Don’t Substitute One Addiction for Another

Hi, I’m Eddie. My journey started with pot when I was 14 or 15 years old. After that I got into cocaine. I tried crack cocaine one time, but I didn’t like that. That is a good thing! Things eventually escalated to heroin.

Obviously all these drugs took a toll, and I did a lot of damage to my body. Eventually I was in constant pain, so I started taking pain pills and then stealing pain pills. I just got sicker and sicker until I basically became bedridden for six years. My weight skyrocketed up to 329 pounds. One day my daughter walked in on me while I was shooting up. She was only seven years old, and she knew I wasn’t just “getting a shot.” It was so very difficult explaining to her what was going on.

This was a turning point for me. It killed me that she saw that. In fact afterward I attempted suicide by hanging myself in the basement. By the grace of God, the brand new rope failed. I woke up on the floor and went to the hospital. They watched me for two weeks. I am bipolar, and I have rapid cycles of happy to sad, happy to sad. As you can imagine, this is very difficult to deal with. I was self-medicating to relieve my pain, both physical and mental.

I pretty much stopped on my own with help from my wife. I lost 187 pounds in 2 years, probably too rapidly. I am now obsessed with exercise and my weight. I really need to get that under control at this point. I still have issues, but fortunately taking drugs is not one of them. Words of advice: Don’t substitute one addiction for another.

Here’s what you should do:

1. Take it one day at a time
2. Take care of yourself
3. Eat right
4. Get plenty of sleep
5. Rely on your higher power

I wish you all the best. Life is so much better without drugs in it!

Share this post: on Twitter on Facebook