SLICING THE SERPENT: FOUR FAMILIES AND THEIR STRUGGLES WITH CHRONIC PAIN AND OPIOID ADDICTION

Abstract

This excerpt, from a book length project, follows the lives of four families, beginning in the late 1990s, as the fathers/husbands slowly become addicted to the opioids Oxychotin and Oxycodone prescribed by their doctors for chronic pain. These stories coincide with the over-prescribing of opioids on a national level initiated by the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma. As other companies follow suit, a national epidemic ensues manifesting in over half a million deaths due to the overdose of pain-killers and heroin. This excerpt is told in the first person through the experiences of myself and the three other mothers/wives as we attempted to contain the slow decline of our spouses and their physical and mental health--loss of careers, marriages, and in one case, life, is the final outcome as these insidious drugs take over. Interviews of the eight children, friends, physicians, and addiction counselors are also utilized. Combined with additional research, areas such as: pain, suicide, self-harm, addiction, healing, the medical community, politics, and the history of opium are covered within this body of work.