Thefts of drugs

 

           Morning Mom!

      This is the reason I switched over to a larger combination safe, as we have a member of the family who has a drug habit. I never leave the safe open either....as our 10yr old was fiddling with the combination on it. If you leave it open and on the last number, they only need to figure the last two numbers out. Not easy, but it can be done.

    Our safe is one of the heavy and larger ones...and I sleep much better knowing this. I urge all taking "Pain Med's" to secure you're medications. You may not think it can happen to you, but the first time will be a lesson you will never forget.

     I also agree, ...one of the best forms of protection, is not to tell anyone what you taking.

          SE

I'm going about this a slightly diffrent way. My kids have been told in a generic way what my meds are for and how they work. They know what they look like and how many i take, how often and see me gag when they dont go down right. I have a "bin" with my meds in it that i keep in a number of places, until i get a place to lock it up. (Expensive)

I have described what the meds are meant to do for me, and what the side effects are. I have explained to the kids that sometimes people want these meds, but the dr wont write the script, so when they know its there they go ahead and take them. I also described how difficult it is to get the medication replaced, and what would happen if i missed several doses. My 6yr old is very adement that i hind a good hiding spot while people are there.

I let anyone who knows me know what my conditions are as an informal, natural part of conversation. Often I end up describing the diffrencebetween ostioarthritis, rheumatiod arthritis, and rheumatic fever as a child. I explain some of the pain meds at the same time i explain the other disease modify meds. I explain how the BP meds effect the mind chemicaly in the synopsis. I explain why certian meda are chosen, even the side effects are not nice. I explain the process of RA and what it can do to me, and what the drugs are actually working .

I chose to use my condition(s) as a tool to bring more awareness to BP, RA and those living daily with chronic pain. What i can still do, what i can no longer do, and what I have to add to keep somewhat healthy. The more they safely know about me and my condition, the more they see it in therest of their lofe. More compassion for the rest of us because adter knowing me they know what to ask.

Sleep meds kicked in. More tomorrow

When I go out I take extra epilepsy meds just in case. At holiday gatherings they are at my mother-n-laws. She keeps her bedroom door locked all the time with the keys in her pocket so I put my purse in her room but I put my meds in my pocket. If you 're going to steal my meds, you have to steal my leg too. The same thing goes for when we go out to dinner. Also I take my remote for my scs unit with me everywhere in case I need it too. When we went to dinner last night it sat on my lap under my napkin. I don't care who makes fun of me, I'm not going to lose my meds or my remote!

It's so hard to believe that anyone would steal drugs like that!! But that's the mind of an addict..they only think about themselves and their "high" and don't take the time to think about the suffering that they will cause to the person they are stealing from.

After I had my baby I had to be on oxycodone for awhile. I only used about half the script because my pain got better, but I put it under the cabinet in our master bathroom just in case.  The following week, I was looking in the same cabinet for something and realized the pills were gone!! It was not my husband..he knew I needed them.

There are only two people it could have been...my sis-in-law who came to visit with my mother-in-law one day or my best friend since high school that had also come over to visit during that same time period.

I couldn't get over the fact that someone would do this to me. It ate away at me until I finally asked my friend if she took them (she had gotten in trouble in the past for taking her moms meds). She swore she didn't take them and I told her that basically I had to ask her because if I can't trust her than how can we stay friends?

My bet is on my sis-in-law. Especially because a couple of years later when this chronic pain started i had to be on oxycodone again. I went over to see my mom-in-law one day and sis-in-law came over to me and started crying, telling me how much pain she was in and how bad she needed my medication. I told her that the doctor had stopped prescribing them. I now know not to tell anyone that I have any medication. I've had two other people that found out I was taking medication approach me for some. WTH??? I don't know what is wrong with people. I'm not Walgreens. If I give up my medication then I am going to have to suffer pain when I run out...when all they wanted was a buzz.

And you know the saddest thing of all? My sis-in-law in only 19. She lives with my mother-in-law and her new husband who has been in chronic pain for years...so he gets all the strong stuff. I was over there one time and saw him give her some of his meds. So he's the reason she's now hooked.

I try to keep my distance from them. I can't trust any of them. That's just not ok.

Thanks for bring this subject out to talk about. I too am a believer that the fewer people know the safer you and others in your home will be.

Teaching children about medications is a good thing but in my opinion too much information at a young age might not be as safe as we wished it would be. We never know who the children will tell when at school or other events. How often do kids bring friends over? A perfect opportunity for your medications to disappear.

I only tell people who need to know the details about my pain condition and I tell even fewer about my medications. My husband knows everything. If I can't trust him they we shouldn't be married. Oldest grandson lives with us and he knows most of the information and is very protective of me. Never in the years he's lived with us has so much as 1 pill disappeared so I trust him explicitly. In fact, he's the one who goes to the pharmacy to pick up my pain prescriptions. They all know our family and are OK with him picking them up for me. One daughter knows and that's about it. No reason to spread it anywhere else. Done!

And why? For all of the above reasons that others listed and for my peace of mind. One that worries me more than being stolen is that one of the younger grandchildren might find them and who knows what might become of that. Colored pills look inviting and if mom pops them in her mouth and tells me no then they Must be good!?? I can't even bear to think about that kind of accident.

So FWIW, lock up any and all medications even if it's an inexpensive lock-box, a fireproof box or a full closet sized safe. I keep meds in a 3'X3'X3' fireproof save. And when I travel I strip the house of any and every pill and they go into a carry lock box an go with me everywhere. No way will I leave them behind. For all of this I sleep better and know that my children are safe and my house should be also. I've done everything I can to keep them that way.

Hugs,
Chutz

Monty's Mom,

I was actually going to write a post about a very similiar incident that happened to me. The thing is I was foolish to think a "trusted friend" could not possibly steal from me. Afterall, she was a recovered addict, right??

I had a friend that had just had a child and needed a place to stay. Well, I knew she was an addict 2 years ago, but i thought she was past that. I mean she had received a script for pain right after her pregnancy and used them as directed. However, I think getting that script (as well as being given PKers via IV at the hospital) might have set her back into her old tendancies. Now she didn't tell them she was a prior addict, but in her mind "it was the past, things are under control".

Well she ended up formula feeding the baby after just 3 or 4 weeks, but claims it was "medical" reasons that she had to stop breastfeeding. Perhaps she is telling the truth, but it seems switching to formula feeding gave her another excuse to use.

Anyways, when she stayed at my place for a few weeks, after her being there for about 1 week, I noticed my bottle looked slightly lower than normal. Yes I was a dummy and left the bottle in my bathroom. Well I intentionally hid the bottle for a few days and then decided "this is ridiculous my friend wouldn't steal from me" so I placed it up in the closet. It was a closet that required going into my bedroom and it was up on a high shelf in a keep sake box.....albiet an unlocked box so figured it was "safe" there. There's no way my friend, someone I gave a place to stay at would go into my personal belongings and take my things right? At this point I had no reason to come out and accuse, afterall maybe I had miscounted by a few, so I was taking a cautious but unwise route.

I bought a pill counter and set out my daily doses in them. I figured if she did use my bathroom, she'd see the bottle was gone and the pills were counted out, which would deter her from "stealing". WOW was I wrong!!

The day before she was to move out (as she had found a care home for mothers that needed a secure place to stay) I decided to do a pill count because at this point I was using slightly less than prescribed and wanted to know how well I was doing (it feels good to show the doc you have some left over afterall). Well, as soon as I poured out what was left I immiediately knew something was wrong. My heart sunk! 45 pills were GONE! She had stolen 45 pills from my script and apparently took them all in 1 week!

I confronted her directly and harshly afterwards and she admitted everything. She had been taking "just a few" but then as soon as the effects wore off, she'd go back for more when I was sleeping or at work. She admitted to digging through my room and hunting for them. Basically, she had taken a few when I first suspected her but she quickly noticed I was suspicious and that I had hid them. She told me at this point, her addiction overrode any logical decisions and supposedly came first. She told me all she could think about was the quick satisfaction now, deal with the consequences latter. When the pain killers worse off, she stated that she again would think about the short term fix and go back for more.

I guess it is true, an addict never recovers and shame on me for being foolish enough to keep the bottle in my bathroom within plain sight of an ex addict....I shouldn't have bought the lie of "that was years ago, I've recovered". Anyways, I ended up having to go through major withdraw because there were only two options at this point. Turn my best friend into the police and tell my doctor, or keep quiet and make her go to an NA meeting. I made her attend an NA meeting, which she broke down and cried and said she was sorry, that she only feels happy when she has "something" to make her feel good, and that she now realizes her addiction wasn't under control.

I guess the part that confuses me is....how in the heck can you trade in your best friend thats giving you a place to stay, for drugs?

On top of that, these pain killers are of the less addictive type. Tapentadol (Nucynta) seems virtually harmless to me, but then again I'm at the prescribed dose. I don't feel its addictive. However, she was higher doses than what I was taking and told me that at higher doses it has a strong anti depressant effect that makes you just not care.

Sorry for the long wall of texts. This is a very difficult issue for me to talk about still because I don't feel she realizes just how damaging this was to our friendship and that she has a child.......what if she had gotten so messed up that she couldn't take care of the kid? If not for our friendship and the fact that she's in a "safe" environment that has even a no alcohol policy or you are thrown out of the program, I didn't tell the police and I'm hoping through this program and NA that she can get things back on track.

Either way.....trust NO ONE when it comes to your meds (except maybe your husband/wife) and keep them locked up tight!

Hi

Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth for what it's worth. I personally haven't had any real problems other than a friend asking and I think my response was harsh enough that he never asked again. I guess some people just think it's a free for all if you have pain meds like it's case of beer your willing to share. I did however want to mention 2 cases in which my mother had pills stolen by a nurse who came to her home to help my mother after surgery and another home care worker who also was there after surgery. Long story short, the nurse was charged and lost her job but the other woman got away with it. I guess the point is , there's not such thing is being to careful when it comes to narcotics. Even so called trusted professionals can take advantage of what they see as a confused older person and feel that it's easy pickins. I personally lock mine in a safe and no one but myself has access to it. The only thing I have mentioned to my kids is that Dad takes very strong special medicine that would kill you if you were to take it. Counting on the feel factor. It really is sad that these precations need to be taken but I guess that's reality of the world today.

Hope everyone is doing well................Stingray

I am so glad that others came out and shared their personal stories. When I began taking these types of meds, and I think you can go back and look at some of the posts I have made, I was shocked by the sheer number of people who felt that they were entitled to my medications that I needed to function. My own mother had begged before, asking for some for herself and for my sister who is on the border of addiction vs dependence.

To me, this was such an issue with my sons, ages 13 and 12 now, that I bough a lock box for storage, the fire proof kind, that we can take with us when we camp or travel. For anytime at home, that lock box goes in the large gun cabinet in my room, and the key is on myself and my fiance at all times. This was not because I don't trust my sons, but because I don't trust their friends. My boys have always learned gun safety and now medication safety. We are honest with them and tell them that the medications are so strong they could cause death or permanent impairment, and that some people if they knew even that I was on pain meds, may steal them from us, leaving me in pain beyond what would allow me to interact with them. They are old enough to understand. My oldest had been approached about taking just one or two by my sister and mother before. That was when I knew things had to be taken control of right away. Just like with guns, education goes a long way, but precaution before the accident is much more effective! There are no bullets in our home, we buy what we need to practice shooting, use them all and lock the guns up tight. The idea of the boys having an accident with medications or guns is unbearable.

This does not work for everyone. Not all of us are on heavy hitters or narcotics, and some of us only live with a spouse or caretaker that is responsible and compassionate to our needs. Those are lucky. My choice is an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...to quote Benjamin Franklin.

Still, I think all of us here are the type of adults who are responsible, moral members of society. You have all proven that with your support of each other, posts asking for advice, help, or just a word of kindness, that we are all seeking the same thing, comfort, support, caring and a way to cope and handle what we have been dealt with grace and dignity. I am proud of all of your precautions and education, regardless, and am truly blessed to call you friends.

Be safe all of you. You all have great hearts, and I am lucky to have the grace of such compassionate people in life.
Mindy

What I think shocked me about my so called "trusted friend" stealing my meds is that I don't consider them to have a high addiction potential. Despite being a schedule II (the FDA denied its request to be a schedule III), both my doctor, investigational reports, and even an informational video posted by a pain management center have all said they have less abuse potential than oxycodone. I guess the lesson learned is less abusable still = abusable to an addict.

Another thing stolen was some of my muscle relaxants. Those aren't even scheduled, but again lesson learned......to an addict ANY abuse potential means very high risk.

I'm still purplexed as to how a trusted friend, even if an addict in denial, could screw over a friend that gave them a place to stay when they had no where else to go. :/

I had a best friend of 30 years come spend a weekend with me......girl time ya know.

We were visiting and having a great time. I got up and went to the restroom and when I came back I noticed a pain pill on the floor behind where she was sitting. Hmmm odd...but I thought maybe I dropped it as I had just taken some prior to her arrival. I thought I had hidden them......in the bottom of my purse behind the chair I sat in in the back of the bottom shelf of a book case. I didnt think any more about it.

I had her sit her overnight bag and purse on the foot of my bed as we were chatting and laughing and getting ready for bed. When it was time for bed I went in and picked her stuff up off my bed and lo and behold..there lay a dozen pain pills. I didnt say anything to her.......I picked em up and put em in my pocket and decided to just watch.

A little later I noticed she was in the restroom a LOT....which is right across from my bedroom. I went in to the restroom immediately after her one time and discovered my brand new bottle of Cinnamon mouthwash...a bright red color........now was less than half empty and was a pale almost pink soft color. ***. She continued to frequent the restroom or so I thought........actually what she was doing was going thru and tearing my bedroom apart looking for more pain meds. I came up on her quietly and just said "If you're looking for these, they fell out of your bag and I picked em up".

OMG to add insult to injury she looked me square in the face and said the meds werent mine and she denied everything. I told her she had to leave.....to call and get a ride. I pounded her for an explanation til she finally told me why. Her reason....explanation if you will ..was she STOLE my pain meds because I owed her $20 bucks from 20 years earlier and she was afraid to ask me for it. Like that explains everything. She also denied the whole mouthwash thing. ( I found out later she had started her drinking again and as she put it....fell off the wagon. Sheeeesh I didnt know she even attended AA and had been for a long time.

It was funny though........when I first confronted her she vehemently denied it. about an hour later she said she only took a couple......still an hour later it was MAYBE 4 but NO more. Yet I have over 30 missing. Then she annoyed the snot outta me asking me "Are we still ok" and explaining that shes not really a bad person blah blah blah.

I'll never understand it.

Hello Scarred!

I was pleased to see you post, as it has been a long dry spell since we last saw you. I always wondered how you were doing.

Thank you for you're post here, and you have hit the nail on the head perfectly, and I agree with you, that a person cannot be too careful when it comes to storing our med's safely.

It's a hard pill to swallow, but the fact is, we never quite know what makes people do some of the things they do. I have learned this with relationships as well, and am still learning the hard way. We want to believe we can trust our best friends, coworkers, and our family members.

I have missed my med schedule by a few hours, because I over slept, but to miss it because someone stole them would be absolutely horrible. I'm like you, in that you cannot afford not to be too safe with them…and that the thought of loosing a family member or a friend because they abused them would be a lesson we would never get over.

Once the script is filled and in our hot little hands, the responsibility is our's and only ours. As I said before, it only takes the first time to have them taken….and trust me it will be a lesson a person will never forget. Ever!

Good to see you, and I hope you are doing well.

Take care,

SE

Oh, and one more thing. Scarred, I am so sorry about your son. I'm glad you are still able to have a relationship with him but I know that must have broken your heart..especially when he told you he loved you on the way out. You know you did the right thing though. He didn't have the right to stay in your house after he did that and I hope he learned his lesson. My daughter's only 2 right now and just the thought of that ever happening brings tears to my eyes.

And purplereading, I'm shocked, SHOCKED that medical "professionals" would do such a thing. What has this world come to?

And also, as another poster mentioned, we have to not only hide our pills from people who will steal but also from our children who could take a pill thinking it's candy. I used to be able to keep my meds on my nightstand..but my daughter is growing like a weed. She came down the hallway one day with a prescription bottle in each hand. I almost choked on my tongue. I didn't even know she was tall enough to get to the top of that nightstand. They both had child protective caps on them, but it sure scared me. I now not only hide them, but make sure they are hidden some place high and out of her reach. If something happened to her because she got ahold of my pills, I could never forgive myself!!

Like many of you mentioned, I see a safe or metal lock box in my future..