"Robo-Tripping"

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

[Walkaway]

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I'd like that doctor's number...
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Namaste,
Cliff

[5-MeO-ECO]

And oh god, how I'd like to record that phone call.

[_Swey_]

I live about 2 hours from there in sarasota. Oh god its getting closer. At least they didnt say anything about ccc's

[hitmang11]

Originally posted by Walkaway@May 28 2004, 04:35 AM
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I'd like that doctor's number...
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Namaste,
Cliff

Whats wrong with what the doctor said?, the kid was drinking a bottle a day for 3months supposidly, probably more. I see a problem with that, he probably never gave himself time to retern to baseline. He was under the influence all the time. Thats guna cause mental strain pretty quick.

[Walkaway]

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> Whats wrong with what the doctor said?
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"The doctor said it could possibly take a year or longer before his brain cells start redeveloping."
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I'd like to know if that's a fair representation of the doctor's statement.
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> I see a problem with that
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Why do you think that I don't?
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> he probably never gave himself time to retern to baseline. He
> was under the influence all the time. Thats guna cause
> mental strain pretty quick.
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Yeah, but what does "mental strain" have to do with "brain cells ... redeveloping?"
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Namaste,
Cliff

[hitmang11]

The whole destroying brain cell thing is a touchy subject, one that i dont even know enough about, it seems like people use the "your going to destroy all your brain cells" as a scaretactic. And i wonder if its just a scare tactic, he said they will regenerate, do brain cells even regenerate? ive heard yes and no. Does dxm even target brain cells?

I think the doctor was meaning its could take 6 months to a year for him to return completely to reality, to his baseline more or less. I mean the fucker was doing atleast a bottle a day for three months. And depending on his age which was 16 i believe, and his mental state before, i believe it would take sum time for him to come back mentaly and chemicaly from sumthing like that.

I mean talkin a mind altering drug for 3months straight

He must of had a hell of a trip! (lil F&L humor)

[joeltrae]

I must say, I don't think it is a good idea for anyone, no matter their age to drink a bottle a day for three months. For a sixteen year old person, because they are still developing mentally, it is even worse in my opinion. Yeah, that is not good. My question is, is it the minor's fault he evidently has parents who were too neglectful, uncaring or stupid to know. I don't know what the parents' excuse was, but wouldnt most of you easily recognize a person, much less your child, was under the influence for 3 months? I truly do not understand so many parents of children, they all seem deaf, dumb and blind. Then when they decide to wake up momentarily, of course, the drug is BAD, they are not BAD parents. What a freakin bunch of self deluded hypocrites. You need a license to catch a fish, but ANY idiot can become a parent. That my friends is what is part of what causes so many social and legal ailments in this society. Unqualified parenting.

[Ventrex HBr]

Note that the 'brain cells redeveloping' bit is a quote from the mother, so maybe I have too much faith in a trained professional here, but I doubt that's an accurate representation of what s/he actually said. Still, I have to wonder.

Otherwise, this article is teetering on 'PCP Rage!!!!!!' scare tactics.

[mcdrewbie]

a bottle a day?
maybe i'm just wierd and since i'm 220lbs i need more for a dose.

but a small bottle is only 1st plat for me
and a large is only 2nd

i would expect someone that did it ffor that long to go into higher plats.