Addiction

The definition of addiction is: 1) a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit forming substance, behavior or activity having harmful physical, psychological or social effects and typically causing well defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors or nausea) upon withdrawal or abstinence: the state of being addicted. 2) a strong inclination to do, use or indulge in something repeatedly.

I will preface this by saying that I don’t take addiction lightly nor am I here to invalidate anyone’s experience with addiction and/or recovery. I spent time in recovery for severe mental issues that resulted in cutting and alcoholism. I’ve spent a portion of my life fighting the urge to drink and cut—my two coping mechanisms. Becoming a mother helped me stop drinking… and the cutting did stop but the urge to die from time to time did not. My last attempt was not cutting though bc I did not want my daughter to question the wounds—my last attempt was a shot gun in my mouth. Now, did I have a problem? Yes, I did. Did I want to admit to having a problem? No I did not.

Now, recent events made me ponder—why are some “addictions” “worse” than others. Bc by definition, we all should be in recovery bc we all have some sort of addiction but we all tie certain substances or behaviors to needing recovery and essentially poo poo the rest. Why is that? Some of us use the word to justify our actions and use it in a cutesy way, like me for instance—after my first bodybuilding show, I became addicted. I mean by definition (#2), I have an addiction to bodybuilding shows, right? So why am I not in recovery for that? I also love coffee and look forward to that every morning—isn’t that an addiction? For those that are on medications, by definition, you too are addicted—so why aren’t you in recovery for that? Oh, bc some addictions are tolerated, accepted or justified more than others. But by definition, we all are addicted to something. It absolutely blows my mind the double standards that we have.

One of my wellness clients informed me that she would NOT stop her thyroid medication bc she absolutely needed it. Of course, I didn’t push the issue. But one day, I ran across an article about her thyroid medication and it causing osteoporosis and I sent it to her. Do you know what she did? She completely stopped it! She no longer felt that the side effects was worth it anymore. I guess she didn’t “need” it after all. I must admit that this isn’t the norm for me to see. More times than not, I’ve witnessed ppl “needing” medications and blow off the idea of anything else as an alternative. For me, this is an addiction…does the medications cause harm? Absolutely. Does it cause additional symptoms? Absolutely! But normal “drugs” (cause lets be real, they are DRUGS), aren’t something that will land you in recovery or rehab—and I’m talking about thyroid medication, blood pressure medication, diabetic medication bc it isn’t what we, as society consider drugs that need that service. So let me ask you this—-what is your drug doing for you? A quick Google search will tell you that the body needs about 40 nutrients, some may argue that we need 102 nutrients—BUT what nutrients does YOUR DRUG give you? I mean have you read the ingredient label?

For instance, let’s look at Lisinopril—a popular blood pressure medication—what are the ingredients"?

The active substance is lisinopril dihydrate. The other ingredients are: calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate, mannitol, pregelatinised maize starch, croscarmellose sodium, povidone, magnesium stearate/sodium laurilsulfate (94/6) and colloidal anhydrous silica.

Well, I can see some ingredients that look familiar—so why is that added to the drug? Of course, I Googled it and couldn’t find it but I did find this:

What organ does lisinopril affect?

Taking lisinopril for a long time can sometimes cause your kidneys to not work as well as they should. Your doctor will check how well your kidneys are working with regular blood tests.

That was from the NHS website (in the UK, btw).

So I hypothesize that eventually, the nutrients that are needed for the kidneys to work properly, eventually get depleted OR build up too much in the bloodstream—right? Cause why else would the kidneys stop working well?? So go back to the definition. We don’t think that a med can be habit forming bc we ONLY tie that idea to CERTAIN drugs. Is your med habit forming? Yes, bc you made it a habit to take when you are “supposed” to take it. Habits take about 21 days to form. Does it have “harmful effects”… that answer would be a yes as well. The most underused resource for ppl is the website: drugs.com. Go to the website, lookup your med and hit side effects. Now that will give you a short version. Now scroll till you see your med (ie. Lisinopril side effects—more detail) Now scroll till you see “FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS”. That will tell you every body system it will affect and how common it is. Please note that newer medications may not display a lot bc they haven’t collected enough data on it. For instance, if you are on Wegovy, there is not a “For Healthcare Professionals” section.

Now, as you read this you may think, “Sandy, I’ve seen meds save lives.” Believe me, I’ve heard it all. My question is: Is it saving your life or is it prolonging the inevitable? Symptoms are signals that tell you something is imbalanced—nutrients!! There have been people that completely reversed their dis-ease by change of lifestyle and not meds. Did you know that at least 2 ppl have reversed their HIV with no antivirals? And many people have gotten rid of their cancer by lifestyle change?

Let us not forget that behaviors can also be addictive—the addiction to stress, perfectionism, eating in excess, social media, technology etc—whether it is recognized or not. The first step, as I recall in recovery, is admitting you have a problem. Now, I’m not saying jump off your meds bc there will be repercussions to that. I know for me, anytime someone wanted to place my child on something, I’d ask—what is the plan on coming off? If there was no plan, then I simply wouldn’t allow the med to be prescribed. But if you’re already on meds, you can simply ask your healthcare provider what the plan is to come off.

Why are we quick to look at others and say that they have an addiction without looking at ourselves, first? The old saying goes—while you’re pointing fingers at someone, there are 3 more pointing back at you. But it’s the perspective that we all have about what WE are doing that justifies why we do what we do. And while recently the definition of “vaccine” changed—thus far, the definition of “addiction” has not. We are an addicted society.