| Monday, March 17, 2008 |
| Cold Medicines are Killing our Teenagers? |
Today I discovered a killer of our teenagers and would like to share it with you. It should not be a surprise to learn that there is a thriving subculture on the Internet that gives out advice and information on just about anything you can think of. However, this day I would like to discuss something called robotripping. It means taking over the counter cough and cold medicines to get high.
I am told that one in ten messages passed on the internet between teenagers are about drugs. These sites tell our teens, what to take, where to get it, how to take it, how much to take and what other things to take with it to make it better.
Let me tell you how this all started. I had a cold with a bad cough. I bought some cold medicine, three different kinds and put them on the counter in my bathroom. My teen son had his own bathroom and to be honest I didn’t think a thing about leaving the medicine out.
Anyway, I took the medicine and it made me feel icky so I quit taking it and tried new stuff. To make a long and miserable cold story short, I got better. That weekend I was cleaning up and saw the bottles. But I noticed the cough syrup was almost gone and so I opened the other bottles and sure enough all the pills were about gone.
Now I knew that taking cough syrup to get high had been around for years, but surely my son would not do that!? I went to the computer and started to look it up. It scared me. I found that kids were taking it in such large quantities that at the least they were damaging their livers and at the most they were dying. Yes DYING.
I was aghast and angry. My sons and I talk of everything. Surely this could not have been going on right under my nose and without me knowing? So I waited. You know the “Mom’s wait” vacillating between anger and fear. While I waited I read up on it and learned.
Then I read this:
*A dissociative drug which reduces (or blocks) signals to the conscious mind from other parts of the brain, typically to the physical senses. Such a state of sensory deprivation and dissociation can facilitate hallucinations, and dreamlike states of mind which may resemble some psychedelic mind states.
My son was escaping and hallucinating and I missed it? How can that be? I learned that there are over 250 products with DXM in it and the drug companies that make it don’t want it regulated even if it will keep our teens safe. I learned that is a real addiction just like any other drug but that it was worse in a way because it was legal and easy to get.
As I read the list of symptoms: restlessness, confusion, dizziness, double or blurred vision, slurred speech, impaired physical coordination, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, rapid heart beat, drowsiness, numbness of fingers and toes, and disorientation. DXM abusers describe different "plateaus" ranging from mild distortions of color and sound to visual hallucinations and "out-of-body," feelings of detachment from the environment and self, sensations, and loss of motor control. I became panicky and ready to fight this with him all the way to health!
He came home; I tried hard not to attack. I had done the self Mom talk and I was ready. Calmly I asked, “Are you robot tripping?” He laughed and said, “If you mean am I robotripping, no I am not, I am not that stupid, why? You been on the internet again Mom” So we talked about the missing medicine and found out it was one of his friends (who is now in treatment).
All I can say is that day I found a killer of our teenagers. It is important to communicate and keep aware of your home and what is going on in your world. Even the smallest of things can be an important clue to a problem.
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posted by Khate @ 3:34 AM   |
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