Artie Lange is a regular on the Howard Stern Show, a talented comedian/actor and now a best selling author. His new autobiography, “Too Fat To Fish”, has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for weeks on end.

Besides his current success in stand up and the Howard Stern Show, he was a regular on the popular sketch series, Mad TV and his film credits (among others) include Old School, Dirty Work, Elf and his own film Beer League. However, Artie Lange is also a recovering addict. Since his early 20s, Lange’s life has been a constant battle with cocaine, alcohol, gambling and currently heroin addiction.

But Artie’s career couldn’t be going better. He is part of (arguably) the greatest radio show on earth, the Howard Stern Show. He is also one of the highest paid acts in stand up comedy.

Fans of Howard Stern and Sirius Satellite Radio Subscribers have known the most intimate parts of Artie Lange’s life for years now. Stories of taking out-of-state drives to buy heroin, doing lines of cocaine while dressed in a full-sized pig outfit on the streets of L.A. and missing random days on-air due to withdrawals have been an intriguing sub plot on the Stern Show for over 7 years now. As an added bonus to fans, Too Fat To Fish is a gripping account of tales that have yet to be heard on Stern Show airwaves; many dealing with the depths of his addictions and depression.

“I ran downstairs to my father’s room and found two paramedics and two police officers next to his bed.” Reads Too Fat To Fish, “The police tried to stop me from coming into the room until I explained who I was; then they let me approach. And there was my hero, the toughest motherfucker I would ever know, lying there, lifeless. He had died sometime in the middle of the night while I was at my friend’s house doing shot after shot to deal with the fact that I had lost a bet on a fucking college basketball game. Four and a half years of paralysis had transformed his powerful, muscular arms into jelly. His face looked fat and his stomach was distended like a starving African child in a Unicef ad.”

Just a few years ago, Jose Canseco brought national, and even worldwide, attention to the issue of steroid use in baseball and professional sports in general. His best selling book, “Juiced” revealed his own experience with anabolic steroids and exposed the names of some of the top players in baseball as being steroid users.

Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds were just some of the names exposed in the novel. For his efforts, Canseco would be labeled “The Godfather of Steroids”, “The Bad Boy of Baseball” and several other names that are considerably less flattering than what his reputation might’ve been before writing “Juiced”.

In an interview with Mike Wallace, Canseco was asked if he felt shame about the fact that illegal drugs fueled his career. “I tried to do everything possible to become the best player in the world,” responded Canseco. “Do I believe steroids and growth hormones helped me achieve that? Yes. Were there a lot of other players doing it that I had to compete against? Yes.” But what exactly are steroids and how do they help athletes enhance their performance?

 
The three most common types of steroids are Anabolic, Androgenic and Cortico. Developed in the 1930s, Anabolic steroids were originally created to treat hypogonadism; a condition where the testicles don’t produce enough testosterone for normal growth and development. Impotence and delayed puberty are just some of the legitimate reasons for Anabolic steroid use.

Once it was discovered that Anabolic steroids could be used to grow skeletal muscles, bodybuilders, weightlifters and athletes alike began to use it to increase their performance.

Cortico Steroids are used in treating colitis, kidney disease, allergies, asthma, eczema and many other diseases. Cortico steroids replicate the natural production of Cortisone in the body. Androgenic steroids stimulate masculine characteristics. Testosterone is the most well known Androgen.

Most people who use steroids do so in order to push their bodies past their normal limits, which brings us back to Canseco. Now retired, he is usually seen in one of two ways, as an important figure in exposing the use of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports or as a snitch.

“I don’t recommend steroids for everyone, and I don’t recommend growth hormones for everyone,” said Canseco during his 60 minutes interview. “But for certain individuals, I truly believe, because I’ve experimented with it for so many years, that it can make an average athlete a super athlete. It can make a super athlete – incredible. Just legendary.”

Benoit Denizet-Lewis is an author and a journalist for the New York Times. He is also a sex addict; a revelation he makes in his new book, America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life. The book follows the lives of several men and women ages 20 and up suffering from addictions including, crystal meth, sex, alcohol, crack, food and even shoplifting. Rather, than attempting to find a cure for these addiction, Denzit-Lewis dedicates the book to giving an inside look at said addictions and chronicles the often tumultuous road to recovery.

In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, Denizet-Lewis explained the steps he took in order to get such a personal account of addiction. “I went the more conventional route, talking to addiction experts, counselors, and treatment centers.” Explains Denizet-Lewis. “I also demanded that my friends confess their addictions and introduce me to all of their addicted friends.” This is how Benoit met one of the more compelling characters in his book, Todd; a bisexual body builder who is currently undergoing recovery from meth and is also trying to cut down on steroid use.

In addition to his gripping new book, Benoit Denizet-Lewis has also set up a blog at www.americaanonymous.com. Just like here at InRecoveryBlog.com, posts at the America Anonymous blog are dedicated to addiction, recovery and resources for those looking to get sober. An enthralling personal account of Benoit’s own battle with sex addiction entitled, “Facing My Obsession, in the Flesh”, was published earlier this month on www.nytimes.com.

The essay is adapted from his new book and gives a detailed account of Benoit’s obsession with sex. He writes, “If you ask alcoholics about the first time they became drunk, many will say it was the moment they finally felt O.K. in the world. I never had that sensation while drunk or stoned, but I did feel it the first time I entered a gay men’s chat room, while in college. In a kind of hypnotic trance, I sent out photos of myself to rave reviews.” Read the entire essay on sexual addiction by Benoit Denizet-Lewis at www.NYTimes.com

Most sources describe an eating disorder as a compulsion which is usually defined by extremes; simply put, either eating too much or eating too little. However, despite years of research, the exact causes and treatments for several eating disorders are still unclear. Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are the two most common types of eating disorders, and although specific treatments for more chronic cases have not been found, certain medicinal and psychological treatments have proven to be helpful in treatment. The following is a short description of the two most common eating disorders:

People suffering from the eating disorder Anorexia Nervosa usually have a distorted body image accompanied by a consistent and compulsive pursuit to lose weight.

Anorexics use several methods of weight loss including, but not limited to, excessive exercising or dieting, ingesting diuretics, enemas and induced vomiting. Cardiac arrest and fluid imbalances are typical causes of death among those suffering from Anorexia.

People suffering from Anorexia are also prone to other illnesses such as substance abuse, anxiety, depression, obsessive behavior and more. Some symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa include: Low blood pressure, Constipation, Osteoporosis, Lethargy, Thinning hair/nails, Bulimia Nervosa and more.

Those suffering from Bulimia Nervosa feel a need to eat compulsively and have a lack of control over eating. Like Anorexics, Bulimics are overly concerned with their physical appearance and usually follow binge eating with some form of purging (vomiting, excessive exercise, laxatives, etc…).

In contrast to people suffering from Anorexia (who are usually severely under weight), Bulimics can maintain normal body weight, which makes symptoms less obvious. In fact, most symptoms of Bulimia occur during the purging process of the illness. Some symptoms of Bulimia Nervosa include: Intestinal irritation, Swollen neck glands, Dehydration, Inflamed throat and Kidney failure

When thinking of support groups, one usually thinks of established fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous and although these two organizations are certainly two of the most prominent, they are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to support groups.

There is no doubt that many support groups deal with addiction, substance abuse and recovery. Interaction with other people who have shared similar life experiences and are working towards a similar goal, like sobriety, has shown to have tremendously effective results. However, as many addiction and substance abuse support groups that exist, there are just as many groups dealing with suicide, parenting, divorce, adoption, child custody and even pet loss.

Depression Support Groups
The Samaritans is a charity based in the UK that offers non-judgmental and confidential, emotional support for people 24-hours a day. The organization offers services by telephone, email, letter and face to face. Although the Samaritans is located in the UK, they work with Befrienders in order to provide emotional support worldwide. Find the Samaritans online at www.samaritans.org and find Befrienders online at www.befrienders.org

Families for Depression Awareness helps families work together in order to find the best way to cope with depressive disorders. Find Families for Depression Awareness on the web at www.familyaware.org/

Eating Disorder Support Groups

Sheena’s Place was founded in memory of Sheena Carpenter who lost her life because of an eating disorder. The organization offers hope and support for people with all sorts of eating disorders. You can visit them on the web at www.sheenasplace.org.

Pale Reflections is an online support community for individuals coping with an eating disorders. The site offers a complete support network for people suffering from anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge-eating disorder, compulsive overeating and all other eating disorders. Visit Pale Reflections online at www.pale-reflections.com.

Self-Harm and Self-Injury Support Groups 

Recover Your Life is an online self harm support community that offers a free and open forum and a non-judgmental approach to support. Visit Recover Your Life online at www.recoveryourlife.com

Healthy Place has self-injury news, an online chat, forums, online tests, resources and more. Healthy Place’s latest article explores the latest form of self-injury, self-embedding, the act of inserting anything from broken crayons to paper clips under the skin. Visit Healthy Place online at www.healthyplace.com.

HBO, in conjunction with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), have put together an HBO original series called “Addiction”. The series is composed of several documentary films with subject matters including: adolescent addicts, opiate addiction, the science of relapse, Alcoholism and more. The following is a listing (by category) of just a few of the films currently airing on HBO:

Addiction: Centerpiece Documentary

“Saturday Night in a Dallas ER” (Directed by Jon Alpert) documents the real-life accounts of Parkland Memorial Hospital Emergency Room, which receives over 30,000 injury related cases each year; nearly half of the accidents are drug or alcohol related.

“Brain Imaging” (Directed by Liz Garbus) documents the new science of brain mapping through electronic imaging in order to see the way addiction works. The new technology is leading to several breakthroughs in recovery and rehabilitation by allowing scientists to define pleasure pathways in the brain.

Opiate Addiction:

“A New Medication” (Directed by Chris Hegedus) documents the use of buprenorphine (prescribed by doctors as Suboxone), a new drug said to treat opiate addiction the same way that methadone was used in the 1960s to treat heroin addiction.

“Topiramate: A Clinical Trial for Alcoholism” (Directed by Alan Raymond) documents the use of Topiramate, a new medication that is showing promising results in the treatment of alcoholism.

“Addiction: The Supplementary Series” (Directedd by Liz Garbus) is a film exploring the causes of addiction, addiction as a mental illness and ways to recovery.

“Understanding Relapse” (Directed by Susan Froemke) explores the different factors that lead to relapse, chronic relapsing and how relapsing should not be seen as a failure, rather as part of the addiction/disorder.

“A Mother’s Desperation” (Directed by Susan Froemke) is the story of a mother’s struggle to save her daughter from a heroin addiction.

Go to www.HBO.com to see the line up and show times for each of the documentaries along with a detailed description of each series, filmmaker biographies, follow ups and more. Along with all the information on the series itself, the site is an excellent resource for addicts seeking recovery. The site dedicates pages to understanding addiction, adolescent addiction, treatment, aftercare, discrimination and more.