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melbel0824 Asked October 2019

Mom addicted to taking pills. Any recommendations?

My mom has several health issues, but the most glaring one seems to be that she has an addiction to taking pills. She recently had ankle surgery and is on hydrocodone. We've locked up her pills so she shouldn't have access to them, but she found the emergency key to the safe and we think she's taking extra pills without our knowledge. The same situation seems to be happening with her sleeping pills.


Is there somebody I can talk to about this behavior? Can I reach out to her doctors? I'm going to try talking to her, but in the past it hasn't been helpful. Is there a safe that you would recommend?


I have a one year old at home, and I can't take the chance that my mom will take pills or leave some out or drop them on the floor. She's only been living with me for 3 months, so this is all a new struggle.

Geaton777 Oct 2019
You may want to call and talk to a substance abuse counselor at a reputable rehab clinic to get some advice and maybe set up an intervention.

Ahmijoy Oct 2019
Mom should not have refills on the pain pills. Make sure you contact her doctor and tell them you have concerns Mom is addicted to them. With the current all out assault on over prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, you should have no problem getting the doctor’s cooperation. Also, if Mom is elderly, I am surprised her doctor prescribed sleeping pills for her. Doctors are very hesitant to prescribe sleeping aids for Senior Citizens nowadays. How recent was her surgery? I’ve had surgeries and gotten pain pills and the prescription was for one week, at the most ten days. If your mother still needs pain pills after three months, she needs to go back to her surgeon. Take the pain pills to a drop off box in your city and dispose of them. She should also not have access to the sleeping pills. She should only need one a day, if that. Ask her doctor to stop that prescription too, or dole out one a night and lock them up. Now that you know Mom snoops for the key, she should be supervised more carefully and the key more well hidden, or purchase a lock box for her medications with a combination lock on it.

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