Anaya

The person who posted about emotional instability - I too have seen that in my loved one when under the influence...sorta like riding on a rollercoaster with him in the middle of a tornado.

He also was manipulative. And then there were the lies. Very convincing (at least to me)!

I have to add that I did enable and be accountable for my behavior.

Lily1918

This post hits the nail on the head for me and AH.

I have realized that negative emotio s are a huge trigger in recovery, and 100% unmanageable in active addiction.

Anyone seen Austin Powers? "I eat because I am unhappy. I am unhappy because I eat"

It is the same principle.

AH would be sober for 30, 60, or 90 days... then something bad would happen... and he would run off to cry on heroins shoulder.

Anger, depression, loneliness, fear, anxiety, and even boredom. Most teenagers learn how to cope with these emotions before reaching adulthood in healthy ways.... that just isn't the case with addicts... especially ones who started using at a young age

AWorriedFather

My Son vaporized weed daily in junior and senior high school (didn't know this at the time), -lazy, isolated, not emotionally invested, increased anxiety, decreasing confidence, odd sleeping patterns, lack of goals. He achieved As, Bs, a few C's. Did very well with travel and high school sports. His friends maintained their distance from us.

He quit weed in college after we caught him with it in our house and we threatened to not pay for his college. He turned to using xanax for controlling his anxiety and adderall for studying, -we experienced all of the above behaviors with added slurred and slowed speech, or sometimes him talking up a storm. We learned he had increasing trouble with keeping track of time, the amounts of pills he was taking, increasing memory challenges, increased radical behavior, unexplained injuries.

More and more hair brain ridiculous ideas and statements that were completely out of touch with reality as his drugging continued.