Brett Favre opens up about his addiction to painkillers
doubledragon
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Brett Favre tells the story of his addiction to painkillers.
On the latest episode of his podcast, former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre shared a personal story about opioid addiction: his own.
On the March 23 episode of "Bolling with Favre," the retired QB and his podcast partner, Eric Bolling, spoke with Dr. Phil about how opioid and other addictions have been on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Favre then opened up about his addiction to painkillers, which spanned from 1994-97 and included the Packers' 1996 Super Bowl season.
Favre's addiction started with an injury
Favre said that his addiction began during the 1994 season, and it started with a separated shoulder he got from future teammate Reggie White during a game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He got a pain shot at halftime, but after the game he was given several Vicodin ES, which he took. He enjoyed the effect of the pills, and quickly learned how to get more.
"It sort of numbed the pain, but it also felt pretty good," Favre said. "I found that if the pain lingered, if you know what I mean, I could get more pills. And it snuck up on me. It was two pills that gave me a buzz, and then it was four. At its peak, I was taking 16 Vicodin ES all at one time."
Favre said that he didn't get addicted right away. He sprained his ankle a few weeks later, and while he knew that the injury wasn't bad enough to require painkillers, he remembered how good he felt when he took them. So he asked for them. That happened two or three times during the course of the season, and soon he was taking two pills a day and asking his teammates to get pills for him.
"I could get away with getting two a day, because it was two," Favre said. "So maybe the third day I would ask another player to get two pills, so I just didn't ask the same person. And you start learning how to manipulate the system, and you become very good at it."
'I was as low as I could possibly be'
Favre's addiction continued into the 1995 season, and it was discovered by a doctor in Green Bay who was treating him after he had a seizure. Favre told the doctor that he would stop taking them, but he didn't, and continued to abuse opioids during the entire 1995 season.
He had a "come to Jesus" moment after the season was over, when he had another seizure while he was in the hospital for ankle surgery. He told the people in his life, as well as the NFL, what was going on, and he went to rehab for 75 days. But he wasn't going through rehab honestly.
"I finally figured out, agree with what they're saying," Favre said. "In other words, manipulate again. And then when I got out, I continued to do what I was doing."
The Packers won the Super Bowl at the conclusion of the 1996 season, but Favre had fallen right back into addiction. When he was home in Mississippi during the offseason, he had his real "come to Jesus" moment.
"I was as low as I possibly could be ... I said it's one of two things — I die, or I flush these pills down the toilet. I sat by the toilet for two hours.
"Eventually, I dumped the pills in the toilet, flushed them and I almost wanted to kill myself because of doing that. I could not believe that I had actually done that, and I was so mad at myself because now what was I gonna do?
"It was really not the way you want to come off of pain pills, because it could kill you. I shook with cold sweats, hot sweats every night. ... But that was the last time. I was clean. It took me a couple months to get over the urge, but slowly but surely, by the grace of God, I got beyond."
Favre said that he also had a destructive relationship with alcohol and went to rehab in 1998 after his wife gave him an ultimatum. He said that he hasn't touched a drop of alcohol since.
Comments
Glad he got himself cleaned up, addiction is a terrible thing. I don’t throw stones at people that have issues with it since I have had a nicotine addiction for decades.
I know what you mean, I've been addicted to nicotine since the mid-90s and more than likely I will be addicted to it forever. It started off in the form of cigarettes and now it's the gum.
Stick with the gum, don't go back.
Oh believe me, I'm not. I am addicted to the gum, I get a fruit flavored nicotine chew that I enjoy much more than a cigarette. I chew 16 pieces of Fruit flavored nicotine gum a day.
i am so glad i listened to my uncle when he told me to never try a cigarette. he told me they are harder to quit than booze. i think he was right. a hard habit to shake for sure.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I had a kidney stone around ten years ago. Turned out to be 8mm x 14mm. I know because when it passed, i measured the dam thing. The urologist after seeing the cat scan, said it was "unlikely" to pass by itself. He said unlikely in a tone of voice which implied never, and he recommended surgical procedures. I decided to see if it would pass by itself.
It wasn't fun, took around ninety days to pass, and sometimes i wasn't sure if it would ever pass by itself. But in any event i was determined to get thru it without painkillers. Well about sixty days into it, I was having a very bad day with it, very very bad, and i phoned the urologist and told him to prescribe me some painkillers. I went to the pharmacy and picked them up, and it turned out to be hydrocodone which i looked it up on the internet and it's similar to Oxycodone. My Dad had a bad experience with Oxycodone, so i was reluctant to use it.
Anyway by the time i got back from the pharmacy, the pain had subsided a bit, so i put the painkiller on hold in the bathroom cabinet, mainly because i absolutely hate drugs. Long story short, after weeks of searching, i found a great solution on the internet that not only relieved the pain naturally, but also helped pass the dam stone. First cold pressed, extra virgin, organic olive oil. It naturally lessens pain and inflammation plus it is tremendously healthy for you. I sprinkle it on my veggies every day.
Moral of the story, there are lots of natural solution alternatives to pain killers in a number of situations. Try to avoid using manufactured painkillers whenever possible.
And yes, give up those dam cigarettes, or as they are also called, cancer sticks which they are.
I had a tooth pulled a couple of years ago, and afterwards the dentist was going to prescribe me some of that hydrocodone. Now, I had always heard how truly addictive these opioid painkillers are and how people become addicted to them and it ruins their life. So when the dentist wrote the prescription and handed it to me and I noticed it was hydrocodone, I handed it back to him and told him I was just going to take Advil, which I did. I don't want any part of opioid painkillers. They ruin lives, and it's really sad to see good people being ruined because of something like that. I mean, good clean people get injured and go to the doctor and the next thing you know, their lives are turned into a nightmare because of these painkillers. It's truly sad.
Doctors don't make any money telling their patients to take Advil. They make their money prescribing prescription painkillers in which ya have to keep going back for checkups and new prescriptions, and then it's more money they make. The "Hippocratic Oath" in general died a long time ago.
We all know that doctors are vital for our health, without a doubt, especially a life threatening situation. But when a malady strikes, particularly a non-life threatening malady, it is best to do as much research about it on the internet as possible. Not only does that help you communicate the situation with the doctor, but definitely helps keep you from getting ripped off and also possibly prevents unnecessary surgery.
For example, you were wise to go the Advil route first. Your situation wasn't life threatening, and you could have always gone back to the doctor and received the pain killer prescription. Too many doctors these days hand out pain killer prescriptions like a candy store sells M&M's.
Yes, there's no way I'm going near that stuff. I've heard too many stories about people getting addicted to it and even overdosing on it. It's become an epidemic, if I have any problems, I'm going to do the research to find a natural way. There's a lady that lives down the street from us that got hooked on Percocet and it took her a long time to get off of it. No thanks.
The great rock song, Mr Brownstone, about heroin addiction, i think is a good illustration of how many folks think they can control their opioid use, but then it winds up controlling them.
i say get addicted to cards and coins, that's a good addiction.
That is an addiction I fully embrace. I am a full bkown boxing card addict, and I don't want any help!
I blame my parents for my card and coin addiction.
At a very young age they bought me a wax pack of baseball cards and a Whitman cent album, and i was hooked. Dam them for doing that to me.
Still have almost a full bottle of the 'codone in the cabinet from hip replacement last July. Hate pills. And as a redhead there is some serious high tolerance blood running through me.