CULLMAN – “Gradually things got worse. I had tried everything including church, medicine, meetings and jail to stop. I lost everything worthwhile in life. Relationships, jobs, a child, a family, my home (I became homeless), my freedom and most importantly myself. I could not understand how it could happen. I about killed my parents, I broke their hearts and almost worried them to death. They didn't understand either. I started ending up in jails, detoxes and treatment centers. I had every reason to stop and could not. I began to hate myself and my life. I was dying a slow tormenting death and believed that is how it was gonna be.”
Those are the words of a Cullman native, Bob, who is now a 37-year-old, loving, kind and successful man with a busy career, loved ones, children who trust him completely and parents who beam with pride when spending time with their son. Bob has not used drugs or alcohol since 2010.
He shares what the end of his drug use looked like.
“I was almost beaten to death by alcohol and drugs. In 2010 I got arrested again. This time, I almost welcomed it. The life I had been living took its toll on me. I was the type you could lock up over and over and, as soon as I got released, I would be loaded. I was given another chance at treatment after jail and a brief stop in prison.”
Another Cullman man, Tom, has been clean from intravenous drugs for 12 years and free from all other drugs and alcohol for five years. He tells of his introduction to drugs starting with a drunk night in high school.
“At age 16, some of my best friends and I decided to ‘get drunk.’ Not knowing how to do this exactly, we purchased an enormous amount of alcohol in all varieties. We had a pretty good time for a while. The next day I felt horrible. I had alcohol poisoning for two days after that. I didn’t drink again until prom my junior year. I smoked pot the first time when I was a senior in high school. It was pretty cool, at the time, but not really all that game changing.
“Then, after graduating high school, I had a major back surgery. I was really messed up for months. I became very familiar with pain killers in this time and started to see them as a cure-all. I would take some extra when I could because I felt amazing when I did.”
Prescription Opioids
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in a May 12, 2016 online article, reported, “There is no other medication routinely used for a nonfatal condition that kills patients so frequently. The majority of those deaths result from prescription opioid medications, such as hydrocodone, OxyContin and Percocet.
“It is so common that specialists even have a profile for the most typical victim: non-Hispanic Caucasian male, mid-30s. Initial diagnosis: back pain due to trauma, surgery or degenerative arthritis. And, most remarkably, average time from first prescription to time of overdose death: just 31 months.”
Gupta goes on, “There are other grim signs. We now know that heroin has made a resurgence and 80 percent of new heroin users start off using pain pills, which contain the same type of base ingredients.”
The similarities in Gupta’s report and Tom’s story are eerie.
Tom was then in college experimenting with LSD, smoking more marijuana and drinking much more frequently. His main attraction, however, remained to opiates. His disease of addiction progressed.
“At some point a longtime friend began getting morphine. I took it orally when I had the opportunity. Eventually, my friend was injecting it intravenously and a few of my other friends were too. I was fine with taking it orally. A couple years later, they had discovered a new pill to inject called Dilaudid (hydromorphone). This came in a little pill called a k-4. It was amazing. I tried it once intravenously to see what the fuss was about. Just three months later I was a full blown addict. I didn’t care about school as much. I only went to class if I had gotten high first.”
Tom dropped out of college and began working to support his drug habit. Then came a geographical move to another state with the hope of a new start.
“After years of unsuccessful attempts at life without opiates or methadone, I just decided to start somewhere fresh as a last ditch effort to have a good life again. I moved out of state. It was great. I finally was off opiates. My drinking came into the spotlight as my drug of choice. It was legal, socially acceptable and flat out fun. I was now 30 years old. I felt good for the first time in years. I was able to live and work on my own. I had a lot of new friends who didn’t use hard drugs. I worked in the service industry which is one of heavy drinking. It helps mask red flag behavior. I was a heavy drinker and I was ok with that. I drank daily after work and it did not interfere with my job (we were all hungover and that was acceptable).”
But, the beast that is the disease of addiction, while it may appear to wax and wane, didn’t stay quiet and manageable for long.
Next week we will continue to learn more about Bob and Tom’s journey from the hell that is active addiction to where they are today as happy, productive, clean and sober men in their communities.
Read Part 1: http://cullmansense.com/articles/2016/05/22/addiction-family-affair-part-1
