BRUNSWICK

It all started with a leg injury.

That’s how Doris Bourque’s road to an opioid addiction began, just before she turned 60.

“I’m now 66 years old. Never had any kind of incidents with drugs until I was 59,” she said during a panel discussion at Curtis Memorial Library on Wednesday. “I told myself I needed more drugs and I knew that my doctor would never prescribe it.”

When cocaine and marijuana were prevalent in the ’70s and ’80s, Bourque said, she wasn’t a drug user. But that changed seven years ago.

“All of a sudden, here I am an opiate addict,” she said. “It happened so very quickly and it can get very bad, very quickly as well.”

Unfortunately for Bourque, she worked in a place where cough syrup containing Vicodin was easily and readily available to her. Once sold over the counter, she figured it couldn’t be that bad.

But it was.

One teaspoon is equal to one Vicodin; soon she was up to three tablespoons every 3-4 hours — equivalent to 36 Vicodin a day.

Catherine McConnell, director of outpatient behavioral health at Mid Coast Hospital, which operates the Addiction Resource Center, said the real mark of addiction is when people become impulsive and compulsive about their drug use, and have a difficult time controlling it. She cited statistics in highlighting the opioid problem in Maine: In 2015, it had the 13th highest rate of overdose deaths in the country, and in the last few years, there has been a 30- to 40-percent increase in overdose deaths.

McConnell attributed the rise in overdoses to more dangerous substances now available, such as heroin mixed with Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid analgesic 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and typically used to treat patients with severe pain.

For people who come through their doors, the Addiction Resource Center provides psychoeducation — behavioral treatment to help people understand addiction and how it affects the brain, body and emotional well-being. That provides a foundation for them to move toward recovery and regain control of their lives.

For those going through withdrawal symptoms, McConnell said, “we really do have to look at more interventions.”

“We do have a medication-assisted treatment program,” she said. “We prescribe Suboxone and other medications that help people get better to the degree that they’re able to actually participate in treatment.”

Bourque needed that kind of help.

She said she would try to ease off her use of cough syrup on her own, but just wound up taking more. Her body took over, Bourque described, telling her she’d do everything and anything to get more. She cheated and lied, including to her husband, family and friends.

It was the Addiction Resource Center that made the difference.

Bourque said the staff was caring, giving and patient with her, but also tough when it was needed. She was prescribed 60 milligrams of Suboxone as part of her treatment then; now she’s down to 1 milligram and has spent seven years free of opioids.

“I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that this is a young adults’ problem,” Bourque said. “It’s not, and even I was under that misconception, which probably resulted in my not coming forward sooner.

“I really thought that nobody would understand being my age, why I was taking it,” she added, “why I was still taking it when I didn’t need it.”

But the time came when Bourque was forced to do something about her addiction.

“I don’t know why I’m still alive — but I am — and I thank God for the Addiction Resource Center because … you cannot give up drugs without help,” she said. “You cannot do this on your own.”

Other speakers that were part of the panel hosted by the American Association of University Women’s Bath and Brunswick branch included Irene Parcher, a drug and alcohol counselor at the Addiction Resource Center, and Bill Ellsworth, a peer support specialist for the center and a recovery coach for the Lincoln County Recovery Program. They were joined by another panelist who shared his experience with substance use and addiction.

The Mid Coast Hospital Addiction Resource Center has locations in Brunswick and Damariscotta. Learn more at midcoasthealth.com/addiction.

dmoore@timesrecord.com