Kim's Story

I'm Kim, 29, born and raised in Philly, been here my whole life except for two months. I'm currently in recovery. I started smoking weed when I was 13, and by the time I was 16, had started coke, pills like Percocets, Xanax, Tylenol 3, ecstasy. Got myself off everything except pot by the time I was 17. Didn't do anything except smoke until I was around 21, 22, then started taking Percs once a month when my monthly "friend" made her visit - I would be in so much pain the first day that I could barely get out of bed and I couldn't work (was a cook in a casual dining restaurant). After about a year, I would take them here and there besides the one time a month. Met my future daughters father and he introduced me to OxyContin, telling me it was the same thing as Percs only without the Tylenol and only 50 cents a milligram instead of the $1 per milligram that Percs were. Started crushing them and snorting them. When I was 23, I decided I didn't want anything to do with them or him, and moved in with a friend of mine who lived in Florida. I wound up getting pregnant the night before I left. Got myself off them, still smoked though up until I found out I was pregnant. Moved back home, had my daughter. When she was 2 months old in July 2009, I started doing the oxies again with a friend of mine but I didn't get myself carried away, just did them once or twice a month. Finally, in August 2010, I decided I didn't want to do them anymore and got myself off them again. I got lucky because I NEVER went through withdrawal. Flash forward to March, 2011. I met my now boyfriend. He was on methadone but I didn't know until a month later when, after talking about how opposed I was to methadone, he decided to walk off his clinic and relapsed within a week. We fought about him getting high the entire time, from April until January. I had two miscarriages during that time. A month After the second one, which was December 17, I started shooting dope with him. Got pregnant again in February, found out in March. Tried to get on Subutex but the taste made me get sick, plus I realized that you can still get high when you take it. Finally, at the end of June, I got on methadone. He got back on his clinic in September. Delivered a beautiful, healthy girl in November 2012. Relapsed one time on January 24, 2013. Got pregnant again in June. I delivered my son five days after having one year clean and have been going strong since. I have gotten off the methadone.

As of writing this, I've been off it for 6 days, and clean from heroin for almost 26 months.