Dr Charles Sophy Addiction Specialist and Janice Min Joins Dr Oz today - Country music star and recovering prescription drug addict Mindy McCready shares her tragic story on skyrocketing to fame, plummeting to the lowest lows, and struggling to get her life back.
Dr Oz Prescription Drug Epidemic
Celebrity Pill Popping: Hollywood’s addiction problem hits home. Prescriptions drugs are now the leading cause of fatal overdoses. The deadly epidemic prescription drugs, Dr oz today there is a medical crisis in Hollywood, a self inflicted epidemic that is killing some of our biggest celebrities. In just the past three years, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith all died suddenly and without warning. Each of them died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Medications legally prescribed by doctors. Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley all suffered from addiction to prescription pills that took their lives.
Not all prescription addictions end tragically, stars like Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew Perry and Kerry Fischer checked into rehab to overcome their addiction to prescription drugs and get clean.
Dr Oz Prescription For Addiction
Dr Charles Sophy said that the biggest issue is people have issues, people have problems and life is tough and you can get these drugs this is the problem, these drugs are available. These prescription drugs are not just available from doctors, they are available on the internet, their available on the street and that is a huge problem.
Doctors have access to patients, and patients have access to doctors, and patients go shopping for doctors. They have multiple doctors and get access to numerous prescriptions to carry on an addiction. Celebrities can see one doctor, plus another doctor, plus they have a manager to get them the drugs they need, plus they people around them getting the medication they need.
Dr Oz's insights on a couple of different medications are most commonly abused are
1. opioids
2. Depressants
3. Stimulants
They are not abused by celebrities in Hollywood, these drugs are used all across the nation. Prescription drug over abuse is the leading cause of all fatal drug overdoses in the country.
Dr oz asked Janice Min if drug abuse is getting worse across the country, and her reply was it is publicized more now because we live in a 24/7 celebrity media culture now, there is more exposure.
Then Mindy joined Dr Drew in celebrity rehab and worked hard and kicked her habit and turned her life around. After an 8 year hiatus and drug free Mindy is on the comeback trail with a new album "I'm Still Here".
Dr Oz Mindy McCready Prescription Drug Abuse
Dr Oz asked Mindy how the pressure pushed her towards substance abuse, and Mindy said the pressure was immense on many levels. The one she has not talked about the most was the pressure to be thin. The first medication that Mindy took was prescribed by a doctor was diet medication.
Dr oz asked Mindy with all the pressures, what was it like to have things happen in your life that make it easy to do the wrong thing.
Mindy McCready was arrested for possessing Oxycodone(OxyContin), and Dr oz asked her what it was like to hit rock bottom and what made the "change" for her. Mindy said
"I was in jail". She went on to say "I have been in trouble for 6 years that the legal battle has stretched on from the fraudulent prescription Oxycodone. The night I was first put in jail and not given any bail, I am not a criminal, I'm a singer, I'm no danger to society, and no danger to anyone. I din't think that would happen to me, that was the very first night I spent away from my 15 month old son. Everyday kept me going knowing I am going to get to see him anytime soon.
Finally after two months of being in jail he came to see me and he didn't know me, and there were times I felt like I wanted to die, but never as much as when I went back to cell and heard the door slam and just realized what have I done, what have I become, look where I'm at. That was the moment I decided that instead of feeling like I wanted to die, I was going to change, and that I was going to do to become a better mother, a better person, and I started writing a song 'I'm Still Here'...It's healing".
Janice Min stated that there is a fascination when you look at a lot of the younger celebrities their just stuck in this pattern of attention seeking behaviour. She used Lindsay Lohan as an example. She needs this, it's almost like an addiction, her addiction is the attention she gets from behaviour that is either good or bad. Janice said there would be potentially negative stories about celebrities and the publicist and sometimes the celebrity themselves would call and ask what picture are you running.
Mindy said this is so true, there are times when we are struggling, and so humiliated, broken and hurt and would like to suffer in silence, but because of the media we can't. Once someone says something bad about you in the media, it has a snowball effect.
Dr Oz asked Dr Sophy what are the tip offs to look for are that are susceptible to these addictions.
Dr Sophy says the tips offs to look for with anybody are things like emotional problems going on in your life, financial problems, pressures, problems with your spouse, with your children, looking at your life in general, looking at your sleep pattern, look at how your eating, looking at work - do you like your work is it meaningful to you. Do you have friends, looking at how you deal with your emotions, and is your life in balance.
These are the triggers that will make you want to use, because your going to want to take away pain, your going to want to self medicate, and drugs are so easy to get.
Mandy elaborated on what Dr Sophy said; "A lot of people take a medicine, go to rehab, drink too much, go to rehab, and you think that is the issue, and necessarily that is not the the issue, it's the symptom of a much larger issue in which the reason I went to celebrity rehab was because of having codependency issues of having a very violent upbringing and I have carried that on throughout my entire life and had that in almost every relationship I ever had."
Dr Sophy said when they come to rehab their sense of self is so fragile when they come in many times don't have a sense of self in who they are and their role in life and get redefined as they get sober.
Dr Oz Adderall The Deadly Drug You Could Be Taking
Adderall successfully treats ADHD and Narcolepsy, Dr oz showed what the bottle of Adderall looks like but here is a picture of Adderall in it's different forms. Adderall is being used in different ways it's never been intended to be used like weight loss, that's where the danger lies. If it is abused and taken without the supervision of a doctor, taking Adderall could put your life in danger.
Dr Sophy told Dr Oz this drug is so rampant it isn't even funny, you can click on any internet and get it, go to any doctor and tell them "I have ADHD" and I need this drug and they give it, they think it's very safe to give.
Adderall is a very toxic drug, it's speed - It's street speed!
Dr Oz Adderall Pills That Kill
Adderall ramps up your blood pressure, raises your pulse, kills your appetite. The trade of to taking adderall is to look skinny and be happy, and that's what people get addicted to. First one pill works, then three pills then four, and you build a tolerance and after awhile your crashing when your coming off these pills, it's like having ten cups of coffee and hit a wall.
Dr Oz tried to explain the effects of drugs like Adderall through an animation and how they make you feel. How it makes an intense high that is so beautiful, so elegant you always crave more of it, and when you come down, you come crashing down.
Dr Oz says this is a big problem because people love it, it's not one of those drugs that get you feeling bad and you can take more and more of it and feel better and better by doing it.
Dr Sophy tells Dr Oz the dangers and reasons you could die from taking a drug like Adderall.
1. You could Have A Stroke
2. Your blood pressure will go up so high, you'll burst or you'll get a clot or move a clot that is in there
3. You could die because raises your pulse rate so much you will have a heart attack
4. You could die because you can go into a coma from it
Adderall is prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) and if your taking this and you don't need it and your now taking it your brain is pinging in overtime. And that frontal lobe is going to bust and your blood pressure is up, your pulse is up, your wired.
Dr Oz How To know Your Abusing The Drug
Dr oz says there are 3 questions you need to ask yourself;
1. Do you have a prescription that's yours
2. Are your friends abusing
3. Are you using it to lose weight or to stay awake
Dr Sophy says it is very hard to quit the drug because now your on a whole bunch of pills. One that worked last week, now you need 4 this week. You got to find the drug, then once your taking more and more you have to find somebody who is going to supply that to you. Any doctor hopefully will have enough sense to say "no way", but they can just doctor shop, get adderall on the internet and on the street.
Dr Sophy has many patients he prescribes it for their children, for truly diagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder that is tested and confirmed and parents are taking it. He said he will get a call saying I lost my son's adderall, or the dog ate it, it fell down the toilet. Dr Sophy says it's a controlled substance and the prescription is for 30 days and that's it.
