Women Helping Women in Addictions
Addictions
Diet No More
Jun 27th
Two months ago I listened to a women, Geneen Roth, on Oprah Winfreys show who addressed women’s compulsiveness with food. She states we are obsessed with food – in eating too much to not eating enough. I watched the program then ran out the next day and bought her book “Women Food and God” (talk about compulsive behavior). It has been over two months now and I have just opened the book. Geneen Roth’s book supports the idea of not dieting ever again. Throw out our ideas about diet along with our diet books, diet recipes, and all that diet brainwashing.
My whole life has been surrounded with a diet lifestyle and all of the latest diet fads for the year. I have tried every means in the world to loose weight. In the 60’s and 70’s it was easy to find a doctor to write you prescription’s for weight loss. I just recently found out that people are still getting shots from pregnant women’s urine. I tried this diet fad in the 70’s, the hormone shot from pregnant women’s urine – how desperate is that. The fasting diet I tried for 21 days straight, some people fast way into three to six months. The lemonade fast is another which people push off as a cleansing drink of maple syrup, cayenne pepper and lemons - this is a cleansing but is used purposely for loosing weight. A doctor put me on a prune diet, it consisted of eating 6 prunes along with water for two meals, and eating only one meal a day. Throughout the years I have tried the traditional weight loss programs as Weight Watchers, Jeannie Craig, Nutrisystem, Herbal Life, Atkins, The Zone Diet, LA Weight Loss, Mediterranean Diet, Overeaters Anonymous, and many more. Of course you can’t pass up the advertisements declaring weight loss through their carbohydrates/fat blockers, hoodia pills, protein powders, cookies, oatmeal muffins, slim drinks, and other supplements. I have food plans from various programs calculating calorie intake, carbohydrates, fats, sodium and sugar intake. For all the plans, documentation and calculations I had to maintain, you would have thought I was a bookkeeper. Don’t forget the cabbage soup diet, grapefruit diet, and hospital diets claiming weight loss of 7 to 20 pounds within days. My eating plans changed from total vegetarian meals to eating nothing but meat from the book – Eating Right for your Blood Type.
For forty years my eating and dieting lifestyle has been manic. What is the message I have been telling myself and relaying to others with this caotic lifestyle. It is not only myself that has experienced this merry-go-round, it is my four children who I took for the ride. They will interpret their own experience and may or may not be affected. How different is food and diet from any other addiction of alcohol, drugs, and gambling. In my view, there is no difference with my addiction of food and dieting than a person struggling to stay clean from drugs or alcohol. I have not lost my family, job, and friends but I could have easily lost my life.
I am a diabetic and have other health issues due to my living a unhealthy lifestyle. I can honestly say it is just currently that I am living a healthier lifestyle with exercise and eating. What is different today, like no other day, is that today and day by day I will live a Diet No More lifestyle. To all my family, friends and website followers I will blog my views, feelings, and experiences throughout each chapter of Geneen Roth’s book “Women Food and God”. I hope to hear from you with your own experiences and views on the subject of compulsive eating and dieting. Those who wish to jump on the band wagon, come on board – lets conquer this together with Dieting No More!
Alcohol is Mother’s Little Helper
Jun 9th
On April 30th ABC co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas interviewed four women struggling with alcohol in a one hour report “Mother’s Little Helper”.
Remember the song “Mother’s Little Helper” written in 1966 by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard from the Rolling Stones? The message is about drugs, and the lyrics went like this: I hear every mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
She goes running for the shelter for her mother’s little helper. And it helps her on her way to get her through her busy day. You can tranquilise your mind. And to help you through the night to minimize your plight
The four women interviewed by Elizabeth Vargas made statements similar to the lyrics of “Mother’s Little Helper”. The only difference is that the song is referring to drugs and not alcohol which each women used to tranquilise their minds to minimize their plight.
The four women came from various parts of the United States; Stephanie a mother of three from California, Mary who is celebrating 20 years of recovery, Tina a mother of two, and Lynn a fifty year old mother from Mississippi. Each woman has her story and disclosed her everyday rituals from park social hours after school to drinking at 9:30 in the morning. They hid their bottles of alcohol, pouring it into coffee mugs while driving their children to school, play dates, parks, and other activities under the influence of alcohol.
Tina is a mother of two children from Washington, D.C. who transitioned from a political career to a stay at home mom. She did not realize how much self-esteem and self-worth came from her job. Tina has difficulty in admitting she put her daughter in danger when she was under the influence of alcohol while driving. It was not until friends of Tina addressed her alcoholism that she received help.
Tina’s friends said it became apparent that Tina needed help. Tina would show up to functions inebriated, and her behavior and mannerism changed. Tina’s friends organized an intervention telling her of their own experiences with Tina’s alcohol consumption. At the end of intervention friends sent her off, with her packed bags, to a detox and rehabilitation program in Florida.
Mary who is celebrating her 20 years of sobriety and was a teacher at Harvard when her life spiraled into alcoholism. She remembers one Christmas morning she was to bake pies with the family and she choose to take a drive and consume a six pack of beer alone. Mary wrote a book “Lit” describing her bout with alcoholism and how she hid her alcoholism so well for so long from her husband, family and friends.
Mary states to Elizabeth Vargas that, “I didn’t look like somebody sleeping under a bridge. But I had this black hole in the center of me that I was pouring alcohol into. There are a lot of women who think, ‘My drinking is just not that bad.’ Feeling like every day is a nightmare that you have to trudge through is a consequence enough. You don’t need a DWI, you don’t need to go to jail, you don’t need to loose your kids. It’s enough that the highlights of your day is sitting alone drinking.”
Stephanie is a mother from California, a comedian who joked about drinking at play dates with children and other mothers. Even her husband was in denial of her drinking and stated she didn’t fit the mold of what he thought an alcoholic was. Stephanie lied to herself for so long until one day she went on her computer and admitted to her fans she had a drinking problem. She was so scared she would be rejected by her fans, and the opposite happened with letters of support and thanking her for her honesty.
Lynn is a fifty year old mother and wife with over 20 years of alcoholism. She lives in Mississippi with her adolescent children and husband. Her children have pleaded with her to get some help and are at their last straw. Cameras followed Lynn into her first five days of detox and 30 days of alcohol rehabilitation. The cameras capture the intensity of Lynn’s intoxication before she is admitted to a Florida program.
“Mother’s Little Helper” interview reveals the women’s shameful experiences with their alcohol episodes, daily rituals, and how they endangered their children’s lives. One woman states while driving the streets she would be dumping her empty bottles along the side of the road. Another describes hiding bottles of alcohol in closets, cupboards, shoes, and trash cans. Their ritual for buying the alcohol would be to make trips to various liquor stores so as not to be found out. They did not want others to know or see them drinking so they would drive around with the children drinking alcohol in their coffee mugs.
The last lyric in the song “Mothers Little Helper” is -
No more running for the shelter of a mother’s little helper
They just helped you on your way through your busy dying day
As these four women struggled in their daily lifestyle of alcoholism they came to the decision to find their way to sobriety. They too were on their way through their busy dying day. It was not until after 6 tries in recovery that Mary reached her twenty years of sobriety. Tina went back to drinking after completing the thirty day rehabilitation program and now looking for an outpatient program. Lynn is doing well and just received her four month chip of sobriety. Stephanie is doing well in her recovery.
Elizabeth Vargas reported after the one hour show “Mother’s Little Helper”, there was an overwhelming response to the show. Many viewers contacted the rehabilitation programs in Florida for help and information for themselves or a loved one. If you or someone you know has a problem with alcohol, click on one of the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers on this page. You don’t have to repeat the cycle of alcoholism.
The 12 Steps
May 21st
Since 1935, when AA was founded, there has been numerous groups formed in helping individuals with addictions, alcoholism, and various issues. The 12 steps are the stepping stones for individuals seeking recovery. Groups following the 12 step program give guidance in addressing and completing the 12 step process through meetings, step studies, and sponsors.
In 1935 Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, known as “Bill W” and “Dr. Bob”, founded Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in Akron, Ohio. A group of men came together and formed the group of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and started the anonymous tradition by using first names only. As the group grew, co-founder Bill Wilson came to the conclusion they needed something more. He was in the mist of writing the Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) - telling the stories of one hundred men on how alcohol affected their lives and how they addressed their alcoholism.
Bill Wilson along with AA members and the Oxford Group established the 12 steps and the 12 traditions. Bill Wilson and AA acknowledges the Oxford Group, a Christian Organization, as playing a part in their influencing the founders of AA in developing the 12 steps and 12 tradition. Bill Wilson attended the Oxford Group in New York in 1932 and 1933 but fell away due to their ideologies and thoughts of AA and the 12 steps.
Since the founding of AA in 1935 the 12 steps have been adopted in numerous organizations for addictions and support groups. It was not until 1953 AA gave permission for Narcotics Anonymous to use its 12 steps and 12 traditions. Groups were increasingly developing for individuals seeking help for recovery in a wide range of addictions. As groups developed and grew family members, friends, and children recognized how their loved ones addictions had affected them and were seeking help. The groups have been found to help individuals support each other through their own processes of recovery.
The Twelve Steps
Below are the 12 steps in their entirety, as originally published by AA.
- Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-That our lives had become unmanageable.
- Step 2 – Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Step 3 – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Step 4 – Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Step 5 – Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Step 6 – Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Step 7 – Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Step 8 – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- Step 11 – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
References
Alcoholics Anonymous (February 2002) Twelve Steps and Twelve Tradition. Hazelden Wikipedia (May 2010) Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
Night Terrors in Adults and Children
May 6th
Night terrors in adults and children are interrupted sleep cycle of fear and panic. Night terrors, also known as sleep terrors, are not nightmares. The difference between nightmares and night terrors is that the nightmare occurs mainly during REM sleep and the night terror happens during non-REM sleep, usually after the first hour going to sleep. Most nightmares and dreams happen during the latter part of the sleep cycle.
Night terror symptoms in adults and children are similar, the person wakes up in a state of fear and agitation. Night terrors also known as sleep terrors can last 15 to 30 minutes. Usually the person has no knowledge of the night terror episode, however, others have reported from memory their night terrors.
Night Terrors are sleep disorders which affect adults, children and adolescents in different ways. Some adolescents grow out of night terrors as others will endure them most of their lives. Research studies stress that adult night terrors are less common than in children night terrors. There seems to be a large community of adults, suffering from night terrors, who would differ with the studies. Many adults are using the websites for support and help for finding answers in stopping their night terrors. Many of them have not sought professional help due to their embarrassment and not wanting to be labeled as crazy.
Adults and their family members report mild to extreme symptoms during night terror episodes. Besides symptoms of sweating, rapid heart rate, scared, confused, panicky, screaming, and crying some have night terror accidents. Night terror accidents range from bruises and cuts to jumping out of windows, breaking limbs, and other injuries while experiencing a night terror.
Night terror sufferers are looking at the triggers that may bring on their episodes. Triggers are bedtime schedules, over-tiredness, sleeping patterns, meals, drinking, stress, and other lifestyle changes. Some adults have sought psychotherapy, and other professional help and found the night terror episodes at a decline. Others have looked into homeopathy and other alternative therapies for the answers. I myself have found hypnotherapy as the answer in stopping my son’s night terrors.
Mother’s Heroin Addiction!
Apr 20th
Lisa Ling, an ABC News Commentator, is sitting in a middle class suburban kitchen interviewing a woman heroin addict. Mary sits in the kitchen looking beyond the kitchen glass doors viewing her four year old daughter at play. Throughout the interview, Mary is trying to convey the difficulties she has embarked upon to quit her seven year heroin addiction.
Mary grew up in the small town of Plymouth, Ohio, a population of 1,800. When Lisa asked a community member how a small town can be having problems with heroin addiction, he replied, “There’s not one person, in the community, who has not be touched by this addiction”.
It is difficult to understand Mary’s addiction, especially being a twenty four year old mother and pregnant. Mary is five months pregnant and continues with her addiction because of her unborn child. A pregnant woman cannot stop heroin, cold-turkey, because the unborn child is addicted and will die. Mary was receiving methadone treatment but chose to stop and continue with her heroin addiction.
Lisa is interviewing Mary as the video shows her shooting up her veins with heroin in various parts of her body; thighs, fingers, chest and feet. Mary tells of her daily routine of waking up with sweats and sickness at 4:00 am, taking her heroin shot, returning to sleep for another four hours, taking her next fix, and eventually driving to Columbus to buy heroin.
Mary tells of numerous mothers strung out on heroin, mothers in their 20’s 30’s and 40’s. She knows her daughter and unborn child deserves better, and she wants better for them. Mary and her mother are optimistic and continue looking for a drug addiction program for herself.
There are no detox centers or any long term drug programs available in her county. Soon after the interview Mary and her mother appeared on Oprah, where she was offered treatment … she accepted.
Understanding Women’s Addiction
Apr 10th
The growing affects of alcohol and drug addiction amongst the women population is creating an epidemic. Addiction has been present among women for centuries, and continues on into the 21st century. There is a different impact of addiction among women than men psychological and physiologically. Addictions in women are severe and cross over to their children, families and communities.
Women been diagnosed for years with depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). The difference now is, women are being diagnosed, rather than put into asylums and claimed as being insane, as they once where. However, women with mental health issues are continuing to be treated with drugs. The mental health problems are more prevelent in the women population than in men. Because there is a higher diagnosed-rate with woman than in men, it only comes to reason why more women are prescibed drugs more often.
Women’s addictions are being legally resolved with prescriptions therefore, solutions and strategies to overcome the problems of their addictions are never sought out. Women are putting their total trust into the hands of their doctors, medical establishments, and pharmaceuticals. The prescription drugs over the years are changing due to the pharmaceutical campaign on drugs. This also plays a large part in the war against women’s addictions. There has to be a stronger campaign for women in recovering from addictions than there is for legal prescription drugs.
Alan I Leshner, Ph.D, Director of National Institute on Drug Abuse stated “drug abuse and addiction are among the most pressing health and social issues facing our nation, posing serious health risks and often tragic consequences for those who are afflicted and for their families and communities.”
Dr. Leshner also states that most prevention and treatment programs are developed on men’s characteristics and needs. Because women are under- represented in research, and studies, the effects of women’s addictions are not understood compared to men.