Drug Addiction Stories & Info

He called me that day and said he needed to talk to me.  It was important.  We had been friends for twenty years, ever since high school.  We ran around in the same circle and although we never dated, we were best friends.  The woman he met six years ago and married is also now one of my best friends.

He told me he thought he had a problem with alcohol.  This was no secret to those of us who know and love him.  He has been an alcoholic for years.  Somehow, he was finally able to face it because he had been quite mean and belligerent to his family, his friends and his wife all weekend.  No one was talking to him so he called me, the person who would always tell him the truth even if it wasn’t kind, just as he would me.

I went over and talked to him and his wife for awhile.  Then we called a drug rehab program we had heard about. The counselor listened to me as I gave my friend’s history, then I passed him the phone so they could discuss the rest of it.

My friend had been a four day a week worker for awhile, always calling in on Mondays because of his weekend drinking binges.  Now he was willing to take responsibility because he was afraid to lose his family and he knew somehow he had crossed the line since his wife was concerned to the point where she was threatening to leave him.

It has been just over a year since my friend called me that day.  He checked into a residential program and afterward has consistently attended outpatient sessions and his support group.  His marriage is stronger and he is thriving once again at work.

I have loved my friend for over twenty years.  He is like a brother or cousin to me. I stood up with them at their wedding and we joke about how if they ever split up they get joint custody of me.  However, I see the changes in my friend thanks to his successful treatment program and I really see that his alcohol problem has been resolved.  I am just thankful every day that my friend finally woke up to what he would lose and his life and ours is richer for the choice he made that day to get help.  They are not often told this, but I think drug and alcohol counselors are heroes, too.

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.