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Pills for Problems: What To Do Instead

Pills for problems – can’t take just one. Pills, pills, pills. By pills I mean Vicodin, Lortab, OxyContin. So many pills for so many problems. Got pain? Feeling sad or blue? Not happy enough? Or, do you just want to get high? Take a few pills. As an addiction counselor I’ve seen the number of

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The Blessing of Addiction Relapse?

The Blessing of Relapse? Really. Yes, really. Let’s say Joe has been using alcohol and pot since he was 13. At 29 he’s tired of being exhausted, broke, fighting with his girlfriend, having his parents upset with him. He’s done. Joe starts attending AA/NA 12 step meetings. But, he doesn’t do the 90 meetings in

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Cory Monteith – Just Another Sad Addiction Statistic?

My cousin Kim was up in July for my sister Lane’s memorial. My smart, sweet, difficult sister who died at 56 from alcoholism. Kim and I were lamenting about Lane’s death and Cory Monteith’s. Sad, very sad. Cory’s death touched a national chord and Lane’s our personal one because we have a family riddled with addiction.

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Dr. Drew Pinsky: Not Responsible for “Celebrity” Deaths?

Is Dr. Drew Pinsky is responsible for the celebrity death of Mindy McCready, a 37-year-old country singer who appeared on his “Celebrity Rehab” television show?* No, not fully, but certainly he is partiaily responsible. Like Dr. Phil who has clients on TV for entertainment value, so does Dr. Drew. Dr. Pinsky says he hasn’t seen

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The Pain and Shame of Addiction: How to Move Through Loss

As I talk to people in the business community, at my networking groups and certainly among my clients about my sister Lane’s passing I hear story after story of loss: “My brother died at 41 from heroin, my sister at 38, my daughter at 30 from an overdose.” The truth is addiction kills the body

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Losing My Sister to Addiction

Losing my sister Lane to addiction – there isn’t a tougher subject I could write about. Both as a sister and as an addiction counselor  for nearly 30 years. Addiction is a a killer. It’s a disease that touches nearly every family so I write this for myself, but also for those of you that

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Holistic Help for Anxiety & Depression in Recovery: Try Amino Acids

Struggling with Anxiety or Depression in recovery?  Try Amino Acids. No surprise many addicted folks are anxious, depressed or stressed and self-medicating with their drug or food of choice. Many years ago I discovered I suffered from anxiety while giving a client an anxiety assessment. (Physician heal thyself!) As I scored the clients responses, I

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Food Addiction: Create a Pause Button For Sugar Cravings

Sugar lights up the pleasure centers in the brain like the 4th of July.  It seems we humans can become addicted to anything that makes us feel good. And, sugar feels GOOD. “Princeton Univeristy and University of Florida researchers have found that sugar-binging rats show signs of opiatelike withdrawal when their sugar is taken away-including chattering

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Addiction and The Fear of Change

I remember when I quit smoking. I was 30. I’d been “trying” to quit for 2 years. Trying is like deciding, but not taking action. Actual change requires action. We humans like to be comfortable. We like the familiar. Change represents the unknown. Who will I be as a non-smoker, non-drinker, recovering drug user, or

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