PHOENIX — Philip Ortega is 36 and is finally on the road to recovery following his four years of heavy addiction.
It wasn't easy.
"I was injecting meth and heroin, and I was smoking heroin. And when that wasn't available I turned to fentanyl," he said.
He fell on tough times and ended up getting a divorce. He says that the divide between his family led him down a dark road with wide-open opportunities to easily access opioids.
"I was around a lot of people that were in that type of lifestyle and it became available to me from one of the guys at work, it was easy to get my hands on," he explained.
Ortega shared that he never considered kicking the habit until the high was no longer worth the costs. The father of two took a hard look in the mirror after his most recent arrest in April.
Now he's seeking help through Soul Surgery, the first addiction treatment center in Arizona to integrate "Zimhi" pens into their recovery programs. Dr. Ravi Chandiramani says this new solution to overdoses is surfacing in the medical world.
It's a drug designed to stop an overdose dead in its tracks without first responders present. The “epi-pen” style tool is now part of rehab programs and one man is sharing his hurdles, hoping to help others avoid addiction.
"This particular medication is a larger dose than conventional Narcan, it's easier to get into somebody, it's going to get to therapeutic blood levels faster, it's going to last longer, it's going to save more lives, particularly when fentanyl is involved," he explained.
More than five people die every day from opioid overdoses in our state, according to the Department of Health Services. Chandiramani says it's why having this tool is vital.
"On average, it's going to take a first responder six or seven minutes to get to an individual who's overdosing, every second counts and all it takes is one time to use this substance for you to die,". Chandiramani added.
Meanwhile, family physician Dr. Natasha Bhuyan applauds any and all life-saving medications but she warns that Zimhi can pack a punch, and it’s pricey and less accessible.
"Opioid dependence is a big topic and substance abuse and addiction is a topic we're seeing more and more of, with Zimhi, it is at a higher dose than we typically use, about 12 times higher, which that means people could have more severe withdrawal symptoms," Dr. Bhuyan said.
Ortega admits addicts try to avoid withdrawal, but he's willing to risk it and knows he's back on the right track in life.
"It wasn't that I got arrested, it was that I got rescued, what they did for me, I could not do for myself."
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