Speak Up

17 years ( almost 18 ) since I quit using meth. I went back to school, received a degree as a veterinary technician, bought a house, and never looked back.... until a couple of years ago, I started having quite a few health issues. I have been sick to the stomach as long as I can remember, but 6 years ago I started having to go to the Emergency room from various different problems.... Chest Pains, Bloody Vomit/Stools, Chronic Diarrhea,Severe bone and joint pain, Epicondilitis, COPD, and the list goes on. In 2010 I was reduced to 14 hours a week at the veterinary practice I had been a part of for the last 10 years. The reason was Bone pain and I was ( still am ) Vomiting several times a day. I could no longer perform the duties of my chosen career. They had to let me go. As I am preparing for yet another round of labs and biopsies of my intestinal tract and stomach, I wonder if all of this has to do with the fact that I was a meth user from the time I was 17 until I was 23. I have so many issues and I dont know what to expect next. They are testing me for Crohns disease at this point, as I lost 56# in 4 weeks last November. I was so proud of the belly I had gained.... I was 204#, (I know it sounds like I started using again huh) I just cant keep anything I eat down, and what stays down shoots right through me. Im due for another CAT of my Lungs (COPD, Heavy Scarring and Lung Nodes), and Brain (they think I suffered a silent stroke last year as well), I cant work, walk with a cane, but do not qualify for disability as I dont have an actual diagnosis yet. Everything I have worked so hard for over the last 17 years (almost 18) is almost lost. I cannot blame anyone else, I was the user, but it still, after all these years, is the worst thing I ever could have done to myself and my family (the family is still torn apart). I will never know if my health issues are related to this Vile drug, or some hereditary gene I had to get stuck with. All I know is that it still costs me everything, every time I turn around. The only good thing about that fact is this... it reminds me of the HATRED I have for this drug, and how I will NEVER go back down this road! Rick Sarah