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Transcript

Injecting Wellness: How the Peptide Industry Is Targeting People in Recovery · Recovering Out Loud

0:00
So you just get sober, You're looking for answers, you're
0:03
tired, you're going through post acute withdrawal syndrome or
0:07
pause and things are tough. You're looking for answers.
0:11
You're looking for solutions to the way you feel.
0:14
You're not sleeping enough. You're you know, you feel fat or
0:17
out of shape because of all the poor behaviors and addiction and
0:20
all the poor choices you had been making.
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And people start talking to you about a simple solution to all
0:27
your problems and it's, you know, it's effective.
0:31
And you see these influencers posting on social media.
0:34
It's peptides. This is the new thing now where
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everybody is telling you that you can solve all of your
0:40
problems by sticking a needle in your stomach and buying it
0:43
online. And it's easy to get and buy my
0:45
product and get a discount code and it's cheap and this and
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that. I'm going to talk about peptides
0:49
today. I'm not going to talk about the
0:51
science behind each one. I'm not going to explain exactly
0:54
what each individual one does. I am not going to promote them
0:58
here. I am not anti peptide.
1:01
I want to make this clear, but I am not propeptide either.
1:03
Lord knows I've put ridiculous amounts of unknown chemicals
1:08
into my body. I want to do this episode to
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promote awareness about the dangers of peptides and putting
1:14
in unknown, untested on FDA approved products and maybe how
1:19
you can get you can look for other ways to find your healing,
1:23
your to find your peace, to find your quiet, to find your
1:28
contentedness in sobriety because let's be honest, this is
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a low hanging fruit in our life today in our society, a lot of
1:34
people are promoting them and they work.
1:37
That's a lot of them do work and that's the the dangerous
1:39
dichotomy and problem here is that we want to look for quick
1:43
solutions. Recovery and addiction is as an
1:46
addict, I'm looking for quick fixes.
1:48
I'm looking for the microwave mentality, the pill that's going
1:51
to fix all my problems and that's what I've been doing for
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so long. So when I come into recovery and
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you tell me that this simple vial is going to fix my eating
1:59
problem or my sleep problem, or my beauty problem, my skin
2:03
problem, whatever the problem is, it's a low hanging fruit.
2:06
I want it. I want quick fixes, I want
2:09
solutions. So let's get into it.
2:11
We're going to talk about peptides and I want to raise
2:14
awareness about them. This is not a scientific
2:16
podcast. I'm not a scientist, a doctor.
2:18
I'm just going to tell you my experience.
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I've tried many peptides before. I've tried many performance
2:24
enhancing drugs and steroids. As a result, I am still on
2:27
testosterone replacement therapy today because of all the steroid
2:31
use I had exhibited in my past. And now my body is used to the
2:36
hormone and the artificial insemination, if you will, of
2:41
testosterone. So now I have to take exogenous
2:44
testosterone to keep my levels stable because anyone knows with
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low testosterone, it is miserable.
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It's a horrible place to be when your hormones are out of whack.
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And so let's dive into it. So what these influencers, these
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people that are taking peptides don't mention is that it's
3:01
unapproved. A lot of them.
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There's no long term human data for a lot of them.
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And the financial ties to the product.
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I get money when you use my discount code and buy my
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peptides. You're seeing a lot of this on
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social media, a lot of influencers that are paid by
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these peptide companies, these third party labs in quotation
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marks when it's just a guy in his basement producing it.
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People in recovery are being specifically targeted by this
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industry and most of us don't even realize it because it's
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like I said in the open, it's a quick fix for a lot of us.
3:30
It'll solve a lot of our or seemingly solve a lot of our
3:33
issues that we're dealing with. We get sober now we're tired, we
3:36
get sober and now we're feeling fat, we're feeling out of shape,
3:40
we're feeling less than. It's filling that God's eyes
3:42
hole temporarily. So it's we grasp for it.
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We want quick fixes like I said. So you come into recovery and
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you're feeling a low energy flat mood, you're getting hard,
3:53
having a hard time getting feeling motivated towards things
3:56
that used to motivate you. And it's biology.
3:59
It's pause. Like I said, it's post acute
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withdrawal syndrome. The pause is real.
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The brain genuinely takes time to regulate the suffering here
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creates a search and a market. The Wellness industry knows
4:12
this. It's not accidental that
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recovery spaces are being targeted.
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People you're seeing recovery influencers promote these
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products as well. People who are desperate to feel
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better, faster or easier to sell to.
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I was that person. I understand the poll.
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This is how I relapsed. I got into steroids and I didn't
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tell anybody that I was searching for external
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solutions. I always say this, but I use
4:33
external things outside things to change, fix my insides.
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The influencer ecosystem, so massive podcast hosts, you're
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seeing this fitness personalities, bio hackers,
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These are, it's a pattern. It's not just individuals.
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If people are taking advantage of this market, influencer gets
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a product deal or equity stakes or anytime you buy their
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product, they're getting a Commission on the sale of that
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product when you use their discount code.
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So they promote the compound as a part of their personal stack.
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I'm using this and here are my results and we see it.
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I've got lost a lot of weight. I got fit, I got jacked, I sleep
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better, my skin's better, my nails are better.
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It frames it as peer recommendation, not advertising.
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So this is what works for me. I'm not advertising anything.
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This is what I use and it could be true, they could be actually
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using it, but you don't know unless you, I always say this,
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unless you have a chemistry set or a laboratory in your house,
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you're testing these compounds. You don't know what the hell
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you're putting in your body. And that's not a judgement, that
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is just. It's just to raise awareness, to
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be safe, to be honest. Just be honest about it.
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Tell somebody about it. This changed my life.
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My doctor put me on this. It sounds trustworthy, but it's
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often paid. A physician who reviewed the BPC
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157 literature described this scientific evidence as a
5:54
decidedly mixed bag. Yet major podcast hosts have had
5:58
guests calling the same compound off awesome and super safe and
6:01
something they'd use with almost every patient.
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And then they often cover it up with the do your own research.
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Not for safe consumption, for research purposes only.
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When they really are telling you that you know you can just use
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it for legality purposes, they're telling they're not
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promoting you to use it, but they're telling you to use it in
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other ways. They're hiding it.
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They're making it more sneaky and framing it as this helped
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me, so don't use it. But if you want to look like me,
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use it. Inadvertently telling you to use
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it is what I meant. I'm meaning to say so telehealth
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clinics and compounding pharmacies are entering the
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space, financial incentive to prescribe these products, these
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compounds. There's before and after
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testimonials as primary evidence.
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And this is manipulative, especially in recovery where
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placebo and lifestyle change are powerful.
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Most peptides being promoted are unapproved drugs, not
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supplements, not medications. They're not regulated.
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BPC 157, for example, is classified as an unapproved drug
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by the FDA, cannot be legally compounded, and is prohibited
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substance under the World Anti Doping Agency.
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It gets the research chemical label.
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What it actually means is it's not tested, tested in humans at
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scale. There's no quality control
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standards. That's scary to hear.
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So when you buy from an online peptide supplier and there's
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tons of them, no guarantee of what it's act, what's actually
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in it. There's they'll give you testing
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reviews, but you don't know if that's actually the certificate
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from that compound. You don't know if they just
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stole it from somebody else. Fewer than 30 people have been
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studied across all published human trials for some of these
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compounds. No randomized controls trials,
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no placebo controls. The gap here is that animal
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studies showing promises promise, but influencer claiming
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it works. You should inject something into
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your body. That's an enormous gap here.
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The FDA has actually issued warning letters to companies
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selling these compounds. That's not nothing.
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That's something to look at. So what are peptides?
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I'm going to explain what they are so you know what the hell
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I'm talking about. Peptides are a short chain of
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amino acids, essentially smaller versions of proteins.
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The difference is just is length.
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Peptides are typically under 50 amino acids.
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Proteins are larger. Your body makes these naturally,
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which is why people say that they're safe and uses them for a
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huge range of functions. Anything from hormones to
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neurotransmitters to immune signals, tissue repair.
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Insulin is a peptide, so is oxytocin.
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So is Ozempic, so is retitude or whatever the hell it's called.
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These are the GLP one that used for diabetes and weight loss.
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The reason you're probably hearing the word a lot right now
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is that the Wellness biohacking space has turned peptides into a
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catch all term for injectable or oral compounds used for things
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like fat loss, muscle growth, injury recovery, anti aging,
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cognitive performance. Most of the ones that are being
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talked about right now are BPC 157.
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I'm not going to go through them all, but semi glutide is another
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one. Dangerous stuff.
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Because we don't know. Like I said, we don't know what
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we're actually getting here. We're trusting that these people
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are giving us safe things and we're trusting that with fancy
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sales language, but we don't know.
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So why people in recovery specifically?
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The dopamine system is already dysregulated.
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We are wired to seek relief, especially when we feel bad, we
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feel sad, we feel uncomfortable. The shortcut to healing pitch,
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it's different when you've been white knuckling it for months.
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I feel unsafe. I need to get out of this.
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I'm going to relapse if I don't fix this problem.
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That's where I was. I don't like the way I look, so
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I'm going to use this thing to feel better about myself, to
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look better, and it's going to solve my problem when really the
9:31
work is deeper. It's under the surface that we
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need to do. There's no outside thing that'll
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fix your problem. I always say that it's an inside
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job recovery. I can't use outside things to
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fix my insides and if I keep using outside things, I'm going
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to relapse eventually because the outside things aren't going
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to work. I'm going to process of
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eliminate all the things, the car, the money, the body, until
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I use substances because that's my failed solution that worked
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at one time. The other thing that happens too
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that's dangerous is when these compounds fail and you start
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using more and more. Like I tried every peptide,
10:01
every steroid. I eventually got to a point
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where I was like, well, I've already tried trend alone, which
10:06
is a very dangerous steroid. Now I'm gonna just do Adderall
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because I'm already gone this far.
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I've already tried these things. Whatever, my brain adapts, My
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brain starts to talk to me and tell me that it's OK, I've
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already come this far. What's one more compound?
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What's one more thing, what's I'm I can control it.
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I've controlled all the other things I'm going to control
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this. That's the dangerous part when
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your brain starts talking to you through all this.
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So just be honest through it. Recognize, be aware of what's
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happening inside your between your ears.
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So there's community vulnerability because recovery
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spaces trust pure testimonial. If I, if I'm listening to
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someone in recovery that has years talk about how this is
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safe and they haven't relapsed, then I'm going to use it because
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it's safe. They haven't done it.
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But that's the dangerous thing here is that I'm not like that
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person. My brain doesn't work the exact
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same that that person does. For all we know, they're not a
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real addict and they're just a heavy drinker in recovery.
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I don't know. So the relapse risk nobody talks
11:01
about, this is the dangerous part here.
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Normalizing self injection, ordering substances online,
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taking something that alters how you feel even if you don't
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realize it. Those are behaviors that are
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obvious parallels to something we should be talking about
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honestly. Honestly, this is the thing that
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I always talk about is that I relapse on old behaviors and
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secrets and this double life and dishonesty and and character
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defects long before I relapsed on meth and Adderall and
11:31
cocaine. This is the slow progression of
11:34
addiction. It finds the back hole, the back
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door in your brain to get you to use your old substance again.
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It's a matter of time. It's cunning, baffling, powerful
11:43
and patient, this addiction. So the evidence problem, what?
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There's research in quotation. So there's research to back my
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claim, what it actually means versus what people think it
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means. Animal studies does not equal
11:56
human evidence. Rats are not real people.
11:59
Pilot studies with 12 people, no control group run by the clinic
12:03
selling the treatment. That's not proof.
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These people that are backing the studies are sell the ones
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selling it. They're funding the studies.
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They're the ones selling it. You got to be aware of this
12:14
stuff. NAD therapy, one of the most
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established compounds in this space, is still not approved to
12:20
treat addiction and hasn't been tested and enough people to say
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it works or how well. Another problem is the single
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research group problem. Almost all existing data on some
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of these compounds comes from a single group of researchers,
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meaning findings haven't been independently replicated.
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Emerging science being used as cover for what we we don't
12:40
actually know. So we're using the word phrase
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emerging science. This is emerging science.
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We're on the brink of something great here.
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It's being used as a cover up for basically we don't actually
12:50
know what real evidence looks like.
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Is large randomized controlled trials, independent replication,
12:56
peer review, long term safety data.
13:00
Ask for that bar every time. That should be the bar you're
13:02
looking at the standard. So again, I'm not anti peptide,
13:07
do whatever you want, it's your body.
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But if you are honest about it you can maybe you can get
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through it without relapsing. But at the end of the day what
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am I trying to fix here? Am I trying to fill a God sized
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hole that I should be working on the inside from or am I just
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going to look for external things for the rest of my life
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to satisfy my issue? My codependency, my self pity
13:27
issue, my selfishness issue, My self esteem issue, my confidence
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issue? Should I be working on something
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else? The problem I have with all this
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is the exploitation of a genuine gap.
13:37
The post acute withdrawal is under addressed in conventional
13:40
treatment. That's real.
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The predatory actors are filling that gap with products instead
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of solutions. Quick fixes, microwave
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mentality, the silence on risk. Nobody in the influencer space
13:53
is talking about unknowns around long term use, quality control
13:56
failures, contradictions with medications people in recovery
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are actually on. That's another thing.
14:01
Is this going to contradict with my medication?
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I don't know the just try it culture in any other context.
14:07
We'd never tell someone in recovery to just try an
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unregulated injectable compound. They found online.
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There's risk for infections here because the lab wasn't careful
14:17
with their their use of cleaning and the materials that they're
14:22
using, the lab equipment, the materials, maybe they're not
14:25
clean, maybe they're not being regulated.
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I don't know. A laboratory is a very regulated
14:29
place. Someone's basement is not.
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So from my experience, the thing that actually made me happy,
14:35
made me contented, made me feel OK in my own skin was my
14:38
recovery program, my spirituality, my higher power,
14:41
my trust in the process, my community.
14:43
It wasn't any compound anything. It was real recovery, doing the
14:49
internal work with other community members that are like
14:53
minded, finding a connection with a greater purpose, a
14:57
connection with helping others, a connection with a power
15:00
greater than myself, with a God, with a spirituality, with the
15:03
universe. That's what worked for me and it
15:06
takes time and it's not sexy and I can't sell you on that.
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So no one's going to talk about that stuff.
15:11
But I am because that's what worked for me.
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I tried all the external things. They don't work.
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That's my experience. And maybe you need to bang your
15:19
head a few times and scrape your knee and go to the top of the
15:23
ladder to realize that the bag at the top is empty.
15:25
Maybe you need to do that. I know I needed to.
15:27
I needed to scrape my knee before I realized that.
15:30
Oh yeah, Recovery is an inside job.
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There's nothing external that's going to fix the me problem, fix
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how I'm feeling, fix how I'm interacting in the world and my
15:41
love of myself. There's nothing that's going to
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make me love myself as I am. That is in the form of a
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chemical or compound or needle or vial.
15:49
It has to come from within. I have to strip back the layers
15:53
that addiction has put on me like an onion.
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I have to find my true self and love that true self.
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And that's not sexy, but it's real.
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So I'm not saying that nobody should explore any outside
16:05
controversial medicine. I'm saying going with clear
16:08
eyes. Go in with honesty, not
16:10
desperate hope. Don't think that this is going
16:12
to solve all your problem. Just do some research, open your
16:15
mind, and be honest with yourself.
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For God's sake, be honest with yourself.
16:18
Am I looking for external solutions to solve an internal
16:22
problem? I want you to ask three
16:23
questions before you try any of this stuff or before anything is
16:26
being sold to you in recovery. Anything at all.
16:28
One, who profits if I say yes? Who?
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Who is incentivized if I buy this product?
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Two, what does the peer reviewed human evidence actually show?
16:40
And three, what am I potentially replacing by putting my energy
16:44
and money here? Go to your doctor.
16:46
Ask your Doctor Who knows your history and your medications,
16:49
not a Wellness influencer, not a podcast host, not a telehealth
16:53
clinic with a financial interest in prescribing.
16:56
Go to your Doctor Who has no financial interest or you hope
17:00
has no financial interest in your life.
17:03
Ask people in your recovery circle that you trust, Hey, can
17:06
I bounce something off you? What do you think about this
17:09
part? What do you think about me
17:10
taking this product? And they'll tell you honestly,
17:12
if they're a good friend, they'll tell you what they think
17:15
about it. They'll tell you what to do.
17:17
Ask your mentor, ask your sponsor what they think about
17:20
it. And then at least that way,
17:22
you're being honest. It's out there in the universe.
17:23
You're not keeping secrets. Secrets keep you sick, and
17:27
you're only as sick as your secrets.
17:29
Don't ever forget that evidence based recovery is still the most
17:33
powerful thing we have. Therapy, peer support, sleep,
17:37
movement, connection, meaning boring, unsexy.
17:42
There's no marketing budget, but it's all real.
17:44
It's true. Be honest with yourself.
17:46
When has something that you've taken externally ever solved
17:50
your problem long term? And I'm not talking about
17:52
medication, antidepressants, I'm talking about chemicals that you
17:56
use that aren't prescribed by a doctor.
17:58
What is? When's the last time something
17:59
actually solved your issue long term that you've taken on your
18:03
own? Will I get it?
18:05
I've been, I've been even today. I can look for shortcuts.
18:07
I look for shortcuts all the time.
18:09
It's my default, but I'm aware of it today.
18:11
It's human. It's recovery.
18:12
I want the quick fix, like I said, but I also want you to
18:15
understand as a listener of this skepticism as a survival skill,
18:21
not cynicism. Be skeptical, ask more
18:23
questions, be curious, not judgmental.
18:26
Walt Whitman said that. Be curious, not judgmental, ask
18:30
more questions. Why am I looking for outside
18:33
things? What is this about?
18:35
If something is being sold to you while you're suffering, slow
18:38
down. The urgency is still
18:40
manufactured. I think at the end of the day,
18:42
it's important to know what am I searching for here?
18:44
What am I trying to fix? What hole am I trying to fill?
18:47
And can I do that with connection, with unsexy things,
18:50
routines that work if nothing is broke?
18:54
Also, if you've been sober for a while and there's nothing broke
18:56
in your life, why fix it? Why do I need to lose weight all
19:00
of a sudden with chemicals when I can just do it the old
19:03
fashioned way and start working out and do it naturally?
19:06
Ask yourself these questions. It might save your life.
19:09
It might save you a relapse. For me, I needed to go, like I
19:12
said, and bang my head and try the steroids and do all the
19:15
things until I was at the rock bottom again because they don't
19:20
work. The things for me don't work.
19:22
I need to do it from the inside. I need to heal from the inside.
19:26
Share this episode with someone in recovery who is exploring the
19:29
space. And I'm going to link all the
19:33
show notes. I'm going to link all the
19:35
studies that I mentioned here. Do your own research, ask more
19:40
questions, reach out for help if you're struggling.
19:43
Please like, follow, subscribe to the podcast.
19:45
I love every single one of you. Recovery is simple, not easy.