re: Have you ever had a family member struggle with drug abuse? (Updated)

I was a heroin addict for well over a decade and made great goods in school, had awesome GFs that had no idea and never did drugs, had great office jobs. No one ever knew until I wrecked a company vehical and failed a drug test and lost my office job in One Shell.

Brother yes

Pain killers
He has been cut off by most in family

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I'm not sure the exact time, but I would say at least 10 years. The scary thing is how crazy he's getting. My parents have finally gotten to that point where we'll have to evict him because he's too unpredictable.

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I am sure you are very familiar with the paranoia and other mental issues it causes, they only get worse. They need to get him out ASAP. I hate to say it but they need to get him arrested and make sure he gets a few months.

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They have to cut him out of their lives for their own sanity as hard as that may be for them

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He is 31 and has made his bed.

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let me be 100% clear

the parents have enabled him and allowed him to get to this point. they have to accept that, shed the guilt for past actions, and deal with the present

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what helped you recover?

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Well, I had to get out of the academic exercise of whether it was a disease or a moral failure or lack of will power. It simply does not matter which it is.

For whatever reason, I could not control it. It's a fight and I did AA for many years. I hated everything about it as I want to be self reliant. But I found that it was only through being around others like me that helped me get better. I was sober for 9 years the first time and decided that I probably had it under control. So, I started again and it went downhill fast.

I was embarrassed to go back to AA and hated it again, but they helped me -- again. While some consider it a cult or another crutch, I can tell you that I never had a DWI or got into trouble by not drinking. The deal is that I had to do whatever I had to do to get as much time between me and my last drink as possible. I think every addict has to do this. It is too easy for addicts lime me to look at a program such as AA; find something we do not like; and reject it. I hated all of the "trite" sayings, like "one day at a time" or "if you don't but I now see that they are profoundly true

In early recovery I had to do what I was told to do (which I hated). But following the advice of others who had stayed sober for a while worked for me.

I wish your brother and your family the best. He can get better, but he'll need to do some real work.

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let me be 100% clear

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Ok Obama!

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I hate to say it but they need to get him arrested and make sure he gets a few months.

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this would be a great thing, but it's easier said than done. The've called the cops and they tell us the same thing-evict him, then we can do something. They can't just arrest him because we say he's crazy.

Yes, opiates are a terrible thing

My brother was a high-functioning addict. He went into treatment for the first time at age 15. He was a really sweet guy and we never had to deal with all the really bad stuff like stealing and manipulating family members but he just did drugs like it was a second identity. He spared us the worst of it and there was never a time where we did not love him or welcome him into our home. He never became a drug zombie who was bereft of morals and compassion. He retained his humanity throughout his terrible tragic self-destructive addiction until the day he overdosed and we buried him. Looking back, I wish I had had even more compassion for him. He was a sweet, loving brother and a great guy. He just had a tragic, self-destructive flaw. I sure do miss him.

Yep. My step mom. I have so many great stories

She claims her sobriety back to when she got out of palmetto for being found passed out after shooting up some pain pills and hitting her head on the toilet while she was supposed to be watching my little sister.

Before that she lost a DON job for pills and got arrested for taking a home health patient's pills.

But she's had numerous times where she broke her sobriety. But it's like she chooses to pretend those didn't happen. At one point she got addicted to drinking listerine. I guess it was ok bc it wasn't really alcohol. I had to go pick her up from a fb game where my sister was on the homecoming court and she was wasted and embarrassing the shite out of her. I drove her home. Then cleaned about ten listerine bottles out of her car

And many times of abusing pills again. But she never got as bad off as she was before palmetto