Methadone and Motherhood

A few years ago, Oprah Winfrey had a young nurse on her television show. This woman was sneaking into bathrooms in the hospital where she worked in order to snort heroin.

Many members of the audience were critical of her, calling her a weak-willed person. “Just imagine what her family is going through,” one audience member said. The criticism that she said was the most hurtful (and which is rarely aimed at male addicts) was, “How could she do that to her children?”

In their book, Surviving Heroin, authors Jennifer Friedman and Marixsa Alicea allow addicts who are mothers tell their own stories in their own words:

• One mother described how she would buy food in the morning and then have her oldest daughter do all the cooking later in the day, when Mom was “too tired” to do anything but lay on her bed.
• Another said she would lock her baby and three-year-old in a bedroom when she did drug deals in the living room.
• What was most troubling to these and other women in the book, they said, was the damage they were doing to their children, and the embarrassment that these mothers felt in front of the children who were old enough to understand what was going on.

Between two worlds
These women were spending huge amounts of energy hiding their secret lifestyle from their children’s teachers, babysitters, and relatives. They were often desperately afraid that a court would take their children away from them.

Meanwhile their children were living between two worlds – the one where their mother was not using drugs, and the one where mother was. They were growing up conflicted and confused. Often they were forced to take care of their mothers, instead of being mothered themselves.

These children are many times more likely to become drug abusers themselves, because they learned to handle stress with chemicals by imitating and watching what their mothers did. They are also more likely to fall in love with or marry drug abusers or alcoholics because “living between two worlds” feels so normal and familiar to them.

For yourself and your children
If you decide to enter methadone treatment, you will not have to go through a long and unpleasant withdrawal from drugs.

Methadone will immediately ease your symptoms and cravings. Once on a methadone regimen, you will experience fewer mood swings. More importantly, you will immediately leave the drug lifestyle. Your life will no longer be centered around getting money for drugs, finding a supplier, and staying high.

You will be able to take care of your children again – and the guilt, shame, and embarrassment you feel will go away.

If you are ready to change your life, call 866.575.8187 for immediate help. Our counselors can help you find the perfect program to meet your needs.