[doc.rose]

Have a 35 yr old brother who has used pretty much since the age of 15. Started with pot/alcohol as a teen and slowly graduated to hardcore prescription drugs. At the moment he is on methadone and roxicodone (I think that is how you spell roxicodone). On the fourth year of heavy use. Also uses Xanax with the methadone and roxicodone. His girlfriend gets close to 1000 pills a month from a pill mill in Florida. There is no monitoring system there so its easy to get that much from one doc. My husband and I put him through a 28 day methadone detox a little over a year ago but his girlfriend who didn't want to get clean sabotaged the effort. He moved back with her within ten days after the 28 days were up. Plus i think she mailed him someething because on the 20th day of detox he all of a sudden had an appetite and lots of energy but that only lasted that day then he was back to being sick. I have had to cut ties with him in the last 4 months because i cant handle the abuse he puts me through when i wont do what he wants. He wants money all the time and my husband and I told him that if he moves back to FL that we will not help him financially anymore and that this is the last time we would help him. We found a clinic he could check in in FL that will give him suboxine for the 1st four days of detox but of course he wants a maintanance program where he can get a large amount of the drug daily. A friend of his in FL actually paid for the maint. program for two months beffore he realized my brother was getting stuff on the side from his girlfriend. I love my little brother so much and it kills me to see him like this but the reality is he doesnt want to quit. He says that whenhe has tried to detox that his w/d symptoms get worse after five days, not better. But i have been reading a lot of peoples stories on this website and most people suffer the worst of the w/d the 1st 3 to 5 days and then start to feel a little better each day after. I know that he needs to hit rock bottom, but when will that happen? The lies and just the way they live their daily lives seems like bottom to me. any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! my username is a nickname my friends gave me over twenty years ago, Im not a doctor!!

[Cats Meow]

You have it all figured out, there's really no advice to offer you that you don't know. From what you said he'll have to hit rock bottom, for that to happen he'll have to run out of money and drugs, then get sick of being sick and want to do something to change his life, he'll probably turn to you then since you helped him in the past and care. All you can do now is not contribute to his addiction, and be careful that he doesn't get so desperate that he steals from you, it's a good time to create distance, and wait for the inevitable.

[doc.rose]

he lives in FL and I live in CA. So its kind of nice that he can't just show up on my doorstep at any time. I will just wait and see what happens. It's hard though because I do want to know if he is ok. I check the local jail website to see if has been arrested every few weeks. His girlfriend was arrested on june for VOP. She is a deadbeat Mom.