Portraits of the jersey shore community resource addiction recovery overcomer young man

Addiction Recovery Overcomer – Young Man

“I played baseball a lot growing up. Then I got bilateral rotator cuff injuries, and the doctor game me Percocet. They were really strong. They were so good that they were bad. When you take them, the physical pain and emotional pain you feel, it all just goes alway. None of your problems seem to matter. It’s a feeling of euphoria. But after a while, they don’t work anymore. And then when you stop, all of your problems are stacked up against you. When the doctors finally cut me off, I went and got heroin. It’s cheaper and easier to get, and my addiction just took off.

“I feel that if the doctors could just prescribe these stronger pain meds like Percocet short-term, they would serve their purpose. If you broke an ankle, or if you break a wrist, something like that, then fine. Once you are on it for a week or two, enough is enough. But if prescribed longer than that it becomes a problem, and you need more and more and more, and stronger and stronger… and it becomes a problem. They prescribed my Percocet to me for a year.

My bottom was an emotional bottom. I had my family still, my two little boys. And I was tired of trying to get high every day. When I would wake up, the first thing I would think about was getting high. I lost good jobs, I lost my ex-fiance, who is my boys’ mom. That all took a toll on me, so I said, ‘Enough is enough,’ one day, and I sought treatment. Thank God I haven’t relapsed for over 4 years straight now. My relationship with my two boys is very very close. They are 7 and 9 years old. I am still an addict through and through, and I never forget that. Just for today I am a success story.”

~ Ocean County Mall

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