Denver

I’m not an addict, but I know someone who is, and I’m to blame. It’s my fault she’s an addict because I fill her prescriptions, and if I did a better job as her caregiver, she might not be so dependent upon the medications she abuses. The addict is an important person in my life, but it’s not someone you’d expect. It’s not my 16-year old son; it’s not my hardworking husband; it’s not my best friend who is recently widowed; it’s my 87 year old mother, and I’m her senior care provider.

I shouldn’t blame myself; I know the statistics–approximately 70% of seniors aged 60 and older, like my mother, abuse prescription medication. My mother, like many other seniors who misuse prescription drugs, probably doesn’t know she’s an addict.  They think they’re just taking the drugs that they require, but often that’s one and the same.

My mother’s prescription drug abuse started when my father passed away and she was prescribed Valium to help her cope. She started taking it “only when she needed it” which was everyday, and realizing it helped her insomnia, she started taking it again at nighttime. My mother is an addict, because now without it, she can’t get to sleep, but she also takes it all the time which is abuse. Her doctor renews her prescriptions, because she’s older and there’s the perception that she needs it.

It might not be my fault, but my mother is an addict, and I blame myself.

Sources:
1.    Bio-Medicine
2.    Join Together

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