Kurt Angle Says Brock Lesnar Breaking His Neck Led To Pain Killer Addiction

Kurt Angle has been through a lot in his career, and he came out the other side sober, and in amazing shape. Today is a testament to recovery, but there was a bad spot in his life that was sparked after Brock Lesnar broke his neck.

Angle’s new Kurt Angle Show gave him the platform to discuss that period in his life. He said that pain killers gave him energy and he loved them. They immediately took the pain away. That was a slippery slope that led to greater abuse.

“The first time, you know, Brock broke my neck in 2003 in February, that was when I was introduced to painkillers. The second I took them, I loved them. It took the pain away. It gave me energy. It got me up. I don’t know if it’s an upper or a downer, but it made me feel really energetic. And, obviously, that’s the opioid working. You know, I started taking them, and when one didn’t work, or you know, it wore off, I started taking two, and then two went to four and four went to eight, eight went to sixteen.”

“I got completely out of control. I was taking 65 Vicodins a day before I started trying to fix the problem. And I got myself in a hole. The thing is, the body builds a tolerance to opioids, so once you are on them for a while, they are not going to work. You’ve got to double the supply, and you would have to triple it and quadruple it. And, I got myself dug into a hole, and I had to get myself out.”

Advertising

Advertising

Kurt Angle was able to get clean, but it was quite a road getting to that point. He is still in need of another big neck surgery in the future. Now he can look back at those tougher times from his past and hopefully help others who might be dealing with the same troubles.