Tuesday, April 29, 2003

 

Help Me! I can't Help Myself!
ABC news (here in the United States anyway) had a program on last week called, "Help me! I Can't Help Myself!" It was an hour long program devoted to addiction of various kinds and forms. They went into cigarettes, heroin, and food. Yes, food. My first blog entry (available via the archive link, maybe?) which prompted the title "It's not my fault, you bastards!" that you see above had to do with a class action lawsuit against the fast food industry (McDonalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen, et. al.), which essentially said, "It's not my fault that I am overweight, it is the fault of the fast food industry and we are going to sue the bastards" to "make it right." I don't know what this lawsuit will do to make it right. After all, who twisted their arm to eat that cheeseburger anyway? Who pointed a gun at them and said they had to eat or else? They paid and they gained and now they want someone to be at fault, not them for making the choice to eat something which may not have been the best nutritional value. On cigarettes, I used to smoke 2 to 3 packs of cigarettes a day. I did this for many years while I was in the Navy. Was I addicted? I don't know, maybe. I know I had panic attacks when a deployment was about over and I was low on cigarettes. Stress was a factor, of that I am sure. Today, and for the last couple of years. I still smoke from time to time, but the most I've smoked over the past couple of years has been a carton over a month! There are times when I go many days without smoking or drinking alcoholic beverages. Then, comes a Sunday, and a football game or something else on the tube, or I might even get a movie, and the time seems right, and the next things I know, I've gone through a 6 pick of some obscure (but generally excellent) microbrew and half a pack of cigarettes or maybe a couple of decent cigars in lieu of the cigarettes. I do not do this kind of thing every day and I never smoke while I drive. Some people can't go 15 minutes after getting up in the morning without a cigarette. A woman I was married to was like that once upon a time, and the smoke first thing in the morning got to a point where it turned my stomach and I had to get out and on the way to work to avoid being sick to my stomach. Her not quitting, or having the consideration for me in the mornings were contributing factors among others which led to the divorce. There is a whole industry out there for people who claim they can't stop doing something which they have historically chosen to do. "XYZ" anonymous groups (where XYZ is the anonymous group of your choice, alcoholics, gamblers, whatever, you choose. There is an "anonymous" group for practically everything except children of perfectly normal parents.) probably help some by providing some group peer pressure and group support, but that does not explain why 80% of the people who have stopped smoking did it on their own, with no professional or self-help group, they just decided to quit (more accurately, they decided to change their lifestyle and it no longer included smoking.) and they managed to do it. I am skeptical about the numbers on both sides. I don't believe 80% stopped smoking simply because they decided to stop, I think a number had some help, from friends and family if no one else. No therapist out there, no health care provider will tell you, that you can simply decide to stop. After all, they have a vested interest in getting paid for a service and if you can simply decide to do it on your own, you will not need them to tell you how to get unhooked and you won't be paying them anymore. Do you know that some drug rehab programs get $25,000.00 per month? More for the big name places which do the celebrities? I know this from first hand expereince. Not for me, but for a stepdaughter who went through 3 programs before finally running away from home. The bill after the 3rd time, made it up to about $140,000.00, of which the Navy paid 80%. Well, that is over and in my past, but I only mention this because of the total cost of treatment programs is way up there and these people have an interest in keeping the money flowing in. In mycase, the cost was $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 per month. Over the 3 programs, she spent almost a year in treatment, and it all failed, miserable. So, of course, the industry will be among the first to assure you , that you have a problem and they can treat it, for a price. None of the health care drug rehab industry will acknowledge that you have the power of choice over something which is termed an addiction. And another thing, the "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic" attitude of AA. I call bullshit, first on your ability in choosing to change your life, and second on the once an addict, always an addict, attitude. They (the anon groups) are the ones who say there are only two forms of people, those addicted to "xyz" and those in denial. Just because I choose to drink some beer on a Sunday during a football game, and smoke two cigars does not make me an addict to alcohol or nicotine, but the anonymous groups would have you believe this, and since I don't believe I am addicted, then I must be in denial about my own addiction. By the Gods and Goddesses, small and not, I need a support group for the children of perfectly normal parents!

Posted by: Rowlfe - at: 4/29/2003 11:54:00 AM

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