Just how prevalent is this oxy addiction thing among our young adults in top privates?

[Anonymous]

Re: pupils--Heroin definitely, but only for a few hours after dosing. Not sure about prescription opiates taken at higher levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: pupils--Heroin definitely, but only for a few hours after dosing. Not sure about prescription opiates taken at higher levels.

I'm a PP from above who posted some tips to watch for. I'm not sure about the pupils thing. But keep in mind, your kid can get "high" from a low dose of a prescription opiate. My own prescription is just 15 mg of hydrocodone per day (5 mg 3x daily), which is almost the lowest dose you can take, and I still sometimes feel an effect after taking one. In other words, just because your kid's pupils are normal doesn't mean he's not taking something. He could be dependent at low doses.

[Anonymous]

Just a different perspective-

Found our S was using pills that turned into heroin use. We had no idea. I was a SAHM and involved in my kids lives. He hid it well, grades were good but slowly started to isolate and had mood swings which signaled something was wrong. Found out about 5 weeks later just how bad things were. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

We sent him right away to an out of state rehab and he started to get help. Though I am very private my H felt comfortable sharing with close friends and family what was going on. I did not agree but understood that is he was coping.

Turns out once he reached out to others, to tell them what was going on in our family, people literally came out of the woodwork. It seemed like every single person we knew had been affected in some way by addiction. A relative, close friend, sibling...it was so prevalent, scary and really shocking as everyone hides behind this false front that all is well.

Some of our friends that shared with us really shocked us as they were the ones we thought were totally together. It did give us a sense of comfort to know we were not alone and it instantly gave us a group of people with whom to share when we were going through some really rough days.

That was 3 years ago, it was a bumpy ride for about a year (3 rehabs) but today he is back in college and will graduate in about a year. He is applying for dental school and has a wonderful gf who has been so supportive. He has adopted the 12 steps and attends meetings 4 times a week religiously.

We have supported him every step and it was not always east though these meetings he has met what he calls true lifelong friends who have his back and don't judge.

He is a great kid who got lost in the jungle of addiction. It happens to the best of them and recovery IS possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a different perspective-

Found our S was using pills that turned into heroin use. We had no idea. I was a SAHM and involved in my kids lives. He hid it well, grades were good but slowly started to isolate and had mood swings which signaled something was wrong. Found out about 5 weeks later just how bad things were. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

We sent him right away to an out of state rehab and he started to get help. Though I am very private my H felt comfortable sharing with close friends and family what was going on. I did not agree but understood that is he was coping.

Turns out once he reached out to others, to tell them what was going on in our family, people literally came out of the woodwork. It seemed like every single person we knew had been affected in some way by addiction. A relative, close friend, sibling...it was so prevalent, scary and really shocking as everyone hides behind this false front that all is well.

Some of our friends that shared with us really shocked us as they were the ones we thought were totally together. It did give us a sense of comfort to know we were not alone and it instantly gave us a group of people with whom to share when we were going through some really rough days.

That was 3 years ago, it was a bumpy ride for about a year (3 rehabs) but today he is back in college and will graduate in about a year. He is applying for dental school and has a wonderful gf who has been so supportive. He has adopted the 12 steps and attends meetings 4 times a week religiously.

We have supported him every step and it was not always east though these meetings he has met what he calls true lifelong friends who have his back and don't judge.

He is a great kid who got lost in the jungle of addiction. It happens to the best of them and recovery IS possible.

He made a conscious choice to use drugs. He did not get lost in the jungle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Half of those people having nightly wine are addicted also. A drug is a drug and it does nothing good to your brain.

Citation please.

It is how the brain works. If you drink wine every night for two years and then stop all at once you will go through withdrawal. Why because you have changed your brain chemistry. So you were addicted to a drug. Same as if you were smoking cigarettes every day. Also if you drink wine every night to get a buzz and you have kids then you are parenting your child constantly when you are buzzed. You may not reach the level of addiction where people drink 2 bottles of vodka a night and can't get up to go to work and end up losing their jobs. But all drugs and alcohol give a temporary high that changes the brain. Alcohol and drug use and abuse is more on a spectrum of how much damage it is causing your brain and life. If you are drinking nightly you are on that spectrum and causing more damage than you can admit.

That's not a citation. It's an explanation of your personal beliefs about addiction.

New poster here, and although the above is not a citation, it's also the truth. Most people don't have addictions that they don't even know about. Moreover, previous poster is right that addiction isn't binary. It's a spectrum. If you can't got a day without 1 or 2 glasses of wine, you're probably addicted.

Try quitting anything that you consume in large quantities, whether it be coffee, alcohol, or even sugar. You'll get headaches and all sorts of phantom pain. People who get sick after severely cutting down on sugar thinks it speaks to the unhealthiness of the "fad diet" they are trying, but in fact it's their body suffering from sugar withdrawal.

Its your prerogative to be ignorant, but the fact that people on this thread aren't treating this like a grad thesis doesn't mean that they are wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a different perspective-

Found our S was using pills that turned into heroin use. We had no idea. I was a SAHM and involved in my kids lives. He hid it well, grades were good but slowly started to isolate and had mood swings which signaled something was wrong. Found out about 5 weeks later just how bad things were. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

We sent him right away to an out of state rehab and he started to get help. Though I am very private my H felt comfortable sharing with close friends and family what was going on. I did not agree but understood that is he was coping.

Turns out once he reached out to others, to tell them what was going on in our family, people literally came out of the woodwork. It seemed like every single person we knew had been affected in some way by addiction. A relative, close friend, sibling...it was so prevalent, scary and really shocking as everyone hides behind this false front that all is well.

Some of our friends that shared with us really shocked us as they were the ones we thought were totally together. It did give us a sense of comfort to know we were not alone and it instantly gave us a group of people with whom to share when we were going through some really rough days.

That was 3 years ago, it was a bumpy ride for about a year (3 rehabs) but today he is back in college and will graduate in about a year. He is applying for dental school and has a wonderful gf who has been so supportive. He has adopted the 12 steps and attends meetings 4 times a week religiously.

We have supported him every step and it was not always east though these meetings he has met what he calls true lifelong friends who have his back and don't judge.

He is a great kid who got lost in the jungle of addiction. It happens to the best of them and recovery IS possible.

He made a conscious choice to use drugs. He did not get lost in the jungle.

You are an feckin asshole - a flaming one at that.

To the PP - well done on being a loving parent and I wish your son well in dental school or any other endeavors he chooses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a different perspective-

Found our S was using pills that turned into heroin use. We had no idea. I was a SAHM and involved in my kids lives. He hid it well, grades were good but slowly started to isolate and had mood swings which signaled something was wrong. Found out about 5 weeks later just how bad things were. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

We sent him right away to an out of state rehab and he started to get help. Though I am very private my H felt comfortable sharing with close friends and family what was going on. I did not agree but understood that is he was coping.

Turns out once he reached out to others, to tell them what was going on in our family, people literally came out of the woodwork. It seemed like every single person we knew had been affected in some way by addiction. A relative, close friend, sibling...it was so prevalent, scary and really shocking as everyone hides behind this false front that all is well.

Some of our friends that shared with us really shocked us as they were the ones we thought were totally together. It did give us a sense of comfort to know we were not alone and it instantly gave us a group of people with whom to share when we were going through some really rough days.

That was 3 years ago, it was a bumpy ride for about a year (3 rehabs) but today he is back in college and will graduate in about a year. He is applying for dental school and has a wonderful gf who has been so supportive. He has adopted the 12 steps and attends meetings 4 times a week religiously.

We have supported him every step and it was not always east though these meetings he has met what he calls true lifelong friends who have his back and don't judge.

He is a great kid who got lost in the jungle of addiction. It happens to the best of them and recovery IS possible.

Thank you for sharing the story. I am a parent of teenagers and just praying I am not clueless or in denial because I've never met any families with this issues.
May I ask you a few questions: were you child in private or public school? I know that both are affected, it is just out of curiosity.
Did your child shared with you what exactly made him tip the point and cross the line of what you always told him and do it his way? I guess I am looking for preventive measures.
Thank you and good luck to your family!

[Anonymous]

Why does this suddenly matter so much? Bc the kids affected are white with dads who are biglaw partners and attend the top privates or live in the best public districts in the area? I don't recall seeing 10+ pgs of concern when it's black kids or rural white kids with these issues.

[Anonymous]

I was not aware that this epidemic had touched the wealthy suburbs as much as the depressed rural areas. But I can imagine why. Kids with lots of money and busy parents, under tremendous pressure to achieve, who (as I've seen in my work, unfortunately) are disproportionately already medicated for mild anxiety and ADHD. It's easy to see how they might think a pill is the solution to all their problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does this suddenly matter so much? Bc the kids affected are white with dads who are biglaw partners and attend the top privates or live in the best public districts in the area? I don't recall seeing 10+ pgs of concern when it's black kids or rural white kids with these issues.

Why don't you start a separate discussion if you feel like the skin color or kid's residence matters? I even didn't pay attention where this families are from and what race/nationality they are. If this is really important to you, you can go to Politics and discuss the race and drug issues there. I am sorry that you don't see a bigger picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really surprised by these stories of people getting 100 Percocet from a doc. I know it happens, but I've had chronic pain for years and it is an extremely arduous process to obtain any opiod. I've been to probably 15different neurologist and pain docs and over half of them will not prescribe opiods for people with chronic illness.

Ha! I don't believe you.

Well, it's true. Several practices even have signs in the lobby stating that they won't even discuss opiod or long term opiod use. Even Johns Hopkins has a similar policy, though I don't think they advertise it. I guess that's why nobody was in the waiting room last time I went! Lol

At a pain management clinic? Or a regular physician practice?

Not PP, but another chronic pain patient (I have Ehlers-Danlos). I have run into the same thing when seeing "normal" doctors around DC for the last decade. Many regular physicians and pain clinics will tell you outright that they do not prescribe X, Y, and Z. If you go to a legitimate doctor with legitimate pain, it can be truly hard to get effective treatment. My current doctor made me sign a contract and do urine testing to get 10 pills to be used over 6 months when a joint randomly dislocates on me.

The problem is how to crack down on "pill farms" run by sketchy doctors without harming people who actually need medication.

Kind of off topic but PP, I have Ehlers Danlos as well and have had good luck at Capital spine and Pain in reston with Dr Balint, he has many eDS patients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am hearing of an uptick in this sort of thing. I think the best thing one can do is to actually be present in their kids lives. We live ina society where both parents are just too busy. I think it is better if one parent stays home when the kids are teens. This is the most crucial time. Working when the kids are little is fine if you have good help. They need you so much more as teens. If someone cannot be home then drive them to school and know all their friends and keep tabs on what they are doing. Be interested in their lives.

FWIW the multiple families that I know at our "big 3" with kids who have issues like this *all* have SAHMs. The families are nice, and it wasn't an issue of not having a parent around. Having a career does not preclude a parent from having a good relationship with a child. The parents who keep tabs on their kids are the ones who simply aren't naive about their own kids.

What about church and a strong religious background? Op, in all of the upper middle class families I know who have been affected by this (several, including 2 deaths) , that is a component of family life that was missing.

Nope, church doesn't seem to insulate the kids from harm. Two of the families are regular Catholic church-goes. One of the boys was an acolyte.

My first time witnessing illegal drug use in high school was at a church youth group retreat. Kids were in sunday school, had pretty involved parents. Teens still do stupid things and then addiction fuels the recklessness. Church doesn't stop teen experimentation not does it stop the biochemical addicting process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. So much sympathy now that the victims are white.

Drug addicts are drug addicts.

Racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does this suddenly matter so much? Bc the kids affected are white with dads who are biglaw partners and attend the top privates or live in the best public districts in the area? I don't recall seeing 10+ pgs of concern when it's black kids or rural white kids with these issues.

Another racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does this suddenly matter so much? Bc the kids affected are white with dads who are biglaw partners and attend the top privates or live in the best public districts in the area? I don't recall seeing 10+ pgs of concern when it's black kids or rural white kids with these issues.

The number of opioid-related deaths is why it matters so much now. It doesn't have anything to do with skin color.