joanharvest

y son is 17 days clean of oxycontin and he even quit pot. He has a positive attitude and is doing quite well. He did his detox through an outpatient clinic, that for him worked quite well. He had to go there everyday for about 10 days. He was given drugs to help with the withdrawal. At this point he is stil taking klonopin, 2mg a day and lexapro for depression. He has irratible bowel syndrome and his doctor thinks it is probably caused by anxiety and depression. When he was on OC's he was angry- he put his body through the wall of his bedroom- But now he is my smiling, wonderful son. I am still preparing myself, in case he has a setback, but even if he does, I know we can work through it. I work but I had people staying with him 24-7 during his withdrawal which lasted about 5 days and then we saw a marked improvement in his attitude. On the 5th day we had to drive about 70 miles to see the Doctor who ran the clinic. While we waited there was an NA meeting in the waiting room. We met another mother and her son who was trying to detox from heroin. It was their first time to see the doctor. He relapsed the next day. My son met him again at the clinic after not seeing him for two weeks. He is clean for three days. He and his mom are staying in our seaside town to keep away from his heroin using friends for a few days. We feel he wants to stop but it is so hard. He has a supportive mom. They invited us to go for dinner at the motel they are staying at tommorow night. I know what she is going through and she probably needs support herself. My son has such a positive attitude now but I don't want this boy to be put off by it. My son and I would very much like to help them but want to be sure we do the right thing.

My son's passion is fishing so he has a good reason to stay clean. He can't fish if he's drugged. I imagine it must be more difficult for people to stay clean when they can't come up with a reason to. I hope I'm making sense here. I don't know if I am explaining what I mean very well.

Anyway, my question is, in your opinion, (anyone who cares to answer), What can we say or do to encourage this boy in what he has to do. I've learned from reading all your stories just how hard it is to deal with all these drugs. If it wasn't for striped bass I don't think my son would have made it. But not everyone has a fish to get him through this.

I have an addiction too. FOOD! I weigh over 300 pounds ( I have actually never written the amount before) It's so scary. Even through my son's withdrawal I ate carbs and I am supposed to be on the Atkins diet. Here I am telling my son to stay off drugs and I am sneaking potatoes when he's not looking.

I wish all of you the best! My problems seem so small to the ones that some of you have to endure. My son has lots of support and loving people to help him get through his addiction. That is not the case with some of you on this board. The loneliness of addiction can be the hardest part of it. Thank God for a place like this board for people to get together and comfort each other.