Recovering Addict Tells His Story of Getting Sober

BURLEIGH – After reading the May 22 story about Paul Conway’s recovery from heroin addiction, four patients, receiving treatments at Addiction Recovery Systems site in Burleigh, wanted to tell their view of the services provided there.
On May 30, three were interviewed, and a fourth sent her story via email.
Two requested anonymity while the others permitted use of their first names.
With three of them, use of opiates, which included heroin, began after having used prescribed pain medication. When prescriptions would not be renewed, they sought relief for their physical addiction on the streets. That meant a daily need for between $200 and $300 to buy the illicit drug. All freely admitted finding heroin anywhere in Cape May County was no problem.
That fact has law enforcement officials throughout the county on the offensive, since there has been an upsurge in overdoses which resulted from very pure and powerful heroin.
In coming weeks, other local treatment facilities will be interviewed as to what they offer to treat heroin addicts and others having opiate addictions.
Those who told their stories were united in their praise of the counselors and others at Addiction Recovery Systems for being compassionate and helping guide them on their way to new, sober living.
Here are their stories:
Ryan, 30, was in a management position. He has been at A.R.S. for two and a half years.
His pathway into addiction started with a work-related injury.
“I went to the doctor and had two bulging discs and pinched nerves. I started going to a regular doctor. He gave me pain medication and I also went to a pain management clinic.”
He was getting nerve block shots, but the pain continued, so he was placed on pain medication.
He returned to work, but the slow economy resulted in his being laid off from work. That meant he lost his health insurance, so the nerve block shots and pain medication ended.
“I had to seek it in other places,” said Ryan.
“It started costing too much for me. I could not continue to do it. There are other drugs out there,” he said.
At first, Ryan used Oxycontin. He was spending $200 for that. “It made me broke,” he said.
He began using heroin at between $10 and $20 a hit.
“It’s available everywhere you go,” said Ryan. “Wherever people want to take it, they will bring it to them, which is a big problem. It is hard for some people to stop, very hard.”
He borrowed money from family and friends, “Whatever I could do. I went to other places for help. But I guess I wasn’t ready yet.”
“Most places brought me in a week or two, and tried to give me other meds to wean me off and get me through,” he said.
None of those offered counseling therapy or anything else, he said.
“If you don’t continue to treat, it’s hard to stop,” he said.
A couple years trying to quit drugs without success made him realize he was unable to kick the addiction alone.
“I had a friend that was being treated here. He looked ten times better than he did the year before,” said Ryan. The two talked about A.R.S. and what it might do for Ryan.
“He brought me here for my first time to speak about it,” he recalled.
“They were very nice. Speaking to them about what was going on, it’s hard to tell somebody how bad things are and what you’ve done, what drugs you’ve used,” he said.
“It’s easy to keep it to yourself, but it’s hard to bring to someone’s attention just how much you’ve done,” he said.
“They treated me great, like I was going to a regular doctor or hospital. They made me feel comfortable. They let me know if I let the program work for me…I have been clean since. I have not relapsed once.”
A smile can over his face when he said that, a sense of satisfaction, of achievement.
“I kind of worry it has not happened to me yet, and I don’t plan on it,” he said.
“This place (A.R.S.) has been a godsend to me. I might not have made it otherwise. There have been close calls. My friends were taken to the hospital. But I have not been part of any of that since I started,” he said.
Once off heroin, taking doses of methadone, dispensed at the Burleigh site, Ryan’s lifestyle changed. He began eating better. His family relationships started to mend.
Once again Ryan began caring about his appearance and his health.
“You realize what mistakes you made and what you do to fix them,” he said.
“I wasn’t going out to get drugs. I started doing normal stuff again,” he said.
Much of that change Ryan credits to his counselor at A.R.S. “She is not only my counselor, she is my friend,” he added.
“I have never been mistreated once since I have been here. Some complain about having to come here every day, but it puts you in a daily routine,” he said.
Now classed in Phase 5 (there are six with one being most critical, six near the top). He goes to A.R.S. once a week as he has done for two years.
Like other recovering addicts, Ryan knows there is a stigma attached to being a recovering heroin addict.
He would like to be employed. One of the things stressed in counseling is to be truthful.
“It’s hard for us,” Ryan acknowledged. “Should we bring it (former addiction) to their attention (potential employers)? It’s hard to decide if you should or you have to. If you are clean, if you have had good, clean time, I don’t consider it to be a concern or worry if you are doing well. Lesley D. Bettis, executive director at A.R.S. agreed with Ryan there is a negative stigma about methadone that prevents people from telling about it.
“It is contradictory to what we teach in treatment. We say be open and honest. Engage in the process.”
“Yet society condemns you for getting help,” Ryan said.
“It is a difficult path to walk,” said Bettis. “You have financial responsibilities, but you can’t feel open and honest because of the stigma associated with methadone. The world has not embraced medicated-assisted treatment.”