A Sad Sight...

Old 05-11-2007, 06:58 PM
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A Sad Sight...

I went downtown on my lunch today, while waiting for a light to change I could not help but be drawn to the woman on the other side of the road, she was so out of it on something...she was twisting and turning her body in ways that were unreal. At a first glance I thought she was doing one of these funky dances...it was funky all right and upsetting. I could only think as I passed by her that she is someones daughter and what angony her family must be in. I only hoped that one of her loved ones didn't have to pass by and see it.

I have seen my husband high and higher than a kite, but never to such as an extreme or close to this. Just what would she be on to make her body act like this.
How in the world could you crave a drug that puts you into this state.

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Old 05-11-2007, 07:04 PM
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could be crack, seen videos of people cracked out acting like what you described, although my ah's doc is crack and i've never seen him do that, probably cuz he never used in front of me so who knows. it must be very disturbing to witness first hand though.
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Old 05-11-2007, 07:32 PM
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My husband's doc was crack too, I did notice some leg twitches with him, but nothing close to this.

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Old 05-11-2007, 07:59 PM
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Crack or meth. Especially meth--they can't be still. I saw a really disturbing clip of a woman in custody at a police station (it was a reality TV show) who was handcuffed and chained to the bench she was on and she was just writhing around, over and over. I think if she could've gotten just a little bit of lead on that chain she would've been doing contortions like a Hindu sadhu (an aesthetic who practices extreme forms of yoga etc). It was horrible to watch. I can't imagine being in such a state. How, oh how do people enjoy that? I hate it when I can't sleep because I drank some coffee too late in the day!!
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Old 05-12-2007, 08:36 AM
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It is sad, Rose. Its hard to see it so close up, isnt' it?

I was at a traffic light on my lunch hour yesterday, too. I saw a woman holding a sign up begging for food. She looked so strung out on something. She was about my age. And I just thought...how sad...how very very sad. I thought about what agony her family must have gone thru watching her descent into addiction.

I know that not all homeless people are addicted to drugs. I know some of them are mentally ill...some of them are just the victim of some tragic circumstance...but I tend to believe that drugs and/or alcohol played a big role in most of the homeless' descent. Its so hard to see the outcome of addiction like that...

Before addictin touched my life, I probably would have looked at this woman with a bit of contempt or scorn. Now I feel compassion...For her, yes...but most especially for the people who love her.
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Old 05-12-2007, 09:12 AM
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Going through this roller-coaster ride with my husband and his drug addiction has been one of the worst times in my life, like any one else here. But through it all I have learned a great deal and probably would have never done so if I had not been subjected to addiction.

I have learned about things that I thought I knew, in fact I didn't know anything about it AT ALL! We had a neighbour who was addicted and for the life of me I just shook my head at the wife, as to why she would stay with him...I just thought why doesn't she get rid of the looser, she must be nuts. I was so judgemental on something that I knew nothing about. The gal on the street I would have thought bad on, never giving anything more a second thought about her life.

So through all of this I have really change my outlook...you just never know what it is like until you have walked in their shoes and I am not just referring to addiction.

I have more compassion and have become a better listener...it has been one nasty road to learn the lesson, wish I could have just read a book about it, but I don't think you really get it until you have lived it.

I guess it just goes to show that good does come out of bad.

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Old 05-12-2007, 04:14 PM
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I used to live in a fairly big city in NY. There was a mental health center that had lots of funds cut every year. These poor people who had mental problems were let out on the street. I can remember seeing them. One man was always dressed up like a cowboy with chaps and cowboy hat. It was pitiful. One would be in his own world, dancing, jumping while the rest looked on. It seems many hung out in groups.
They needed help and the state cut them loose.
Now, unfortunately, many of these mentally ill people made themselves that way according to a nurse I know, who had to work with many of them. Many, but not all, were drug addicts and alcoholics.
You're right, it is disturbing to see it. And, I did use to wonder whos children these people were.
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Old 05-12-2007, 04:34 PM
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Here theres a main strip in town where its a known thing that most of the people on the street are addicts. This town crack is the most popular the guy at that food mart sells crack pipes and if your walking you guaranteed to be offered a piece. Most people along the main road are either homeless or prostituting themselves. Ive seen many walking twitching like that. (Traffic is regularly abcked up there as its US1 that runs all through the easterna rea)My AH used to go to an outpatient rehab near there and Ive seen so many deals and shootouts right at that corner.

Its so very sad. A week before AH went off the deepend into his abyss of activeness we passed that area to see his old business partner running up and down the street barefoot in ripped dirty clothes.

My thoughts drifted to these two guys Ah and this other guy who were oncce so active in NA. 2 people everyone thought really had their lives together, now neither do, so sad
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Old 05-12-2007, 10:05 PM
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I've seen meth addicts doing that. My daughter is a meth addict. We had to ask her to leave our home. This was after 3 completed rehabs, 2 intensive outpatient treatment programs, a recovery house and one not-completed rehab.

Other symptoms that she displayed were incredible rage, stealing, lying (of course) and refusal to work, to seek treatment or to be clean (bathing, etc.). We tried the hospital route - but they tell me meth addicts don't need a lockdown facility because they're withdrawal symptoms are not fatal. So they wouldn't take her.

The good thing is that she had a Higher Power with her.... she found her way to another rehab and got sober. She "found" her way there by being arrested for shoplifting and making the choice of rehab instead of jail. I call that being lead by a Higher Power. She could not have found this path if we had not kicked her out of our home.

I remember seeing a little redhaired gal, twisting and shaking like that one day when my kid was still "out there". It hurt so much to see, and to hear the guys in the car behind me yell and make fun of her... I SAW her as my kid, and came "this close" to stopping and .... hell, I don't know what I would have done.

But I came in here, I posted about it, and I prayed for her... just as I prayed for my daughter.

If locking up addicts, rehabbing addicts, hospitalizing them and jail WORKED... we'd all do it. There is no "cure" for addiction. That is a hard concept to accept... I'm still working on it myself.
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Old 05-12-2007, 11:31 PM
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I think Big Sis we are people from the other side, we lived it, we saw it, we hurt, we learned, we grew and we are no longer on the side of the unknown, we crossed over to the other side where we know, we are not the ones pointing fingers and for what it is worth I am glad to be the chosen one to be on the other side.

We have had to show love in ways that others could never imagine...I think we are might special I do!

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Old 05-13-2007, 04:32 AM
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Thank God I never have been addicted to any drug (ok, well, I smoked when I was a teen) or been plagued with mental health problems. Whenever I see some person obviously displaying some problem like that (or someone in a wheelchair, disabled, etc.) I think "There, but for the Grace of God, go I."
I think that mental illness would be the worst. At least with addiction, there are successful treatments if you have the gumption to stick with it. With mental illness it's kind of a crapshoot as far as treatment goes.
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Old 05-13-2007, 07:57 AM
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I see this kind of stuff too. ironically, until I got myself sober I had no idea how much of this was out there. I am sure there is even more of this in the big cities, I live in a fairly small city now, but its still there.
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Old 05-13-2007, 08:03 AM
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this is sad to me.these are people that someone loves.they are a child of someone,maybe a mother, sister,son ,father or whatever the case may be.i feel bad for them no matter what bought them to this.lets pray for them.
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