Dr. Coleman's Recovery Story

I grew up in New Zealand in what I thought was a pretty normal family but, as I later came to realize, my mother was both alcoholic and addicted to sleeping pills. Like most kids, I experimented with alcohol as a teenager. I remember the first time I got drunk was with cherry brandy. A friend and I had stolen it from his brother. We got so drunk that we vomited and had terrible hangovers - but the one thought that went through my mind was that I absolutely loved the feeling I got from the alcohol and I was definitely going to do it again. While I was in high school, even though I was headed to medical school, I started associating with other people who liked to smoke pot and drink a lot of alcohol. Right from the beginning, I started getting into some trouble with my drug and alcohol use. On one occasion, the police came to my house and they accused me of selling pot at high school. Fortunately my father and I were able to talk them into the fact that a good boy like me would never do something like that!

I went to medical school and concentrated on my studies during the day time, but concentrated on partying hard in the evenings. I felt very proud of the fact that I could maintain my studies during the day but really live it up and get very drunk and take other drugs at night and on the weekends.

Over the years my drinking and drug use increased. In medical school I was forced to keep a pretty tight control of it, especially when exam time was coming around. But after I completed medical school, I was on my own. I started partying more and more and hanging out with people who were using harder drugs. I started using cocaine and started experimenting with opiates.

I had always wanted to come to America and so in 1983 I moved here and took a job in Virginia in a small country clinic. By then I had started using IV narcotics, and being in the country, there was very little control and no one to really keep an eye on me. My drug use rapidly escalated to include cocaine and IV Morphine. It very quickly got out of control. I was no longer able to function at work and this to came to the attention of my supervisors at the clinic. One day after a particularly long bout of heavy drug use I used too many drugs and had an overdose that was almost nearly fatal. I passed out and stopped breathing. Fortunately I was discovered by one of the nurses who got help and I was able to be resuscitated.

Amazingly, even after this experience, I was in full denial and tried convincing the doctors that I did not have a drug problem and that I would be able to quit on my own - even though I had no intention of doing that. Fortunately they insisted that I go to treatment and said that if I did not go to a prolonged treatment program I would not be able to work as a physician ever again. I entered a treatment program in Hampton VA in October of 1984 and fortunately I have been able to stay clean and sober since that time.

In the treatment program I attended I started learning all about addiction and recovery. I realized that this illness is genetically inherited.  I realized that it was caused by a brain disorder. I realized that people who suffer with addiction don’t want to be addicts. In treatment they taught us that it is not your fault you have an addictive illness, but it is your responsibility to get into recovery and stay in recovery. I also realized that if people are paying close attention to their recovery they can maintain life long abstinence and have a happy and fulfilling life. At that time I decided to work in the field off addiction and since then I have done my best to develop programs and treatments that help people get in recovery and stay in recovery.

My experiences have taught me that almost all people can recover, if they put forth maximum effort in their recovery. This requires diligence, effort and at times sitting through discomfort. It involves changing the way we think about the world, our attitudes, our beliefs and mostly our behaviors.

I have been very blessed to have had the opportunity to get into recovery, and equally blessed to be a part of so many other people’s recoveries.