Katie Lain - Freedom to Thirve

It's been called a social lubricant, a way to unwind after a long day or even something that gets the party started. But for many people, alcohol is a daily battle. Sometimes it's an obvious struggle. But many times alcohol use disorder is a source of shame. It's hidden from even those closest to the one facing the battle. Katie Lane struggled with alcohol use disorder for almost 10 years cycling in and out of

periods of heavy drinking and quitting alcohol. These days, she is free of its grip on her life, and helping others to break free. It's a pleasure to welcome her to bleeding daylight. Katie, thank you so much for your time.

oh, I will never have a problem with alcohol. Like that's just something that won't impact me, even though it definitely is something that runs in my family. What happened for me is they progressed into my 20s is I started to really, quote unquote, party more and drink more regularly and binge drink and just kind of believed it was a phase I was going through. And once I got a little bit older, I would kind of rein it in,

so to speak, you know, not drink as much. What happened for me was after a few years of really heavy drinking, kind of naively thinking that I was invincible to developing an alcohol dependence. I became addicted. And I realized that when I remember it, so clearly, I was sitting on the beach, I live in California sitting on the beach one day, I always brought drinks to the beach. And I was like, when was the

last time that I haven't had a drink. Like I couldn't remember the last alcohol free day that I had had. It had been over a year. And that kind of scared me. And I was like, I'm just gonna take a week long break from drinking. And I remember that week being just the most difficult experience for me, because all I wanted to do was drink I was fighting cravings every single day and just counting down the days

until the week was over. And I could finally drink again. And that's when I realized, oh, no, this is more than a phase. And I think I'm hooked. And that's really where I started the cycle of trying to quit and then returning to drinking over and over again for several years.

environments I was in, and not to blame those people at all. I was an adult and I take full responsibility, but I think I was just extremely naive to how addictive alcohol was and the fact that even if I didn't want to become addicted, and I didn't think that I would that it didn't mean that I was invincible to it and that really what I've learned is that anyone with enough repeated drinking can

develop an alcohol use disorder. And so for me, you know, I was really associating with people who were really heavy drinkers, people I was hanging out with on a daily basis in particular a man I was dating at the time he enjoyed drinking daily and I remember thinking like you want a drink right now like you know, we just drink yesterday and but to kind of like bond with him and have something in common. I would pick up

drinks and kind of join the party and then before I knew it, I was the one initiating the drinking and it really become my own habit. I do think It had a lot to do with the environment and the people that I was hanging around combined with me just being naive to how addictive alcohol is.

if you will, of me thinking, okay, maybe if I just take a break from drinking, it will help to reset my habits. And so I was constantly taking these breaks, whether it was like, Okay, I'm not going to drink Monday through Thursday, or I'm going to take a 30 day break, or I'm just going to take two days off, I was always trying to have chunks of alcohol free time thinking that that would help to reset my habits, which

it did not. Now I know, there's actually a well researched phenomenon that proves there's a thing called the alcohol deprivation effect where you can actually crave alcohol more if you abstain from it once you're addicted. That was one thing I did, I also really tried to set rules and moderate my drinking and just try to keep it in controlled levels, like two drinks per day, which was always pretty

much impossible for me to do once I started, I did try to go to programs like AA. At the time, I went to only two meetings, because the one in my town, I was a girl in my mid 20s. And most everyone, there was older men in their 50s and 60s, kind of rough people. And so I was like, Ah, this isn't for me. But I was constantly reading literature and watching talks online and going to different workshops, like personal

development workshops, and things like that, before I really had my own faith. This was before I developed faith that I have now. I was just really seeking lots of external community and support and then also just trying to really be more disciplined with my drinking, but none of that really worked long term.

not allowed to scratch. And it was just like, Okay, how long can I go without scratching this itch. And then when I would just feel so exhausted and not have any willpower left, you know, one little thing could just set me off, whether it was a comment my coworker made or just a stressful day or even a good day, I would just be like, forget it, I'm gonna go ahead and drink those first few drinks were just

like the relief that I was looking for. But then, of course, the next day, there would always be regret and things like that. But it's really this vicious cycle because the alcohol kind of relieves that craving and that desire we have for it temporarily. But then it always comes back again the next day. And it's it's so hard to get out of that.

but maybe I was living a more destructive life. They were aware of that. And they did try to do an intervention. And it was extremely unsuccessful. I actually ended up not talking to them for a year after that, which is another story. But they were aware of it. Then as I got

older, because it did continue on into my late 20s. And I got help with this treatment right around the age of 30. I did start to become more sophisticated about it and conceal it more and kind of maybe go out to parties and I would get really drunk sometimes and it'd be really obvious but other times I would be able to hide it and come home and have a bottle of wine that I drink to myself after you know my

husband went to bed. I think some people could tell because, you know, they just could see how much alcohol I could hold. But I was you know, a functioning person. I had a job and things like that. But I did conceal it for the most part. And maybe in hindsight, I don't think I did a great job. I think it was more obvious than I thought but concealed it enough to where you know wasn't wreaking havoc in my personal or professional life.

can see that as a strength rather than the weakness that it had become for you. How much does that play into people becoming dependent on alcohol, the fact that our culture's actually celebrate drinking, and in fact, to celebrate drinking to access?

period, it was really easy for me to have friends and associate with people who were also heavy drinkers. And in fact, I really only liked to hang out with people, if I knew that they were going to drink like I did, it was this really confusing place, because I would, you know, sign up for 5k runs that are like, okay, that's healthy, you're going on a run on a Saturday morning. But it would be the ones that like served

unlimited beer at the end. And so I do this job, usually hungover, and then I would get drunk at the end of it. Having alcohol really intertwined into every single aspect of our culture, even the job I had, at the time had a beer cake that they would bring out on Fridays. And

we're always going to happy hours. And so I had this real internal conflict of like, this is one thing that like, socially is so acceptable, and we use it to celebrate, you have this very dark side where I was drinking to excess, pretty much seven days a week, hung over so much shame, guilt, anxiety, driving, mold, drinking, getting pulled over almost getting a DUI, doing things I don't remember,

because I was blacked out and all of this dark side of it. So I was like, Do I have a drinking problem? Like it's normal? You know, they're drinking like that, too. And it's just this real, internal conflict that I think a lot of Americans and really people around the world struggle with. And they're in that questioning place and wondering, you know, do I have a drinking problem?

on you know, day one, or day two, or day three of like, I'm not drinking anymore, but then the craving would come back. And I would imagine this life without alcohol, I've never been able to touch it again. And that was terrifying for me. And I hear the same for others where the thought of being abstinent forever and not being able to drink alcohol, again, is scary. So I think, for me, it kind of kept me stuck where I was

for a long time, because I thought that the only option available was total and complete abstinence, like going to Alcoholics Anonymous. And I think that's a great program. My dad is over 30 years sober because of it. But I knew it wasn't for me. And I'm what I'm learning is that it's not for a lot of other people as well, because there's a lot of people, especially if you put them in maybe a gray area drinker

category where they're functioning in life, but they're drinking a bottle of wine every night. Those are kind of people that perhaps want to at least start by, okay, I want to cut back I want to have two glasses of wine a couple of nights a week. And not more than that. But it's really hard to do that once you are in the place of alcohol use disorder. It's hard to kind of reverse back until I learned about this treatment that I us it allowed me to do that.

This treatment allowed me to kind of start by reducing my drinking and I was drinking moderately for about the course of one year and ended up going alcohol free completely through this treatment sort of by accident because I just got to a place of really being uninterested in alcohol which is so funny because it was like just impossible for me to even go a couple of days without drinking let alone now it's been

about five years after getting sober I actually for the first time in my life like started to think about is there a God before that I was very much into like the New Age belief system if you will, or I kind of believed I was God and I was going to reincarnate and just like out there stuff that I believe for a long time. And I remember just for like six months I considered myself spiritual and for six months I kept

getting this thought if you're so Spiritual, you should read a Bible like that's the most spiritual book that exists. And I kept delaying it or ignoring it and not buying a Bible. One day I actually kind of felt frustrated because I had been seeing some scriptures posted on my Facebook from some Christian friends of mine and just seeing all these like scriptures and people talking about Jesus. And I was like, Ah, why

are all these people so obsessed with Jesus? Like, I remember praying one day and be like Jesus, if you're the who, who Bible says you are like, just show me and I was kind of praying from this place of like, you know, wanting to prove everyone else wrong in a way, but I was sincere in my prayer. And it was really the first time I had ever prayed because in the new age, I really believed in just manifestation and like, it's

not about a humble heart of prayer. It's more about like, what can I attract in my life. So I prayed, and then within like, 24 hours, it's as if like, the scales were lifted from my eyes. And I could see that what I'd been doing with my life, like with Tarot cards, and psychics and new agey type practices, those things were not of God. And he just showed me so clearly, that's when I fell on my face and was just weeping

and really started to follow Jesus. And that was about three and a half years ago now. And I've just been a devoted follower ever since.

based treatment that's been researched since the 90s. With a clinically proven 78% success rate, that actually helps the alcohol addiction be unlearned, neurologically what the researcher his name was Dr. David Sinclair, what he discovered in his research that was done first on rats, and then in humans, the research was done in Finland, was that alcohol addiction is actually a learned

behavior. People aren't born alcoholics, it's something that is essentially developed over time with repeated drinking. And some people have genetics, like I did, where maybe I was more sensitive to developing an alcohol addiction. But his research showed that really, it can happen to anyone, with enough repeated drinking, because alcohol is rewarding for the brain. And so with this treatment, there's

actually a medicine that's available in most parts of the world. It's a generic medicine, it's non addictive, it's very cheap. It's called naltrexone. And this medicine is taken one hour before drinking. So that's something that was so unique about this treatment is that it didn't require me to abstain from drinking, the whole goal was to start it while it was still drinking, in order to get on the

path to reduction of alcohol. And so I started it. And it was really miraculous, honestly, like, within the first week on the treatment, I had an alcohol free day, which was really difficult for me to do. Generally, I was drinking seven days a week. And it wasn't that hard, I

just didn't really feel like drinking continued on the treatment. I did it for a year. And over that year, my drinking just continued to reduce more and more and more and got to a point where, you know, I was drinking one or two glasses of wine once or twice a month, that was

all I wanted to drink. And I maintain that level for a few months, I kind of went alcohol free by accident where after a little over a year on the treatment, I just really was so uninterested in alcohol and had no desire for drinking that I decided, okay, I guess I'm not going to drink anymore. And that was about five years ago now. And I think one of the greatest things about this

protocol for me is that the results were permanent, like the the medicine is only taken one hour before drinking. And so the longer I was using it, I was taking the medicine and drinking maybe once or twice a month. And then now it's been over five years, and I don't have any cravings for alcohol, I don't have any triggers or desire for alcohol, people can be drinking the best champagne around me and I

have no emotion or no desire to have it, I feel. And this is what the researcher said, who discovered this treatment, it's like your brain gets restored back to the state it was in before the addiction ever set in place. So I feel as if like the addiction was reversed from my brain, essentially. And so it's an incredibly powerful science based protocol that's been around for decades. Unfortunately, there's a

really little awareness about it. And there's a few reasons for that. But since it freed me from it, I've really been inspired just to advocate and tell others about it.

with taking the medicine, in my experience, personally with it. And then as a coach as well, I would say the majority of people, it's a non issue for them, because so many people start this treatment just wanting to put this issue behind them. What we often say to people is that the protocol on the medicine is half the equation like I genuinely tribute my sobriety today, and being able to become a quote unquote,

normal drinker to this medication like I tried for years before and nothing worked, my drinking just got worse. There's also a behavioral component to it, where people perhaps have been relying on alcohol to cope for years or decades, or, like me, it was my habit for nearly 10 years, every night I was I was drinking in the evenings. And that's a very ingrained habit. Even with the medicine, I had to find other

ways to spend my time and really find other healthier coping tools. So that's where the other side of the treatment comes in. And also to help with compliance and encouragement for that as well, for people to just stick with it. It's not an overnight fix, many people

will see pretty significant changes in the first month. But for most of us, it takes several months, maybe even longer to kind of gradually unlearn the patterns of alcohol use disorder and, and change our habits and behaviors around it as well.

it's a matter of finding what is going to work for the person. And this is one of those that has a very high probability of working.

interesting that the success rate is 80%. And then the relapse rate and traditional treatment is around 80%. With the Sinclair method, and naltrexone, it's not going to work for everyone. And, again, kind of referencing the book that dives into all the research the cure for alcoholism, it talks about, you know, the 22% that it doesn't work for, or that it didn't work for and the trials, a percentage of those

were actually people who weren't compliant. So back to your original kind of point about people not taking the medicine. So partially, it's not working, because people perhaps aren't following the protocol. There's a lot of really exciting advances being done with

science and medicine with regards to treating alcohol addiction. And there's other medications that are really showing a lot of promise and other kinds of alternative treatments, which I can't personally speak to, but I just know that there's other modalities out there.

So I would say if someone's struggling and they you know, want to try naltrexone, I think it's a really powerful treatment, it's got so much research behind it, if you're interested in the science, you can just look into some of these papers on naltrexone for alcohol, but to also consider other treatments like abstinence and just white knuckling it isn't isn't the only option, if that's something that's not working for somebody.

even start on the medication treatment protocol, there's a lot to unpack, and a lot to uncover. And I think for some people, if they're struggling with this and their loved ones, even if they're well intended, if they don't understand alcohol use disorder and what it's like to kind of cope with it and to really overcome it through a treatment that seems illogical because you're still drinking, it can be really hard to

kind of see progress. And so what I hear all of the time from people is just how valuable it is to connect with others who are in the middle of it are going through it or have gone through it. And they can provide that source of encouragement and support and also just specific

instruction on what to expect the different phases of the method how to change habits and and find different coping tools as well. So I definitely encourage someone if they're considering medicine that recognize it's kind of half the half the equation, if you will, in that the support side and really viewing it as a treatment protocols. The other half

in our program as well. So it's optional. But yeah, it's really interesting how many people have said that this is an answer to prayer, that they've tried so many other things, and they feel like God has led them to this treatment, which I think that's something I haven't just heard that once I hear it on maybe at least a monthly basis from people. And so I think it's really powerful to hear that

testimony. And also, I've heard from Christians who some of them, the kind of consistent feedback I've heard is that they struggle to go to programs like AAA for the fact that what I've heard is that, you know, anything can be your God there. And so if they're sitting next to someone who's worshiping the chair in front of them, they're like, well, that's not really aligned with my faith in the Christian God. So

that is a challenge. And then also, I think, just again, the more feedback I've gotten, and I don't think it's not to say anything bad about pastors at all, I think, when you don't know what it's like to go through an alcohol addiction, you don't really know how to handle it. Like, I wouldn't know how to help someone with an opiate addiction. I just I don't know about that. I didn't walk that path myself

personally. But alcohol, I know it very intimately. And so when people would turn to their pastors for help, and the pastor's advice is to pray or just quit drinking, and I believe God can supernaturally heal and remove that from people, you sovereign. And so why he doesn't want some I have no idea. But I think sometimes people, even when they turn to their church or their pastor, they're not getting the

adequate support for it. Or they might feel like they're getting judged or ridiculed. That's like an area where I really have a heart to serve people that, you know, just letting the love of God transform them and let the Holy Spirit do the changing within them. But also, you know, using this evidence based treatment alongside,

world. If that's the case for someone, and they wanting to get in touch with you or to find out even more about it, maybe for a loved one, what's the best place to find you?

to contact us, you know, at least point them in the right direction. Of course, if they're ready to get started, our program is available to support as well.