The Partnership welcomes author Joshua Lyon to Decoder.  Joshua is the author of Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict, a compelling and honest book about his painkiller addiction and the growing epidemic of Rx abuse among today’s youth.  We’re excited to be giving away a free copy of his book Pill Head - new in paperback - see below for details.

When I was younger, I used to harbor a lot of anger toward my parents regarding my drug abuse. I accused them of missing all the signs that I was in emotional pain and using any substance I could to mask that pain. But deep down, I knew that anger was baseless. I was a high-functioning addict, and telling lies was as easy to me as breathing.

After years of messing around with pretty much every drug, I discovered prescription painkillers while writing an article about how easy they were to buy online. As part of my research I bought some myself, just to prove the point. I decided to sample the goods, and my response was immediate. Nothing felt better, and I could do anything on them that I’d do when I was sober — drive, go to work, even babysit younger family members. I was constantly high, but I always felt 100% in control. And no one knew.

The thing about painkillers is that in the early stages of abuse, it can sometimes be hard to tell when someone is using them. You don’t giggle uncontrollably or stuff your face like you do while high on weed You don’t have to keep excusing yourself from the table to run to the bathroom for another bump of coke. With pills, you don’t even have to leave the table at all. I swallowed illegally-obtained Oxys and Dilaudid all the time in front of my friends and family. No one thought twice about it – at most, someone would ask if I had a headache, assuming I was taking Tylenol.

While it was hard to immediately see the outward effects of my pill intake, inside, I was detaching from reality. I always describe the feeling of being on pills as being inside a protective bubble. You feel like nothing can hurt you…and eventually, nothing can, simply because you’ve got no emotions left. I started to float through my life without thinking about how any of my actions had consequences. I burned through friends, had an HIV scare due to my carelessness, and eventually had to suffer through recovery from surgery because the Vicodin the hospital gave me was like baby aspirin due to my massive tolerance for painkillers.

Thankfully, that severe pain during surgery was a big wake-up call to get my act together.

During the height of my addiction, I think my friends knew something was wrong, but just weren’t quite sure what it was because I was so good at hiding my problem. In my experiences though, there are a few subtle, telltale clues to look for if you suspect someone might be abusing painkillers. They cause pupils to constrict. Sometimes, it becomes hard to finish a sentence – common words suddenly escape you (this increases dramatically the longer you abuse them). And for many people, painkillers make their skin itch, so excessive scratching can be an indicator too.

But I think one of the most important things to watch for is much simpler – language. Half of teens, and an equal amount of parents, believe that prescription medications are safer than “street” drugs. The fact that emergency room visits due to prescription medication overdoses just jumped 111% over a five-year period says otherwise (source: CDC).

If you hear a teenager make an off-hand joke about wanting a Valium to deal with something mildly stressful, or casually joke about looking forward to the Vicodin they’ll be getting for wisdom teeth removal, then you might already have a problem on your hands. These seemingly innocent remarks could indicate that your teen believes prescriptions medicines aren’t something to be overly concerned or careful about.

When used correctly, prescription medicines are extremely helpful to many people with legitimate and necessary medical uses, but it’s the presumed harmlessness that causes most dangerous situations. Communication and knowledge is key.  Speaking of keys, I encourage you to get one for your medicine cabinet.

Editor’s Note: WIN a copy of Pill Head by Joshua Lyon.
HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment responding to Josh’s post with a valid email address and a winner will be chosen at random at the end of this giveaway. This giveaway ends next Friday July 16 @ 5PM EST. US only. Good luck!

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  Posted by: Joshua Lyon