People will always bemoan the physical and emotional toll that addiction can take. They say it's critical to get treatment at all costs and it's the most important thing you'll ever do with your life. While I agree, it's not easy for someone like me, who is married to their work and on whom about a hundred employees depend, to disappear for a month. My addiction wasn't born in a back ally, college party or dilapidated housing project—it was born in a doctor's office in a Florida suburb when I broke four ribs after a motorcycle crash. I was 41 years old, and never done any type of drugs in my life. I enjoyed social drinking, but the idea that I'd someday become a drug addict was the farthest thing from my mind when I had my accident.

The hospital doctor prescribed hydrocodone for the pain. I remember telling him that I really didn't even need the prescription because I normally don't take anything for pain. But when I couldn't sleep from the pain of my broken ribs I decided that I would just try one pill. It worked like magic . . . no pain!  After that I didn't see any harm in finishing the prescription . . . and asking for another . . . and another. Eventually my pain had all but subsided, but I still craved these prescription painkillers every day. I started going to three different doctors a week so I could get all the pain pills that I felt I needed.

At some point along the way I had transformed into a completely different person. Anytime that I wasn't taking the painkillers I was very moody and easily irritated by anyone or anything around me. My wife suspected that I developed some type of drug problem from the pain pills and researched online for prescription drug detox options in Florida. She had a real heart-to-heart with me and it was the right timing for it because I was already considering trying to get help on my own.

The detox and treatment place I choose was very nice and had a very impressive staff, but I definitely wouldn't call detoxing like going on a vacation.  All of the doctors were friendly and supportive and did their best to make sure I was as comfortable as possible during the entire detoxification process.

By the time I left their rehab facility, I felt like a new man and almost like I was reborn. It is now six months later and I have never taken another pain pill. The best advice I remember hearing during one of my initial days in detox was; the best way to stop taking painkillers again in the future, is never take painkillers in the first place.