Rachel Bercik strolls with a function.
The 37-year-old Erie resident journeys at a vigorous speed as she heads to work, to visits, to conferences and to the house she shares with a sweetheart.
Bercik is moving on with her life with decision after years of fighting a drug addiction that she stated took most whatever she owned and impacted relationships with her family and others.
Bercik, who has actually been in an out of treatment for many years, went out of her last stint in rehab on Memorial Day. She commemorates a year of sobriety this month.
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She confesses to having difficult days, however states she fights them by connecting to thepeople in her life While that assistance is a huge help in remaining tidy and on the course she is pursuing, Bercik stated it was up to her to take those primary steps in turning away from drugs for great.
” A lot of times, if you’re doing it for family, to get your kids back, for a better half, it drops ultimately. You have to do it for yourself,” she stated.
Battle with addiction
Bercik, an Erie native, stated she was initially presented to heroin in highschool A couple of years after finishing, she moved to Pittsburgh.
” That’s when I got much heavier into my addiction,” she stated.
Bercik stated she explored with a range of drugs consisting of crystal methamphetamine.
Eventually she was presented to fentanyl, an extremely powerful and unsafe artificial opioid that has actually been blamed for an increasing number of drug overdoses and deaths throughout the nation, consisting of in Erie County.
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” I understand they began cutting meth with fentanyl due to the fact that of the addictive qualities, and you get connected on it,” she stated.
A lot of the heroin on the street was likewise ending up being laced with fentanyl, which is more powerful, Bercik stated. She didn’t require as much of the drug to get high, so she stated she slowly began doing heroin and fentanyl together.
” As time grew, due to the fact that fentanyl is a lot more powerful, your tolerance grows more and more,” she stated. “Truthfully, it’s tough to discover heroin on the street any longer. Whatever has actually ended up being fentanyl, which is more affordable and more effective.”
A long, tough road to recovery
Bercik would be in an out of recovery over the next 16 years.
” The last run I was on was a five-year run,” she stated. “I lost the love of my life to an overdose, which I think was fentanyl. After he overdosed, I actually fell deep into my addiction.”
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Bercik had a full-time task, owned a house and an automobile, and her child wasliving with her However she stated after returning on drugs, things headed out of control and she lost whatever.
” The last 3 to 4 years, I was homeless practically. The drugs had such a strong hold on me I was not able to escape thatlife It took me puts I never ever believed it would,” she stated. “I never ever believed I ‘d live in a home with no water, electrical or heat in the dead of winter season with definitely nothing.”
Bercik stated she didn’t care about anything when she was in the throesof her addiction She stated she would trade her food stamps, offer whatever she had “and whatever you had” to get more drugs.
” I was really lucky it didn’t take me down a road a lot of females wind up decreasing, utilizing their bodies to get more,” she stated.
Bercik stated she got to a point where she ran out sofas to browse on and no place else to go. She stated she would invest hours attempting to soar, however her arms were so bad she was not able to do so.
Bercik ended up being ill, contracting MRSA in her heart from soaring. She invested a week in a coma and 2 months in the hospital.
Bercik stated she left the hospital, with no location to stay. She was still ill, she stated, however continued utilizing.
Bercik stated she then reached a “point of desperation.”
” I understood after all that I ‘d be prepared to stop,” she stated.
Help from the Grace Center for Females in Erie
Bercik would invest 6 months in treatment, minus one week.
She stated she had no house plan in location when she finished the very first stretch of treatment throughout that time. She was dropped off at a supermarket with nobody to call.
” The very first thing I did was connect to get some drugs,” Bercik stated.
She overdosed throughout that week.
Bercik returned into rehab in Ohio prior to returningto Erie and continuing her inpatient treatment After finishing her program, she moved into the Grace Center for Females, “attempting my finest to return on with my life.”
Her now-teenage child, whom she had actually transferred momentary guardianship to her moms and dads, was able to see her while she remained at the center, Bercik stated.
Bercik, now living with a good friend after leaving of the center, gets intensive outpatient treatment a couple of days a week and participates in recovery conferences when she can.
She states she believes about the people she has actually lost, consisting of the lots of buddies who might not conquer their own fights with addiction.
Bercik thinks her fight is over, once she got to that point of desperation.
She hopes her story motivates others who have actually likewise had a hard time with addiction.
” This isn’t my very first go-around. I have actually been in 10 various rehabs,” Bercik stated. “This time, I have a various sensation inside. I’m doing it due to the fact that I really, deeply desire to do it.”
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
Get help
- PA Get Help Hotline, 800-662-4357
- Erie County Workplace of Drug & & Alcoholic Abuse, 814-451-6877, eriecountypa.gov/ departments/human-services/drug-and-alcohol-abuse
- Gaudenzia Erie, addiction treatment and recovery services, 814-459-4775, gaudenzia.org
- Millcreek Community Hospital, 814-864-4031
- H.E.R. House, for females recuperating from drug abuse, herhomerecovery.com
- Narcotics Anonymous Erie, lakeeriena.org