NAD+ Therapy For Opioid Withdrawal/Alcohol Withdrawal, & Other Bio-Hacking Methods For Recovery – Featuring Ken Starr, M.D. (Ep. 15)

Detoxing from opioids, alcohol, and other drugs do not have to be horrific experiences.

Using a powerful and natural method of detox known as NAD+ Therapy, many patients report having an easy time coming off addictive substances and a significant reduction or even total elimination of cravings.

At Ken Starr MD Wellness Group, located in the central coast area of California, patients have benefited from NAD+ Therapy for drug detox for over six years.

Dr. Starr and his team have a long history of helping patients overcome addiction, and they offer an extensive “menu” of nutrient-based therapies which sets them apart from the vast majority of addiction treatment programs.

The Story of Ken Starr MD Wellness Group

Dr. Starr trained in emergency medicine and worked full time in the ER for almost 20 years.

• Around 2010, he relocated from Eugene, Oregon to California.

• It was around this time that he started to become more and more interested in addiction medicine.

• It soon became apparent to Dr. Starr that in his community there weren’t enough choices for people to get treatment for substance use disorders.

• When a friend of his in Portland told him he had been prescribing Suboxone in his psychiatric practice, Dr. Starr’s interest was piqued.

And when Dr. Starr’s older brother died from an overdose, it just became crystal clear that he needed to be focusing on drug and alcohol treatment.

Dr. Starr started doing Suboxone prescribing around 2011 to prevent people from overdosing and dying on heroin.

Later he teamed up with a woman he met that was a counselor, in recovery, and had experience with programming and running groups, and they created a company together with the goal of expanding services beyond simply prescribing Suboxone for opioid use disorder.

Ken Starr MD Wellness Group grew quickly because they were really the only people doing it in the area, they weren’t expensive, and they took great care of people.

And that’s how things started.

• Fast forward 8 or 9 years, and now they’re the largest drug and alcohol program in the county, and it’s possible that they’re the biggest in all of the three surrounding counties as well.

• They currently have a 4,000 square foot building, hundreds of patients, and a great reputation.

Over the years, Dr. Starr has become board certified in addiction medicine twice, he became a fellow in the American Board of Addiction Medicine, and their company got CARF-accredited and state licensed.

Dr. Starr got started with and continues to use the traditional treatment pathway, but several years ago their main focus became “Bio-Hacking Recovery,” giving people alternative treatments like NAD+ Therapy, IV Nutrient Therapy, as well as educating patients on nutrition, exercise, meditation, supplementation, and other alternative modalities for addiction recovery.

Dr. Starr has even taken the biochemical domain of recovery a step further by formulating a line of premium supplements called CLEAN, which can help patients accelerate recovery and feel their best faster.

• Click here to visit GetCleanSupplements.com, and Dr. Starr created a special coupon code for podcast listeners to save 10% off their entire order.
• Simply enter the coupon code Elevation while you’re checking out to get the discount.

Dr. Starr’s treatment facility is unique in this respect because there are not a lot of people doing what they’re doing.

There simply isn’t a lot of money in it, as the main way to make money is in residential treatment, which some people absolutely need, however, there is also a superabundance of people that do very well using outpatient or intensive outpatient treatment, which is what Ken Starr MD Wellness Group offers.

Learning About NAD+ Therapy

Around 2013, Dr. Starr had a patient who stated they were going to do Brain Restoration Therapy in Lousiana.

After the patient returned home from his treatment, he was detoxed, felt great, didn’t have cravings, and said it was from his NAD+ treatment. The patient encouraged Dr. Starr to learn about this type of therapy.

Dr. Starr was skeptical when he first heard about NAD+, but he made some calls and was able to talk a man named Dick Metsayer, who is known in the small NAD community as “The Grandfather of NAD in America.”

• After learning about NAD+ Therapy from Dick Metsayer, Dr. Starr said: “Tell me how to do it!”

• But Dick said, “Oh no… if you want to learn NAD you gotta come here to learn.”

• And even though Dr. Starr was extremely busy with his own treatment program, he went to Springfield, Louisiana that summer, and what he saw changed his life.

• Dick was detoxing patients off opioids, alcohol, methamphetamines — even patients on over 100 mg of methadone — who were feeling fine during the process.

After he was mentored in NAD+ Therapy, Dr. Starr brought this new knowledge and skillset back to California and integrated NAD+ into their treatment program, and in doing so giving them the honor and reputation of being the longest-running NAD+ program on the West coast.

And from that point on to present day, NAD+ is the staple of their detox program due to NAD’s powerful ability to relieve withdrawal and accelerate recovery… 100% naturally.

Diving Deep into the Science of Bio-Hacking Recovery

So NAD was the first alternative treatment that they integrated, but then Dr. Starr became more and more interested in the nutritional and metabolic aspects of recovery, and this curiosity and passion led him down a new path where he began learning about Myer’s Cocktails, B12 shots, ATP deficiency, and other biochemical and nutrient-based therapies for addiction recovery and brain repair.

Dr. Starr likes to use these nutrient-based healing modalities because they help people rebuild their “neurochemistry soup” a lot faster than if they just let the brain heal on its own time, which can be a very slow and painful process without these interventions.

Nowadays Dr. Starr’s treatment center offers IV vitamins, glutathione, Myer’s Cocktails, and other nutrient-based therapies in addition to NAD+, while still providing traditional methods of detox, outpatient and intensive outpatient treatment, Suboxone, and more.

Now they have people coming in from all over the country to get treatment… and their success stems from a combination of meeting people where they’re at, giving them customized treatment protocols based on the person’s needs/desires/resources, and providing compassionate person-centered care.

Here are some of the main topics discussed in this episode:

• NAD+ mechanisms of action
• Theories on why NAD+ helps for drug and alcohol detox
• The origin of NAD+ therapy
• NAD+ deficiency from alcohol consumption
• REAL NAD+
• Nasal Spray Pure NAD+ Coenzyme 1

• Individualized treatment protocols for opioid use disorder
• Medication-assisted treatment options for opioid use disorder
• Opioid-Induced Endocrinopathy
• Switching over from methadone to Suboxone
• Supplements for tapering off methadone, Suboxone, Subutex, Zubsolv, etc.
• Elimidrol

• Reward Deficiency Syndrome
• Kratom properties, risks, addiction, and withdrawal
• “The dose is what makes the poison”
• Taking “dopamine holidays”

• The need for insurance reform to help patients have easier access to treatment
• Importance of being mindful of the different treatment options available
• Importance of having support while going through addiction and while getting help

• The difficulty of chronic pain patients that really need opioids to get the right opioid and dosage due to the latest CDC opioid prescribing guidelines
• Ketamine infusions for pain relief
• Benefits of looking for and trying non-opioid and natural therapies for chronic pain

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• KenStarrMD.com
• GetCleanSupplements.com
• Ken Sarr MD YouTube Channel
• Springfield Wellness Center

Follow Ken Starr MD Wellness Group on Social Media:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter

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