New Suboxone Film

Remember, these?

Those nasty little orange pills? Now, suboxone comes in a new form (a thin strip) that dissolves faster and tastes better. Anyone, tried the new suboxone film/strips, yet? What do you think about them?

Wisconsin Mother Teaches Son How to Use Heroin - Son Overdoses and Dies

According to JournalTimes.com a mother, Patricia Strosina, a 46-year-old woman in Waterford, Wisconsin was charged after she allegedly taught her 16-year-old son Raymond how to shoot heroin, which resulted in his death. During the investigation witnesses, primarily drug users and dealers, told the Sheriff's Department that they saw her buying heroin for herself and her 16 year old son. An autopsy determined Raymond died from respiratory arrest from a mixed drug overdose from heroin and cocaine. Strosina remains in the Racine County Jail on $15,000 cash bond.

Does this make you sick or what?

That Heroin Smell

My daughter and I were in the kitchen making cheese quesadillas. I mentioned that we should take a vitamin and she opened the pantry door and noticed a bottle of B1 vitamins. She said, "who takes these?" I told her the B1 vitamins were her dad's. She opened the top and stuck her nose in the jar and at that very moment all hell broke loose.

She screamed, her face turned red, her eyes started watering and then she started running down the hallway. I didn't know what had happened. I asked her what was wrong. Then she came running back down the hallway into the bathroom. She looked completely sick and I thought she was going to throw up. She was holding a tissue over her mouth saying it smells just like dope....and the smell was going to make her throw up. She just kept saying, "the smell is making me sick." Then she said the smell was stuck in her nose....I didn't really know what to say so I told her to have a soft drink and try to think of something else.

I started spraying air freshener...to get rid of the smell which was really nasty. She said it was such a shock to her system to smell it that it immediately made her sick. The B1 vitamins were capsules from Walgreens....and yea, they did stink. I guess I know what heroin smells like....it kinda makes me want to throw up too!

Needless to say I threw the B1's and the very burned cheese quesadillas in the trash. We made turkey sandwiches instead and we didn't mention vitamins again....

Listen to Your Kids Because Talking to Them About Drugs Doesn't Always Work

We talk to our kids about drugs and it just doesn't seem to have any impact. Why? They have the attitude that they won't get into a car accident if they drive fast, they won't get pregnant if they have sex, they won't get addicted if they use heroin.... This "invincible teen attitude" is part of normal brain development. Their brains or specifically the prefrontal cortex is not developed yet. So, that proves that our teenagers are acting without a brain or at least the front part. The brains front section is responsible for considering risks and it helps us stop doing something if it's too risky. Since, this part of the brain is still developing in teens some of the wiring is not intact...the stop/go wiring. This creates a serious problem for parents but yet also gives of a sense of why teens act the way they do.

Using drugs when we told them how dangerous they are...is not defiance, its not rebellion — its their brain! They do not comprehend the consequences of drug addiction at all!

So what are we as parents supposed to do to keep our children away from drugs — when they're operating without an fully functional brain? Researchers have been trying to find out why ...risk factors such as genetics, mental illness [anxiety, depression or mood illness], early use of drugs, social environment, and childhood trauma seem to be recognized as the main risk factors.

In hindsight, I can identify that "social anxiety" was the main factor in my daughters heroin addiction and it started in middle school. All I can say is listen to your kids....I mean really listen. If they say "I don't want to go to school"...find out why. Ask as many questions as you can to find out what's really bothering them-don't just shrug if off as I did and respond by saying, "schools hard, sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do." Some children don't know how to handle anxiety...and if you don't help them find ways to cope with their feelings then they find ways to cope on their own — and sometimes they find heroin.

So, listen to your kids because talking to them doesn't always work.

Bruises on Arms = Heroin Addict

Before I knew my daughter was a heroin addict I just thought she was a high strung, rebellious teenager going through what most teenagers go through. I had no idea that she was a heroin addict. I noticed that her personal hygiene habits and clothing styles changed. I also noticed that she was having trouble controlling her anger. She was happy then she was sad. It was a roller coaster. She wore a white, long sleeved t-shirt almost everyday and rarely took showers. One day she was rubbing her arm and her sleeve rode up on her arm and I noticed lots of bruises all over her arm. I asked her about it and she quickly said, "[so and so] has been playing around and grabbing my arms." I said, "let me see those bruises" and I reached over to pull back her sleeve and she jumped up and said, "oh, I gotta go, I'm late." I said, "you tell [so and so] not to put anymore bruises on your arms." God, I was so naive. Because of the bruises, I thought she might have a disease. So, I did a google search on "bruised arms" "arms bruise easily", etc. There was not one result that came up during my searches that implied anything about bruises and heroin addiction. I guess bruises on the arms and heroin addiction is such a [no brainer]...that its just not mentioned.

Heroin Addicted Elephant in Rehab 3 Years

I read this and just had to mention it....A four-year old Asian elephant was captured by smugglers along the Chinese-Myanmar border in March 2005. The elephant smugglers fed him with bananas laced with heroin to control him so he would lead the other elephants. The smugglers were arrested and the elephants were saved-end of story, happy ending, okay not really.

The elephant, named Xiguang was suffering from heroin withdrawals, luckily he was immediately sent to a protection center in China's Hainan Island. Xiguang, is an Asian elephant and they are threatened with extinction. During his stay on protection island he received daily methadone injections and after three years has completely recovered. In September 2008 he was transferred to the Yunnan Wild Animal Park. Now, that's 3 years of rehab. I couldn't find any information about his condition today...hopefully he's still doing okay.

After reading the story I had a couple of questions? If it took 3 years of rehab for an elephant would it take 3 years for a human to fully recover from heroin addiction too? Also, elephants never forget, so what do you think he thinks about when he sees a banana? Sad story.

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29236120070830

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-04-elephant_N.htm

Addiction Free Forever

Wouldn't it be great if we could just stop using drugs? Wouldn't it be great if everyone we knew and loved could just take a single pill and the nightmare of drug addiction would be over! Unfortunately, there isn't a magic pill, but there is a program called Addiction Free Forever. This book was written by Dennis Marcellino. As a former member of several bands such as Sly and the Family Stone, Dennis lived and worked around a lot of drugs. He used drugs for about 18 years. During that time his marriage was ruined, he contemplated suicide, and went through several psychiatrists, counseling and many rehab programs before finding the answer to stop addiction. This method worked for Dennis. Addiction Free Forever.

Parental Underground-New Site

Here's a little shout out for my friend at Parental Underground. The site owner is a 20-year old recovering heroin addict with a personal understanding of heroin addiction on a mission to help others!

So check it out!

http://www.parentalunderground.com/

From Heroin Addict to College Student

My daughter registered for college classes today. I was so happy and proud. It can happen. They can become free from heroin addiction ... it's hard but they can get through it.

Today it seems as though it was just a horrible dream. Last year this time, I wrote an article about the signs of heroin addiction. There are many signs these are just a few I experienced personally. The one sign that really makes me feel really stupid, was the tiny, round bruises that would show up on her arms....I still can't believe I thought she had a disease that was causing her to bruise easily. She told me one of her friends was pinching her...I believed her...okay well I use to be gullible...not anymore I can spot a heroin addict a mile away...pinned eyes and/or with little red rims around the eye, a certain way they hold their jaw...

From heroin addict to college student...I still can't believe it.

The New Face of Heroin Addiction

The New Face of Heroin has none of the normal signs of heroin addiction.

The New Face of Heroin can be 12 years old, stylish and smart. The New Face of Heroin addiction can be your son or your daughter. Be concerned. Be a parent. Learn everything you can about heroin. Knowledge is power.

The drugfreeworld.org has some fantastic literature about drugs. The Truth About Heroin brochure is very informative. The brochure describes heroin, origins of heroin, what it looks like, what it's called on the street, statistics, effects, long term effects, etc. 

Remember the signs of heroin addiction have NEW FACES...one of those faces could be someone you love.

The Real Side of Teen Heroin Addiction

This video is so real to me. It makes me want to cry because

it brings back so many memories. This brings it home.  

The foundation for a drug free world has lots of information,

videos, etc. on their website. 

http://www.drugfreeworld.org/#/home

About Suboxone-that little orange pill

A lot of you have emailed me asking about suboxone and how it works. This is what I observed from my daughter when she started taking it. 

My daughter was 17 when I found out she'd been shooting heroin everyday in parking lots for a year. Yeah, she was an addict. One of her friends called me to let me know she was in trouble [addicted bad]. Luckily, she was already undergoing therapy for anger, anxiety and depression from a psychiatrist who also specialized in addiction therapy [seboxone]. 

She was really sick. I drove her to see her psychiatrist and he took one look at her, asked if she was sick and then gave her a 4mg seboxone. In about 20 minutes she was laughing and happy. That was the beginning of a year of seboxone use. Yep, she messed up twice within a two month period but other than that she took her seboxone regularly. If she didn't take it she was very, snappy and angry. I could always tell. 

When she started taking the suboxone she was taking 8mg once a day. It made her very sleepy. So she broke it up and took 4mg in the morning and 4mg at night. Sometimes she would just take 8mg at night. She progressed to only needing 4mg a day...again she broke it in half and took 2mg in the morning and 2mg at night. At about the 9 month period she was taking 1mg in the morning and 1mg at night...at about 10 months she was taking 1/2mg...then reduced her dose to just a few crumbs each day....then to nothing.  She was okay for the first couple of days and then started to experience slight flu-like symptoms, slight leg cramps, backache, headache....She didn't even realize she was going through withdrawals. She thought she had the flu. She's perfectly fine now. A happy, healthy 18 year old. 

One important thing about suboxone is that its really important to take it everyday. I can't stress that enough. You may think you don't need it but you do. Don't stop taking it...honestly, I think it's your brain trying to sabatoge your recovery. My daughter went through the same thing at about month 4. She was convinced that she was fine and didn't need to take it any longer. Suboxone is also very nasty tasting and because you have to let it dissolve under your tongue...it's pretty bad. Her side effects ranged from hot flashes, some nausea and slight headaches. She took alot of advil and motrin. She seemed pretty happy with the suboxone as far as cravings were concerned. If you think your dosage needs adjusting talk to your doctor about it. Her doctor told her it was very important to make sure she was taking the right dose because every person is different. Some may need 16mg twice a day while others only need 8mg once a day....

There are many sites about suboxone. Here are a couple of places to start.

www.suboxone.com 

Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals website has a physician locator and loads of information

www.naabt.org 

A non-profit organization formed to help people find treatment for opioid dependency with suboxone. They offer loads of information about seboxone and  links to an online forum. They also have an online physician finder by State. 

suboxonetalkzone.com

If you have specific questions about suboxone ask the Suboxone Doctor. 

Heroin: Narco-Terroism

According to the December 23, 2008 Washington Post article. 

Afghan Farmer Helps Convict Taliban Member in U.S. Court by Del Quentin Wilber

An Afghan farmer named Jaweed, first told US federal agents stationed in Afghanistan of a Taliban plot to attack the US air base with rockets. He later worked with them on an opium and heroin deal. He secretly recorded Khan Mohammed, a Taliban member more than 10 times. The farmer, Jaweed purchased 11 kilograms of opium and later 2 kilograms of heroin from Mohammed. He told him that his friend was sending the powder to the US and France, mostly to American cities. Mohammed said, "Good, may God turn all the infidels into dead corpses, whether it is by opium or by shooting, this is our common goal." 

Jaweed said he decided to help the US because he was tired of the violence and he didn't want his country to be destroyed and his foreign friends harassed or bothered. Jaweed's undercover work led to Mohammed's arrest at a police check point and he was flown to the US in October 2006. Mohammed was convicted in May of drug trafficking and engaging in narco-terrorism. He was sentenced to life in prison on December 22, 2008. 

This story justifies what I've thought all along. First, they hate the US and will try to harm us anyway possible even through narco-terroism. So the next time you buy heroin remember who you're funding. 

Heroin Kills Slowly

My 21-year old niece buys clothes designed by an American tattoo artist named Ed Hardy. She was wearing a hoodie with a Ed Hardy Design Christmas Eve. The design included a skull with a ribbon that says "LOVE KILLS SLOWLY" [shown]. I thought it was cute...so I drew a heart with a ribbon and a sword...my design says "HEROIN KILLS SLOWLY." Thought it was pretty cute too so I put it on Cafe Press. Check it out and let me know what you think. 

http://www.cafepress.com/MDAddiction

Not Afraid of Tomorrow

What a wonderful holiday. My daughter was really happy. The laughter and giggling between her and her younger sister brought back so many precious memories. Her younger sister has always worshipped the ground she walked on. Unfortunately, on occasion, she was on the receiving end of her sisters vicious attacks. It just broke her heart [and mine]. It actually got so bad that I didn't leave them alone together. Once we knew about her heroin addiction, I talked to her younger sister about her sister's counseling and that she would be taking medicine that would make her better. Almost immediately she started staying away from her sister. I don't know if she was afraid of her sister or if she'd just had enough of her abuse. 

Anyway, that was then ...and now we're happy that our addicted daughter is in recovery and is truly happy again and that our younger daughter has a great relationship with her sister. Our home is a happy home again...

I don't think we would be where we are today without seboxone. Seboxone gave her a chance to live again, to live happy...and to live free from heroin. Seboxone gave us a chance to breathe again. I'm breathing...I'm happy and for the first time in a year I'm not afraid of tomorrow.

Heroin addict? Try seboxone it works

You've been so preoccupied with searching day in and day out for heroin that you forgot that you're family still loves you. Even though they don't trust you or sometimes they may even dislike you...it's not you they dislike...it's your behavoir...you're continuous search for heroin, your fixation on how to buy it, who to buy it from, how to pay for it. We know you can't help it. It's called a disease. It's a brain disease.

There are plenty of people out there that have made it back from heroin addiction, back to a normal life. No lies, no stealing, no more worries about heroin. Heroin is a choice, a bad one but nonetheless your choice. No one made you start using heroin and then continue making you use heroin. You're not special...you will become addicted to heroin if you use it. I hear you saying, "I'm different...I've been through so much in my life it want happen to me". Well, you're not special and if you use heroin you will become addicted to it eventually. If you've ever tried to stop before you know how horrible the withdrawals can be and that fear doesn't help.

My daughter was a heroin addict [a lying, stealing, needle-using, dirty, junkie heroin addict] for about 2 years before I found out about it. She had snorted heroin for a year and then progressed to using needles for a year. She was 17 when I found out about it. I thought the bruises on her arms were from her friends playing around with her [that's what she told me]. I remember searching online for possible reasons for her arms being bruised. I thought she might have some type of disease. I never found anything online that led me to believe that she might be an drug addict. I knew she was a troubled teen and I had been taking her to see a psychiatrist for her anger, mood swings and general depression. Not once did anyone ever say anything to me about the possibility that her severe mood swings, rages, anxiousness and suicidal tendencies had anything to do with drug addiction. Boy, was I surprised. I felt like an idiot.

I immediately took her to her psychiatrist and told him she was a heroin addict. He just looked at her, asked her if she was sick...she said yes. He left the room, and immediately came back with a tiny orange pill. He told her to put it under her tongue and let it dissolve. He wrote her a prescription for seboxone and told us to come back the next week. That was the beginning of a year of ups and downs....Today, a year later she's no longer taking seboxone...she's heroin free and says she'll never go back. Soon, she'll start college. I'm looking forward to what the future holds for her and she is too thanks to seboxone.

Heroin's Gone, For Now

My daughter is now clean and I mean really clean. She's like an angry ex-smoker on steriods. She's not on prozac and she's weaned herself off the seboxone. She reduced her dose for a couple of weeks, walked around for a couple of days with cramping legs and then she was over it. Now, she's like a bull in a china shop-everyday's a bad day. She's gained about 30 pounds and feels like everyone's looking at her because she's fat. She's not fat she's normal. She actually looks like a normal, healthy girl...not a heroin-bloated, acne, sores, bruises, skin and bones addict. I wanted to say to her "Geez, did you ever worry about people looking at you when you were nodding off, or when you didn't wash your hair or change your clothes?" But I don't...I just tell her she looks great! I don't really know what to say to her...she's miserable. Nothing makes her happy...nothing makes her laugh...I wish she was happy I really do. Can recovering addicts be happy normally? I'm going to take her back to her psychiatrist maybe he'll try something besides prozac. Any ideas?

Heroin: Creating Zombies in 2008

I hate heroin. I hate what is does to innocent people. For a heroin addict everyday is the same. They get up and go find heroin. They wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it. They can't sleep. They worry. They walk around thinking about it. They think up ways to get it. They manipulate people to get it. They steal and lie to get it. Heroin addicts are like zombies. They only want one thing and that's heroin. They don't really care about anything else. It's a horrible existence. Sure, I know what some of you are thinking.."So, they did it knowing that they would become addicted to it"...Teenagers have a mindset, a "its not going to happen to me" attitude.

What can we do? How can we protect them from this devastating health epidemic? Education? They know about heroin...they know about the effects of heroin...All it takes is one kid to say "hey let's try it"...then before you know it...there's twenty kids doing it. Those twenty kids are selling it to hundreds more...It's just so hard to stop using it...it's difficult to know if they're using it...and even more difficult to find treatment solutions that treat the addiction as well as the addict. Any ideas out there? Any solutions?

You can't help a heroin addict

I've come to the conclusion that you can't really help someone addicted to heroin. They must first want to help themselves...and rarely will they do that...However, if if you can get them to take seboxone for 3 months continuously they will begin to see things differently. The key is continuously-everyday for 3 months. The seboxone will give the brain time to heal...and eventually they will start to feel good about themselves...During this time period they will say ....hey I'm good...I'm not an addict anymore...and I don't need to take the seboxone anymore...Whatever you do don't let them stop...Their brain will tell them they don't need it...so they can use again...it's the wierdest thing but I think the brain knows what it's doing...Remember to tell them that this happens all the time and that its a "Brain Trick"...It happened several times to my daughter...I just told her not to fall for that-don't be tricked by your own brain. She continued taking the seboxone and later told me she thinks I was right. She said she's sure her brain was trying to make her stop using the seboxone. She's been clean from using heroin for 5 months now. I'm very happy with her progress...using the seboxone. Not so happy about the other drugs she occasionally uses such as [mushrooms, aderal, or weed] But I'll take what I can get at this point.

The prozac is causing her to think of suicide. She has an appointment with her psychiatrist to see if the dose needs to be increased or decreased. Since she started taking the prozac she doesn't know what's going on inside her head. She says she can't control those thoughts...They just appear out of no where...and for no reason. She said it was just strange...and she feels strange.

Boyfriend Dumped Her

Well Friday was her birthday. Her boyfriend was going to talk to her on that day. Well he talked to her...he called her on the phone and said Happy Birthday...that was it. She thought he was going to do something nice to surprise her. It was devastating to watch her cry. She called him and text messaged him several times and he finally asked her to stop by and see him. He told her wasn't going to date her anymore. She left crying.

Over the course of her Birthday weekend he called her and sent text messages to her phone several times.

He asked her to meet him...she did only for him to tell her he wasn't dating her anymore. She was devastated again. Then he asked her to stop by and see him again and he acted as though everything was fine. He told her she was pretty and kissed her.

Later he sent another text message and asked her to meet him at gas station. I thought that was weird. So she met him and he asked her if she would loan him $200 bucks. She did. He was supposed to stop by and see her later that evening...when he wouldn't answer her phone calls she was devastated again. I had just happen to call her to see if she was okay and she told me about loaning him the $200. I told her that she needed to get her money back from him. She did.

He out of the blue sent me a text message yesterday and said that she had invited him to dinner but she wasn't returning his phone calls. Her phone was actually dead and when she returned home I told her he had been calling her about going out to dinner. She excitedly called him back and said she was just about to jump in the shower and what time did he want to go to dinner. He replied, he didn't know if he wanted to go to dinner. She was devastated again. Later he called her and said if she wanted to see him to meet him ...she did....he told her he still loved her but not to kiss him. ...He quit his job because he said they were being mean to him....His friends that actually did see him that night said he was very upset.

She doesn't know what to do to. I just told her to stay strong take her medicine and everything will work out one way or another. What a horrible birthday for her....