The Cycle of Substance Use Disorder | Roads to Recovery

Jim Russell and other community members explain the difference between substance use, abuse, and substance use disorder, which is a progressive dependence that can develop from alcohol, marijuana, prescription pills, or street drugs.

The episode breaks down the six-phase cycle:

•  Initial use (often tied to trauma, pain, peer pressure, or curiosity)

•  Misuse & experimentation

•  Tolerance (needing more to feel the same)

•  Dependence (needing it to feel normal)

•  Addiction (the substance controls everything)

•  Relapse (repeated attempts to quit, followed by returning to use)

Local first responders share the real-world consequences, including overdoses, wrecked cars, meth-lab fires, and overdose deaths. Personal recovery stories from Vermilion County illustrate how addiction started young, escalated quickly, destroyed families and health, and felt impossible to escape.

The cycle can be broken. Recovery looks different for everyone, but it is possible right here in Vermilion County. If you’re caught in this, reach out for help.  There is hope, and you’re not alone.

Transcript

Show Intro 0:00

This is a true story. My negative choices started really, really young. I didn't have any friends that were sober. I didn't wake up one day and say, hey, I think I'm gonna be a drug addict today. I didn't want to feel the pain I was feeling anymore. I'm not in control. It's never enough. He's like, here, try this. I almost lost my life. That is my main motivator. I don't want to go through this no more. We do recover in Vermilion County, nobody can tell me any different.

Disclaimer 0:30

Viewer discretion is advised. The content in this video addresses sensitive topics related to drugs and alcohol and may not be suitable for all audiences. This content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered as personal medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional or a substance use disorder specialist for personalized guidance. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals presenting them and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Vermilion County Public Health or the Vermilion County Mental Health 708 Board.

Jim Russell 1:06

Hello, I'm Jim Russell, and I want to welcome you again to Roads to Recovery. We want to talk a little bit more about what substance use disorder is all about. There's a difference between substance use and substance abuse and substance use disorder. I take some prescription medications on a daily basis. I'm using a substance as long as I'm taking it according to the dosage and according to the directions, and that's fine. It could be the case, though, that for whatever reason I decide to not follow the dosage instruction. I don't take the medication correctly. I don't take the right dosage or at the right times. And that can be a substance abuse. There are people who like to have a glass of wine with dinner. That's substance use. Substance abuse would be when that same person gets fallen down drunk.

Jim Russell 1:59

Substance use disorder comes into place when a person develops a dependence upon that substance. And it doesn't have to be an illicit substance. It doesn't have to be a street drug. You can develop a substance use disorder related to alcohol. You can develop a substance use disorder related to marijuana, which is now legal in the state of Illinois. You can develop a substance use disorder related to prescription pain medication. So it doesn't matter the source of the substance or the type of substance. It matters about the dependence that a person develops on that substance. So that substance becomes their go-to when they're facing a challenge or an upset. It's something they rely upon. It's something they depend upon, it's something that's their coping mechanism when they're facing life struggles. And the substance use disorder creates a lot of upheaval and turmoil in the person's life.

Lt. Nathan Konieczki - Danville Fire Dept. 2:59

Substance use disorder means it's more than just drug use itself. It's more of the dependency on it and how it affects the individual themselves. One of the types of calls that we get here in the fire department are drug overdoses where people overdose on heroin, and we have to go there and try and revive them with Narcan. Car accidents are definitely probably the biggest ones that you see with drug abuse and alcohol as well. We've had fires with meth labs where people have had meth labs in their house.

Nancy O'Kane, Director - The Dwelling Place 3:25

We have 30 to 40 people who are regulars, probably a little over half, have some type of substance disorder. We just try to recognize it and see what we can do to help.

Tara Wright, Director - Crosspoint Human Services 3:38

Trauma is huge for a gateway. Those visions, those memories that, you know, are always there. But then it's hard to come back. Now it's bigger than the trauma. It's not just in our community, it's uh a worldwide thing. We have to continue to talk about it.

Jane McFadden, Coroner - Vermilion County 3:54

In Vermillion County, we averaged between 15 and 30 substance use disorder deaths or something related to drugs. We have had some traffic crashes that have involved substance use, uh alcohol, cocaine. Some are accidental deaths. Last year we had 35 drug uh overdose deaths. This can happen to you, so don't even start. If you get hooked on something, it's very, very hard to stop that train once it's left the station.

Narrator 4:26

Substance use disorder can affect people in many different ways, but there are some consistent patterns in each of our stories. There is a cycle that substance use disorder follows, with several distinct phases. The first phase is the initial use of the substance. This can happen at any age for a variety of reasons.

Michael 4:46

I never knew that life can cause you to reach for certain things.

Audey 4:53

Mom and dad sat around partying. Sometimes I'd clean up the beer cans and, you know, take a drink. And I remember when I was six years old and I broke my arm. Instead of getting pain medication, she'd put uh Jack Daniels in my Pepsi.

Kimberly 5:08

I was like the poster child. I was a good kid. When I was a teenager, I always thought I'm never gonna be like that. At 50 years old, I started trying anything and everything that was out there.

Wendy 5:20

Always looking for the next adventure. I picked up smoking cigarettes and smoking weed and drinking alcohol at 14 behind my mom's back. Finally I fit in somewhere. I found older people that uh I thought were really cool.

Show Intro 5:36

And they taught me how to do drugs, and these people didn't care how I dressed, or that my family, you know, was poor, that my dad was crazy.

Kat 5:47

In high school, 17, 18, I started smoking weed. I thought I was too cool. I meet this boy, he's like my first real boyfriend. These are my prescription drugs, you can have one, blah blah blah. Like it's fine. They're not a big deal. And I instantly fell in love with it.

Michael 6:01

Some of the white guys uh that I played football with, we'd take a couple of peels of speed, we'd drink quarts of beer and all of that. So we'd kick it, drink a little bit, smoke a little weed, and get high, laugh. But that was the gateway. That was the that was the beginning of it, though.

Narrator 6:15

The second phase is the misuse of the substance. A person in this stage is lowering their inhibitions and beginning to experiment with substances that might be illegal or simply taken in a way that is not prescribed. Impairment is likely, and the risk of harm increases to themselves and to others.

Reuben 6:34

Alcohol and cannabis, it made me feel comfortable in my skin. I felt a sense of community. As we got older and the drugs got heavier, that grew into different things into more and more and more.

Wendy 6:47

The euphoria I felt took me away from all the voices in my head and the not feeling good enough and not measuring up and made everything better. So I thought.

Chris 7:53

As soon as I'd turned 17, I got my GED, and then got introduced to the factory crowd, and that was a whole nother can of worms, man.

Narrator 8:04

The third phase is tolerance. Once a person has misused a substance long enough, their brain adjusts to it. It becomes harder to get the same feelings, so the person tries new, harder drugs, or takes more of the drug to compensate.

Wendy 8:32

It wasn't long after that I started realizing that I needed more of that to keep me at a level of being okay. Progressing to harder drugs was natural to me.

Narrator 8:45

The fourth phase is dependence. In this phase, the person's body has adjusted to the substance to the point that they need that drug to feel normal, and not having that drug causes pain. Attempts to stay sober result in major withdrawal symptoms that can be very difficult for someone to endure on their own. So the importance of a long-term rehab facility to break the cycle increases.

Kat 9:10

I was down to 105 pounds, just you know, skeletore. I think I lasted uh two days on one Snickers. I was getting down to nothing. And you could just see in my face I just look empty.

Audey 9:22

You started feeling like you if you would didn't have any, you didn't feel right. I I needed it, I had to have it, or I didn't I didn't feel normal. And you know that's got a lot to do with the endorphins being released out of the brain. You just keep getting numbed out and you can't feel, and just getting dis disoriented, and and you can't think, can't function, put more trying to get that good feeling.

Narrator 9:47

The fifth phase is addiction. The substance is now the most important thing in this person's life. Efforts to break away from the substance use disorder cycle are extremely difficult at this stage.

Wendy 9:59

I would try to not use. I tried moving, I tried having different friends, I tried, you know, the geographical change. I'd uh everything I tried failed miserably, and I'd always told myself that I would never do it again. The dealer would come over to the house and all he would have to do is show me the drugs just like that. I would cave. And then I would kick my own butt the next day and I would think, God, I'm such a loser. And I sunk into this abyss.

Caquista 10:24

When you're addicted to drugs, you're caught. And it feels like you're in a vice and you know nothing goes right. My parents took away my kids. And then I got an aggravated DUI, and the stake took away my younger two, my middle sister, the doctor. She, you know, always felt sorry for me because she's seen what I had to go through. Her husband said it's gonna be a divorce if you give her any more money. Sister cut me off.

Kat 10:52

I didn't really didn't think I had a problem until my very last relapse, and when I realized I'm not in control. I lost my job because I was doing so many drugs. I'm just like a walking zombie. I ended up stealing all the time. The amount that I stole, the jewelry that was taken from my mom. But you're not thinking about that when you just want to get high, you know.

Narrator 11:21

The sixth phase is relapse. A person may desire to find recovery, but struggle to stay consistent and committed to not using the substance. They may go to a rehab facility multiple times in an effort to break the cycle of substance use disorder, only to fall back into it.

Wendy 11:39

I came home after treatment in 91 and uh lasted a couple weeks and relapsed, and I was out there for four stray days.

Wendy's Mom 11:47

I had a lot of resentment at first because I didn't understand. I thought, my God, if you want to stop, just stop.

Show Intro 11:55

And I stayed sober for a period of time, and then I started doing prescription drugs, sleeping pills, uh, nerve pills, valium, antidepressants. So I was just doing the medications for a while, but eventually I started drinking that again.

Audey 12:17

Took all the money I'd saved up from the house, went out and did all that, and I couldn't stop. When I started, I couldn't stop. You know, I destroyed everything one more time.

Reuben 12:27

Like I would tear everything down, and then I would get sobered up, build some stuff up, you know, feel better about myself, feel so good that I would think that I don't have to continue to do the things that were making me feel better, and then eventually drugs and alcohol would start seeping back in, and then I'd just tear everything down again. And it was a continuous cycle that's followed me through the majority of my life.

Narrator 12:48

When someone breaks out of the cycle of substance use disorder, we call this recovery. The stories we are going to share prove that while it can be difficult, the road to recovery can be found here in Vermilion County.

Tara Wright, Director - Crosspoint Human Services 13:01

It starts with us saying, I've I've this is a problem. I want it to change, I don't want to do this anymore. This isn't your fault. This this is about you. What do you want to do next? Because it shouldn't be about being forced or directed. It's got to be about what you want.

Nancy O'Kane, Director - The Dwelling Place 13:16

There's always hope. You may not think so today, but there is hope. And there's always somebody who's there for you who's got your back, be it your family, be it the recovery centers, be it the hospitals, be it the nurses, the doctors, the, you know, whatever it takes to get them where you need to be.

Jane McFadden, Coroner - Vermilion County 13:56

So what can we do to help you break that cycle?

Jim Russell 14:02

Recovery is possible. Things can get better. No one's recovery looks the same as somebody else's. It can be a long and challenging journey. It will take a lot of work. There'll be some challenges, there may be some setbacks, but recovery is possible and you can put your life back together again. And there are people in this community, there are people in your family and friends circle who want to help you uh on your own personal road to recovery.