Dialeted Pupils

LegacyUser

Just wondering if Dilated pupils are a sign of drug taking ,my 14 yr old daughter regulary comes in with very dilated pupils and is a little giddy ,I know she has smoked cigs in the past ,havn't caught her recently though ,maybe she's just getting smarter ,I also caught her drinking while myself and the wife were out ,her older brother was minding her but didn't notice her take the drink to her room

TIA

Binomate

Take her for a drug test.

Nevyn

I would suggest that if you want to educate yourself better about drugs that you see about getting in touch with your local drugs talk force or one of your community garda and see when the next parent information session about drugs is on.

Binomate

Or ask on the internet.

Seraphina

dilated pupils and giddy? chances are she's shared a bit of a hash joint.

as suggested it would prob be a good idea to learn a little more about drugs.

please dont freak out at her if you suspect something, unless its very serious or its affecting her day to day life, causing hassle over it will probably make her more intent on trying it again. at that age she's doing the rebellious teenager thing, and if you dont like it, she'll like it even more.
chances are she may get bored soon enough. when you're 14 the kick is from doing something you know you shouldn't be doing.
however if she's coming in wasted every night of the week its definitely time to do something about it.

rick_fantastic

dilated pupils is a sign of drug taking. no so much smoking hash or whatever that would usually leave a red tinge in the whites of the eyes

giddyness and dilated pupils is a sign of ecstacy mainly but can be associated with nearly every drug depending on the person....

i used to get it really bad from sniffing aerosols / gas etc which is REALLY dangerous

KTRIC

My advice would be to surprise her with a trip to a clinic for a drug test. Take the day off work and then just collect her from school unexpectedly, she won't know how to take it and she'll have no time to try and get rid of anything out of her system.

Turner

Seraphina wrote:

dilated pupils and giddy? chances are she's shared a bit of a hash joint.

as suggested it would prob be a good idea to learn a little more about drugs.

please dont freak out at her if you suspect something, unless its very serious or its affecting her day to day life, causing hassle over it will probably make her more intent on trying it again. at that age she's doing the rebellious teenager thing, and if you dont like it, she'll like it even more.
chances are she may get bored soon enough. when you're 14 the kick is from doing something you know you shouldn't be doing.
however if she's coming in wasted every night of the week its definitely time to do something about it.

Good advice, Dont freak out and try and talk to her about it (unless shes coming in wasted every night).

What type of people is she hanging around with? Any ring leaders that she should stay away from? Im sure you know yourself from her friends who's up to no good or has the mentallity to get up to no good.

[Jackass]

she smelled of smoke before..diluted pupils..giddly/giggley...she's smoking hash (IMHO ONLY!?!?!) .... and yeah, she's probably had a few drinks before too...

Don't make the mistake so many parents make though..dont freak out at her..if for nothing else the reason that most kids at least dabble in it, so whoever she hangs around with, it's bound to happen at some stage...and any confrontation will make it worse... if it really worries you, my suggestion would be to start a conversation with "Mary i'm not mad, but i think i know what you've been up to...maybe smokin a bit of spliff or drinking or whatever.. just be careful will you?" or you could allow her to have a drink or 2 with a friend in your company infront of the telly or something...when they're (or at least feel they are) allowed to drink/smoke etc. it takes away from the buzz of getting away with it and being devient and all the other things teens get kicks out of...

The best solution to the problem is be cool about it...she'll grow out of it

Victor

Dilated pupils and giddyness are also signs of stress / exertion.

Rather than letting your daughter learn how to drink and smoke from her "friends", how about gradually introducing her to being a grown up, say with an occassional half glass of beer at occassions (hint: find hte vilest beer possible ).

LegacyUser

She doesn't come in wasted ,only happened once when we were out ,thought she could handle vodka ,was very sick :-)

I thinks it's the odd splif but I don't want her drinking in my company for a couple of years yet so I'll have to think about that

Thanks for the advise

4Xcut

not that it is much better but does alcohol not cause dialated pupils. Sorry if someone mentioned it. as i say not much better but....

Victor

Parents wrote:

She doesn't come in wasted ,only happened once when we were out ,thought she could handle vodka ,was very sick :-)

Hopefully, lesson learned.

I don't want her drinking in my company for a couple of years yet so I'll have to think about that

Would you prefer her bush drinking?

Chucky the tree

Victor wrote:

Hopefully, lesson learned.

Would you prefer her bush drinking?

You'd get better advice about that in the gay and lesbian forum...

[Jackass]

Chucky the tree wrote:

You'd get better advice about that in the gay and lesbian forum...

You sir, are a genious!! :v:

I might suggest to you that maybe you could try the parenting forum. There would be a much smarter audience than us on the subject in there i'd imagine...and no doubt parents who are/have experienced exactly the same thing who can share advice and expierience...good luck

Fajitas!

About suprise visits to a drug test et al, don't. Firstly, if she wasn't smoking the odd spliff, it would look bad on you, cause alot of fights etc, secondly, if it is, you might be better to talk to her about it rather than dragging her kicking and screaming to a clinic.

Regarding drink, my own parents let me drink when I was younger, but never let me get too bad. I don't see any problem with it - Now I know how to handle my drink, and I wasn't like most of my friends at that stage, their only reason to drink was to get absolutly hammered.

My two cents anyways.

ShevY

I'd be a lot more pissed if I found out my child had started smoking ciggs, than the odd joint tbh.

then again, I dont have one ;]

LegacyUser

DubGuy wrote:

You sir, are a genious!! :v:

I might suggest to you that maybe you could try the parenting forum. There would be a much smarter audience than us on the subject in there i'd imagine...and no doubt parents who are/have experienced exactly the same thing who can share advice and expierience...good luck

I would prefer to remain anon as the kids read boards but thanks anyway

Nevyn

This thread could be either moved or copied to the parenting forum if you wish.

Exon

I wouldn't be too worried about it, every teenager experiements with drugs nowadays. The only way to know if she's taking drugs is to get her tested but don't tell her because it only takes 2 - 3 days for MDMA (Ecstacy) etc to live the system so surprise her. Make sure ya do something about it though cause my mate died from E two weeks ago and you don't want that happening. Don't mean to scare ya!

Crucifix

parents wrote:

I would prefer to remain anon as the kids read boards but thanks anyway

Cue every fourteen year old girl on boards becoming wildly paranoid (though the spliffs would help that ).
Dilated pupils are a very unreliable symptom, but it would probably be best to keep a subtle eye out for other tell tale signs.

SpAcEd OuT

rick_fantastic wrote:

giddyness and dilated pupils is a sign of ecstacy mainly

No its not.

Main signs of ecstasy are jaw clenching, pulling funny faces, dilated pupils and eyes rolling around, Giddyness on E wouldnt be too common at all.

Giddyness and dilated pupils are mainly a sign of either cannabis or magic mushroom use, neither are serouisly harmful to your physical health in the short term and both are ridiclously easy to get in Dublin and would be in my opnion the two most popular drugs for 14-16yr olds, cannabis because its considered the softest of illegal drugs and lately mushrooms because they can be bought legally or picked and because they're being sold in shops a lot of young people instantly think they're harmless.

I dont think you should take her to a drug clinic to be honest, when I was her age I was involved in a lot worse my parents took me to a counsellor who specialized in drugs and it sorted me right out, didnt stop me but helped me to use responsibly and educated me on the dangers of use, In the end I made my own mind up, I think its best to alert her of the dangers of drug use and let her make her own mind up, shes going to do it if she wants to anways its better shes not secretive and can talk to you rather than having to hide it,
Worked for me anyways

LegacyUser

Am I the only one whose parents would have freaked out?? Mine were absolutely no tolerance. I think they knew I drank when I went out, which wasn't often, but they would have killed me if they thought I had even smoked a cig (I didn't). A lot of people seem to be against this approach but the overly lax approach is even worse, in my experience. I know a lot of parents who try to be cool and liberal and their kids ended up as drug addicts or pregnant at 16. Seriously, this is several kids from my year. Give teenagers an inch and they'll take a mile IMO, unless they are overly mature and sensible. I never started smoking cos I knew my mum would smell it and make my life hell so I just didn't bother, and now I'm thankful.

Maybe I'm from another planet but it's not my experience that every teenager tries drugs. None of my friends did and we weren't the 'nerdy' group or anything. I wasn't ever even offered anything, even hash until college, and now I am old enough to make sensible decisions and its no longer my parent's responsibility.

Exon

I doubt it's magic mushrooms, cause it's near impossible to look at your parents with a straight face on shrooms. You'd break your sh!te laughing for about 2 weeks. If she was taking Ecstacy you'd know straight away by looking at her facial expressions, size of pupils etc.

All this talk of drugs is making me want them!

Tusky

rick_fantastic wrote:

giddyness and dilated pupils is a sign of ecstacy mainly but can be associated with nearly every drug depending on the person....

giddyness is most certainly not a sign of ecstacy taking. Im sure at 14, she is not taking pills. If she is in a room full of people who are smoking, it can dilate the pupils. Dont jumpt to conclusions!

jay-me

Chucky the tree wrote:

You'd get better advice about that in the gay and lesbian forum...

lol frenzy

Squirrel

I don't drink or take any drugs, but my pupils are quite often dialated, it just happens me. And I'm quite often hyper too, she could be just like that

xzanti

Does she sleep a lot the day after these pupil incidents?? Go on hunger strike for a day or two?? get moody as hell or breakdown crying for no aparant reason?? If so then id be concerned... If shes just a bit giddy then maybe she just had one too many skittles or something?? IMO

LegacyUser

xzanti wrote:

Does she sleep a lot the day after these pupil incidents?? Go on hunger strike for a day or two?? get moody as hell or breakdown crying for no aparant reason?? If so then id be concerned... If shes just a bit giddy then maybe she just had one too many skittles or something?? IMO

She does sleep a lot during the day but I think thats down to late nights TBH for instance she's asleep now and it's 12.30 but I know she wasn't up to anything last night because she was here with a friend and so was I ,she does go the odd time without food but she's a touch overweight so I think that's just a crash diet for a couple of days before she's looking for money for the chipper ,the diets could also be her mothers cooking LOL.
As for the tears ,well yes it does happen but not for no reason ,it's usually because one of us freak out at her ie.being caught smoking and drinking ,the worrying part from my point of view was the stupidty ,she was smoking in her room and was walking to the toilet with it in her mouth when she was caught and when she got drunk she was watching telly when we came home and could hardly walk .
I'm not too concerned if she does take the odd splif as long as that's all it is ,did it myself as a kid and as someone said I grew out of it ,
Her schoolwork is not bad and all her teachers gave good reports about her.
The biggest problem from my point of view is her lack of cop on ,her selfish ness sometimes although her mother would disagree ,hense the reason for the post

Riesen_Meal

I dont agree at all with this, dilated pupils have absolutely nowt to to with smoking joints, your pupils start off like pins in the morning after a good night sleep, and as the day moves on they dilate (albeit, slowly) all day til at night time after hours of watchin TV/ staring at a monitor or even studying they can be as big as the moon! (slight exaduration!)

I wouldnt jump to conclusions just yet, but yes, hash can make your eyeballs red and raw, and dilate, but only minimally, compared to "normal" eyes....

Discuss the subject gently and I hope it works out for you......

Beruthiel

Parents wrote:

The biggest problem from my point of view is her lack of cop on ,her selfish ness sometimes although her mother would disagree ,hense the reason for the post

have you sat down and talked to her?
I have always talked to my daughter as if she was on a level with me, I never talked down to her.
Tell her how you feel, approach is all-important when they are this age.
"When you drink, it makes me feel like perhaps I have let you down in some way, is every thing ok with you, as you are my daughter, who I love very much, I want to help you in any way I can" something along those lines..
From the age of 14 I gave my daughter a drink of wine during dinner, I took the allure of drinking away from her by allowing her to drink in my presence. As a result she has never hugely bothered with it and will just have the odd one or two and seems to leave it at that – so far
Have you educated her with regards to all the different drugs and what they will do to you? same with regards to sex?
if not, it's time to start.
One think that has always worked for me, I have never, ever said no to my daugher, I have never told her she can't do x, y or z. I have always said, off you go, but just remember that this, that and the other will happen as a result, so think long and hard on it before deciding. She has always done so and come to the right decision on her own.
best of luck!

Sangre

Taking her for a drug test is the just about the worst advice ever.

LegacyUser

Sangre wrote:

Taking her for a drug test is the just about the worst advice ever.

That's not going to happen ,we did look into getting a home test but decided against that too

the Guru

She could also be taking magic mushrooms , they dialate your eyes like I have never seen

100gSoma

Sangre wrote:

Taking her for a drug test is the just about the worst advice ever.

yep I fully agree with Sangre. You;d only alienate her doing something like this. Best thing is to talk to her like a friend not a parental unit. Offer advice and knowledge, not instruction etc.

plonk

If you talk to her about more than likely she will feel uncomfortable and she will start fighting with you and walk off in a huff. Throw her the odd hint and always tell her be careful as she is going out. You just have to hope she is mature enough to mind herself coz if you try and lock her up and not let her do anything things will be ten times worse. Just try and keep close to her and keep talking to her( about anything) When the night comes then she might just remember your voice and not have that one more

Blisterman

Cannabis use can cause dilated pupils. It's more likely to cause bloodshot eyes though.

xzanti

Hey OP next time she comes in with dilated pupils heres a tip... Put your/your wifes hand just below her rib cage and see how fast her heart is beating... If shes taken anything she shouldnt her heart will be beating very fast (my little sister used to get up to all sorts and my mother always caught her that way) Dont know about hash or mushrooms but stimulants such as E, Coke and Speed tend to have this effect on the heart rate...

BigArnie

Do not take her for a drugs test. It's demeaning for both of you and not worth the hassle. Obviously she's not going to come clean but if you ask her if she's been taking drugs when she comes in some night, she'll probably deny it and s**t herself the next day when she realises that you're on to her... and in turn, she'll think twice before doing it again.

Lone Stone

Parents wrote:

Just wondering if Dilated pupils are a sign of drug taking ,my 14 yr old daughter regulary comes in with very dilated pupils and is a little giddy ,I know she has smoked cigs in the past ,havn't caught her recently though ,maybe she's just getting smarter ,I also caught her drinking while myself and the wife were out ,her older brother was minding her but didn't notice her take the drink to her room

TIA

yep probaly just smoking some pot really.. when i was in school everyone around the age of 14+ was always smoking hash.
look for some tiny little burn holes on her cloths if theres any she's smokin the whacky tabacy

LegacyUser

Well I think we're going to take a mixed bag of advise ,maybe let her have a beer with us on holidays this year ,I honestly think I talked her ouf of smoking cigs the last time we caught her ,there isn't the signs there used to be like butts in the loo etc ,doesn't mean there's not the odd splif of course.

There might also be a little more trust ,allowed to stay out later etc.. although in the past she abused that trust ,maybe a little more spending money but that will have to be earned.

Someone said earlier that it might be bad influence from her pals ,well she does hang around with a group some of whom are older but that's not putting the blame on them ,I would really hate if she became the bad influence on some younger kids in a few years.
Thanks for the advise

14jake88

if you want to find out the signs of drug taking why not go on the internet

LegacyUser

14jake88 wrote:

if you want to find out the signs of drug taking why not go on the internet

I did but there seems to be a mixed bag of opinions similar to here

Chucky the tree

14jake88 wrote:

if you want to find out the signs of drug taking why not go on the internet

eh hello? Mcfly!



This is the internet.

14jake88

i know what you are talking about.My friend and I did a lot of research on a future trip to amsterdam and found a lot of contrasting opinions on hard drugs on the internet.We came to the conclusion that magic mushrooms and hash are safe in controlled amounts.Although it can reduce fertility over long term use but no more then regular tobacco use.