Heroin pandemic

kateee · Feb 29, 2016

The same is happening in western mass now, I work in the ED and our heroin ods have more than quadrupled this past few months!

guest769224 · Feb 29, 2016

Same with Utah

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Mar 2, 2016

Ohio also, and we have had a surge of moms on heroin coming in to get put on methadone. At any given time we have 10-12 kids on methadone withdrawl, another 5-6 on postpartum and 5-8 on peds. It is truly scary.

dream'n, BSN, RN · Mar 3, 2016

I was told that heroin is cheaper than and easier to obtain for teens nowadays, than alcohol is.

blackberry74 · Mar 4, 2016

I was told that heroin is cheaper than and easier to obtain for teens nowadays than alcohol is.[/quote']
This was said in our class last week, we were learning about pain meds and prescriptions costing more than a fix on the corner. Sad times.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Mar 10, 2016

Vermont is also experiencing a heroin epidemic.

RNof10years · Apr 13, 2016

New Hampshire is also having a pandemic. I work in a clinic and I find it rewarding.

ktwlpn, LPN · Apr 13, 2016

Before middle and upper white class kids started dying no-one really much cared.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Apr 15, 2016

A reporter for the New York Times noticed that.

When the nation's long-running war against drugs was defined by the crack epidemic and based in poor, predominantly black urban areas, the public response was defined by zero tolerance and stiff prison sentences. But today's heroin crisis is different. While heroin use has climbed among all demographic groups, it has skyrocketed among whites; nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white.
And the growing army of families of those lost to heroin â€” many of them in the suburbs and small towns â€” are now using their influence, anger and grief to cushion the country's approach to drugs, from altering the language around addiction to prodding government to treat it not as a crime, but as a disease.

Nashvillejeanne · Jan 12, 2017

I am just a mom and a RN.. but mostly just a mom who lost her oldest son to an OD in the summer of 2015. My heart broke the day his heart stopped beating. No, it shattered. I have yet to recover. Oh sure, I get up and go to work. I smile. I say I am ok. I lie. I still cry everyday, though not all day anymore. The guilt is overwhelming. We nurses are "fixers". I was supposed to protect him. I was supposed to be able to help him. I could not protect him from this monster. Every bit of my retirement is gone, gone to rehab that did not help. One last relapse took his life one month after he was best man in his brothers wedding. I am grateful for that last happy memory.

When people learn I have lost a son, and ask what happened. I have learned to be honest now. I find it helps to tell the truth...

"His name is Ryan. He was 30 years old. He started on medication to treat an injury and when he could not that medication anymore he went to heroin. He tried to get off it and could not. It took his dignity, his soul and then his life. He was not a bad person. You would have liked him. His life had meaning. I loved him without judgment. If you know someone struggling do whatever you can do to help them and never give up hope"

Ryan is buried on my farm in Tennessee, under our oak tree. His grave was dug and prepared by his brother, his cousins and friends, his mom and dad. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. We had a home funeral. A sundial is his marker and marks the time till we are all together again.

Visit Ryan at: Ryan P Frye at Virtual Memorials.com and say "hi"

[email protected]

Addicts are people with families that love them, they are more than the disease of addiction.....Remember that as you work with them.

Thanks for all you do...

Just a mom