Addiction: The Dark Night of the Soul/ NAD+: The Light of Hope

How does NAD+ work? The exact reasons for NAD+’s effectiveness in addiction recovery are still being investigated. Although NAD+ has been medically utilized for drug rehab in South Africa since the 1970s, in Mexico since the 1980s, and has also been used during that time in the United States and Canada, treatment protocols—particularly for opiate addiction—have shifted primarily to methadone, and later Suboxone, as noted previously. In the interim, the patent for NAD+ expired—leaving pharmaceutical companies with little incentive to investigate its clinical properties and mechanism pathways. We are thrilled that a resurgence of interest in NAD+ research is currently under way—and that Springfield Wellness Center is in the center of it. I describe that research in greater detail in Chapter 12. In the meantime, our own clinical experiences have led us to propose several theories regarding some of NAD+’s capabilities: NAD+ improves alcohol metabolism because aiding metabolism is one of its primary functions overall. When metabolized, alcohol breaks down into a cascade of substances that also need to be metabolized—and NAD+ is also important in the breakdown of these byproducts. Although a healthy body has sufficient NAD+ levels to handle these metabolic tasks, chronic alcohol abuse drains the body’s NAD+ reservoirs. By intravenously supplementing NAD+, we’re able to give the body what it needs. How NAD+ can reduce nausea and vomiting and muscle tremors is more difficult to say; however, we do know that NAD+, like vitamin C, is a tremendous antioxidant, so that may be part of the answer. Also, by giving the NAD+ intravenously, we bypass the stomach and go directly to the bloodstream, allowing NAD+ and its metabolites to be carried to the cells in the brain. Patients typically report feeling better, with increased mental clarity, within a few days, so long as the treatment regimen is followed. For some people coming off of opiates, it is suspected that NAD+ probably helps to moderate and improve opiate receptor activity. Opiate receptors go into spasms when a patient attempts to quit the drug “cold turkey.” However, NAD+ helps to alleviate these symptoms, although the exact mechanism has not been clinically demonstrated. Nevertheless, researchers can describe many ways in which NAD+ addresses oxidative stress and the genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors that can result in addiction. More on that research is reported in Chapter 12. At Springfield Wellness Center, our confidence in NAD+ effectiveness comes from treating more than 1,500 patients—and from the hundreds of additional patients who have been treated by our trained Fellows (see Chapter 13). Our treatment differs from other addiction protocols because we begin by treating addiction as a brain disease. We understand that there are many emotional, psychological, and even spiritual factors that may lead to addiction—and also that, while addicted, patients often behave in ways that later require counseling to address—but we begin by helping the brain get back on track. We tell patients who enter our program that our intravenous treatment of BR+NAD TM will do three things: 1. It will detoxify them safely, with minimal withdrawal symptoms, and do so in two to four days depending on their addiction history. 2. Ninety-five percent of patients will have no cravings for their addictive substance by the end of treatment. Some will never have a craving again; others return periodically for a BR+NAD TM “booster,” nasal spray, or the transdermal patch. (We have found that if patients return to a healthy environment, their prognosis for no subsequent cravings or relapse is good. If they return to a toxic environment, they may battle cravings again because their body has learned that strategy for coping with stress. My close relationship with one patient, Bruce, is the reason I have been able to discover that in tough cases a person may need more than one BR+NAD TM treatment and a series of boosters over time. It appears to me that, if indeed, BR+NAD TM has the ability to repair damaged DNA it must be based on dosage and intervals. How much a person receives and at what intervals they receive it shifts the balance to health in difficult cases.) 3. It will begin the process of restoring the brain to a level of clarity, function, and well-being that many haven’t experienced since childhood. What does this “Brain Restoration” effect look like? It is the visible transformation that makes my work so gratifying. I first notice a change in our patients’ complexion: they get rosy cheeks, usually by the end of the first day of treatment or the start of the second day. Rosy cheeks are followed by “shiny eyes,” by which I mean eyes that sparkle all the way across the room. Next come smiles, followed by happy chatter with other patients and staff. By days eight through 10, laughter dominates the room. Can you imagine a detox facility where the patients are giddy with laughter and euphoria? In addition to offering BR+NAD TM as an addiction treatment, we also have found it effective for patients struggling with acute and chronic depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And, in the handful of cases we have tried, BR+NAD TM has even decreased symptoms of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy—the disease described in the movie Concussion) and halted or reversed symptoms of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Current research is beginning to unravel NAD+’s involvement in all of these various conditions. For example, research by Ling Shao and colleagues at the University of California references a growing body of evidence implicating mitochondrial dysfunction in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Investigations by our colleague and fellow psychiatrist, Dr. Elizabeth Stuller confirm our results—that persons suffering from depression, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, anger, mania, and even psychosis respond well to intravenous BR+NAD TM treatment—enabling the brain to return to proper functioning. By the time our patients come to us, they typically have tried many other treatment modalities. Most are reluctant to dare hope that our treatment can work where everything else has failed. It is such a joy for me to be able to assure them that if they give intravenous BR+NADTM a try, it will not only enable them to break their addiction(s), it will do so with much less agony and discomfort than they’ve experienced before. Better still, when they’re finished with our detox, they haven’t exchanged one addiction for another. Moreover, most of them are able to stay addiction-free after one treatment regimen. Others come back for a “booster” or even a full retreatment—and they do better the second time around than the first. They realize that even the euphoria of a drug-induced high is not as powerful as the feeling that their own health delivers. Of course, patients also need to address the psychological, emotional, and even spiritual aspects of their addiction—not simply the physical reality of it. That means they must be committed to their aftercare—which not everyone is adequately motivated to do. But, if they are consistent with their aftercare, 65% of the patients surveyed have remained drug-free up to 20 months after our treatment (which was when we administered our survey). With adequate funding, we will continue our follow-up farther out.