December 6, 2008 - Holiday Triggers and Stress
BREAKTHROUGH ADDICTION RECOVERY HOUR
DECEMBER 6, 2008
Brian: Good afternoon Atlanta and welcome to the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery Hour, I am Brian Fujii and my co host is Jill Mattingly
Jill: I was walking in the park
Brian: It is so cold out there
Jill: At Piedmont Park there are teams out there playing kick ball and soccer and dressed in layers it is fun. I love this weather, I wish it would snow. Don’t listen to that and buy bread and milk but I repeat it is not going to snow! I am excited today about the show
Brian: Happy Holidays to everyone, getting cold out there shopping,
Jill: No they are all at Starbucks, anyway, I didn’t get the espresso but I can generate excitement without it. I promise an exciting show. We are talking about problems with what is going on in the economy, every week we get more bad news and that just makes us want to get in front of the microphone and tell people
Brian: Struggling with stress and anxiety and maybe you know someone,
Jill: Job losses, when we get in here we think ok, maybe we can talk someone off the ledge if they are holding hard onto their recovery or their sobriety and are feeling a lot of stress and pressure because of job loss or family and financial difficulties, we are here we have a divine calling to talk to people about how to make it through a tough time.
Brian: This is a show to help get the confidence back up and get some help.
Jill: The number is 770-226-0920 and we are all up for questions, we know it is hitting folks in their emotional and family life. Call us 770-226-0920. We are going to always talk about how you can get help right away and how you can get help without making a huge investment of money and we believe as a caller said once, “Treatment works.” You don’t need a bottle or pills or illegal drugs to help you. You can learn coping skills and others can help you to get through times like these. Getting these skills is what Breakthrough is all about. Celebrations sometimes push us over the edge.
Brian: Triggers and events that can get the thoughts to drinking or drugging are also celebrations.
Jill: Florida and Alabama fans don’t get too carried away with the game and go out and do something stupid. Welcome to our fair city! We are looking at the news items the economy and finances but Brian
Brian: The story you have is so funny
Jill: It should make you cry, well I am a newspaper hound, I love current events and I was pouring through the AJC and those of you listening may have seen this that a man in Florida was arrested pulled over by the cops but he wasn’t driving, his nine year old son was driving the father to the liquor store to buy more alcohol and then he was asked why the nine year old was driving his reply was that he was teaching him to drive. This is what I want to talk about today. This is over the top. What was he thinking?
Brian: He wasn’t thinking and that is what happens with the hijacked brain.
Jill: This buy thought this was ok, this kid can’t ride certain carnival rides but we will put him behind the wheel of a car. You know I see these stories and I know you do to with the clinical side of Breakthrough you do very intensive psychological histories and find out what people have done and there is a lot of very bad choices and crazy what are you thinking types of things when it comes to drugs and alcohol. If you have a similar story we are going to talk about these, the hijacked brain. The number is 770-226-0920, a lot of you have seen first hand the evidence of the hijacked brain. Our website, Breakthroughaddictionrecovery.com and if you click on opiate treatment you can click on Paul’s story, a true story from a root canal to spiraling into opiate addiction and I think this story really would hit some people between the eyes
Brian: We have had several calls about the very story and said they had identified themselves.
Jill: If you are looking for painkillers to get through a hard time, it can hijack your brain and I think we can use Paul’s story after the next break. The number again is 770-226-0920 and if you want to listen on line it is www.920.wgka.com and that means you can go to the website and listen live.
Commercial Break
Jill: Welcome back, 770-226-0920 is the number to call we are discussing those what were you thinking moments. We talked last segment about the man arrested for having his nine year old driving him to the liquor store. In talking about what they were thinking we go to Paul’s story on our website www.breakthroughaddictionrecovery.com and it goes into one man’s journey into addiction, this is an actual client that shared decisions that he made and one of the things that struck me was his financial problems he was distressed and took oxycontin and lortab, he shared that he was so happy over oxycontin because he was worried about the lortab effecting his liver and it had Tylenol in it. Anything with acetamenaphine can cause damage and some drink on top of those pills so it is a double whammy so he was so happy about that not effecting his liver.
Brian: One of the things too as the holidays approach and many are dealing with relationship issues and we need to see that it hits the pocketbook and the heart. Those that are struggling as a result of addiction see that it drives the family apart. Holidays where people get together and then the emotions certainly cause individuals to look at ways to soothe that.
Jill: Many will stumble across old prescription meds from the dentist or something like that and find out that a couple of pills takes the edge off and the job worries and gets them through the evening with the kids without being irritable and that is a big black hole to stumble into. Before continuing the number is 770-226-0920 that number again is 770-226-0920. The story we are sharing is one of a man’s spiral into opiate dependency and he had gotten to the point that he realized he could not get enough lortab or percoset and he began to doctor shop and go to a different doctor a week that they can use. The pharmacy many times does not follow up but sometimes they are on top of it and there are ways to get through it and he was getting 30 pills a day. 30 of the 10 milligram hydrocodones a day and walking around and driving a car. What we are talking about is this is difficult to do over time because no doctor will give you enough to take and so he got online and thought there would be no repercussions and he was going online ordering the 90 pills for $400 to $500 and doing it in a few days. So, now these online companies know your habit better than you do and he was getting email reminders and phone calls asking if he wanted to re order and so you know he even told me that this one online company debited his bank account of the $400 and sent the pills without him even giving an ok.
Brian: I find that to be a real problem.
Jill: What was he thinking?
Brian: What he was needing. There are companies that will do this and cause an individual to get hooked in and no escape.
Jill: This man had a masters degree a successful career and addiction knows no class, and many will picture a homeless looking fellow but he discovered our program with suboxone and this helps people come of f of opiate medications and was successfully able to get off. What was he thinking? He was thinking it was normal and ok. Each time he ordered he thought it would be the last time.
Brian: 770-226-0920, that is the number to call and I know that there are those that know someone that could benefit from this show and so call them tell them what we are talking about.
Jill: Everyone reads the paper and can see the tragic problems around cocaine and heroin, mothers and fathers putting kids in the car and taking their kids to a crack house while they binge, that is another episode of this topic. The theme doesn’t go with one substance.
Brian: The addiction drives them, not safety or caring for someone else, it is the addiction within that drives them and there are a lot of people that know what we are talking about. The addiction motivates.
Jill: I have heard of single mothers not wanting to forfeit their social life and can’t afford babysitters and will leave their kids to go party and hopefully make it back and hopefully the 12 year old will know how to respond to an emergency. This happens a lot more than we can imagine. This is a brain disease and we want to talk about the brain and how these substances change the way the brain works and gets information across.
Brian: We know that it is a disease and as the brain chemistry changes so do the thought processes. We are coming to a break, the phone number here is 770-226-0920 and today we are talking about how addiction is a brain disease.
Commercial break
Brian: Welcome back to the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery Hour 770-226-0920 and my name is Brian Fujii
Jill: We are coming back to the second half of our show and asking what in the world were they thinking when they endangered themselves or others and it was usually attached to a substance like alcohol. You know at the break we were discussing how people are listening right now that are struggling and they are in the throws of job loss or financial problems foreclosure or the pressure of the holidays and we wanted to make sure that today during the show we got across to the people you can go somewhere today and be around people that want to stay on solid ground or learn to be on solid ground and it is free.
Brian: They really need the support. We do have an individual that is on the line right now and his name is Scott.
Scott: Hi guys,
Jill: We asked Scott to call to talk about our Saturday program at Breakthroiugh.
Brian: It is called SMART and it is peer led.
Scott: Well, we meet in Norcross at 5 pm on Saturdays and it is a 60 minute meeting and is open to anyone wanting to come and sit in and have a good safe place to talk openly.
Brian: 8000 Miller Court East in Norcross. If you are out there and write down the address and put it in the GPS. Scott, you gave us an idea, does SMART meet any other day than Saturday?
Scott: Yes, Thursday from 6pm to 7pm and it is open to anyone.
Brian: Anyone having an addiction problem can come and discuss openly without fear and be of confidence that they are safe.
Scott: It is very laid back approach of talking about problems we have and the best way to deal with them and deal with life and that itself as it comes to us can be difficult. It is getting a lot of different points of the process, some are long clean and some are struggling and some are trying to find the best way to make it through. There are some that are just thinking about what they can do to get sober.
Brian: This is a national program
Scott: Yes SMARTRecovery.org, you can get more information through the internet and that is another avenue through SMART.
Jill: People listening right now, what would you say to someone on the fence wondering what they are going to do in their situation and they are stressed, talk to them
Scott: I tell you if you are out there struggling with the whole thought of how can I get my life back, um, I would suggest coming in and sitting down and even if you don’t participate you will get something out of it and there is no requirement you can just feel the concern and the non confrontational approach that we strive for and it is a good safe place to talk openly and I would highly encourage those struggling to do this just start talking, that is the key to a lot of it. Just start the conversation and start the process and it sheds light on the problem and it is no longer a secret.
Brian: These are all people recovering in different phases?
Scott: Right,
Brian: Scott thanks for calling and I am sure again we will give the address, 8000 Miller Court East, Norcross, GA Scott will greet you.
Jill: The coffee, you will have it ready?
Scott: You bet.
Jill: We have a caller holding so we will take that call when we return from the break and we will contine the conversation.
Commercial break
Jill: Welcome back to the Breakthrough Addiction Recovery Hour, Brian I meant to ask are you Florida or Alabama?
Brian: Florida.
Jill: Call in and harass Brian. I am a Floribama,
Brian: We have a call from John in Buford.
Tom: It is Tom in Buford
Brian: Thanks for holding
Tom: They built Floribama after the storm
Jill: You have been there! Tell us about hydrocodone
Tom: I heard you talking about the guy taking 30 mg. hydrocodone and I have had kidney operations and got on that hydrocodone and was told to manage the pain and take it every five hours so there would not be a lot of pain and then I would not have to wait and I got hooked on them for four months and after the last procedure I was hooked and taking 10 a day and I am a recovery alcoholic 20 years and I picked up one white chip. The hydrocodone was hard to kick and for three to five weeks the feelings and all the weird stuff, it was really tough, if I have kidney stones again, I would beg for it again because it worked on the pain.
Jill: Kidney stones are so painful and I think all men should go through it to identify with pregnancy.
Tom: Several nurses would ask how I could work with kidney stones and I was buzzing on hydrocodone and some told me that they had kidney stones…
Jill: The one thing about you that is amazing is that coming off of 10 a day? Did a physician help you?
Tom: I had to cold turkey and my last procedure was 2007 and then I just went off just like when I stopped drinking. I heard about tapering, but I think you have to face it and get with it.
Jill: Some people can not do it. They have tried and the withdrawal is a real physiological event and
Tom: It was more physical than mental and since stopping drinking I knew what I was facing.
Jill: combining with the psychological problems with dependence there are those out there that want to stop and there are a lot of different ways to come off of the pills it could be help with suboxone or something like that and people who don’t know of options and don’t have the wherewithal need to know that there are options and it is important to come off of these medications. Paul’s story is a great example.
Tom: Did he taper?
Jill: He actually did taper with suboxone, it is doable and safe in a facility like ours and in a doctors care and just seeking a way to get off of these pills and I am so glad that you could tough it out and maybe going through alcohol really made you much more in tune with what the brain was doing to you.
Tom: What got me through drinking was AA
Jill: Fantastic and
Tom: Well you start and you think that it isn’t doing you any good but after meeting after meeting, I went to some 40 meetings before I realized it was helping. I didn’t go back to AA and I know I am supposed to but this bunk about someone who just stopped drinking or drugging you have the same investment if you go back to it. If I went back, my gosh I would be drunk two to three days in and so I have 20 years invested, it is a lot more than someone with a week.
Jill: Here is the thing Tom, you are talking about success and many people are listening about your success and they are encouraged and that is why I am glad you called.
Tom: You can do it and it will flat mess up your life and ruin your life, your job and relationships and
Jill: That is the message we wanted to get out there. We have to go to a break. I really appreciate it. Florida or Alabama?
Tom: I’m an Auburn fan, but since Auburn isn’t in it I am Alabama.
Jill: Tom in Buford, 770-226-0920, that is the number to call, call us and ask a question or give us a comment.
Commercial break
Brian: Welcome back we are talking about addiction as a brain disease. Many ask me why it is a disease if we are doing it to ourselves. Addiction whether it be alcohol or other drugs is a disease. It impacts the brain and that is the part that most don’t understand and when they use the drugs of choice it changes the brain. We know that it impacts the lower brain and the dopamine release and we help you understand
Jill: There are options and we offer that at Breakthrough.
Brian: We have daytime, nighttime, weekend SMART you can come in and take advantage of the education
Jill: Going to school,
Brian: And they can talk with others and share their stories and all therapist led. Someone can really understand how to get better and talk about what is happening to them.
Jill: We have psychiatry and we can go over the options in a free consultation you can share your unique situation and we will find the perfect fit for you and we will find a plan. We are down to the end of the show, it went by so fast.
Brian: 770-734-8091, someone is always on call
Jill: Hope everyone is having a great season and I know it is hard for families out there please call us if you have an issue facing you this holiday season and we would be happy to talk with you on the phone. Join us next week.
Brian: We are different and we can help.
Jill: Have a great day.