Looking Back Update
It’s been one year since we first shared Brenda’s story. We caught up with her to see how things were going. She’s still receiving treatment with THS and still enjoying working with Paula. As Brenda says; “Paula is still my favorite person…I love her dearly, we get along like real family members, we get along great.” Brenda is healthy and well, still loving all the good things life has blessed her with since she stopping using. Read on or click the video above to hear Brenda’s story and how she knew it was time to stop, to seek help, and start her recovery.
It Starts Small
One of the scariest aspects of opioid use is how easily it can slip into your life and change it forever. What’s worse, you can become addicted after taking just a few pills. Sometimes you’re hooked after being on pain medication for a small injury. Something sends you to the doctor: a broken toe, a sprained wrist, wisdom teeth removal. You’re sent home with a prescription: oxycodone, hydrocodone or codeine. You take your medication and before you know it the bottle’s empty. Suddenly your body is craving more.
That’s how it was for Brenda, a patient of Therapeutic Health Services’ Shoreline Branch. Brenda was prescribed pain-killers because of a toothache. She would never guess she’d become dependent on them so quickly. As Brenda puts it, she never took the drugs to get high, she took them because her body needed it.
Brenda described most of her days when she was using as staying at home and popping pills, hardly doing anything for most the day. Brenda wasn’t trapped alone, her husband also developed an addiction. Together they wasted day after day taking pills at home. It wasn’t long before they found themselves buying pills off a drug dealer. It’s difficult to imagine: a grandmother, a servant of her faith, a kind woman, buying drugs on the street at prices that broke her life.
Time to Stop
Eventually Brenda reached a point when she disconnected from the person looking back at her in the mirror. Brenda describes herself as a fashionable, attractive person, but reflection showed she was losing that spark. That’s when she and her husband decided they were done. They were done with the constant cycle of buying and taking drugs and wasting days doing little else. Brenda and her husband connected to a methadone provider and started their recovery. Brenda says it saved their lives.
Recovery isn’t instantaneous, for many it’s a long and difficult process. Brenda and her husband are still in recovery. Brenda came to Therapeutic Health Services’ Shoreline Branch six years ago, and her quality of life as seen a huge boost since entering treatment. Brenda is proud of herself again, she gets out of the house and spends time doing what she loves, like spending time shopping and engaging with her church community No longer trapped by her addiction Brenda is free again something she says, you can’t put a price on.
What Tomorrow Brings
Brenda is deeply grateful for the care she has received and for the peace her treatment has provided her. Brenda thanks “Jesus for her recovery, for Therapeutic Health Services, her counselor Paula Wolfe, and for the creator of methadone therapy and medication assisted treatment.” Brenda feels that these forces saved her life and she is grateful for them.
Support Those in Need
Brenda’s story is unique, but it echoes the stories of so many in our community who struggle with opioid addiction. With our region and nation in the throes of an opioid epidemic, your support is needed now more than ever. Your contribution to THS gives us the power to provide quality, effective treatment to more people like Brenda. This is what counts: saving lives and creating new futures. Join us and donate today.
