I was eight years old in 1992 when my family and I survived a tornado that destroyed our home in Minnesota. I remember my mother clinging to a door frame to keep us from being sucked into the tornado. She saved us, but I was hit by falling debris, which left me with permanent nerve damage in my left leg. After the tornado, I went through seven surgeries in five years. Because my legs were uneven lengths, I had constant and excruciating back pain.

As my physical wounds healed, the emotional scars did not.

I was diagnosed with PTSD, and by the time I was a teenager, I was using alcohol, marijuana and other drugs to try to feel better. I was 16 the first time I used crystal meth. By the time I was 18, I was smoking meth daily.

I went to five different drug treatment programs, including two in-patient centers. Every time, I either left the programs early or was kicked out. I just wasn't willing or ready to work on getting — and staying — clean at that point. For me, breaking my meth addiction seemed impossible. I finished one of the programs, but I stayed clean for just two days afterwards. This was really discouraging. I couldn't stop getting high.

By the time I was 17, I was a single mother. I stopped using meth while I was pregnant, but I started using again when my son was three months old. I didn't take care of him when I was using. I was bouncing him back and forth from my place to his grandmother because I wanted to get high. Before I knew it, I was 20 years old, and had lost custody of my son. After he was taken away from me, for the first time I had a strong motivation to get clean.

My mother stopped at nothing to find help for me. She got advice from public health officials, law enforcement authorities and self-help groups. She got involved in the Methamphetamine Education and Drug Awareness (MEADA) Coalition of Wright County, Minnesota. It wasn't until she found information about a new treatment for methamphetamine, cocaine and alcohol addiction, called PROMETA®, that my journey towards sobriety began.

We found an addiction psychiatrist in Miami who provides the PROMETA® treatments at The Village South Addiction Treatment Center. My mother and I flew down to meet the doctor. After speaking with him and learning more about the treatment, I understood that my meth addiction was a disease that needed to be treated medically. It was an option that I had not considered before. My five previously failed rehabilitation attempts were painful lessons that showed me that I had to do something different if I wanted different results. I chose to be treated with PROMETA, and also used the counseling services offered by the treatment center. The process included three days of daily treatments, for about an hour each visit, and then a two-day round of treatment three weeks later.

Since being treated, I have returned home to St. Cloud, Minnesota. When I took the entrance exam for business school, I scored in the top 10%, and I'm now enrolled and taking classes. My mom is so happy to be helping me with school assignments now, rather than worrying whether I would ever recover from addiction.

I want people to know about my experience because I know first-hand that even the smartest, most together people can get hooked on meth, and addiction is a disease that's so difficult to recover from. I found something that worked for me, and now I am able to participate in my son's life and my mom's life — and my own.

Sabrina
Cokato, MN