My brother passed away in June 2007 of an overdose related to painkiller addiction and abuse. He was 47.
He had been to detox & rehab but it didn’t take. He expressed on interest in returning and was hostile at the mention of him needing to take steps to stop his drug abuse.
He started with marijuana in college and ever since had problems following through and finishing what he started. He was immature and had problems coping. He was just angry most of the time.
Our mother infantilized him and was overbearing, which certainly didn’t help his path to maturity and adulthood. The other children had the good sense to marginalize her influence on our adulthood. while we honored her, we put her antics in perspective and minimize her influence. He never had the wherewithal to do the same.
He was dissatisfied with his life. Had problems concentrating and staying focused. He preferred his high to living. While he didn’t want to die, I think he didn’t really want to live, either.
He needed his drugs as an escape. None of the solutions in the public discourse would have made a difference: he knew the risks, he knew that he had options available, he knew the dangers. There was no social program that could have told him anything he didn’t already know.
Ultimately, he made his decisions and decided he didn’t want to be free of his addictions. He passed away in his sleep after enjoying his last high on Sunday, June 25th.
Sorry, this was last year, June 2017, not 2007. Typo.
I lost a brother to addiction as well.
From the time he was a child, until he died, he always made poor decisions.
I’m very sorry.
I hope we find better ways to help kids who don’t seem to fit in to this rather outmoded education/raising kids method. It’s never going to get better if we keep forcing both parents out of the home. Institutions are notorious for not allowing outside the box kids to thrive.
My youngest has some signs of that too, guessing your brother had some adhd style traits and your mom saw his weaknesses and tried to over protect him and none of it ever got to the source, helped him find a good way to live, more than cope. You know? I spend a lot of time with differently abled people and there needs to be room for all of us on this planet. We do all fit in. We were created to.
Sad tale and so recent. I’m really sorry. I bet he is sorry now to have stressed you all out for all those years.