Recovering from Addiction

Spotlight English

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Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Alice Irrizary.

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And I’m Colin Lowther. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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Every day, Larry Harrison gets into a white van that will take him to the Potomac Street Health Clinic. There, doctors give him a small cup of rose-colored liquid. Drinking this liquid is the most important part of Harrison’s day. In it is a substance called methadone, a drug that helps manage pain. But methadone also helps people who are addicted to opioids like heroin and fentanyl. For more than ten years, Harrison used heroin. Heroin, a powerful painkiller, also causes intense feelings of pleasure. He could not stop taking it. And he used too much. His addiction ruined his life. It cost him his family, his friends, and his health.

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Harrison’s path toward recovery has been a long one. He has not taken heroin in two years, but he still longs for it. And his story is common. Fighting addiction is a struggle. It can take many years and much help. Some people never fully recover. The good news, though, is that recovery is possible.

Today’s Spotlight is on the science of addiction. But it is also on how people can recover.

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Addiction, also called substance use disorder, is a disease of the mind and body. It is when a person depends too much on something, either physically or mentally. If people are addicted to something, it feels like they cannot live without it. And it is very difficult to persuade them otherwise.

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Larry Harrison is a good example of addiction. When Harrison first started taking heroin, it was to help with his pain. But, as time went on, he felt like he needed it. He was no longer trying to reduce pain. He felt like he needed the heroin to survive. He did not care how he got it or where it came from. Before being addicted, he had a wife, two children, and a good life. But his addiction stopped him from thinking clearly about these things. His family life fell apart. He became homeless. And he spent most of his days searching for more heroin. It did not seem like there was anything else he could do.

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Doctor Tyler Cole is a doctor with the Colorado University hospital. He treats people like Harrison. He spoke to University of Colorado Health about what drugs like heroin do to the brain.

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“Your brain just becomes a slave to the drug. You cannot break free. It does not matter if you have children. It does not matter if you have willpower like iron. You cannot do it on your own. You need a whole team.”

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Heroin was unhealthy for Harrison. It changed how his mind understood the world. But addiction comes with many other related health issues. For Harrison, there was the fear of overdosing, or taking more heroin than his body could manage. It is easy to die from heroin overdose if it is not treated correctly. The drug can cause a person’s heart to slow so much that their blood stops flowing. But there are many other health-related issues with heroin. Many heroin users inject the drug, but do not use clean needles. This leads to infection and serious diseases like HIV. According to the World Health Organization, eighty percent of drug-related deaths are from drugs like heroin. That amounts to more than four hundred and eighty thousand deaths each year.

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Still, people like Harrison continue to risk their lives for drugs. Sometimes this is because drugs are pleasurable. But more often it is because they change how the brain works. Addictive drugs can replace chemicals in a person’s brain. These take the place of something the brain is already doing. When a person becomes addicted, the brain stops producing these chemicals. So the person needs the drug to feel normal.

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Being without a drug a person is addicted to can also cause sickness. This sickness is called withdrawal. Withdrawal signs are different depending on the drug, but these can be very serious. These can be painful, terrifying, and in some cases can lead to death. Christy Huff is a doctor who became addicted to the drug Xanax. She did not take it because she liked the drug. She took it to help recover from a surgery. But her body became dependent on the drug very quickly. She tried to stop taking it on her own. But her withdrawal was very difficult. In 2017 she wrote about her experiences on the website benzodiazepine information coalition.

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“I have developed new and worsening feelings. I often awake early in the morning with my heart beating hard. I shake all over with pure terror. Sometimes it is so bad I shout for God to help me. But there is only silence. Some days I am too weak to do much more than lie in bed.”

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Dr. Huff took years to fully recover from her addiction. Her withdrawal made it impossible for her to work. Often, she was too tired to care for her children. Each week she would try to take less and less of her medication. But even the smallest changes would make her very sick.

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To recover from addiction, people must recognize their addiction is harmful. But they must also make it through withdrawal. Even then, addiction is not fully over. Many addicts still want their drug, even if they do not need it anymore. This desire never really goes away. This is one reason doctors call addiction a disease. It damages the structure of the brain to make an addicted person want more.

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If you are fighting an addiction, you do not have to fight alone. Getting help is the most important part of fighting addiction – from a doctor, a social worker, a religious leader, or even an addiction group. There are many resources to help. Doctors can help you deal with the physical and mental effects of addiction. And counselors and religious leaders can help you deal with the emotional and spiritual effects. Addiction support groups can help you feel less alone.

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Fighting an addiction can feel hopeless. But there IS hope. Many people have successfully fought against their addictions! This fight does not happen all at one time. Instead, it happens one step at a time. Admitting the addiction is the first step. Getting help is the next step. And every step brings you into a new and better life.

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Have you ever dealt with addiction? How did you fight against it? We want to hear your thoughts. You can leave a comment on our website or on Youtube. You can also comment on Facebook at facebook.com/spotlightradio.

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The writer and producer of this program was Dan Christmann. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www.spotlightenglish.com. This program is called, ‘Recovering from Addiction’.

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We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program.

Goodbye.

Question:

Have you ever dealt with addiction? How did you fight against it?

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