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Inspiration and Recovery
Katherine’s Story
I was 11 years old when I started drinking and smoking pot and by age 14 I had discovered opiates. I had family members that used and my older sister helped me to get drugs and alcohol. I was on a really destructive path and I was always getting into trouble… stealing stuff, fighting and I dropped out of school. By the time I was 16 I had reached the point where I had to have drugs and I was always looking for a way to get that next fix.
When I was 18; I got pregnant. I managed to stay clean while I was pregnant but after I gave birth in the hospital they prescribed pain killers. That started my addiction again and I continued down this self-destructive path. A couple of years later I found myself to be pregnant again. This time there were problems. I started bleeding and went to the hospital where I was told that I miscarried. This was when I escalated to heroin and ecstasy. Then two months later I realized I was still pregnant…the hospital was wrong. I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t sure if this baby would be OK after the drugs and all but by this point there wasn’t anything I could do.
When I was 8 months pregnant I went to New Jersey with some friends to get heroin. My friends had been doing drugs so I ended up driving us back. I was changing lanes a lot and I was pulled over by the police. They found 237 bags of heroin in the car and I was arrested. I made bail and got 2 years probation.
I was lucky that I had a healthy baby girl. Someone reported my drug use to the DHHS and they tested my daughter for drugs. I was so afraid they would take her away. Fortunately, they didn’t find drugs in her system or mine so they let me go home with her.
While on probation I just couldn’t stay clean. I was “fakin’ it till I made it.” The fourth time I got caught breaking probation I was sent to jail. It was March of 2007, I was in a 5x5 cell going through horrible withdrawal, and I received photos of my daughter’s first birthday from my mom. It hit me so hard that I missed her first birthday. That was it – I was done. Something in me said, “I can’t do this anymore.” I have been clean ever since.
Justin's Story
My father is an alcoholic and my grandmother died from alcoholism. I guess I was doing it at first to fit in. I was 12 when I first started drinking and by age 15 I was a full blown alcoholic. I was always hanging around with older kids that could get alcohol. I kept getting OUIs and so I found other ways to keep the high. I discovered opiates, heroin and cocaine and I carried on with this for 7 years. I was in an out of trouble all the time with driving drunk and I was overdosing.
My family applied to that TV show Intervention and they were accepted. So they held an intervention and my choice was to go to rehab or they would have nothing to do with me. I choose rehab and they put me on a plane that instant. I spent 60 days in a residential treatment program in California. I had never tried to get sober before - I never wanted to. I made through the program and was sent home.
Shortly after I came home I was found lying in a parking lot overdosed on heroin. I flat-lined but they were able to revive me at the hospital. I woke up thinking I was still in California and I couldn’t understand why my family was around my bed and crying. That really stuck with me. I never thought I was hurting anyone but myself but I could see in their faces that I was hurting them.
I was enrolled in multiple recovery programs in Maine but I kept falling back into my old habits. It was still with me though…their faces from the hospital. Then on June 5th of 2007 I decided I was done and I’ve been sober ever since. I was on probation because of some trouble I had gotten into and was sent to Drug Court at Catholic Charities Maine. It takes a lot to go through Drug Court but it works. There are strict guidelines, curfews, and counseling. Without my family, especially my mom, and these programs I couldn’t have done this and I wouldn’t be here.
Joshua’s Story
My addiction to OxyContin started when I was in college and in a fraternity. I didn’t even think twice …I just wanted to fit in. It was recreational at first but before I knew it I was addicted. Over the next two years things got progressively worse and out of control. I dropped out of school, lost my job, lost some of my friends and became estranged from my family. I began selling pot and Oxy to support my addiction and eventually I was arrested.
Before I went to trial I got involved in a clinical trial through Mercy Outpatient Center in Westbrook. The trial was for 6 months and helped me to break my addiction to OxyContin. My recovery was just beginning though and I was referred to Catholic Charities Maine Counseling Services. I started seeing a counselor there just before I was brought to trial and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Carolee, my counselor, has been amazing. She even came to see me while I was in jail and when I was released we began regular sessions.
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