Rev. Enoch Fuzz, the pastor of the Corinthian MB Church, has been speaking about his journey with opioids for the past few weeks. This is a journey inside of his other journey with stage four lung cancer. The opioid problem was caused by the pain caused by the cancer treatments. Please know that he is still very sick. He simply chooses not to let cancer stop him from living and maintaining his best life.
With that choice, he also chooses not to let an addiction to the opioid drugs keep him from living the best life he can. As he has chosen to be relieved of this addiction, he wants people to know that no matter how one may’ve gotten this addiction, there is no need for them to be ashamed for wanting to receive help getting relief from acute pain.
Andy James is the executive director of Discovery Place Rehab, located in Dickson, Tennessee.
“Detox is not an easy thing, especially if you have not experienced any type of detox,” Andy explained. “It will probably scare you.” Detoxing is a difficult struggle, physically and mentally. Slowly delineating a person’s subscribed intake is said to be helpful, yet a person will still experience detox’s physical symptoms as one chooses to get off their meds. A person will be in pain and faced with taking the meds or going through the pain, a.k.a., detox. It should be noted that a person won’t realize they are addicted to opioids until they begin to get off them. Trying to stop one will likely feel sick and experience what is known as withdrawal symptoms. If so, contact your prescribing doctor. Andy stated that people would not likely experience addiction to opioids if the medications are used as prescribed by their doctor. However, it may still be possible if one has to use the meds for an extended period of time.
The ultimate goal of Discovery Place Rehab is to reach out to the higher power of God for pain control. While in rehab, participants will be surrounded by a community on all levels of detox, including those who have completed the program and were successfully detoxed and free of opioid addiction. It is important for people who help to be able to relate to the one who is addicted in order to gain their confidence. The ‘healing environment’ is one that has no phones and no television—just prayer.
Andy is Rev. Fuzz’s sponsor, and he felt it important to encourage people to contact him at Discovery Place or some other facility that could help with addictions.
“People should not feel ashamed of getting help off these drugs,” said Fuzz. He explains that so many times people become addicted unintentionally. He wanted to particularly share this part of his journey in the hope that people may be encouraged to get help and not feel ashamed for doing so.
No matter the circumstance, it is difficult and probably better to receive help than to try detox on your own. Andy can be reached at 1-800-725-0922 for conversation or next steps.
Continue to pray for Rev. Fuzz because he continues to pray for each of you and “the whole wide world.” You are all important parts of his journey. Also, check out his Facebook site to see him giving praise through word, songs and photos. You will be blessed. Thanks for reading and sharing ‘Cancer: My Journey in Time’ each week.
