Waking up with stomach pain and leg cramps, Alex rolls over and pulls out a bag and needle from his bedside table. He doses himself and then looks at the ceiling and begins to cry. How did things get like this? He had his whole life ahead of him.
Looking over to the empty side of the bed where his wife used to sleep he is overwhelmed with grief and thinks if only he could go back in time.
Just two years prior, he had a good job welding. Then the accident happened. If only he had been more aware, maybe then he would have never been hit by the steal beam that broke his color bone and torn those muscles.
– The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
He started with Vicodin, then oxycontin. He did physical therapy but it only go him to the point he could move his arm again. The pain remained and he couldn’t really do all that was expected of him. Though he tried to keep his job, he eventually lost it and was put on disability.
Before long, his doctor told him he had to get off the painkillers and started decreasing his dosage. Alex couldn’t face the pain and would still use the same amount. Eventually, the doctor took him off completely and he resorted to buying them off the street. He tried going to meetings but he knew he didn’t have a disease. He was just stuck with a bad injury. After a while, he couldn’t afford the pain pills off the street and was offered heroin.
From there it was all downhill. His wife left with their daughter. He was stuck.
This story is more common than you might think and causes hard working members of our society to struggle with addiction.
– National Institute on Drug Abuse
An addiction to painkillers or heroin does not need to be the end of the road. there is hope for getting off these substances and turning your life around. Please call us today for free assistance in finding treatment for yourself or your loved one.