{"id":9,"date":"2020-10-04T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/?page_id=9"},"modified":"2020-10-20T02:49:55","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T02:49:55","slug":"red-flags-for-opiate-abuse","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/red-flags-for-opiate-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"RED FLAGS\/OPIATE ABUSE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center has-bright-red-color has-text-color wp-block-heading\">&#8220;GOT DRUGS?!  YOU LIKELY DO&#8230;&amp; DON&#8217;T KNOW IT&#8221; (M.M.)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>WATCH FOR&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\"><strong>WATCH FOR&#8230;..<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Money missing and seems unaccounted for: mom thinks \u201d I thought I had $10 left in my wallet; didn\u2019t I have $10? Well, maybe I spent it.\u201d YOU, THE PARENT, BEGIN TO QUESTION YOURSELF, YOUR MEMORY OF MONEY AND CIRCUMSTANCES<\/span><\/li><li>Change (coins) missing from home \u2013 purse, change jar, etc.<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Small items missing and unaccounted for \u2013 jewelry, valuables, household items of resale quality<\/span><\/li><li>Spoons may be missing from the kitchen; or appear blackened\/burnt on the underside<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">The user may steal your credit\/debit card or checks (from the middle of the pack\/out of sequence)\u2013 use fraudulently, and run up debt under your name; scrutinize your bank\/card statements often for irregularities or unauthorized purchases<\/span><\/li><li>Opiates are sedatives, \u201cdowners,\u201d therefore they make the user very tired. User will begin to seem very dopey, fatigued, sleep much more than usual, sometimes to the point of being unable to wake; watch for episodes of \u201cnodding off\u201d while sitting, talking, eating, driving<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Eyes will reflect opiate usage \u2013 pupils are pinpoint and fixed \u2013 unresponsive to changes of light<\/span><\/li><li>Opiate side effects: itchy skin, having the feeling and appearance of \u201cskin crawling\u201d; \u201ccotton mouth\u201d \u2013 speech is impaired and\/or slurred, user constantly licks his lips and lips appear dysfunctional<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Be watchful of your child making FREQUENT and apparently unnecessary trips out of the house with all kinds of excuses: \u201cget gas, cigarettes\u201d \u201cgo grab a quick bite\u201d \u201cto drop something off\/pick something up\u201d. THESE ARE DRUG PICK-UPS\/DROP OFFS<\/span><\/li><li>Be watchful of your child having people stopping over FREQUENTLY or UNEXPECTEDLY and for only moments\/short times; be watchful for a lot of people traffic on your property or in your home<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Opiate users will often wear sunglasses inappropriately \u2013 inside, nighttime, days which obviously do not warrant their wearing<\/span><\/li><li>Appetite and weight will usually decrease drastically as opiate use becomes all consuming; the user progressively loses all interest in eating and drinking. Watch for: multiple bottles and glasses of water, often partially full<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">User loses all interest in any recreational activity, including the opposite sex<\/span><\/li><li>Personal hygiene suffers; user loses interest in showering, clean clothes, etc.<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Watch for evidence of constipation (opiate side effect) \u2013 laxatives, enemas, etc.<\/span><\/li><li>Volatile, violent, angry behavior begins and escalates, especially if cornered, questioned, or disciplined; breaks house rules<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">LYING!! ABOUT EVERYTHING; secretive behavior<\/span><\/li><li>Most likely begins encounters with police, arrests<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Watch for time missed from school\/work because of NOT being able to function \u2013 lethargic, always sleepy\/dopey: this is user\u2019s active use symptoms<\/span><\/li><li>Watch for signs of \u201cdope sick\u201d \u2013 this is the user\u2019s attempt at getting clean\/off opiates: symptoms are exactly like the flu, in varying degrees, and can last for a day to a week. Be aware of time being missed from school\/work because of these repeated \u201csick days\u201d<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Watch for snorting paraphernalia, i.e. empty\/disassembled pens, straws, rolled\/folded dollar bills or pieces of paper<\/span><\/li><li>Watch for: sinus congestion, sniffling, stuffy nose<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Users will have \u201ctrack marks\u201d- injection sites \u2013 on arms or other body parts; these will often be explained away as an \u201cinjury\u201d. For example, with a band-aid; or user will write over the site with pen\/ink and say \u201cit\u2019s just a pen mark,\u201d or get a tattoo over sites in effort to hide them. LADIES \u2013 watch for cover-up makeup missing \u2014 may be taken by user to cover i.v. injection sites.<\/span><\/li><li>Users will usually wear long-sleeved clothing, to cover arms\/track marks, even in the hottest weather\/conditions<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Watch for burn holes in EVERYTHING!! shirts, pants, in bedroom, on furniture, in car, etc.<\/span><\/li><li>Look for pinprick holes and blood stains on clothing: on shirt sleeves, cuffs; pants; inside of pants pockets<\/li><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">Watch for blood spots\/droplets anywhere in the house or in the car<\/span><\/li><li>DO search the room, bags, cars, clothes for paraphernalia: needles\/needle caps; tiny black elastic bands; hollowed-out or disassembled pens; straws; small empty baggies (clear or colored; wax, plastic or paper); alcohol prep pads or wrappers; cotton balls; small pieces of cotton fiber\u2013like from a cigarette filter<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:27px\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;GOT DRUGS?! YOU LIKELY DO&#8230;&amp; DON&#8217;T KNOW IT&#8221; (M.M.) WATCH FOR&#8230;. WATCH FOR&#8230;.. Money missing and seems unaccounted for: mom thinks \u201d I thought I had $10 left in my wallet; didn\u2019t I have $10? Well, maybe I spent it.\u201d YOU, THE PARENT, BEGIN TO QUESTION YOURSELF, YOUR MEMORY OF MONEY AND CIRCUMSTANCES Change (coins) &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/red-flags-for-opiate-abuse\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;RED FLAGS\/OPIATE ABUSE&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marysbottomline.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}