A mum who became addicted to drugs and alcohol as a teenager has revealed how she survived two overdoses, was arrested six times and feared she would die before finally getting sober.
Jana Brown first experimented with drugs when she was just 13 after her parents separated.
The 44-year-old’s drug use quickly spiralled, and by the age of 17 she had left the family home and suffered her first overdose after drinking too much GHB.
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Two years later, she overdosed again after mixing alcohol with what she describes as ‘dip’ – a cigarette dipped in PCP.
It was just the beginning of a years-long path which saw her hit rock bottom when she drove while under the influence with her son in the car.
“I was addicted to being high,” Jana, now an entrepreneur and faith-based women’s health and wellness coach from Texas, US, told Need To Know.
“I was addicted to escaping.
“I used marijuana, alcohol, pills, ecstasy, acid, GHB and cocaine – anything that let me escape is what I gravitated to, and I didn’t really care what it was.
“I’d roll out of bed and smoke, then do whatever I could get my hands on that day, and just repeat it the next day.
“I just felt worthless.
“I felt like I had no control, but I was in denial about it for a long time.”
Jana’s childhood had been happy, with her parents keeping her and her sister busy with sports.
But she started to experiment with drugs, and at 17, Jana was partying with friends when she drank a large amount of GHB and became so intoxicated she could no longer stand.
She woke up in hospital with charcoal coming out of her nose after doctors pumped her stomach.
Just two years later, she suffered another overdose and was estranged from her mum at the time.
Jana said: “I didn’t speak to my mom for two years.
“I had friends tell me flat out they weren’t going to hang out with me as long as I was drinking.
“It bothered me, but it wasn’t really a wake-up call.”
Despite the near-death experiences, neither overdose immediately stopped her drug use.
Jana was eventually arrested six times, all in connection with drugs and alcohol.
She never served a prison sentence, but spent around six to eight weeks in jail in total.
Jana said: “I honestly didn’t care about being arrested repeatedly.
“Now I feel ashamed.”
Her life changed in 2001 at the age of 20 when she met her husband Tremayne while taking a drug class as part of her probation.
The pair initially partied together, but later became Christians and stopped using drugs.
The pair had two children, and she remained sober throughout their marriage.
But in 2008, tragedy struck when her husband was killed in a motorcycle accident, aged 29.
Jana said: “I was at home with the kids when he passed away.
“I didn’t believe it; I was in shock.”
She managed to stay sober for around six months after his death before beginning to drink again – struggling all the while with grief, anxiety, OCD and PTSD.
Jana said: “At the height of my addiction, I was very isolated and no one knew.
“I was buying alcohol from multiple locations to hide the frequency, and my children had no idea.
“I’d spend maybe $200 a month on alcohol.
“No one knew – I managed to run a business and even compete in bodybuilding competitions during my addiction.
“It’s not that hard to hide.
“My alcohol binges typically took place when my kids were visiting family on the weekends, so thankfully my drinking didn’t have much of an impact on my parenting [until later].
“I was able to function normally throughout my entire life while binge drinking.”
But by 2018, Jana says her drinking had become so serious that she feared she would die if she didn’t stop.
Her lowest point came when she woke up and realised she had become so consumed by addiction that she no longer cared what happened to her.
A rock-bottom moment came when she drove drunk with her 11-year-old son in the car in 2018 – it served as a true wake-up call for the mum, and she hasn’t drunk since.
Jana said: “I remember that morning deciding I was going to drink that day, and I couldn’t even wait for the liquor store to open.
“I just didn’t care.
“I don’t recall every stop I made that day; I just know I was drunk the whole day, and my son was in the car with me at some point during it.
“When I realised what I’d done, I was scared, terrified.
“That’s when I knew if something didn’t change, I was going to die, or kill someone else, or both.
“When I think about that day, it still terrifies me, and I’m so grateful he’s ok.
“Now, my children and I are the best of friends.
“We’re so close.”
Jana has never been to rehab but has attended numerous Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
She said: “I’ve been completely set free.
“I don’t think about alcohol, I don’t think about drugs, I have no desire and no temptation.
“It’s almost like alcohol in this world doesn’t exist.
“I don’t have one thought about relapsing.
“It’s not even about getting clean; it’s about healing.
“I’ve healed.”
Now Jana runs a ministry called RISE and works as a faith-based women’s health and wellness coach, as well as being a founding partner of a bioactive precision peptide company.
Jana has since healed her relationship with her mum and children.
She added: “I’m not at risk of hurting myself anymore.
“Now, a normal day is peaceful.
“It’s quiet, it’s calm.
“My mom and I are best friends now.
“To anyone else battling addiction, take every resource available to you and never stop praying.
“Don’t believe the lie that you can handle this, because you can’t.
“It’s not going to be different the next time.
“That’s the lie I always believed: that I could handle it this time, and I never could.”
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