Let\’s just start off by saying I never expected to be addicted to drugs but somehow the universe has led me to the events I\’m about to try and explain. The crazy part is, growing up, I was a devoted Christian. My Grandfather was a pastor and knew the Bible inside and out. In my teenage years, I defied my religious beginnings, and it all started after I was introduced to marijuana. After a couple of years in my teenage years of smoking marijuana, my roommates and I decided to try Percocet. After Percocet I got into heroin but my first few times of doing dope, I was young and naive. The drugs I got were often counterfeit (Research Chemicals) Possibly Fentanyl which is not what the average opioid addict would want to take. I made the mistake of doing it with someone who waited to tell me they mixed cocaine in the heroin when I had already taken my dose. At that moment, I realized I had made a mistake. To cut it short, I overdosed and had to be near canned by EMS, and woke up with this miserable feeling of death and the withdrawal getting worse by the second. I was later given Suboxone medication (“it’s safer”) which wreaked havoc on my everyday life at first, constantly in withdrawal as the doctors were lowering my dose to “taper off”. I was almost ready to kill myself at 31 years of age. A few months ago, I was looking up ways to get clean when I came across the ANR website. Anyways the next day I decided to call the office to learn more, and that was the first time I began to understand opioid addiction. During my intake, the doctor explained how the dependency can be reversed. It felt as if it were too good to be true, but at this point I had nothing to lose, having tried traditional rehabs before. 7 days later I was in Naples, ready for my treatment. So now on to the Treatment. As soon as I arrived at the hospital this incredible feeling of hope rushed over me that this was actually going to happen; I could not believe was about to end my decade-long opioid addiction. The doctor loaded up his equipment and assured me everything was going to be okay, and that was the last thing I remember. I woke up the following morning feeling incredibly weak and had zero energy. No withdrawals. The doctor said that this was normal from the effects of the medications in the treatment and explained what I had to do to restart my endorphin system, to begin recovery. At this point it felt as if all the life had been sucked out of me and I forgot what it felt like to have strength. I get discharged later and everything starts to become more vivid and clear. I requested a week off from work for this treatment, knowing that I would not just magically wake up normally (At this point I did not even know how to walk). My friends were extremely supportive in the process and I was able to hit the gym by my third day and finally move on with my life without drugs. This is where you could say \”it actually worked\”; it felt as if my disease had been sucked out of my body and as I began to get stronger every day. For once, I had hope knowing I would feel normal again. I cannot remember all the details as the recovery experience took a while, but eventually one day after about a few weeks, it hit me that I just felt perfectly normal. I remember several weeks ago feeling trapped in a cycle of using opiates, getting clean, and relapsing. My life was one horrifying event to another with lots of severe problems arising from the addition. I remember waking up one day and finally being able to enjoy the day, feeling as if the beautiful sunlight was looking down on me and feeling good without drugs. This was all four months ago and I feel as if my life has been changed forever. God bless ANR!!
