Parent of a heroin addict

[CASEY]

My 19 year old has been using heroin for a year. Right now, he denies it but then he will ask for clonodine. Until he admits he has a problem, what should we do? Wait around until he crashes? He suffers from severe depression and is on Wellbutrin. He attributes all of his problems to depression and is very angry if I suggest it is the drugs. I am trying to go on with my life but it is hard when he is falling apart at 3:00 am, crying and lamenting about having no hope. I am going to Alanon. I have told him we will get help for him when he is ready but his meltdowns are killing our family. How direct should I be about the evidence he sometimes leaves around plus the raging? I am so worn out. Help!

[J.B. to Brian and Vicky]

I'm working on the very same thing with pain meds.  Everything I've been prescribed so far has the dreaded acetominiphen(Tylenol) in it.  APAP is another way of saying Tylenol as well on the bottle.  In three months I've gone from 5/500 to 10/650 because my tolerance has been building.  If you are in chronic pain as I am, you should keep a daily pain journal and show it to your doctor at every visit.  Until I started my pain log, I was having a very hard time getting adequate pain relief from my doctor.  It's much better to show them written documentation than to just walk in and say "I am in pain all the time and can't function".  Doctors are real sticklers for record keeping and documentation and the more information you can give them the better.  If you are a chronic pain sufferer, you need to know that there is a huge difference between dependency and abuse.  

About the vicoprophen, I'd like some input on this myself.  I heard is was a proprietary drug.  What ever that means.  It is probably only licensed to one pharmaceutical company and is very expensive is my bet.  So insurers may not cover this med.

[Brighty to Dan]

Your last sentence in the post above is the best thing I have read on this board in the 9 months I have been coming here. This is the only true peace... the key to complete healing. Bless you for granting this to everyone here. Love, Brighty

[Jon]

Got a question.  I have been on vicodin for about two months now for chronic back pain.  I feel like what was once originally working to cure the pain is negating.  Its like I have to increase my dose myself to feel a little better.  I am always subsituted from 5/500 to 7.5/500 to 7.5/750 and I feel like with the 5/500 or 7.5/750 I need more codeine.  I feel like I am becoming addicted but I really don't want to.  It is the only thing that cures my pain and ends my misery.  I haven't been able to tell my doctor because I don't want to sound like a junkie and make him think I am abusing, but I don't know what else to do.  I don't want to over do it on the acetominophin and damage my liver and was wondering what anyone knew about vicoprofen.  I like ibuprofen better as an anagelsic anyway.  If anyone knows anything your help would be greatly appreciated.

[Frankinscense]

Vicoprofen is a very effective drug formulation. It has 7.5mgm hydrocodone and aprox.300 mgm.s iburofen(equivalent to one otc advil) treaing pain my simply masking the pain is not the most effective way to achieve pain relief. The majority of pain is caused by inflammation due to trauma. Ibuprofen is an excellent medicine for inflammation. If we find what is causing our pains and treat that symptom, a good majority of the time we will not have to take large dose of opiates/narcotics. Another cause of pain is spasms which can be treated my muscle relaxants/NSAIDS. These meds actually treat the cause of the pain and reduce the inflammation causing the pain.
                                                                   Pains in our bodies are direct response to a problem. Trauma,muscle and other spasms and mental anquish can cause various pain throughout thge body.  We could best treat our pains by finding out what is causing our bodies response. Find out what is causing our pains and treat that problem. If antinflammatories(NSAIDs ibuprofen etc.)   cannot relief the pain alone try the combination--VICOprofen. Usually if your pain is caused my various traumas (swelling and spasms) lower doses of opiates in combination create superior pain relief because you are actually treating the cause of the pain. I mixed advil with my hydrocodone  the last time I had a toothache or sinus infection and got superior pain relief with this combination. I would have to take two lortab 10/500 to achieve pain relief. And I still had breakthrough pain. When I took two advils with one lortab 10/500, it was like I had a pain injection because almost all the pain was gone. Hint, mixing high doses of tylenol and advil type drugs is not very safe due to problems with kidney and liver damage.   I know some of you know this information. Specifically,we know have a pharmacist studying to be Phd looking on, and I do not want to offend him with these statements. I am sure I may have spelled some words wrong and maybe jess will correct me. My peace I give you, My  peace I leave you.
Best to ALL,
  Dan...

[for Sick and scared/beware of Vicky!!]

I just wanted to let you know that NSAIDS can be far more dangerous to chronic pain patients then taking narcotic medications. More people die each year taking NSAIDS then taking narcotic pain medications.
Once again, taking pain meds for chronic pain does not always mean you are or will become an addict.

[Mike P. to Ken]

"...and other than heroin, very health conscious."

Oh, that's all. Whoo. Thought it might be serious.

This sounds like a case of "Mom doesn't know as much as she thinks she does about her son."

If he's willing to put a drug that is cut on the street with strychnine (rat poison) into his body, I'd bet he's not just eating salad during the day. A mighty big wake up is coming around. Watch for it. Seriously.