If your child is already a teenager then your days with them are numbered. It won’t be long until your teen strikes out on his or her own. At that point your relationships changes. I don’t say this to be a Debbie Downer. I want you to be intentional with your time. I want you to thoroughly enjoy the time you have left with your kids living at home with you.
Helping teens grow and families improve connection,
Lauren Goodman, MS, MFT
100% Pure Methylenedioxymethampethamine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The use of “Molly” is on the rise. I’ve even encountered several teens coming through my office that have abused the drug. This is scary because it is MUCH more dangerous than they realize. If you see your teenager texting about it, or overhear them talking about it, have a serious conversation. Don’t let your teen either tell you that Molly is just a person, or that it’s not a big deal. You have to be educated and be smarter than that, and you have to be scared enough to confront them.
Okay, so what is Molly? Molly is methylenedioxymethamphetamine. What? At least I’m assuming that’s your next thought. We’ll just call it MDMA from now on. MDMA has a much better known format called ecstacy. Is that a little bit more familiar? It used to be known as the “rave drug” because it would be taken prior to attending parties that last for 12 or more hours. It causes feelings of euphoria, energy, comfort, closeness and happiness. People who take either ecstasy or Molly feel more comfortable touching other people, and feel warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes it also has hallucinogenic results, altering a person’s sense of time and space.
MDMA is a type of substance that causes increased tolerance. Herein lies one of its dangers. People find the high so appealing that they will use it every few hours when they are on a binge (These binges are referred to as “rolling”). They also often use it on several separate party occasions. Eventually larger amounts of the drug are needed for the high, and particularly for the hallucinogenic properties. An overdose of an MDMA drug (either ecstacy or Molly) can lead to elevated body temperature, lethally high blood pressure, cardiac issues and seizures. What is the bottom line? It can kill your child.
People who abuse MDMA have also been known to become very dehydrated. In their efforts to rehydrate they can actually drink too much water, which causes a dangerous electrolyte imbalance.
Adolescents mix Molly or ecstasy with other drugs. This further increases the dangers because the chemical properties are altered and possibly made more toxic.
Part of the reason you need to talk with your teenager about this is that it will often show up at parties. It is different than heroin or cocaine in that teenagers know those drugs are dangerously addictive. They don’t often try those types of drugs without a progression through alcohol, marijuana and other experimentation. Molly and ecstasy are different though. I have had teenagers tell me they’ve used it just because it was at a party, even when they are not normally drinkers or drug abusers. They honestly believed it is not a dangerous drug.
Help your teenager understand the risks they are taking if they use Molly or ecstasy (also sometimes called ‘E’). Tell your teenager to make sure a friend is taken to the emergency room if they seem dangerously high. Teens are often afraid to take a friend to the ER because they don’t want to get in trouble.
Just be in conversation with your teen. Find out if they’ve ever been offered Molly or ecstasy. Ask them if anyone they know has taken it. Remind them there are risks to using these types of drugs. It’s hard to have this conversation, but even if your teenager acts annoyed, they feel loved that you care.
Helping teens grow and families improve connection,
Lauren Goodman, MS, MFT
In therapy I have many conversations with teens about character qualities they need to develop in order to be functional adults. While conversations are helpful, lessons are better “caught, not taught.” Mom and Dad, you are in a better position to reinforce character development than I am as your teen’s counselor.
Sometimes I have a client come through my office whose parent has an outstanding method for teaching a character trait. When I see this I can’t help but pass it on to you. Lucky for us, this one is truly simple but so effective!
This parent uses money to teach her daughter self-control and self-discipline. She thinks she’s simply creating good money habits in her daughter, but it actually does so much more than that. Check it out:
Helping teens grow and families improve connection,
Lauren Goodman, MS, MFT
This past week I met with a psychologist who specializes solely in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He had some really interesting things to say, and I paraphrased a couple of them in this video. The bottom line though is that you CAN’T give up when you’re facing down fears. You really can get through it, even though it feels impossible.
Helping teens grow and families improve connection,
Lauren Goodman, MS, MFT
A new app helps doctors know when a patient is “med seeking.”
Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
It’s still in its early phases of testing, but one Toronto Emergency Room has put ER doctors on the path to reducing prescriptions given to “med seeking” patients.
A fair number of patients who go to see a doctor fake pain or illness in order to obtain a prescription for certain drugs. These can often include opiates such as oxycontin, benzodiazepines such as Valium or Xanax, and other drugs. It can be extremely challenging for a doctor to know when someone is faking or telling the truth if there are no specific tests to help them make their determination.
My sister is a nurse on a hospital inpatient unit. She tells me some patients are constantly asking for medication for this or that. They are often asked to rate their pain on a scale of 1-5 and they claim to be a 5 so they can have stronger medicine. They sometimes become combative, rude and irate when they are told they need to wait longer. She says it can be a real challenge to know when a painkiller isn’t working because the patient already has an addiction to painkillers, and therefore has a tolerance to the drug, and when it isn’t working because the patient is truly in extreme pain.
One way that patients “med seek” in the ER is to fake alcohol withdrawals. According to http://www.ideastream.org/news/npr/344232232, Valium is often given for alcohol withdrawals. I worked on a detoxification unit at a hospital for a few years before going into private practice, and I remember this was often the case. Someone who has an addiction to benzodiazepines will often go to great lengths to use again. Occasionally these people go to the emergency room and fake a tremor in their hands. They claim to be sobering up from alcohol dependence.
Sobering up from alcohol dependence can be very dangerous depending on the level of use. If the use was consistent and high in volume, a person will experience uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. Some of these are irritability, anxiety, nausea, headache, sweating, fast heart rate, confusion and tremors. In extreme cases a person can get delirium tremens (DTs), which can include hallucinations and seizures. Sometimes DTs cause death.
When a patient shows up in the emergency room claiming to suffer from alcohol withdrawals, the doctor has to determine whether these are real or fake. They then have to decide what to prescribe. It can be a very challenging decision.
It turns out though, that truly faking hand tremors is almost impossible if the doctor knows exactly what to look for. There is now an app being tested that helps doctors create a score. A high score means it’s most likely from alcohol. A low score means it’s most likely malingering (faking illness for some gain). Most malingerers faking alcohol withdrawal tremors are looking for a benzodiazepine.
Coming from someone who sits in therapy with people struggling with addiction on a regular basis, this app is a great thing! One of the best ways to get through an addiction is for access to the drug of choice to be restricted as much as possible. This is especially true during the early days of sobriety when the ability to resist temptation is still low. It is why those of us who work in this field always advise family members to stop giving any kind of money to someone with a drug problem; if you can’t pay for it, it’s harder to get it, which means it’s harder to use it.
Helping teens grow and families improve connection,
Lauren Goodman, MS, MFT
Hello, I’m Lauren! If you notice your teen struggling, you might be feeling helpless, hopeless, frustrated or concerned as a parent. Try to remember, there is hope. I want to help your adolescent feel better. My hope is for them to enjoy their life again. I want them to feel confident they can handle whatever situations arise.
