This book is not just about me.
It's about life, relationships with parents, siblings, children, and friends.
It's about addictions, it's about you, and most importantly, it's about change.
I will be surprised if you can't find yourself somewhere in this book.
I promise you at the end of the book, life will seem easier.
It's about taking back control of your life, not letting drugs, alcohol, or people have control of you.
I am not a celebrity.
I am a regular person who became addicted to drugs because I didn't have the courage or the knowledge to take charge of my life and to be positive.
A large well-known medical center in the southeast took me on as a case history.
I learned so much from Dr.
D and Dr.
Arielle Kogan and the other medical staff and want to share it with you.
In the book, I tell what it feels like to be addicted to opioids.
I talk about going through withdrawal and counseling and what happens in group therapy, and I share private counseling as well.
I have changed the names of the patients, family members, and friends as not to cause embarrassment.
I am not using my real name.
I wrote the initial draft of this book forty-three years ago when everything was fresh in my mind.
I put the book on the shelf, and there it lay for forty-three years, collecting dust as there was no ending, and the time was not right.
Now with the opioid crisis, the time is right, and the book now has a happy and surprising ending.