How I overcame alcoholism | Claudia Christian | TEDxLondonBusinessSchool

Reviewer: Queenie Lee I have been in the entertainment industry for over 30 years. I was a very light drinker when I was 20 years old. In my 30s, I was a social drinker, and around age 40, I developed alcohol use disorder, abbreviated AUD. We don't really use the term

alcoholism

much anymore, because it's too narrow a term. The AUD covers everything from the occasional binge drinker to the chronic daily drinker. I started to realize that something was seriously wrong with me when I was always the last person at the bar or at dinner parties, when everyone else moved to coffee and I was still drinking wine.

Yes. Then I realized I definitely had a problem, so I decided to quit cold turkey, sober, and I did. But what I didn't realize was that that could cause what's called the alcohol deprivation effect, where once the honeymoon sobriety period passes, you're left with constant physical cravings for alcohol. Think about it. You pass by a liquor store and you get excited: you want a drink. You pass a pub and get angry because you can't go in and have a single drink. You start to isolate yourself from your friends and family because they drink. Developing AUD was incredibly confusing for someone who, admittedly, likes to be in control.

I definitely wasn't in control of this at all. In fact, I was involved in a nearly decade-long battle with something I refer to as “the monster.” Addiction is a monster and affects all ethnicities, social classes, races, sexes, ages; It doesn't matter. You can be the most disciplined person in the world... When it gets you, it gets you. "It" is in control. When I finally realized that I wasn't in the driver's seat, that the monster was, I sought out every treatment I could find or afford. I went to rehab for $30,000 to basically drink wheatgrass and do tai chi.

I went to talk therapy for over two and a half years for $200 a session. In fact, I looked up a hypnotherapist who claimed he had cured a member of the Grateful Dead: that cost $400 an hour. I attended 12 different AA meetings in two different countries. I became macrobiotic. I realigned my chakras. I tried veganism. You name it, I tried it and I...prayed. I prayed until my knees were black and blue, and I still kept relapsing, over and over again. I mean, I think in the years that I suffered from AUD and really struggled with it, I probably relapsed about 20 times.

And each relapse became harder to recover from, and they got worse and worse. And here's the thing: I didn't drink because I had a bad childhood or because I was suffering from some personal trauma. I mean, if you look at it from the outside, I had a great life! I was in the career I chose. He had a beautiful house. I had friends and family who loved and supported me. He drank because he was physically addicted to alcohol. That's all. Once I started, I couldn't stop drinking. I have addiction on both sides of my family, and the genetic predisposition, along with the behavior, which for me is drinking, made me an addict.

One thing was certain after trying all of these treatments, and it became very clear: doing equine therapy or tai chi at some fancy, expensive beachfront rehab center was not going to solve my biological addiction. At the end of 2008, I was six months sober and that's when the addict started talking to me in my head. That's the insidious thing about addiction: Once you get a little sober, you say, "Hey, I'm not an addict." He whispers to you, "Go ahead, have a drink. You'll be able to control it. Just one drink." So I heard that idiot in my head, and I went out to dinner that night, had a glass of wine, came home and was so happy: "Well, look, the idiot is right.

I'm not an addict. I just had one glass." " Correct... On day 2, I had two glasses; On day 3, I had three glasses and also bought a bottle to take home and drink on the way home. By day 5, I was on a full-blown binge; I was drinking anything, I probably would have drank vanilla extract if I had it. When I finally became too sick to drink another drop of alcohol, I did what I always did: quit smoking and try to detox. This time something went very wrong. I started having seizures in my body. I lost all control of my motor controls.

I couldn't get up; I couldn't get dressed. So I called a friend and she took me to my only medical detox. Where, I have to tell you, they didn't treat me very well. In fact, it wasn't until they had my $3,000 that they finally gave me the medication I needed to stop shaking. At that moment, I felt so humiliated, so depressed, and so embarrassed by the whole experience that I checked myself and left. On the way out, there was a small stack of pamphlets about all of these different treatments for AUD. One of them was for an injection, and this injection promised to eliminate all alcohol cravings.

The injection cost over $1,000 a month, but at this point, I would have sold my soul to get better. When I got home, I Googled that photo. It turns out that the main ingredient is naltrexone, a safe, non-addictive, FDA-approved medication that has been used to treat AUD since 1994. While I was searching, a book came up: the rather boldly named The Cure for Alcoholism. by Dr. Roy Eskapa. And there was a little sample chapter, so I read it and was absolutely hooked. This made a lot of sense to the science lover in my head. It described a treatment called the Sinclair Method, or TSM, in which you take an opioid blocker, wait an hour so the medication can reach the bloodstream and brain, and then drink alcohol.

It sounds contradictory, I know, but hear me out. Usually, when an addict drinks, he gets a big reward from the alcohol, and that's what makes him want more and more. But if you drink an opiate blocker, such as naltrexone or nalmefene if you're here in the UK, instead of the alcohol strengthening the addictive synapses in the brain, the opiate blocker stops endorphins from activating the part of the brain responsible for addiction. . Is it like you have a huge room of endorphins living in your brain? And every time you drink alcohol, those endorphins come running through the door and cause hell in your brain and neurological pathways.

The opiate blocker prevents those endorphins from leaving the room. He slams the door and locks it, so they can't even go out to play. Over the course of a couple of days, or weeks for some people, the body slowly detoxifies and alcohol consumption levels decrease dramatically because alcohol cravings decrease. At that time I didn't have a doctor to prescribe me naltrexone; In fact, when I mentioned it to someone, they said, "What?" So I ordered my pills online from an Indian pharmacy, 50 mg of hope. It took me a couple of weeks to get the pills, and when they did, I have to tell you, I was really scared because I thought, "What if it doesn't work?

What if it makes me relapse again?" What if it's a worse relapse than the last one?" But at that moment I was so desperate that I took my chance. So I took the pill; I waited for the time; I poured myself a glass of wine and it was a miracle. I mean, the wine stayed there while I had dinner. There were no mind games, no compulsion, no "I want more, more, more", nothing. I took a couple of sips and said, "Meh. I'm done." It was a complete miracle. Three months after TSM, I had my real aha moment.

There was a sign - I hate this sign - near where I lived in Los Angeles, and every time I passed by there, there was a huge glass of red wine on top, which was my particular poison, a huge glass of red wine, every Every time I passed that sign, I would wake up. If I was in drinking mode, that would trigger me and I would say, "I want more If I were." sober, I'd walk past that sign and say, "Damn, I can't have a glass of wine." That particular day I walked past that sign and my brain was like, "That's just a sign." what a profound moment this was, because it meant my thought processes were back to normal.

It meant my brain was fixed. It meant I was back to being me. Six months after starting TSM, I was mostly sober, except for the occasional drink. planned one hour after taking naltrexone. TSM worked so well for me that I decided to contact Dr. Roy Eskapa and thank him for writing his book. I also asked him to thank American researcher Dr. David Sinclair, whose work literally saved my life. I asked, "What can I do to help spread the word about this treatment?" He said, "Well, why don't you write a book?" So I did it. That's when my journey of discovery really began.

I discovered that the World Health Organization estimates that one person dies: 3.3 million people die each year from alcohol-related causes. That's more than malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS. I also discovered that several researchers estimate that 80 to 90 percent of people with AUD do not seek treatment, and many of these people do not seek treatment because they have been falsely led to believe that they have to give up alcohol for the rest of their lives. , which for a person in their 20s or 30s can be absolutely discouraging, if not unrealistic. I also discovered that of the 10% who seek treatment, up to 90% of those people relapse within the first four years!

I mean, what other treatable disease can you think of that has such an abysmal success rate? Studies show that tough love and humiliation of an addict, or making them hit rock bottom, does not help them; It's actually making people worse. As Dr. Keith Humphreys of Stanford University said: "It's surprising that people believe that what's needed is more punishment. If punishment worked, there wouldn't be any addiction. It's a pretty punishing experience." You are absolutely right. It's a punishment. If addicts had a normal illness, they would treat us with sympathy and comfort; Instead, we are faced with a barrage of "Why can't you just quit?

Just say no," and a complete lack of understanding or compassion. Many people suffer for much longer than I do, but most of us suffer for about a decade before we find help. So why do so many people believe that a long-term battle with alcohol addiction can simply be stopped in 30 days or less with nothing more than psychotherapy and willpower? It's amazing. It's amazing. The World Health Institute estimates that one person dies every ten seconds from alcohol use disorder. Is our current treatment system really the best we can do? The Sinclair Method has a long-term success rate of 78%.

Let's imagine a world with 78% fewer people addicted to alcohol. Imagine the profound impact that would have on our society. 78% fewer broken families. 78% fewer abused children, lost work days, insurance costs, accidents, and so on. The Sinclair Method uses science to help your friends, your family, or even yourself achieve recovery. Thanks to the Sinclair Method, I was able to Ctrl-Alt-Del my alcohol addiction. I am no longer powerless. The monster is no longer in control. Am. TSM works wonders for people addicted to alcohol. My dream is for it to become a reference treatment and be offered regularly to those who need it.

I encourage you all, I beg you to help spread the word about this life-saving treatment. And let's give addicts the choice they deserve. Thank you so much. (Applause)