My little brother has finally admitted his addiction. Now what?
 

I always thought if something like this happened, there'd be more resources readily available, but actually, me and my family are struggling, and I could use help from people like you who have been through this all before.

We'd been suspicious that my brother has been abusing drugs for some time, but I think we were all a little afraid to confront him/ none of us really wanted to admit it. He is 24 and holds down a steady, high-pressure job and takes Klonopin (prescribed/legal) for his anxiety.

Christmas day he kept passing out at the table and woke up only to giggle or say things that made no sense int he context of the conversation. Later in the evening, when he'd passed out again, I finally stormed into his room and went through his backpack. I found basically a staggering amount of used baggies marked with "main event", along with Oxy pills. Then, in this Klonopin bottle, instead of finding the Klono, he had used them all so purchased Valium illegally thru CL.

When we confronted him, he finally told us yes, hes been doing heroin for about a year now, and hes been abusing he klonopin. He's already prescribed (bc of some ******* idiot DR) 3 mg a day, which means hes been taking even more then that, which is nuts.

Right now he's had NOTHING for 2 days and he's been kinda sick but not awful. We're seeing a doc today to get him into an outpatient program. He seems pretty resigned to what is happening, he says he wants to get clean, and during the few moments he's been very aware in the last 2 days, he does hug us and tell us he loves us. It's me, my mom, my dad, and my older brother, who's 27. Also my fiancee and my brother's wife.

So. ANY advice, thoughts, anything would be appreciated. I just feel kinda lost and overwhelmed. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and merry Christmas.

First of all, welcome and Merry Christmas! It's great that you and your family are supporting your brother.

Outpatient can be an amazing tool for helping addicts to recover. However, in my personal experience, (and this is just my experience, I'm not a doctor) your brother may need to be detoxed first. While opiate withdrawal is not fatal (you may feel like you want to die, but you won't), withdrawal from benzodiazepines (Klonopin, Valium) can often prove deadly. Long time benzo users can suffer from seizures, hallucinations, heart palpitations, and feelings of being shocked with electricity.

You mention that he has done nothing for the past two days, which is great. I would just keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't become delirious. If you notice any sudden behavior changes, I would take him to the emergency room ASAP.

Let us know what happens at the doctors, and again welcome!

Best suggestion I have is get help for the family too. He sounds willing to participate in treatment which is great (and isn't always the case). Perhaps since the family hasn't been exposed to his addiction (or known of it) for a long period of time, they may not be as adversely affected as someone who is tumbling in their addiction while the family struggles to help (often in very unhelpful ways without knowing it).

Consulting with a profession who is well versed with addiction would be a great start for the family. Your brother (assuming he proceeds with OP) will be getting the help he needs but often the family needs guidance to know how to appropriately support him.

Welcome!

gentle hugs
ke

Coming off H can cause death, so I caution you. You need to have him in a medically controlled detox or at least be on the phone with a nurse or medical provider of some sort who can help you.

To come off that type of addiction takes serious help. I believe he will only be successful with inpatient and I also believe you should do serious research into what facility he is sent to if any. He has to want this for him or it will be immediate relapse. Also notify the dr who was prescribing the medication so he does not do so again.

Good Luck and God Bless!

Hello and Welcome. I am sorry your brother's addiction has brought you here but you have come to a wonderfully, supportive site. When we found out my son was addicted to pain killers, we had no clue where to start and got such conflicting suggestions we didnt know where to turn. We had no idea if he needed inpatient, detox, just OP. It can be very overwhelming and confusing. After speaking to a friend of his who went through detox and rehab, We found an inpatient facility in California that turned out to be fantastic. We were told by other families that it was much better than others their loved ones had gone to which made us feel better about the choice. My son wanted help as well. There is some really great information at the top of the page (stickies) that will answer a lot of questions for you.

If you do decide on an inpatient, the rehab will usually do all the work regarding what insurance will cover, etc. (if he has it). We had no facilities close to us that could detox only, except one and our insurance would not cover that facility (we couldn't believe it). The fact that he wants help is a big step in the right direction. Personally I would be afraid of him detoxing on his own after taking heroin and all the other substances he has. JMO for what it is worth.

Wecome! I'm an oppiate/benzo addict in recovery. I'm glad your brother has admitted to you that he's an addict. I Just want to give you a little insight into the mind of addict. When I was "caught" using pills by my family for the first time, I too was very agreeable. I said lots of nice things. How I was going to stop. I was ready to get help for my addiction, blah blah blah. Basically, I said what I thought they wanted to hear. Was I serious? No. Why did I say those things? To make them happy, minimize my problem and to get them off my back. Did I really stop. No.

My advice to you would be to discuss inpatient rehab with your brother. If he fights it and tells you an outpatient program will be fine or comes up with tons of excuses, I would be suspicious. It could be that he is telling you what you want to hear. That he isn't done yet.

I really hope I'm wrong, but I just wanted to put that out there.

There are many free and low cost programs all over the country. I would check them out online.
The Salvation Army
Teen Challenge
Terros and A New Leaf
Celebrate Recovery

And of course AA and NA.

My husbands family spent a fortune on treatment for him but he has always said he learned more, and was humbled more, in the low cost programs.

I agree with cleaninLI. If he says he wants to do OP and isn't open to Inpatient then I would worry. My sister went to a 30 day OP program after a 7 day detox and relapsed before the 30 days. That was in June and now she won't do rehab and is on the run.
Addicts tell you what they can to buy time and get you off their backs. Stay focused and don't back down. They have got to really want it and it will be an everyday struggle for the rest of their of their lives.