{"id":2768,"date":"2019-04-24T23:30:11","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T23:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recovery.stigmaunmasked.com\/?p=2768"},"modified":"2019-04-24T23:30:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T23:30:11","slug":"the-biggest-leap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.recovery\/fitness\/the-biggest-leap\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biggest Leap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Loren Dent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After walking into the hospital for two kidney surgeries in 2009, Emily Bowman could not have predicted the addiction journey she would soon face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was prescribed two different opioids, Vicodin and Percocet, at the same time,\u201d Bowman said. \u201cI was on those for three weeks to a month straight. I didn\u2019t know anything about them at the time. I didn\u2019t know you could get addicted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indiana providers wrote nearly six million opioid prescriptions in 2015, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse<\/a>. In 2016, there were 794 opioid-related overdose deaths\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad in Indiana, only slightly below the national average. In October 2018, the School of Public Health at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis published The Changing Landscape of the Opioid Epidemic in Marion County and Evidence for Action<\/a>. According to the report, opioid prescriptions filled by Indiana pharmacies have actually decreased. There also is a statewide focus on increasing access to treatment of addiction. Yet, deadly new challenges, like fentanyl-laced drugs on the street, have arisen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe problem is the tracking of it,\u201d said Karen Moore, certified addiction therapist and owner of Elevated Minds, an Indianapolis social service agency. \u201cAs physicians and therapists, we have no control over our patients and who they may go to next. If there was a universal tracking system where all doctors in the country could access what medication you have been prescribed, that would be helpful.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opioid drug abuse has been an issue around the state, and Bowman is one of the many that have been affected.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowman said by the time she ran out of her prescriptions, she began to feel deathly ill. She realized she was experiencing withdrawal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had no idea,\u201d she said. \u201cI was never told. Nobody ever explained anything to me. Even when I thought I was sick and called the doctor\u2019s office, they acted like they had no idea. It completely threw us off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowman began taking pain pills off and on. She would only use them on weekends, but she would binge. She wanted more but it became expensive. A few years past before she was introduced to heroine in 2014, and everything began to spiral downward after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went downhill really fast.\u201d Bowman said. \u201cMy mom caught me in the first month and she had me go to a treatment facility. I got clean after that, but deep down inside, I didn\u2019t want to be clean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within four months after treatment, Bowman relapsed and started using meth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sept. 24, 2015, Bowman overdosed on heroin at her mother\u2019s house. At the time, she was on probation for possession of methamphetamine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done as a parent,\u201d said Jennifer Tackett, Bowman\u2019s mother.. \u201cI felt helpless, yet at the same time I\u2019m a social worker so I\u2019m used to being able to solve these kinds of problems. I said a lot of the right things and wrong things, but we learned along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2017, Bowman was released from jail but was required to complete a drug rehabilitation program. With a new mindset and desire to persevere, she graduated early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step is the biggest leap one can make, Moore said. Actually sitting in front of a counselor or professional in one\u2019s most vulnerable state, without the fear of being judged, is monumental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tackett said that during Bowman\u2019s recovery process, she and her family continuously offered support. They did not give her money unless it pertained to her recovery process. They also provided rides to treatment and meetings and kept her on the insurance as long as they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s older now, and that makes a difference,\u201d Tackett said. \u201cShe stays connected to her recovery community. She\u2019s not complacent, because she knows what could happen. We stay ready because it\u2019s a chronic and relapsing disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, almost two years clean, Bowman still is on probation but actively works to stay clean and motivates others at the beginning stages of their recovery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wake up in the morning with a new mindset,\u201d Bowman said. \u201cI\u2019m always smiling now. If I had to give one piece of advice to someone going through a similar situation, I would tell them it\u2019s worth it even though it\u2019s hard. There is greener grass on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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