Drug Addiction Stories

I remember my sister’s spiral into oxycontin drug addiction like it was yesterday, although it has been more than two years since the day our worlds turned upside down.  Following a car accident in May 2007, she was prescribed oxycontin as a way to reduce her chronic back pain.  Having never really indulged in anything other than smoking cigarettes, we did not really think anything of it except relief that she had a pain reliever to help her get through the after effects of the car accident.

Then one Sunday afternoon, my brother-in-law called and asked if I could come over immediately.  My sister was not acting like herself and he was concerned because their two sons were witnessing behavior from their mother they had never seen before.

I drove over and found my sister to be slamming doors and screaming things at her children I had never heard her utter before.  Concerned, I took her into the bedroom and tried to talk to her.  She kept going on about being unappreciated. This was not the sister I had known all of our 30 plus years together.  As she walked around, I noticed her pill bottle turned over with the cap off.  It was empty which was a surprise because she should have just barely been halfway through it.

That was the day our family discovered my sister was addicted to oxycontin. After she settled down for a nap, I went home and did some research.  The following morning I called a successful drug addiction rehab and they advised me on how to do a family intervention.  I got together with my sister’s husband, my two brothers and their wives and my sister’s sons and together we did just that.

It has been two years since my sister went into drug rehab treatment program and today I have my sister back and more importantly, her sons have their mother back.  The drug rehab center helped us help her when we were in uncharted territory having never had a family member with a drug problem.

It was a scary time for our family and I do not think we could have gotten through without the help of a caring and professional drug rehab center and their wonderful counselors.  They educated us and helped my sister face her addiction.  They introduced her to others who had walked the same path she had and showed her that there was no shame in what had occurred.  They gave us back the lovely woman we love so much.