Reality TV fans know Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino from his antics on the MTV hit series Jersey Shore. The weekly program detailed the lives on young adults enjoying their partying lifestyle. Both the series and the participants were often criticized for their behavior on-and off-screen; behavior that often revolved around drinking and irresponsibility.
Mike Sorrentino
Sorrentino would eventually find himself addicted to prescription painkillers. He hurt himself while taping a dance competition show. His legitimate medical need for opioids became an intolerable dependency.
“Once I received that prescription, nobody could tell me otherwise,” says Sorrentino during his Steppin’ Out Interview. “I could take this particular medication. I just rationalized I my head for months that the pain outweighed everything else and I needed to take this medication.”
But Sorrentino’s use of the opioids would continue, even when the pain stopped.
“The dependency turned into addiction.”
He remembers not being himself. He felt withdrawn and irritable, and not the family-loving person he normally prides himself on being.
“My family sensed the changes in me, but it took a long time for me to realize this problem was bigger than me.”
Rock-bottom came, Sorrentino says, when in Australia for a promotional tour. He ran out of his medication. And no pharmacy in Australia could supply more. Withdrawal symptoms set-in, and out of extreme physical pain and sickness he decided to fly back to the United States and enter rehabilitation. And it stuck.
“Slowly, one day at a time, I was able to slowly, one day at a time, be the Michael that Michael strives to be on a daily basis.”
Sorrentino, now sober, leads an ResetReality.com, an online initiative to increase awareness of opioid addictions. He hopes people can learn from his experience that their lives can be recovered.
“Slowly, but surely, one day at a time, slowly become yourself,” advises Sorrentino. “Remember how you used to be, how you used to stand, how you used to talk. You can live a happy life again, and smile.”
On SteppinOutRadio.com:
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino’s interview on Steppin’ Out Radio
On the internet:
