He has relapsed

[AmericanGirl]

Car appeared in my driveway this afternoon. difficult child left sober house with most of his possessions. didn't tell them. i called him. no answer. he texted me "i don't know what to say". I told him i loved him and asked what he needed. he said he loved me.

talked with his sponsor. difficult child has new cell. is about 30 min from me with 3 using buddies. have been to see one set of parents tonight. difficult child called livid. he was trying to stay with this kids grandma.

this kid he is with has weapons. i cannot leave house with animals here to go to hotel. called police. they will send extra patrols for two weeks. can renew as needed.

will update when i can. thanks for your prayers.

 

[92025]

Oh that's terrible! First relapse? I guess it's not uncommon to have a few

 

[AmericanGirl]

[h=6]My favorite author is Marianne Williamson. I've had the good fortune to hear her live four times. In April, I confided in her about difficult child. She gave me her email address. I want to share her reply to my email...she writes the most beautiful prayers. It gave me so much peace.

I know difficult child is high, afraid, arrogant, etc. as his sponsor told me, everything in his world right now is pink rainbows. The crash is coming. I pray I can handle it.

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers....
-----------
Dear God,
Please send your angels to ####,
to bless and protect him.
Surround him with light
that the darkness cannot enter.
May the Holy Spirit break the chains
that bind him,
and miraculously remove his addiction.
May he crave no more the stuff of sorrow.
Send angels to his mother than she might know peace,
and remove from both of them any lower things.
May Christ awaken in all concerned.
Thank you, God.
Amen

I'm praying for both of you, ####.
Love,
Marianne


--------

P.s. she will be on Super Soul Sunday this Sunday. Oprah's channel. 10 am central. If you are interested. Her books have changed my life.
[/h]

 

[AmericanGirl]

Guess who isnt sleeping tonight?

My heart is full at the outpouring of love and support. I have people sleeping right now with their cell phones on, ready to take my call. People have offered their homes to me tonight or to come stay here with me. After surviving an alcoholic home plus an abusive marriage, it is healing.

It comes down to this....while my heart is broken, i am powerless over his addiction. Thats all he sees now. It is his lover. Nothing else matters.

So, i wait and pray it will loosen its grip. In the meantime, i pledge to take care of me. To do whatever it takes to lessen my fears.

Tomorrow, i will speak with the rehab and preload plans should difficult child awaken. I will eat properly. I will move his car to a safe place where he cannot get to it. I will secure my home as much as I can. I will talk with my loving friends and accept their help. While i will try to be ready should he decide he needs help, i will not stop my life until that happens.

He knows how much I love him. I am the only one who has always been there for him. Dad, gmom, etc have abandoned him. Not me. I wont leave him. I will leave his addiction. I am powerless over it. It will choose a case of beer over me every time. That doesnt mean i am worthless for i am not. It mean the cunning, evil disease is in charge. I hate addiction.

Thank you for allowing me to post. It helps. Bless you all.

 

[DammitJanet]

I pray that he comes to his senses soon and doesnt hurt anyone. Have you secured the dogs in another place because he knows they are so important to you that he may try to hurt them to hurt you. I agree with moving the car. That is just another thing that he could use as a weapon. I so hope this is a short relapse. You have my prayers and my hugs.

 

[AmericanGirl]

Dogs are here with me. Have a large chest in front of my bedroom door. Cell phone and alarm fob nearby.

Thank you for your support and prayers Janet.

 

[AnnieO]

Just ... I don't have any wisdom, but we're here...

 

[pasajes4]

Prayers for you and your son. Take care of you.

 

[Calamity Jane]

I wasn't online last night, or I would've posted my support to you then. What a beautiful prayer by Marianne Williamson - that and the serenity prayer I'm sure are 2 things you can remember and hold onto now, as well as holding all our hands through this.
I'm so sorry and pray difficult child comes to his senses. Sorry you didn't sleep either - please try to get some rest.

 

[DDD]

I am sending my most supportive and caring support your way. It has always been apparent that your son is blessed to have you in his life....loving him but not enabling him. I'm so glad you have and feel the support of others as you "hunker down" once again, praying to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hugs, AG. DDD

 

[Nancy]

AG I woke in the middle of the night from this foot pain and checked my phone and my heart sank when I saw the title of your post. I couldn't get up at the time to reply because of my foot, but it brought me back to the time difficult child packed her car and left the sober house and I found out two days later when she appeared in our driveway with her possessions in her car. I was devastated, hurt, angry, scared, anxious, panicked, all the emotions rolled into one. You have build a strong support team around you and that will be your saving grace right now. I had not yet built that support team around me and now that I have it I realize how important it is. So i know how you were feeling and I felt so bad for you and wished we could all be there to wrap our arms around you.

You knew this was coming, its like watching an oncoming freight train and not being able to stop it. You now know why he had been treating you so badly. He knew he was going to relapse and was starting to distance himself. Are you afraid because he is angry at you for going to see the parents of one of the boys he is staying with? I understand why you did it and I did many of the things you did too for a time, but it's time to back off. He will have to hit bottom himself, you can no longer bring that bottom up to him. When my difficult child left all the sober houses and was living with a roommate it was actually easier for me to detach than when she was in the sober house and I was looking over my shoulder all the time, waiting for the relapse that I knew was coming, trying to keep her commited to sobriety. It was the final break for me, to realize that her sobriety is her job, not mine and if she didn;t want it for herself I couldn't give it to her but I wasn't going to let her take me down too.

AG you have done everything humanly possible to help your son and then some and you have done it alone. My parents and extended family gave up on my difficult child too so I had no one to go to, but at least I had husband and easy child. You and I will be there for our difficult child's if and when they decide to try sobriety again. Remember he has the tools and he knows where to go for help. It's time to mourn now for what you hoped would be and accept that relapse is part of recovery.

I am so sorry for your aching heart. Several of my support parents have told me that I wanted sobriety more for my difficult child than she wanted for herself. They also said it is so difficult for our young difficult child's to get sober, they haven't even reached the legal age to drink and they said it takes longer for an alocholic to get sober at that age than a drug addict because drugs cause you to hit bottom sooner.

It's time to tell your son you love him but that you won't stand by and watch him kill himself and when he is ready to get help he should let you know.

Nancy

 

[Signorina]

Oh my sweet dear friend.

I am so so sorry for your broken heart. I know how fearful you are. I hate it. I hate these stupid substances for taking our boys away from us. And I hate our stupid boys for turning on the love we poured into them.

I will never forget the awful feeling of being afraid of my son. The look in my ( usually fearless) h's eyes when he said he wanted difficult child out because he was afraid. The way we took out all the knives away and locked our bedroom door. I slept with a rosary in my hands because I wasn't sure what would happen next..

That night, something changed. It sunk in that my beloved boy was truly gone and that he wasn't the jerk now in in my home. Even now, I can feel the coldness-his and my own fear- that I felt that night. H & I went to therapy the next night and the therapist made sure we knew that being afraid on our home had escalated the situation with our difficult child to a new low. A low not to be forgotten or ever excused.

I am so so sorry it has come to this. I am so sorry and so angry that your home is not your sanctuary. I am here for you, I care and I know you are a wonderful mother who did everything x100 for your boy. There was nothing more you could do-you went above and beyond and you did it all with tremendous love. Please never doubt that. XOXO

 

[exhausted]

Oh AG,
My heart just aches for you. You sound so healthy through all this. I am in the middle of my own crisis so I may not be much help but I wanted to tell you the miracles that your posts have brought. My friend and I are doing this Miracle project as you know writing to each other every morning-we are on day 22 of 40. This morning she emailed that she needed to pray but could not find words. (Her husband is an addict). She loves Marianne and there was your prayer-that was no chance thing.

Your help with my many posts has brought comfort and watching you hold the line with difficult child with love and without turning your back has given me unbelievable support. I know how the feelings rush in and the worry as they relaspes (as mine is doing now and has not come home). The challenge is to keep that darkness away and care for ourselves in what ever way works. I wish I could hug you because that is so healing for us-please go get hugs from your friends and keep us posted. ((((((((Huge, cyber-hugs))))))))

 

[recoveringenabler]

AG, I am so very sorry. We're all here for you, you're not alone, hugs to you and prayers for both you and your difficult child.

 

[AmericanGirl]

Know that I'm reading, crying, praying and sending you all hugs of gratitude. No sleep. Just numb.

Somewhat reluctant to admit that part of me doesnt want contact. I cring at the thought of him ringing the doorbell. Im exhausted. It is hard...impossible?...to continue to love, to give to someone, even your own child, who shows nothing but anger and distain in return.

The war isnt over. Just the battle. I know what Sig means about being afraid. I felt that way before rehab but now, i understand more who he is. A true, hard core manipulator...who makes up a daughter....shows pics to people...talks about how i can see her but he can't?!? That is worse thn mere attention seeking or addiction to me....it is mental illness.

Thanks or being there. Going to try to sleep.

 

[recoveringenabler]

AG, I hope you can sleep. I am so sorry. I know your pain. Yes, mental illness, the depth of pain for those on the periphery of it is unfathomable. All I can do is pray for those of us connected to this pain and send you as much empathy, compassion, sincere wishes that you find your way to a peaceful and meaningful life and my deepest and heartfelt recognition of how much this hurts. I am so so sorry. Little by little, with all your support around you, it does get easier.

 

[DaisyFace]

Sending my support...

(((hugs)))

 

[Kathy813]

AG, I am out of town with a couple of girlfriends and have not checked the board for a couple of days and just saw this. I am so sorry! Please know that I am thinking of you and sending my support along with a virtual hug.

~Kathy

 

[pinevalley]

AG: I read your post earlier today, and I was so upset to read about your difficult child's relapse. I am so sorry for your pain. I hope that you realize that you have helped many parents on this board by sharing the problems with your difficult child. You have helped me to deal with the crisis with my own son, and I thank you for this. Your strength has really inspired me, and I will pray for both you and your difficult child. I hope that you are able to get some sleep tonight, and that you are safe in your home. Sending many HUGS to you....