Addiction affects countless lives, often in unexpected ways. In this episode, we’re talking about more than just the well-known substance addictions like drugs and alcohol. We delve into the nuances of addiction to relationships and even the surprising grip of sugar. The real-life experiences shared will help you understand the deep emotional and psychological factors involved in addictions. Whether you’re looking for hope or just insights, this discussion sheds light on the importance of recognizing and addressing these hidden addictions.
I can’t hide myself. I don’t expect you to understand. I just hope I can explain what it’s like to be a man.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to A Guy’s Perspective, where they discuss real-life topics that men today are dealing with, whether married, single parent, or just single. We invite you to call into this live program with your comments and questions. And here they are.
SPEAKER 06 :
how’s it going today every klz listener again you can reach us at 303-477-5600 again good afternoon every klz 560 am listener again you can reach us at 303-477-5600 we’re going to go around the room and Ask these guys how they’re doing right now. We’ll start right here with Brian.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I’m doing pretty good today. Excited to be here. Been thinking about the last show and got a lot of advice today.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right on. Let’s go to Andre. Let’s hope it’s good advice, Brian. Good afternoon. Part two. I guess we’re doing part two of this pretty serious topic, you know. But it’s good to be here with you guys. That’s right. Reno?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, good to be here enjoying the weather.
SPEAKER 06 :
It is. It’s a beautiful day today. And it’s not snowing. Again, we just want to announce some of our sponsors. We have Blueprint Electric for all your electrician needs. You can reach us at 303-218-3555. Again, we have Clearview Windshield Repair. For all your windshield repair needs, you can reach them at 303-229-7442. And Advanced Tech Services, for some more of all your electrical needs, at 720-581-4399. And like Andre had just said, we’re going on to part two of addiction. So let’s get started, boys. It’s… just another fine day here in Colorado and let’s see what we can get into. All right. All right. Let’s do it. So Brian, Brian, since you got this amazing advice, buddy, let’s hear about it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I think to start off first, it would be if you are dealing with addiction, your first step might be is to change your circumstance, change your, Bring change into your life. Maybe change a job that would cause you not to want to use any longer.
SPEAKER 06 :
So basically change your mindset or just change your life in general.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, bring something that changes your circumstance.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Well, I’ve got a question, Brian. I mean, have you dealt with, you know, I kind of heard you last time. You dealt with some addictions with not only food, but, I mean, you kind of dealt in some areas that, you know, you and I have… had similar situations, I suppose, right?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I’ve never been addicted to something that would cause like alcohol or heroin that would cause you to have relapse in some state or form.
SPEAKER 06 :
But the problem with what you just said with addiction, if I get they’ve got to change their mindset and you’ve got to kind of start walking down a different path, but I would imagine that if you just up and bailed on your job, you’re probably going to be in a worse state than you originally were. You know what I’m talking about?
SPEAKER 05 :
And those are one of the signs of addiction. I was actually looking. you know, about that. And actually, I got to make a correction the other day or last week. I said that, you know, I didn’t know that I was addicted or whatever the case may be. It’s kind of a lie. You know, I was kind of addicted to some prescription opioids. And I remember at one time I actually did have to see an actual therapist to kind of set me straight. And, you know, there’s a lot of co-morbid or co-bitten. There’s basically two areas where sometimes you have a mental thing and you’re also dealing with the addiction i think a lot of people need to know that is that sometimes you know the mental health piece could be like um depression someone that’s entered a state of depression i know in the past we’ve talked about things like that you know and sometimes you know um people will utilize you know a drug prescription or otherwise or over utilize that prescription drug and And, you know, that’s one of the reasons why we tend to become addicted to certain things.
SPEAKER 06 :
Do you think that people who actually have an addiction, do you think they’re in denial that they have one? Do you think they don’t realize they have one? I think at first.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think they could go both ways. Some people would be in denial and some people would be not realizing how bad the addiction is.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s good right there. Like, what do you mean how bad the addiction is?
SPEAKER 03 :
Like, someone to say I could stop anytime.
SPEAKER 06 :
Gotcha.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m doing this because I like to do it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Do you think that person’s in denial, though, if they say, oh, I can stop at any moment, but I’ve been doing it for the last 20 years?
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t know if it’s denial, delusional, or they might just not realize how in over their head they are.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let me, well, so another, because there’s hundreds of addictions. Do you think like a relationship could be an addiction? Do you think somebody could be so codependent on somebody that that becomes an addiction also? Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I do. Absolutely. There’s people that as soon as they get out of one relationship, they hop right into another one. That says a lot. You know, I mean, we’re dealing with people that, you know, don’t always know or they have to have someone in their life. Yeah, that’s a great question.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s a good point. Yeah. Yeah, because everybody generally thinks about addiction as like cocaine or alcohol or some kind of opioid, some kind of prescription drug, but it makes you wonder if relationships can be an addiction. So, for example, take the gentleman who his whole life’s falling apart because his relationship’s falling apart. Was he so codependent or so dependent upon that person that now he’s… Well, it has to depend on your personality.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. I think we discussed that last time on the radio. Like, if your personality is always somebody who needs love and is looking for somebody consistently, then…
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, that would be all of America, right? It seems like every person is looking for… No, some people can’t be alone, though.
SPEAKER 07 :
Like, I could go alone for a while.
SPEAKER 06 :
But then I’d want somebody down the road. That’s good. Explain it. What do you mean by… Let’s talk about this, boys.
SPEAKER 02 :
Let’s dive into this.
SPEAKER 07 :
Let me back up. Maybe I didn’t.
SPEAKER 05 :
It was okay to back up. As long as his mom ain’t.
SPEAKER 06 :
He’s got his mom on his side. He ain’t alone. And we would like to, if you’re a listener out there and you want to chime in, just remember you can call us at 303-477-5600. We’re going to talk about this because this gentleman right here to the right of me just tells me last night, and I hope you don’t mind me saying, This guy was like, no, I ain’t taking that job because I ain’t going to hang out with my mama. And, and back to what we’re talking about. Cause this, this, we can go down a rabbit hole right here, but relationships I feel like can be an addiction.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. I mean, I can see that. I mean, but, you know, getting back to the addiction, you know, that affects others. That’s the other question. You’re right, too, because bad relationships or codependent relationships can really affect people, right, in a bad way, in an adverse way. Sometimes we become a mess. We become, you know, so entangled with one another that we aren’t our individual selves any longer. That’s very good. Yeah, now we’ve allowed that person to basically, in a certain way, tell us how to be. And we’ve allowed boundaries or vice versa, or, you know, sometimes together there there is you need to have individuality. And in a relationship, being a mesh too close. overlapping so far where you lose your individuality now all your boundaries are broken down and that can lead to resentments that can be lead to things that create you know havoc in a relationship so you know that you got a good point there so if you because you just mentioned boundaries if you let your boundaries down where do you think that’ll end up taking a person if they just throw up their arms and say forget it this relationship’s over
SPEAKER 06 :
I don’t care anymore. This was my be all everything in my life. I’m now going to head down a different path. I’m going to start drinking every day because it happens to people. Let’s be real.
SPEAKER 05 :
They lose everything and they turn to other things. And sometimes they turn to those other things to numb the boundaries that they’ve allowed to overlap themselves.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s good.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, they don’t, they no longer are the autonomous person. They are just, you know, one and one and one and done. And they’re trying to find a way to regain who they are, to reclaim their individuality. And sometimes that’s hard for people to find the ability to do that. So yeah, they use a coping mechanism. And become dependent on, you know, whether it’s a prescription drugs or drugs in general or alcoholism or, you know, other there’s other forms eating, et cetera.
SPEAKER 06 :
Do you think once, and again, for all of our listeners, you can always chime in, we’re giving a guy’s perspective. We’re talking about things that we have went through as men. There’s a lot of soft men nowadays. Let’s just be real. that they didn’t have boundaries to begin with. They were just limp noodles all the way around. So for guys who are going through some things and they’re trying to be good, outstanding, strong men, when your boundaries get torn down, like Andre was saying, you start turning to different things to rebuild yourself up, basically. do you think it’s do you think it’s a mental thing at that point do you think it’s it’s in their head that they’ve got to get past some kind of struggle with inside themselves i would say yeah i say uh too well why do you guys say yeah though because it’s what what else would it be well you know it’s it’s in internal So you think mental health and addictions, they’re fighting something inside? Because I believe it. I believe you’re fighting something inside of yourself.
SPEAKER 05 :
I do. I think sometimes people get in a situational depression, you know, because, you know, we’re meant as men, just as human beings to… you know, biblically speaking, glorify God. But with that said, you know, God gave us the authority to be like gods, you know, on this earth per se. I mean, it’s in the Bible. And when people start stripping that away from your individuality and when people start attacking, you know, who you are or trying to change you, well, change doesn’t come from others. It comes from intrinsically. You know, and sometimes when we see the need to change, usually it’s because we don’t see it. Sometimes it’s because there’s something that causes us to change.
SPEAKER 06 :
So how big of a change, and we’ll go right to Brian, how big of a change should it be initially when somebody sees that, hey, they’ve got this problem? Does it just have to be little minute changes or is it just something drastic?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it depends on how far the addiction has gone.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
I mean, how long have you been in this addiction? Yeah. Is it 20 years? And it depends on the kind of withdrawal symptoms you will have after you come off of addiction. Like heroin, if you’ve been on heroin for a long time and you try to quit, well, the withdrawals are severe. I mean, sweats, in the bed, throwing up, then that would make it twice as hard to quit.
SPEAKER 05 :
Because of the withdrawals. Exactly.
SPEAKER 07 :
So then people are like, I got to get another fix because they can’t handle the withdrawal any longer.
SPEAKER 06 :
So he’s saying the withdrawal is so strong that even if you wanted to quit, you’re not able to quit.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, so I’ve watched episodes of drug use and people that are having withdrawals of heroin.
SPEAKER 06 :
Don’t tell us some CNN stuff. No, no, no.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m talking live. on the spot people that they’re they’re recording that with no that are dealing with addiction that you know need need a fix within the 24 hours before which all starts yeah like i need a fix right now so so what do you think their body goes through let me ask you guys that well you know getting well i was reading okay essentially because you know i after last show i kind of
SPEAKER 05 :
had, you know, I just decided to, you know, take a look at, you know, my statement was incorrect last time where, you know, my addiction, you know, was being perpetuated by me trying to get off of something that was causing me the withdrawals. Mine was prescription. It wasn’t, you know, um, there’s opioids and whatnot, but they say that there’s a high correlation that just ease the withdrawal symptoms. You just take a little bit more, a little bit more until you start to ease that nausea or not, you know, say arena.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, that could be the case with alcohol. I’ve known people personally that if they came off the alcohol, their heart wasn’t strong enough to handle the DTs.
SPEAKER 06 :
So you think they would have seizures and things like that, maybe?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the doctor told them they would die.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, wow. Wow. Because he’s telling the truth right there. Yeah. When it comes to alcohol… You can destroy your liver so much to where you’re not coming back from that.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, that’s, but. And we know, I think all of us, at least I do and you do.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
We know people, friends that their uncle or aunt passed away. Oh, for sure. Because they just, even after the doctors have told them, look, this is sentencing you to a slow, miserable death. If you don’t stop, you can correct this, but they keep on going.
SPEAKER 06 :
But that’s what, but that’s also what Brian said. And we’ll go back to, okay, Reno, go.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’ve had friends that died from alcohol. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, because what happens is I don’t think people understand that if you’re an alcoholic and your liver gets ruined, the doctors aren’t just going to put you on a waiting list and give you a new liver.
SPEAKER 07 :
But what would you say to somebody who… went to the doctors and they told them they had cirrhosis of the liver. And so you already are going to die from that anyway. So why wouldn’t you just continue to drink?
SPEAKER 06 :
Because I think what happens, and correct me if I’m wrong, and if our listeners know better than us, please chime in because we’d really like to know. I think your liver can heal itself pretty well. I think. I think you have to get to a point to where it’s completely damaged to where it can’t.
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t know. I’ve heard that. I’ve heard that the liver is the only organ that actually can regenerate itself. Um, but the, the overall problem, again, goes to a mental thing when you think about it, because that pull is so strong on them. There has to be a retraining of the brain, a re a chemical change in the brain that, you know, takes those receptors that are looking for that same, you know, fix per se. Right. And without that type of help and, you know, there, sometimes they are stuck, um, And, you know, we’re not experts at this, but I’ll tell you, we’re not. I’ll tell you what I did look up. It’s called SAMHSA. Sam. Yeah. SAMHSA.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
And basically it’s a substance abuse and mental health service administration, you know, through their government. And basically, they have a pretty simple setup that shows you, you know, how you can gain assistance in any state you’re in. Even if you’re a mental health expert, you can actually apply to it. But if you’re in a crisis, you can actually call or text them 988. That’s good. And, again, just text 988 and… They’ll give you the resources to help with these areas because the items I was looking at, a few years ago, I wish this was out there. I mean, I would have looked at it. I mean, thank God. I did seek out a mental health expert, and things have changed.
SPEAKER 07 :
But I don’t think too many people want to go to a rehab center for – you know, weeks at a time. I think that’s really hindering people.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I think what it comes down to, especially when it comes to addiction, you have to find what fits you. There are some people they have to go to a place like a rehab.
SPEAKER 03 :
Some people won’t survive without a rehab center. Yeah, that’s for sure.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, look at this. On the other hand, there’s other people out there that they’re not going to survive without rehab. looking inward and saying, you know what? I’m going to start going to the gym like we used to. And like you did. And saying, hey, I’m going to pick up some kind of hobby to get my mind off of this.
SPEAKER 05 :
Brian, you just ate another for you. What did you do?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, to piggyback from the last show, I got a call from a friend who said, why would you say food’s an addiction? Well, if you go look at it, And you look how much sugar is sold in America. If you go do your research and you look how many donuts are being bought every day around the world, I think there’s a sugar problem. And if you don’t think sugar is an addiction, I don’t know what to tell you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I don’t know. I don’t think sugar is an addiction. I think crack is an addiction. No, I do. Sugar is more addicting. When’s the last time you’ve seen somebody on the corner trying to use sugar?
SPEAKER 07 :
Listen, sugar is more addicting than heroin. I don’t care what anybody tells you.
SPEAKER 06 :
And how in the world do y’all figure out? When’s the last time you’ve seen somebody on the corner trying to sell their body for some sugar?
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s too easy to find, Brock. You can get sugar at your local stores. Harino, chime in. Hey.
SPEAKER 03 :
Sugar.
SPEAKER 06 :
So all you guys are going to sit here and tell me about sugar.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, it’s addictive. He’s right. It’s more addictive than heroin.
SPEAKER 05 :
In fact, when I got off of those.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, you completely be sugar free.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, absolutely. Well, hold on because, I mean, let me get back to the, you know, these guys are telling the truth because I remember along with our, you know, physical journey of getting out of any type of addictions, you know, at the time, the things I dropped out of my life were caffeine. I started eating protein again. I started just doing anything and everything. I hate veggies, so veggies weren’t in my diet. So no carrots? No carrots? No carrots. Unless it was gold. No. But, you know, honestly, honestly, like I know sugar helped me out so much in so many different ways. In fact, now that I’m, you know, not on that diet any longer, sugar has caused me, caused inflammation, all these things that come with age and whatnot.
SPEAKER 06 :
I do agree that. I think it is addictive. Well, I do agree that you got to change your diet.
SPEAKER 07 :
Nobody thinks that sugar’s an addiction because there’s not too much withdrawal. I’m with you, Brian.
SPEAKER 05 :
I ate a whole lot of Cocoa Pebbles growing up, man.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, there are withdrawals to sugar. You stop eating sugar, you’ll get headaches.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s what happened to me, too. Yep.
SPEAKER 07 :
But most people say that’s caffeine.
SPEAKER 03 :
No. You say sugar.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, that can’t be so, because I don’t get headaches every day.
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t drink coffee. I get headaches every day, and I eat sugar every day. You’re nice and rotund, bro. But this…
SPEAKER 06 :
I don’t see – I mean, I guess I don’t really look at sugar as an addiction. I just think it’s bad for you.
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t know if I can – Sugar is related to cancer.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, you’re probably telling – that would be deep. There’s a lot that I just believe that –
SPEAKER 05 :
Brian, can you look that up?
SPEAKER 03 :
I believe that they purposely put it in the food system here because if you go to other countries, there’s not that sugar content.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Germany doesn’t have it.
SPEAKER 06 :
So other countries have outlawed certain things is what we’re saying.
SPEAKER 03 :
In fact, in Russia, I mean, there’s countries without health food stores. Why do we have them here? Why isn’t the food already healthy?
SPEAKER 05 :
You’re asking a good question. Well, that can go to another topic, which is the bureaucracy that our government has. Okay, you’re making a point.
SPEAKER 06 :
So does our government seem like it’s…
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s poisoning us right out the gate. Well, it’s not the government per se, but it is the people that, you know, line the pockets of the FDA and all these other, you know, Hey, you know what? We want to pass this new thing, but there’s one thing in here that causes cancer inside of a lab rat. You know, however, if you write it this way, we can pass it through the FDA. The things that are being said, I do believe that Brian is correct. And I do believe that, um, sugar is one of the addictions. especially when it comes to high fructose corn syrup. But natural sugars, natural occurring sugars like in, you know, pineapples, fruits, et cetera, those are a different type of sugars and they break down better.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, that’s good, yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right?
SPEAKER 06 :
Before we continue, I want to say if anybody wants to chime in, I’m sorry, to our radio station, you can call us at three zero three four seven seven fifty six hundred and one other thing we are going to have a man’s best friend day it’s going to be on the 31st of may so go to our facebook page post a picture of your dog the cutest dog it’s going to be open for everybody that posts a picture um We want people to vote, and whoever gets the best-looking dog, we have a football jersey, a Bo Nix jersey here that we are going to raffle off. I already won that. Everybody thinks their dog’s the best-looking dog, and they should. And we’re also going to, along with the jersey, we’re going to give two people eating free at Senzetti’s. So please go to our Facebook page and back to our show.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, real quick, can I give a shout-out to my dog, Snicker?
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, Snickers, huh? Listen to this, guys. We’re talking about how Sugar’s addicted and his dog’s named Snickers.
SPEAKER 05 :
See, he does have experience.
SPEAKER 07 :
Come on, man. My dog’s addicted to candy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Don’t tell me you’re giving your dog some candy. Which one of you guys are giving your dog candy?
SPEAKER 05 :
No ice cream. My dog’s gotten into the candy, but I never gave it to him. I’ll tell you what, Brock, you keep, you know, this is one of those topics that we really do want the input of the listener as well. Because you might just say, hey, you guys are full of it, you know, and we might be. But we’d like to hear your opinion on it or your true life testimony. Or if you’re in mental health, I have a neighbor who’s a mental health professional, and he actually gave us some accolade and said, hey, you know what you guys are doing? Keep it up. He used to be an addictions counselor, and now he’s just an LPC. But we want your guys’ feedback. And if there’s things that we’re missing or off the mark on, give us a call.
SPEAKER 07 :
But I think we’re giving advice because we have dealt with addiction one way or another. But I haven’t dealt personally with addiction that had severe withdrawals. And I only feel like there’s a few drugs on the market that… that have to have that occur in your life. Just like if you like, you know, you’re not going to have withdrawals if you do cocaine. Well, I don’t say that I never done.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I mean, I’m sure you can have withdrawals from pretty much every kind of addiction. Again, like we said, like Andre was saying, Arena was saying, Brian was saying, Heath is not here today, so we want to shout out to one of our people here on the show. Hope he’s doing good. He’s trying to become an actor as well as a radio person, so let’s just tell him hi and Everybody, like Andre was saying, we’re not the most experienced in this. We’re given our perspective through everything we went through. If you know something we don’t know, reach out to us. We would like to hear from you. Absolutely. Reno, I think it was, I think it was an interesting topic that we went on to sugar and relationships and because a lot of people don’t understand that those are forms of addictions.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Yeah. And really, you know, I’d like what you had to say to, you know, that codependency, you know, I think it propagates those addictions.
SPEAKER 06 :
And I agree with that 100%. I can see that. With that being said, we want to say we are on the radio every Saturday from 2 to 2.30. Again, we’re at KLZ 560 AM. You can always reach us at 303-477-5600. Let’s go around the room. One other thing, boys, tell us what y’all think was something, a way to get people after addiction. What’s one thing you would tell them? If they walked into the room right now, what would you say, Arena?
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t know. There’s a lot of, what are they addicted to?
SPEAKER 06 :
What’s an encouraging word you would tell them, though?
SPEAKER 03 :
Don’t give up.
SPEAKER 05 :
Exactly. I would say the same thing, too, and just know you’re never alone. There’s more people that are fighting an addiction than they realize, you know, and sometimes just knowing that’s huge.
SPEAKER 06 :
What would you say, Brian?
SPEAKER 07 :
I would say first confining somebody that you hold true, your mom, your parents, and you got to just be real with yourself and let people know what’s going on instead of keeping it to yourself.
SPEAKER 06 :
If you are in a crisis or you need some kind of help, remember, you know, you always want to dial 911 or just text 988. And like we said, we’re a bunch of men, homegrown American boys. And we would like to thank our listeners today. Thank America. And God bless all of us. God bless.
SPEAKER 04 :
I just hope I can explain What it’s like to be a man It’s a lonely road And they don’t care about what you know It’s not about how you feel But what you provide inside that home
SPEAKER 02 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Crawford Broadcasting, the station, management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
