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05-28-2004, 05:10 AM
An Acadia parish mother is sharing eye-opening information about her son's hidden addiction to medicine - medicine we all have in our medicine cabinet. In our safe families report, we found out why kids turn to cough syrup for a high. Robitussin is the brand of choice.
The mother we talked to - her son overdosed this spring. What'll surprise you is he's still recovering. His mom says, "His brain was driving him absolutely nuts. He was hallucinating. He thought that people were going to stab him. He told us he saw a three-eyed dog."
She and her husband had no idea their son was drinking a bottle of Robitussin a day for nearly three months. Kids call it robo-tripping, and most of them don't know getting high on cough syrup can open the door to a world of turmoil and self-destruction. "He said his brain worked really, really fast and he felt smart," the 16-year-old's mother tells KATC.
Like many parents, they didn't know anyone could get high off of cough syrup. And they didn't even suspect anything after finding a couple of bottles. He told them he had a cough. His mother says, "My son was gone six months ago. The doctor said it could possibly take a year or longer before his brain cells start redeveloping."
After several months of trial and error with different medications, he's now taking a mood stabilizer and an anti-depressant. They see some improvement, but mostly he's still angry and defiant. His mom says, "It's so hard to watch your son totally tear everything apart."
A Lafayette doctor tells us overdosing on cough syrup can cause psychotic delusions and thoughts just like this teenage boy experienced. Dr. Troy Martin says all it takes is a half-bottle and more. The ingredient that causes the high is dextromethorphan.
Too much of it, combined with other ingredients in cough syrup can cause the kind of damage you just heard about. Anything from feeling like you're drunk, to hallucinating and at the highest dosage, being completely unaware of your surroundings. Dr. Martin encourages parents to be aware. "Keep an eye on your medicine cabinet. Keep an eye on the trash that comes out of their rooms. If you see medicine bottles, cough medicine, medication boxes, confront them about that," he says.
Dr. Martin and the boy's mother also warn parents to monitor your kids on the internet. That's where her son found recipes and learned how much to take to get high.
Story Here: http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=189...00&nav=EyAzNSNQ (http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=1899300&nav=EyAzNSNQ)
The mother we talked to - her son overdosed this spring. What'll surprise you is he's still recovering. His mom says, "His brain was driving him absolutely nuts. He was hallucinating. He thought that people were going to stab him. He told us he saw a three-eyed dog."
She and her husband had no idea their son was drinking a bottle of Robitussin a day for nearly three months. Kids call it robo-tripping, and most of them don't know getting high on cough syrup can open the door to a world of turmoil and self-destruction. "He said his brain worked really, really fast and he felt smart," the 16-year-old's mother tells KATC.
Like many parents, they didn't know anyone could get high off of cough syrup. And they didn't even suspect anything after finding a couple of bottles. He told them he had a cough. His mother says, "My son was gone six months ago. The doctor said it could possibly take a year or longer before his brain cells start redeveloping."
After several months of trial and error with different medications, he's now taking a mood stabilizer and an anti-depressant. They see some improvement, but mostly he's still angry and defiant. His mom says, "It's so hard to watch your son totally tear everything apart."
A Lafayette doctor tells us overdosing on cough syrup can cause psychotic delusions and thoughts just like this teenage boy experienced. Dr. Troy Martin says all it takes is a half-bottle and more. The ingredient that causes the high is dextromethorphan.
Too much of it, combined with other ingredients in cough syrup can cause the kind of damage you just heard about. Anything from feeling like you're drunk, to hallucinating and at the highest dosage, being completely unaware of your surroundings. Dr. Martin encourages parents to be aware. "Keep an eye on your medicine cabinet. Keep an eye on the trash that comes out of their rooms. If you see medicine bottles, cough medicine, medication boxes, confront them about that," he says.
Dr. Martin and the boy's mother also warn parents to monitor your kids on the internet. That's where her son found recipes and learned how much to take to get high.
Story Here: http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=189...00&nav=EyAzNSNQ (http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=1899300&nav=EyAzNSNQ)