Former quarterback Brett Favre.Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty
Former Super Bowl-winning quarterbackBrett Favresays that at the height of his career, he was going through a personal battle with addiction.
In a recent interview with Dr. Phil on Favre’s podcast,Bolling with Favre, the 51-year-old said he was addicted to painkillers while dealing with an injury in 1994 during his time with the Green Bay Packers.
At the time, Favre said he went from taking two pills a day to taking a month’s worth of the drugs in two days.
“It sort of numbed the pain, but it also felt pretty good,” Favre, a three-time NFL MVP who played with the Packers from 1992 to 2007, said on the podcast. “I found that if the pain lingered, if you know what I mean, I could get more pills. "
“It snuck up on me,” he added. “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.”
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Throughout his career, Favresuffered many injuries, such as a separated shoulder, sprains, fractured bones, nerve damage, and a number of concussions. He was largely able to get access to the additional pills from his teammates, Favre said.
“I could get away with getting two a day, because it was two,” he recalled on the podcast. “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.”
After Favre began upping the number of pills he was taking, he suffered two seizures in 1995. The experience led him to enter rehab but he continued to struggle with his addiction until he ultimately came to a life-changing realization.
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“Eventually, I dumped the pills in the toilet, flushed them and I almost wanted to kill myself because of doing that,” he continued. “I could not believe that I had actually done that, and I was so mad at myself because now what was I gonna do?”
Favre — who later played for the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings before retiring in 2010 — admits the moment was a difficult one, but it’s what eventually saved him from the cycle of addiction.
“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,” he said.
Favre has discussed overcoming addiction before, including onIn Depth With Graham Bensingerin 2016, noting about going “cold turkey” to detox: “Any expert would tell you that’s not the way to ween yourself off.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
source: people.com
