Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Mary Holley MD
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR000025
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00:10 Welcome to Celebrating Life in Recovery,
00:12 I'm Cheri your host. 00:13 Today we're going to look at methamphetamine. 00:15 Not an easy subject, and especially for this woman, 00:18 so stay with us, join us in the café. 00:48 What is interesting to me is that God can step in and 00:51 heal us from anything. 00:53 I really believe when I came into recovery that I had two 00:56 brain cells left, and I'm not even sure that those were 01:00 communicating with each other. 01:02 God has restored so much, when they told me years later, 01:06 10 years later, that I had hepatitis A, B. and C. 01:09 I started praying about that and now they test me 01:12 and I don't have it. 01:13 I was tested for four years with it, so God is really 01:16 able to step in and do absolutely above what we can 01:21 even hope for or pray for, or even dream about. 01:25 Except to the point where we take ourselves out, as long 01:29 as we are breathing, God intervenes. 01:32 That's what happens when we take ourselves out. 01:36 We are going to talk to Dr. Mary Holley. 01:38 Dr. Holley I am so glad that you are on the show. 01:41 I have seen some of your presentations, I have seen the 01:46 work that you have done, and I sit there and 01:48 just want to Yahoo. 01:51 You really go out and educate folks. - yes, yes! 01:55 Tell us a little bit about that part, and then we will 01:59 get into why you got into this. 02:01 The training I do is mostly in county jail settings, talking to 02:05 inmates and addicts in local rehabilitation centers and 02:08 jails, that is where my love is, 02:10 that is where I come to life. 02:12 You just look too sweet to do that. 02:14 Do they listen? 02:16 Because you come in there looking so normal. 02:18 I come in looking like a respected physician and 02:21 I started at my local community where half the women in that 02:25 county jail have been my patients. 02:27 I delivered babies for them, they trusted me. 02:29 They would talk to me, and I learned as much from them 02:33 as they learned from me. 02:34 I learned what it is like to live as an addict. 02:38 I taught them all about chemistry, and they understood 02:40 that that's the truth because they lived it. 02:42 But they shared with me what it feels like from the inside. 02:45 That is where I get my power is from what I learned from 02:48 those inmates. - That's amazing. 02:50 So now let's go back to early in life and what started you 02:56 being interested in this kind of population? 02:59 My brother was addicted to methamphetamine. 03:01 He got addicted when he was 22 years old and it killed him 03:05 when he was 24 years old. 03:07 He was adorable, smart, funny. 03:10 He was an adorable kid, oh yeah. 03:12 He had a lot of friends, he was always active, rode 03:16 a motorcycle, played music and just a good kid. 03:19 A friend took him out for his 21st birthday, we are going 03:23 to show you a good time and introduced him to drugs in 03:26 general and then to methamphetamine a little later. 03:29 By the time he was 22 years old he was addicted. 03:32 What did his addiction look like? 03:35 And with your family, you are a Christian family, normal? 03:40 We were broken family, my father left when Jim was four. 03:45 Mother had tried to support Jim on her own with minimum- 03:51 wage jobs and there was never enough money. 03:52 He was alone a good bit of the time growing up. 03:55 He came home to an empty house when he was six years old, 03:58 and would make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 04:00 So he was kind of set up to get hooked on drugs because 04:06 he was unsupervised and totally alone. 04:09 Anyone who offered him friendship, he was right there 04:12 to be friends with them and if they offered him drugs too, 04:14 well that was okay too. 04:15 - Were you already out of the house? 04:17 I was already out of the house, yeah I was 16 years older. 04:21 So what did his addiction look like as he started to use 04:25 and started to get lost in that? 04:26 He got pulled over for drunk driving, minor possession 04:31 charges, minimal arrest. 04:34 My mother would always bail him out, she didn't want 04:36 her son to staying in jail. 04:38 That's really what cooked him, because had he been 04:42 allowed to stay in jail for a little bit longer, he might 04:44 have come to his senses and realized what he was doing 04:47 and where it was leading him. 04:48 So she wouldn't let him suffer, she wouldn't let him 04:51 suffer long enough to want to turn around. 04:54 I think part of that was her guilt of not having 04:56 - of course it was, of course it was. 04:59 She felt guilty that she allow this to happen in the first 05:01 place, the first time she detected a drug abuse problem 05:05 was very shortly after I left home. 05:07 He was about 14 and she found inhalants under the bed 05:11 were he began getting into the beer and so she put him 05:15 in a 21 day program but that wasn't nearly enough. 05:19 - so people who don't know, can you explain inhalants? 05:22 I know that is basic stuff, but a lot of people are going 05:26 to hear that and say what she talking about? 05:28 Inhalants are like spray paint or glue, they'll spray 05:32 into a bag and put the bag up to their face, it's called 05:35 huffing, they get real high concentrations of these drugs 05:38 that displace the oxygen in the blood and so they get 05:41 hypoxic high, it is very similar to what kids are 05:45 doing now where they had this choking game. 05:47 They put a rope around their necks and close the door 05:50 and pull the rope to lower their oxygen levels, 05:55 and they hallucinate and they think it's fun. 05:57 Only some of them die, and people can die 06:00 from huffing as well. 06:02 We're going to get into, probably not this show but the 06:05 next show, what parents can look at. 06:06 Once you know about them, you can see those signs almost 06:11 everywhere, and your mom found something that she said oh 06:13 he is involved and let's get him into treatment. 06:16 Did your brother ever talk about what treatment was like 06:18 and did it help him? 06:19 He hated every minute of it, he played the game, made the 06:23 right answers to the right questions and got out of there. 06:25 Then immediately, by that same evening, 06:28 he was using again. 06:29 He freely admitted that. 06:31 - right, so his addiction continued? - yes! 06:35 When you say continued, drinking, smoking weed, partying 06:41 with friends, did his grades change? 06:43 He almost flunked the eighth grade and went into high school 06:47 and finished maybe a year and a half, when he 06:49 turned 16 he dropped out. 06:51 - he dropped out at 16! 06:52 So we had all this free time? - yes! 06:55 As soon as you said that I thought oh man, all this free 06:58 time, and then getting into meth. 07:02 Was meth different than the earlier drugs? 07:04 Methamphetamine is a lot more powerful than the cocaine 07:07 he had used before. 07:09 He said I could use cocaine and walk away from it. 07:10 He didn't get addicted to that, but methamphetamine 07:13 was a different animal, and he was addicted 07:16 right from the start. 07:17 He says that even on a videotape, I will never get back 07:21 what I lost that night. 07:23 People will say that you can't get addicted on the first 07:27 one, I hear that all the time. 07:28 But from an addict, I'm an addict, don't lie to yourself. 07:32 Some of these drugs, if you are prone to addiction in 07:36 any way because of childhood stuff and all that, 07:40 you can get addicted the first time. 07:42 Even biochemically speaking, the very first hit of 07:45 methamphetamine damages the track in the brain that gives 07:48 you self control, and it doesn't take but one or two hits 07:52 to destroy that tissue. 07:53 Methamphetamine is far more toxic to it than alcohol. 07:56 You know what, I can't even pronounce that track, 07:59 but I was fascinated when I read, you've written a number 08:03 of books, in one of your books you talk about that part 08:06 of the brain, can you talk about that? 08:08 What does it mean and how does it get damaged? 08:11 It's actually a series of tracks, I only name the biggest 08:15 one fasciculus retroflex' 08:17 So you see why I can't say that? 08:20 Say it in, say it slowly. 08:21 It's called fasciculus retroflex's, it's the little 08:26 thing that gives you your conscious mind where you make 08:29 decisions and have rational thought and gives the control 08:32 over the urges and drives and cravings that come 08:35 out of the bottom of the brain. 08:37 So it literally connects those two areas, frontal lobe 08:41 and your base animal instincts and the little 08:45 character stuff in there. 08:47 It has a stop off in the character development areas 08:50 called lateral hibernal and continues 08:54 down to craving areas. 08:56 So you can control those things, if you have a desire for 08:59 chocolate chip cookies and you know you're not supposed 09:01 to eat things like that, you control it. 09:02 The electrical current that goes up to the frontal lobe says, 09:06 you know you're trying to get in shape and 09:08 then it goes back down. 09:09 So you can reason with yourself and think things out, 09:12 but when those tissue tracks get destroyed, you don't 09:15 think about it, you just do it. 09:17 You get a desire to get high and you're off to the drug 09:21 dealer and it doesn't even cross your mind 09:24 to control that urge, and you are no longer physically able 09:28 to control that urge. 09:30 You're suppose to go to work. 09:31 It affects every area of self-discipline, not just drug 09:35 use, if you don't want to go to work tomorrow, or you 09:38 don't want to pay the bills, yell at your kids because 09:41 they are making too much noise. 09:42 You can control your temper, can't control ambition, 09:44 you can't control any part of your life, 09:46 not just the drug use. 09:48 What's interesting to me is the more that I looked at 09:50 some of the stuff you put together, is the fact that not 09:53 only can you not control it but you can literally see that 09:55 there is an electrical current that is not going anymore. 09:59 So I thought, no way, that you could look at my brain 10:03 and say that you damaged that part. 10:05 I think that we just don't know that our choices, 10:10 smoking cigarettes even, those are addictions that damage 10:15 - That same track, that same track, fasciculus retroflex's 10:20 it has two tracks to it. 10:21 One of them is sensitive to nicotine, cigarette smoking. 10:24 The other is sensitive to all the other drugs, from 10:27 Alcohol up to methamphetamine. 10:29 So when you start smoking you lose the right lane of 10:32 your self-control track and that predisposes you to 10:35 become addicted to the next thing that comes along and 10:37 knocks out the left lane. 10:39 So you're more likely to get addicted, more likely to 10:42 remain addicted if you continue smoking. 10:44 Smoking doesn't actually kill those cells, it just 10:47 disables them and they don't work quite right. 10:48 It's like road bumps, speed bumps. 10:50 If you quit smoking you regain the right line of that 10:55 control track and you are a lot more able to stay clean 10:59 long term if you quit smoking. 11:01 Up to four times more likely to stay clean 11:03 if you stop smoking. 11:05 Is anybody hearing that? I think we have to hear that. 11:08 A lot of times people will say, I'm going to stop this 11:10 drug but not this drug, or I'm going to still drink 11:13 coffee and smoke but I'm not going to slam heroin. 11:16 But what you are saying is, what studies are showing in 11:19 the brain is to really get away from everything and give 11:23 yourself have a chance, or more than half a chance. 11:26 You restore yourself control over your drug intake, 11:29 or your temper, over your ambition, every area of life 11:33 becomes more manageable when you also quit smoking. 11:36 You get that natural spontaneous easy way of controlling 11:40 yourself back, you don't have to think about it, 11:43 it comes spontaneously. 11:44 One of the things about porn addictions is that, is that one 11:46 that damages that area? 11:48 Pornography stimulates a similar area of the brain that 11:51 can trigger the same biochemical cascade 11:54 that methamphetamine does. 11:56 People get hooked on that. - right! 12:01 I want to get back to that, definitely in another show 12:03 we will cover all this stuff in depth because I think the 12:06 more we know about our brain, when somebody says, just 12:11 stop using, and God talks about taking care of yourself. 12:16 Really take care of yourself, because once we damage 12:20 things, especially in our brain, our life is compromised. 12:25 We are not living up to our full potential at all. 12:27 Not just personally, but also within the family. 12:30 You are not being the dad you're supposed to be. 12:32 You are not being the daughter your supposed to be. 12:34 It affects every area of society, you're not the employee 12:37 you are supposed to be. 12:38 You are not the driver we intended you to be. 12:41 - you're not the brother. - right! 12:44 It is more than just your individual life, this affects 12:49 everybody around you, and a lot further than you can see. 12:52 I remember when I was hearing some of your story, 12:57 you talked, about your brother and your daughter and how 12:59 afraid she was of him toward the end. 13:01 Can you talk about why, and what change in his behavior 13:05 that will cause her to be afraid? 13:06 He would fly off the handle over nothing, just minimal 13:09 things would make him angry. 13:11 So she would walk into the room and want to be near him, 13:14 but she would stay where the door was real close. 13:17 Where she could get away real quick. 13:19 She would lean into him because she loved him, but she 13:22 always had her eye on the door. 13:24 You know to this day she is still that way. 13:25 She is 14 years old now and I took her to the doctor, 13:28 she was going to get shots for a trip to go to Ecuador. 13:31 She was supposed to get some injections and 13:33 she's looking at the door. 13:35 She was making sure where the escape route was. 13:36 So it really changed her. 13:38 Did your brother end up with psychosis, 13:42 with the methamphetamine? 13:44 Yes he became psychotic, he thought the police could 13:46 see through the walls, they were beaming thoughts into 13:49 his head from a satellite, they could see through 13:51 the walls and read his mind. 13:53 We put him into a mental hospital and one occasion when 13:57 he attempted suicide, but he only stayed for the 72 hour 14:00 emergency commitment and after that he signed out of there 14:03 because he thought the drug dealers could 14:05 see through the walls. 14:07 Within three weeks he killed himself. 14:12 They say a drug-induced psychosis is as bad 14:14 as any other psychosis. 14:15 Biochemically it is indistin- guishable, and clinically 14:18 talking to people that are psychotic because of drugs, the 14:21 only way you can tell them apart is that the drug addict 14:24 hallucinates about drug context. 14:27 He hallucinates about dealers and narks and guns and cops. 14:31 Where the general schizophrenic will have more generalized 14:35 hallucinations that don't necessarily refer to drugs, 14:38 though they can, but the drug induced psychotic all 14:41 he can think about is his single-minded and compulsiveness 14:44 about his drugs. 14:46 When he killed himself, he struggled, he felt like 14:49 something was telling him to kill himself all the time. 14:53 He said, the way he put it was he felt abandoned. 14:56 He felt alone like no one understood and nobody cared. 15:00 That is the way he felt. 15:02 He was a Christian and believed in God, in fact the 15:05 Sunday before he killed himself on Monday, he wanted 15:08 to go to church and he stayed through one service and 15:11 there was another service afterword and he stayed 15:13 for the second sermon. 15:14 He was hungry for more of God because he knew what 15:18 he was facing, but he just couldn't live like that. 15:21 He thought he would always be crazy. 15:23 I'm not doing it! 15:25 So he ends up killing himself. - Yes! 15:27 That really changed your life, even your medical practice 15:31 it sounds like. - Yes I was an obstetrician. 15:35 I delivered babies for about 20 years. 15:37 I closed my practice about three years ago to devote 15:40 full-time to methamphetamine, 15:42 because it is so much more important. 15:44 What was it, when you decided to start looking into this, 15:48 at first it was just to find out what happened with 15:50 my brother, what kind of drug is this that took 15:54 him completely away from us, away from himself? 15:57 What is this that it destroyed his life, 16:00 that was my first question, but also I was in practice 16:03 and was delivering babies. 16:04 I started seeing patients coming into my office, nine 16:08 months pregnant, and acting just as crazy as Jim was. 16:10 I was doing drug tests on these ladies and they were 16:13 positive for methamphetamine, it was throughout the 16:15 community, and then I looked into it, not just as a sister, 16:19 but as a physician, where's the biochemistry? 16:22 Give me an explanation. What is this stuff doing? 16:24 What I found out appalls me. 16:27 Teach us some stuff. 16:29 Methamphetamine gives a whopping dose of the brains 16:34 favorite pleasure chemicals called dopamine's, 16:37 that's the long name for it. 16:38 It is a thing that makes everything feel good. 16:40 It makes the music sound good, food tastes good. 16:44 - you are beautiful! 16:45 Everything feels good because of dopamine in a special 16:49 little section called nucleus accumbens. 16:51 It's a pleasure center, it is meant to operate on natural 16:55 pleasures, beautiful music, or a pretty flower, will 17:01 stimulate those centers. 17:02 Loving your children, sitting down to a nice meal is all 17:06 that is supposed to be necessary to stimulate those 17:08 centers, but when you overdose them, and overpower them 17:12 with too much of abusive drugs, 17:14 they are not responding to those things anymore. 17:16 As though hugging your children doesn't give you a lift. 17:20 Talking to a friend doesn't make you feel better. 17:22 The things that are supposed to be gratifying and 17:26 reinforcing don't work anymore, 17:28 once you have been on methamphetamines. 17:30 As I came off of drugs, what was interesting was that I 17:37 had to learn again begin to feel good about those simple things. 17:40 I mean my brain chemistry was so messed up, but I wanted 17:44 to tell every child on the planet do not even destroy 17:48 yourself in this way, it really is horrible. 17:51 As you use it is horrible, absolutely horrible. 17:56 Family members do not understand that either. 17:58 They say, well why don't you just quit this stuff? 18:00 Why don't you just stop it, okay? 18:02 It's not that easy, it hurts so bad to get off this stuff. 18:07 Nobody is going to do it until it hurts worse to keep using. 18:11 And it hurts worse to keep using in the county jail, 18:14 where nobody will bail you out. 18:16 But they don't understand that. 18:17 Like your mom, don't bail them out. 18:20 Don't bail them out and let God do His job. 18:23 - let your body have a chance to heal. 18:25 God put that kid in prison for a very good reason, 18:28 don't sabotage it, let him stay there long enough to heal. 18:32 My heart says, I bet somebody heard you say that right now. 18:36 I hope so! - Amen! 18:41 Tell me if this isn't, somebody told me as I was coming in 18:43 to do recovery at first, is that when I take the drug, 18:48 when I take the meth or stimulant or whatever, it is as 18:52 if a neural chemistry gets turned on like a faucet 18:55 being turned on full blast and my body is saying, oh man 18:59 this is amazing, but nothing else in a normal existence 19:05 can turn it on full blast. 19:06 So everything else is secondary now. 19:09 Nothing will ever shine the candle the way meth does. 19:12 It's like a pressure washer of pleasure chemical. 19:16 There is no natural stimulus that can do that. 19:19 Once you have turned off that pressure washer, it's like 19:25 the world is so gray and ugly and boring and stupid. 19:29 No conversation is interesting anymore. 19:33 No televisions show is worth watching anymore. 19:36 For at least six months after getting off the meth, 19:40 the whole world is like oatmeal. 19:43 Nothing tastes good, nothing sounds good, nothing looks 19:47 good, this job is boring, these people are stupid. 19:49 If I could just feel good again, just once, just for 19:53 a little while, if I could just feel good again for 19:55 a little while so they get high again. 19:56 And everybody's going, what is the matter with you? 20:01 My sister, my sister is a meth addict and she has been 20:04 since she was 15 and now is in her 40s. 20:06 I have said everything, everything. 20:10 I remember going over one time and she was 70 pounds, 20:15 maybe 78 pounds, her teeth were all rotted out and she 20:19 had meth sores all over. 20:21 I started crying, and I put her in front of a mirror and 20:23 I said Joni, you are scaring me. 20:26 She said, what are you jealous that she was so thin? 20:31 I thought, the chemicals have so flooded the brain that she 20:35 can't they even look in the mirror and see reality 20:37 the same way, and it's almost to me, I was surprised, 20:40 it's almost like talking to a schizophrenic because their 20:43 reality is so different than yours. 20:46 Can you talk a little bit about that? 20:47 Somebody will say, why don't you just understand 20:49 what I am saying? 20:51 The schizophrenia and the hallucinations that are 20:54 associated with methamphetamine are pervasive, they are through 20:58 the whole personality, 20:59 not just in any one particular situation. 21:01 So they have this altered sense of reality, and that 21:04 reality to them is just as real as the table right here. 21:07 Nobody can talk them out of it. 21:10 What they see in their minds is just as real 21:13 as any physical reality. 21:15 It actually starts as a form of sleep depravation. 21:19 If you go for long enough without any sleep you will 21:22 hallucinate, it happens to me as an obstetrician after 21:26 about four days without any sleep. 21:28 A meth addict can do four days, two weeks. 21:30 Oh, no problem for them to stay at two weeks at a time, 21:33 by the end of the week of no sleep they are seeing things. 21:37 They see shadow people, they are right outside their field 21:41 of vision and he has got a chain in a gun and he is going 21:44 to kill me, but every time I turn around he disappears. 21:46 Those unreality types of feelings and situations. 21:53 They are suspicious, are worried about someone following them. 21:58 They think every time you pick up the phone you are 22:00 reporting them to the police. 22:02 Kind of delusional ideas that are pervasive. 22:05 For somebody that does not know this world, they probably 22:08 listen to you and think that you are exaggerating a little 22:11 bit, but I want to say you're not exaggerating. 22:15 I'm minimizing it, it gets much worse than that. 22:18 I had a friend that thought that the FBI was after them. 22:21 He laid in his backyard by a tree with a gun, the only 22:25 person that came was the mailman and he was convinced 22:28 that was the FBI. 22:30 I'm not sure why he didn't shoot, but I'm grateful. 22:34 The paranoia in that existence is unbelievable. 22:39 Oh yeah, they live in their houses with the shades pulled 22:41 down, and peek out every once in a while to see who was 22:44 walking by, but the rest of the time they're closed in the 22:47 closet scared to death of everybody. 22:49 That is not a life, that is a living death. 22:53 You don't even know, because at first the chemical, 22:57 or that feel good dopamine just says that this is the 23:00 greatest thing ever, the greatest thing ever. 23:03 When you actually sees how somebody lives, 23:05 it is absolutely sad. 23:07 You have seen a lot of research, can you share with us 23:11 a little more about that? 23:12 About the research? 23:14 Like when you talk about the brain chemistry, or meth 23:18 labs, or how people live, or even women coming in with 23:21 babies and still using meth in the middle of their 23:24 pregnancy, not even under- standing genetically what is 23:28 happening to this child and their development. 23:30 That is a whole big ball of wax. 23:33 The impact of methamphetamine on a developing child is 23:37 just now starting to be understood. 23:39 20 years ago the first study to come out was in 1989. 23:43 They did a scan on the babies of mothers who used 23:47 methamphetamine during pregnancy and 35% of them had 23:51 holes in their brains. 23:52 Holes in their brains just like their mothers. 23:54 From the chemical or the acids in meth, is it the same? 23:58 Yes, it is the same chemical. - I had no idea! 24:01 It's erodes holes in human brains, it erodes in the baby 24:05 brain too, but the babies, human infants in particular, 24:09 continue developing up to the first 21 years of life, but 24:13 especially the first two years there is this dramatic 24:16 explosion of brain cell growth. 24:17 So if you are missing 10% of your brain cells at birth, 24:21 that will be overgrown and overgrown and turn into 1% by 24:24 the time you are one year old and that is our salvation. 24:29 That is assuming that child is raised in a nurturing home 24:32 with parents who love it and talk to it and feed him. 24:36 That is not the case in the average meth abusing home. 24:40 So a baby who is born into a meth abused home with holes 24:44 in his brain already, and his mother beats him or shakes 24:47 him when he is a little bitty baby and ignores him and 24:51 doesn't feed him when he's a little older, 24:53 that child will not do well in school. 24:55 We are seeing large numbers of these kids coming into 24:57 special education programs in the public schools. 25:03 This was interesting for me, hopefully for you guys, 25:07 but with meth there are a lot of drugs we take. 25:11 I'm not going to add good or bad, but there is a lot of 25:14 drugs we take that our body can sort out and flush them 25:18 and all that, but with meth and the acids in meth we can't 25:21 do it, right? We can't get rid of it in the same way? 25:24 Well we metabolize meth amphetamine down to chemicals 25:27 that are themselves toxic, I call it the battery acid effect. 25:31 What is the stuff made out of? 25:32 Show them the canister of acetone, Freon, 25:35 all the chemicals that it is made out of. 25:37 This is what we make methamphetamine out of, what do 25:40 you suppose your body is going to turn it back into? 25:42 You break it down to the same kind of caustic chemicals it 25:46 is made out of, it's like eating battery acid. 25:48 It will destroy brain tissues. 25:50 As it passes the brain barrier, just like dripping acid 25:54 on this soft tissue. 25:56 Yes, and it's the susceptible soft tissue, but it also eats 25:59 holes in lungs and the heart and kidneys, and many other 26:03 organs are damaged by methamphetamines. 26:05 I have seen gums, teeth, you know the visual stuff that 26:09 you can see what they lot of addicts is in the gums and 26:14 teeth in the mouth. 26:15 It's the first thing that is most obvious. 26:17 Their teeth fall out as soon as six months after starting 26:21 using, because it constricts the blood supply to the gums. 26:25 So even healthy teeth will fall right out. 26:32 When your brother died, when you started to do research 26:35 on what this drug is, what kinds of things do you tell 26:39 family members of addicts? 26:41 How do you say, for one, not enable their loved one's 26:45 using, and do they survive with this craziness? 26:49 Number one we have to get past the denial. 26:52 That is a hard one, you don't want to believe it. 26:54 You do not want to think that your kid doing this. 26:57 Oh, it couldn't be my kid, I raised him in church. 27:01 This couldn't be happening. 27:02 The kid has a list of excuses a mile long. 27:05 He can tell you why he lost his job. 27:07 He can tell you why it's out of money. 27:09 He tell you why his wife left, he has got an excuse for 27:12 every day of the week. 27:13 If you want to believe all that stuff, you can keep your 27:15 head in the sand for as long as you want to. 27:18 But guys, denial does not work, denial kills. 27:21 While you are busy denying the obvious, your kid is 27:24 smoking is brains away in a back bedroom. 27:26 Denial does not work. 27:28 But once we have actually face the music and except it for 27:32 the fact that our kid has a problem and he needs some 27:35 help, now how do you make that kid get some help? 27:38 If he is under 18 it is relatively easy, you just sign 27:42 the papers and get him put into rehab. 27:44 But if he is over 18 you do not have any control over that 27:47 child. - I have seen that child kicking and screaming, 27:50 where we've done interventions, and the child is kicking 27:53 and screaming when we leave the facility. 27:55 I'm telling you to have the have a heart to do that, 27:58 because you may save his life or her life. 28:00 If being able to intervene and just say this is not about 28:04 whether you are going to like me tomorrow or not, this is 28:07 about I want you to be alive to raise your own family. 28:10 I want you to be alive to laugh out loud with people you 28:13 love and right now you're not going to get there 28:15 unless we intervene. - right, yes! 28:17 We had to take a strong stance against teenagers using. 28:21 I recommend drug testing in high school age kids by the 28:25 parents, even if the schools won't do it, 28:28 but parents need to. 28:29 My daughter was so mad, I keep drug testing kits with me 28:32 because I work with at risk folks. 28:33 If you are even glassy eyed I think, excuse me can you pee 28:37 in this? And people are furious with me. 28:40 But my daughter came home one day with this person that 28:43 was cutting and smoking weed. 28:45 I could smell the weed and I'm thinking, no way! 28:48 No way, because you can tell that your kids are running 28:51 around with folks that are using and you have to ask the 28:53 obvious question, are you using? 28:56 So I asked her and she looked at me like I can't believe 28:59 you asked me that. 29:00 I'm thinking, excuse me, but your friend has 29:03 got blood dripping down her hand practically 29:06 and she is smoking weed. 29:07 You can smell it. She said, but that is her. 29:10 I say Jackie, I just need to drug test you. 29:12 So she goes in there and pees in the cup and she brings it 29:15 out and she is furious, she is negative. 29:18 She is furious, but I'm like dancing, woo hoo! 29:21 Because I need that peace of mind. 29:23 Drug testing kits are cheap, they are easy to keep around. 29:27 It's almost like nowadays we don't have the luxury to be 29:31 unaware, we just don't have the luxury. 29:35 These drugs are deadly, they are not like, well I don't 29:40 know, not like they are in their 50's when people 29:42 were drinking or whatever. 29:43 Even though people died with that, 29:45 but these drugs are deadly. 29:47 I'm used to seeing all that stuff. 29:50 You know it is the deadliest thing, I'm sorry go ahead. 29:53 A drug test does not have to destroy trust in the family. 29:56 A drug test can establish trust in the family. 30:00 Where that kid proves to you that he is clean and that 30:04 he handled himself responsibly. 30:06 That gives him an opportunity to prove to you that 30:08 he is a responsible individual. 30:10 That builds trust in the family. 30:12 I must handle the wrong because she was mad at me for 30:15 a couple of days. 30:18 To me, and I think for a lot of us, we want to believe 30:23 that it is just not here, and I'm sure your family with 30:26 your brother, we just what to believe it's not here, 30:30 or it is not that bad, or it is not anything 30:33 I need to intervene. 30:34 I see situations where I think when I walk in and 30:37 everybody is having, after church, and everyone's 30:40 having potluck and I'm thinking does anybody see this 30:44 kid over here? Because I want to do a drug test. 30:47 It is like being able to be aware, because you will 30:49 save a life and help someone. 30:51 We have to get over our hesitancy to confront people, 30:56 especially our children. 30:57 We are hesitant to make a scene or cause a fuss or to 31:01 make a demand on our kids. 31:04 This is a matter of brain cells guys, this is not anybody's 31:07 pride or dignity at stake, this is brain cells. 31:11 Like hepatitis, both are some painful deaths. 31:14 You are talking liver and brain and tissues that 31:18 mean life or death. 31:19 HIV, HIV is making a huge comeback in the countryside's, 31:23 because addicts to do not care who they sleep with. 31:28 What would you tell, definitely educate yourself. 31:32 Test your kids if you're curious, if there is any 31:36 suspicion, and a feeling that you need to test somebody. 31:41 Anything else with families? 31:42 Once families have come to grips with the fact that this 31:45 kid has a problem, it's time to get out the tough love. 31:49 Tough love is hard, that means letting him face the 31:53 natural consequences of his decisions. 31:56 If that means that his car is impounded, leave the car 32:00 impounded, if it means he's in county jail, 32:02 leave him in county jail. 32:04 Let him face the consequences of the decisions he's 32:06 making so he can make stronger decisions. 32:08 So what will people think about our family? 32:09 Oh yes you see, that's the problem. 32:12 What will the church think? 32:14 What will the people of the Country Club say? 32:16 Oh yeah, the people at the Country Club are not 32:18 responsible for your kids brain, you are. 32:20 They are not going to bury him! 32:22 Every time you give that kid another hundred bucks, 32:24 you are putting another hole in his brain. 32:26 To me it is absolutely amazing to just say it straight up 32:32 this is the reality of it. 32:34 I think it gives us permission to act. 32:36 There was a group of kids in Georgia, where 17 junior 32:42 high school kids end up with syphilis. 32:45 Did you hear about that? 32:46 17, so definitely disease and folks are saying what's up 32:51 here, and they were meeting after school using and sleeping 32:55 together and watching porn and all that stuff. 32:57 It was because they were bored, it was a very affluent 33:01 area, so for us to bury our heads is just saying we have 33:05 no idea the society we are living in. 33:07 To me, I don't even care anymore if I offend someone, 33:11 I think we have to talk, we have to say out loud that 33:15 this is out there and that meth is in every state that 33:19 I go to now as I travel and speak in schools. 33:22 Meth is just taking over as the drug of choice. 33:25 It is cheap and easily made. 33:27 Cheap and it's readily available and the 33:29 kids think it's safe. 33:30 They have heard about crack babies and they don't want 33:32 to have anything to do with that cocaine, but they think 33:34 methamphetamine is safe. 33:36 They can take by mouth and they don't have to shoot a 33:39 needle, they can smoke it like a pipe like marijuana. 33:42 They think it is a and it is far more destructive 33:45 than any amount of cocaine. 33:47 So breaking denial, that's definitely, tough love. 33:50 So what does tough love look like? 33:53 Tough love is hard to do. 33:55 Tough love, there is three major barriers to tough love. 33:58 Number one is denial, like we had talked about. 34:00 Number two is fear, you don't want to keep your kid out 34:03 of the house because you know he will go with his drug 34:07 buddies and might get killed. 34:08 But he is getting killed in your back bedroom too. 34:12 So let's not be afraid, let's be afraid of the right 34:16 thing, let's be afraid of drug use, not the punishment. 34:19 Then there is always an underlying element of guilt. 34:23 Parents feel responsible for what their kids have done. 34:27 They feel like they should have prevented it. 34:29 They should have known better than to let them run around 34:31 with those kids, they should have stopped it. 34:33 They feel all this guilt, and sometimes it is false guilt. 34:38 You blame yourself for everything your kid has done. 34:40 Take that false guilt and thrown out the window. 34:43 You are not responsible for every decision your kid has 34:46 ever made, but underneath it all there is always 34:49 a generous dose of real guilt. 34:50 True guilt, I know where I failed my children and 34:55 you know where you failed your children. 34:56 Nobody is a perfect parent. 34:58 You take your true guilt to the cross of Jesus Christ. 35:01 Let Him forgive you and then forgive yourself. 35:07 And now you can do the tough love that you have to do 35:11 to save that child's life, but you can't do it while you're 35:13 hauling around a ton of guilt. 35:15 You have to set that down. 35:17 We are going to go ahead and take a break but 35:20 I want to come back to that. 35:21 Also on our next segment we are going to ask some 35:24 questions, I mean they're going to ask us questions 35:27 asked at the café. 35:28 So stay with us we will be right back. 35:35 Think you've seen it all? Think again. 35:40 Cheri Peters is back for a second season of 35:43 Celebrating Life In Recovery with more lives, 35:46 more stories and more miracles. 35:48 Watch the shocking, inspiring, and the incredible. 35:53 Check your local listings to find out when 35:55 Celebrating Life In Recovery comes to you and get 35:59 ready for another dose of reality, Cheri style. 36:18 Were talking about tough love, and a lot of people have 36:21 misconceptions about what that is. 36:24 If you have a family member that is using and you are 36:27 trying to set boundaries around them, what does that 36:31 exactly mean to have tough love? 36:33 You are talking before the break about breaking denial, 36:36 getting yourself educated, setting boundaries, talk a 36:39 little bit more about what it is and what it isn't. 36:43 Tough love is going to be hard to do on an individual 36:46 basis because every situation is different. 36:49 What it boils down to is you don't give them any money, 36:52 and you don't let them live at your place, and you don't 36:55 let them use your car, and they don't lie to their boss. 36:58 If they get put in jail you let them stay there, oh are 37:01 they going to complain. - right! 37:02 You have abandoned me, and you have ignored me, you 37:05 hate me, they are going to accuse you of all these things. 37:09 But if somebody you know it's going to be compromised, 37:13 drinking, drugs or whatever, you don't want 37:16 them driving your car, so what you're doing is just 37:18 setting appropriate boundaries. 37:19 Right, you must set limits. 37:21 If you're going to use drugs I can't stop you, you are 37:24 over 18 and I can't stop you. 37:25 But I can keep you from using them in my house. 37:27 - and driving my car. 37:29 I'm not going to give you any money to buy dope with. 37:31 I'm not even going to pay your electric bill because 37:34 you are responsible for your electric bill. 37:36 If you are spending all your money on dope and 37:38 you don't pay your electric bill that is not my problem, 37:40 that is your problem. 37:41 And being able to even say that, and some people say I have to 37:45 be angry at them to do that, you really don't. 37:47 It is just the way it is. 37:50 You need to be very firm and know in your mind that you 37:54 are not going to cave in, because you know that every 37:57 time you give that kid at another hundred bucks you are 37:59 putting another hole in his brain. 38:01 If that is firmly in your mind then you are not even 38:04 tempted to give him any money. 38:06 I have never thought of it that way, when you said that 38:09 I was thinking, oh man, no addict on the planet that 38:12 watches this movie is ever going to 38:13 a hundred bucks again. 38:15 Just from you. 38:17 I hope not, but when they make all those accusations against 38:20 you, you don't care, you don't love me, you're not doing 38:23 what you're supposed to do, you have not abandoned that 38:25 child as long as you are still praying for that child. 38:28 You don't give them any money, you don't help them out 38:31 anyway, but as long as you are still praying for that 38:34 kid, you have not abandoned him. - exactly! 38:36 You may get tired of it, don't get discouraged, you keep 38:39 praying, it might be years, but you keep praying. 38:43 Surround yourself by people that will 38:45 affirm and edify you. 38:46 Other people will join you in prayer, because powerful 38:49 prayer is done in pairs. - right! 38:52 As long as you are praying for them you have not 38:55 abandoned them, that is important to understand because 38:57 you feel like you have abandoned them. 38:58 You can't talk to your addict kid, he can't hear a word 39:03 you say to him, the only person who can talk to a meth 39:08 addict is the Holy Spirit. 39:10 Every time you pray for that kid, the Holy Spirit speaks 39:13 into his heart and he understands every word. 39:16 So don't get tired of it, don't get discouraged, keep 39:19 praying even though you're not feeling it. 39:21 And know that He is hearing God. He may not be hearing you. 39:24 And he had to pray with both hands, you can't pray with 39:28 one hand and give him 50 bucks with the other. 39:29 It doesn't work that way. 39:30 When you say that I'm thinking what do you mean both hands? 39:34 You can't pray with one hand and give him 50 bucks with the other 39:38 You know what is fun, I can tell that you are so clear, 39:42 do not enable this child. 39:43 You know what it feels like to lose somebody you love, 39:47 you do not want to lose this child. 39:49 I just want to say that every single child, husband, wife, 39:54 whoever the addict is, make sure that they know that they 39:59 are loved, I think that is important. 40:02 There is a book that I love calling 'Caring Enough To 40:05 Confront', do I care enough about you to confront? 40:09 And I do, so if you are acting out and I have to set 40:12 limits, I'm just going to repeat myself. 40:14 I am doing this because I know that you are using. 40:17 The person can yell, you are a na-na-na and na-na-na and 40:21 I'm doing this because you are using and they can yell again. 40:23 I am doing this because you are using and if I have just 40:26 repeat myself like a parrot, I can't get hooked into the 40:30 argument, I can just say again I am doing this because 40:33 I know you are using. 40:35 Being able to be firm, and there are times where you are 40:38 going to want to cry and cry and cry, but just cry, 40:40 but do not give them 50 bucks. 40:42 That is why you need a support group of people around you 40:45 that understand what you're going through. 40:47 You got to level with the people in your Sunday school 40:50 class or church and tell them what you are really going 40:52 through so they can pray intelligently with you. 40:55 There will be some who will sit on the other side of the 40:58 church, I don't want to sit next to you because your kid 41:00 is a drug addict, just pray for them too. 41:03 You need people around you that understand what you're 41:06 going through, and if you are trying to wallpaper over it 41:09 and deny to the people around you that you have a problem, 41:13 that is not helping you, that is isolating you. 41:16 I love the fact that you said to just make sure that you 41:19 can talk to someone, and if I know someone is going to 41:22 judge me I'm going to talk to someone else. 41:23 Because right now I am struggling enough, it is not 41:26 about your acceptance anymore, it's about my spouse or my 41:29 child's life and so I don't want to even, 41:32 I can't get wrapped up in all that stuff. 41:35 We isolate ourselves when we are faced with something 41:38 like this, because we don't want to tell the neighbors. 41:41 We don't want to tell our friends and we have to tell 41:43 these people, we have to find somebody that you can level 41:46 with, and be honest with, be genuine and have 41:51 people praying with you. 41:52 I know I'm going to so step on toes right now, I'm going 41:55 to say something and at first I was not going to say it. 41:58 I was actually biting my tongue, do not share this. 42:00 But I'm going to share something, 42:02 and tell me what you think. 42:03 I get asked to do a one on one home intervention with a 42:07 meth addict let's say, in New York. 42:09 I go in and this was a beautiful home, a doctor's home. 42:14 Incredible, and I was a little intimidated because it was 42:18 just beautiful and I am an addict in recovery so to me. 42:22 So I sit down, I love God and I pray before I do anything. 42:26 I think Jesus gives me the Holy Spirit and I am equipped 42:30 when I walk in the door, and that is the only way 42:32 I can do this kind of work. 42:34 So I go in and the father comes in and son who was 22 and 42:37 a meth addict who was out running the streets and out of 42:40 control, and the Holy Spirit tells me that the father is 42:43 having an affair and is addicted to porn. 42:45 When he cleans up, his son will clean up. 42:48 I'm thinking, oh man, don't tell me that. 42:51 I so know that God supernaturally 42:56 leads us in our recovery. 42:57 He supernaturally leads us in ministry and so I knew 43:00 that, that impression, I didn't hear a voice, but that 43:03 impression that I got was a very real. 43:06 Sometimes in families check your stuff, not saying that 43:10 it is anybody's fault, but if you are sexually acting out, 43:13 if you are using yourself, if you are bringing drugs and 43:16 alcohol into the home and your kids are acting out, 43:18 it's because, it's almost like we let the devil come in and 43:21 then we don't want him to play with our children. 43:23 So there is that sense, to me, tough love involves being 43:27 tough with yourself, do you agree with what I'm saying? 43:32 Yes I understand what you are saying. 43:33 When I finally got to say to this doctor, do you have 43:38 anything you would like to talk about? 43:40 He looked at me and lost all the color in his face and 43:43 I remember, he was like what? 43:45 God said, Cheri say it. 43:48 I said do you have any porn addictions or anything? 43:50 He said I knew you're going to say that. 43:52 So God was already working on him. 43:55 So being able to honestly say to him, is you know what? 44:00 Clean up, and honestly look at yourself so that 44:04 you can be there for your children, so you can be there 44:07 for your community, or your church, but don't think 44:09 you are going to carry all this stuff in your pocket 44:11 and just give lip service and somebody 44:14 life is going to change. 44:15 You really have to be serious about wanting to change your 44:19 life and reach out to them. 44:20 That is one thing about the Lord, He is genuine. 44:22 He won't put up with a phony. 44:24 He won't be mocked, it says in the Bible. 44:26 I'm thinking man, we're going to open it up for questions. 44:31 I'm just am thrilled with who is at the café, so Brian you 44:35 have been on other shows and I love you, what do 44:39 you think about what is being said? 44:40 Well doctor first of all, I really enjoy what you are 44:43 saying here and I live on an Indian reservation. 44:45 Of course meth knows no boundaries, these people that 44:50 are cooking this meth and seeing an opportunity to make 44:53 some money on the Indian reservations, and it's happening 44:56 all over the United States and it is becoming 45:01 an epidemic in Indian country. 45:03 Talking about tough love, I live on a small reservation, 45:06 800 members, so everybody knows everybody, and everybody 45:10 knows what everybody is doing. 45:11 That is the message that our people need to hear is that 45:15 we need to have a tough love in our community, and we need 45:19 to stop this now. 45:21 What has been the recovery rate of these meth addicts? 45:24 One thing you said is that you need the Holy Spirit. 45:27 It is by the grace of God that I am here today because 45:30 I'm recovering, a drug and alcohol addict myself. 45:33 It was only through the grace of God that allowed me to 45:36 be here today, but what is the recovery rate you're seeing 45:40 from these meth addict's? 45:41 Meth addicts take a lot longer to recover from addiction 45:45 than say an alcoholic, or even a cocaine addict. 45:48 The traditional program was a 28 day program that was 45:52 developed for alcohol and it was effective for alcohol. 45:56 But 28 days doesn't cut it for methamphetamine. 45:59 After 28 day inpatient program we still have about 46:02 an 88% failure rate, they go back and use again. 46:06 So they spaced it out to maybe six months, 46:08 maybe six months is enough. 46:10 With a six-month program, a real high-quality one, 46:13 you get about a 50% yield. 46:15 The other 50% go back and use again. 46:18 So now we are spacing then out to a full year, 46:21 12 to 18 months, and that 12 to 18 months has to work 46:25 on not just the physical addiction, 46:27 but also the psychological addiction and the 46:30 spiritual deprivation that these people have. 46:33 And with a really good comprehensive program, 46:36 a 12 month program has about a 90% success rate. 46:39 That is amazing, because even when you talk about those 46:42 neural chemical things that have to repair itself, 46:45 that repairing happens within that time frame? - right! 46:49 The neuro-chemicals recover, but synapses start 46:53 firing again, neuro tracks start functioning again. 46:56 They grow new synapses new dendrites and it recovers some 47:00 function in areas that we thought had no function, 47:04 but it is not going to happen overnight. 47:06 You didn't get sick overnight, and you are not going 47:08 to get better overnight. 47:10 So Brian, you talked about even on the reservations 47:13 putting programs together and people are literally looking 47:16 at all that stuff right now. 47:17 I think that the best of the best programs, if it's 47:21 30 days for a meth addict, you are saying 47:23 it is not enough? 47:25 30 days in patient is a beginning, but it is not the 47:28 total picture, they need another several months of outpatient 47:32 intensive rehabilitation, past that 30 days. 47:36 And for the rest of the year, intensive 47:39 12-step participation where they have a place where 47:42 they can go, where people understand what 47:44 they are going through. 47:45 Somebody knows what it means to have a using dream, 47:47 talk about the time you had a using dream and 47:49 woke up screaming for it. 47:51 People who understand than then they can support 47:54 each other, but if you are in an environment where 47:57 nobody knows what you are dealing with, 48:00 you feel abandoned and you will use again. 48:02 Sometimes in a typical church environment people are 48:07 not educated enough to walk a meth and through recovery. 48:11 There are some specialized 12-step programs 48:13 for methamphetamines, one is Celebrate Recovery. 48:16 - I love that program. 48:17 That is a wonderful program. 48:18 - I used to run the program in my church. 48:21 - we have one in our church too, and it is so powerful 48:24 because it is real addicts talking to real addicts. 48:28 No phony stuff, no fill in the blanks, this is real life. 48:33 What is fun about those programs is that an addict 48:36 will come in and start trying to play somebody, 48:38 everybody in the room is like what's up, don't play me. 48:42 A normal group will be going, really your grandma is dead, 48:46 and you need 20 bucks? 48:50 Grandmother you know I never had a grandmother. 48:52 - It's like give it up. 48:54 So it is fun to be able to be with people that know, 48:59 and also to realize the length of recovery for folks. 49:03 I think we want people to stop using, and as soon as 49:07 they stop the next day we want them eating 49:08 brown rice and behaving, and it doesn't happen. 49:12 It is a process, you heal from the inside out. 49:15 Jesus will heal your heart first, anger, pain, shame, 49:20 guilt, He would heal all that stuff, that is 49:22 a spiritual thing, then we move on to your mind. 49:25 Attitudes, relationships, thought patterns, 49:28 and the last thing to change is your behavior. 49:30 You know what's interesting, I think you said this. 49:35 That track that I am so fascinated with is that we 49:39 repetitive right behavior and right choices really help 49:43 that to restore itself, so any discipline, exercising, 49:47 and getting out side and eating the right things, 49:49 any discipline behavior. 49:51 The in-patient rehab program, if I can't control myself by 49:56 my own initiative, maybe somebody else can control me. 50:00 So they put them in a rehab center where they make 50:03 them get up at six o'clock every morning, stand in 50:05 line and mop the floors, make the bed, do the stuff 50:07 you didn't want to do, because every time 50:09 you do something you did not want to do, you are 50:12 doing a bench press with your self-control track. 50:16 It grows new connections, new synapses, and 50:19 we regain function, but it doesn't happen in 28 days. 50:23 We learn this, and I think that as you learn this 50:26 and are working with addicts is when somebody says, 50:30 no I do not want to mop the floor, we live on a ranch. 50:33 I don't want to go pick up horse poop, I have to say, 50:36 I get excited because they are repairing damage in 50:39 their neuro chemistry, and even if they think it is about 50:42 horse poop, it is not right now. 50:44 This is repairing what the drug took from you. 50:48 So I can't even let them get out of the task. 50:51 It becomes easy and spontaneous and it is natural 50:55 to control those cravings and desires because 50:58 you've been scooping horse poop. 50:59 I love that, I love that, okay Curly do you have 51:03 horse poop, you have a question? 51:04 Horse poop to Curly, I'm doing good, I'm doing good. 51:08 I have a comment, you were talking earlier about how 51:12 paranoia sets in when people sit in their house with 51:15 the blinds shut, I laugh because I have been there. 51:19 You know, it's one night I spent the whole time 51:21 tiptoeing around the house so no one could hear me. 51:24 No one lived around me. 51:26 I woke up the next day and my calves were tight 51:28 and I thought man what happened? 51:30 That stuff happens, hiding in the closet I've done that. 51:33 You think someone is coming up to the door. 51:36 - people don't think that those are true stories. 51:39 - they are, and I laugh about it now, but it is real. 51:42 Those people that are watching this now, let me tell 51:46 you what, personally I know that stuff happens. 51:48 I am able to laugh at it now because there is 51:51 another side, there is something more than that. 51:54 Once you get there, it's such a good life and so 51:57 much better and you can look at that stuff and laugh 52:00 at it because you have been there and it is real. 52:02 There is probably someone watching now that may be at that 52:05 point, they just did it last night, something like that. 52:08 I want to let them know, man, get past it. 52:10 Once you take that initial step, life is so much better. 52:14 It is great and there is hope, give it to God and 52:18 let Him take care of it. 52:19 As your brain heals you start enjoying life again, 52:21 start laughing again. 52:23 That's right, I'm back to the point where I got my 52:27 funny back, for years, literally years, I would be 52:29 funny now and then but it was all about the drugs. 52:32 - now I got my funny back, I like that. 52:35 I love it, there's other things to do, 52:38 there is more than just drugs. 52:40 As you were starting to recover, what was interesting 52:43 was your whole eyes changed and they lit up. 52:48 You focus more and all that stuff. 52:51 It is fun to watch that, it's okay, it's happening. 52:54 - I'm a pretty good actor, I would go places after 52:57 a night of drugging and I will put on a show, but 53:00 I was miserable inside and around people you try 53:03 to make yourself put on that show because you don't 53:05 want them to know, you don't want them to know 53:07 you are using again or anything like that. 53:08 But you don't have to do that anymore, it's great. 53:11 Those people watching give it to the Lord and 53:14 He will take care of it and life is great. 53:16 That's amazing, you don't have to earn it, 53:19 He just does it. 53:20 No, not at all. You'll find so much more to do than 53:23 just sitting around trying to figure out where are am 53:26 I going to get my next high? 53:27 Where can I get the money for these drugs? 53:29 Everything you said, you hit it right on the head and 53:31 it is real, and that is what the people need to hear. 53:34 Don't sugarcoat it, that is how it is. 53:36 Someone is watching and going through it right now 53:37 and that is going to affect them to let them know 53:39 that hey, I can get past this. 53:41 This guy has done it. 53:42 And you actually get your brain back. 53:44 Yeah! Exactly what little I had to begin with, 53:47 it's functioning at full capacity now. It's great! 53:50 It's not so much that you do it, it is that He does 53:54 it with in you, He is holy within you, He is strong 53:58 within you, and it feels so natural and 54:01 spontaneous because He's doing it within you. 54:03 Yeah, exactly and when He does it for you, 54:05 you have to give it back to somebody else. 54:07 I just want to say it has been a blast. 54:09 We are going to have you on another show, 54:11 you have so much more to tell us. 54:14 You have written a number of books, and there are 54:16 CDs out if anybody wants to be educated on this. 54:18 Make sure you call 3ABN and definitely, 54:20 you have to be on another show, alright? 54:24 We have looked at a number of things. 54:27 Addiction is never an easy subject to look at, 54:30 especially when you look at everything it does. 54:32 One of the things I love, what makes it easy for me, 54:35 I know that we have a God that is a God of restoration. 54:39 Like Mary was saying, every single thing you damage, 54:43 your brain and your body is amazing, 54:47 it will start to working again, 54:49 it doesn't happen overnight but it will happen. 54:52 Stay with us, we are going to be right back! 54:54 Stay with us. 55:01 Cheri Peters uses the book, 'Coming Of The Comforter' 55:04 as a guide for the second season of Celebrating Life In 55:07 Recovery, written by Lee Roy E. Froom is a 320 page book 55:10 offers every sinner the knowledge that the 55:13 Holy Spirit is available to all. 55:15 3ABN now offers this book to you for a suggested donation 55:19 of only $13 postpaid within the US. 55:22 Call 3ABN at 618-627-4651 or go online to 3ABN.org. 55:42 I hope you heard this, and I hope you heard the 55:45 whole thing and I'm going to ask Mary do you have 55:48 any closing thoughts, something you want them 55:50 to walk away with? 55:52 I think people need to walk away understanding that 55:54 there is hope, that even with the devastating brain 55:57 damage associated with methamphetamines 55:59 there is recovery. 56:00 The Lord Jesus Christ restores with the locus has eaten. 56:05 He brings back memory, He brings back temper, to be able 56:09 to control your temper, start laughing and 56:11 cutting up again and enjoying life. 56:12 You will regain 90% or more than that of what you lost 56:18 to methamphetamine, the vast majority comes back. 56:22 It comes back very slowly, but once you start, 56:25 you will have bad days and sometimes the bad 56:27 days outnumber the good days, but over time you will heal. 56:31 You heal not just in your brain, you heal in your heart. 56:35 What I love about that is that you are saying, 56:38 don't expect, we talked about this on another show, 56:41 don't expect things to happen overnight. 56:43 If you are with somebody that you love, 56:45 if you're working with somebody, 56:46 if you have brother, sister, husband, wife that 56:48 has addictions, I don't care if it's just meth. 56:51 Meth is a serious one, but were talking all 56:53 addictions, drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling and 56:56 all that stuff does the same thing in our brain. 56:59 Make sure that you know that things take time 57:02 and give yourself time. 57:03 What I did in my own recovery, in between trying to 57:08 work on stuff and learn new things, I tried to have fun. 57:11 Go to the beach, take a walk, get out in nature. 57:14 I believe there is an inspired writer that says when 57:18 you are out in nature and walking around, 57:19 the Angels will minister to you. 57:22 I don't know if that's true but I love the thought. 57:24 Go out and look at how God created things around you. 57:28 Take some breaths, deep breaths because a lot of times 57:31 in our addictions we forget to breathe. 57:32 We forget to let the sun hit our skin and bring in 57:36 some vitamin D and those kind of things. 57:38 All that is important, eat good stuff, good stuff. 57:41 Put the snickers down, if you're starting to bite in 57:44 it now put it down, get a glass of water, 57:47 get an apple, get an orange, get something good. 57:49 Your body needs to be fed. 57:50 When you decide to make a commitment to either 57:55 somebody you love or to your own addiction, God steps 57:58 in and wow's you, absolutely wow's you because the steps 58:02 I took my own recovery, He wowed me. 58:05 All of a sudden I feel like I have more than 58:07 two brains cells and it's all because I have a God 58:09 that is crazy about me. 58:10 And remember that God is so crazy about you 58:13 and we are too. 58:15 So we will see you next time, make sure you come back 58:17 and make sure until then you take care of yourself, 58:20 every part of yourself, get outside and talk to God. 58:23 Bye! |
Revised 2014-12-17