Hi all, This is my first post, but I have been a long time reader and always checking out the website and forums... But I'm having a real bad problem here... My older brother who is 22, is addicted to heroin.... He is on suboxin right now, and he goes to NA meetings, and all of that but, he has a court date coming up,and its goign to end up with him at rehab probably for another 30 days and fines and all that ( 5 paraphenilia counts, bongs and such) and hes been to rehab 2 times, and it hasn't done anyting... The first time for 30 days, came home and used the first day he got back, and then he went for 15 days and checked himself out, his habits stopped a little bit, but hes had some suicidal tendencies, and he was on medication for depression..and it made things worse... Does anybody know any like good ways i could approach him about his problem and all that? I hate finding all the needles and stamps around, and i really want to talk to him about it.. but im not sure how to approach him.. This isn't meant to be a sob story, and i hope this is ok for posting, i just need some real help. Any input would be GREATLY appreciated Thank you guys so much, and please dont just flame here, that really would just make things worse...
there's nothing you can do man. other than let him know that you will be there for him and let him know how much his usage is hurting you and your family. other than that its up to him to quit, no one else can help.
there really isn't much if anything you can do. people choose to use the drug, people choose to get addicted (not on purpose but it is still a choice), and people have the power to quit.
I'm sure you know a lot more than I do but I remember reading on erowid.org a guy that was heavily into heroin and was able to get out of his addiction by taking another drug which is like heroin but in smaller doses and isn't nearly as bad for you. I think the doctor gave it to him to treat his addiction. I will try to look up what the drug name is called... you should see if he will take that which will eventually lead him to stopping completely. I mean, theres not much you can do.... cold turkeying it is out of the question.
methadone? they use that for addiction to narcotics i believe, not too sure though. Anyways, i'd say approach him about it straight up and just tell him how it is. he has to realize the negative effects of it to want to stop, but on the same hand you have to be careful with the suicidal tendencies. Double edged sword....be nice about it, just so he doesn't go on a guilt trip or anything.
On heroin: I'm of the opinion that heroin is just another corporation, just on the black market. It may not be "inherently evil" but what truly is? All i know is heroin providers have no respect for their fellow man, the same goes for cigarette companies. Yes it is every persons right to choose what they put in their body, but the deceptiveness of these cabals are the biggest problem not weak willed individuals, though to some degree this is true. These kinds of people are selling "snake oil" quick fixes for happieness not psychedelic concioussness expansion. The way i see it if you really want to use hard drugs, learn to make them yourself, if your intelligent and resourcefull enough to do this, maybe you can handle the detriments to your body and mind (but most on that tier realize the inherent dangers of such abuse and choose not to.) Now As for the original poster I truly feel for you. Let him know he's loved and hes got alot more life to live, heroin may seem like the all encompassing Apex of expeirience to him right now, and the loss of it is devastating, try to reunite him with the passions he gave up when he began to use, as long as there is some goal, some mountaintop that he can strive for, heroin will seem less and less important as his interests become moreso. Let him know he is not alone in it, and his friends and family want to see him recover but keep in mind, the person should do it for the most is HIMSELF, to acheive what he couldnt while in the fog of addiction..... good luck to you and your brother, you'll be in my thoughts.
How long has he been on suboxone for and how many mg are the pillz? After about a week on suboxone youi start to feel normal again. Im not sure how much H he was using but my friend was doing 16 bags a day and after a week on subxone he was back at work. Tell him to just stick with it, its the roughest road you can take but in the end he will feel a hella lot betta. He may need to stay on suboxone for a long time, but even if he does its a lot better than gettin back on dope. Methadone is terrible, you can get addicted to it just as easily as H. And if you use methadone for a long time, it builds up in your fat n bone tissues. You can get the twitches from it and withdrawal from methadone is a lot worse than H. A doctor can get you off H in about 3 weeks but methadone takes them a few months.
yah suboxone is really a great detox drug , it cancels out the opiates making it so herion doesnt do anything but still releases an opiate I had the same situation with my dad but his addiction was alchohol and you can only incourage them but the only way they will stop is if they want to
i would imagine that there is nothing you can really do, dramatically speaking...because he knows that you can talk forever, but heroin will always be there for him, the urge will always be there now that he is an addict...from what i gather, unless he hits rock bottom, theres nothing you can say that will bring him out of his hole. just support him like there is no end, although there could be the down side to that. he could realize well thier gunna support me through my drug use, and i want both drugs and my familys affection, so here it is i have both who cares? the only thing i could imagine would be to lock him in the house and support him, do things with him. activities, things that arent boring, things that spark his curiosity, to get his mind off heroin and just show him that he doesnt need that world, that this one (family life) is better...hope that helps man
Wow! That is a TON of feedback to get in a day... Though most of it was all the same things, I see that somebody told me to start him into activities he used to do! When the weather gets nice again, im going to see if he wants to go hit baseballs and all of that, and no i dont live in Long island, I live in PA. I do my best to support him to my fullest extent, but I try my best also not to enable him. I really do hope that he does go to rehab, becuase it would be best for him... Though that sounds cruel, i believe that it should happen... He has been on Subbies for almost a month, 5 left or so, and i have barely seen any of the effects of heroin until about 3 nights ago i caught him nodding off at the computer. He was out drinking, which he really isn't supposed to do and his eyes were all black so it could have just been the drinking but also could have been the heroin. He did well over 16 stamps a day, and has been tested and is clean for Hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS. That is really good news to me, but I just hope it gets better... 2 years is a long time to be using a drug, especially with over 4 overdoses, he's lucky to be alive! I just hope he realizes that we all are here for him and will do our best. And to anybody else having anything heroin related, please continue posting, as i would LOVE to read about it for more info to help me out here! he does want to quit though, we had a talk about it. So it is his choice, and also influenced by us but he came to us to tell us. Thank you guys SOOO much, and thank you very much VoodooBud for the thoughts! I really appreciate it!
Hey you live in PA, theres a program called "teen challenge" its alot of BS in that its a christian program(my friend went thier) but its better than rehab in that most of the folks thier are trying to get thier life back together not sent to a forced rehab. You surely can still obtain drugs thier, but in rehab drugs are more available then on the streets. Did i also mention its free. My advice to you is this, untill your brother truely hits rock-bottom he will not quit. Sometimes it will take weeks months or 20 trips to rehab. Telling them how bad it is will never work. If your in a position to take your brother out of area its really the best remedy, going to rehab and coming right back to where you got high and where your dealer and friends are never helps. Make sure he uses suboxon as a detox not a replacement for H. This is my true problem with the methadone, most H users who get on methadone replace 1 bad vice for another. Like giving up gambling to become an alcoholic. I've seen alot of kids get on methadone and never get off, and most of them are using herion on top of it. Herion is truely an evil addiction, when your brother gets back from rehab I would try and have your parents control his money. Its hard to score when you broke.
Just let him know that you care for him. It might not seem like a lot but it is to someone in his condtion (ecspacialy showing the suicidal tendincies). Hopfully something will kick and he'll realize that he should quite.
hi postman , welcome to the boards and i'm really sorry to hear about the problem your brothers having with drugs. i myself have a brother and if i was in the same situation i would just approach him as seriously as i could and say dude i miss the way things were before you were like this. tell him your his brother his blood and you'll always be there for him and love him no matter what but also tell him you would like to know when your brothers coming back because the person who is here now is not him. and let him know how much you the old brother you've always known. i gotta imagine things weren't always like this. so maybe take him out for the day and do something you guys did together as kids. maybe go fishing together which would give you guys some quiet time to talk or maybe go to a carnival or something and get him laughing so he realizes things really arent bad as he thinks. they say laughter is the best medicine. but most of all man that's your brother give him a hug and tell him that you love him. cry if you have to let him know how you really feel. i hope this helps man and just know we the community are here for you if you need anything. stay strong yo peace geo
This thread is simply bursting with good karma. I'm afraid I can't offer any advice that would be much different from what's been said, but I do offer my wishes. Good luck.
It has been a while since i've visited grasscity, and i remember posting about this. My brother battled it for a while, and he was clean for 20 days. His 21st day, April 18th, 2006, we found him deceased in his room. No drugs were found around him though so that is a good thing. I really hope when the autopsy and blood work comes back, it is negative of an overdose. It was terrible, but im glad i got to talk to him at 3 am, they say he passed around 12, and we found him about 3. We assumed he was sleeping in because of st pattys day and being really drunk, but that was not true. I do appreciate the 23 years i got to spend with him, and am glad i told him I loved him so much all the time. I thank everybody again for there support when i needed it, and i know i will get through this. Anybody have any information about how to deal with the death of an extremely loved one? It is hard at times