This Story of Hope about overcoming addiction features Hunter, who fell victim to addiction at age 16 when he began using heroin to cope with his depression.
Hunter was 21 and living on the streets — bartering his possessions for heroin and meth, drinking Windex and huffing paint — when his older brother spotted him.
“He got out of the car and gave me a hug and said, “Hunter, I want you to come home before you die, before there’s nothing left of you.”
But Hunter wasn’t ready.
“I told him, ‘Whatever – I’m living my life, and I’m OK,’” recalls Hunter, now 23 and an Ideal Option patient. “I was so far into it that I had no idea I could stop. I had never tried to.”
Hunter began using at 16, when his girlfriend got pregnant and broke off their relationship.
“I was depressed and didn’t know where to turn, so I started experimenting with drugs,” Hunter says. “I tried heroin for the first time.”
By age 18, his drug use was “out of hand.” He was stealing money and jewelry from his mom and often exploded in anger.
“I was a tyrant,” Hunter remembers. “I’d get in fights and get mad over any little thing. I was beating people up and didn’t care about anything. I said things to my mother that would never come out of my mouth now that I am sober.”
His mom warned him that his personality had changed for the worse, but Hunter didn’t listen, though he did have flashes of recognition. One day he caught a glance of himself in the mirror and thought, Who am I? My hair’s falling out, and I look like a zombie.
Eventually, his mom kicked him out and changed the locks, and Hunter began sleeping on the streets.
“I had no life, no car, no girlfriend, and I smelled,” Hunter recalls. “I was aware of it, but I was too doped up to care.”
When his brother tracked him down, Hunter still hadn’t hit bottom. It was only when one friend died of a fentanyl overdose and another friend killed herself that Hunter began to wake up.
“Until then, I took everything as a joke,” he says. “I didn’t grasp the concept of life until I had nobody left. I called my brother and told him, ‘I want help. I want my family back.’”
With the help of his mom and brother, Hunter entered detox and then inpatient treatment. But at first, he wasn’t 100% committed to recovery.
“When I was smoking meth, I felt like a king, but at rehab, I felt out of place and had a lot of anxiety. I was scared of trying new things. On one hand you want to get sober, but on the other hand, you want to go to parties because it’s an easy life.”
What motivated Hunter to stick with treatment was the prospect of reuniting with his two daughters, especially his younger daughter, who was just a baby.
“My love for her is really what made me get sober,” says Hunter.
Hunter spent three months at inpatient treatment, taking Suboxone every day and working hard in counseling.
“I learned what it means to have family and friends and people who care about you,” he says. “I learned what drugs do to you from the inside out and how not to be selfish. There are so many things you don’t think about when you’re down and out and using drugs.”
After inpatient treatment, Hunter enrolled in Ideal Option and moved back in with his mom. Two months later, he had a brief slip-up.
“I was just walking down the street and saw people smoking meth, and they were like, ‘Hey man, do you smoke?’ I said, ‘I guess I’ll take a hit.’ It wasn’t my intention to relapse.”
Right away, Hunter confessed to his mom. “I thought she was going to kick me out, but she said, ‘I appreciate your honesty.’”
Hunter also had a “heart to heart” talk with his provider at Ideal Option. He has not used drugs since.
Today, Hunter lives in a new state with his brother. He works part-time at Wal-Mart and drives for Door Dash. He’ll soon gain part-time custody of his daughters.
“I feel great because I don’t steal or hurt people,” he says. “People love the energy I bring because I’m so happy.”
Hunter makes a point of helping homeless people, giving them shoes or other items they need. “I don’t judge them, no matter what situation they’re in.”
He is particularly close with his younger daughter. “I love to see her run around at Chuck E. Cheese, having the time of her life. Her happiness is my reward. It makes me feel like I have a million dollars.”
He takes Suboxone daily, and using drugs, he says, never crosses his mind.
He makes a point of staying busy — working, fishing, hiking, taking his nephew to baseball practice — and appreciating his “normal” life.
“When you’ve done wrong for so long, all you want is to be normal,” he says. But that didn’t come easy.
For his first six months in recovery, Hunter felt he had to act the part. But eventually, he says, “you don’t have to work so hard at it. Normal becomes a way of life.”
Specializing in addiction medicine since 2012, Ideal Option has helped tens of thousands of people just like Hunter get started in recovery. Click here to make an appointment at Ideal Option today!
Next up: “Right then and there, I said I’d never use another opiate” — Jennifer’s Story of Hope