VIDEO – HEALTH WARNING – Jan. 10, 2024 – Celebrity chef Curtis Stone says foodies should be wary of McDonald’s’ new Double Big Mac … and he thinks the mega burger should come with its own freakin’ warning. Curtis joined us Wednesday on “TMZ Live” to talk about the Golden Arches’ super-sized creation … According to Curtis, this 4-patty beast is an eat-at-your-own-risk kind of situation, and should have a health warning attached to it … but his concerns don’t stop at the caloric intake — which is around 740 calories, for the record. Curtis thinks McDonald’s has often provided…
Author: Leonard Buschel
VIDEO – ANOTHER WINNER’S STORY – Jan. 12, 2024 – Robert Downing, 32, has tattoos embodying his life’s journey. Despite having a great family and parents, Downing said he felt like he never fit in, no matter where he went. He recalled a particular childhood memory … “When I was about 10, I can remember stealing my dad’s pot … Born and raised in Seymour, Indiana, he’s the youngest of five siblings. He said he started drinking at a very early age and began going to jail at 14. As a teen, he would steal things from multiple places, from…
BIG PHARMA WINS AGAIN – Jan. 9, 2024 – Ashley and Chris Bracken, Genevieve’s parents, in Genevieve’s bedroom. Ms. Bracken said she and her husband learned more about their daughter’s mental state after her death. (NYT) Nicole Sims, whose son experienced nightmares and hallucinations while on the drug, and other parents like her have only learned of these risks through online support groups, NOT from their doctors. Nicole Sims, whose son experienced nightmares and hallucinations while on the drug, and other parents like her have only learned of these risks through online support groups, NOT from their doctors. The FDA’s…
“You use a glass mirror to see your face: you use works of art to see your soul.” – George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950
YOU KNOW YOU NEED TO READ THIS – Jan. 4, 2024 – Are you resolving to cut down your screen time in 2024? Here are a cyberpsychologist’s best tips for using smartphones mindfully … And while social media can be a powerful tool for fostering connection and community, it’s clear that it can leave us feeling anxious and isolated too. Some people thrive without smartphones and swear by switching out your iPhone for a basic brick. Sadly, for many of us, this isn’t really possible – perhaps you work in social media and need to keep abreast of TikTok…
SISTERLY LOVE – Jan. 5, 2024 – “It was a rock bottom moment. It was after the Manchester bombing and I realized that I could not show up to help my family,” he explained, referring to the suicide bombing that left 22 people dead during his sister Ariana’s concert in Manchester, England in May 2017. “It’s literally changed everything in my life,” he told Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager of getting clean. “I always say that I’m so lucky and I’m so blessed because at the height of my using, I was still showing up to work. And people…
YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY ONE – Jan. 2, 2024 – The Summer House star shares how he turned his life around after a scary rock-bottom moment. I had lukewarm Milwaukee Best Light, and I remember being so sick from a couple. I’ve done a lot of reflecting on my alcohol journey, and oddly enough, my first experience, I hated it. I am very outgoing and social, but I was a fish out of water in college. I joined a fraternity freshman year at Syracuse, and that was a crash course in binge drinking. The initiation process alone, I mean,…
AIN’T NO LIE – Jan. 2, 2023 – In a heartfelt post celebrating two years of sobriety, the Pretty Little Liars alum reflected on how the decision to quit drinking has changed her life. “This continues to be the greatest gift I’ve given myself.” Lucy added how “interactions, conversations, and moments of vulnerability” from different people in her life and with strangers have given her “so much meaning.” “Those experiences have been my favorite takeaway from this last year,” the Hating Game actress continued in the caption. “To every person I have connected with … thank you from the bottom…
VIDEO – LOOKING BACK oh my – Jan. 5, 2024 – Suzanne put together a montage video to mark the milestone, including clips of herself that she called ‘embarrassing’ when she did drink, telling fans how it was ‘time to escape the alcohol trap’, be ‘hangover free’ and live her best life. The montage included videos of herself now, fitter and healthier, alongside clips of her with wine bottles and being the version of herself she said she no longer wants to be. The former Hear’Say singer captioned the post: ‘4th January 2020 I made a promise to myself…
OPINION PIECE – Dec. 31, 2023 – I think is just as important to point out is what was NOT found in Perry’s system: opioids such as heroin, oxycodone and the highly potent, synthetic fentanyl … While the exact reason for Perry’s use of buprenorphine is not known, we know that the medication … So, why am I discussing buprenorphine? The primary reason is that bupe is a lifesaving medication that is still mostly unknown, both among the public and medical professionals. In fact, I didn’t learn about bupe until years after my formal medical training when I attained addiction…
BETTER USE AS DIRECTED – Dec. 21, 2023 – To understand more about ketamine, how it works and when doctors use it to help with depression in supervised settings, we consulted with Dr. Pat Fehling, a psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist. Medical examiners in Los Angeles County determined that Matthew Perry died accidentally due to “acute effects of ketamine” in the “heated end of his swimming pool” on Oct. 28. They found evidence of ketamine in Perry’s stomach and said the quantity was similar to the amount doctors would use during general anesthesia. According to the medical examiner’s investigation,…
PROFOUND – Jan. 2, 2024 – An hour after stopping drinking, your blood pressure will begin to improve which will in turn benefit brain cells and improve the delivery of nutrients. Then you’ll find balance will improve and your mind will feel clearer. “being alcohol-free for 31 days shows us that we don’t need alcohol to have fun, to relax, or to socialize. “That means that for the rest of the year we are better able to make decisions about when we drink and how much, so we can avoid slipping into drinking more than we really want to.”…
MOVIES TELL GREAT STORIES – Jan. 6, 2023 – The movie portrays a real picture of someone who has fallen to that low place and, as such, does have scenes of drinking, being drunk and a strip club (with no nudity). “We can’t sugarcoat this. It’s got to be real,” Michael said, agreeing with the direction Ken took the movie. With the recently released redemption movie, “Jesse’s Gift,” there were a lot of firsts. For writer and director Ken Merritt, it is his first full-length film. For Ken’s son, Gabe Merritt, it was the first time to have a supporting…
VIDEO – SING A SONG OF FREEDOM – Jan. 5, 2024 – Eric Hirshberg’s “I Love Not Drinking” is not your typical sobriety song. Released to coincide with Dry January — the month where people attempt to not drink for 31 days — the song celebrates all the pleasurable things associated with life without alcohol. “The name of this song started as an answer to the question, ‘Why aren’t you drinking?’ ” Hirshberg, 55, tells PEOPLE. “I started saying, ‘Because I love not drinking,’ and that answer sort of stopped people in their tracks because they realized it was a…
IT’S A START – Jan 2, 2024 – In a city as famously boozy as Philly, the concept of a “dry January” can be hard to envision. But for Philadelphians who are committing to an alcohol-free start to the new year, an upcoming event may make it easier to ride out the first few weeks. From noon until 7 p.m., Dry Vibes Philadelphia attendees can try a variety of non-alcoholic beverages, learn how to make mocktails from professional mixologists, peruse products from wellness-focused brands, attend sobriety-focused panel discussions and step into what the festival’s Eventbrite page describes as a spiritual…
OVERKILL – Jan. 2024 – Iran lies on a major opium-smuggling route between Afghanistan and Europe and has one of the world’s highest rates of domestic opiate use. In June, Amnesty International reported that Iranian authorities had executed at least 173 people convicted of drug-related offences during the first five months of 2023. READ@Alarabiya
AUDIO – QUITTING WORKS – Jan. 6, 2024 – Each one of you make this sober birthday happen. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is uncharted. Today is all that matters. Prayer, self-inventory, amending, holding out your hand — the simple things in life mean the most. “To those of us on this same path we walk together, keep walking. To you who may be ready to take the first step, there’s a wonderful new life of unconditional blessings filled with love and acceptance waiting for you with open arms. I’m lifted up and grateful for every moment I live with…
USE THEM NOW – Jan. 3, 2024 – Excessive social media use mimics addiction—and can be self-treated. During 2023, a trend gained steam, mostly among young people: the use of so-called “dumb phones” that do next to nothing except allow you to call and text people. This “digital detoxing” movement is led mainly by people worrying about spending time on social media and the damaging content available there. As an addiction psychiatrist, I’m all for this self-help trend. It’s clear that excessive smartphone/social media use mimics addiction in many ways, including the harmful effects it may have on young people’s…
STEALING SCRIPTS NOT NECESSARY – Jan. 4, 2024 – Ariella Morrow, an internal medicine doctor, gradually slid from healthy self-esteem and professional success into the depths of depression. She suffered a string of personal troubles … By late 2020, she could barely get out of bed and didn’t shower or brush her teeth for weeks on end. She was up to two bottles of wine a day, alternating it with Scotch whisky. Sitting in her well-appointed home on a recent autumn afternoon, adorned in a bright lavender dress, matching lipstick, and a large pearl necklace, Morrow traced the arc…
VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – Jan./Feb. 2024 – Looking back at the moment when one of our greatest jazzmen raised the stakes for everyone who came after. They gathered one afternoon in late October of 1960, at the Atlantic Records studios in a nondescript building at 234 West 56th Street in New York: pianist McCoy Tyner, just 21, a prodigy from Philadelphia; Steve Davis, upright bass, 31, also from Philly; and Elvin Jones, at 33 a veteran drummer who had played with everyone from Art Farmer and Pepper Adams to Gil Evans and Miles Davis. And then there was…
THEY KNOW! – Jan. 2, 2024 – When does consciousness begin? There is evidence that some form of conscious experience is present by birth, and perhaps even in late pregnancy, an international team of researchers led by my colleague Tim Bayne and I have concluded in a new review manuscript. The findings, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Trends in Cognitive Science, have important clinical, ethical, and potentially legal implications. In the study, entitled “Consciousness in the Cradle: on the Emergence of Infant Experience,” we argue that, by birth, the infant’s developing brain is likely capable of conscious experiences.…
ESSAY THIS – Jan. 5, 2024 – I quit meat. Then cigarettes. Then alcohol. Then caffeine. Then eating after 8 p.m. What am I doing? Four times out of five, when I tell a person that I don’t drink, that person responds by telling me how little they drink. Sometimes, they do this with a drink in their hand. It can seem reflexive, like saying “God bless you” after a sneeze. “I don’t drink,” I say, and bam: “I don’t drink that much!” READ@Slate
PHOTO GALLERY – DARE YOU TO LOOK? – Dec. 30, 2023 – Tranq makes life darker. The opioid crisis has morphed into something even scarier: a variable, volatile mix of addictive substances. READ@WSJ
AND NO BOOZE – Jan. 2, 2024 – Sometimes trying to be healthy feels like just another item on your endless, exhausting to-do list. Here on NPR’s health team, we don’t want to add to anyone’s stress. The good news is that it doesn’t take great feats of fitness or a heroic commitment to good habits to stay well. 1. Get healthier without even going to a gym Hate the gym? That’s cool. Scientists now say you can get a lot of the health benefits associated with exercise just by increasing how active you are in your daily life. Think…
NO JAIL TIME? – Dec, 30, 2023 – Consulting firm McKinsey & Co has agreed to pay $78 million to resolve claims by U.S. health insurers and benefit plans that it fueled an epidemic of opioid addiction through its work for drug companies including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. The settlement was disclosed in papers filed on Friday in federal court in San Francisco. It marked the last in a series of settlements McKinsey has reached resolving lawsuits over the U.S. opioid epidemic. Plaintiffs accused McKinsey, one of the leading global consulting firms, of contributing to the deadly drug crisis by…
LIVING IN AWE – Jan. 5, 2023 – “We’ve put fancy names on idolatry like addiction, but things like addiction just provide a temporal satisfaction. If we’re worshiping the creation — or something temporal — rather than the Creator, our lives are going to be in chaos.” Pop psychology has a lot to say about mental wellness and self-care. When it comes to something like addiction recovery, is the “God factor” really that important? The Lighthouse’s approach to addiction recovery comes from Matthew 25. Bower says, “God tells us to do five things in that passage. He said take…
ARTISTS ARE SO PECULIAR – Jan. 3, 2024 – The role that made critics sit up and take notice of Robert Downey Jr. came in director Marek Kanievska’s “Less Than Zero,” the 1987 adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel in which he portrayed Julian, the drug-addicted best friend of Andrew McCarthy’s protagonist, Clay. For Downey, the role was suited to him in unfortunate ways, and in a 2003 piece for The Guardian, he cited the film as the point at which his personal drug issues began to snowball out of control. “Until that movie, I took my drugs after…
VIDEO – WALKING THE WALK – Jan. 5, 2024 – ‘Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’ actor Danny Trejo got sober in 1968 after finding God. We asked the “Machete” actor how he managed to remain sober for more than five decades, he replied, “I accidentally walked into an Alcoholics Anonymous” at the young age of 15. “It was a lot of people outside. We thought it was a party, so we busted inside, and it was an AA meeting,” Trejo recalled. “I was carrying a case of beer, three bottles of wine, a half pint of whiskey. I was already…
LIKE 6 STEPS! – Jan. 2, 2024 – For people in recovery, consider the following options for simple self-improvement as you plan your resolutions and attainable goals for the New Year: Simplify Your Life Clear out the clutter from your life. Make a manageable schedule for the year and stick to schedule Explore Your Creativity Develop an outlet for self-expression through creativity. Try your hand at painting or photography, take up knitting quilts for family and friends, write short stories or poetry, or take a pottery class – artistic expression is very therapeutic. You may find a hidden talent.…
SICK PEOPLE NEED HELP – Jan. 2, 2024 – Kenneth Purnell knows what it’s like to fight “the monster of addiction.” So does Jerome McNutt. Both men got clean in recent years after multiple stints behind bars and just barely skirting death. They credit treatment programs, support groups, counseling and family members who wouldn’t give up on them for helping get them on the long road to recovery. Too many people — likely close to 2,000 in Cook County once the numbers are finalized — died in 2023 from opioids. Even if 2022’s record of 2,001 deaths remains intact,…