WATCH – MIND MATTERS –

Sept. 2`, 2021 – “Even just having a conversation with you, looking you in the eyes, is something that I never would have been able to do six years ago,” said Julia Soloman.

Looking at the 30-year-old, one would never know Soloman spent more than a decade struggling with addiction.

“I guess my first drink was actually at 14,” she said. “Toward the end, it was a lot of stimulants, so cocaine and Adderall.”

Soloman also told ABC13 anchor Chauncy Glover she lived the typical “goody two shoes” life growing up. However, at 17 years old, her Lyme Disease resurfaced and doctors gave her OxyContin for the pain.

“Within two weeks of being prescribed it, I was crushing it up and snorting it off the back of the toilet at work, which is disgusting, and it made perfect sense at the time,” Soloman said.

She spiraled out of control, and at 21, she did her first stint in rehab. That started Soloman’s cycle of being in and out of treatment programs, constantly relapsing.

“I wasn’t ready. My brain just was not functioning at a level that would allow me to stay sober,” she said.

Soloman’s brain is where her parents tapped into for help. Karen Odell-Barber, the chairman of neurologics, took her case.

“Her family was tremendously worried about her … that she would overdose or die,” said Odell-Barber.

more@ABC13