What to Watch For

Signs you should watch for that could indicate abuse of DXM or other cough medicine:

• Empty cough medicine boxes or bottles in the trash or child’s belongings
• Purchases of cough medication without notifying you (although some youth shoplift the drug)
• Cough medicine missing from medicine cabinets
• Hearing the slang terms for cough medicine abuse
• Internet history on personal computer, laptop or smartphone showing visits to sites talking about cough medicine abuse or purchasing
• Unexplained delivery of packages (but note that some youth will have illicit materials delivered to a different address)

There are also signs of drug abuse that apply to any substance, medical or illicit:

• Old friends are swapped for new ones that drink or use drugs
• These new friends may not be goal- or family-oriented and you may worry about these new contacts
• There may now be fights about doing chores that were part of life for many years
• The young person may insist on total privacy and spend many hours alone in his (or her) room
• He may be secretive about what he has in his backpack or pockets
• He may refuse to report where he is going or who he is with
• If he does say who is he going to be with, a call to that person may show that he is not actually there
• Grades fall, favorite activities are abandoned
• He may want or need more money or too much money may be missing
• He no longer wants to pursue goals that were important to him, like music, college, sports and career choices
• He may stay out late or be gone overnight
• He may cover his body up more than warranted by the weather (covering marks from injecting drugs)
• He may lose weight, look unhealthy
• His behavior may be erratic, swinging from too energetic to too lethargic
• Sleeping patterns may also be erratic
• His emotions may be all over the map
• There may be an increasing number of discipline problems at home, at school or in church
• If he runs out of DXM or whatever drug he was abusing, he may experience withdrawal symptoms