Please Help! Permanent Effects Question

[tammy442]

Hi, I was with the father of my kids for 11 years. Six years ago he was on cocaine and he would hallucinate and just acted completely paranoid. Well, we moved to Kentucky and he got back clean. However almost two years ago, he started back using. It just put me in a position where I lost everything and had to move back to Chicago. He ended up in jail about two months ago back in Kentucky.

I talk to him regularly and I thought he was making progress but yesterday was the last straw for me. I just got so frustrated because he's back talking crazy. There is no way he's still on drugs because he's locked up.

I went through this before last time but it didn't take this long for him to get back to normal. Then again, he wasn't using as long before he got clean. He told me he just snorted cocaine but I also found alot of aluminum foil in my bathroom and broken off cigarettes. Someone told me you can do crack from the tip of your cigarette and that you can use a lighter and aluminum foil for crack.

His symptoms when I was there was extreme paranoia, very quick tempered, massive weight lost, extreme sexual arrousal ( I caught him a few times on my balcony doing things to himself when no one was there. He would swear a girl was there. The police started watching him because they said he was going up to people's window and pulling his pants down). Some of the other symptoms were runny noise, couldn't sleep at night but would sleep the entire day away. He was very sneaky and never did anything he said he was going to do. He didn't take care of his hygene when I first started noticing he was using, then all of a sudden he got real clean. He would take baths at 3 in the morning after sitting on the couch for hours. He would cover anything he drank in the house with tissue. He would cover our vents and told me a few times there was someone coming from in the wall that was stealing his money. I was a stay at home mom so our finances were strictly on him. Which is how I ended up back with my mother in Illinois.

Well my question is, should I worry that he may have done some permanent damage. Yesterday, he told me he was a billionaire and his inauguration was this Thursday. He then begin talking to someone (although I didn't hear anyone), and then told me all the rappers knew about him. Again, its been two months and I was expecting that type of behavior to be over with. I know you can't give me a definite answer because everyone's addiction is different. I was wondering if people who have gone through this or have family members who have, how long did it take for them to get back to "normal"

Thanks

[historyteach]

Hi, Tammy;
And welcome to SR!

Mark will be here to answer your concerns.
In the meantime, why not go over to the friends and family of addicts forum? (Naranon). There, you will find others going through the same thing, willing to share their Experience, Strength and Hope, (ESH), with you. Remember, you didn't Cause it; you can't Control it and you can't Cure it. BUt, we can learn to Cope with it!

Hope to see you there as we both continue to grow in our recovery.

Shalom!

[leviathon]

Just because someone is locked up doesn't mean they aren't using. My little brother has told me about his time in jail. Often he had more ready access in there than he did on the outside. The issue, as he put it, is what you have to do to get it.

Peace, Levi

[MarkSichelCSW]

I can't make this kind of evaluation online but it sounds to me like symptoms of mental illness and not an outcome of the withdrawal and years of addiction.