In this episode, Chris Scott interviews Tricia Lewis, host of the very popular Recovery Happy Hour Podcast. Tricia discusses how she got hooked on alcohol, how she quit, and shares her fascinating views on issues pertinent to addiction recovery today.
***After this episode, Tricia invited Chris to give a nutrition workshop at her retreat in Dallas on January 3-5, 2020. This is an exclusive event with only 30 spots, so be sure to sign up here before it sells out!!
Here are the main topics and resources discussed in this episode:
- Drinking as both a coping mechanism and a genetic predisposition
- How we conceptualize post-acute withdrawal
- Combining AA with therapy and other strategies
- How to leverage the “digital recovery revolution” for sustained progress – podcasts, websites, Facebook groups, etc.
- How Tricia was able to avoid relapsing when she got very close
- The biochemical vs psychological factors involved in alcohol addiction
- How to have a balanced and self-compassionate approach to life after quitting drinking
- How the younger generations view non-drinking as a “wellness choice,” in turn helping to expand the Recovery Revolution
- Recovery Elevator Podcast
- Recovery Happy Hour Podcast
- ***Beyond The Bottle Retreat in Dallas (Click Here to sign up – after the podcast, Tricia invited Chris Scott to give a workshop on nutrition!!)
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hey tricia. I have been sober for around 6 months. your podcast has become a part of my Recovery (as well as many others and many books i stay tuned into) especially since quarantine. I find you extremeIy honest and I highly respect that. I listened to your podcast this morning with Rusty. I too participated in (I believe) the same treatment center in Indy that Rusty did (Fairbanks).
the reason I am reaching out to you, besides thanking you, is because detox is a hot button buzz word for me around recovery because my struggle with alcohol is extremely complicated by the extreme physical addiction my body experienced. I heard you too talk about your personal experience with it and the way I hear it described from most, with all due respect, sounds like a different experience.
my ammunition, my tool box, is service- I crave to be seen and to be seen back- connection. I have relapsed 3 times. I have learned from each. I have attended 30 days inpatient at Betty Ford Hazeldon, 6 weeks at Fairbanks IOP (the bomb!!!), 90 in 90, then weekly AA meetings- took what worked for me, thanked them, stayed engaged, but passed on parts of it such of sponsors (flew out to park city to be certified in Nikki Myers Y12SR (AA + Yoga) and lead live and Zoom Recovery meetings. I had the overwhelming honor of being asked to teach yoga (my native love language) to our attendees at at the 56th International Women’s Conference (fellow women celebrate no booze) early morning, as the sun rose over our baseball field next door to our downtown Indianapolis gathering of bad ass women. Hugs, tears, and sincerity was how they lavished me with thanks. My point in citing all this, is I have had the privilege of talking to MANY in recovery.
But in all of this only a few can relate to the intense physical fuckery alcohol put me through.
I worry that this isn’t being talked about for two reasons:
1. isolation and lonliness are a couple of the worst early recovery offenders and I fear some aren’t sharing their real story because it doesn’t sound like the recovery story of others around them (they feel different, they feel worse off, they feel more SHAME)
2. Because my physical addiction was so bad my seizure-like shakes would scare anyone I let see (and for that reason, I didn’t let them, I stayed hidden). my physical addiction absent of alcohol meant I couldn’t function… 2-3 days spent shaking, vomiting, and at the worst times seeing those things I knew weren’t there. you may be asking, WHY? why did you let yourself get that bad?!
BECAUSE MY TRUTH SCARED PEOPLE, AND IT SCARED ME.
I have gone through two medical detoxes and let me tell you, it was like the angels flying down and wrapping their wings around me. They had me safely medicated, monitored, and HELD. ALL of that medical staff had once been a patient, they told me. and they were now back working with them to help others like me. Ahh… they see me 🙂 As a nurse, I knew what those readings meant as they had me hooked up. my BP during detox was the level that when working in ICU I would have yelled for help. And I had put myself through this alone TWICE, feeling like I was dying, and I was.
My fear of my second concern is that women who experience that physical addiction CANNOT detox alone and because they aren’t talking about how much they have to drink everyday just to get out of bed, literally, on shaking legs, to get up and make it to the bathroom and not land on the floor… and make the family breakfast (that takes not only not shaking but steadiness so we are about 4 drinks in here). my fear is that she is not getting validation that her pain is real, it fcking hurts, her BODY is not interested in cooperating anymore. AND that NOBODY can go on like her. and that is the message she needs to hear…. NOBODY can endure this because your body will literally stop, it will die. and still, out of fear, these women suffer alone. it fcking breaks my heart.
So Tricia, if you ever want to collaborate to hear more about the extremes of detox, i hold this topic close to my heart. NOBODY should feel shame that their bodies have sketched a hard line in the sand. As part of the Recovery community, even if this is not a pain we have personally felt, it is our duty as brothers and sisters on this war, to let them know,
YOUR PAIN IS REAL
YOUR LIFE MATTERS MORE THAN THIS PAIN
WE WILL COME GET YOU
I thank you for all your light and service.
Namaste,
Kim Walts