Melissa's Story

[mellowchick]

Hi everyone, I'm Melissa and I'm an addict and this is my journey. It hasn't been easy, there were many ups, downs, empty promises and relapses to get to where I am today. My addiction started early in my teens, experimenting with alcohol, marijuana and I had my first experiment with lsd the first week of my freshman year of high school. I remember around the age of 16 I found a prescription of tylenol #3 that were my moms. I took a few and liked the way I felt. Within the next few days, I emptied the bottle and refilled it with regular tylenol. At this point, I was also filling my sports bottle with rum and coke and taking it to school. I started having horrible migraines in my early 20's. My husband was in the army so I started going to the doctor. Sadly enough the doctors just gave me medicine and never really tried to get to the root of the problem. Demerol, Percocet, Fiorinal, Fioricet, Lorcet and Seconal all became frequent visitors in my home. So there was a good foundation for my addiction. My first husband and I divorced not because of my addiction. I was a closet addict I guess you could say. I met and married my second husband, also in the army. Four years into our marriage, he was out drinking and cheating on me. I discovered his affair on the same day I learned I was pregnant. He was beyond lit when he got home. He went into a rage, to this day, I'm not exactly sure why. I told him we were expecting and showed him the paperwork from the doctor along with my referral to the ob/gyn. It was a nightmare. He began beating on me, screaming, yelling and calling me names. I prayed to God to give me the strength and will power to get away from this raging alcoholic. I left the next day. He left for church, I called my mom to update her. 59 minutes later I called my mom to tell her I was leaving the house and would be on the interstate very soon. I got on I-95 and was southbound without ever looking back. It was the best decision I made however, I had no clue this was the begining of my downward spiral.