by Harry Burlington

Created on: August 05, 2009   Last Updated: August 19, 2009

You need and want to know about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, you're going to read the truth right now. Being a young disabled veteran the Veterans Administration has prescribed every addictive painkiller, benzodiapine, and brain stimulant to me and I have taken them all. I took them because I wanted to feel better from the PTSD and the physical injuries I suffered while serving our country. I developed Narcolepsy from multiple head injuries and was prescribed 100Mg's of Ritalin per day and took that for the last three years.

On October 20th, 2007, I decided to take a little more Vicodin and Ritalin than usual, after reading someone's article about their experiences in combining the drugs. I crushed the Ritalin up and snorted it and chewed the Vicodin. Almost immediately I was wired and wanting to express myself in words, but couldn't finish a sentence due to my brain working faster than my fingers could type. So, I sit down and wrote a 27 page autobiography of my life that I wanted published. I called several publishing agencies and told them about all the childhood abuse, war and combat, and how it is all wrapped up in my life. Needless to say, I didn't get very far and was told to send the editors copies of the work.

After a few hours the medication started to wear off and so I snorted more and went on a five day binge of writing, which turned into a major psychosis with no food or sleep. What I was writing didn't make sense nor was it coherent in any manner. I kept turning in works of my "book" but was told it was full of errors and needed some serious reviewing.

Once I ran out of Vicodin and Ritalin, I went into a deep depression and withdrawal. I combed the floor looking for any piece of Ritalin that may have fallen off the table, I was licking the inside of my Vicodin bottle to catch a small high, I was pathetic. I couldn't take the withdrawals anymore and decided to grab some liquor to calm me. I went to the liquor store and bought two fifths of Wild Turkey 101 and drank one fifth in about an hour. I got sick, but was feeling better. Although I was completely hammered and writing was out of the question. My blood alcohol content had of been over .30, but I popped open the other fifth and started working on drinking that bottle.

This is when things (if they weren't already) got completely out of control, being in a manic psychosis, depressed, and craving drugs, I went and found 60 Klonopin pills and 90 Valium pills and started to eat them like candy. I took over 20 Klonopins and 15 Valiums before I passed out and fell out of the chair. This was at 11am, on a Sunday, and my family was out of town. My wife tried calling me about noon and I didn't answer, then she tried again at 3pm, 3:30pm and then she started to panic.

She called the neighbors who couldn't wake me with banging on the doors and using the doorbell, so my wife called the police. The police kicked in the front door and called the EMTs, by this point I was convulsing and been seizuring for who knows how long.

I spent the next 11 days in the hospital getting treated and then six months in inpatient drug abuse counseling and recovery. I am doing better, but the dangers of prescription drug abuse are real and are not to be ignored. I am grateful I have a wife who loves me and cares, because I did not demonstrate that love to her by trying to kill myself.

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