- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Mental Health
I will make this story short. I attended my first treatment center in December 1979 and the last one in June 2002. Altogether I was in treatment 16 times.
I started with alcohol. By age 35 I was a chronic late-stage alcoholic. Eight years later I was using heroin as the alcohol no longer worked. Depression had me considering suicide several times and actually almost daily at the end. Often dope-sick and running with thieves to support my habit, I hit my low at age 43.
When faced with homelessness, I begged to go to treatment one more time. I entered a sober house after treatment and lived there for the next four years. Today I have been clean for 12 years. I still battle with depression which I manage with medication and therapy.
Who would have thought that, after 16 treatment centers spanning 23 years, I would even be alive today let alone clean and sober?