In tonight’s Friends and Family group, one of the participants shared a heartbreaking observation. Their son is a polysubstance abuser who drinks alcohol and is prescribed alprazolam (Xanax) by their medical provider. (This is a potentially lethal combination as both drugs affect the same central nervous system depressants.
These two parents described how they wake up at night, sometimes to go to the bathroom and sometimes anyway. Then they listen for the sounds from their adult child’s room. No sound makes them think their child is dead, Loud snoring makes them think he is sleeping drunk with outstretched arms, and yet, probably safe. What their subconscious minds seek in reassurance is quiet snoring, their sign of normal sleep in their loved one, who, right now, is lacking self determination to carry on and live through their next step in their recovery.