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    To Love an Addict: In the Storm
    To Love an Addict: In the Storm
    To Love an Addict: In the Storm
    Ebook153 pages1 hour

    To Love an Addict: In the Storm

    By Gary Schultz

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    About this ebook

    To Love an Addict: In the Storm humanizes the opioid crisis by encouraging those affected by the epidemic to share their story. Speaking out is the most effective way to tear down the stigma of addiction and help those who so desperately need it.

    By sharing the tribulations of a family struggling with addiction, Gary Schultz aims to connect with other families in the same place. He explores the treatments in which his son participated while emphasizing the need for new solutions that will give those addicted to heroin a fighting chance at survival. He describes the terror and the heartbreak experienced by his family as they watched their son fight against his addiction. And he reinforces the idea that there is no shame in being diagnosed with the disease of substance use disorder, and that those who have lost someone and those fighting to save a loved one are not alone.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateApr 1, 2019
    ISBN9781543965193
    To Love an Addict: In the Storm

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      Book preview

      To Love an Addict - Gary Schultz

      Copyright 2019

      All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      Print ISBN: 978-1-54396-518-6

      eBook IBSN: 978-1-54396-519-3

      Addiction/Substance Use Disorder and Mental Illness are diseases like any others that need understanding, compassion, and viable treatments, not judgment or punishment.

      Contents

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      DISCLAIMER

      INTRODUCTION

      MEMORIES AND MILESTONES

      Remembering Our Son and Brother

      Chapter One

      IN THE STORM

      CELEBRATING LOST LOVES

      FAMILY

      DATA ON CURRENT TREATMENTS

      TREATMENTS

      THE EPIDEMIC(S)

      PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS

      TODAY’S HEROIN

      HEPATITIS C

      CHANGE THE LANGUAGE

      CANNIBUS/ ONE ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT

      VETERANS

      AWARENESS THROUGH CELEBRITY STATUS

      HIV/AIDS A ROAD MAP OUT OF THE STORM

      Chapter 2

      STIGMA: 50 YEARS LATER: Al’s STORY

      Chapter 3

      HOW NOT TO MAKE THE ADDICTED GREAT AGAIN

      THE RIGHT APPROACHES (?????)

      Chapter 4

      HOW TO MAKE THE ADDICTED GREAT AGAIN

      CHANGE THE DIAGNOSIS

      SPONSORS

      CARING COMMUNITIES

      The Phoenix

      ORGANIZATIONS/RESOURCES

      INTERVENTIONS

      KEEP THEM ALIVE

      DECRIMINALIZE

      Chapter 5

      THE 3 C’s TO ADDICTION RECOVERY/PARENTS/FAMILIES STILL IN THE FIGHT

      CHAPTER 6

      JUST SHOW UP

      Chapter 7

      TO PARENTS LIKE US

      THE CHURCH SERVICE

      TRIGGERS

      ANNIVERSARIES

      THERAPY/Dr.O

      THERAPY, MEDICATION, AND TIME.

      BLAME

      FAITH

      THANK YOU

      To our Son and Brother Andrew.

      We love you and miss you every day.

      Andrew C. Schultz

      9/20/1991- 7/19/2015

      And to all those who have been taken by opioid addiction and their families. And for those still in the fight.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      To My Wife Lorraine,

      The loss you feel as a mother has no words.

      We can’t change what happened, but we can live with Andrew in our hearts.

      As we have said many times, this was not our plan, but here we are.

      Love, Gary

      To My Son Jack,

      You have lost a future with Andrew, so you must rely on all the great memories of him and know that he will always be watching over you. He will always love you. He will always be your big brother.

      Love, Dad

      To Stella,

      The most beautiful part of our family on four legs.

      The four of us adopted her when she was a puppy

      She shared in our great times and gave us love and a purpose during our worst.

      She had to let us go in April of 2016 at the age of 15. We miss her too.

      DISCLAIMER

      I am not a doctor. I am not licensed in any medical field. I have never been a grief or trauma counselor.

      I am not a medical expert. I am a Dad who lost a son to opioid addiction.

      I am home schooled on the disease of addiction, and specifically what addiction to Opioids and Todays Heroin can do to your child and your family.

      Since the early 1990’s I am one of approximately ONE MILLION parents who has lost a child to opioid/heroin overdose and part of a much larger group in the tens of millions who love someone lost to or still in the fight against opioid addiction/substance use disorder.

      INTRODUCTION

      Andrew lost his life on July 20,2015 two months before his 24th birthday. Andrew was one of 50,000 who lost their lives to opioid overdose in 2015.

      Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data: 2016 saw 60,000 deaths, a more than 20% increase over 2015.

      The CDC reported almost a 40% increase of opioid overdose deaths in 2017, with 72,000 deaths.

      In 2015, Coors Field in Denver would have been at capacity to hold those lost to opioid overdose.

      In 2017, Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta would be needed.

      Opioid addiction now kills more people than breast cancer.

      In 2018 daily overdose deaths are projected at over 200 per day. Those deaths represent a fully loaded 737 passenger jet dropping out of the sky everyday with no survivors.

      See Rob Stein’s NPR article dated March 6, 2018: Jump In Overdoses Shows Opioid Epidemic Has Worsened. For statistics on the deaths dating back to 1999:

      https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db294.htm.

      Overdose deaths in 2018 will double the number of soldiers lost in the battle of Gettysburg.

      Over 50,000 soldiers lost their lives, and many more thousands more wounded at Gettysburg.

      This was America’s first Civil War. We are well under way with our second although different civil war .The casualties are those who have lost their lives to opioid overdose; and the wounded are the families left behind that love them.

      The enemies are the disease of addiction/substance use disorder, the highly addictive opioids and the epidemic they have fueled, and the stigma that still surrounds addiction and substance use.

      THIS WAR AFFECTS US ALL AND CURRENTLY IT IS A BLOOD BATH.

      As divided a country as we are on what seems like everything today, as a nation we seem to do our best together in a crisis. We need our best now.

      Life expectancy has declined for the second year in a row due to opioid deaths. The current life expectancy is 78.6 years, a decrease of 0.1 years. The last time the country experienced a continuous two-year decline in life expectancy was 1963, caused by the height of tobacco use and a flu epidemic.

      We do occasionally see a one-year dip, even that doesn’t happen very often, but two years in a row is quite striking, said Robert

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