At 46, Shannon has seven years in recovery after decades of addiction. With help from Ideal Option, Suboxone, and counseling, she turned her life around, reconnected with her children, built real friendships, and now embraces each day with hope and strength.
“There’s so much drug activity and crime going on around me, but it doesn’t even faze me,” she says. “I’m very vocal. I tell people: ‘If you’re going to use drugs, stay away from me.’ I’m not in that scene and never will be again.”
For 25 years, Shannon lived a hard life, enduring physical and emotional abuse from multiple boyfriends. She used pain pills and meth while struggling to care for her three boys.
“I was so beaten and battered that my body was in constant pain,” she says. “I felt so worthless; I loved my children, and I did my best to cook and clean, but I could barely take care of myself, let alone them.”
Controlled by her boyfriends, Shannon was never able to make friends. “I would try, but they’d get scared off,” she says.
Shannon lost custody of children and spiraled so far down that the sister of an ex-boyfriend practically dragged her to Ideal Option.
“She was very persistent and wouldn’t take no for an answer,” remembers Shannon. “I was on death’s door. I weighed 90 pounds and didn’t want to live anymore.”
Turning Point: Treatment at Ideal Option
With intense counseling, a Suboxone prescription, and the support of her providers, Shannon has turned around her mindset — and her entire life — 180 degrees. Now, she has seven years in recovery.
She has reconnected with her boys, who are recovering from their own difficult childhoods.
“I realize my kids do need me,” Shannon says. “They’ve been through a lot because of the choices I’ve made, and that eats at me. But all I can do is move forward and be a better mom.”
These days, when her kids visit, they go to the park or listen to music and just enjoy each other, in ways that weren’t possible before.
“My exes used to throw my stereo and break it,” Shannon says. “I would get in trouble for listening to music and things like that.”
For the first time, Shannon has forged genuine friendships, too. “I have friends who make me smile and help pick me up when I’m down. We take care of each other. I never knew what that type of friendship was like.”
Shannon lives with her beloved support dog, and though she’s disabled from her years of abuse, she focuses on the positive.
“I’ve realized how bright the world is, all the things I can do,” she says. “I like to just go outside and smell the air. I’m still a work in progress. I’m learning something new every day.”
Specializing in addiction medicine since 2012, Ideal Option has helped more than 88,000 people just like Shannon get started in recovery. Click here to make an appointment at Ideal Option today!
Next up: “Suboxone took away all my cravings — it was like the flip of a switch.” — Scott’s Story of Hope