Karen M. Price's drug addiction started with a migraine headache.

It was the early 1990s, a time when many physicians were still treating migraines with narcotics.

For eight years, she legally received prescriptions for powerful painkillers such as hydrocodone. It didn't take her long to become addicted.

"The drug was like air to me," said the 42-year-old Watertown woman. "I had to have it. It became a nightmare."

Her downward spiral started when changes were implemented in the nation's drug prescription laws that required a second opinion for patients who had been prescribed painkillers for long-term use.

Mrs. Price was referred to a neurologist, who took her off the painkillers and, instead, prescribed a less powerful medication.

She then turned to the Internet to support her habit.

"It was easy to be a closet user," Mrs. Price said. "There was no odor involved. There was no smoking, no drinking."

She came up with an elaborate system to obtain medical reports from north country hospitals after she complained of migraine headaches. She changed the names on the reports to those of other people (she had obtained and made copies of their driver's licenses).

Mrs. Price faxed copies of the reports and the licenses to various doctors nationwide, and they would conduct telephone consultations with her under the assumed names.

The doctors then forwarded prescriptions to drug companies, which sent the painkillers to her under the assumed names. She was eventually arrested by police when she went to pick up a package that had aroused the suspicions of a local delivery service.

Mrs. Price said she had ordered several thousand hydrocodone pills over the Internet before she was arrested.

But that changed her life.

Mrs. Price was forced to face the consequences of her actions. She spent time in jail and later underwent intensive counseling. She returned to college, completed her bachelor's degree and landed a job with a north country drug and alcohol counseling agency.

"Every day I got healthier, and my mind got stronger," she said. "I started to embrace life."

Mrs. Price is sharing her story to draw attention to National Recovery Month, a nationwide observance held in September.

"I'm clean, I'm alive," Mrs. Price said. "My life has changed so much. I want others to know that recovery is attainable."

Several north country agencies have planned events to recognize those who have recovered from alcohol and drug addictions.

"An addiction impacts at least five other people for every individual who is abusing substances," said Anita Seefried-Brown, program director for the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Council of Jefferson County Inc. "But recovery brings positive changes into the lives of just as many."

"Lives can be repaired, and families, friends and the community can make it happen," she said.

The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Council, along with the Credo Community Center for the Treatment of Addictions and Samaritan Medical Center's Behavioral Health Department, has organized the following events:

7 p.m. Tuesday: Reading of the legislative proclamation "September 2007 is Recovery Month" in the legislative chambers of the Jefferson County Office Building, 175 Arsenal St.

7:45 a.m. Sept. 20: Recovery Awards Breakfast, Elks Lodge, Bradley Street. Cost is $12 and the public is invited. For reservations, contact ASAC at 788-4660.

8 a.m. Sept. 21: Recovery Walk at the Thompson Park Pavilion. Refreshments will be served.

For help dealing with a drug or alcohol addiction, contact ASAC or the Credo Community Center at 788-1530.