Peter’s Story – $600,000 of Rehabs Before Dr Sponaugle Stopped Peter’s Heroin Craving in Five Days
The holes toward the top of Peter’s brain scan are “dopamine holes.” Peter inherited a super COMT gene that causes a localized dopamine deficiency in the right prefrontal cortex, above the right eye. Peter “chased dopamine” through dopaminergic drugs to “feel normal.”
Peter was referred to Dr. Rick Sponaugle and Florida Detox® at age 28, he had a 16 year history of abusing Oxycontin, Heroin, Cocaine and Vodka – pretty much everyday of his life from age 12 years old. Peter’s family had spent $500,000 on “famous” addiction treatment centers in Arizona, California and New York. Yet, Peter had never abstained from drugs or alcohol more than four days since age 12 unless he was “locked up” in a rehab center.
Sadly, Peter was misdiagnosed by ill-knowledgeable psychiatrists working throughout America’s famous treatment centers. They continuously misdiagnosed Peter as a drug addict. Dr. Sponaugle diagnosed multiple brain chemistry issues in Peter that were causing his outrageous drug abuse.
Some were inherited like the localized dopamine deficiency seen on Peter’s brain scan, others he had acquired through various mechanisms. In all, Dr. Sponaugle treated over fifty biochemical deficiencies and imbalances which stopped Peter’s Heroin craving in just five days.
Peter also had multiple food allergies and a working diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis from his NYU doctors. He had a severely toxic gut with leaky gut syndrome from the excessive steroids and antibiotics his New York doctors had prescribed for his Ulcertative Colitis. Their Big Pharma regimen had actually exacerbated Peter’s intestinal inflammation.
Steroids and antibiotics actually worsen LGS, leaky gut syndrome, they cause increased intestinal permeability and subsequently even more antibody attack on proteins that look like or mimic our body tissue, this we call autoimmunity. Both steroids and antibiotics cause intestinal overgrowth of Candida and Klebsiella, then their toxins cause multiple biochemical imbalances and deficiencies of brain chemicals.
Peter suffered severe serotonin deficiency and taurine deficiency because of his toxic and inflamed gut, deficiency of these two calming brain chemicals produces over activity in the brain’s emotional center, thus, Peter used Heroin to calm excessive activity in his emotional center and for it’s dopamine stimulating effect on the dopamine deprived prefrontal cortex he inherited.
After Peter’s 16 years of drug abuse, multiple rehabs and abstinence of no more than four days, Dr. Rick Sponaugle used this type of scientific analysis and treatment to stop Peter’s drug and alcohol craving in just five days. When Dr Sponaugle explains the biochemical basis for addiction in his family workshop, it becomes obvious to the entire family that you can’t correct these biochemical causes of craving with counseling anymore than you can talk your way out of diabetes.
Steve Sponaugle, Research Director at Florida Detox®, recommended herbal medicines that Dr. Sponaugle used to heal Peter’s Ulcerative Colitis. Peter no longer needs to totally shut down his immune system with 60 mgs a day of Prednisone that was prescribed by his New York gastroenterologist. He no longer suffers symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis because his food alergies were properly diagnosed for the first time when he came to Florida Detox® & Wellness Institute.
Peter’s Testimony:
It was Sunday April 27th, 2008, a day before my arrival at Florida Detox® and Wellness Institute. My girlfriend left me a week ago. The bank account was in the red and all the credit cards were maxed out. I had been flying high on a three-day rampage, devouring frightening amounts of crack and heroin. The house reeked of sour beer, stained with the horrid aroma of crack ash and scorched aluminum. Toxic sweat seeped from my pores, and pasted the clothes against my flesh. My face had been whittled to the bone and revealed a skull covered by a layer of sheer, grey, weathered skin. My eyes balls were glazed over and dry as rust. They stung from the stabbing strain of anxiety. My pupils swelled and stretched beyond their limits. My appearance alluded to the dark hollowness of my spiritless heart. My nerves imprisoned my ligaments and tendons while gnawing at the backs of my eyes. My stomach smothered itself and slurped on its own acids & bile. I franticly paced back and forth, peering out through the cracks in the blinds. A state of drug induced paranoid psychosis had crippled my mind. Periods of hallucinatory panic overwhelmed my reality. Thoughts screamed through my mind at decapitating speeds: Should I go? If I don’t go, what the hell am I going to do? …Die?????? I bet they’re no different from all the other places out there: “meetings, sponsor, work the 12 Steps, Blahh, Blahh, Blahh.” I‘ve heard that a million times, NO THANKS!!!! And they said painless detox? Yeah right! And my name is Santa who? Ohh…this sucks. I am f*&$ing hopeless. Once a junkie, now a junkie, die a junkie. I am such a useless idiot. I can’t do a damn thing right. I would %$# up free ice cream! Oh my god, ohh, I hate my life. I just want to be NORMAL… Is that too much to ask? Is it? I’ll give anything, just please, please help!!!
FAST FORWARD-> -> ->
Today is Tuesday April 28th 2009, a date that I was sure I would never see. I entered Florida Detox® and Wellness Institute exactly one year ago today. As you can imagine I was in pretty bad shape, probably just days away from the unimaginable??? When I came to FL Detox and Wellness Institute I was ingesting 25+ bags of heroin a day and 60-80mg of methadone. And to top things off I had a scary crack/cocaine obsession. This so-called “habit,” as I used to call it, was costing over $400 to maintain. Before I go on any further, I would first like to tell you a little bit about my pilgrimage.
My addiction first sprouted at the age of 12. C’mon, you remember those times being young and foolish raiding your parent’s alcohol stash with friends? Yeah well, little did I know that I was embarking down a treacherous path of doom and despair? At the age of 13, my mother found the first bag of weed I had ever purchased (Looking back, I should of known right from the start). But anyway, after that incident my parents took DRASTIC measures. They immediately labeled me as an addict and made me go to an outpatient group therapy program. They also revoked my privileges and denied me of any interaction with friends outside of school. I attended group therapy twice a week and also met individually with a psychologist. My addiction by this point had progressed on to the likes of LSD, mushrooms, mescaline, dust and ecstasy. It continued to gather strength despite all efforts made by my parents. As things worsened and fear grew, my mother sought out a new outpatient group and counselor. This marked the beginning of a long and pricey route to a deeply disappointing truth: Today’s Addiction Treatment greatly lacks the discoveries and scientific advancements achieved by most medical sciences over the past century. In fact, it has hardly changed since Bill W. and Dr. Bob founded Alcoholics Anonymous 70 years ago.
*Today, you will pay anywhere from $30,000-$60,000 to go to the so-called “Top Inpatient Program in the nation” (FYI – they all make that claim). Okay, that’s ridiculous to begin with, but check this out; the real kicker is what you get for that hefty price tag. For $30,000–$60,000 you get to hideout for a month, and be told to work the following plan:
Your Keys to Recovery
(1) Go to AA Meetings
(2) Get a tenured Sponsor
(3) Work the 12 Steps
(4) Support System / Structured Schedule / Stay Connected
(5) Eliminate old People, Places, and Things / ID other triggers
(6) Healthy Diet/Nutrition/Meds / Daily Exercise Regimen
(7) Prayer, Meditation, and other techniques to De-Stress.
(8) Continuing Care (talk therapy, education etc.)
That summarizes today’s “BEST” approach in treating addiction. Notice anything ironic about this claim? Yeah, you guessed it…It has been the BEST approach for the last 70 years! Why is that? Who do you think manages most of the programs out there? Exactly, people whom either used AA to get sober, or who studied it in school. Sadly, it is all they know and god for bid they read about new studies and current trends???
Now you may say “wait a minute, what about all the other rehab programs such as Dual Diagnosis, Holistic, Christian, Individualized, Equine, Acupuncture, Spiritual, Luxury, Wilderness, Light, Continuing Care, Halfway House, Opiate Maintenance, and Behavioral?”
Okay, let me give you an example of what I mean. I’m sure you have noticed that many Rehabs rave about their unique ability to be able to tailor a treatment program based on the individuals needs? This is their idea of “uniquely tailored”: Johnny needs 3 meetings a day, and Jimmy needs 1 meeting a day. The bottom line is that all of those fancy names and scientific terms can be simplified down within those eight keys. I can assure you that 99% of all the rehabs out there will not offer you a different or better recovery plan. And if you have any doubts? By all means, go right ahead and get your checkbook out…
Before you go and blow all that money, let me finish telling you about the basis of my outrageous and preposterous claims. During my 16 years as an addict, I have seen 30+ therapists, ranging from your everyday psychologists, on to rare hypnotists, and even up to the lofty heights of the overpriced, top Psychiatric Addiction Directors. $305 gets you 15 maybe 20 minutes, in front of the top, Substance Abuse Psychiatrist at MUSC, a premier Medical Research University/Hospital in the Southeast. I, for instance, left his office with a prescription for an extremely low dose of Lexapro, and an appointment to return the next month. It was more than 6 months and $2,000 before he increased the dose of Lexapro to an acceptable therapeutic level!!!
I have been involved in over 15 different outpatient groups including IOP, (intensive outpatient) which would meet for four hours, five times a week. I have suffered in a handful of detox facilities and even tried various risky self-detox methods. One time I was using 800mg-960mg of oxycontin a day and tried doing a self-detox with suboxone…. Umm…. Yeaah, BIG Mistake!!!
Finally, last and by no means least, I have gone to five of the so-called “Top Inpatient Programs” in the nation including Pavillon, Clearbrook Lodge, and Daytop. My family wasted over $500,000 in therapy fees only to be told the same thing over and over, “Go to meetings, get a sponsor, eat healthy, exercise….” No Joke. Quite often, residential programs have patients like myself who come along and have a particularly difficult time withdrawing from the substances. The first three weeks of my stay at Pavillon (6 week program) were spent being bed ridden and suffering from the remnants of the detox. The rest of my stay was supposed to be focused on catching up on missed work. In actuality, it was spent struggling with severe biological imbalances that impacted everything from my energy levels and sleep cycles to my digestion and lack of focus. What made matters worse was the impending fate of the tsunami like cravings.
Do you know what I was told when I requested a medical revaluation? “Pete, you are an addict, who has been clean for only a short period of time.” “It is going to be difficult but you gotta remember that it will pass.” “Just follow the twelve steps, find a good home group, and make sure you get involved.” “Take it one day at a time!”
Sadly, I was shot full of dope two days later…
Now if you are anything like me, and do not want to spend your precious free time going to dark, dreary, mundane meetings, full of fearful people whom are, quite frankly, watching life pass them by, then you will agree:
“There has got to be a healthier, happier, more medically effective treatment to combat addiction???” I mean come on people! It’s the 21st century, the age of the Iphone, Barack Obama, and the Large Hadron Collider!
ENTER-> -> -> FLORIDA DETOX® & WELLNESS INSTITUTE
After 16 years of impending doom, the moment of truth had arrived…
Had all my years of deceitful sins finally caught up??? My girlfriend and I both knew that this was going to be the last chance for freedom. My mortality had arrived; I felt it piercing through, obliterating the self-righteous facade of my powerful, important and insanely obsessed ego. Astonishingly, my mortality revealed a young, fearful child who cried out for love and appreciation…
Suddenly, I jolted up out of the bed realizing I had been dreaming. I looked around slowly as I gained my focus bracing myself for the onslaught of the deafening vertigo and the paralyzing trembles that usually accompanied mornings without drugs??? A nurse knocked at the open door “Mr. Peter I have your breakfast, sir?” I motioned with my hand to come in. The smell of maple syrup made my mouth water, quickly alerting my starved stomach that food had arrived. I thought to myself “oh what the heck, let’s give it a shot.” Upon finishing breakfast, I decided to stand up. I slowly swung my legs over to the tile floor. I was positive that my blood pressure would fall out and ax down the shockingly sober presence that had graced me. Nope… Wow not even a slight head throb. Damn. My back was not even the slightest bit stiff. I knew what it was… they had not detoxed me yet. OK now it made sense. Nurse, Nurse, when uhm, are you going to do the detox procedure??? Pete, we already did it… You were out for a little over 24 hours. It went great, your labs look good, you are a little dehydrated but we are going to get some saline going here in a minute. If you want, you can go down and smoke a cigarette in the courtyard. Holy @#$%ing %$it!!!!!! I cannot believe it. I gotta pinch myself. Is this for real???
FAST FORWARD-> -> -> THE PRESENT
Well that was a year ago, and today I still have to pinch myself. I have been sober for one year. It may not sound like a lot to some of you, but when you consider the fact that over the past 16 years I had never been clean for more than four days…it is quite an achievement. Dr. Sponaugle and the rest of the team at Florida Detox® and Wellness Institute are fearless pioneers in the addiction business. Utilizing the latest research and technology available, they have devised a scientific treatment method that has an instant and profound effect on the entire mind, body, and soul. With extensive expertise in biological neuroscience, Dr. Sponaugle and the team are able to accomplish the results needed for sobriety in a very, very short time. What are the results? They will eliminate your cravings, stabilize your mood, sharpen your mind, and recharge your body so that you feel healthy, rested, motivated and alive. In addition to the drug and alcohol detox, they will cleanse your body of other harmful toxic impurities such as Candida. Following extensive lab tests they will replenish your body with the essential hormones, enzymes, vitamins and nutrients needed to sustain a healthy lifestyle. Drug and alcohol abuse takes a toll on the body and poses risks for many other illnesses. I, for example, had been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I saw four different specialists up and down the east coast and none of them could explain why I got it, how it could be treated or how it could be prevented. They said it was just “one of those things that had to run its course.” Florida Detox® and Wellness Institute did some testing of their own and sure enough, uncovered the fact that I had a severe reaction to turkey and eggs (FYI – I had eaten them daily). They also found that yeast was preventing my body from absorbing the vital nutrients needed to support healthy system processes. Finally, they discovered that I was missing an entire category of essential digestive bacteria in my large intestine. Today I can tell you that it has been one year without any recurrence’s of the colitis or any other digestive problems.
Look, the bottom line is that they cared about me. Because of them, I am ever so humbly grateful. Because of them, I know the Lord. Because of them, I have an extraordinary relationship with a beautiful woman. Because of them, I will marry her next spring. Because of them I will be a grateful, supportive, dependable, loving husband. Because of them, I was able to buy a home to begin our new life together in. Because of them, we are able to have kids. Because of them, I know I will be a wonderful & dedicated father. Because of them, I now enjoy real friendships. Because of them, I love and respect my family. Because of them, I have discovered and enjoy my true passions and talents. Because of them, I am comfortable & confident in my abilities and strengths. Because of them I am aware of, and am working on, my weaknesses. Because of them, I know who I am and where I am headed…
Because of Florida Detox® and Wellness Institute, I am alive!
How about you?
