It all started when Trent broke his nose playing baseball when he was 10. His doctor was able to set it but told him he’d have to wait until 11 years — until after his LDS Church mission — to repair his now deviated septum.
The years came and went, and Trent finally had his surgery. The prescription for pain? His first dose of opiates.
Unfortunately, the pills did more than manage his pain. “I noticed that when I took a pill, dates went better, school was easier, and I felt on top of the world,” Trent said.
Eventually, he graduated from college and got married. His life was going great, and for a young man trying to find his place in the world, he didn’t want to live without the feeling he got from the pills.
So Trent kept taking them, and whenever he’d run out, he’d invent reasons to get more.
“I thought I was just doing what my doctor told me to do — take them for pain and come back for more if I needed them,” he said.
One bottle turned into many, and in order to pay for them, he began selling loved one’s belongings. Trent’s family had no idea for the longest time.
Eventually, he and several family members began to
recognize his addiction, but his wife still didn’t know.