Nov 16
This is a repost back from 6-6-08. For those of you that haven’t been reading me for very long, here is some insight into what I am dealing with, with my middle son. When I post about him, and the problems that he has, that causes me so much heartache and pain, you will have a better understanding of what I am talking about. Hopefully.
Today was a terrible day for me. Asshole #2 son who is addicted to cough medicine for years now, is hitting bottom again. He is way way out there, and has lost total touch with reality. I got a phone call from him today, that left me in tears. Today, he was insulting..calling me every horrible name you can call a person. This is not my son…I don’t know this person. My son, even when messed up was always respectful to me, even if his words drove me batty. Those of you that know me, and have been reading me since my Mrshellonheels days,
know the emotional roller coaster that boy has put me on. Things haven’t gotten better over the years, they have only gotten worse. He has shot periods of time where he stays “sober” for lack of a better word, but its only for short periods of time. This boy who isn’t a freaking boy anymore…he is a 27 yr old man in fact, is a very handsome man, who could have had the world by the balls if he only didn’t take the path to destruction instead.
know the emotional roller coaster that boy has put me on. Things haven’t gotten better over the years, they have only gotten worse. He has shot periods of time where he stays “sober” for lack of a better word, but its only for short periods of time. This boy who isn’t a freaking boy anymore…he is a 27 yr old man in fact, is a very handsome man, who could have had the world by the balls if he only didn’t take the path to destruction instead.
He causes me endless heartache and worry and grief. What’s a mother to do? I can no more turn my heart off on him, then I could cut off my right arm. He is my son. But, how do I stop the pain that he causes me, how do I make myself numb to it all?
It’s his children that we are raising now, his children who call us mom and dad and we will adopt. Sigh…what more can I do for him. I didn’t ask for any of this. Remember…I have a serious heart condition. Very serious. The children do not stress me out, not in a bad way anyways, they are normal little creatures under construction. They tire me out, but they don’t stress me. In fact they give me a lot of happiness and joy. (I will remind myself of that the next time I am chasing Mini Bug thru the house while she is peeing on the floor and laughing her little head off)
Anyways….for those parents out there, that don’t know anything about cough medicine abuse…for those of you that think its a joke…it is no joke, its no laughing matter. It’s real, it’s serious, and it’s on the rise. Anymore it’s becoming the teens drug of choice. Easy to get, and legal, and the way my son explained it to me, its like tripping on acid or pcp. Never did pcp so I couldn’t tell you what that is like…I’m guessing pretty intense. So for those of you that are clueless about this…read on. And say a little pray for me, when your done. I’m gonna need all I can get. I don’t want to bury my son…I don’t want him to ruin his health and life forever. I don’t want him to end up in prison because he has lost touch with reality and is making very very bad decisions.
There is a site called FiveMoms.com that you might want to check out also…I linked to them when I was HOH. They are great, and very informative.
Read on:
A common ingredient in many cough and cold remedies has become a popular substance to abuse by teenagers searching for a cheap, easy high.
Dextromethorphan (DXM), a cough suppressant, is found in at least 70 over-the-counter (OTC) products, including Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine, Coricidin Cough and Cold Tablets, Dimetapp DM, Robitussin cough products, Triaminic cough syrups, Tylenol Cold products, and Vicks NyQuil LiquiCaps, according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
Used as directed on the label, DXM products are effective at suppressing cough and are safe to use. DXM was approved by the FDA in 1958 and has no side effects when used in small doses—typically, 10 to 20 mg doses every four to six hours, or 30 mg every six to eight hours.
When taken in vastly larger quantities, however, DXM produces a distorted awareness, altered time perception and hallucinations, according to the University of Maryland’s Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR). And if taken along with other drugs—even other OTC medications like acetaminophen—the combination can cause liver damage, heart attack, stroke, or death.
Abuse on the rise
Cough syrup abuse has been a problem for decades, but the concern in the past had been about the alcohol and codeine in cough and cold products. Because of that, the alcohol has been removed from most OTC cough and cold remedies, and products that contain codeine now require a prescription.
DXM seemed a good alternative to codeine and alcohol. It had few, if any side effects, when used as directed. And a larger quantity of DXM—downing several bottles of cough syrup at one time, for instance—would cause vomiting.
Teens have alternatives to drinking the syrup, however. Today, DXM is also available in powder, capsule, and pill forms, particularly over the Internet. These forms can be swallowed or snorted, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Some Web sites even tell users how to extract DXM from cough syrup and advise users how much DXM to take to get high. Illicit users may take 240 mg to 1,500 mg of DXM at a time.
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America estimates that one in 11 teens has abused cough medicine or other OTC products.
According to CESAR, slang terms for DXM include Black Beauties, Brownies, Dexies, Dextro, Drix, Gel, Groove, Mega-perls, Poor Man’s Ecstasy, Red Devils, Robo, Rojo, Rome, Sky, Triple C, Tussin, and Velvet.
Effects of abuse
The effects of DXM have been compared to PCP (phencyclidine) and the anesthetic ketamine. All three are called dissociative substances: At high doses, they give the abuser a feeling of not being in one’s own body. DXM also produces hallucinations. The effects can last up to six hours, but that can vary, depending on how much DXM is taken and what other drugs or chemicals are taken along with DXM.
People who regularly abuse large amounts of DXM are also at risk for ingesting toxic amounts of other drugs, such as acetaminophen, found in OTC cough and cold medications that contain DXM.
According to CESAR, other effects of DXM include:
Hot flashes
Nausea, vomiting, and dizziness
Lack of coordination
Panic attack or seizures
Impaired judgment
Sweating
Lethargy or drowsiness—or hyperactivity
Slurred speech
High blood pressure
Rapid eye movement
Rash
Racing or pounding heartbeat
Paranoia and hallucinations
Feeling of floating
Regular abuse of DXM at high doses can lead to toxic psychosis, in which the person loses contact with reality and is in a perpetual confused state.
What you can do
As a parent, you should warn your children about the dangers of abusing OTC drugs. Some teens believe that OTC drugs are safer to abuse because they are legal.
Here are other suggestions from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
Monitor the OTC drugs in your home. Keep track of how much medicine is in each bottle.
Don’t buy extra OTC drugs to “stock up.”
Don’t allow your children to keep OTC drugs in the bedroom, backpack, or school locker.
Monitor your children’s Internet use, keeping an eye out for Web sites visited that discuss OTC or other drug abuse.
Use OTC and prescription medicines responsibly yourself.
Dextromethorphan (DXM), a cough suppressant, is found in at least 70 over-the-counter (OTC) products, including Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine, Coricidin Cough and Cold Tablets, Dimetapp DM, Robitussin cough products, Triaminic cough syrups, Tylenol Cold products, and Vicks NyQuil LiquiCaps, according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
Used as directed on the label, DXM products are effective at suppressing cough and are safe to use. DXM was approved by the FDA in 1958 and has no side effects when used in small doses—typically, 10 to 20 mg doses every four to six hours, or 30 mg every six to eight hours.
When taken in vastly larger quantities, however, DXM produces a distorted awareness, altered time perception and hallucinations, according to the University of Maryland’s Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR). And if taken along with other drugs—even other OTC medications like acetaminophen—the combination can cause liver damage, heart attack, stroke, or death.
Abuse on the rise
Cough syrup abuse has been a problem for decades, but the concern in the past had been about the alcohol and codeine in cough and cold products. Because of that, the alcohol has been removed from most OTC cough and cold remedies, and products that contain codeine now require a prescription.
DXM seemed a good alternative to codeine and alcohol. It had few, if any side effects, when used as directed. And a larger quantity of DXM—downing several bottles of cough syrup at one time, for instance—would cause vomiting.
Teens have alternatives to drinking the syrup, however. Today, DXM is also available in powder, capsule, and pill forms, particularly over the Internet. These forms can be swallowed or snorted, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Some Web sites even tell users how to extract DXM from cough syrup and advise users how much DXM to take to get high. Illicit users may take 240 mg to 1,500 mg of DXM at a time.
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America estimates that one in 11 teens has abused cough medicine or other OTC products.
According to CESAR, slang terms for DXM include Black Beauties, Brownies, Dexies, Dextro, Drix, Gel, Groove, Mega-perls, Poor Man’s Ecstasy, Red Devils, Robo, Rojo, Rome, Sky, Triple C, Tussin, and Velvet.
Effects of abuse
The effects of DXM have been compared to PCP (phencyclidine) and the anesthetic ketamine. All three are called dissociative substances: At high doses, they give the abuser a feeling of not being in one’s own body. DXM also produces hallucinations. The effects can last up to six hours, but that can vary, depending on how much DXM is taken and what other drugs or chemicals are taken along with DXM.
People who regularly abuse large amounts of DXM are also at risk for ingesting toxic amounts of other drugs, such as acetaminophen, found in OTC cough and cold medications that contain DXM.
According to CESAR, other effects of DXM include:
Hot flashes
Nausea, vomiting, and dizziness
Lack of coordination
Panic attack or seizures
Impaired judgment
Sweating
Lethargy or drowsiness—or hyperactivity
Slurred speech
High blood pressure
Rapid eye movement
Rash
Racing or pounding heartbeat
Paranoia and hallucinations
Feeling of floating
Regular abuse of DXM at high doses can lead to toxic psychosis, in which the person loses contact with reality and is in a perpetual confused state.
What you can do
As a parent, you should warn your children about the dangers of abusing OTC drugs. Some teens believe that OTC drugs are safer to abuse because they are legal.
Here are other suggestions from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
Monitor the OTC drugs in your home. Keep track of how much medicine is in each bottle.
Don’t buy extra OTC drugs to “stock up.”
Don’t allow your children to keep OTC drugs in the bedroom, backpack, or school locker.
Monitor your children’s Internet use, keeping an eye out for Web sites visited that discuss OTC or other drug abuse.
Use OTC and prescription medicines responsibly yourself.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
What you just wrote is really depressing. My son’s barely 2 years old but I feel what you’re going through is hard. No mother should be treated this way. I hope everything goes well with you especially you’re son. I pray he’ll realize he needs to change his life before it’s too late.
Blogger Corner´s last blog ..Creating Vector Portraits with Photoshop CS4
November 17th, 2009 at 10:37 am
my heart goes to you,as a mother I can feel what you are going through right now, I feel lucky that I don’t have that kind of problem. Prayers for you and your son, hope he’ll recover soon in that kind of mess he’s in.
josie´s last blog ..a convenient way to give gift this holiday
November 25th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
“There are many misguided children and teenagers out there who think that taking substance or alcohol or any other drug could make them acceptable in their crowd and also make them appear a lot more hip and happening.” This is very true. Parent’s should teach their children that what may seem “cool” now certainly won’t be very “cool” when they are older and they will most defiantly regret it if they get addicted to drugs or alcohol.
November 28th, 2009 at 2:39 am
(((((HUGS))))) Hope your son recovers soon…you know, I saw a recipe online recently for a homemade cough syrup. Honey and lemon juice boiled together on the stove and then a shot of rum or whiskey added when it’s cooled off (leave out the alcohol if it’s to be given to children). It can be taken by the spoonful or added to hot tea. Maybe if people would use something like this and BOYCOTT the store bought stuff with the Dextromethorcrap in it the companies who make it would find a replacement ingredient that isn’t so addictive? Just a thought…..