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Recovereing from Addiction (Advanced) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Alice Sirasari and I'm Colin Lalva. Spotlight uses a
• 0:10
  special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter
• 0:17
  where in the world they live. Every day, Larry Harrison gets into a
• 0:31
  white fan that will take him to the Potomac Street Health Clinic. There,
• 0:36
  doctors give him a small cup of rose colored liquid. Drinking this liquid is
• 0:42
  the most important part of Harrison's day. In it is a substance called methadone,
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  a drug that helps manage pain, but methadone also helps people who are
• 0:54
  addicted to opioids like heroin and fentanyl. For more than ten years used heroine.
• 1:02
  Heroin, a powerful painkiller, also causes intense feelings of pleasure. He
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  could not stop taking it, and he used too much. His addiction ruined
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  his life. It cost him his family, his friends, and his health.
• 1:21
  Harrison's path toward recovery has been a long one. He has not taken
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  heroine in two years, but he still longs for it, and his story
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  is common. Fighting addiction is a struggle. It can take many years and
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  much help. Some people never fully recover. The good news, though,
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  is that recovery is possible. Today's spotlight is on the science of addiction,
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  but it is also on how people can recover. Addiction, also called substance
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  use disorder, is a disease of the mind and body. It is when
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  a person depends too much on something, either physically or mentally. If people
• 2:15
  are addicted to something, it feels like they cannot live without it, and
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  it is very difficult to persuade them otherwise. Larry Harrison is a good example
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  of addiction. When Harrison first started taking heroine, it was to help with
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  his pain, but as time went on, he felt like he needed it.
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  He was no longer trying to reduce pain. He felt like he needed
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  the heroine to survive. He did not care how he got it or where
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  it came from. Before being addicted, he had a wife, two children,
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  and a good life, but his addiction stopped him from thinking clearly about
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  these things. His family life fell apart, he became homeless, and he
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  spent most of his days searching for more heroin. It did not seem like
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  there was anything else he could do. Doctor Tyler Cole is a doctor with
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  the Colorado University Hospital. He treats people like Harrison. He spoke to University
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  of Colorado Health about what drugs like heroine do to the brain. Your brain
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  just becomes a slave to the drug. You cannot break free. It does
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  not matter if you have children, It does not matter if you have willpower
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  like iron. You cannot do it on your own. You need a whole
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  team. Heroin was unhealthy for Harrison. It changed how his mind understood the
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  world, but addiction with many other related health issues. For Harrison, there
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  was the fear of overdosing, or taking more heroine than his body could manage.
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  It is easy to die from heroin overdose if it is not treated correctly.
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  The drug can cause a person's heart to slow so much that their blood
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  stops flowing. But there are many other health related issues with heroine. Many
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  heroin users inject the drug but do not use clean needles. This leads to
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  infection and serious diseases like HIV. According to the World Health Organization, eighty
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  percent of drug related deaths are from drugs like heroin. That amounts to more
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  than four hundred and eighty thousand deaths each year. Still, people like Harrison
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  continue to risk their lives for drugs. Sometimes this is because drugs are pleasurable,
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  but more often it is because they change how the brain works. Addictive
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  drugs can replace chemicals in a person's brain. These take the place of something
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  the brain is already doing. When a person becomes addicted, the brain stops
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  producing these chemicals, so the person needs the drug to feel normal. Being
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  without a drug a person is addicted to can also cause sickness. This sickness
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  is called withdrawal. Withdrawal signs are different depending on the drug, but these
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  can be very serious. These can be painful, terrifying, and in some
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  cases, can lead to death. Christy Huff is a doctor who became addicted
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  to the drug xanax. She did not take it because she liked the drug.
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  She took it to help recover from a surgery, but her body became
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  dependent on the drug very quickly. She tried to stop taking it on her
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  own, but her withdrawal was very difficult. In twenty seventeen, she wrote
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  about her experiences on the website Benzo Diazepine Information Coalition. I have developed new
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  and worsening feelings. I often awake early in the morning with my heart beating
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  hard. I shake all over with pure terror. Sometimes it is so bad.
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  I shout for God to help me, but there is only silence.
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  Some days I'm too weak to do much more than lye in bed. Doctor
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  Hoff took years to fully recover from her addiction. Her withdrawal made it impossible
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  for her to work. Often she was too tired to care for her children.
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  Each week, she would try to take less and less of her medication,
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  but even the smallest changes would make her very sick. To recover from
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  addiction, people must recognize their addiction is harmful, but they must also make
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  it through withdrawal. Even then, addiction is not fully over. Many addicts
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  still want their drug even if they do not need it anymore. This desire
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  never really goes away. This is one reason doctors call addiction a disease.
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  It damages the structure of the brain to make an addicted person want more.
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  If you are fighting an addiction, you do not have to fight alone.
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  Getting help is the most important part of fighting addiction, from a doctor,
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  a social worker, a religious leader, or even an addiction group. There
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  are many resources to help. Doctors can help you deal with the physical and
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  mental effects of addiction, and counselors and religious leaders can help you deal with
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  the emotional and spiritual effects addiction. Support groups can help you feel less alone.
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  Fighting an addiction can feel hopeless, but there is hope. Many people
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  have successfully fought against their addictions. This fight does not happen all at one
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  time. Instead, it happens one step at a time. Admitting the addiction
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  is the first step. Getting help is the next step, and every step
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  brings you into a new and better life. Have you ever dealt with addiction?
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  How did you fight against it? We want to hear your thoughts.
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  You can leave a comment on our website or on YouTube. You can also
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  comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Spotlight Radio. The writer and producer
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  of this program was Dan Christman. The voices you heard were from the United
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  States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced
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  by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it on the
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  internet at www dot Spotlight English dot com. This program is called Recovering from
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  Addiction. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,