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Help for Parents

Signs That Your Child may be Using Methamphetamines:

• Insomnia
• Skin rashes, soars, and infections
• Progressively aggressive or violent behavior
• Disinterest in former activities
• Increased physical activity
• Severe depression
• Compulsive cleaning, grooming, sorting, disassembling
• Drug paraphernalia such as pipes, light bulbs, folded tin foil, silver gun wrappers
• Intense paranoia often about being caught, bugs, spies, etc.
• Dilated pupils
• Body tremors
• Appetite loss
• Diarrhea, constipation, nausea, and vomiting
• Dramatic weight loss

Mary Haydal, one of our national spokespersons for methpedia.org is the mother of an 18-year old who died from meth. Mary and her daughter’s story are found on this page. It is both gripping and horrifying. Feel free to download this story and share it with friends, neighbors and relatives. Every parent should be required to read Mary’s story. Mary offers concrete and simple steps for helping parents detect meth use and to identify the appropriate intervention to save their lives.

A mother of an 18-year-old who died from methamphetamine use wrote, “Denial is an amazing thing. We cling to it. Denial allows us to not condone what we cannot morally accept. Parents have this trait mastered.”

So ask yourself today, what would you do if you knew your child was using meth? Understand that you are not qualified to help them and you will need to seek immediate professional help.

You may choose to follow any of these paths:

• Drug Testing to see if your child is using. You can test your child at any local hospital and many health departments using simple urine analysis for $20-$50. However, please note, that meth will only show up in the urine 24-72 hours after use. Hair analysis will show you drug use for the past 90 days and costs $85-$175. Call your local hospital or health department for urine analysis and they can also refer you to labs that conduct hair analysis.
• Seek professional help to have your child analyzed for treatment. You can contact a local psychiatrist or psychologists to have your child evaluated for mental, addiction and emotional problems.
• Seek Treatment

However, before you take these very important actions, you will need to approach your child. Drug addicts are very manipulative people and your child may lie, steal, and generally act out of character. Right from the beginning it is important that your child understands that there are consequences for his or her actions and you must uphold those consequences. It is important to know where you child is and who they are with at all times. Double check where they say they are.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Risk Behavior has indicated that the greatest single risk factor for substance abuse, crime and violence is unsupervised time. Be sure your kids are connected to adults.

It is important that you act as a parent and not a friend when your child has a drug problem. Listen without judgment, but be ready to act on whatever they tell you. You will never be ready to hear what they may tell you. It is important that you seek help for yourself as well. You will need support to be the strong parent you will need to be to be able to deal with a drug-addicted child.

Most importantly, be a good role model for your children and let them know that drug use isn’t acceptable.

Meth use has serious long term physical and mental effects. Addiction is very serious and often takes years of work to overcome. Meth addicts frequently take several years of treatment to permanently end the habit. However, treatment does work and despite common myth, patients do not have to be ready to quit by themselves. They are children and need your support and help in addition to immediate professional drug treatment.

Be available to your children. Be willing to listen and then talk. Seek the wisdom and experience of other parents and counselors and affirm your child’s accomplishments and successes.

Long-Term Health Affects of Meth Use

• Bone loss and malnutrition
• Irreversible liver damage
• Various cardiovascular problems
• Potentially fatal kidney and lung damage
• Abnormal brain chemistry
• Long-term damage from strokes including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
• Chronic depression; changes in personality and behavior.

If your child is 18-21 and is addicted to drugs, suicidal, or mentally unstable, in most states, you can go to court and get legal guardianship until they are 21. This will allow you to force them into treatment.

Remember that it will not always be easy to do what needs to be done, but your child’s life depends on it. A former meth addict said, “A meth addict will always stop using drugs. They will either be killed by the violence involved with meth use, be put in jail, be killed by the use itself, or get treatment. Which path do you want to watch your child go down?

(Written in Collaboration with Mary Haydal)

To Get Immediate Help

To locate a treatment facility in your community, contact your State’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse or click onto the following website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: The Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator

Consult with local counselors, school counselors or clergy for referrals or advice on how to proceed with treatment.