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
173 episodes
Straight to the Shot: A New Way to Quit Fentanyl and Start Buprenorphine
Fentanyl changed the playbook for starting buprenorphine, and we’re tired of watching people suffer through days of withdrawal just to “earn” their first dose. So we break down a cleaner, faster on-ramp: direct-to-inject. Think of weekly Brixad...
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33:10
Addicted to Toxic Relationships: Trauma, Sex Work, and The Fight for Recovery
A lot of people think addiction begins with a bad decision. We start earlier—at the moments when consent was stolen, trust collapsed, and silence felt safer than speaking. Carly sits down with us to map the real terrain: childhood sexual assaul...
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56:15
What I Told a Room Full of High School Seniors About College Party Culture
I sat down with a room full of high school seniors to talk to them about party culture in college. College freedom can be thrilling—and unforgiving. As an ER physician turned addiction specialist, I pull back the curtain on campus p...
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34:37
You Can Use Hypnosis to Drink Less Alcohol???
Hypnosis and moderation rarely share the same sentence—until you understand how your brain decides to drink. We sit down with Australian clinical hypnotherapist Georgia Foster to unpack a practical, science‑aligned approach to reducing alcohol ...
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46:55
Understanding Addiction — For the People Who Love Someone Struggling
What if addiction isn’t a failure of willpower, but a failure of the brain systems that make willpower possible? In this episode Dr. Brenda Fann (who has been on the pod before) interviews me about addiction as we provide a clear, compassionate...
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56:44
Saving Lives: How To Recognize And Reverse An Opioid Overdose
In the case of an overdose, a person stops breathing long before most of us realize what is happening. That is why our mantra is simple and urgent: call 911 and give naloxone. We walk step by step through recognizing an opioid overdose, using n...
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31:04
Wait… Weed Does That??? The Cannabis Side Effects Nobody Warned You About
The story we’ve been told about cannabis—safe, simple, and mostly benign—doesn’t match what we’re seeing at the bedside. Two ER-turned-addiction doctors pull back the curtain on how high-potency products can quietly undercut psychiatric meds, c...
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53:27
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