The


Addict


BY MARYANN ROSENTHAL, PHD, RECOVERY WAYS David was in his 50s and didn’t look the part. He had a great job, a loving wife and a happy family. But, like an estimated six million Americans nationwide, he abused his prescription medication. As a successful college football player, David was routinely exposed to a stock supply of Vicodin kept in the locker room for the athletes and given out for pain upon request to the college trainer. So, at a young age, David found that Vicodin made his physical pain disappear along with the stress and anxiety of being a college student. Thirty years later, David, in his 50s, begins experiencing chronic back and disc pain due, in large part, to his injuries as a football player. Well-respected doctors David sees to treat his pain prescribe Percocet while his medical team figure out if surgery is necessary. It is decided that surgery is the recommended course of treatment and David is again prescribed Percocet to manage his pain after surgery. Soon, David begins taking one pill every two hours instead of every four to six hours as prescribed.


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Accidental


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