Brian: And especially as it relates to pain medications. So I hope that those of you who are listening out there will gather around this radio, and if you have some questions or comments or some concerns, give us a call here at 770-226-0920. Or if you’re outside the Atlanta area, you can reach us at 1-888-920-2665. Well, Jill, you know…

Jill: Brian…

Brian: …we’ve been looking at a few things in the newspapers recently have come up with quite a few situations with high schools and even sometimes in the middle schools where we’re dealing with drug issues. And, you know, most of the schools, in fact all of the schools have zero tolerance for drugs. It’s a drug-free zone. And so we know that this topic is going to be very important for the listening parent.

Jill: Yeah, I think, you know, let’s bring that more… we’ll talk about it a little bit more after the first break. I just want parents to start to think about who they can call, or if they wanna listen to it with their teen, this would be a good time to gather around, like you said, and listen. Cause there’s some very interesting things going on out there in terms of pain medication use and adolescence and as it goes into young adulthood. And we’re going to try to bring out, out from the closet if you will, so people can understand that this is going on and how to deal with it. But, um, it is good to see you, Brian. I haven’t seen you in a while.

Brian: It has. It’s great to be back as a team once again.

Jill: I know.

Brian: We’ve had some great holiday shows…

Jill: Right.

Brian: …and it’s been very exciting.

Jill: Hey, listen, last Saturday you and Terry were talking about resolutions. I thought maybe, let’s talk a little bit about, have your resolutions failed in the last four or five days…

Brian: Already? This is just the beginning of the year, Jill. You know, we did talk about at the beginning that approximately only 3 percent of individuals who make new year’s resolutions actually keep them. But, you know, one of the things we understand is if resolutions aren’t written down, they probably aren’t going to be kept.

Jill: Right.

Brian: And we do know that. And we have to kind of make sure that we choose our resolutions carefully. I know sometimes we get the generic thing, I’m going to lose weight, I’m going to take, study harder at school, I’m going to get better grades, or for adults, maybe I’m just gonna eat better, exercise more… lose weight, yes. For our listeners, drink less, or don’t drink at all.

Jill: Well, that’s why I wanted to bring it up. I’ve noticed that a lot of people that do have a problem drinking get caught up in let’s make a resolution. Maybe this is the year I’m going to stop drinking, and yet they don’t realize the amount that they’re drinking daily can put them at risk if they try to just go cold turkey after January first. I’m sure that those who are daily drinkers, I’m not going to have that bottle and a half of wine every night, and I’m going to start January first, and then probably by today, January, what are we, fifth?

Brian: Fifth.

Jill: …they’ve already experienced withdrawal symptoms, or they’ve gone back to drinking.

Brian: Right.

Jill: And that is when you realize, that there’s probably a problem with the dependency on alcohol, like we’ve discussed in the past.

Brian: Because they are probably at that point going through that withdrawal we know that if they are already experiencing tolerance when they’re drinking more and more, and enjoying it less and less.

Jill: But you know there probably are people who have put down the alcohol and are white knuckling it. You know, it doesn’t have to be that way though. There is help out there…

Brian: They don’t need to suffer. I think that’s really a good point you’re bringing up, Jill. Of course the medications, you help our clients to get on, especially like the naltrexone, some of this new FDA-approved medication that help individuals to decrease the desire and the craving to drink…

Jill: Right.

Brian: And at the same time, on my side of the house, the clinical, they can really learn some really great skills to be able to help them manage and change that lifestyle a little bit.

Jill: And you know historically in what we do in addiction, we find that we don’t really get a lot of calls the first week of the year, where people think, oh, people are going to start calling right after the new year. Actually, we get calls after the resolutions fail

Brian: Well, but it makes sense, doesn’t it?

Jill: …and usually its five to ten days, and then the phone starts to ring, and they say, I tried to stop taking the meds, I tried to stop drinking, you know, or doing something associated with a dependency, and they found out they didn’t have the ability. And that is why, during this radio program, if you want to find out more information, about how to get a free consultation, and come in and really talk about how to put down in writing and put down on your calendar how you are going to work through this dependency.

Brian: I’m glad you kind of did a segueway… let me give them maybe just four, sometimes when you give them twelve or ten, it’s hard to remember. Well, let me give four very concrete ways that people can really work on some goals and make it effective. The first one I said of course is select them carefully, but also write them down. That’s two. Write them down. And tied to that is, when you write them down, be realistic. I love what you just said at the beginning, I’m going to just stop drinking. Well, maybe that’s not realistic. Maybe I need to cut back. Maybe I need to taper off. If they are able to. And in some way, because we understand there are people who use alcohol and do it responsibly. There are others who addiction it, and they’re getting in difficulty, and then there’s the area of dependence where they just can’t quit even if they wanted to.

Jill: Right. And that is definitely the person that can benefit greatly from the programs we have at Breakthrough Addiction Recovery.

Brian: Exactly.

Jill: We have a website. If you’re listening, you wanna go to the website, www.breakthroughaddictionrecovery.com. We addressed just about every substance out there, and how to look at coming out of a dependency or addiction of that substance. This is crucial. You need information and you need help to stop using those substances. And, I mean, once you fail at your resolution, maybe that will, you’ll wake up and say, or a loved one will wake up and say, I need some help, where can I go? Well, we are there. We offer all of that.

Brian: I’m glad you said that too. And we are available not only for the consultation, and then also to really provide addiction treatment options. It’s not always just one way. There…

Jill: Exactly.

Brian: We really try to customize that. And you know also as our listening audience is tuning in today, although our program doesn’t necessarily treat adolescents, we treat adults, but we also know, don’t we, Jill, that, you know, sixteen, seventeen, fifteen year olds, as long as they continue to use, by the time they are nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, they’re really at that point where they’re probably really struggling with either a strong addiction where they are abusing it or actually becoming dependent on it.

Jill: That’s right. And parents, listen, I want you to turn up the radio, get your teenager, talk to your teenager about what we’re going to be discussing today. This is very, very important. Things that you may not even believe are going on in terms of pain medications in high schools, alcohol, marijuana, things like that. You can call us and join in on this discussion, ask questions, tell us we’re crazy, whatever you want to do, you can call 770-226-0920. If you are outside the listening area, or say, your husband is outside the listening area and you want them to tune in also, they can tune in by going online to www.920wgka.com, 920wgka.com, hit listen now, and they can call from the outside area, 1-888-920-2665. I know I’ve given you a lot of info, but we’ll keep giving you that phone number throughout this show so you can join in on this conversation, crucial conversation.

Brian: Jill, I’d like to just give our listening audience a really interesting statistic here. We’re talking about, how do I prevent my child, are they all destined to use drugs or alcohol. Here’s an interesting statistic I just read recently in a brochure: a child who gets through age twenty-one without using illegal drugs, smoking, or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so. So you can almost look at this program as kind of a harm-reduction program.

Jill: Oh, that’s a good way to put it.

Brian: The more the listening audience has information about how to avoid or to address or to be able to confront situations that seem to become problematic, they can the sooner they do it, the less chance that their loved one, that adolescent, or that child, will actually become dependent upon drugs or alcohol.

Jill: So think about this: we are Breakthrough Addiction Recovery. We have free consultations for those of you who want to strengthen your new year’s resolutions to stop using or abusing alcohol or any other type of drugs, and we’ll bring up the number and we’ll bring up the website throughout this program. But when we come back from this break, we’re going to start talking a little bit about a news article that was in the AJC right before Christmas. I wanted to bring it up then, but I just decided, let’s do a whole show around that. So when we get back, Brian, let’s start talking about the adolescence and pain medication use.

Brian: Give us a call, 770-226-0920. We’ll be right back.

<commercial break>

Jill: Yeah, welcome back to Breakthrough Addiction Recovery. We’re going to talk about teens and pain medication addiction and dependency. Last month there was an article in the AJC, and I brought this up in conversation in the last few weeks. A lot of people saw this article about a young woman who was a student at a metro area high school who was actually caught giving a fellow student a hydrocodone and another medication. She was caught doing this on the cameras that are in the hallway, and when they talked to her about it, they decided they were going to bring charges and make it pretty much the zero tolerance you brought up at the beginning of the hour, Brian…

Brian: Right, Jill…

Jill: with the drug zero tolerance, and they also decided, I think, to make it into a felony cause they said she was attempting to sell the medication to a fellow student. Well, as it all comes down, she actually, you know, came clean and said, yes, I was giving this to a student who was in need, in pain, but I bring this up on the air today not to vilify this student, or the student that was in need, but just bring this to the forefront. Parents, if you are listening, I really want you to think about what’s going on in the high schools in terms of pain medication addiction. This young lady was in a passing conversation with another student, and she mentioned her mother was taking hydrocodone, which is what the other student said she was using for her pain, which was not specified what kind of pain it was. The student turned and said, can you get one of your mother’s hydrocodones and bring it to me. And the girl refused, which, you know, most upper-level kids that have a head on their shoulders would say, no way, I’m not going to get my mom’s med for you. And she said, however, I think a few days later, the student called her in the morning, told her she was in pain, she was sick, and, you know, begged her, called her a few times, and then finally the girl relented, went up, took one of her mother’s hydrocodones, also took one of her mother’s fenergans, which, if you don’t know what that is, that is a medicine for nausea, put it in a baggie, dropped it in the girl’s purse during the change of classes. It was caught on tape, and thus the battle begins. Now this was a, you know, people read that and say, oh, wow, I can’t believe she would do that. But what we need to bring up today is the fact this is going on a lot more than what this article is telling us.

Brian: Right, this is just the tip of the iceberg…

Jill: Tip of the iceberg…

Brian: …and all of the schools around. That’s true.

Jill: And, you know, I started thinking about this and I’m like, one of the things that was the red flag in the story is the fact that the girl was in pain, now probably not specifying that this pain is probably related to her not getting the drug, which made her go into withdrawals from opiate, which we’ve highlighted on this show many times. As the girl is going into withdrawal one of the earmark symptoms is to have severe nausea, flu-like symptoms. So her friend who took the, her mom’s hydrocodone, grabbed a fenergan. So that tells me right there that the girl knew she was grabbing something to help get her friend out of withdrawal. You know, she didn’t just grab a hydrocodone, she grabbed a hydrocodone and a fenergan for the nausea. So that tells me there was a lot more than meets the eye in terms of what the understanding was between these students. I believe that maybe this girl did get caught up in I can keep this girl as my friend if I help her out. Or I don’t want to say no because of maybe peer pressures or things like that. I don’t know, Brian, did that kind of strike you that way in that story?

Brian: I think that is true, because remember, in adolescence especially there is a great need for acceptance, and to be part of the group, and that peer pressure is very strong. And given the benefit of the doubt, maybe indeed she thought that she was helping.

Jill: Yeah, and that was her thing she said in the story, I was helping out a friend…

Brian: …I was helping out a friend, but you know there’s one way to help out in a positive way and then there’s another way in which… again, the thinking process, and I think also the article said this, you know, judgment, poor judgment…

Jill: Poor judgment, yeah, and she has a great track record. She had never been in trouble before, and I believe that yes, dropping the higher charges, the more stiffer charges for just, you know, misdemeanor was a good way to go, but I do believe I wish this story would have highlighted more what the problem is in the high schools…

Brian: But, you know, it also goes to show, the article talked about needing more drug education and so forth, and I think what we have to be aware is that many times people don’t listen or hear it until there’s a real need…

Jill: Yes. Exactly.

Brian: …and that can be for adults as well as adolescents. We pick up and we listen to what we want to hear. And so this situation may have had a lot of times where they understood, maybe they had a lot of education about it, but it just went in one ear and out the other, until it really hit home and hey, this gets me really in trouble when I don’t pay attention to the information I have already related to drugs.

Jill: As I read this story I started to do a bit more research on addiction of pain medications, and one of the highest percentage reasons, when asked about why kids were using pain medication, the number one answer was, it’s easy to get from parents’ medicine cabinets. Now parents, if you’re listening, and you know in your medicine cabinet you have 84 vicodin sitting there in your medicine cabinet, because you only used six of them after you got your sprained ankle playing football on the weekend, and you left them in your medicine cabinet, do you know how easy they are to get? And how, what Brian just said, peer pressure, I mean, in passing this child could say to a peer, yeah, my mom, you know, we have vicodin in our medicine cabinet, and the kid by pressure might feel like if they got that vicodin out of the medicine cabinet, gave it to their classmates they’d be cool.

Brian: Mmm hmm.

Jill: Or they’d be accepted. So, I mean, that’s another thing to really think about when you leave these types of medications…

Brian: And I’m so glad you’re saying that too, Jill, because we always think in terms of protecting, you know, we have child-proof lids, right, on so many things…

Jill: …that doesn’t work for fifteen year olds…

Brian: That’s exactly what I was going to say…exactly. We think in terms of three to five year olds… I mean, we’re looking at situations here… so, although that cap is obviously able to be opened by older teens, the idea is that we still need to be protective of the medications we know that can become dangerous toward others. So, as we take a look at what we need to do as protective, sometimes that means locking it up in such a way we have control over that medication.

Jill: Right. And I think let’s bring that up often during the show, in case people are tuning in late. And you can call and join us in this conversation, 770-226-0920. And right now I’m going to bring up to the mike a very special person to me. This is actually my niece. Her name is Jensen Earl, and she is 16 years old. When I started reading about this issue, I said, you know what, I’m going to ask someone who is actually in the high school. You know what, Brian, you might know this about me, but I was a high-school teacher at one time, so I was in the know, but that was ten years ago, so…

Brian: And times have changed.

Jill: I know, times have changed. So I decided, you know what, I’m going to ask someone that’s right in the middle of it, in the high schools, and Jensen agreed to come on the air with us today. And she said, well, what I am going to say? And I said, don’t worry, I’m going to ask you the questions and you’re just going to talk to us about what’s going on in the high school… Jensen Earl.

Brian: Well, welcome to the show, Jensen.

Jensen: Thank you.

Jill: She goes to a metro area high school, and she’s really cool, everybody, so… anyways, Jensen, thanks so much You know, when we talked about this I was so surprised that you said it was a common occurrence in your high school for people to be using pain medication. How did you become aware of this, that it was going on?

Jensen: A situation that happened to me was, I was standing at my locker with some of my friends, and these guys came up asked if we wanted some stuff, and we said no…

Jill: Stuff, huh?

Jensen: And they pulled out a pen, which is the most common way to pass the drugs around, which is normally oxycontin, things like that. And they crushed up the pills, and take out the ink inside of the pen and put the pills inside.

Jill: Ok, so they’re not giving you full, it’s not a full pill…

Jensen: Right…

Jill: …it’s crushed up. And then they just take the guts out of the pen…

Jensen: Mmm hmm.

Jill: Oh, wow. So, I mean, how are they using this then?

Brian: A lot of times they’ll snort it or they’ll put it in their drinks at school and drink the sodas throughout the day.

Jill: Wow. So they’re actually taking it while they’re at school

Jensen: Right.

Jill: And have you witnessed anyone using drugs like this at school?

Jensen: Oh, yeah. In the bathrooms at my high school, there’s girls drinking water out of the sink and putting the pills in and things like that, yeah…

Jill: Oh, wow. Have you ever heard any bad effects from the drugs or anything like that?

Jensen: I’ve walked in the bathroom before and seen girls passed out, or something like that, after using oxycontin and stuff like that.

Jill: Wow, so oxycontin is kinda the drug du jour?

Jensen: Yeah.

Jill: ..in the high school. It just, Brian, this is just, you know, that’s amazing me right there…

Brian: Yeah.

Jill: is that oxycontin, which we know as one of the most potent…

Brian: Addictive…

Jill: …and addictive drugs is being passed around the high schools, and these are for 15 and 16 year old brains that really, you talk about the developing brain being at risk…

Brian: Absolutely. And especially at that age when we know they’re both the thought processes and emotional processes is really at risk.

Jill: Jensen, you know, I was going to ask you, why do you think they’re using at school? I mean, this is kind of an interesting effect, that they’re using right there in the bathroom where people can see.

Jensen: The only thing that I can really think of is that their peers are at school, and its more of a status type of thing, um, popularity and stuff like that, cause they know it’s a way to make friends.

Jill: Ok. And so you think one way to make fast friends in a high school is to tell people you can get oxycontins…

Jensen: Yeah.Right.

Jill: Wow. You know, to me that’s really kind of scary, that it’s oxycontin, like I just said. But let me ask you something, don’t you guys get that classes, and as a high-school teacher back in the day I know that we did a lot of drug awareness, because just say no and all of those things, but, you know, I saw that glazed look in their eyes when we would talk about drugs, but to me are they giving you any type of more information about pain medications or anything?

Jensen: Um, they make you go through a drug awareness program, but they mostly just talk about alcohol and marijuana and things like that, they never talk about pain killers or…

Jill: …the more obvious stuff…

Jensen: Right.

Jill: And so oxycontin, hydrocodone, lortabs, they really don’t talk about the addictive qualities or how dangerous that is?

Jensen: No.

Jill: Yeah. Well, you know what’s interesting is, you know, having an addictive quality like they do, you use those over and over, it does not take long before you will be dependent, tissue dependent, and then start to experience withdrawal symptoms if you stop cold turkey. And that means that if you’re seeing your loved one or your adolescent having the flu four to six times a year, that’s not normal. Now the flu may be if you get it once a year, that can happen. But if your teen is saying, I’m throwing up, I’ve got the flu, I’m sweating, everything else, that doesn’t happen four to five times a year. It’s not possible. So, flu-like symptoms, which are the hallmark of opiate withdrawal are something very important to look at. And Brian, I guess when we come back from this break, you’re going to talk a little bit more about what parents should be looking for, is that right?

Brian: Yes, especially at some of the changes that they can be observing, especially if they see some radical behavioral changes that could be something indicative that something’s going on, maybe they’re doing drugs or alcohol.

Jill: Jensen, you’re so cool, I’m so glad, not just because you’re my niece, but you really helped us out, I hope that people are listening and they can really relate to what you’re saying. Hey teens out there, talk to your parents, tell them what’s going on. Call us, 770-226-0920. We’ll be right back.

<commercial break>

Brian: Welcome back from the break to Addiction Recovery hour, My name is Brian Fujii, and I have Jill Mattingly as my cohost. And today we’re talking on the topic of adolescence and drug addiction. And Jill, we’ve got a call from Lee in Midtown. Welcome, Lee, how are you today?

Jill: Welcome, Lee.

Lee: I’m excellent.

Brian: Great. What’s your comment today?

Lee: Well, I’m thinking about high school today 18 years in recovery.

Brian: Wonderful.

Lee: When I was in high school the level of drug usage was like marijuana and beer.

Jill: Oh gosh. You’re my age.

Lee: And today we’re talking oxycontin, opiates, I mean…

Jill: Yeah, it’s changed.

Lee: There’s not a gateway drug anymore, they’re just going straight to, you know, heroin…

Brian: The hard stuff.

Jill: And you bring up a great point, Lee, because what we are seeing now is who I treat medically at Breakthrough Addiction Recovery and people in their 20s are shooting heroin because they started with oxycontin at 16 and 17. And you’re right, when we were, you know, many years ago when we were in high school, pot was, you know, oh my gosh, don’t start pot and now, you know, they are cutting to the chase, and going straight for it.

Lee: Where are teenagers getting these drugs? Are they most of their supply, like, their parents’ drug, bathroom?

Jill: Exactly.

Brian: And you can buy it on the street.

Jill: Yeah.

Brian: Really can.

Jill: Really.

Brian: And until these people have their own dealers out there, Lee, and its just amazing the connectivity that individuals have even at that young age.

Jill: Plus, internet. Internet’s easy, but a lot of people that age and high school is you get it from your friends, and your friends get it from their friends, or you know, we were talking earlier, and I’ve had hydrocodone in my medicine cabinet before for after I had knee surgery, and I didn’t even think about, you know, that I had half a bottle there, and what if I had had someone, a guest in my house, that was using my restroom.. it’s wide open, it’s right there for them to take. So…

Lee: The other ironic thing about like, doctors, and not all doctors and pharmacies is that you can walk in and get, you know, 50 Percocets or oxycontin in a heartbeat and nobody thinks about it.

Jill: Yeah, exactly. It’s such…

Lee: …Three refills.

Jill: Well, Lee, thanks a lot. You’ve brought up a great point because that’s really what is going on

Lee: It has to start somewhere further up.

Jill: Congratulations on your recovery, too.

Lee: Thank you.

Jill: Eighteen years.

Lee: Take care.

Brian: Thanks for your call.

Jill: Hey, and it looks like we have another call. This is Pam, oh, it’s Pam in Acworth. Hey, Pam. How are you?

Brian: Welcome, Pam, to the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery hour.

Pam: Hi.

Jill: And Pam, I’m going to go ahead and tell our listening audience, you and I had had a discussion a few weeks ago about this very issue, and I had asked Pam to call in, and kinda talk a little bit about what she is experiencing in her own family, knowing that we were going to discuss this. You know, Pam, I know that your son I struggling with opiate addiction, and that the most, this is very heartwrenching for you, and I really do believe the parents that are listening out there by hearing a couple of the things that you can highlight for them is going to be very beneficial. Thank you so much for calling.

Pam: Oh, you’re welcome.

Jill: So your son, when did he start to have a problem with substance addiction?

Pam: Um, it started at 16, in high school. And we knew there was some pot involved and some other things and then as we were, of course, asking around what the other friends there was a group, and other parents didn’t think it wasn’t anything they wouldn’t grow out of. But the pattern changed shortly after that, and he wouldn’t come home for three or four days at a time…

Jill: As a teenager?

Pam: As a teenager.

Jill: Wow. Ok.

Pam: At 16 and 17.And there has to be something other than just pot at this point. And we never could find out exactly what it was they were doing. We tried to get help from other parents to professional help. And when we got him professional help, the counselor all he could do is one visit, and all he is doing is pot, and we can’t treat pot. It’s not an addiction.

Brian: Well, you know, it’s really interesting you say that, Pam, but, it’s, I think, a lot of times people think its not really an addictive substance, and yet we know that the substance today, which pot back in the 60s, the intensity and purity of pot today is about 25 times more potent than what you were getting in the 60s, that’s what the most recent things have shown.

Jill: Wow.

Brian: And a lot of people say, you don’t even go through withdrawal. Well, the major reason you don’t see withdrawal immediately is because pot stays in the body for between 30 days or a little bit longer. And as result, it’s only until such time that the body begins to leach out that THC that you actually begin experiencing some withdrawal.

Jill: And it’s interesting that they didn’t say that it was a problem, that they really couldn’t do anything for pot, but you believe there was something else involved.

Pam: Oh yes.

Brian: Oh yeah.

Pam: His personality, the change that I seen in him,

Brian: Yes. And did you find kind of an increased lethargy, we call pot the dream killer, because it really does cause people to just get to the point where they could care less about anything. Their drive just diminishes.

Pam: Right. He was very, always cared about how he looked, how he dressed…

Jill: …and that all changed.

Brian: That all changed.

Pam: Yes. To the day.

Brian: Pam, let me ask you a question, we’re getting close to our break, at this point. Can you hang on the line and just be with us, because we sure want to continue this discussion, but we’re at the break right now. We’d love for you to hang on the line and we’ll be right back. Can you do that with us?

Pam: I will.

Jill: Thank you, Pam.

Brian: That’s great. Alright, we’ll be right back. Give us a call at 770-226-0920. Or outside the Atlanta area, 1-888-920-2665. We’ll be right back.

<commercial break>

Jill: Hey, welcome back. We’re the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery hour. My name is Jill Mattingly, my cohost, Brian Fujii. And we’re talking about adolescence and pain medication us and addiction and dependency. Um, I have on the line right now a friend of mine, her name is Pam. And she is willing to discuss a little bit about her struggle that she’s having with her son who is struggling with a dependency to opiates. And Pam, you talked a little bit about his… hey, Pam, are you there?

Pam: Yes, I am.

Jill: Ok, just making sure I’m not talking into space. Anyways, you talk a little about his teenage years, he had problems, something obviously was going on, you couldn’t find the help. You had said something that struck me about him, or you being told, well, it’s just a phase, he’s going to grow out of this. And that is the scariest thing I think you can believe when you’re a parent. Because what if, he’s forming a dependency. You don’t grow out of a dependency; it worsens. Is that correct?

Pam: That is correct. It is proof as of today, as a 24 year old, young adult. And at the 16, 17 age, we were being told by other parents, um, even professional help that we would seek, what little bit we could find, that calm down, it’s just a phase he’s going through, he’ll grow out of it. And after a while I was told so much I’d think, well maybe it’s me, maybe I’m overreacting. I wasn’t, cause I knew in my heart that I wasn’t right. And if we didn’t try, whatever we could, if we couldn’t get the professional help, you know, or other parents look at this, they’re all hanging out together, there’s just not one doing it. We had, we actually used a little bit of the law of the land to help us, thinking that that would help. We were struggling parents of, this is our son, and we wanted to help him…

Jill: Right.

Pam: …and we told him when he took the car, and he took it again, he could go out, but if he come up missing for days again, I couldn’t go through those sleepless nights and pacing the floor… we’d report the car as stolen. We did. He did it and we reported it. They picked him up. He spent, we left him in there for a few days, four days, and it was very hard not to, as a parent, answer that call.

Jill: Right, I can imagine.

Brian: And you set some good limits. And you know that’s probably one of the best things you could have done, as hard, as difficult as it is as a parent to do, it is something that they need to understand the negative consequences of that behavior. Just briefly, you know you said they saw it as a phase, and that’s where we’re different at Breakthrough Addiction Recovery, Pam, because we don’t see it just as a phase. We see it actually as a brain disease. Something went on as your son kept on taking those opiates. His brain literally got rewired. It changed. And that’s the reason why he couldn’t stop.

Pam: Right.

Jill: When did it become evident that he had a true dependency on opiates?

Pam: I would suggest, say, probably in the last three years we really noticed…

Jill: He’s 24 now?

Pam: Yes.

Jill: Ok.

Pam: About 21 we still knew there was something going on, he did, he does currently live in another state, and when we would see him, it was very obvious he was on something.

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Pam: The pupils were very small, he just relaxed and didn’t care about how he dresses, and currently, recently seeing him this fall, we were there, and he would be talking to you, standing talking to you, and he talks a lot when he’s on whatever, cause he was very comfortable, and he was talking and he was going to sleep as he talked to you.

Jill: Wow. And…

Pam: And… go ahead…

Jill: And have you noticed that he is trying to talk about this addiction, or have you confronted him with this information that you have?

Pam: I haven’t confronted him. He did call me in November… it was a few days… November 2nd. He apparently had taken something. Well, he told me he smoked some bad pot…

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Pam: He was taken to the emergency room. It was considered an OD, him and another friend of his.

Jill: Wow.

Pam: And he was actually in ICU. I didn’t know for three days until he was out, and he called and told me he had smoked some bad pot.

Jill: And that’s probably not what it was, you realize that…

Brian: Right, exactly. I mean…

Pam: No.

Jill: Have you seen him recently, and has he discussed this with you?

Pam: I did see him over the holidays, but he wouldn’t discuss what had happened in November. But I did find out from his fiancée that it was, apparently they had went out of the state where he’s currently living and they bought some Lortab…

Jill: I see.

Brian: Mmm hmm. That makes more sense. Well again, this is where an individual is really in denial about what he’s trying to deal with right here. You know, we hear all these excuses all the time, but they’re not willing to own up. That’s part of the disease. They do not want to be able to own up to what is really going on with them. And I think you can have as much excuses, but until they begin to understand the strong, negative consequences, it’s very difficult. Has he experienced any job problems, additional, additional legal problems, anything that could really motivate him, to be brought to his attention, to maybe seek some help or at least talk to someone about this?

Pam: He has lost some good jobs.

Jill: Wow.

Brian: Mmm hmm. But the consequences haven’t been hard enough, I guess…

Pam: No. I have looked back at the pattern since he has lived out of state, and it’s been a continuous something and he always blames someone else, never him.

Brian: Well, Pam, we really appreciate your call today. And I just know there’s a lot of parents out there listening to what you have to say, and their hearts are broken just like yours, but don’t give up hope. Continue to talk with him, and we’re here. And if some way he might be willing to just talk with us for a few minutes, maybe we might be able to talk some sense into him. Really appreciate your call today. And listening audience, I hope you hear the heartbreak, and if there’s something going on there, out there with you, feel free to take a look at our website, www.breakthroughaddictionrecovery.com. Well, we’re coming up to our break again.

Jill: Pam, thank you. We’ll be back

Brian: We’re coming up to our break. Give us a call, 770-226-0920, or 1-888-920-2665. We’ll be right back after the break.

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Jill: Hey, welcome back. We’ve been talking about adolescence and pain medication addiction and dependency. What a powerful message it is when you hear that this is going on so much more than you ever thought in the lives of the adolescents that you know. I really do want to thank my dear niece Jensen for joining us today as being the voice of the 16 year old and the high school student. And I think, Brian, the most important thing to take out of this is, parents, and grandparents, grandparents tend to have a lot more pain medication on hand. Cause you know what, when we get up there, we get the aches and pains a little bit more, have viable reasons to have hydrocodone or lortab on hand…

Brian: That’s right.

Jill: You know, I want the parents and grandparents to listen: go up to your medicine cabinet, take those medications, and put them in a safe, secure place. We’re not saying your child, or your adolescent, or your young adult is going to be taking those from your medicine cabinet, but there are people that come to your house that may be invited…

Brian: That’s correct…

Jill: …that may have a problem that you don’t know about. They go into your medicine cabinet and they are purposefully looking for a couple lortab here or there.

Brian: Well said. That’s exactly correct. And we don’t have a lot of control over that. But we can certainly make sure they control the access…

Jill: Exactly.

Brian: …controlling the access.

Jill: Safe and secure, keeping those things in a place where a person that is not yourself or another responsible adult can get to them.

Brian: You know, before we, I know we only have about 30 seconds, let me just give three ideas that teens can do to maybe help themselves feel good.

Jill: Ok.

Brian: First of all, let go of that past. If you had a problem, let it go. Let go of that old past. Don’t live in disappointment. Secondly, let go of unrealistic expectations. I think so many times, maybe friends or family put too many high, unrealistic expectations. And then, also, exercise, and if you got a problem, talk to that school counselor. These will help.

Jill: Right. Listen, you can go to breakthroughaddictionrecovery.com and get a lot more information, and we’ll link you up to even more information. We appreciate you joining us today. We’re going to keep going next week.