Opioid Prevention Toolkit

OPIOID & HEROIN AWARENESS TOOLKIT A Prevention Guide for Families

A Local Story

L ife is rich. I have a great wife, two beautiful children, a nice home, two vehicles, a boat and I could go on and on. I’ve always had good things in my life that I am thankful for, but I nearly lost everything. I went through a period of time where my highest priority was getting and using Vicodin. The using part started more recreational,

“I had a fairly normal childhood ”

but at the end of my using stint, I could barely function without it. I needed Vicodin to work, play, socialize, sleep, and everything else at least in my own mind. My mind had become a dysfunctional mess of rationalizing my use of Vicodin from, “I am a better person when I use Vicodin” to “I can handle using it because I know how it works” to “I deserve to get free drugs because my employer owes me”. The getting part was really pretty easy. I work in healthcare and have easy access, so not only were they easy to get, but they were free as long as I covered my tracks. Of course in the end, there were too many tracks to cover and I was caught eventually. This was the low point in my life. My wife talked about divorce, I nearly lost my job and professional license. Eventually I could have lost my home, could have never had children, and most likely would have indefinitely lost my life, but I’m here writing this, so there is more to my story. When my dirty secret was found out, I was extremely shameful. How would my wife and I reconcile without divorce? How would I gain her trust back? How would I go back to work and face my peers? How would I keep or get my professional license back? How would I learn how to live without Vicodin? How would I stay clean and sober? Life as I knew it was very uncertain and I was overwhelmed with guilt and shame. Thankfully I met some very helpful and understanding people at the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and at Agnesian Behavioral Health that started me on the path to recovery. Counseling, regular attendance in Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and working through the 12 steps of NA with my sponsor helped me answer all of the questions in time. Sometimes it wasn’t in my time, but nonetheless questions were answered and life got better and better. My last Vicodin was more than 10 years ago. I continue to have really tough questions that I need answered like: Where should we go on our second honeymoon? Where should my kids go to school? Should I change jobs? Thankfully I can manage these questions between my wife and I, and my higher power. Like I said before, life is rich. - Anonymous “ Sometimes it wasn’t in my time...but nonetheless questions were answered and life got better and better.”

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CISM