What is it like to be Addicted to Pain Pills?

Addicted woman

“My brother died in a gruesome car crash. My parents went through a nasty divorce and I almost died in a freak accident. These things were bad but not one of them even a fraction as painful as my addiction to pain pills. Pain pills took my dignity, happiness and even my own child from me. People who haven’t struggled with drug dependency look at opiate addicts as weak people. They have no idea the strength that a pain pill has over an opiate addict.

“When I started taking pain pills it was a hydrocodone here and there. They made me get sick to my stomach but once that passed, I had few moments of relief from the emotional pain I was carrying. With time, those few hydrocodone wouldn’t cut it. I had to increase the dosage in order to get the relief I felt before. Unfortunately, the more I took, the more expensive my drug use became. I ended up having to do dishonest and unethical things to support my habit. At first, I was just over-drafting my bank account. By the end, I was stealing family heirlooms from my parents and selling or trading them for my fix.

“I absolutely had to have those pills. My feet could not hit the floor in the morning without snorting a pill up my nose because the physical pain was too unbearable…”

“I absolutely had to have those pills. My feet could not hit the floor in the morning without snorting a pill up my nose because the physical pain was too unbearable. My mother had a physical condition and had to take pain medication. I started stealing her pills when I would get dope sick. One month she ran out because I had taken too many. She became very ill and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. The last time I saw my boyfriend of eight years was when I stole hydrocodone syrup from his parents’ house. They were at work and I knew the combination to unlock their garage door. They noticed the medication was missing and assumed it was him, causing a huge argument. He disconnected from me at that point.

“I overdosed and the hospital had to call child protective services. The State felt my daughter was safer in someone else’s care. I destroyed every valuable relationship in my life, leaving me alone with just my addiction. The more harmful my actions became, the more drugs I needed to numb myself. I suffered even more emotionally because I did not want to confront all the terrible things I was doing. It became a vicious cycle that I absolutely could not control. It took losing custody of my child and four very serious overdoses to finally reach out for help.

“Before I started on this path I had a really nice house, a good social life, a good job and a close group of friends. As things got worse, I lost more each day, burning bridges with my friends and family. In the end, I was homeless living in and out of different trap houses. When I finally sought help, the treatment professionals picked me up from a mall parking lot to go to addiction treatment.

“If you know someone struggling with addiction, please get them the help they need before its too late.”

—S.W. Narconon Graduate



(To preserve privacy, the photo does not show an actual Narconon student or graduate.)

AUTHOR

Aaron

Aaron has been writing drug education articles and documenting the success of the Narconon program for over two years.

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DRUG EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION