I never realized how quickly my life could change. After working hard and saving money my entire life, I'd finally gotten to a place where I was comfortable and had a beautiful wife and two young children. Then in 2007 I lost my job due to injury and things seemed to just spiral out of control from there. My wife and I were divorced a year later and I only got to see my kids two days a week. Although I was out of work, I still had to pay alimony and child support, which I gladly did, and on top of everything I developed an addiction to OxyContin. Had it not been for my kids, my upbringing and an excellent low cost drug rehab I was recommended, I don't know if I ever would have been able to bounce back. 

I had back surgery in late 2007, and was in bed for about three weeks. My job involves manual labor, so there was no way I would be able to go back to doing what I'd been doing. I was in that place that many of us have come to understand where I was way too young to retire, but way too old to start over. I sold my house at a tremendous loss to prevent foreclosure and had to move into a two-bedroom apartment. Despite the sorry financial shape that I was in, I was still spending $500 per week on OxyContin. I'd taken a part-time job as a bartender at my friend's restaurant to support my habit, although I told everyone it was to pay the bills. There I was, 41 years old, living on tips and abusing OxyContin. It wouldn't be long before I would have to start exploring affordable drug rehab options. 

My regular doctor had stopped prescribing OxyContin in 2008, claiming it was time to implement less powerful pain relief options. I was still in a great deal of pain and OxyContin was the only thing that seemed to work for me. So I did some doctor shopping until I found a doctor that was willing to write me scripts for it. Everything seem to be working out just great. I would take one pill in the morning before I even had my coffee; one before going to work so I could be on my feet all day with no problem; and one before I went to bed to make sure I could sleep through the night. 

After a while I started to get moody and irritable when I wasn't on OxyContin. I could tell when I needed to take a pill because I would start lashing out at customers and growing more and more intolerant of other people. In the back of my mind I knew I had to stop, particularly because I was nowhere near the level of pain that I was in right after my surgery, but I just couldn't. In an act of sheer desperation, I came home from work one night and flushed the pills down the toilet. I figured that if I could make it through the other bad luck of the past two years, getting myself off of OxyContin wouldn't be a problem-I was wrong. The pain and nausea I experienced during that week of withdrawal was almost unbearable and every night at work felt like death. Thankfully my friend owned the place and let me leave early a couple of nights. Then came the weekend, and that's when I finally realized that I needed to research some low cost drug rehab options that I could afford. 

Despite the immense physical pain I was in, I still wanted to see my children. Besides loving them dearly, and wanting to spend as much time with them as I could, I knew my ex-wife would use any deviation from our custody agreement against me in court. I'd managed to get through Friday night, but on Saturday morning when I was making their breakfast, I'd reached the end of my rope. They were sitting in my living room, watching cartoons. They were 5 and seven years old, so they mimicked whatever they saw on television. I had been on edge all morning and had finally had enough. I yelled at them like they had intentionally crashed a car into the house or something. There were these sweet little kids, just doing what kids do, having to bear the brunt of my weakness and stubbornness. I yelled, screamed and threatened until they started crying hysterically. They were tense around me for the rest of the weekend. I knew it was time to get help. Thank God kids are resilient. I explained to them that I didn't mean it, that it wasn't their fault, and that it wouldn't happen again. Things calmed down by the time their mother came to get them on Sunday night. After her car left my driveway, I went on the Internet and started researching affordable drug rehab programs. 

Even though I could only afford to go to a low cost drug rehab I didn't want to just go any drug rehab or the cheapest place I could find. I wanted my time in rehab to actually work and not just be a waste of time and have to keep going to rehab after rehab. Fortunately I was recommended to an excellent affordable addiction treatment place in Florida and have been clean ever since I finished their program. I don't know what would have happened to my life if I didn't get the help I so desperately needed to get better. I've been drug-free for two years, and recently became the manager at my friend's restaurant. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball (sometimes several curve balls), but I'd be a fool not to count my blessings and be thankful for my children, my friends and going to such a quality low cost drug treatment rehab.

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