Improved
6112 HealthChanged
3785 LivesSaved
3568 Lives0 lives impacted in the last 24 hrs Learn More
Dr. Pohl recalls his favorite patient success story.
Dr. Pohl:
I think one of my favorite recovery stories is related to a woman who came to us pretty disabled. She was dependent on medication. Her drugs were methadone, Valium, sleeping pills–Ambien, I believe--and she was tired all the time so she took Ritalin for energy. And she drank a lot. She had horrible pain. Her pain was 6-7 out of 10 on a daily basis because she had had very, very bad back disease. She had rods in her back. She was very depressed. She couldn’t sleep well, and her pain wasn’t relieved by her medications, so she was referred to us.
The first thing that we did was after our preliminary meeting is we told her she was coming off all the medications. And she said, “What, are you crazy? I am not interested in that. I just want to cut down. I want to learn how to control my pain.” And we explained to her that actually in some cases the painkillers cause more pain.
So she took a leap of faith. We detoxified her. It was a pretty long process–two and a half weeks--and by the end of the two and a half weeks, she just started to be with us. Before she was sort of blank and vacant and terribly depressed, not interested in being with other people.
When the drugs were gone, several things happened. Her pain got better, decreased by 20 percent. And then in our program we have an acupuncturist, we have a physical therapist, we have a chiropractor, we have a massage therapist, we teach Yoga and Qigong. We have a Reiki master, and we do a lot of physical activities and a lot of emotional growth activities.
She spent 28 days in treatment. She walked out with her posture straight, a smile on her face, shine in her eyes, ready to be with her family. Her family participated in treatment. Her kids hadn’t seen her alive like that in years, and they didn’t even recognize her. She got younger, and she is out there doing well. She is not pain-free, but she has her life back. It was a wonderful story.
About Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D.:
Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D., is a Board Certified Family Practitioner. He is the Vice President of Medical Affairs and the Medical Director at the Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC), the only private, freestanding, medically managed inpatient detoxification and addiction treatment facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Visit Dr. Pohl at the Las Vegas Recovery Center