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Our Stories
Carol McDaid
Washington, DC
My name is Carol McDaid. I am a 42-year-old recovering addict. I am one of the lucky ones. Early on, I was given a passion for learning by motivating and challenging teachers. Without that gift, I am sure I would be dead.
I never felt comfortable in my own skin. I only felt lovable when I excelled at school or sports. I craved attention. By the time I was 12, I was drinking and smoking pot everyday. Like so many others, I progressed and used the whole spectrum of drugs; settling on a combination of cocaine and heroin, and always alcohol, as my drugs of choice. By 15, I knew I used more and differently than others. Ashamed of the quantities I used by myself, I knew inside I was an addict.
By the age of 29, I was a “functional” addict, using IV drugs in my job in government relations in Washington, D.C. My sister and my employer joined forces and intervened. Already demoralized and desperate, it wasn’t a struggle to get me to agree to attend an inpatient residential treatment center. My insurance did not cover my treatment. I am grateful that I had loved ones who could.
In treatment, I was introduced to the Twelve Steps and continue to use them as the foundation of my ongoing recovery. I stayed clean for six years. During that time, my relationships with my family, my employer and much of my past were healed. I made new friends who were living a recovery lifestyle and I became a vice president at a boutique-lobbying firm in Washington, where I ultimately ran their healthcare practice. All areas of my life seemed to flourish except in the area of intimate relationships. I felt alone and different, despite the outward trappings of success. After a particularly painful breakup, I relapsed. This time, assuming that my insurance wouldn’t cover inpatient treatment, my employer and I split the cost of my 35-day stay. I filed an insurance claim anyways and, after seven appeals, I beat the insurance company at their own game, and they paid for my stay.
As I write this story, I have five years clean again, I am happily married, have a better sense of self and have gone on to help found a new government relations firm in Washington, D.C.; one of the few with a special focus on addiction and recovery issues. I am grateful that I had two shots at treatment and that my relapse gave me the gift of learning to be vigilant about protecting and sustaining my recovery.
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