Stivre's Addiction
Stivre and Tomas had been friends for years, so it makes sense that Tomas’s death hit Stivre the hardest. Even once everyone else started going on with life, Stivre was still drowning in grief.
Let me make this clear—when someone you’re close to dies, it’s okay to be drowning in grief for a while. It’s normal. But there are different ways to handle grief, and the path Stivre chose wasn’t the best option.
Stivre started taking painkillers because he wanted his pain about losing his friend to go away. Painkillers are meant for physical pain, not emotional pain. Nevertheless, the painkillers seemed to help—at least temporarily. But all they gave him was a craving for more painkillers. And every time he took painkillers, they became less effective. He started needing to take more and more to get the effect he wanted.
The painkillers were taking a physical toll on his body, creating uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms every time he stopped taking them. The only cure to the withdrawal symptoms was more painkillers. Eventually, he took so many that his body couldn’t take it anymore and started shutting down. He would have died if his mom hadn’t found him when she did.
Taking drugs is not a healthy way to deal with grief. It doesn’t actually get rid of your emotional pain; it just masks it temporarily, while creating a whole host of other problems in your body. Even if it seems to be helping you with your grief at first, the grief plus other issues will come back once you stop taking the drugs—and that’s providing the drugs don’t kill you. It can be really hard to stop taking drugs once you’ve started, due to the withdrawal symptoms mentioned above. But it’s not impossible.
If you’re dealing with grief or addiction, talk to a school guidance counselor or other adult you trust. You can also call 1-800-662-4357 (national addiction and mental health hotline) to find out about treatment centers and community support groups in your area. To learn more about addiction, visit the TeenHealth website.
Let me make this clear—when someone you’re close to dies, it’s okay to be drowning in grief for a while. It’s normal. But there are different ways to handle grief, and the path Stivre chose wasn’t the best option.
Stivre started taking painkillers because he wanted his pain about losing his friend to go away. Painkillers are meant for physical pain, not emotional pain. Nevertheless, the painkillers seemed to help—at least temporarily. But all they gave him was a craving for more painkillers. And every time he took painkillers, they became less effective. He started needing to take more and more to get the effect he wanted.
The painkillers were taking a physical toll on his body, creating uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms every time he stopped taking them. The only cure to the withdrawal symptoms was more painkillers. Eventually, he took so many that his body couldn’t take it anymore and started shutting down. He would have died if his mom hadn’t found him when she did.
Taking drugs is not a healthy way to deal with grief. It doesn’t actually get rid of your emotional pain; it just masks it temporarily, while creating a whole host of other problems in your body. Even if it seems to be helping you with your grief at first, the grief plus other issues will come back once you stop taking the drugs—and that’s providing the drugs don’t kill you. It can be really hard to stop taking drugs once you’ve started, due to the withdrawal symptoms mentioned above. But it’s not impossible.
If you’re dealing with grief or addiction, talk to a school guidance counselor or other adult you trust. You can also call 1-800-662-4357 (national addiction and mental health hotline) to find out about treatment centers and community support groups in your area. To learn more about addiction, visit the TeenHealth website.
