today, fazio is living with his girlfriend. been clean for six months now, but staying off opiates hasn't been easy. in july-- after a violent confrontation landed him in a v.a. emergency room-- he was shocked when an agency doctor again prescribed oxycodone. tim says he filled the prescription and then stared at the bottle. >> i opened it a couple of times a day for probably three or four days to take one out. i said, "if i take this, i'm not going to be living where i am now. i'm going to be off and running again. they're going to send me on my way." so i flushed it. >> reporter: with his mind no longer deadened by opiates, flashbacks and anxiety make him angry and explosive. and so, despite that recent history, fazio still turns to the v.a. for help. he's up early this morning, waiting for a shuttle to take him to the v.a. my goal is to figure out where this rage, anxiety and all this is coming from when i've been sober. i got to figure out where that comes from and how to cope with that, i guess. >> reporter: the department