Hi my name is Kaleigh and I want to share with you a little bit about me.
My addiction started early at the age of 13, when I had been prescribed opiates for an oral procedure. It wasn’t that I took it and automatically became addicted, it was that when I took it correctly from the doctor my body had its first encounter with opiates and my disease was unleashed. Once I took all that was prescribed to me it was then this feeling of needing more. I started seeking them out in the streets but what I found ended up being something even stronger than what I was taking. I became a full-blown addict getting sick every day. It happened so quickly that I didn’t even understand how it happened. How could all of this happen from a surgery? How could I have lost control of my life from doing something I was prescribed to do? The thing is, that’s not what made me lose control, I lost control because I have a disease and I didn’t realize the path all this would take me on.
The story of what got me to the journey of recovery was a very long road but I am proud to say that today I am sober. I attempted at getting sober so many times including 23 inpatient facilities. My disease caused me to lose so much, including needing someone else to take care of my child. I was living on the streets in Baltimore City, living in abandoned buildings, in abandoned cars and starving. I put myself in dangerous situations so many times I don’t know how I’m alive. I had infections that were so serious I was on the verge of dying and spent weeks in the hospital from the damage I caused my body. They say that when you hit rock bottom is when you can come back up, but honestly I hit the bottom so many times and went back to using that I never thought it would be possible to live a normal life again. The last time I used it I was in the basement of an abandoned house in Baltimore City starving but needing that hit so bad. It was after this that instead of being willing to do anything to get high, I was willing to do anything to get sober.
What helped me was being in a program, having a network, and going to meetings where I felt safe and could be myself. Finally, be myself.
Today I am clean! I have my daughter back full time and gave birth to a healthy baby boy this past January. I have a vehicle and a home, all the things I went so long without and never imagined having again. Today though I do!
If I would have any advice for anyone seeking recovery, know that it’s real, really amazing at that! When you feel like you don’t want to talk to anyone or share what is going on in your head, that is the time you need to reach out and call someone. You will grow stronger through those moments and it will get easier. Just don’t give up!
