At PACE Recovery Center, we are hopeful that you were able to make it through Thanksgiving without incident. As we have pointed out previously, the relapse rate tends to elevate during significant holidays. If your addiction recovery was compromised, we understand how you are feeling.
Hopefully, you have already discussed your relapse with your sponsor or a trusted peer. It’s difficult to admit that you slipped up, but it’s essential to get back on the road to recovery immediately.
The shame and guilt that accompanies relapses can be paralyzing; such feelings tend to prompt people to continue using even though they know where it leads. Please do not let relapse morph into an active cycle of addiction.
You are not alone; many people experience a relapse in early recovery. What’s salient is that you quickly identify as a newcomer, talk with your sponsor, or a trusted peer, in private about what happened.
A relapse is not the end of the world, and it can be used as a valuable learning experience. Choosing to go with the opposite route, keeping the matter to yourself, will restart the cycle of addiction. This path may result in you needing to return to an addiction treatment center for more intensive assistance.
We hope that you navigated Thanksgiving without incident, but if you didn’t, then you are at a critical juncture. You have to decide whether you are going to be honest, or let the disease re-exert control over your life. Naturally, we hope that you choose the former. If you do not, then please contact PACE Recovery Center to discuss your options. We have helped many men get back on the road toward lasting recovery following a relapse.
An Exposé On The American Opioid Crisis and Recovery
For the remainder of this week’s post, we would like to take the opportunity to share a timely exposé about the opioid epidemic. While progress has been made in recent years in reining in the scourge of prescription opioid abuse, millions of Americans continue to struggle.
One publication that has dedicated significant resources to shine a light on this deadly public health crisis is The New York Times (NYT). Over the last two decades, the newspaper has published scores of articles covering practically every angle. Everything from how opioids became ubiquitous in America to legislation aimed at tackling the problem has been covered in recent years.
A couple of days ago, NYT released an article titled: “The Class of 2000 ‘Could Have Been Anything.’” At first glance, the title may be nebulous in meaning and appear to have little to do with the opioid epidemic.
Dan Levin covers American youth for The Times’ National Desk. He recently took a close look at one high school class that graduated right as the prescription opioid epidemic began to take hold of communities across America. Now twenty years later, Levin found that many of Minford High School’s Class of 2000, in rural Minford, Scioto County, Ohio, continues to wrestle with opioid use disorder.
There is much to unpack in the article; the author focuses on a select number of students who came of age in town that leads Ohio with fatal drug overdoses, drug-related incarceration, and neonatal abstinence syndrome rates. The students share how they were introduced to opioids in high school, and about how addiction changed the course of their life.
In 2010, Scioto County led the state in the number of opioid prescriptions— enough opioids were prescribed to give 123 pills to each resident.
A Devastating Toll, but Signs of Hope
While several students would succumb to their opioid use disorder, there are others who are now on the road to recovery. Jonathan Whitt became addicted to prescription opioids when he was 16; by 28, he was using heroin intravenously, according to the article. Whitt said that he was incarcerated many times and went to rehab on numerous occasions before choosing a new path. Today, Whitt has four years clean and sober.
The consequences started happening in college. By this point I was physically dependent on OxyContin, but it was very easy to tell myself, ‘I don’t do crack, I don’t shoot up.’ That messed me up for a really long time.” — Jake Bradshaw, Milford Class of 2000
Jake Bradshaw has been in recovery since 2013, the article reports. He is the founder of the “Humans of Addiction” blog. Today, Mr. Bradshaw works in the addiction treatment industry.
There are many more individuals who are highlighted in the story, and we encourage you to read the article at length. The two Milford alum are examples that recovery is possible, even after years of misuse and addiction. It’s critical to remember that the opioid epidemic is still in full force. Efforts to curb this most severe public health crisis are essential.
Since the Milford students graduated in 2000, some 275 people have died of an overdose in rural Scioto County, Ohio. Moreover, in excess of 400,000 Americans have died from opioid overdoses across the country since the turn of the century.
Addiction Treatment for Men
Addiction recovery is possible for any man who desires it, but the first step is reaching out for support. Please contact PACE Recovery Center if you are one of the millions whose life has become unmanageable due to opioid use disorder. Our team utilizes evidence-based therapies to give men the tools for leading a productive, positive life in recovery.
