PAWS

PAWS – Post Accute Withdrawal Syndrome

J has been diagnosed with this. Here is a link that I found that explains it very well: http://digital-dharma.net/addiction/post-acute-withdrawal-syndrome-why-we-dont-get-better-immediately/

I thought I would pass this along in the hopes of helping others that are dealing with recovering addicts. This is something I had never heard of, but it makes perfect sense. Read through the whole article for some tips on dealing with PAWS and some things your addict can do to help overcome it.

On another note, because I am of the Knowledge Is Power mindset, I watched this really disgusting TV program last night about addiction. They explained how to use different types of drugs (actually showing people shooting up, as well as infected arms and legs), symptoms of using, withdrawal symptoms. Anyways, it was a total nightmare of a program, even showing some dude puking his guts out into the trash can. I couldn’t turn it off tho! My husband watched it with me, and agreed it was awful, but we both watched the whole thing. I was pretty sure I would have nightmares all night (thankfully I did not). It was extremely painful watching these kids shoot heroin, and imagining my son doing the same thing. AWFUL! It gave a new perspective tho on how this is a DISEASE, and that my kid is no different from any other addict out there. They all steal, they all lie, they all hurt the ones who love them. It helped me to not feel as angry at J anymore, but to rather understand why he did all those things.

I have no idea what channel it was on, or what it was called, as we just found it while channel surfing. If I figure out what it was, I will share.

Onward and upward toward success!