If there’s a nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach, a feeling that something’s just not right with your teenage son or daughter, you’re smart to pay attention and try to learn what might be going on. It’s a confusing time because adolescents go through so many changes and when their behavior veers from normal, how do you know if it’s just teenage ‘stuff’ or something more serious like drugs or alcohol?

Listen in to the Mighty Parenting podcast episode where I was fortunate to chat with Sandy Fowler about the challenges of parenting a teen through addiction. Sandy isn’t afraid to tackle difficult topics on her podcast and for that, I’m super grateful.

If a mother’s love could cure the disease of addiction our country wouldn’t be losing nearly 200 people each day from overdoses. 

From the outside, it looks so simple to fix, from the inside it’s an agonizing cycle of trying to figure out why someone you love to their most inner-being is hurting you, and themselves, repeatedly.

If a mother’s love could cure the disease of addiction our country wouldn’t be losing nearly 200 people each day from overdoses. 

As a mom whose son battled an addiction to drugs and lived an exceptionally high-risk lifestyle, I understand the need for information, self-care, and coping mechanisms during these trying times.

What doesn’t come with COVID-19 is the stigma that you’re a weak person if you have it. That you’re a sub-par mom if your daughter is affected. If these labels applied to Coronavirus sufferers how many more would be dying alone, at home?

My oldest son battled a 5-year addiction to drugs and led an exceptionally high-risk lifestyle which had me feeling perhaps I’d stepped on the wrong universal toe and my normal, happy life was over. When he overdosed twice in a period of 3 days and was on life support in the ICU, my world came to a devastating, screeching halt.

Research has shown that when access to naloxone (Narcan) is expanded, fatal opioid overdoses fall dramatically - as much as 27%[.1] While some people may not understand the concept of saving someone who is actively using substances that can and likely will take their life, they should be aware that for each person whose life is saved by Naloxone, it gives them a chance at recovery - after all you cannot treat a corpse.

A person could visit a pain clinic, pay a couple of hundred dollars in cash (it was a cash-only business) and leave with 200 Oxycontin 30’s and a hundred or so Xanax. No exam, no x-ray or MRI, no questions, just have cash and a desire for pills.

As I watched I literally started shaking and feeling anxiety and tightness in my chest because watching the family that's allowed the show to follow their story could have in fact been mine. If I swapped out a picture of my son with theirs, and filmed in Seattle versus Atlanta, it would have been us.

I’m the other one

The sober one

The invisible one…

Picture this - you’ve been battling addiction and have made the monumental step of going to treatment and getting healthy and clean. But after your treatment program ends you’re forced to spend 5 days a week surrounded by drug dealers and a party-heavy culture. What are the chances you’re going to be able to stay clean day in and day out? Oh, by the way, you’re also 17, your brain is still being wired and your hormones are out of control. You’re in high school. And you’re trying desperately to get your diploma and re-build your life.

The saying “necessity is the mother of invention” couldn’t be more true than in the case of the ongoing opioid epidemic in the US. Despite some of the early promising headlines around reduced prescription opioid deaths, deaths from Fentanyl continue to surge and more drug types (meth/ice, cocaine, cannabis) are being contaminated with the deadly synthetic formula - most often illegally produced in China or Mexico.

The addict's mom is not your typical mom. She doesn't get to enjoy birthdays, holidays, or even a good night's rest. She doesn't get to brag about her child's college graduation, or their promotion at work either. She doesn't show her co-workers family photos because you're not in them.

Why not just quit? For someone trying to stop using opioids, one of the biggest barriers to getting off the drugs is the withdrawal symptoms of detoxing the body. Going through 3-6 days of pure physical and mental hell is too much to get through for most people so they try for a short time (hours or a day) and then go back to using because it makes them not sick anymore - doesn’t even necessarily make them high, just gets them back to not being violently sick.

I’m sure there’s a healthy amount of skepticism about my mental state given that in my corporate job I was traveling to places like Hawaii on a regular basis and had a great team of people working for, and around, me. I was at the stage in my career where I wasn’t afraid to speak up, disagree, be passionate, fight for my clients, and my team, and from the outside had that “glamorous” job that people might strive for.

Today, Aug. 31, is International Overdose Awareness Day, and for those of us with a loved one who has experienced the horror of an overdose, it's an important time to let others know what's happening and why. For context on the number of people we lost in 2017, see the below chart that compares overdose deaths to things like car crashes, breast cancer, AIDS and even the entire Vietnam War (spoiler alert, OD deaths surpass them all by far)

…agents allegedly found fentanyl [the drug] in four packages concealed in the passenger-side rear quarter panel of Peraza’s car. The [20,000] pills were designed to resemble M30s, or Oxycodone tablets, officials said.