The day Merry left her home in a panic, she says she scored heroin and got high. Then, the next night, she checked herself into a detox facility. Patti, Merry's mom, says this is the fifth time her daughter has gone through the detoxification process.
Every detox is painful, but this time, Merry wasn't the only one at risk. "When you're pregnant, it's very risky for a hospital to take you. It's very risky for a physician to take you," Patti says. "I've seen her so sick that she could not get up from the couch and take herself to the bathroom. I had to lay on the floor beside her."
As the body goes through withdrawal, addicts often suffer from symptoms like nausea, diarrhea and violent tremors. For the five days Merry was detoxing, she says she was extremely sick. "I got so sick, I didn't even know where I was," she says.
Published 09/29/2008
