Addiction Medicine Made Easy | Fighting back against addiction
Addiction is killing us. Over 100,000 Americans died of drug overdose in the last year, and over 100,000 Americans died from alcohol use in the last year. We need to include addiction medicine as a part of everyone's practice! We take topics in addiction medicine and break them down into digestible nuggets and clinical pearls that you can use at the bedside. We are trying to create an army of health care providers all over the world who want to fight back against addiction - and we hope you will join us.*This podcast was previously the Addiction in Emergency Medicine and Acute Care podcast*
Episodes
166 episodes
Up All Night: How Drugs, Alcohol, and Recovery Disrupt Sleep—and How to Fix It
Sleep doesn’t break because you forgot how to close your eyes. It breaks when anxiety trains your brain to stay on guard, and when quick fixes like alcohol, cannabis, or OTC sleep aids sedate you without restoring you. We team up with Australia...
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47:23
Could This Device Change the Future of Addiction Treatment???
What if opioid withdrawal could visibly ease in 20 minutes and cravings could drop to near zero within days? We sit down with Net Recovery CEO Joe Winston to unpack a wearable neuromodulation device, FDA-cleared for managing opioid withdrawal, ...
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44:16
How Ketamine Treats Depression, Anxiety, And PTSD
Join us for this episode which is a fast, honest tour through what ketamine can actually do for mental health—without the hype. We sit down with addiction psychiatrist Dr. Mark Hrymoc to unpack where the evidence is strongest, who qualifies, an...
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45:04
Parents in Recovery: Navigating Sobriety While Raising a Family
Parenting can sharpen joy and stress at the same time—and for moms and dads in recovery, that edge can test every habit that keeps sobriety strong. We sit down with Sarah Benton, licensed counselor, addiction specialist, and author of Parents i...
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39:00
Parallel Recovery: What If Helping Your Loved One With Addiction Begins With Healing You?
What if helping someone you love through addiction starts with healing yourself? That single shift reframes everything—your boundaries, your tone, your scripts, and the way your home holds stress. Dr. Casey Grover sits down with family coach an...
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39:07
How Cold Immersion, Breath Work, Yoga, And Meditation Can Build Lasting Sobriety
Cravings don’t wait for perfect conditions, so we need plans that work in real life. I sit down with coach Jason Lyle to unpack a grounded, nontraditional approach to addiction treatment that starts with the body and rewires the brain: cold wat...
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37:01
Quaalude, Black Beauties, and More: A History of Misused Prescriptions
Vintage drug ads promised calm mornings, slimmer silhouettes, and instant relief from restless nights. We dig beneath the glossy slogans to unpack how Black Beauties, Quaaludes, Miltown, Barbiturates, and Purple Hearts shaped the path to today’...
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31:11
How to Build Emotional Resilience
Stress doesn’t wait for a convenient moment, so why should resilience training wait for a crisis? We sit down with Coach Kay, a PhD serving first responders, ER teams, and other high‑stress professionals, to unpack a practical roadmap for emoti...
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46:30
Wonderful Person, Horrible Disease: What It's Like Being Married To Someone With Addiction
A physician-mom sits across from us and tells the truth: she loved a good, kind man whose alcoholism, fueled by unhealed PTSD, dismantled their family one crisis at a time. From quiet home drinking to ER runs, withdrawal hallucinations, and an ...
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48:50
How to Help Someone With Addiction Who Isn't Ready to Change
What if the fastest way to help a loved one stop using isn’t pushing harder but stepping out of the “villain” role? We sit down with master addiction counselor and YouTuber Amber Hollingsworth to unpack a practical, compassionate framework that...
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50:38
A Principal’s Playbook For School Drug Prevention
The bell rings, the doors open, and the real work begins: keeping kids safe while the drug market slips into their phones and pockets. We sit down with Principal Leland Hansen to unpack the day-to-day reality of school-based prevention, from va...
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39:27
Why Substance Use Looks Different After 65
The most dangerous phrase in senior health might be “I’ve always handled it fine.” We dive into how aging reshapes the risks of alcohol, benzodiazepines, opioids, nicotine, and today’s ultra‑potent cannabis—and why familiar habits can turn haza...
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35:44
A Bariatric Surgeon Schools Me On Food Addiction and Weight Loss Surgery
Food isn’t just fuel and obesity isn’t just willpower. We sat down with bariatric surgeon Dr. Mark Vierra to unpack what weight-loss surgery really changes, why genetics and hormones can overpower the best intentions, and how a careful program ...
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1:08:30
The Brain Science Behind Addiction
Your brain is ancient, but your world is not. We unpack how a hunter-gatherer reward system runs into modern dopamine superstimuli—engineered foods, infinite feeds, one-click buys, and potent drugs—and why that mismatch can spiral into addictio...
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32:57
Gas Station Heroin and the Loopholes Fueling “Legal Highs” In America
A brightly colored box at a smoke shop should not hit like an opioid, yet that’s the business model behind “gas station heroin.” We dive into how tianeptine—a foreign antidepressant with mu‑opioid activity—landed on American countertops as a “d...
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52:41
What It’s Really Like To Practice Addiction Medicine
Have you ever wondered what it's like to practice Addiction Medicine? In this episode I speak about what we do in Addiction Medicine - both generally as well as how we do things in our practice on the Central Coast of California. I ...
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34:57
Busting Myths, Building Trust: Communicating with Patients
Dr. Casey Grover welcomes Dr. Sarah Nasir, an addiction medicine specialist, for an insightful conversation about effectively communicating with patients and addressing common myths in addiction treatment.• Personal journeys into addict...
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49:05
Dual Diagnosis: Why Treating One Without the Other Never Works
Mental health conditions and addiction are deeply intertwined, creating complex treatment challenges that require addressing both simultaneously. Dr. Mark Hrymoc, an addiction psychiatrist, shares insights on effectively treating dual diagnosis...
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47:09
Weight Loss Surgery Doesn't Treat Food Addiction
Dr. Casey Grover shares his personal struggle with food addiction and binge eating while exploring the science behind why certain foods trigger addictive behaviors in the brain. He examines how the food industry deliberately engineers products ...
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30:18
Stigma 4: When Heroes Need Help
This episode is the fourth and final episode of a four part series on stigma.This episode is done in collaboration with Central Coast Overdose Prevention (CCODP) and was made possible by California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator...
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44:29
Stigma 3: Mom vs. Addiction - The battle she never signed up for
This episode is the third episode of a four part series on stigma.This episode is done in collaboration with Central Coast Overdose Prevention (CCODP) and was made possible by California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator funding fr...
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43:55
Stigma 2: Stigma Hurts, Compassion Heals
This episode is the second episode of a four part series on stigma.This episode is done in collaboration with Central Coast Overdose Prevention (CCODP) and was made possible by California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator funding f...
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43:00
Stigma 1: The Other Side of Addiction - Finding Light After Darkness
This episode is the first episode of a four part series on stigma.This episode is done in collaboration with Central Coast Overdose Prevention (CCODP) and was made possible by California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator funding fr...
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34:35
Benzodiazepines - Pills That Sedate but Don't Rehabilitate
Dr. Casey Grover explores the challenging world of benzodiazepines, explaining why these commonly prescribed medications can create more problems than they solve for patients struggling with anxiety and other conditions.• Benzodiazepine...
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34:52