I was a hardcore addict, lived on the streets of detroit. Overdose definiton has my picture next to it, jail, tons of rehabs. The one and only thing that has kept me sober is i started lifting weights and got into a trade. Obviously changed my whole lifestyle when the desire to get and stay sober was stronger than my desire to use
Glad to hear that you are doing better now! It seems that you've figured out on your own that recovery means not only addressing the biological problems of withdrawal and physical dependence, but also the psychological and social dynamics as well.
@@JackMcG_MD thanks doc 6 years and counting, everyone recovers differently I personally never liked NA or AA. The whole addressing myself negatively, we're all a child of God and not defined by our mistakes
Hello! So glad I found your channel!! After many many many try’s I am happy to say that today I have just over 6 years clean and sober! Thank you for your dedication to helping others.
Thank you for posting this! After I watched it I said to myself he gets it! Especially the part about inpatient / Outpatient Treatment I definitely agree that there should be little disruption to someone's life while they're trying to get clean. We need more forward thinking doctors like yourself!
The 12 step program never accepted me because of the methadone. It didn't matter how well I doing I was still a junkie to them. My program was full of men who just wanted to hook up too. I didn't see how that was supposed to help me at all, so I left & never looked back.
I wish I had the means to open up a treatment center that teaches proper nutrition, yoga, & meditation. I'd like to incorporate massage & acupuncture into it as well as group therapy. Art therapy, music, etc. Even animal therapies. Like have some horses around, dogs, & cats. Beautiful hiking trails & a mountain stream to sit & chill by. All with well trained addiction specialists than can prescribe pharmaceuticals as needed. That's my dream. A spa like treatment center where each patient is taught healthy coping skills. I'd want it to be affordable too. I know it'll never happen but it's a nice dream to have.
That's a lovely vision! Not to toot my own horn, but I had a similar motivation when I opened my own clinic. I saw the way that traditional treatment centers failed to acknowledge patient autonomy, dignity, and time, which motivated me to offer a new approach emphasizing the physician-patient relationship and prioritizing patient autonomy. ntehealth.com for those interested.
You're hitting on some of the more modern treatments we (US society) learned through studies long ago. 👍 There still needs to be improvement, but I won't bash some improvement. It's one of the reasons I wanted to enter addiction medicine. Ultimately my life didn't take the corse, and ended up in IT until my chronic pain worsened and took me out of the work force at about 40.
Absolutely! In particular, the shift away from a strictly biological model of addiction to a more holistic model (biopsychosocial) is the biggest improvement in addiction treatment in my view. It's cool to learn about the biochemistry and neurologic underpinnings of addiction, but we can't lose sight of the fact that we're treating human beings.
I'm loving this man! I'm heroin addicted and I am so so sick of it, here in the UK treatment is awful, we get cheap methadone (named Physeptone) which doesn't last in the system, oh Mr addiction doctor of youtube I wish my doctor was you.
Thank you for your kind words! I can't say that I have any experience with addiction treatment outside the US, but you might try asking your GP about buprenorphine treatment; in the US, any physician can prescribe buprenorphine-based drugs for opioid use disorder, regardless of their specialty or training. I don't know if that's the case for the UK, but it doesn't hurt to ask. As always, discuss any treatment plans with a doctor first.
As an RN , i feel the system is broken. There needs to be better medication to assist and in house therapies, nutritional, sauna etc... to really focus on getting the patient healthy and feeling mentally well.
All the graft and bad practices that I have witnessed in the addiction "treatment" industry motivated me to create this channel. I want to be a voice for better addiction treatment.
While I agree with many of your concerns regarding AA. Your perjoritive comments about “the baggage of religion” may in fact be one of the strengths of the program. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean much. The “scientific” community could do the empirical research if they really wanted to. Instead they make excuses and blame the value for a aninimoty off AA as the hinderence. Anyway. If you don’t like religion, just say so. Not everybody has as negative a view as you do. You are part of the problem. AA has been saving lives long before you were born. It’s not for everybody. That’s not so hard to say.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. I can tell that you actually watched the video and I am grateful for that. I am deeply ambivalent about AA and NA. On one hand, they have provided a path to recovery for many people who otherwise would have died from their alcohol or drug use and they are completely open to any person, regardless of their situation and financial means. That's an amazing record of service! However, they are deeply anti-scientific and anti-medical establishment. I understand the reason, as AA was founded at a time when the medical community purposefully turned away from caring for people with addiction and people with addiction had to help themselves. However, the culture of medicine has progressed significantly in the past 100 years and we have very effective and safe treatments now. AA and NA discourage people from seeking out potentially helpful medical treatments (like methadone and buprenorphine) out of tradition. As far as the argument about faith and the Christian flavor of 12-step programs, I am far from the only one to express concern. Not everyone wants that in their treatment programs. An analogy would be if cardiac rehab involved participating in communion and confession--I just had open heart surgery, I need a cardiologist, not a priest! I don't disparage anyone who benefits from 12-step programs, but I also don't specifically recommend them to patients.
Most on point assessment of the "replacing 1 drug for another" argument i think I've ever heard.
I was a hardcore addict, lived on the streets of detroit. Overdose definiton has my picture next to it, jail, tons of rehabs. The one and only thing that has kept me sober is i started lifting weights and got into a trade. Obviously changed my whole lifestyle when the desire to get and stay sober was stronger than my desire to use
Glad to hear that you are doing better now!
It seems that you've figured out on your own that recovery means not only addressing the biological problems of withdrawal and physical dependence, but also the psychological and social dynamics as well.
@@JackMcG_MD thanks doc 6 years and counting, everyone recovers differently I personally never liked NA or AA. The whole addressing myself negatively, we're all a child of God and not defined by our mistakes
@@JackMcG_MDmyth it's no
Everyone that is in active addiction think they are the “definition” of a hardcore addict. All addicts are going through the same thing.
Hello! So glad I found your channel!! After many many many try’s I am happy to say that today I have just over 6 years clean and sober! Thank you for your dedication to helping others.
Thank you for your kind words!
Thank you for posting this! After I watched it I said to myself he gets it! Especially the part about inpatient / Outpatient Treatment I definitely agree that there should be little disruption to someone's life while they're trying to get clean. We need more forward thinking doctors like yourself!
The 12 step program never accepted me because of the methadone. It didn't matter how well I doing I was still a junkie to them. My program was full of men who just wanted to hook up too. I didn't see how that was supposed to help me at all, so I left & never looked back.
That's a shame; NA claims that they are no longer officially against the use of MOUD (methadone and Suboxone) but I keep hearing stories like yours.
Glad I found your channel!
Me too! Welcome to the channel.
Great advice Doc. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your kind words!
Awesome channel 👍glad I found it 🇬🇧
Thank you! My subscribers are awesome and so supportive!
I wish I had the means to open up a treatment center that teaches proper nutrition, yoga, & meditation. I'd like to incorporate massage & acupuncture into it as well as group therapy. Art therapy, music, etc. Even animal therapies. Like have some horses around, dogs, & cats. Beautiful hiking trails & a mountain stream to sit & chill by. All with well trained addiction specialists than can prescribe pharmaceuticals as needed. That's my dream. A spa like treatment center where each patient is taught healthy coping skills. I'd want it to be affordable too. I know it'll never happen but it's a nice dream to have.
That's a lovely vision!
Not to toot my own horn, but I had a similar motivation when I opened my own clinic. I saw the way that traditional treatment centers failed to acknowledge patient autonomy, dignity, and time, which motivated me to offer a new approach emphasizing the physician-patient relationship and prioritizing patient autonomy.
ntehealth.com for those interested.
You're hitting on some of the more modern treatments we (US society) learned through studies long ago. 👍 There still needs to be improvement, but I won't bash some improvement. It's one of the reasons I wanted to enter addiction medicine. Ultimately my life didn't take the corse, and ended up in IT until my chronic pain worsened and took me out of the work force at about 40.
Absolutely! In particular, the shift away from a strictly biological model of addiction to a more holistic model (biopsychosocial) is the biggest improvement in addiction treatment in my view.
It's cool to learn about the biochemistry and neurologic underpinnings of addiction, but we can't lose sight of the fact that we're treating human beings.
I'm loving this man! I'm heroin addicted and I am so so sick of it, here in the UK treatment is awful, we get cheap methadone (named Physeptone) which doesn't last in the system, oh Mr addiction doctor of youtube I wish my doctor was you.
Thank you for your kind words!
I can't say that I have any experience with addiction treatment outside the US, but you might try asking your GP about buprenorphine treatment; in the US, any physician can prescribe buprenorphine-based drugs for opioid use disorder, regardless of their specialty or training. I don't know if that's the case for the UK, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
As always, discuss any treatment plans with a doctor first.
Well done.
Thank you, it means a lot!
Great video!
Thank you! Every comment, yours included, helps the channel.
As an RN , i feel the system is broken. There needs to be better medication to assist and in house therapies, nutritional, sauna etc... to really focus on getting the patient healthy and feeling mentally well.
All the graft and bad practices that I have witnessed in the addiction "treatment" industry motivated me to create this channel. I want to be a voice for better addiction treatment.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree with the things you have said.
Glad you liked it!
While I agree with many of your concerns regarding AA. Your perjoritive comments about “the baggage of religion” may in fact be one of the strengths of the program. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean much. The “scientific” community could do the empirical research if they really wanted to. Instead they make excuses and blame the value for a aninimoty off AA as the hinderence. Anyway. If you don’t like religion, just say so. Not everybody has as negative a view as you do. You are part of the problem. AA has been saving lives long before you were born. It’s not for everybody. That’s not so hard to say.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. I can tell that you actually watched the video and I am grateful for that.
I am deeply ambivalent about AA and NA. On one hand, they have provided a path to recovery for many people who otherwise would have died from their alcohol or drug use and they are completely open to any person, regardless of their situation and financial means. That's an amazing record of service!
However, they are deeply anti-scientific and anti-medical establishment. I understand the reason, as AA was founded at a time when the medical community purposefully turned away from caring for people with addiction and people with addiction had to help themselves. However, the culture of medicine has progressed significantly in the past 100 years and we have very effective and safe treatments now. AA and NA discourage people from seeking out potentially helpful medical treatments (like methadone and buprenorphine) out of tradition.
As far as the argument about faith and the Christian flavor of 12-step programs, I am far from the only one to express concern. Not everyone wants that in their treatment programs. An analogy would be if cardiac rehab involved participating in communion and confession--I just had open heart surgery, I need a cardiologist, not a priest!
I don't disparage anyone who benefits from 12-step programs, but I also don't specifically recommend them to patients.