At the height of his OxyContin addiction, Chris Czarnocki was ready to do the unthinkable.

"I wanted to put a 9mm in my mouth and pull the trigger," he said of the dark days when Oxy controlled his mind.

Injured on the job

The so-called wonder drug came into his life following an on-the-job injury. Czarnocki, a high voltage lineman, was injured when a heavy cable smashed into his head. It snapped his neck back and damaged a disk in 2000.

"The doctors gave me this drug OxyContin," he said. "They kept saying that I would not get addicted."

Before he knew it, Czarnocki was told to take two 40mg tabs a day. While taking Oxy, Czarnocki said he was "higher than a kite."

"It was like I was invincible," he said. "It gave you the feeling like you were on speed. I was always nervous, always on edge. I did not like the feeling. I was edgy, itchy. I was ready to kill someone."

As his body grew tolerant, doctors increased the dosage

Soon, his body became tolerant of the low dosages. Naturally, physicians increased his prescription, believing that Czarnocki's pain stemmed from his injuries, and not from his addiction.

"They boosted me up to 80mg in the morning and 80mg at night, within about six months after the injury," he said. By 2002, doctors had increased his level to three 80mg pills a day. Czarnocki knew something was wrong and used will power to defeat Oxy.

"Getting off this was the hardest thing I have ever done," he said. "The harder I pulled away, the harder it pulled me to it. I tried not to take it, but suffered massive withdrawals. I vomited; I had the sweats and mood swings. If people gave me any problems at work, I'd jump all over them."

The addiction becomes intolerable

The addiction became intolerable by 2003. "I was trying to come off it," he said. "I was trying to do my body right, but I was at the doctors every few weeks. I was trying to work and cope with the pain and deal with the Oxy. But I could not get away from it; it was a constant fight."

Life got so desperate that Czarnocki, a father of two, pondered suicide. "I felt like taking my 9mm, locking the chamber and pulling a round off. That is how bad it was," he said. "I am a lineman, not a doctor! I did not know how to deal with it; so I might as well pull the trigger and get over it."

Czarnocki's personal strength and his wife's devotion eventually freed him. "I detoxed myself," he said. "I have a strong will. I flushed my system out with water and vitamins. "It was weeks of going through sweating, vomiting, diarrhea. Like your whole body was throwing up. I could not eat. My eyes were completely bloodshot.

"Day after day, I'd wake up in the middle of the night thinking I was dead. I thought I was in a coma for a time. Could not see straight. By the third week, things were still severe, but it was starting to break. The sweating started going away. But it took five to six more weeks before all the side effects went away."

"No one on this earth should go through this"

Czarnocki said he would not wish the Oxy curse on an enemy. "I was strong enough not to pull the trigger, but others addicted to OxyContin have not been as strong," he said. Czarnocki wants the drug off the market.

"OxyContin should be reserved for people on their death beds," he said. "The side effects of this are worse than the pain I had from my neck."

OxyContin still haunts Czarnocki's subconscious. "To this day, I still think I have some withdrawal symptoms," he said. "I have dreams about taking it. And I freak out in the middle of the night from the dreams. I wake up saying 'I took OxyContin again.' In the middle of the night my body wakes up and sweats for no reason. There is something still going on. I think my body is pulling me back and making me have withdrawals."

"No one on this earth should go through this. It is not worth it."