Disappearing medications

[comatheart]

Because of a past history of taking medications out of the cabinet and crushing them up with the intent to give them (unknowingly) to his brother all of the medications in our home are under lock and key. My difficult child has a pill distributor with 7 days worth of medications that he has access to. I refilled it on Tuesday with the exception of his Zoloft which he only had 2 days left of medications and needed to be refilled at the pharmacy. Today I picked up the new prescription and when I went to add them to his pill box I noticed the Abilify pill is missing out of every day slot.

I am very concerned. Is he taking them all at once? Is he giving it or selling it to other kids? What is he doing with them!? We only have exactly enough of these pills to get us through to our next psychiatrist appointment. Obviously now we're short and we are going to have to reschedule and tell the doctor WHY.

If you had a child who couldn't tell the truth if it were looking him in the face would you wait to bring this up while in the psychiatrist's office or would you confront him now? Do you have any other ideas??

I know some prescription drugs are popular among teenagers to pass around or sell. Anyone know of there is a "market" for this kind of drug??

 

[Marguerite]

I went looking online to find clues, and can't find anything specific to Abilify as a drug of choice in any way. However, that doesn't really help here, there's no knowing what he's telling people. If these pills look sufficiently different, he could be using their unknown appearance to claim they are something else, something worth paying him for.

I remember a guy I knew at school who stole a stick of chalk from the teacher's box and carved it up to look like pills. He then sold them to a kid in another grade who later reported that they were "strong stuff - I got really high!"

I would go for calling the psychiatrist NOW and then confronting in his office.

Marg

Marg

 

[comatheart]

Thank you Marg. Unfortunately, it's the weekend so not really an option.

I searched his room as best I could (you could lose a person in there!) and didn't find any extra money or the medication. I don't know what to do! I mean, I guess I decided I have to confront him so I can physically give him the Abilify tonight, tomorrow and Sunday. If I don't, I'm afraid of his body's reaction of going off it cold turkey- then again who knows if he's been taking it at all!?!?

I'm totally struggling with natural consequences when it comes to drug use. The pot he was caught smoking 2 weeks ago, now messing with prescription drug medications. I'm totally drawing a blank, what could the natural consequence possible be????

 

[SRL]

Because of his past history and potential danger to others (brother) the natural consequence is that he no longer be trusted with access to his medications.

He can't be trusted with a week's worth of medications. Dole them out and watch him take them.

 

[BusynMember]

I had a drug abuser and they can stare you straight in the eyes, crying, and lie to you. Rather than trusting him or even confronting him (as you know it's lose/lose..he'll lie) I would take all the mds, lock them up, and give them to him one at a time in front of you and hub. Period. This is not somebody you can trust with a week's worth of medication. I found it pointless to try to get the truth out a kid who doesn't tell it. Just do what you need to do to keep everybody safe. Your child will know why you are doing it. If he dares to ask, say, "You know" and don't confront him. Kids will abuse ANY drug, I have learned. And if he was caught with pot, he has probably tried other drugs as well. They usually own up to pot and say "It was my first time." Haha. But they are usually dabbling in more serious drugs as well...I learned all I know from my daughter who gave me the ugly details after she quit...and only AFTER she quit.

 

[toughlovin]

I agree with midwest mom that the natural consequence is that you take complete control of the medications and dispense them. The other natural consequences of drug use are way too serious to let them happen when he is 14. Then you still have influence and legal responsibility that it makes sense for you to intervene any way you can. Once they are 18 there is not much you can do and you do need to hope and pray they will have natural consequences that are not too terrible and come to their senses and get help for themselves but at that point there is not a whole lot you can do. I speak from experience as my 19 year old is currently in drug rehab.

As far as confronting him. I would not ask him as he will lie. You know this so asking him is pointless. I think I would let him know you know.... so you might say from now on I have to dispense the medications to you because there have been some missing and we know you are misusing them somehow. I found that if I approached it from a place of knowledge then sometimes, but only sometimes, I would get some part of the truth.

MWmom is right.... he may admit to smoking pot, but it might be more. That was also our experience, even as he was getting to go to rehab from jail. "They will laugh at me cause I just smoke weed".... Our son did not see himself as having a serious drug problem because he did not need to go to detox and yet he was fooling around with all kinds of bad stuff and was sitting in jail. He was headed towards a path of serious drug addiction.

And make sure you are also locking up any OTC medications.... those are abused a lot by teens. Especially the cough medications like robitussen.

 

[DammitJanet]

I dont know about abilify but seroquel has a street value because cocaine users use it to come down from the high. I also have a sister in law who is addicted to seroquel and buys it from a street dealer in addition to what she gets from her psychiatrist. Go figure!