Diet Drug Side Effects Are Helping With Addictions

If you're like me and struggle with self-esteem because you feel sorry you damaged your life and others with your addiction, forget about it. There's nothing wrong with your character, your morals, or your willpower. It's chemical changes in the brain that led to your cravings.

A neurologist is having some success treating cravings and addiction with ultrasound, as I blogged here August 5. Another new hope that seems to be helping people with nicotine addiction comes as a side effect of diet medications. I saw this in a news story:

"Some diabetes and weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, may help reduce nicotine cravings. These drugs contain semaglutide, a GLP-1 agonist that can reduce appetite centers in the brain. Animal studies suggest that GLP-1 agonists may also affect the brain to reduce addiction to nicotine, alcohol, and opioids. Some patients who take these drugs have reported changes in their nicotine cravings, as well as cravings for other substances and compulsive behaviors. However, more research in humans is needed to confirm that these drugs can curb addiction....

"Bupropion, which is found in medications like Wellbutrin and Zyban, is another medication that can help reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms and the urge to smoke.... Side effects may include dry mouth, trouble sleeping, anxiety, constipation, skin irritation, or dizziness, but these usually go away after about a week." (from Google Search)

 Say what???

I take notes at AA meetings. I wrote down some quotes; don't know if they are original, but they bring a smile to my face nonetheless.

"It was mind over matter, and if I didn't mind, it didn't matter." --Kim

"When I first came to AA, I thought it said 'through prayer and medication.' That's how messed up I was." --LeeAnn

"Alcohol isn't the answer, but it makes you forget the question for a while." --Chris

Faith: "Is there a procrastinators anonymous meeting?"  Chris: "I don't know, but if you find one let me know and I will be there tomorrow."

Let This Be a Sign to You 

I like Eddie. I wrote about him in my book, Corking the Bottle. Today in my AA home group meeting he made a couple points worth sharing with you.

He pointed out that on the wall of EZ Duzit where we meet are several signs. He called the sayings on them clichés, and I guess they have become that:

Live and let live

Easy does it

But for the grace of God

Think think think

First things first

He said to take the first word of each sign: Live Easy But Think First. A coincidence or intentional? Leave it to Eddie to notice. He also explained that when he sees someone he hasn't seen for a long time he reintroduces himself because he's not the same person he used to be.

Me too. I identify with that. I believe I'm a better person than I was before drinking became a problem for me. How about you? Need to reintroduce yourself? Either way, be sure to live easy but think first.

 A New Way To Treat Addiction, As Long As You're a Brain Surgeon

Addiction to drugs and alcohol isn't about weakness or immorality. We know that, right? Instead, it's caused by changes to the brain that create cravings that are difficult and eventually impossible to control. A neurosurgeon on Morgantown, West Virginia, is achieving success in ending dangerous cravings by treating the brain with ultrasound. A feature on 60 Minutes yesterday explained how it works.

First, Dr. Ali Rezai clarified what craving and addiction really are. "We've been able to map out through neuroscience imaging that there is a specific part of the brain that is electrically and chemically malfunctioning that is associated with addiction.... It's a brain disease. It's an electrical and chemical abnormality of the brain that occurs over time with recurrent use of drugs. And this can be any substance. It can be alcohol, it can be opioids, amphetamines, cocaine. And they all are involving the same part of the brain."

I think you'll find it worthwhile to see the entire segment on 60 minutes.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BGtVJ3lBdE The first part of the story deals with treating Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. That's worth watching, but to zero in on the neurological treatment of addiction, fast-forward to 13:20 of the story.

Alcohol Made Me the Rubberband Man

I drank because I thought good would come from it: an end, at least temporarily, to my depression. It worked. Drinking came with benefits, but of course, there was a steep price to pay for the good feeling.

With euphoria came blackouts, injuries, car wrecks, arrests, shakes, upset stomach... You know the morning-afters as well as I do. Every time I drank I thought I could stop before the benefits turned into bad stuff. It seldom worked that way. If two drinks could make me feel this good, four will make me feel twice as good.

I highlighted lots of texts when I read The Pursuit of Happiness by David G. Myers. For example:

"Even in the short run, emotions seem attached to elastic bands that snap us back from highs or lows. For many pleasures we pay a price, and for much suffering we receive a reward. For the pleasure or euphoria of  drug high, we pay the price of craving and increased depression when the drug wears off. For suffering through hard exercise, we afterward enjoy the dividend of a pleasing glow." (https://davidmyers.org/books/the-pursuit-of-happiness)

A footnote: "Pleasing glow? Dr. Myers apparently never ran a marathon.

It's Now Or Never -- Or Some Other Day

This was posted in an alcoholics Facebook group by someone named Abi:

“If you're actively over consuming too much alcohol everyday, but want to stop, is it helpful to set a date? I keep telling myself I'm done, then by 6pm I'm drinking again. I have a hard time calling myself an alcoholic.... I've only been "over consuming " for 11 months…. But for now I just have this question.”

Okay, so what’s your answer? Ever set a date for quitting? I think the only date I ever set was “today,” but that didn’t work out so well. Would it work to pick a future date and say that will be the last I drink?

 Serenity now!

God,

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

This is what's come to be known as the AA Serenity Prayer. According to Wikipedia, a version of the prayer was originally composed by Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the early 1930s. Initially popularized by one of his colleagues, the prayer began to spread widely. In June 1941, the prayer was published in an obituary in the New York Herald Tribune, and from there became known by the first AA group. The organization embraced it and spread it widely. We say it before every AA meeting I've ever been too, I think.

The Serenity Prayer was one of the main topics at my noon homegroup meeting yesterday, as it was the focus of the AA daily reflection. I shared that the prayer had become like a theme in my life. That's one of the benefits of being a recovering alcoholic, which I often thank God that I am.

There was a time in my professional career when I thought I knew all the answers. If anyone suggested an approach different from the one I believed was the only way to go, I argued and sometimes put others down. What's the matter with him? Didn't I make myself clear? A plus B equals C, not D. Anyone could see that.

Too bad I didn't embrace the Serenity Prayer years earlier. I couldn't change other people and I lacked the serenity of embracing that reality. I could only control my own thoughts and actions, but I didn't know the difference between what I could change and what I could not.

Ever watch Seinfeld? Serenity now!!! Check out this clip:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV26jV9danI