Living with Narcotic Abuse

My husband is now 38 years old and has been using several different drugs on a regular basis for the last 20 years. He began using ephedrine 20 years ago when he was in the military. Over the next 15 years he was taking up to 30 ephedrine tablets per day and also drinking 6-10 beers a day and occasionally whiskey along with taking Ambien, Ativan, Xanax, Restoril, NyQuil, and Benadryl to fall asleep to come down off the high he obtained from the ephedrine he had taken all day. Since then ephedrine has been banned and he cannot obtain it any longer. In the last 5 years he has begun to make friends believe that he is in chronic pain so that they will give him vicodin. He has no chronic pain. Personally, I have a perscription of vicodin 5/500 from my physician for pain due to pain and problems that I presently feel which are a result of an auto accident which took place 15 years ago and for painful menstrual periods. I rarely take the pills in my prescription and I hide them due to my knowledge of his addictive personality. He searches the house when I am not home until he finds them. My husband works in healthcare and in the last few months has begun to take leftover “medical waste” he calls it, and while at work on the clock he injects hydromorphone into his upper arms and thighs and occasionally directly into the veins of his forearm and ankles to hide the “track marks” from me. He injects himself with hydromorphone up to three times a night in an 8 hour period and I do not know the dosages he injects. He works midnights and I think this is his way of keeping himself alert on the job. My concern is not only that he is putting this into his body at work, but when he comes home with the hydromorphone still in his system he will take 3-4 xanax .5 and drinks 6-8 beers to allow himself to go to sleep. I have noticed that in a dimly lit room after a night of hydromorphone use he has constricted pupils and he has recently been complaining of severe muscle aches which he says he feels like he’s coming down with the flu. He has been severely constipated which is unusual for him. He hides the addiction and abuse from me. One time I pointed out puncture marks on his upper arms and thighs and made it clear that I knew what he was doing and that I would not live like that. He defensively denied that he was injecting himself with narcotics and said that he thinks that I’m crazy. He tried to turn it around on me saying that I didn’t know what I was talking about. The fact is, I have five children who have all been fully vaccinated and I know what a puncture wound looks like. He refuses to admit that he has a problem and is doing everything he can to hide it. Even though he knows how I feel about it he continues to do it. At this time I am fearing for his life. I watch him in his heavy drug induced sleep and do not notice any change in his resperations or pulse rate. The only definitive signs I’ve notices is the pinpoint pupils in dim light, severe muscle and joint pain, and is now complaining of feeling achy like he is coming down with the flu and he is serverly constipated. He refuses to admit he has a problem and refuses to seek treatment of any kind. In your opinion are these normal signs of “mild” drug abuse/addiction? Or should I be worried that my husband is unknowingly killing himself?

I appreciate any help you can give me!