It's overdose awareness day (8.31.18) this Friday: what experiences have you had with your loved one's addiction and overdose that might help the Village Community out?

#1

The overdose crisis isn’t just about opioids,

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cocaine-involved overdose deaths rose a staggering 52% between 2015 and provisional counts for 2016.”

“Opioids are clearly only one part of a much larger tragedy”

“The need has never been greater for comprehensive health-centered drug policies, grounded in the principles of harm reduction, that recognize the full humanity of all people.”

Overdose doesn’t discriminate, every overdose requires action.

Cross posting from: Drug Policy Alliance and International Overdose Awareness Day

#2

An extended family member’s girlfriend passed away from an overdose. I was shielded from the direct effects but felt the fall out from supporting our close family member through the pain. My husband was more directly affected and it actually likely caused his relapse that lead to a stint in rehab and now 2+ years into recovery.

During the depths of my husband’s addiction, which I experienced more directly, I constantly worried about overdose. His drug of choice was cocaine and he told us he’s pretty sure he had a stroke at one point, and the way he looked and behaved and the days on end of use paired with the dropped contact for days had me on edge and pretty terrified.

More than once I made the trek over to his apartment to lean on his door buzzer. Thank goodness this is a bit of a distant memory at this point. But I would have loved more information on what was going on and how worried I really should have been. I kind of felt like it was driving me mad, the suffering in silence on my end as well as his.

#3

The fear of my son overdosing has been paralyzing. Each time I called and there was no answer or each time he drove away my thoughts and worries would become so very overwhelming. Opiods took the life of several of his friends. The worry and fear has taken its toll on my health. Its real. Ive escaped the call thus far and i am very thankful. My heart is very heavy for those living in this fear. My son is on a MAT program right now but because he got a job and the hours 8-4 …, they wont work with him. Im worried. He cant afford private Doctor. He tells me he can stay sober without it. Trying to stay positive !

#4

In the past few years 2 friends of my husband OD’d. On on heroin in a suicide the other by swallowing a large quantity of Meth to keep from being caught with it when the police pulled him over. Both of them died. And while I did not know them real well just the thought of what their loved ones were going through and seeing how upset my husband was really tugged at my heart strings. Recently, my daughter told my of her two experiences with heroin OD. I was completely freaked out but maintained because I knew she actually needed to discuss it because she did not understand fully why I was not affecting her like we both thought it should until she spoke about it out loud. What she said was that heroin gives you this great rush and then you just drift off into space. So, waking up to strange people standing over her telling hollering shes back, shes back is only a confusion in her mind. She felt now pain and did not feel any different than if she had just fallen to sleep. As she talked about it she realized that that is why she had no fear of it because it wasnt realy real to her. She said that she was scared about not seeing a light or anything like some people claim to see and did that mean she was going to hell. I explained that I had been brought up to believe that we sleep until Christ comes and she said she remembered that now and breathed a sigh of relief. She was really afraid. Ever since that conversation she seems to be trying to at least not do so much that she even passes out from it. I have actually seen the daughter I raised poke her head out a few times. But it might be helpful for some one to read this both those that do research into this kind of stuff and for someone that has had a loved one OD on heroin. I helped me to understand why she did not run as fast as she could away from the stuff after dying two times and being brought back by that narcan or what ever it is that they use to counteract over doses.

#5

The day before Thanksgiving I came home to my fiance dead from an overdose. I performed CPR and called rescue, he was on life support for 4 days and survived, 6 months sober now. We have been through hell and back, we are fighting the good fight. Thank you. Karmen

#6