Narcan saved my brother last night. He's refusing treatment this morning. What is the move?

Question

ER released him and he's acting like nothing happened. My parents are in pieces. Is there anything that actually helps in the window after an overdose?

CarolJ · Accepted Answer

I'm so sorry — and I'm glad he's alive to be stubborn. The days after an overdose ARE a window, even when it doesn't look like it: shame is loud, and lectures make it louder, so the family's job is short and steady — 'That terrified us because we love you. When you're willing, we will drive you, today or any day.' Then three practical things: keep naloxone in the house and know how to use it (no drama attached — like a fire extinguisher); ask the ER for their peer-recovery or bridge program, because many hospitals now have people whose whole job is this exact moment; and get your parents to a family support group THIS WEEK, because they're in the blast radius too. If he mentions wanting to die, or the risk feels acute, 988 — for any of you. You can't make him ready. You can make ready easy to reach.

Sam_H · Answer

The person who wouldn't hear it after my overdose heard it three weeks later. The line that stuck with me wasn't clever — it was my sister saying 'I'm not mad, I'm scared.' Keep the door visible. He knows where it is now, even if he won't look at it.