My Story

My story is much like any other drug addict: my drug of choice put my life in a strangle hold and ripped it to shreds. In the end, I was left with nothing but the wreckage and debris of powerful storm that raged out of control.

It began nearly 11 years ago. I had injured my back at work and I was given some pain pills. I had never taken any pain pills before and when I took that first pill, my body reacted strangely. My mind screamed out "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL OF MY LIFE?" I was as if I found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. The pain pills made me feel wonderful. I felt as if I could do anything and handle any crisis with ease.

I started abusing them almost immediately. At first I would take one or two pills a day and that would be enough to take the edge off. Seemingly over night I went from taking a couple a day to taking 10, 15 and even 20 a day. The withdrawals would come after a few days after had ran out of pills, but as my intake increased, the withdrawal symptoms would come on faster and faster. It got to the point where I started having withdrawal symptoms within a few hours of taking my last pill.

My personality was the first thing to go. I went from a happy, laid back person to a pissed off grouch that would fly off the handle at the slightest thing. Everyone knew something was wrong with me but no one ever talked to me about what was wrong. Within a few years, I had lost my job, my wife, my child and I would spend every dime that I could scrape up on pills.

Having been in the health care field, I had virtually unlimited access to doctors on a daily basis. In fact, several of my closest friends were doctors. They never questioned me when I asked them to write me prescriptions. They would write them out or call it in to my pharmacy without hesitation. During this time, I had two back surgeries and the doctor who performed my operations was very liberal in prescribing pain medication. I could count on him whenever I couldn't track down one of my doctor friends.

A few years ago I finally decided that I had had enough of the addict life style. I had went from having it all - a new home, a wonderful family and a great job - to having not a dime to my name, living with my mother and battling the constant cycle of scoring a few pills then having withdrawals. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. After spending some time in jail for writing bad checks in order to buy more pills, I decided it was time to get some help.

I went to our local hospital's emergency room. There I was treated by a doctor friend who had given me many prescriptions for pain pills in the past. When I told him that I was addicted to opiates and I wanted some help getting off of them, he looked at me as if I two heads. He wanted to know why I wanted to quit. He then began to tell me how it was very unlikely that I could get off of the pills. Then he did something that utterly astounded me. He offered to write me a prescription for even more pills! He said that he would be willing to work with me and keep me supplied.

It was a very tempting offer, but my mind was made up; I wanted to stop and I was willing to do what ever it took to accomplish my goal. I knew that I had take drastic action. I immediately began to look for recovery programs. While I was in jail, I had met someone who had been in a recovery program that sounded as if it would be just what I needed. The program was over an hour away from my home, required you to attend daily AA and/or NA meetings and they would help you get a job. Being unemployed, dead broke and desperate to begin my recovery, I was at the program's intake office the morning I was discharged from the hospital.

And so began my long journey to recovery. It has been a hard road with many twists and turns, but I have managed to stay on course. My life has completely changed for the better. I have a good job, a few dollars in my pocket, a decent apartment and a network of people who have helped me maintain my sobriety. I've also met people that have had a significantly positive impact on my new life.

This has been the "Reader's Digest" version of my story. I basically hit the high points (or low points, depending on how you look at it). There are many more details that I will get in to as time goes on and hopefully the interest in my blog increases. I hope that my story will influence someone, in a positive way, who is in recovery or thinking about taking that first step.