Lost my dad, a Vietnam vet, in March of 2017. Overdose of Oxycontin and Temazepam and Alchohol. Temazepam should NEVER be prescribed with Opiates but the same doctor gave him both, for years.

A whole bunch of doctors gave him a whole bunch of drugs, for a long, long time. He claimed one told him to drink beer instead of water, and he followed that advice to a t. He was drunk at every appointment. He almost killed my mother driving drunk and in a rage. And in all that time, the possibility of addiction was never even mentioned.

Except by me. I’ve been in recovery for almost 10 years and I tried to wake him up. He never did get the message. His friends had made fun of his fucked up behavior my whole life. At his funeral, they all acted so fucking shocked this happened to him and I wanted to punch every one of them for their complacency. I was just his know it all kid-no way was I getting through. But he respected them. If any one of them had sat him down for a heart to heart, he may have heard them.

The doctors, though, were the worst. Not once did my dad illegally obtain or ingest narcotics. Every pill he popped was taken as prescribed.

And that killed him.

I’m so sorry for what you went through. It’s the worst day the day your loved one becomes a data point in the opioid epidemic. Xo