Six years ago right after our 16 year old son's "arrest" things spun out of control in an instant. I was constantly getting calls from the juvenile detective telling me about the latest incident and receiving tons of mail from the county court. Calls from the school were non-stop and he became unbelievably defiant and disrespectful overnight. He was a monster and I couldn't stand him being home. Although I worried when he wasn't - I was also relieved when he left the house. Over time I was able to turn my despair into serenity because I worked at it. I started with counseling, turned to Al Anon, joined a family support group, prayer group, and used what I learned into advocacy and even give parent education presentations at our local middle school. I also joined a number of other organizations that support and work toward helping families and addicts.

Yes - I developed strength and during this time our son seemed to get better. He was no longer using the drugs that got him into trouble and even though he is still using - he is soooo much better.

I often wondered how I would respond if things got bad again or if "the other shoe would drop"? Was I doing better because our situation was better? Or am I really, really healthier? Well - i don't need to wonder anymore. My second son, who we knew has a drinking problem came to us last week and revealed that he is addicted to heroin. What? All the talks I've done on this topic - that kids start with pain meds and then turn to heroin because it's cheaper and more restrictions are being put on the prescribed medicine and here we are. He had his tonsils removed 2 years ago and that is when it started. And here I thought that if I kept them and handed them to him - all would be fine. Not. He admitted that he went behind my back and contacted the doctor for more. Because he was 22 - he could.

Well - I know it's early in the discovery and he doesn't live with us so it's not in our face like it was when our youngest went through his stuff - but I do feel A LOT stronger. Faith in God has helped me tremendously.W Whenever I wake in the middle of the night and can't sleep...... I pray to God asking Him to watch over and protect my son(s) and then I'm able to go back to sleep.

This is so surreal to me and foreign. I really didn't know anything about detox and how that works but once our son told us - he was determined to get off of it. He got through the detox and says he hasn't felt this good in 8 months. Wish he would follow it up with treatment but he says he doesn't want to now. In the beginning of his detox he was telling us how much he wanted it.

Anyway - has anyone had a loved one go through detox and stay off of it for a long time? I know the nature of the disease and the power this drug has but --- I wonder if some people are fortunate enough - maybe early enough in the using - that they were able to stop using heroin - at least.