Improved
6112 HealthChanged
3786 LivesSaved
3568 Lives0 lives impacted in the last 24 hrs Learn More
Monica describes the elements of her life that contributed to her heroin addiction.
Monica:
Hi, I am Monica and I used to be addicted to heroin, and I’d like to share my story with you.
I got started with alcohol. My parents were alcoholic. When I was a child I got to have sips out of their drinks and things like that, and that’s how I saw my parents having fun, and one of the biggest things that I can remember is we never took a vacation, a family vacation. My sister and I, our vacation was every Saturday going up to the bar and watching my parents drink.
So I mean, just from, you know, not feeling like our parents were there for us, being set up for this whole thing. Also I went to Catholic schools. Back in the 60s I never felt like you could really trust the priest or the nuns because there were certain things you couldn’t talk about. I was molested by a neighbor, and this all played into, you know, making me feel less than and not feeling safe.
I didn’t feel safe at home because when my parents got drunk and my dad threatened to leave. My sister and I were always terrified that he would leave us. And so this ended up spinning into smoking pot in high school, drinking, you know, on the weekends and, you know, with all my high school friends. My first heroin use was when I was 18 years old.
I was never an intravenous user. I always snorted it. So that way I felt like I was more of a dignified dope fiend, but I still told the same lies; did the same sleazy things that all addicts do. You lie, you cheat, you steal. I started using heroin with my soon-to-be husband. We basically used it together our first time. He was actually an intravenous user and this whole thing, you know, it started out as fun.
You know, we grew up in the late 60s, early 70s when everybody was doing drugs, and it was more of a social thing. A few of us got off into the heroin and there were a few that stepped away from it, but we didn’t. You know, we got hooked, and he also as well grew up in an alcoholic family. So there’s the whole setup for this.
View More Videos On Drug Addiction:
https://www.empowher.com/condition/drug-addictions
Add a Comment1 Comments
Great article... I have a similar story. Happy to see such a rising awareness about drug addiction, I'm offering something to help.
I need some support on a website with a great cause. Drug addiction awareness is a surfacing issue and I want to mention a fairly new social network support site that offers auto-networking to help group people with similar issues together. website is very powerful and user friendly.
This site is for parents, brothers, cousins, friends, concerned co-workers, employers anyone who knows someone struggling with drug/alcohol addiction or any other addiction for that matter. The website is http://ixaddict.com
October 13, 2009 - 2:37amThis Comment