January 2, 2018

Michelle Leavy, a mother of three and a paramedic, spoke to NPR about her struggle with the disease of addiction.

After a c-section, she was given pain medications. Following her doctor’s orders, she kept ahead of the pain with her pills.

“Before I went to work, I took them, and to get the kids after school, I had to take them,” she says. “Then I was taking them just to go to bed. I didn’t really realize I had a problem until the problem was something more than I could have taken care of myself.”

Realizing she had a problem, she entered treatment at American Addiction Centers and stitched her life back together.

Now that she’s in recovery, Michelle won’t touch opioids. She had an operation in 2017 without any narcotics.

“I mean it hurt, but I lived.”

To read Michelle’s interview or hear the radio version of her story, visit http://nashvillepublicradio.org/post/opioid-crisis-causes-nashville-based-hospital-chains-warn-patients-you-will-feel-pain#stream/0