Welcome to the Breakthrough Addiction recovery hour. During this hour we will be discussing topics on addiction as it relates to alcoholism and other drugs. Our phone lines are now open, so call us at 770-226-0920 with your questions and comments.

Brian: Welcome to the Breakthrough Addiction recovery hour. My name is Brian Fujii, and with me, my co-host, is Jill Mattingly.

Jill: Hello.

Brian: And we have our special guest, Paul. Really glad to have you here again, Paul. For those of you just joining in with us, Paul was with us last week and we were talking about opiate addiction. And Paul is telling us his life story, about how he moved into really just starting using pain medication as something that was helpful for something that he was experiencing physically. And today we’re going to try to carry on this discussion to really help the general listening audience to really understand how people can so easily move into using pain medication as a prescription, and then, inadvertently through the use become more and more dependent upon that particular drug.

Jill: And I also want to point out that we are actually offering Paul’s story, if you contact us here at the station, 770-226-0920, we will actually send out his story in written form. It’s very informative and very impactful if you have a loved one that is struggling or if you want to understand what this journey into pain medicine addiction is like. You want to read his story. It’s fantastic. And Paul, thank you so much. It’s not snowing, so I knew you’d be here…

Brian: Yeah, welcome back, Paul.

Paul: Thank you. It’s good to be here. I appreciate you guys having me.

Jill: Yeah. You know, what we wanted you to do since there’s a lot of people tuning in that didn’t hear the beginning of your story last week. If you want to just recap a little bit, telling us about, you know, from when you were a kid and how you progressed into this unfortunate journey into pain medication addiction.

Paul: Sure, sure. Yeah, just to quickly recap: I was raised in a great family a Christian home, grew up in the church, went off to college, and started the party scene, drinking, got into marijuana on a daily basis, and then slowly but surely experimented with a couple of other things, never got real deep, and then, um, got married, and stopped smoking marijuana, decided it was time to grow up. Was going to raise a family, and really didn’t touch anything for about seven years. And then I had a root canal, and started taking, the doctor prescribed some Vicodin for me. And for the pain What I really didn’t see at the time was really my first red-flag moment was when I came home from work, had no dental pain anymore, it was healed up, and there was some medication left, and I looked at it, and I associated it with pleasure, the side effects, cause it made me feel, have a good sense of well-being, chatty, I just liked the way it made me feel. So that was a red-flag moment for me there, for the very first time. That’s what I would caution anyone, definite red-flag moment, is if you have this medication and there is no medical reason to take it, and you reach for it, please realize that that is something, it may not be a huge deal, it doesn’t mean you’re an addict at that point, anything like that, but that is a red-flag moment, where you are associating medication for pleasure and not what it was designed for.

Brian: You know Paul, I really appreciate you saying that because, you know, typically that’s what happens so many times, why can one person take a pain medication and, first of all, some people sometimes take pain medication, they hate it because it doesn’t do anything for them, it either makes them sick, and yet in your situation you took it and you realized, wow, this feels great. And I think that’s one of the major reasons we understand why only about 5 to 10 percent of the general population that actually tries different types of drugs really becomes dependent on it, because there is something in the brain that really reacts positively. We know that with alcohol, some people can drink alcohol and they’ll get sicker than a dog. And yet at the same time, there are others who drink it, wow, what a feeling… exactly, that trigger that kicks in.

Paul: And that leads right in to the next part, is that I finished that medication and it was gone, so be it, it was gone and a few months later, my wife, at the time, had to have back surgery. And the pain medication that she was prescribed after the surgery made her sick. So now she’s got all these back issues and she’s trying to heal from surgery, and he gave her Vicodin and it made her sick. So then he tried Percocet, and that made her sick. So here I had a steady supply of pills coming in the house that she had no interest in, and I had a great interest in.

Jill: And she did not know you had an interest in them.

Paul: No, she filled the prescription, took one, hated the way it made her feel, and it went in the back of the medicine cabinet, you know.

Brian: And she didn’t think anything else about it…

Paul: Never even thought about it. And so it’s just sitting in there, and slowly but surely, at the time, you know, I wasn’t taking them all day, it was one pill, after work, you know, and I’d relax. It was my glass of wine at the end of the day, so to speak, or whatever..

Brian: Good point.

Paul: So, you know, she had the back surgery, eventually her back healed up, and those prescriptions stopped. And then my next encounter was getting a horrible cough, went to the doctor, and he prescribed a big old bottle of cough syrup, which was Tussinex. Took it home, looked at the active ingredients and saw hydrocodone, and I realized, wow, it’s not only a painkiller, it’s a cough suppressant. So then I, you know, thoroughly enjoyed my cough syrup. And the next major red-flag moment, went back for my follow-up visit, my cough was gone, the doctor asked me how I was feeling, I said fine, and for the first time in my life, I lied to the physician. I told him that I had this dry, hacking cough, that I couldn’t sleep at night, and that, he said, well, did the medication work that I gave you? I said, oh, yeah, that was the only way that I could sleep. So this was another red-flag moment, that I would encourage everybody, if you’ve ever given misinformation to a physician to get a medication that you don’t need so you can experience the side effects from it… that, you know, looking back, a lot of these things, they happen so gradual… and we can justify anything as humans when we’re doing it, that, well, I just, it’s not a big deal, I’ll do it this one time, and all this while my body was growing more and more accustomed to it. So now, you know, I couldn’t get the desired effect from one or two pills, I needed three or four… or not one teaspoon of cough medicine, I needed three or four or five, you know, because I wasn’t getting the desired effect, you grow so tolerant to it.

Jill: That is exactly right.

Paul: You know, then eventually it would run out, and I started experiencing withdrawal symptoms, and…

Jill: Was that the first time you experienced withdrawal?

Paul: No… I would say before the cough syrup, back when I was taking them for about a month straight from my wife’s supply, she ran out. And I thought I was getting the flu or something. I was a little achy, I felt grumpy, and my nose was running… I thought I was sick. And I realized that, you know, it was a shocker to me, because I thought, withdrawal, that’s something that a heroin addict goes through. I’m not a druggie.

Jill: I bet that was really surprising to you…

Paul: It was probably one of my first wake-up calls that I might have an issue.

Jill: Uh huh…

Paul: But then I would go through, you know, a couple days without feeling well and I’d forget about it… not completely forget about it, but it wasn’t that big a deal. Then I, the next thing was that I started having some back issues myself, and I went to the doctor, and of course he prescribed… and what I was doing through all this is that now I knew the exact symptoms to describe to a physician in order to get him to prescribe the medication that I wanted.

Jill: Wow.

Paul: And it just became a regular thing for me. That was my means of getting it was to give false information.

Brian: And that’s part of that creativity seems to be constantly moving… that part, a time when you are looking at your need for that drug, but now you’re finding new ways to get that drug and having to be very creative in the way that you obtain it. And I think that’s part of the thing for our listening audience, this is such an important part because we know that manipulation and trying to get what they need for that particular drug is so important. I like what you said, you began realizing that you needed this, Paul, but at the same time you began also realizing I had to find different ways to get this, even if it meant lying to my doctor. And that’s got to be a very, very powerful piece for you. I know that you mentioned you come from that kind of home or value system, how I related to that. So that must have been a real stab at the heart in that respect.

Paul: It was. I would leave the physician offices very torn,

Brian: Sure.

Paul: You know, a prescription in my hand, so ecstatic about that, but feeling, you know, the guilt of, you know, I was doing something that was wrong, I was doing something that was illegal. But you justify your mind begins to justify it because what it becomes is a chase to avoid the withdrawal symptoms. And that’s what gets so exhausting.

Jill: Perfect.

Brian: Indeed.

Paul: It’s not the actual medication, it’s the chase.

Brian: Right, it’s no longer that fact that you wanted to feel good, for the high, it was, avoid the withdrawal.

Paul: Exactly.

Jill: This is probably really touching a nerve out there. And if you’d like to call and have comments or questions for Paul, or Brian and I, you can call 770-226-0920, and you can go to our website to get more information on opiates. That’s breakthroughaddictionrecovery.com. There’s a lot of information about what Paul is talking about today. And I hope that if you are listening, and this is touching a nerve, that you do call us and let us, you know, maybe field some questions that will help you through this, if you’re going through something like what Paul was experiencing. And also if you want to listen online, we are www.920wgka.com. And I do want to throw one thing in before the break. I want to talk about Suboxone and how to get Suboxone addiction treatment through Breakthrough Addiction Recovery. And I know Paul’s story is going to end up on a very, very positive note, so keep tuned in today. But we are going to talk about how you can get help for this problem of opiate dependency. So if you’ll stay with us and we’ll be right back.

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Jill: Welcome back to the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery hour. Well, if you feel like you might be experiencing life in the fast lane right now because of opiate dependency, you can call us at Breakthrough Addiction Recovery, and we can help you with that dependency. We’re talking to Paul today, and he had that journey in the fast lane. He’s just about to get into more of the fast lane in just a minute. He actually got into a circle of trying to find doctors that would give him these pills that made him feel better and kept him from going through withdrawals. And as were saying Paul, it can become a real merry-go-round that you get on. You just don’t get off and its easy to get off, you have to really keep going and keep looking and like Brian said, you have to be creative about finding that drug. When you left, just in this last segment, you were talking about that you had a real back issue though, and you were starting to find doctors that would give you pain pills for this back pain. Can you tell me a little bit about what happened from the back pain?

Paul: Well, fortunately it wasn’t anything serious. I had a degenerative… I had an MRI done, because the doctor suggested it, so here I was getting sucked in further and further. Now I have to go, you know, in for an MRI when I was I had some back pain

Brian: So that was legitimate back pain?

Paul: It was legitimate, but I was exaggerating it to get what I wanted…

Jill: Ok.

Brian: Sure.

Paul: So I went in, I got an MRI, and they diagnosed me with a degenerative disc. Nonsurgical, it’s something that’s going to bother you here and there, which all that did was it gave me, that was my ticket to pain pills. Now I was diagnosed with something. So, you know, whenever I felt like it, but eventually what happens is any responsible physician, which most of them are, for the most part, they’ll start referring you out, to pain clinics and things like that. It’s just this vicious circle… The back pain went away, I, uh, that was my ticket to get more. So I basically was on this circle jumping… I had different doctors that I was going to and I was juggling between back pain and the cough. It was amazing how creative and, you know, you think you’d get confused who you told what, but it was amazing how strategic that you get…

Jill: And don’t we call that doctor shopping, right?

Paul: Yes.

Jill: And it’s not necessarily that you’re going in for a specific, for something real and legitimate, but how many doctors did you have at your height? How many doctors were you working?

Paul: I don’t know at one point, but I can tell you when I finally got clean I got down and I had a good chat with myself and did dig deep into my memory and I wrote down everybody that I had gotten a prescription from, and it was in two different states and it was about twenty-eight different prescribers.

Jill: Wow.

Brian: Twenty-eight different doctors?

Paul: And this also, I don’t know if we’re going to get into this or not, this also includes the internet.

Brian: The internet. Oh yeah.

Jill: Oh yeah.

Paul: Because I discovered, it’s a joke. They give you a five-minute phone consult that basically says, what are your symptoms? Have you taken this before? Ok, I approve it.

Brian: It is so easy to obtain.

Paul: I mean, yeah, it is. It’s not difficult, it just takes time. It’s a lot of time invested its ridiculous how much time I spent, wasted…

Jill: Right. And what I want to say about physicians also. I did internal medicine for eight years and I know when someone’s coming in and they’re looking. You can kind of tell. And there are manipulations you can do and tests you can do to make sure that you have the data that say, this person really does have the problem. But, you have five minutes to spend with the patient, or ten minutes, and sometimes it’s a lot easier in certain offices to write out that hydrocodone, instead of saying, let’s start with an anti-inflammatory and work our way… I’m sure you would’ve walked out of that office if you would have seen me, because I would have started you with naproxen and worked on. But, you know, the thing is, is that, the doctors, a lot of the times, are crushed for time and they really are trying to follow that scenario, and the referral out is actually to try to keep from, in some cases, feeling like they are giving you medication that they shouldn’t be giving you. But you went on to have some things done…

Paul: I did, actually. I…

Jill: ….for your phantom back pain, didn’t you?

Paul: Yeah, I actually went and had an epidural shot in my back that was very painful, and I was doing it all to justify getting the pills. So… But the other legitimate thing that I had was that I had severe, people’ve probably heard of reflux. You’ve seen the ads on TV for the purple pill, all that kind of stuff. You know, I had it very, very severe at a young age, and the doctor suggested surgery to correct it, because it can lead to esophageal cancer, so I said I’ll go ahead and do it. And so I went ahead and had the surgery and I left that surgery with a prescription for oxycontin. He wrote me the oxycontin for surgical pain, and the pain wasn’t that bad, I did have some… but what was going on in my life at the time was my marriage was falling apart at the same, while this was happening. I had found out that my wife was having an affair. And I had oxycontin, and desperate times call for desperate measures, or so that was my logic. And I had known that the oxycontin could be crushed and snorted. So there’s another of my major red-flag moments was that this was the first time I crushed a pill and snorted it. And this was, this oxycontin I loved because the thing was my tolerance had gotten so high that I needed to take a fistful of Lortabs in order to get the desired effect, or Vicodin, or whatever…

Brian: And that has high acetaminophen in it…

Paul: Exactly. And that’s the problem, I knew that, that I was putting… You take high amounts of acetaminophen and you’re risking damaging your liver.

Jill: Absolutely.

Paul: And so I knew that. Not that it stopped me from taking a fistful of pills. I was still taking it. But I liked the oxycontin better because I knew that it didn’t have the acetaminophen in it; it only had the narcotic. So now, you know, I had another means, you know, juggling all these different things, you know, it didn’t really matter what I got, I would take it, whether it was oxycontin, Lortab, whatever. I had found means to buy it on the street at one point, through people that I knew…

Jill: So, you were…

Brian: Listen, audience, if you are really getting into this discussion, please give us a call here at 770-226-0920. If you are outside the Atlanta area, give us a call at 1-888-920-2665. I know this must be stimulating a lot of thoughts in many people’s minds…

Jill: Absolutely.

Brian: and you know we were talking about this earlier, Jill, when we said to parents and to others who were having some problems about keeping their medications in their medicine cabinets, you know, please monitor those, because you just never know who might be looking, or even having adolescents going into those medicine cabinets and using those pain medications to either self-medicate or maybe give to others.

Jill: Right. And it’s not just pain medication anymore. We’re finding out that people are pretty savvy, if they’re looking for something, they know what the names are. Things like Xanax and other benzodiazepines are being taken out of medicine cabinets. But Paul, it sounds like you got into a real spiral. This is when things started really going south in your life, and not that they weren’t already, but this was the time, you know, with the marriage falling apart, and you were starting to find different sources. What else was happening at this time, when did you start to finally have your ah-ha moment, I’ve got to do something?

Paul: Well, I had quite a few ah-ha moments, but I mean, you know, it’s not normal to take ten to twelve pain pills at a time, you know, I mean…

Jill: That’s an ah-ha moment…

Paul: Yeah, and I started realizing it wasn’t just after work anymore, you know, it was during work, because I felt up, and I had energy and things, and um, so it got to the point where I was taking fistfuls of these pills, two, three times a day in order to maintain… it almost is like, it becomes, uh, like you’re having a relationship with, like, the substance is your significant other or something You know, it’s a very strange position to be in, but I knew I had to get help, cause I tried several times on my own…

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Brian: It’s interesting, you say this too, that in spite of even knowing the dangers related to the acetaminophen and the levels you were taking…

Jill: or Tylenol…

Brian: …it’s just really, you disregard it, all of those real danger signals for you…

Paul: Just to get the desired effect.

Brian: …just to get the desired effect, that’s how powerful this pills really are.

Jill: Well, let’s do this, we’re going to come back from our break in just a moment. I’d like to start talking about when you started making that choice, to turn this around, and I really do appreciate you, Paul, for being here. I know a lot of people are listening here today…

Brian: Your candor is wonderful.

Jill: 770-226-0920. Stay with us and we’re going to be right back.

<commercial break>

Jill: Welcome back to the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery hour. We’re here talking with Paul about his journey through opiate dependency. He had an addiction, pain medication addiction. And it looks like we do have a caller. I’m going to go ahead to that call. This is Lori from Atlanta. Hi, Lori.

Brian: Hey, welcome to the show.

Jill: How are you today?

Lori: Fine, how are you?

Brian: Fine. How are you today?

Lori: Great. I have a question for Paul. I’ll just quickly tell you that I had a brother who did commit suicide as a result of drug addiction to cocaine.

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Lori: In fact it was me he called, of everyone else, to tell me that to say goodbye to me before he took all the pills. It resulted in a massive heart attack and he died, he was not even thirty-four years old. And of course it affected me tremendously. I thank Paul for coming on your show and talking about this because I believe that drug addiction is more prevalent than what we want to admit in America. I know because I also have a sister who’s in her late fifties and she’s very ill, and she doesn’t realize that, or will not admit to, but she is addicted to prescription drugs. And she lives in another state, I live here in Atlanta, and when I go to visit her it’s painful for me to watch, that she has pills to excess. And Paul, what I want to ask you is, how did you lick this? How did you do it?

Paul: Well, I, you know, its an ongoing thing, and, that’s the thing, I came to realize its going to be an ongoing thing for me, but actually, its ironic that you called because that was the next thing I was going to talk about, what really got my attention was I got a phone call a couple years ago… no, I guess it was about a year ago now… that I had a very good friend, close friend, college roommate, who died. I went to his funeral, and he died from an overdose, and he was, you know, thirty-five years old, and had two kids, and I knew what he was doing, and I knew that I had a lot of things in common with him. And it did get my attention because I have a kid, and you know, I need to be there for him. I realized that it was spiraling out of control. And so I basically at that point, so to speak, faced my demons and I needed to get some help.

Lori: Mmm hmm.

Paul: So what I did first was, I had a friend that was addicted to heroin at one point in his life, and he was sharing with me about methadone addiction treatment. And I sought out methadone addiction treatment, did the counseling part a little bit, but went to get on methadone and, you know, I’m not going to bash any kind of addiction treatment because I know methadone does work for some people… I did not do well with it at all. It made me horribly ill. And I had people telling me, all I was doing was, you know, the very few people, I didn’t have a lot of people who knew what was going on, but the couple that I did tell, they said that you’re just trading one addiction for another. People are on methadone their whole life, its just as bad getting off methadone as anything else…But I couldn’t tolerate methadone myself. So I had heard about, what Jill was just talking about, Suboxone. Somebody had told me about it; I did some research on the internet, and found, decided to go ahead and start that. And really, I know Jill’s going to get into it, but what the Suboxone did for me was, it allowed me to seek out the counseling aspect of it, and figure out why is this part of my life, why am I turning and work on myself cause what the Suboxone did was take away the physical part of it that I didn’t go through withdrawal and I wasn’t feeling that, the physical drive that drives you, just like when you’re hungry and you go to your refrigerator, once your body is used to that opiate, you’ll do anything to get it. So the Suboxone took away the physical part of it, and I was able to focus on the counseling and getting help.

Lori: Now is that the number, uh, is that that a eight number that they give out, for that addiction treatment you’re talking about?

Jill: Well, actually, yeah, actually the Suboxone addiction treatment we do right at our office in Breakthrough Addiction Recovery. Its outpatient, it’s very reasonable, it takes about two days to safely get someone on to the Suboxone. And it is actually a lifesaver. I’ve seen so many people come in, desperate, and leave with so much confidence and the ability, like he said, to start looking into their lives, why this happened in the first place, and really respond to counseling. But, we’re up in Norcross, and we have a very successful Suboxone addiction treatment. And anyone listening out there, including, you know, Lori, if you have family members that are struggling with this, it is an absolute lifesaver.

Brian: And you know, Lori, I heard what Paul was saying, and it’s a combination of the two that I think really makes it very successful. It’s putting together not only the Suboxone, and you heard what Paul said, that it really helps you, or your loved one, to be able to think clearly, be able to understand, and as a result be able to do the addiction treatment. So the counseling is so important tied together with the medication.

Jill: Absolutely.

Lori: Ok, but does this exist nationwide?

Jill: I’m sorry, say that one more time?

Lori: Do you have these kinds of clinics nationwide?

Brian: No, we’re only located currently in the Norcross area.

Lori: Oh.

Jill: Yeah.

Brian: But yet at the same time we have people coming from all over the United States…

Jill: We sure do.

Brian: …as they take a look at our website. You certainly can have her or him look at that, and give us a call, and we’d be happy to arrange it. We have a lot of different arrangement for people outside. Listen, we’re coming to our break right now…

Lori: What’s the website and then I’ll just hang up.

Brian: Ok, alright, we’ll give you that website and also the phone number.

Jill: Hey, hold on, Lori. I’m going to get you on the phone right after the break.

Lori: Ok. Thanks.

Brian: Alright. Well, listen, if you’re listening in and this is really a stimulating discussion, call us at 770-226-0920. We’ll be right back after the break.

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37:40

Brian: Welcome back to the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery hour. My name is Brian Fujii, and we have Jill Mattingly with us.

Jill: Hello.

Brian: And also our special guest, Paul. Paul’s been discussing his journey into addiction and now he’s going to be sharing with us some things with us about how he came to realize that he needed help. You know, Lori, just the last caller, wanted to find out about our programs and about how Suboxone works and I really appreciate when Paul mentioned that when he finally began realizing that he was having this issue and now he’s wanting to get on to Suboxone and get the help, and Paul, you were so eloquent about the idea how this Suboxone helped you to stay focused and you could get the counseling that you need. You know, you talked about all the ways you manipulated, but now you felt a need to come clean and tell somebody about what was going on in your life. Tell us something about what motivated you now after you started the addiction treatment and realizing, hey, you know, I need to share this with people who really care about me. And you began realizing some things about the loved ones in your life.

Paul: Well, I think that’s the biggest hurdle is that, uh, you know, you allow yourself to get so far into this and there, I know I’m not alone. I mean, if you’re out there and you’re in a situation, there’s a certain amount of shame involved in it. It’s embarrassing to admit that you’re addicted to something. It’s shameful that you are lying to people to get what you need. You know, so I had gotten to that point where I knew I had to do something. And somebody told me one time that the definition of insanity is to do the exact same thing over and over again and expect the turnout to be different. So I knew that I had to do something different if it was going to work this time. So when I went in for the Suboxone addiction treatment, I was sitting there, going through outpatient detox, thinking about, ok, how is this going to be different from all the other times I tried to stop. And the one thing that was exactly the same, every time that I tried to stop on my own and failed, was that nobody knew what I was going through. And I decided, I said, you know what, if I mean it, I need to do this to prove to myself that I mean it, I need to call all the people that are closest to me in my life, that I know care about me, and come clean. And tell them how bad my problem was, and what I was going through.

Brian: What was the fear that really, again that stopped you, prevented you from wanting to share? I know it may seem obvious, but some people may not even think about that. What were some of the things that were going through your mind… you felt that, you know, if I told somebody they might think what? What was going through your thoughts? That prevented you from wanting to tell…

Paul: Well, you know, it’s embarrassing. They might think that, you know, I’m weak.

Brian: Indeed.

Paul: And I’m failing them. You know, I’m selfish, I’m a liar… you know, all those things that are associated with trying to maintain this habit. You know, it was amazing. I encourage, I guarantee anybody out there that has this issue is that I was absolutely floored by the response that I got from the people that loved me. And how they,

Jill: Wow.

Paul: …they just were saying how proud they were of me that I was going to do something about this. There was no condemnation from any of them, they weren’t, there wasn’t… they understood and they have been fully supportive. And now I’ve proved to myself that I was serious about it, because I came clean. So that helps me to stay clean, to know that I have the support and that, you know what, I’m not just, if I screw up, I’m not just letting, I’m not just screwing up myself I’m letting all them down. I just had gotten to a point where I realized this started out with one pill, one night, it’s innocent, nobody’s getting hurt, it’s only affecting me. You know what, when I saw my buddy lying in that casket at thirty-six years old…

Brian: Mmm hmm.

Paul: …and looked at his kids, and at his mom, and you know, I couldn’t sit there and tell myself anymore that I wasn’t affecting anybody else.

Brian: That’s true.

Paul: Because my son deserves to have his father around. And that’s what it took for me. And, just, uh, it was amazing how my loved ones reacted, and I’d be willing to bet anybody else’s loved ones would react the same way.

Brian: That’s a very strong story there, Paul, because you’re exactly correct. And that’s what people think, I’m just doing this to myself. I’m not hurting anyone else. But as this progresses, we begin realizing how many people we are isolating, how many people that we’re, like you said, not sharing yourself, your real self, and trying to hide, and avoid. And so this has to be a tremendous pain that you’re going through, but also the pain of others. They’re saying, what’s going on, I don’t understand. And they feel too also isolated and alienated, don’t they?

Jill: Right.

Paul: Absolutely.

Jill: How are you doing on the Suboxone?

Paul: I’m doing great. I mean, you know, it takes away the physical craving part so I can focus on the things that I need to focus on. You know, I grew up in a Christian home, and that’s the foundation for me, and I know that God is forgiving and he’s given me strength and its just, you know, I know that it’s something I’m going to have to have in the back of my mind at all times I have a tendency to get addicted. So I know that I need to be careful.

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Paul: But the Suboxone has been an amazing help to me, because it just took away the physical part of it.

Jill: That’s exactly what a lot of my clients, when they come back, say, I didn’t know there was so much I could be doing during the day other than trying to find the next prescription. And it frees you up, because the alcohol cravings are gone, and you’re not having to look for the next bottle. And so Suboxone, like I was saying before, is a medication that someone can be started on over the course of about two to three days, and it’s very specific the way though that a person needs to be started on this medication. At Breakthrough Addiction Recovery, it’s very reasonable, and we also are different in that we offer good psychological counseling and assessments. And we really try to help you get to the bottom of why were you doing this type of thing in the first place.

Brian: You know, Jill, you’re so right.

Jill: That’s real important.

Brian: …about that combination…

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Brian: It is a combination, we heard this from Paul, and we hear this so many times from all of our clients, that it’s when they use the medication along with the counseling that it really benefits.

Jill: Right.

Brian: It looks like we’re coming in to our break, so if this topic is hitting a nerve, call us at 770-226-0920, and we’ll be right back after the break.

<commercial break>

Brian: Welcome back from the break to the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery hour. My name is Brian Fujii, and with me is Jill Mattingly, and our special guest is Paul, who is talking about his road to recovery from opiate addiction. And Paul, at the last break, he was talking about how he had learned as a result of using his Suboxone to be able to think clearly, and be able to get the help that he needed. And so, Paul, I’m very excited about this and I’d like for you to continue that piece as you were talking about how this was really working for you to be able to talk through and really understand what were some of the reasons that you were using your drug of choice.

Paul: Absolutely, it did. It really freed me up physically, that I didn’t have the alcohol cravings. And that’s what I want to say, you know, I wrote this, about what happened to me what I went through, for the sole purpose of, if it can help one person out there that’s in the position that I was, if one person gets help from it, then it was worth it for me to have gone through it. And I just want to encourage you, the biggest thing for me was that once I got rid of the physical craving, and then it freed me up, and now I don’t have to spend my days, every waking moment, chasing to fulfill that need that I created for my body. And then the other part of it was coming clean with all my loved ones, so I didn’t have anything to hide anymore. And I’m telling you it was the hugest, biggest weight in the world off my shoulders, once I was freed up in those two areas: not hiding anything and not having to chase anymore.

Brian: Wow, that’s liberation.

Jill: Looks like we have a caller. This is Leonard in Atlanta. Hi, Leonard.

Brian: Hey, welcome to the show, Leonard.

Leonard: Yeah, thank you very much, thank you very much.

Jill: You have a comment for us?

Leonard: Ah, yes, I was just listening to the young man talk about his addiction and I heard you make a comment, um, when you talked about the physical piece. The psychological piece is so imperative…

Jill: Absolutely.

Leonard: …and the past. And what we try to do is help people to resolve whatever the problem was led to the use and the addiction.

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Leonard: …so they can go ahead and recover themselves, get themselves back, and learn how to live a productive life and…

Brian: Absolutely.

Leonard: I’m really enjoying what you are saying. I wrote your website down. I’m going pull it up when I get to the computer…

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Brian: Mmm hmm.

Leonard: …kind of get some more information, because we deal with homeless individuals and it might benefit them for us to know what we might be able to refer them, if they need this type of addiction treatment. Just keep doing the good work that you’re doing for the Lord.

Brian: Well, thank you, Leonard. Appreciate that comment.

Jill: Thank you, Leonard. Thank you for your call. And I do want to say that we are going to continue the discussion on pain prescription addiction next week. We’re actually going to have a special guest; tell us a little about that, Brian…

Brian: Right. Jennifer DeValence is going to give us a call from Washington. She’s with the White House, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and she’s going to be talking to us about this new initiative that’s being taken by the federal government, especially as the campaign to prevent prescription and over-the-counter drug addiction by our nation’s teenagers…

Jill: Finally…

Brian: …and adults.

Jill: Finally, we were on top of this way before the White House, I think. Actually, they’re previewing and debuting ads. They’re going to have it on Super Bowl Sunday about how kids are getting oxycontins and hydrocodones from their parents’ medicine cabinets. And it’s the things we’ve been talking about, they’re finally catching up. This is a big issue, everyone. You know, this is going to destroy lives if we don’t start to take notice that this is happening to our teenagers and our young adults. And hopefully this show has helped you understand the devastating journey that someone has to go through in terms of opiate dependence and pain prescription medicine addiction.

Brian: And you know, Jill, we have, you have such a great program with the Suboxone, and I know…

Jill: Oh absolutely…

Brian: …with the counseling component that this combination is so helpful. And we see this every day as we work with our clients…

Jill: Mmm hmm.

Brian: …the way the medication is helping them to stay clean and sober as well as what Paul said, it just keeps their mind clear and gives them the ability to really stay focused, like what Leonard was saying, on the real issues and trying to get their lives back. And I think that’s a powerful combination. And so if you’re looking for a addiction treatment program like this, we offer a free consultation. And give us a call at our office, 770-734-8091, and we’d be willing and happy to set up a free consultation to talk about how we can help

Jill: It’s so easy, it’s so easy, yet most people don’t know it’s available, and that’s why we’re doing this radio program, right, Brian?

Brian: Indeed.

Jill: We are really trying to make people aware and help them find the help that they need.

Brian: You know, I can’t really over express my gratitude to you, Paul, and…

Jill: Oh, Paul…

Brian: …for what you have done for our listening audience these last two weeks. And your story is powerful, and you have written it down, and we’re going to encourage our listening audience to call us at our office at 770-734-8091, if they would like a free copy of this story. Paul has allowed us to share this with the general population, and we’re so excited about it, because we know it will help you or your loved one to be able to understand this.

Jill: Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Paul. See you all next week.