Suncoast Rehab Shares -- Andrew F.'s Addiction and Recovery Story

Suncoast Rehab Center - Andrew F.'s addiction and recovery story: I had always partied in high school. It was never really a problem at that point. When I was 19, I started to get really heavily involved in sports. I was actually MMA fighting for a few years and I had torn my rotator cuff when I was 22. That day that I tore my rotator cuff, I was handed a prescription for Percocet and my life spiraled out of control from that point. When I hurt my shoulder I couldn't do the sport anymore I had a lot of free time on my hands and a new prescription of drugs and I got hooked on them. From that point I started using those and it evolved into OxyContin -- I ended up getting them from friends. But it was a tough time because I had lost who I was. I lost myself in the drugs. They took over everything that was important to me. I started failing at work and I didn't care. I wasn't the husband or father that I wanted to be -- that I knew I could be. When I was back in New Jersey my family had put me into a detox down there. I was there for five days. They loaded me up with medications. I actually left the detox with more prescriptions than I went in with. I had a new prescription of Klonopin; Thorazine, which is a heavy sedative, and I got out -- and I relapsed the day I got out. I don't remember the three weeks before I got here because of all those medications. Then I was out (of detox) for about five days, they sent me back to the same detox. While I was in that detox, my family said they had found a rehab for me to go to and my dad picked me up from the detox, drove me straight to the airport, and they flew me here. When I got here, I had a big bag of prescriptions and I walked in and I said "Here's my medications, you guys hand them out, right? At 8 o'clock in the morning, 12 o'clock in the afternoon." And they told me all about, "There's no medication here." I was scared at first and I said, "Well I've been on these psych meds for five, six years; I can't go off of them -- I'll be crazy. I'm bipolar. I'm totally nuts. You guys don't understand." And the staff here were so great. They talked to me about it and they let me know that I was going to be okay, that they were going to watch me -- if I did freak out it was okay, they were going to take care of me. I said "Okay" and I ended up being really normal I think -- in my own eyes. I feel so happy and free from those drugs. I have nothing, nothing that I have to do in the morning to get through the day. I'm myself and people seem to like it and I like it and it's awesome. In the Life Skills Course - is what helps you maintain your sobriety. I've resolved a lot of my problems -- but I still have a lot. The only differences between now and then is that I have the ability to handle and confront the situations, instead of let them just take over my life. I've learned a lot about myself. For me, handling and confronting situations was a big problem for me. I could never look someone in the eye. If somebody did something to me that I didn't like, I would just keep it inside. I would let it build up and eventually that's what led to my downfall, I think, was a lot of problems that were unhandled and not confronted. I have gained the ability to do that; to address any situation that I need to and to be confident in who I am. I had gone home back to New Jersey and I had stayed in touch with everyone from here. All the staff members would call me every once in a while, I would call them. We had a great friendship and I was unhappy with my job back home -- and a few other things. They had invited me back to start training and I thought that was awesome, so I came back here and I love this place. This is where I wanted to be and I'm here now. I live here in Springhill and I'm happy.