Dear Dr. Sponaugle,

There is so much I would like to say that it is difficult to know where to start. At the beginning, I guess. I am a 75 year old woman who heard about your services on TV. I was mesmerized by what I heard. The very next morning I called your clinic. The response I received was incredible. Not only was Jane compassionate and caring when I explained my problem but she was extremely helpful in setting up a time for me to arrive at your location to receive the help I so desperately needed. I had been addicted to two prescription medications (vicodin for 11 years and ambien for 8 years). No matter how hard I tried I could not rid myself of the terrible addiction I suffered. On November 13, 2005 I took a plane from St. Louis, MO to Tampa, FL. I was scared, as I had no idea what to expect and my husband would not be able to join me for several days. On November 14th I reported for my appointment. Your entire staff was wonderful. Several of your senior staff members spoke with me including Paula, Greg, and Brenda. It amazed me that they were so interested in me and my problem and told me not to worry as you would take care of everything.Then we talked, Dr. Sponaugle. What a wonderful Christian man you are. Your dedication to serving the patients who come to you for help they cannot receive anywhere else is nothing short of phenomenal. The next day when I arrived all was in readiness. You were there to see that each stage of my procedure went smoothly. I was treated with respect in all areas. I did not know what to expect or what the outcome would be, but you assured me that it was all taken care of and I would awaken to a new day. How true that was. When I awoke the following morning my addictions were gone forever. How can I thank you. There are no words in any dictionary that can express my feelings over the entire course of treatment. I remained in the hospital for two days so that I could be monitored. Whey my husband arrived, you and Brenda spent several hours with both of us counseling us on the medications I would be taking for several weeks and what to expect as my recovery continued. You were available by phone to answer all my questions and not once did you treat me as if I no longer needed reassurance. I would shout your services from the house tops if possible. I know that I was the oldest patient that has received treatment at your facility. That alone was a challenge for you and you rose to the occasion magnificently. How I wish that others in my position could know of your services. I requested and was sent a packet that told of your treatment center in detail, including the cost. It may be expensive, but it is worth every penny and more. I gave the packet to my local physician so that he could refer his other patients who were in the same category I was before I came to Tampa. In closing let me state that my family is overjoyed at my recovery even thought they may not understand what took place. My husband, children, and grandchildren say I am a different person now that my body is rid of all signs of addiction. God is good. Once again let me thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me back my life.I no longer have the insomnia that I suffered from for so many years. Keep up the wonderful work you are doing. Someday it will be available to all of those individuals who are in trouble with addictions whatever the addiction might be.

Sincerely,

Dorothy, Illinois

My name is Cara Barber and I am a mother, wife and recovering addict that was just recently helped by Florida Detox and the Dr. Phil Show. I was addicted to vicodin and lots of it. I found that addiction is about just wanting more and more and not being able to stop, no matter how bad the consequences were. I was a stay at home mother that had a full time job the job of an addict and I was pretty darn good at it. My addiction began in 2003 when my husband went to fight in the war in Iraq. I had been dealing with some abdominal pain caused by a botched appendectomy for a couple of years by that point. But, when my husband left to go to war and I had a son to care for and a full time job as a Business and Life Coach . . . I found that I could not manage the pain any longer. The pain became unbearable and when I was prescribed vicodin, I was cured. Or, looking back, I was screwed!

It started off innocently enough, just taking what my doctor had prescribed and I was able to do my job with vigor and I was able to love my son unselfishly and I did not have to worry about the war. I just turned the TV off and took my vicodin and we were GREAT! I felt the immortality of a 15 year old and the energy of my 2 year old. I could do it all and have it all! Well, after my refills of vicodin ran out an immense feeling of fear, blackness, sin and deceit took over and my morality was no longer impenetrable . . . I wanted to get the vicodin no matter what it took. I had heard that one could buy it online, so I started my search and within a week or two I had my first shipment of the genuine thing the drug of choice vicodin. That's when I thought I would start trying larger doses to see if I could attain that first feeling of euphoria. Every once in awhile I would and that was enough to keep me going. I excelled at my job, at mothering and at becoming an addict.

Before too long, the addiction took a strong hold and I didn't want to work anymore. I basically wanted to stay home and get high. There was quite a bit of turmoil going on with my job as I had suggested a new business plan to the company's CEO and COO and they were quite impressed. Once they adopted my suggestions, my co-workers were not happy with me and I was not satisfied with the level of recognition I had received from the company. So, I had a legitimate reason to want to quit and my husband had just returned home from the war , so we decided that would be the best thing. I could stay home with our son and, hopefully, have our second child.

Also, during this time, the culminating stress of my mother's move to San Diego fueled my need for more and more vicodin. My mother who is a recovering alcoholic had been sober for 2 years. I was proud of her accomplishment and wanted to help her. She had been earning an income by cleaning houses in North Carolina. But, she was getting old, had Hepatitis C and didn’t have enough energy to earn enough money to survive. So, I offered to help her build her business here in San Diego, CA. I wanted her to have a legitimate business with health insurance, employees to do the labor and start saving for a retirement so she wouldn’t have to work the rest of her life. So, we started the business for her and I basically ran it from home while taking care of our 3 year old son. This caused a lot of family tension and stress which, of course, fueled my addiction.

Eventually, I gave up on that too. I just quit and handed the business and all 12 employees over to my mother without a second thought. By this time, I knew the addiction was bad and I was scared. I needed to reduce my stress and stop this stuff before I became pregnant. Soon thereafter, I fell and broke my tailbone! Boy did I enjoy the percocets! But, eventually it was back to vicodin because I didn't know how to get percocets online. Within a couple of months my husband intervened and told me I had to stop this madness. I went to the doctor and partially confessed my sins. She gave me enough vicodin to taper off and started me on Ultram. This was successful, but the cravings were enormous. After a month I ordered online again and within a couple of weeks, I found out I was pregnant!

When I told me doctor I was pregnant she told me to immediately stop taking the ultram. When I told my obstetrician about my chronic pain in my abdomen, he advised that the only thing I could take was vicodin. Oh darn. So, I was prescribed vicodin during my entire pregnancy. Fortunately, I had the moral fortitude to not ever take more than prescribed during the pregnancy. The pregnancy went well and a healthy, happy, baby girl arrived safe and sound. We were so blessed!

Following the c-section, my doctor did not prescribe anything stronger than vicodin. I was livid! I had a huge tolerance to vicodin and my abdomen had just been cut wide open. Even my husband felt sorry for me. So, I told him I was going to order some meds online and that I would stop when our new baby girl, Abby, was in a routine and I was more healed. Well, one order became two, then two orders became three and before I knew it, I needed a prescription of 120 vicodin just to get through the week! I tried to stop on my own using ultram that I also ordered online this time. I just couldn't do it! I was scared out of my mind and all I could think about was how many I had and when I was getting some more.

Then, I saw a Dr. Phil Show about another mother that was doing the EXACT same thing! Dr. Phil told her off, it put the fear of God in me. I heard Dr. Phil tell her that he was going to send her to Florida Detox , a place where they could clean the drugs out of her system under general anesthesia in only a couple of days and then she could return to her family. That was it . . . that was the answer I had been praying for.

I emailed the Dr. Phil Show and a producer contacted me about doing a show. I was reluctant, but continued the dialogue. I started investigating Florida Detox and found that they were using cutting edge technology to diagnose patients' underlying reasons for their addiction. I'm a Psychology Major with a Masters in Education, so I LOVE learning how the brain works so I knew this was the place for me. When I found out how much it cost . . . I was at a loss. We could not afford that, but somehow I was affording a $500 a month habit , crazy, uh? That was the disease doing its magic. My brain was fighting hard to maintain the levels of dopamine that I had been giving it, so rational thought was scarce.

But, somewhere in me, I knew I HAD to do this for my kids and my husband. I was the victim of parents with addictions and divorce. I didn't want that for my kids, so I agreed to do whatever it took to get well. The next thing I knew, the Dr. Phil Show camera crew was at my house filming me and my addiction and how I interacted with my family. They filmed EVERYTHING! I did daily video diaries that documented the pain and torture. The video footage of my destruction is immense. Soon, thereafter I was packing my bags to go to Florida Detox where I would learn about my brain chemistry, be detoxified from the drugs under general anesthesia and my husband would be educated about the disease called addiction.

I soon learned that due to some genetic predispositions and environmental factors, my prefrontal cortex was no longer producing enough dopamine. I learned that I had almost all the factors that could set someone up for addiction. I'm a daughter of an alcoholic from a divorced family. I was raped and molested during my childhood by family friends. I had flirted with disaster in college by binge drinking, but was exercising enough to help with dopamine production. But, when my husband went to war, the stress heightened my perception of the pain and once my brain experienced the opiate for the first time .. I had finally found a way to self medicate so that I could feel like everyone else around me. It all just clicked. Dr. Sponaugle and Florida Detox changed my perceptions of addiction and, more importantly, the perceptions of my husband.

I learned that most addicts are quite intelligent and some have dealt with undiagnosed ADD or ADHD their entire lives. I learned that people with Type A personalities are, more likely than not, have an insufficient amount of dopamine production and are feeding their need for dopamine by taking risks. These risk takers can become amazingly successful in life and, can just as easily, become an addict. It explained why there are a percentage of people that can become addicted after their first use of a drug and how others, with sufficient dopamine and serotonin, can just walk away. I was one of those people. the highly intelligent, Type A go getters that just ran out of go getting and the vicodin simply helped me feel normal. Suddenly, an addict wasn't the stereotypical dirty, homeless, criminal on the street. Instead, it was me and there were millions more like me.

During a lecture that Dr. Sponaugle gave, I sat right across from a man that had recently sold the company he started for $800 Million Dollars. He had just detoxed and wanted to hear the lecture again. We struck up a conversation because he was interested in why all these camera men were following me around. I learned that he had provided his brain enough dopamine by taking risks while growing his million dollar enterprise, but after he sold it and retired . . . he got bored. He also got a $2,000 to $3,000 dollar a week addiction to oxycotin that he was buying off the street. He had spent a quarter of a million dollars in the last year or two on his drug of choice. From CEO to full time addict in only a couple of months.

Stories of addiction are profound and powerful, a true power struggle between good and evil. Fortunately, Dr. Sponaugle and this cutting edge technology saved my life and the lives of my children and their children and so on. I am now treating my chronic pain condition by stimulating dopamine production in my brain via appropriate medications, exercise, a healthy protein diet, hobbies and good deeds. Its only been six months, but I know I never want to go back to where I was and now that I have an intellectual understanding of the process, I am better prepared to fight the demons.

The Dr. Phil Show that Dr. Sponaugle and I were on aired on Friday, October 28th. Because of the opportunity that was given to me by Dr. Phil and Dr. Sponaugle, it is now my life mission to help others suffering through the vicious cycle of addiction. I'm working closely with Dr. Sponaugle and his team at Florida Detox to develop an outreach program that could help to educate addicts and their loved ones about this disease and how it can be treated without suffering the pain of withdrawals. I certainly don't pretend to be an expert or professional . I just want to help.Cara Barber -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I am writing this not to promote Florida Detox but hoping it will help others with opiate addiction. I highly recommend this program if you have a problem with opiates, including street drugs or prescribed medication. It did for me what other treatment programs didn't. I have been using drugs and alcohol most of my life and overdosed when I was 13. I lived overseas where alcohol and drugs were easy to obtain. Then I enrolled in college; alcohol and drugs ruined my goal of becoming an engineer. I lost a girlfriend of 8 years due to drugs. (Lucky we are still best of friends!) Three years ago I went into a 28 day treatment twice (------------------- Hospital, Tampa FL) and it failed, but I learned the tools to quit with the help of motivation, AA and the treatment program. I was clean and sober for almost 3 years, which were the most productive and happy years of my life. Then things changed and my life was going downhill effecting everyone, especially my best friend (girlfriend) and my family. I went to the dentist who over prescribed Vicodin ? (just for a laugh it was 30ES Vicodin with 10 refills! Which by Florida law only allows 5 refills) I was having invasive surgery and lots of painful procedures done in which I did need something for pain. It wasn't to long before I was down to one class from four. I do not drink anymore but had a problem with opiates. School started August 2000 and I was in treatment at ---------------- Hospital four times without success. They use a new drug called Bupornex, which was not available three years ago. My new girlfriend remembered a newspaper article about a state of art treatment called Florida Detox. It was shown live on TV on the Ricky Lake Show. With some research there are four locations in North America that uses this procedure, which is the most advanced detox procedure in North America. One is not too far from where I live. Without getting into details (which you can see on their website) I have been off opiates for almost two months now. Unlike ----------------- Hospital, every employee was friendly and courteous. I was treated with dignity. Dr. Rick Sponaugle and his assistant "Rose" have gone out of their way to listen to me and help me. I was prescribed medication to help with any discomfort after the procedure, which was basically painless. I very much recommend him and if you have any questions, need help or would just like to talk e-mail me at Robert@aworldaway.com. I would be happy to talk. Life is too short and valuable to waste with drugs.