Sisters Amphetamine Abuse for 25yrs.
by Ebony
(England)
My older sister has been taking this awful drug (Amphetamine) for so long now I even doubt myself as to weather I’m right sometimes. I think she may go through stages of not having it due to money obstacles.
She has recently put on a lot of weight so naturally i assumed she was no longer taking it and i loved having her around, but now it is blatantly obvious that she is doing that cycle of days and nights awake, then shutting herself away for the come down which takes weeks, saying she is ill or depressed which is every other week, or just ignoring the phone even when she is needed or I’m worried about her.
In the last few weeks I’ve been doing my own head in about how to approach her about it and after many sleepless nights (erm… i don’t take that evil stuff by the way! I used to when i was a teenager but it put me in hospital through psychosis so naturally i hate the stuff and know all the signs and symptoms and have not touched it since).
I have come to the conclusion that she is 43 in a few months and if i was able to make her admit and listen to me, it would all be gone and forgotten as soon as she walks out of the door.
However i don’t want to cut contact with her. I sent her a message last night and if she is clever she will realise that I’m not thick and that I’m still here if she needs me, but i don’t like being made a fool out of by her lies!
I need advice as when i was 25 i tried to speak to her and got a slap in the face, she has since opened up a bit over the years but she is still in denial if she thinks the family don’t see what she is doing.
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She Needs Treatment
I am glad that you did not go down the same path as your sister and that you can see and understand what is happening to her. You have tried to help her in the past and received nothing better than a slap in the face. It’s all too common. What you need is a plan, not just the desire to help. And, you need some support and guidance for yourself. People want to do the right thing, but they don’t realize that they need help too, not just the one with the substance use disorder (SUD). Because they focus on their loved one and not themselves, they can be hard to help. Do yourself a favor, call Al-anon and allow them to help you. They have members who have been on the same path you are on and they know how to help. It’s right to be concerned about the amphetamine use. It is robbing your sister of her vitality and will eventually turn her into a zombie. Meth, for example, is highly addictive and can transform a 42 year-old into a 70 year-old, all for a high they cannot attain nor will ever experience. It is a tragedy. How does the rest of the family feel about this situation? Are they concerned, or are you the only one? It makes a difference, because addiction is a family disease and everyone has a part in it. Your sister needs treatment, so you need a plan that gets her into treatment one way or another. You need to come up with a way to get her there and if she refuses, there has to be some consequences for her behavior. It seems like she has been getting by all these years because there has been no price to pay for her using the amphetamine. She might have used it for weight control, jut like millions of others, but too often it just gets out of control. Her pattern of behavior certainly suggests that she is in distress. Seek the help of a professional person and research treatment facilities in England. Once she is in treatment, they whole family needs to receive support, so they can be a help when she gets into recovery. That’s where the real work begins, to maintain a healthy and productive lifestyle. There’s much to be done, so ring up Al-anon and seek out professional people. |