The Pioneer Times

Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Healthcare

Media Credit: Ryann Rebecky Melissa Rebecky and her son, Noah

A quick glimpse at Melissa Rebecky-an otherwise normal, petite, brunette young woman-would give no insight into the personal hell she went through for nearly a decade.

"The worst part about suffering from an addiction is that I feel that I missed out on so much of my childhood," said Rebecky as she plays "peek-a-boo" with her newborn son, Noah.

Rebecky suffered for years with addictions to the pain medications she was first put on to battle a crippling and frequent kidney stone problems. It's a growing problem for females. Today more and more women are abusing prescription drugs; last year over 3 million women misused medications prescribed by a doctor, and the ages when they start abusing is getting younger and younger.

First put on medication for the stones at age 12, Melissa was put on a powerful regiment of painkillers over the course of five years. The problem was so repeated and severe, She could diagnose an oncoming kidney stone before the doctors could.

"My tolerance to the medications was so high that my body would mimic the pain even though I didn't have a kidney stone," said Melissa. "My body needed the medication so badly that we had to try non-narcotic treatments; they didn't work and I continued to self medicate to help numb the pain."

In hindsight, Melissa's mother, Susan Rebecky, recalls trusting the doctors with maybe too much.

"We went to so many pain specialists and they all put her on heavy duty drugs at such a young age," said Susan." "We did not know any better at the time. If we questioned it they had the answers and told us that they would control everything, but they didn't. We had to withdraw her at home two times that was absolutely the worst thing I ever had to watch."

By the time Melissa turned 15 she was already addicted to her pain medication; neither her parents nor her doctors had any idea. With the frequent medications, the tolerance for her medication increased. That lead more and more medication-leading to her addiction problem.

Rebecky describes those years when she was taking pain medication as a "blur," and a "painful cycle of self-medicating."

"Each time I went through a withdrawal, I was sick again with a kidney stone and then the cycle would repeat," she says.

Melissa's mother was profoundly affected by her daughter's struggles.

Continued...

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