Many Paths to Recovery – Guest Author Peter L

By Guest Author |

The journey through addiction treatment and recovery takes time, and that’s because it is a chronic disease — a chronic brain disease because of the way it changes brain health and function. As with other chronic diseases, relapse is possible because there is no single way to treat the disease of addiction (aka severe substance use disorder), which does not mean treatment failed or the individual didn’t try hard enough or want it badly enough. It means the individual needs to do something different in order to succeed longterm. Check out my post, “We Can’t Treat Cancer in 30 Days. Why Do We Think Treating Addiction is Any Different,” for more on this.

To help BTC readers learn more about how others have treated their addiction, I’m sharing this post by Peter Lang. Peter is a freelance writer from Atlanta, Georgia, who occasionally writes for The Recovery Village. In recovery himself, he is dedicated to helping others who struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol.

There Are Many Paths to Recovery by Peter Lang

There are many paths to recovery - guest author, Peter Lang, shares his.

Guest author, Peter Lang, shares his path to recovery.

My recovery journey has been a complicated one, full of twists and turns. I spent nearly a decade being homeless in Philadelphia and Maui. I drank so much that I developed avascular necrosis in both of my hips. I have used every substance imaginable and been addicted to opiates, methamphetamine, and cocaine.

In early 2014, I hit rock bottom. I was hit by a car as I was walking across a busy Philadelphia street, which led to a femur and double hip replacement. Just when I thought I had reached my darkest hour, my mother told me I could come stay with her in Atlanta. It was there that I met my future wife and a ton of amazing friends who would change my life.

But my path to recovery wasn’t as straightforward as some would imagine. I didn’t immediately get sober when I moved to Atlanta. I even still had a few relapses after I started dating the woman who would become my wife.

I have been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, and Celebrate Recovery. I have been on medication-assisted therapy in the form of methadone and Subutex, and I even underwent a dangerous and controversial rapid detox procedure to get off the methadone. I’ve had a naltrexone implant, and I had a removal of that implant after it made me horribly sick for two months.

The biggest thing I have learned throughout all of that is that there is no one answer to addiction. For some, 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous are incredibly effective. Others get more out of alternative recovery groups like SMART Recovery. Some people need inpatient drug rehab, and some people need a combination of therapy and support group meetings. Medication-assisted therapy is an excellent solution for some people whereas it doesn’t work as well for others.

If you are in recovery from a drug or alcohol addiction, you should realize that your recovery journey is not going to look like anyone else’s. And that’s okay. Everyone gets sober in their own way in their own time. Some people need to relapse several times, and some people only get sober once.

Everything I’ve tried has helped me on my path to recovery. Ultimately, I think it was my relationship with those who love and support me unconditionally, my new career and my passion for it, and the faith that I have found in God that has helped me to finally get and stay sober, but I know that I wouldn’t have the necessary tools to do it if I hadn’t done all of those things before. Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, Celebrate Recovery, therapy, medication, and church have all taught me invaluable lessons that made my recovery from drug and alcohol addiction possible.

So don’t get discouraged. If you’ve relapsed, it’s alright. Start over. If you’re not finding one recovery method to be helpful, try another one. It may take you a few different tries to find your ideal path to recovery. But once you have, you will be amazed at all that life has to offer you.

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