Sarah, a fictitious 9 year old girl, learns that her mom could be coming home from drug rehab before Christmas.  Her mom has been drug rehab for prescription drug addiction for several weeks now.

Mom Might Finish Drug Rehab Before Christmas

Mom wrote me another letter and I just got it today in the mailbox.  I haven’t gotten too many letters from her, but I’m keeping each one and looking at them every day, because she keeps telling me what she’s doing at her drug rehab place thingy. 

Today her letter is pretty short because she’s already told me some things before.  But today I got the best news ever!  She said she might be coming home before Christmas.  Wow - that would be great!!  And that’s been my Christmas wish I’ve wanted the most, just to have her home here with us. 

In her letter she said she wasn’t sure and wasn’t going to promise that, but she was thinking she’d be ready by then.  Her doctor and the counselor people at her drug rehab place there are going to see if they can help her be finished in time.  Which I know, she said she can’t promise it and if she needs to stay she’d have to do it.  But I’m really hoping she’s done then.

Family Helps Daughter Who Misses Mom at Drug Rehab

My grandma has come out to stay with me, mostly because she knows how much I’m missing my mommy.  When mommy was first gone, I could sleep very well.  I kept getting up at night and my brain just kept thinking and thinking and thinking, and then I’d get sad. 

Usually I’d go into Mommy and Daddy’s room to see if she came back and I didn’t know it, but she didn’t.  Then I was really tired during the day because I didn’t hardly sleep much.  So that’s when my grandma came out, to sleep nearby me so I wouldn’t be so lonely in the night.

Mom Gone at Drug Rehab Daughter Can’t Sleep

Actually, I was sometimes up in the night even when Mommy was here.  I’d sneak into her bedroom and just kinda hold her hand when she was sleeping.  It made me sad because I couldn’t help her be better, but I just wanted to hold her hand sometimes.  I was pretty tired in school those times too. 

But now I’m sort of better because my grandma is here.  My daddy needs to sleep because he works all day, and I see him after school.  I have supper with him and he comes to my soccer games.  He used to be up with me sometimes when Mommy was still home.  But now my grandma helps me if I can’t sleep.

Sarah Looks For Christmas Reunion

But all I can think about now is Mommy coming home for Christmas.  I really really want her home right now, but I also really want her to be better, so I guess she still has to be at her drug rehab place for a while.  Grandma said she’d help me to make a sign for Mommy and clean the house and have a really nice Christmas for her at home.  That would make me really happy.  And I want to see her being happy too.

Sarah, a fictitious 9 year old girl who’s mom went to drug rehab a few weeks ago for prescription drug addiction

Mommys Secret With Taking Too Much Medicine

My mom didn’t tell us this, but she’s been taking some bad drugs for a long time.  She had these actually to help her because she was in a car accident, and she couldn’t walk for a while, and her back hurt pretty bad.  She kept saying that her back was sore and she took her medicine for a long time.  Except we didn’t know she was taking way too much and it was hurting her body.

I miss my mom now, because she’s been gone for a few weeks and I’m used to having her around.  But actually, really I’ve been missing her for a long time.  Because she’s acted kind of sick ever since she had the accident.  Some parts of her have gotten better, but she’s still just been pretty sad and crabby.  Like she’s here, but she’s kind of not here. 

She can’t do stuff with us because her back is always sore, or she’s in her room sleeping.  Or she just wants us to leave her alone.  Then she cries because she knows she’s not with us very much.  I don’t like it when she feels so bad, but I get sad because she’s like somebody else all the time.  She’s my mom but she’s not my mom.  I miss my mom from before she had the accident. 

Drug Rehab Is Where Mom Needs to Be

Daddy says that she’s at a place called drug rehab.  I didn’t know what this drug rehab thing was before.  But he says this is a place that will help her stop taking her medicine so she can think better and not feel so sad.  I didn’t know medicine could make you feel worse, because she had it to help her.  But I guess she started wanting her medicine more than anything else. 

He knows I miss her, and he does too.  I really really wish she didn’t have to go away to get better.  I wish she could be here in our town so I could see her every day.  But Daddy keeps saying that this drug rehab place is the best thing for her now, and after she’s there she can be with us again.  And she will be better.  I think about her all the time, and I don’t know really what she’s doing all day.  But she did write a letter to me to say that she loves me and can’t wait to be home.  And I keep that letter in my backpack every day. 

My Favorite Day Mom Home From Drug Rehab

My favorite day ever will be when she can be back home with me and Daddy.  I just hope she doesn’t ever ever take that medicine again or go back to that drug rehab place for so long.  I don’t want to keep crying about her anymore.  I love her and I want her back like before her accident, not the sad mom I had after the accident.  I can’t wait to hug her again.

Prescription drug addiction is quietly spreading across the United States as one of the faster growing drug problems.  It’s especially a problem among women.  Men often abuse drugs to escape in the physical sensation, but women abuse drugs to cope with feelings, stress, and losing weight among other reasons.

How Prescription Drugs Can Become Addictive

Opioid prescription drugs can be helpful following a difficult surgery or to help calm severe anxiety.  However, without proper medical supervision, it can be easy for the body to start craving more and more.  The body produces neurotransmitters such as endorphins and adrenaline naturally in the body.  These and other biochemicals are the body’s natural responses to pain, a “fight or flight” trigger, a pleasurable stimulus, and more.  They lock on to neurotransmitter receptor on the tips of nerve cells. 

Opioid painkillers act much like these neurotransmitters but surge through the body in much greater amounts than the body produces.  The opioid molecules are “sticky”, which means that they block the naturally produced neurotransmitters from locking on.  The body adapts to the larger amounts, needing those just to function normally.  The withdrawal process is the body’s reaction to having what it thinks is not enough neurotransmitters. 

The body produces chills, tremors, anxiety, nausea, and many other uncomfortable sensations during withdrawal.  The symptoms are often so powerful, the person goes back to using the drugs quickly.  This is why it can be so difficult to get off opioid prescription drugs without a professional detox process and drug rehab.

Medications Used For Prescription Drug Detox

Methadone and buprenorphine are two common types of prescribed medications used to assist a person during drug detox.  They work to replace the prescription drug in the neurotransmitter receptors without being strong enough to produce addictive effects.  This helps the body calm down from cravings and reduce the overall toxicity.  Eventually, the body gets weaned off the detox drugs as well.  Usually, the detox drugs are used like a cast would be for a broken leg, or a bandage over a large cut.  They aren’t the complete solution, but they support body through the difficult parts of the healing process.

Helping the Body Recover During Detox

Nutritional counseling and fitness therapy are required to build a healthy body during addiction recovery.  Addicts typically don’t take good care of their bodies while they are addicted.  Opioids do a lot of damage to various systems in the body, and good exercise helps to restore them.  Exercise not only builds muscle strength, but it also rebuilds natural pathways for endorphins.  Endorphins give a person a natural sense of well-being and uplifted mood after exercise.  Exercise also helps to regulate involuntary muscle functions like digestion.  Running, Tai Chi, and yoga are among the types of exercise available at The Orchid. 

Good nutrition can be a challenge for many people, especially someone with a drug addiction.  Vitamins and minerals are best absorbed by the body from healthy fresh foods prepared the most nutritious ways.  Along with the exercise, an improved diet helps damaged tissue repair itself and protect against infections.  Many women with addiction also need education about how to create a healthy diet for themselves once treatment is completed.   

Detox First Step of Holistic Treatment

Detox is an important part of the drug treatment process.  The process helps the body to rid itself of the toxic addictive drugs.  Once the body is free of the drugs’ addictive influence, the more in-depth drug treatment process begins.  The supportive staff and other treatment residents will help you make the transition from drug addict to woman in recovery.