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Anyone dealt with a family member that is a drug addict? I could use some help here.
I'm 30. My mom is 66. She has been addicted to prescription drugs (Xanax, Valium, and Painkillers) for almost 15 years now. It really damaged my family. My parents divorced because of it.
My mom now lives alone, abuses pills, and lives in a complete mess. It's horrible going to see her, high and delusional and living in a mess.
Every member of my family tried for years to help her and get her into treatment, but she refuses no matter what, despite person after person intervening to help for 10+ years now.
So today my sister calls me and says she visited our mom and she was vomiting and shitting herself, there were dishes all over the place, trash. She looked very thin. She claims to have a health condition, but the doctors say otherwise and she has been pulling this "I'm sick" act for 10 years now.
So my brother and I basically scheduled a last minute intervention tonight and put everything out there, saying we are scared for her health and that she needed to go to rehab, etc.... I told her if she doesn't agree to go in the morning and let me drive her there then I don't want to have a relationship with her anymore.
Was this the right choice?
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My family recently had to cut my brother out of our lives and my parents and i all moved to different towns so he cant find us.
He's a meth addict and hes scary and violent and we cant handle the fear of being around him any more
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>>17321426
The only thing that bothers me is getting that phone call one day.
And there is nothing I can do about it.
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>>17321391
Anon, your efforts might work, or they might not, because ultimately she has to want to change. It's not fair and it's sad, but it's what it is. You can't force someone to become better.
The thing that got my grandfather to stop drinking was his doctor telling him he wasn't going to live to see his youngest sons wedding. Addicts need to be reminded how they are destroying themselves by actual doctors.
With that said rehab is potentially a good option, especially if she's never done it before.
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>>17321451
This anon is right. However, the reality check that she is ruining, not just her health, but her familial relationships could be a good wake up call. Usually it is only after an addict loses something or is threatened with the loss of something more important than the addiction, do they actually get their life of track.
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>>17321451
I believe that she doesn't want to change because of her repeated attempts to thwart everyone that tries to help her.
>>17321463
I thought when my father left her, she would wake up, but it didn't phase her. She just keep doing pills and refusing help.
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>>17321391
This was the right choice. The way that things seem this addiction will kill her if she doesn't get help you have done everything you can to help her but in the end she has to make the choice. If she is on public assistance you may be able to intervene that way
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>>17321391
My dad and two uncles were addicted to opiates, aunt is depressed and on pills. Dad temporary stopped twice after mom threatened to leave him ... then started again either way.
Hard to tell whether it was the right choice without knowing her personality, though at very least it's probably one of the better choices for you and the rest of your family. There is not much you can do unless you're a professional and even then, you only got a better chance to affect it, in the end it's up to her. Addiction has causes beyond the chemical effects, finding them can help to find an approach too.
>>17321451
>Addicts need to be reminded how they are destroying themselves by actual doctors.
It's like telling to a smoker that smoking can cause cancer, 99% already know all the downsides.
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