The struggles and triumphs of an addict

My name is Rev JE Allen. As a young man I was in two very serious  car accidents. I lost a friend in one of these accidents. I suffered a broken neck and spinal injury which led to doctors putting me on heavy narcotic pain killers. I was told I would need the drugs the rest of my life to function. I developed a dependency and then ultimately an addiction to opiates. The drug I was on was no different than heroin when it came to being without. The withdrawals were the same. My life was destroyed and my goals and dreams were dashed. My life centered around drugs for almost 20 years. Then in late 2014 I decided to take my life back. It took a solid year to get over the drug but I did it and never looked back. Since this time I became an ordained Minister and I focus on mainly teen addiction and prevention. I lived this life for 20 years. I have insight as to what addiction truly does to someone and my mission is to save lives. Teens and young adults that I talk to easily open up to ...

                                                           Opioid Addiction Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illicit drug heroin as well as the licit prescription pain relievers oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl and others. Opioids are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain and nervous system to produce pleasurable effects and relieve pain. Addiction is a primary, chronic and relapsing brain disease characterized by an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors. Of the 21.5 million Americans 12 or older that had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million had a substance use di...

Step 2 is not going to be a fun one. We must take a good look at ourselves and do a self-examination. we must admit what addiction has turned us into and changed us in negative ways. That is the only way we can begin to correct the negative personality traits that addiction has caused. Make a list and begin to be proactive about changing everything on list. This is my list. 1) I am an Addict 2) I am manipulative 3) I am a liar 4) I am a thief 5) I put drugs before my child 6) I am selfish 7) I am not trustworthy If we don't truly self examine ourselves we can't begin to work on changing. Now sobriety will definitely help correct some of these negative traits but it's important we understand how the addiction changed us because just being sober won't completely get rid of negative character traits that have become second nature to us. Addiction invades and seizes the soul like a foreign occupation and it is a fight and struggle to take it back. Without self ex...

The absolute most important step in recovery is changing your surroundings and associations. Notice I didn't say friends. When you're in the midst of your addiction the people that you usually surround yourself with are not friends. If you've already started down the road to recovery you're beginning to see your so called friends are nowhere to be found. I came to realize I had not one true friend because l had pushed them all away. We always damage the relationships we have with the ones that truly care about us when we are using drugs. We push them away out of shame and because they are constantly nagging us about our drug use. We use them and lie to them because we are manipulators. We MUST completely change our surroundings. It's why rehab facilities recommend a sober living house when leaving. I honestly don't know if putting a bunch of freshly clean addicts in one house is a good idea or not. The concept seems good because of the rules and structure but I ...