withdrawal

Can kudzu cut booze consumption for you?

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Opting to stop drinking is tough enough.

But, once you’re in the throes of withdrawal from the only comfort you’ve known, it’s far harder to stick with that decision. Everything sounds good in theory. Everything seems doable when you’re still under the anesthetizing spell. But once your physiological security quilt begins to slip from your brain like a blanket off a bed in the dead of winter, you’re soon wishing that sky pie was a pint or pinot instead. Why? Because the cravings are about as full bodied as your favorite wine. They’re vexing, voracious, and when they come on – they grow quickly within you and know no bounds.

But, according to some studies, one helpful approach might just be to fight fire with fire.

And, no, my loves – I don’t mean firewater. (Sorry ’bout it.)

Rather, I mean this extract from a plant as rapid growing and annoying as your own cravings.

Kudzu:


(Such a perfect “burning desire” metaphor for suffocating cravings no?.)

What is it exactly?

Well, as you can see from the pic, it’s this invasive vine that grows like crazy but can also mitigate a crazy array symptoms that people get. In fact, it’s been used as a powder and extract for ages safely in China – dating all the way back to 600 A.D.. And not only does it stave off alcohol cravings, but it also can abate hangover symptoms, help with heart problems, and make your blood flow better. But, when it comes to getting you “turnt” down, it’s effectiveness has proven itself in the lab. What some researchers did was test subjects straight outta their nine to five gigs. (Smart, because that was always when my hankerings for something brain-subduing were their worst, too.) And then they fed the folk either a kudzu supplement or a placebo pill – both’ve which were paired with a beer buffet. As many cold ones as they craved. But that craving, interestingly enough, was far less in the kudzu takers than the duped group. In fact, they drank about half as much as their placebo counterparts.

And, the thing about kudzu, is that while it won’t quit the drinking for you (there’s no magic tablet – au naturale or not yet that’ll safely do that), it will help you take your spirit swilling down a skoche or four (or twelve, if you’re anything like I was as a drinker) to where you’re functional. And that’s what’s interesting about it. Let’s say you’re not exactly wishing to quit altogether. Instead, you simply wanna moderate. If that’s your case, then kudzu could potentially offer that.

That’s the nice thing – it could go either way. On the one hand, that newfound awareness may make you realize how much you need to halt your malt habit or relinquish your tequila love affair for good. (And then take the right action to make that happen.) Some’ve us are Miley style alcoholics who “can’t stop; won’t stop”. (So we know better than to bother starting again.)


(The idea’s that the extract can impart just enough clear thinking after a bit of breathing space from your toxin o’ choice to aid in making that call.)

That said, not everyone identifies as an addict just ’cause they catch a little clarity and can identify they’ve got a problem. That’s the thing about addiction. It’s a self-diagnosed disease. I’ve met drinkers who were in a long term relache or a honeymoon down a southbound spiral with le sauce. But, after summoning some sort’ve psychological sensei to help ’em figure out why they were going full throttle on the bottle, they could fix that sub-surface mental distress, return to living their lives, and then also return to the occasional holiday champagne glass – because they just realized how much better balanced living can be. But, more importantly, they realize alcohol’s something they can handle sans swilling a handle solo by midday in the middle of the week. And, for those folk, the hope’s that kudzu could help you avoid exactly that – kinda like the gastric bypass of equivalent of over-imbibing.

Which is exactly what I encountered in the WebMD testimonial section.

Like this dude who could magically moderate after popping some’ve the stuff:

“From the third day of taking this, the results were amazing. It immediately lessened cravings to the point that I can ‘take it or leave it’ with drinking.”

Or this one – who used it as sobriety training wheels:

“Me and my buddy both heavy drinkers decided we wnated to stop and get more done with our lives… Easier said than done. We couldn’t stop! I researched tips for quitting and I hit a thread on Kudzu, so I went to Ebay and bought a couple of bottles. We both quit within a week, no needing the alcohol, just hard to break the habit of stopping at my normal drinking holes! Would definitely recommend this to anyone that wants to stop drinking but cannot.”

And, then there was this guy whose story was most interesting to me:

“I have been trying to give up drinking. Every day for a year I have been saying to myself tomorrow. I’ve had a day or two off in that time. But can’t go without more than a day. My grandmother sent these Kudzu capsules to help me with smoking. I’ve been on them for four days now. My smoking has reduced slightly. My friends say I chain smoke, but now have been having breaks between my cigarettes. HOWEVER AMAZINGLY, on the second day, for the first time, I was trying to down my drink quicker than usual to get tipsy, as for some reason I wasn’t really enjoying the drink. And after my first can I didn’t really feel like anymore. The next can sat in my hand for a while before I realised and drank it. The feeling that I got just wasn’t as satisfying as usual. Yesterday I woke up and went about my day. Usually the first thing that enters my mind is What time am I going to have a drink today. But for some reason it didn’t. I drove past my first bottle shop and thought, don’t feel like one yet. That happened all day until 7pm came. I was relaxed and thought, I don’t really feel like it tonight. Today no drink again and I’m not fazed. It’s late at night, I’m relaxed and my mind seems occupied and I really don’t want or have any urge what so ever. I suppose you have to want to stop. However I was trying it for smoking, and it’s stopped me drinking almost immediately. There’s no way ( I hope), that I will have a drink now. I haven’t had it this easy.”

See, that one’s fascinating because – not only did it hamper the drank hankerings, but it also diminished his cigarette desires. As someone who’s addicting to anything mind-altering, that leads me to wonder about the implications of kudzu’s effectiveness for other chemical dependencies. I mean, while all the research I’ve unearthed on the stuff seems to center on alcohol reduction, could it also kill other cravings too? If it worked inadvertently in a battle against tobacco, might it additionally nix pharmaceutical addictions? Or dependencies on other less legal drugs prescribed by drug dealers who don’t have white coats, stethoscopes, and letters after their names?

Considering it’s natural, proven, and safe – it wouldn’t hurt to find out, right?

Compared to some of the stuff most of us have “experimented” with?


*That said, as ever, def see a doc first to make sure none’ve these contraindications apply to you.

6 things to do in lieu of picking up…

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When the compulsion clouds roll in, everything else fades away.

Before you know it, you’re in the eye of its tornado. Even if you’re not using (yet), the whirling, howling walls are all around you – blocking out logic and everything you’ve been working toward. Your goals. Your loved ones. All the good stuff that’s come with getting clean and exorcising that monstrous thing you let take up residency in your essence for however long you opted to press pause on life, not realizing it was actually a fast forward button into hell. So what do we do when this happens? Sure you could give in and become one with the funnel’s edges, but one good implied piece of advice I once heard about “thinking that thought through” might show you how that doesn’t work out well for anyone in recovery. But sometimes even thinking of our “future self” isn’t enough. We need clear direction right now. What can I do? What else can I do to avoid these attack thoughts? So, mayhaps we can review some alternatives in lieu of picking up. And where can we start?

By picking up… the phone:

1. Call a friend who “gets it”.


“No worries, honey… we all are here. Wanna know what I did last time I was in your sitch…?”

This would be where the whole “go to meetings and connect with people” comes in handy. It’s tough to put yourself out there, but that in itself – meeting and interacting with new people about something personal – is a thoroughgoing first step itself in rattling the core of those cravings. But why a stranger? Well, they won’t be strangers if you keep showing up and striking up experience, strength, and hope convos with ‘em. And why not your “I’ve never touched pot in my life – except that time I was drugged with hash brownies” mom? Well, sometimes that’s good as a short term solution. (Like if you’ve not yet met like minded people who can empathize.) But not necessarily for a long term go-to. ‘cause if she’s half as insightful as mine is, even she will admit that when SHTF, she can’t truly help because she’s never been there. She knows it’s awful, but doesn’t know on a personal level enough to offer the kinda advice those who have can. And if she’s half as awesome as mine, she’ll tell you she’s happy to listen – but ask you to call up one of your friends from whatever program you’ve chosen to help you out. Because maybe, just maybe, they’ve been in this exact scenario before and can throw you the same rope they used to exit it.

Got neither a fam or fellowship?

Dial the hotline – or try a chatroom (yes, they have those!)

2. Just do nada.

It’s like Nike – but with a finger to the lips “Shoosh” instead of “Swoosh”.

There are a ton of different types of meditation. But when you’re really going through the crankiness a hankering brings, sometimes the best thing to do is the simplest form there is: cease activity, shut your eyes, and focus only on your breath. It’s almost like the anxiety in your body gets self-conscious about you pointing it out with your awareness and then tries to subsequently jump ship.

But unlike Phoebe here, it does so sorta serenely – allowing your respiration and heart rate to normalize anew.

3. Music and cardio

This is gonna sound a bit out there, but I’m tossing it in the mix anyway because it worked for me. During my first three hours of being off opiates and valium, I was in a furious sweat and muttering to myself like Rainman. I didn’t like the idea that I was making noises to no one and sweating for no reason. And since I couldn’t find a way to stop doing these things, I decided to find a function to all the noise making and sweating. Now, had I not titled this point, you might be thinking the obvious right about now. But the thing about withdrawal is that sex seems like the opposite of a good idea (for me at least, it did).


More like, “Try to put anything in me and I’ll reciprocate – with this knife!”

(That said, if it works for you – I’m all for it.
In fact, we’ll add it here as option #3 article A.)

So, instead, I hopped on the elliptical, blared Deftones into my ears, and emitted sounds (not unlike a feline being defiled with with a barbed phallus) along with Chino for a long time while sweating out the bad juju (is that how you spell it?). When a few hours had passed, I was disgustingly dirty – but still clean. I was also a bit proud. So was the kindly British comedian who’d selflessly helped me get here even though he has a revolution to worry about.

4. Art (making it or enjoying it) of any kind

Draw. Read. Sit down at the dusty piano. Sing out loud.

Sculpt a mashed-terpiece like Richard Dreyfus did in that one movie with the aliens.

Write. In fact, leave me an eloquent comment about how terrible my advice is.

5. Make some tea

When I was first getting clean, I treated the Yogi tea aisle of Wegman’s like my own personal, self prescribed herbal pharmacy. From Kava to Soothing Caramel Bedtime Tea, it was an ideal shoe-in for the thing I was still missing. Maybe it didn’t do much. But just knowing I had some sort of substitute that didn’t include relapse made me feel like I was satisfying that craving on some level.


See? If it’s a genius’s solution, then it must be right. #SitcomWisdom.

Which takes us to the last one:

6. Mindless, entertaining distractions

Watch something dumb and funny – Normally I wouldn’t champion indulging the free ignorance that is your T.V. set. But we’re not talking about a long term cure for addiction. We’re addressing those inevitable, occasional “I need a substance to suffocate this stress immediately” moments. The thing about laughing is that it – much like your former drugs or even stimuli that remind you of them (from mere thoughts to paraphernalia) – it also produces dopamine. The thing about dopamine is that it focuses your attention on whatever’s causing it. Not a bad deal when it comes organically – ’cause even if that’s paired with a drool inducing 20 minute bout of one liners, it’s still better than picking up. And while it won’t quench the intrinsic demon’s demands forever – it definitely clicks down his volume knob enough right now for your reality based side to maybe be heard once again.

Whether or not you choose to listen to it is up to you.

Best of luck, friend.