Drug Addiction Stories & Info

In 2005, I began hiding a secret that not even my family realized was going on at first.  I became an alcoholic.  A drinking problem is easy to hide at first.  I was one of the last people someone would suspect.  I volunteered, I was a hands-on stay at home mother of four and both my husband and our older one were proudly serving in the military.

Then our older of the four boys was hurt in Afghanistan.  Months of physical therapy and dealing with VA issues took its toll.  We were so grateful our son was home.  However, when his just younger brother announced he wanted to join, I was devastated.  When the twins also announced their intentions to join after their graduation from high school in three years, I prayed every night.  How could I have four in harm’s way and not end up losing one of them? 

My husband enjoyed a simple drink once in a while in the evenings and I would sometimes have one with him.  But as time went on and my fears and worries increased, I took to having one before he came home, one that looked like a simple glass of soda and one with him.  These increased more and more as the days went by.

It wasn’t long before I began drinking shortly after the boys left for school and my husband for work.  A quick nap in the afternoon and I was ready to begin again.  I managed to not have a drink on the days my older one had to see the doctor or have P.T.  I thought I was keeping it well under wraps till my injured combat veteran son became my hero once again.

He sat me down across from his wheelchair and told me he needed me to be there for him.  He said he did not know how he could get through his VA issues and his medical procedures without me.  This young man who had fought bravely for his country was asking me to be there for him. 

He told me he realized I had been drinking quite a bit.  It had not been the secret I had thought it was.  Ashamed, I hung my head.  He took my hand and told me he needed me to be there for him and be strong and I could not do that if I was walking around in an alcoholic haze all day.  He needed me to be his battle buddy.

My son saved my life that day and turned my alcohol problem around.  That afternoon, he took me to an AA meeting and in a matter of weeks, I was able to turn around the previous year of drinking.  It was hard, but every time I yearned for a drink, I remembered my son’s words: “I need you to be my battle buddy, Mom.”

The whiskey disappeared from our home.  My husband no longer desired a drink in the evenings.  Turns out, I had not kept it from any of my family.  It’s been five years and thankfully, my three younger sons opted for college.  My older one just started school himself on the GI Bill and is dating a lovely young woman he met at the hospital, one of the physical therapists.  They just announced their engagement.  Thanks to my son being my own battle buddy after his combat tour, I will be here to celebrate the wedding, and sober enough to have a wonderful, memorable day.

We share true addiction stories on here. As I went through and read some of them over the weekend, I decided to share something with you. While all of these stories are true and have happened to people, it is important for someone seeking help to know this: these stories are behind real people, real faces, real lives and they once were where you are today. In turn, you are just as important and worth helping as they were. With that in mind, think about this when you see the stories our readers have shared with us:

“I am the soccer mom you think has the perfect life.” “I am the executive who had it all.” “I am the college student with his whole life ahead of him.” “I am the teenage girl with a dream.” “I am you.”

Someone emailed me and told me that he could see a similarity in one of the situations that was a lot like his own. Another person reached out because she just knew we were telling her story because it was so similar to one another reader had shared. When I hear that someone has received help after coming to this site which allows people to open up and share their experiences, I think about how it was not just the people who cared enough to build the site, it was not me or the other administrators of this site, but that it was everyone, the brave men and women who have won the battle and now want to share their stories who have helped and inspired those who in turn, reach out and ask for help.

All of you who have shared your stories, all of you who come in and sense a familiar feeling because you are going through what these people have, all of you are to be thanked and commended for being who you are and for wanting to beat an enemy who trembles because he knows you can beat him: drug addiction.

If you are sitting in front of a computer reading this post and you, too, would like to be able to start a new life free of drugs, fill out the short inquiry on the right side. Perhaps you will be sharing your story on here someday and you will be the one inspiring someone else to get help just as someone else’s story may have inspired you.