Mom of heroin addicts seeks support to battle depression

DEAR ABBY: My daughter and son are heroin addicts. After living through this hell for 11 years, I have reached my breaking point. My daughter, who just turned 18, is in jail. My heart is broken. Therapists, parent sessions, etc. haven’t helped.

I’m 60 years old and should be retiring, but my retirement money was all spent on rehabs, etc. I won’t even go into the many items that were stolen from me.

How do I move on? I’m so depressed I can’t get out of bed in

the morning, and I cry all day. I don’t want to take meds for depression because drugs have caused all my misery. My marriage is falling apart too. How do I carry on with this misery? – MISERABLE IN CONNECTICUT

DEAR MISERABLE: The way to carry on is to let it go. If you haven’t heard of Nar-Anon, you should check into it. It’s a support group for the family and friends of people who are addicted to narcotics, based on the principles of Al-Anon, which is for the loved ones of alcoholics. Help is as near as your computer. Visit nar-anon.org to find a group near you, and you will find that you are not as alone as you feel right now.

DEAR ABBY: Five years ago I discovered my wife had been cheating on me with an exboyfriend for eight years. We have two young children, so we resolved our differences and decided against divorce.

Now she says she wants us to have another baby. I feel I cannot handle a pregnancy with her because of her infidelity. As a hands-on father, I would want to be part of the pregnancy and the complications/changes that come with it. How should I handle this and express to her why I cannot (at this point) have another child with her? – HANDSON DAD

DEAR DAD: Clearly you are not over your wife’s infidelity, and frankly, I can’t blame you. The best way to get the message across to her would be during marriage counseling.