 Philip DeFranco and his team at Road Rocket just did an awesome, awesome video about the opioid crisis and a medication called Suboxone. But in his video, they missed an important piece of information. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, what I'd like to do is take a look at what's happening in the YouTube community, pop culture or in the news and try to see what lessons we can learn from them. So if you're into that stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And while you're at it, make sure you're following me over on social media at the Rewired Soul on Instagram and Twitter. I post all sorts of updates. I love interacting with all of you lovely people out there. So you get updates about the brand new podcast and other projects I'm working on and all that. So make sure you're following me at the Rewired Soul. All right, but anyways, let's just jump into it, baby. So Philip DeFranco, absolutely love him. I found him a couple of years ago and I love just seeing how he's expanding what he's doing. And most recently they started taking deep dives into specific topics. And one thing that I love about Philip DeFranco is obviously he talks about very important subjects, but he shed some light on the opioid crisis. And this is very, very important for people like me or people who are struggling like I used to. What I mean by that is I am a recovering opioid addict, all right? My clean date is June 23rd, 2012. I was addicted to prescription opioids, all right? So this video is not to throw shade at Philip DeFranco or his team, but as I was watching his video, which is a very, very important video and I learned a lot, but as I was watching it, I'm like, this kind of misses something. It doesn't talk about another issue that recovering opioid addicts are dealing with and it's a very real issue. So anyways, just to kind of summarize Philip DeFranco's video, I'll link it down in the description below, but basically there's a medication called Suboxone, okay? Suboxone is a medication that helps people who are dealing with opioid withdrawal, okay? What happens is basically, basically I'm not a neuroscientist or anything, but basically the way Suboxone works is opioid withdrawal happens because you have been occupying the opioid receptors in your brain for so long by abusing drugs like prescription opioids or heroin or whatever it is. Now once those receptors are then vacant, what happens is your neurotransmitters in your brain, they just start misfiring and going crazy and it causes a lot of very harsh symptoms, okay? And this is something that I went through. I went through a cold turkey detox, which I do not suggest to anybody, all right? Always try to get help whether it's through a detox center or an addiction treatment center that has detox or just, you know, an outpatient detox facility. But anyways, your brain starts misfiring and basically what Suboxone does is it tricks the brain into thinking that you're still using the drug, all right? So it minimizes the symptoms. Those are one of the drugs where when you're going through withdrawal, you experience both physical as well as psychological symptoms and that can include things like nausea. You can puke or it'll come out the other end. You can have cold sweats. You can have aches and pains. Like when I was going through it, I remember like I was 27 years old. I felt like I was a 90-year-old man. I could barely move, all right? You'll have insomnia, depression, anxiety, all sorts of things. Inputability, people going through withdrawal, they are pissed, all right? But Suboxone helps to minimize those symptoms, okay? So basically what Philip DeFranco was talking about was the company who makes Suboxone, their patent was about to run out. So what they were trying to do is change the narrative about it and say, oh, hey, use these strips instead. The pills are actually dangerous because kids might get ahold of them and it's a whole kerfuffle, all right? So make sure you check out Philip DeFranco's video down there. So again, I am all for Suboxone. I am all for Suboxone, baby girl. And something about my story, the only reason I went through a cold turkey detox was because I am an idiot, and I hope this is a lesson to all of you out there. I'm an idiot and I lied to the doctor about how much I was actually abusing the drugs. So he was like, oh, okay, well, you shouldn't really experience too much withdrawal. You don't need Suboxone. But I lied to him and I was using a lot more than I said, so I did this cold turkey brutal detox. Like no joke, when I called the doctor up and I was in all this pain and the other guys in my sober living were using Suboxone and stuff like that. I called him up and I'm like, dude, I lied. I'm going through withdrawal now. Can you please give me some Suboxone? And this doctor, bless his heart. This dude being a hard ass really saved my life. But anyways, he was like, well, guess you shouldn't have lied, click. So it was a week of agony and pain. But the thing I want to talk about, which wasn't discussed in the Philip DeFranco video is short term versus long term Suboxone maintenance. All right. So when we are struggling with drugs or alcohol, one of our issues is that we are dependent on a substance. OK, this substance becomes our master. We are the slave to that substance, whether it's alcohol, whether it's drugs, not just opioids, whether it's cocaine, meth, whatever it is, we become a slave to that substance. And me, me and many others, like when we when we want to start a new life, we want to be free, like we we're tired of being the slave to something. All right. And again, I am not knocking Suboxone, but it's important to talk about short term versus long term Suboxone use because here's the issue. Long term Suboxone can create symptoms of withdrawal. So for people who are just using this as a replacement drug, all they are doing is prolonging the pain they'll eventually have to endure unless they're going to use it for the rest of their life. Personally, and again, I am not a doctor, but I worked in an addiction treatment center for three years. We had a detox level of care there. I have had my own experience and I have many, many, many friends who have gone through opioid withdrawal, all right. And all of my friends who have been through long term Suboxone maintenance, they all wish that they had not done it, OK, because they developed a dependence and like maybe they were on it for six months. And then they started experiencing all the symptoms of withdrawal as well. Like, and here's the thing, although Suboxone is not an opioid, what it's doing is it's tricking the brain. It's occupying those same receptors that we talked about in order to trick the brain. So once those receptors become vacant again and you've built up this dependency, you go through withdrawal all over again. So my recommendation, all right. And the recommendation of pretty much any accredited addiction treatment center out there is short term Suboxone detox, OK. And typically what that means is one to two weeks and it is a taper. So what a taper is, is they start you off on a high dosage and as time goes on, they taper you off. And this is the best way to get off of opioids, all right. And again, this is my opinion, like us drug addicts and alcoholics, we have spent an entire lifetime of avoiding pain. We avoid discomfort in any way possible. And it has turned into an addiction, right. And to be on a long term Suboxone program or methadone is another one. Methadone withdrawal is 1000 times worse than even heroin withdrawal because that stuff gets into your bone marrow. It is brutal, but we have spent so much time avoiding pain. And listen, listen, I get it, I get it. We don't want to be in that discomfort, but I'm telling you, as somebody who went through a cold turkey opioid detox, like it is worth it. It is well worth it, all right. Like like they say, it is like the worst flu you could ever have. But like looking back almost seven years later, it was one week of my life for the rest of my life of freedom. You know what I mean? And again, not only do like the best addiction treatment centers in the in the country or possibly the world recommend this, but if you if you don't believe me or you don't believe what they're saying, like ask somebody, ask somebody who's done short term versus long term Suboxone tapers, all right. Like think about that for a second. And like what was interesting about the Philip DeFranco video was they're talking about how this company is trying to keep all the Suboxone patients to themselves. But I think the overall conversation that we should be having is how we got into this mess of the opioid epidemic from doctors peddling pills to everybody. But now they are profiting off of the pain people are going to. And if you think about it, they they are more incentivized to keep you or anybody, you know, on Suboxone longer because it keeps bringing money into them. And that's just something to think about, all right. But I'm telling you right now as somebody in recovery from addiction, there is no better feeling, there is no better feeling that I've experienced in my life than waking up in the morning and knowing that I am not dependent on something, that this thing is not screaming my name and saying, Chris, you cannot function today without me, all right. I am experiencing true freedom and the the happiest people that I've met in recovery are experiencing that as well. So again, I do not knock anybody who is taking Suboxone or methadone long term. Like that is your own personal decision. But this video is just to discuss the truth and how you are developing a dependence is going to be much harder to come off later on. I get messages all the time from people saying like, I've been on Suboxone for two years. What do I do? You know what I mean? So if you are dependent on Suboxone, just know you can get through it. There are some great tips on how to overcome that withdrawal, all right. But you can get off of it. Or if you're somebody dealing with an opioid addiction or know somebody who's dealing with an opioid addiction, just take this into consideration. So because some doctors, the second you walk in there, they'll recommend a six month Suboxone maintenance program. And I would say challenge them and ask them, say, OK, is it possible that I can do like a one to two week taper? OK, I guarantee you will thank me later. All right. But anyways, if you're somebody who has been on Suboxone before, let me know your experiences down in the comments below. Let me know how long you were on it, what the withdrawal was like and all that stuff. All right. But anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell because I make a ton of videos. And don't forget, don't forget to follow me over on Instagram and Twitter at the rewired soul. And before I take off a huge, huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel on Patreon, you are all amazing. And if you would like to support what I'm doing here on this channel and get some other perks and benefits like a monthly Q&A and getting your name in the credits, click or tap right there. All right. Thanks again so, so much for watching. I'll see you next time.