Ok, firstly you sound like a wonderful mother and I’m extremely impressed with your patience! Your partner is in the grips of complete addiction denial and you personally will NEVER help him I’m afraid ???? his addiction is past the point of family help and he almost definitely needs professional help. Tramadol is the worst EVIL synthetic opioid that I have ever experienced and became one of the worst abused drugs in Ireland at one point sadly killing many. From my own time taking it “large amounts” I was totally consumed by it and did not care what anyone said to me because I needed it like oxygen! Coming off Tramadol is like burning your skin with an iron and that’s only after 8hrs without it. I wanted to die, really I wanted to die!!
Your partner is an addict and until he says “I need help” then nothing will change. His family sound like they support his lifestyle so don’t try to change them because you never will, distance yourself from them and only facilitate them when you must. As far as custody, you have nothing to worry about and I’m certain of that. Stay focused on your child and keep doing what you are doing as your ONLY primary concern is that child! I know you must still care about your partner and I would never want someone to self destruct but you can only help if he asks for it. Unfortunately he had a genuine reason to take the meds and now it has taken him so aggressively that he needs them to function and nothing will stand in his way. What you can do if you feel so strong about this is talk to the practice manager at his doctors in complete confidence and make sure they record your concerns. This will force the doctors to review him in the event something happens to him they would almost certainly be responsible and they know it. They may reduce his medication in a controlled format and offer him a substitute and treatment advice. I would also speaker to his pharmacist in confidence and make them aware if you can. It’s just my personal opinion and I know this method works but please don’t put yourself in any danger or any situation you don’t feel comfortable with because again, your priorities are with your child as you already know. The long and short is that he doesn’t have the capability to stop and isn’t able to say he wants too so unless someone else stops him he never will ???? keep telling your child what you need to and never feel guilty because every person in the world can judge but only you live in that situation. You take care