Drug Addiction Stories & Info

All my adult life I had been three wonderful words: just a mom.  I had been the soccer coach, the cheerleading mom, the baseball team mom.  My life was centered around those three wonderful kids and I took my role as their mom seriously.  Even following my divorce, I did not do what some women do and get into partying and bringing home stepdads.  I was just a mom and I loved it.

I did good.  They grew up and all three went off to college or the military.  Suddenly, I was alone for the first time in my entire life.  I had put them first and never had a relationship after my divorce.  Now I sat home at night in front of the television because all my friends were home or out on vacations with their husbands.

One night I decided to buy a bottle of wine.  I was able to go to sleep that night without being all depressed about missing my kids.  That weekend I bought another bottle and went through it in one night.  Soon I was buying more and more bottles of wine and counting the hours till work was over so I could go home to that first glass of wine.  Before I knew it, I was skipping the glass part altogether.

Thanksgiving changed things.  Inside of two months I had become an alcoholic.  When my children came home to visit, I hid the evidence.  They could tell I was different but could not put their finger on why, or so I thought.  Although I was thrilled to have them home, my body kept pining for that bottle of wine I had hidden in a cooler in my bedroom closet.

They had no sooner left the driveway heading back to their wonderful lives before I ran in and grabbed that bottle and opened it.  That week I bought several bottles, drinking a couple per night and making sure I had plenty to get me through the weekend.

Saturday afternoon, my children came home and surprised me.  They walked in and found me with my wine and several empty bottles around me.  They had seen the empty bottles in the trash can outside the weekend before and had brought a substance abuse counselor with them.

Seeing the worry and love in their eyes, I quickly realized what I was doing.  I had been just a mom and they assured me I would always be their mom but now they took the time to come and take care of me.  That was four years ago.  I am rich beyond compare because my children took the values I taught them and went off in the world to follow their dreams but they also came home and took care of a lady who was just a mom when she did not even realize she needed them to.

I am now completely alcohol free and engaged to a wonderful man at my church.  I am happy and healthy and the best part?  A part of me will always get to be just a mom to those three wonderful kids.

I was an alcoholic for years but kept it well hidden.  I had to because I was a teacher.  My routine was set in stone and I prided myself on being able to do my job and then sit back and enjoy my beer on weekends.  If I did not need a drink during the week, then I convinced myself I was not an alcoholic and did not have a problem. I didn’t think being in bed as early as 6 p.m. meant anything.  I was just tired, you know?

However, as time went on, my credit card bills showed the truth.  I was spending over $200.00 a month on vodka and drinking beer from the time I got off work Friday afternoon to Sunday.  I woke up on the weekends needing a cup of coffee in one hand and a beer in the other.  I used up my sick days and vacation days within the first two months of school starting.

My friends and family tried to talk to me about it but I thought they were nuts.  I was not an alcoholic, I told them, because I could go days without a drink.  I was deluding myself but not them.  I stopped going anywhere except to work.  My wife did all the errands.  When she broke down on the road and I was too drunk to go get her, it was the final straw in her book.  A couple of days later my family and friends put together an intervention for me.  They were pretty brutal in the truth.  Still, it took my wife looking me in the eye in front of them and saying she would leave me right then and take our kids with her if I did not check into a drug addiction rehab.

That was four years ago.  Because I was able to check myself in without it affecting my students and my position in a negative way, I was able to retain my certification to teach.  I am grateful because I really love teaching. With the help the successful drug rehab center, I was able to put my life back together and I have even helped a couple of students who were heading down the path of alcoholism.

Thank you, to the drug rehab professionals, for giving me what I needed to get away from that lifestyle.  The money I used to spend on alcohol is being used for family vacations and bringing pleasure to my children.  My wife is happier than I have seen her in years and I am grateful I got a second chance with her and them.

You know, I always assumed that drug addiction meant an addiction to one drug. I learned the hard way that it isn’t always true. Roy was a sweet, albeit “hillbilly” looking man that I dated for a couple of year’s way back when. Roy was sweet, but believe me, I saw the rough side of him too. He was a bodyguard and was always armed. If he believed for a second that anyone would hurt the woman he was protecting, he could be very mean. There was always a crowd of people at the house. There was always a party going on and I admit, I was part of it. The woman Roy protected was a drug dealer. We called her “Ma” and a small group of us always got to party for free. When “the family” was alone in the house, everyone pretty much got whatever drug they wanted. While I preferred to stay with the marijuana and occasionally cocaine, Roy was doing the hard stuff. After a while, I noticed he was not only doing A drug, but several, and drinking.

He never got mean toward me but he did start getting meaner to other people.

Roy was doing acid, cocaine, marijuana and drinking; and that was on the nights he was hitting light. He never got mean toward me but he did start getting meaner to other people. He even started getting dangerous. He would draw that gun on way too many occasions and sometimes with a house full of people. When the group would go out, more than likely, Roy would get into a fight or two. Of course, everyone in the group was at least three sheets to the wind, so we thought it was funny.

When I met Roy, he had a healthy appetite. As time went on, he barely ate. His eyes became sunken and had dark circles. He began to experience some serious medical issues too but wouldn’t do anything about them. This sweet, good-looking man who always called me his wife was becoming a shell of a person and very different from the man I started dating. Well, I was caught up in it too. I did my share of smoking and snorting and did nothing as Roy would down one drug after another. For two years it went on like this. Then Ma started getting in even more types of drugs. The parties continued.