Has anyone else's life gotten significantly worse since quitting?

NSFW

I used various opiates for nearly 27 years. I'm coming up on 1 year clean this Friday, & the last 12 months have been a complete nightmare. life wasn't perfect when I was using, but I was pretty stable - always had a job, good friends, places to live, etc. in the past year I have been fired 3 times (never fired before). The 2 people I loved most in the world died suddenly 6 months apart & I was the one that found them both. I have been trying to find a place to live away from my ex & had 3 opportunities to move to places I could afford, but they all fell through in completely unexpected ways at the last minute. 2 of my cats died. I had to have emergency surgery that required me to be on pretty strong painkillers after I quit. I was able to get off of that, too. But what are the odds that would happen so soon? And my ex (that I live with) hasn't had an income in over 2 years, so I have to pay for everything in order to have a safe place for my animals while I sleep in my car near work 5 days a week. I haven't been able to save money for my own pace because it takes everything I have just to barely make ends meet. I can think of so many other things that all tossed my life around, but those are the big things.

There aren't many people I can talk to anymore, now that both my best friend & partner are gone. I'm so broken-hearted & lonely lately. I don't want to go back to the old lifestyle, but I'm so tired of hurting all the time. I used to just "trust" that things would work out & everything would be ok. That attitude served me well for decades. But things aren't OK. I always feel like I'm about to get the rug pulled out from under me in the worst way possible. Sometimes it really feels like the universe is finding new & creative ways to throw me off balance & cause me pain. I don't have money for therapy or meds & there isn't anyone I can talk to.

I guess I'm reaching out to see if anyone else has had such a hard time after quitting. I just feel like things have been disproportionately difficult & painful. I can understand 1 or 2 of those major things happening in a year, but not all of this. It's too much & I'm not sure where to go from here.

Posted Mar 4, 2026, 7:24 AM UTC

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