Posted on March 2, 2011 | 1 comment

Al has only ten days left in rehab.  At least that’s how it looks right now.  So he is deciding what to do next.  His counselor recommends that he not go back to his hometown since all his connections are there.  He wants to come to a halfway house about an hour away from me.  I don’t know what to say.

First, I said yes.  Then, I talked to his counselor and raised some serious concerns about it.  Could he go somewhere in Colorado that’s not near his friends?  But after that conversation, I felt terrible stress in the pit of my stomach.  It doesn’t feel right.

Maybe he could come here.  An hour away.  Far enough that, without a car, he can’t just pop over to the house.  Close enough that I could pick him up and take him to church and to the house for Sunday dinner once a week.  A place where his only acquaintences would be family and the people he meets in his program.  It feels right to me but I don’t know if I’m trying to control or if I’m trying to aid recovery.  Once again, I’m clueless.  The people in my Alanon group listen to me and nod, but give no advice. 

I’m calling his counselor today to talk about it again.  I feel unrest in my spirit.  I have prayed that God would let things fall in place in such a way as to direct him to where he needs to go.  I guess that’s the real answer.  Trust God.  Let go.  Trust God some more.  I’ve never been good at chess – and life really is not a chess game.  If it is, it’s God’s move.

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Posted in Addict Child, Addiction, Faith, God, Heroin, Parent of addict, Recovering Child, Recovery, The Ongoing Story

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Wherever You Go…

Posted on January 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

My daughter is still struggling with our move.  When we lived in Colorado, she had reasons why she wanted to leave that place and those circumstance.  Now that we are in South Carolina, she has reasons why she believes Colorado was better, or why South Carolina is not the best place, or whatever.  You get the idea.

I figure it’s time for her to learn something we all learn at some point or another: “Wherever you go, there you are.”  Perhaps addicts learn this more clearly than the rest of us.  Whether in our homes, motel rooms, or on the streets, they still are who they are.  And sometimes the only way for them to learn that is for us to take that hard stand and draw those firm boundaries. 

One blog friend has had to do this recently.  It’s painful to read the stories from those who are just getting to that point with their addicts.  I’m grateful to be past that right now; and yet clearly aware that I might end up there again someday.  Relapse is the unforgiven friend you hope never shows up on caller i.d.

One of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda, says it this way: “Someday, somewhere – anywhere, unfailingly, you’ll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.”   Dr. Wayne Dyer reminds us: “Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make, not a place we must find.”

It’s all about the journey.  Wherever you go, there you are.  My daughter will learn in her own time; as we all do.  So be the blessing you want to see in the world.  I love you all – God bless!

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Posted in Addict Child, Addiction, addiction daughter, Healing, Heroin, Parent of addict, Parenting, Recovering Child, Siblings, Spiritual Growth, The Ongoing Story

One Mom Talking 2011

Posted on January 2, 2011 | 7 comments

I’m making a new commitment to this blog for 2011.  It’s not a resolution exactly.  Let’s call it a “Plan of Good Intention.”  Here ‘s what you can expect from One Mom Talking over the coming months:

  • Signs and Symptoms of heroin (and other drug) use by young people
  • A parent’s plan of action (what to do once you know)
  • Keeping siblings safe
  • Hope for healing: A Spiritual Perspective
  • Rehab options (private and public)
  • Addiction and the Department of Corrections
  • Speaking Engagements (I might develop a presentation to take to schools and parent groups)
  • Getting us together (reponses to my initial survey showed that parents of addicts yearn for a chance to meet each other in an organized setting)

This year, you will be able to easily share your favorite OMT posts on facebook, twitter or by email (buttons should be easily visible with each post).   One Mom Talking will be on facebook soon as well.  Reaching in and reaching out.   God bless!

7 Comments

Posted in Addict Child, Addiction, Faith, Healing, Heroin, Parent of addict, Parenting, Siblings

Sibling Struggles

Posted on November 19, 2010 | 7 comments

This week I’ve been pondering an import topic that doesn’t get enough attention:  the struggles of siblings of addicts.  There has been some research, and I started to look up a few things, but I think it will take awhile to put a decent article together.  I do recall learning that the siblings – especially (but not exclusively) younger siblings – often enter adulthood with lasting trauma because they do not get the help and attention they need to deal with their issues in relation to the addiction.

This is playing out in my house now.  My daughter, Lynn (I think that’s the name I’m using for her – I’ve changed everyone’s names here) … anyway, Lynn has been having a very hard time.  As some of you know, we moved 1800 miles away from her brothers to give her a chance to finish high school away from the addiction chaos.  Since we’ve moved, she’s become more withdrawn, angry, doesn’t sleep, doesn’t eat well, and missed four days of school because I couldn’t get her out of bed. 

It took three months, but I finally got her to agree to counseling.  After two sessions, I already see an improvement.  She really needed someone outside the family to help her sort things out.  I doubt if they’ve gotten close to the deeper issues, but I’m confident that this will bring her to a better place in herself, where she can begin to deal with the deep stress that comes with having brothers who are addicts.  She loves them deeply, and is afraid of losing them, and yet is angry as well, at them, at me and her dad … it’s a lot for a young girl in the prime of adolescence!

The other reason I write this is that there’s another blogger who’s sister is a heroin addict (http://worksaside.com).  It’s difficult to comprehend the sadness of a sister who has to accept her sister’s addiction.  I’m going to visit my sister for Thanksgiving and I know how grateful I am for her.  And so I’m just caught up today in the emotional journey that siblings have to take as a result of  this tragic twist of fate.

I have no conclusion right now.  I just wanted to share the thoughts.  Thanks for being here.

7 Comments

Posted in Addiction, Depression, Heroin, Miscellaneous Chatter, Parent of addict, Recovering Child, The Ongoing Story, Uncategorized

Heroin Addiction: Symptoms

Posted on August 29, 2010 | 8 comments

I was reading something on a website today about how to know if your child is a heroin addict.  It was asking:  does your child need to do heroin every day?  Do they carry a constant supply?  do you see track marks in their arms?

I get the point but…these aren’t the items I would list.  First off — if they’re doing it, they’re probably addicted.  Period.  Second, you probably aren’t going to know if they have a supply, and tracks, sure, that’s an obvious one.  But what about the less obvious, beginning signs?  Here’s my list (in no particular order) (note:  no one symptom means your child is a heroin addict, but they are strong clues, especially if you can say yes to two or three at a time):

  1. You can’t figure out where all your spoons went.  Didn’t you have eight teaspoons in your set?  Maybe one went missing but five?  “Kids — have you seen our spoons?”
  2. Almost all teens sleep late.  But your teen stays in bed until 3PM and now hangs blankets over his/her bedroom windows to keep out every trace of sunlight.  When you complain they slur, “Jeez mom…it’s nothing…I just need to sleep.  Crap.  Leave me alone, it’s not a big deal.” 
  3. Two hours later they are up, awake, full of energy, happy, chatty, cleaning their room, and asking if they can run errands, (complete mood change).  And if you mention the blanket on the window thing, they’ll say yes, sure, okay … but they won’t actually take them down.
  4. Day one: “Mom, can I have money for cigarettes and gas?  I know you gave me some yesterday, but Joe’s mom needed some groceries so I lent him some money to pick them up for her.”  Day two: “Mom, can I have ten dollars for gas?  I know you gave me some yesterday but …”  Day three:  [you know the drill]
  5. I could swear I threw this belt away last week because it’s way to small for him.  What’s it doing on my son’s floor again?  Oh, and here’s the belt his brother was looking for the other day too.  And yet he never wears a belt when he needs to.  Darn kids.
  6. What’s with the little pieces of tin foil laying around these days?  Kids?  What are you doing??
  7. Their friends are just walking in the house without even knocking or saying hello to me.  When did I lose control of this household?
  8. He comes in at midnight like he said he would.  But then you hear the door open again at 2AM and again at 4AM … always another excuse.
  9. A needle in his bathroom cabinet.  Clearly.
  10. The once intelligent, loving boy is now a rebellious, lazy young man.  Face it.  Time to get help.

8 Comments

Posted in Addict Child, Addiction, Heroin, Parent of addict, Uncategorized

“Normal Teen Behavior”

Posted on June 30, 2010 | 11 comments

I bring my daughter to a counselor awhile back, and we all talk together, and the counselor says, “It sounds like she’s exhibiting normal teen behavior.  She just wants to be treated like a normal teen.”  I say, “Her two older siblings both exhibited what I thought was ‘normal teen behavior’ — they both tried heroin and one is an addict.  How am I supposed to have a clue about what is ‘normal’?”  The counselor paused.  She looked at me and nodded.  

 
Technology alone has made my kids’ teen years very different from mine.  But let’s think about it.  Some level of isolation is normal for a teen.  Moodiness, wanting to sleep late, wanting a lot of time with friends, becoming more private, less social with family … all “normal teen behavior.”

Honestly, at some point I knew my boys’ behaviors had breached the “normal” boundary.  But I didn’t know when it happened.  It snuck up on me.  I don’t want that to happen with my daughter.  

I’m moving her across the country to be near my family.  Four weeks from now we hit the road.  She wants this.  She cried out for this.  Her dad is furious.  He says I’m ending his relationship with her.  I said he had fifteen years to create a relationship with her.  I’m trying to give her a couple of “normal teenage years” before it’s too late.  It’s the best choice I see right now.  And that’s all I can do — make the best choice that I see right now. 

God Bless.

11 Comments

Posted in Addict Child, Heroin, Parent of addict, Parenting, Recovery, The Ongoing Story

“Hello. Please arrest my son”

Posted on May 5, 2010 | 7 comments

This is the phone call I have to make.  And yet I am hesitant.

Dan broke into my house again.  What we think he does is, he comes in the house when i’m not home (but his younger siblings are) and he says he needs to quickly use the bathroom or make a phone call.  When in that part of the house, he quickly unlocks a window.  Then, when no one is home, he comes in the window.  We could have sworn that everything was locked.  But today, during a two-hour window when no one was home, Dan got in our house and stole his brother’s ipod touch — the gift I bought Al for all his hard work staying clean, going to school, and holding a steady job.  THEN, Dan called a mutual friend and said, “Call Al and find out his password for his ipod.”  We found out that you can’t pawn an I-Touch without the password to unlock it.

How did he get in?  We were so confused.  We had checked every window a couple of days before and none of us had opened any since.  Then Al checked the bathroom.  Despite the fact that his razor was on the window and several items looked undisturbed on the windowsill, the window was unlocked.  That must have been his route.  CRAP.

I cannot take it anymore.  I have to report him.  I have not wanted to.  You might recall Dan is in a diversion program through the court because of a felony charge for giving heroin to his brother.  So turning him in puts that charge on his record permanently.  I know, I know that he has to face his own consequences.  It is very hard, though, as a mom to set this all into play.  I will.  But I might do it tomorrow.  I feel so scared for him.  I wish it didn’t have to be me.

God bless you all and your families and your children.    ~Kay

7 Comments

Posted in Addict Child, Addiction, Codependency, Heroin, Parent of addict, The Ongoing Story

One Man’s Journey

Posted on April 8, 2010 | 7 comments

So my son’s life is his journey.  In don’t know his purpose.  I don’t know God’s plan for him — the details I mean.  Here I am awake at almost 1AM.  Can’t help it.  Can’t sleep.  He’s out there somewhere.   But I’m praying to let it go.  Because I don’t know his journey, his purpose, God’s plan.  There are so many possibilities.  Just as Jesus went to his death to give us life, so perhaps my son walks a death path to provide something that I cannot imagine … somehow.  If he comes out of it, he might save others with his testimony.  Or, among his drug-user friends, he might say something that turns someone else around.  Or his example stops others from going to drugs.  I have to find meaning in what feels meaningless.  And only God can provide that.

I have so much to say and yet so little.  My heart is breaking and I’m numb.  I know what’s right and think that nothing is right.  I miss my son and hope he stays away and I want him home.  Yep.  One big bundle of everything. 

Tomorrow, I will take a walk in the sun and live fully.  It’s the only real choice.

God bless.

7 Comments

Posted in Addict Child, Codependency, God, Heroin, Parent of addict, The Ongoing Story