If you currently have a loved one going through substance abuse treatment, he or she may need a safe place to live. Opening up your home to your loved one is a generous offer and may help the person stay clean, but there are steps you may need to take before he or she arrives to stay. One step is clearing out things from your house that might be tempting for your loved one to use to get high. Here are two common household products you should get rid of, because these products can leave a person with a high similar to the high you can get from drugs or alcohol.

Cough syrup

The first household item to keep out of your house is cough syrup. Cough syrup is something most people have at home, but it can be one of the first things an addict might look for when he or she craves a high. Cough syrup contains an ingredient called dextromethorphan (DXM) that causes the high. It may take drinking an entire bottle, or more, for a person to experience any of these common symptoms:

• Hallucinations
• Impaired vision, judgement, and memory
• Nausea
• Rapid heart beat

If a person overdoses on any medication containing DXM, the person could end up in a coma or dead. The problem is that a person might continue drinking the cough syrup, thinking it is not working. By the time it has effects, it might be too late.

If you want to keep cough syrup in your home with a recovering addict living there, you should place it in a locked safe in your house.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg is the second item, and this might come as a big surprise to you. Nutmeg contains an ingredient called myristicin. This ingredient produces hallucinations when a person consumes enough of it. It may take consuming an entire container of nutmeg for a person to get high from this ingredient, but some recovering addicts will do anything they can to reach the high they once felt.

While consuming nutmeg is not necessarily dangerous, it could potentially cause a relapse to occur, and it can leave a person with horrible side effects. This includes vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. It may also cause a person's heart rate to rapidly increase.

Helping a recovering addict break the addiction and stay clean is not easy on your own. Recovering addicts can be tempted by normal household products, and it might be hard for you to supervise him or her all the time. The best thing you could do is recommend that he or she continues to receive counseling services until you are certain the person will be able to stay clean and sober on his or her own. If you're looking for a counseling service in your area, contact Comprehensive Behavioral Health Associates Inc.