The chance of dying during relapse after rehabilitation from opioid dependency is the most painful experience your loved ones may have to face. Even in death we love you and wish there was a better outcome. I miss my wife every single day.
Because heroin is so addictive, I will live in fear for the rest of my life of my daughter overdosing and dying. In 2014, she overdosed twice within a two and a half month period of time. I found her the first time and thought that she was so scared of almost dying that she would never touch it again.
This addiction affects the entire family. I have been caring for her son ever since she had the second overdose. He was not quite nine months of age when she overdosed the second time and went to jail. Finding treatment is very difficult. The only way that we were able to get her into treatment was to foot the bill ourselves.
I watched my son battle a heroin addiction that ultimately took his life 48 hours out of rehab. The heroin he bought was laced with fentanyl. What addicts and families need to be aware of is fentanyl is being added to heroin and killing young people daily. Fentanyl, a synthetic opiate is 50-100 times more potent than morphine.
Unfortunately for many who have overdosed on the heroin/fentanyl combination Narcan was not successful in reviving them. My son was given 3 doses of Naloxone and it was too late. Every time an addict injects,snorts or smokes what they think is just heroin could be laced with fentanyl. It's like playing Russian Roulette. God Bless all those struggling in active addiction and the families that love them.
It's a forever thing. The cravings, the relapses... it's forever. I've been clean for 6 years. My husband of 12 years, on the other hand, has not. He relapses all the time. He's overdosed 8 times that I have had to save his life. This last time, my kids were right there when I found him overdosed. It's traumatic for my kids and me, and he thinks it's a joke. That's how powerful this drug is. I'm scared to death everyday. I know my husband will die. It's not an 'if' anymore it's a 'when.' I've lost myself watching him like [he's] a 2-year-old.
Anyone can become addicted to opioids and "graduate" to heroin when the other drugs aren't available or become expensive, as is the case. My son started using Percocets with a girlfriend who had been prescribed the pills by her doctor. Once on that road, people don't realize how easy it is to stay there and when there is an end to the prescribing of the pills, heroin is a cheap alternative....but fentanyl is widely used to cut the heroin and is a quick trip to the morgue. There is no way to come back when you have enough fentanyl in your system to kill 3 or 4 people, as was the case with my son. We never think it will happen to us. We are wrong.
Too many people don't know what they are using, what it is that they are injecting or snorting, etc. And they are dying. Over 40 years ago my own mother became dependent on pain pills, Valium and others after she had back surgery. She took those pills, prescribed by her doctor for years afterwards. It was almost impossible for her to quit taking them. She had to be weaned off and I know she went through withdrawal. However, these were "legal" drugs, so people didn't think much of that issue, then. I believe drug companies are in the business to make money, support their bottom line and they don't care who uses their drugs, as long as they do use them.
I don't know what the answers are, as to legalizing drugs but I will say nothing that is going on now is working. I've read about other countries that have legalized drugs and regulate them, that those countries seem to have a better handle on their particular protocol. Do I think the US would be better served if we adopted that protocol? It might be better than what we have now. Seems what we have now is a huge mess and lots of sick, addicted and dead people. As a parent of a child lost to addiction, I can only say there has to be a better way.
