a little off topic, but....

[mjax024]

okay...so i was able to sit still long enough last night to watch celebrity rehab...usually it's a great show but in case you didn't catch it.....the patients are 3 days from their graduation, dr.drew decides that a sober night out will be helpful for them...he took them to a comedy club...they're having virgin drinks and water, everything seems great for them until the comic comes on stage...he proceeds to go down the table of addicts and starts joking (and really bad jokes) about their past...most importantly the reasons that many of them start using. he cracks on rodney king about the police beating and the riots, he cracks on steve adler being fired from guns n roses...makes fun of rod stewart's son about the lack of family contact. i know that i don't have a PhD...but shouldn't this sober night out have been scouted a little better. by the way, it wasn't just the addicts in the club...the club has regular clientele also. isn't this just mean-spirited?  after the show i ended up really angry, really restless...kinda felt like a sympathetic withdrawal. not sure why this episode bugged me so much...but thanx for wasting a few minutes reading this.
                        -mjax024

[LateAugust]

It's TV   and VH1 at that.  Reality?  Not for a minute, or so is my opinion.    Personally,  I think it is a HUGE disservice to anyone contemplating either entering treatment or expections of how and what w/d is really like, because reality  is not a word I would use to describe  this show.   No treatment center would put up with the bs they do in "Celebrity Rehab"  because the patient was a "star"    and I use that term  very loosely.  Quite frankly, not even sure how they can call it "Celebrity Rehab" with a straight face.   The Betty Ford Center doesn't give anyone preferrential treatment,  and with all of the ones I have checked out, didn't find one that treated people differently based on their money  or if they had 15 seconds of fame.
    Season one,  only one person is still sober and that is Brigette Nielson   if  you google any of her interviews she was in treatment and  detox from alcohal for 30 days prior to going on the  "Dr Drew"  show......  

If you watch it, listen to Gary Busey talk about his contract for being there,  the patients  do it for the money......granted Mr. Busey is brain damaged from his motorcycle accident 20 plus yrs ago, but I think he is the most honest.    I feel great empathy for anyone attempting to quit drugs or drinking  and think they can get thru the w/d's   (like the "stars" on this show) and really into treatment in (I think) 18 days.   I think it is so very wrong and in my opinion irresponsible.

Google the treatment center,  "Dr. Drew" was the director until they had some real nasty violations, actually criminal activity,  and it is   not the National Enquirer  but legit news sources.  So his name was taken off the web-site not to impact the viewership of his show.

Like I've said  my daughter has been  in treatment 2X   and she is currently 45 days sober.......    she  had 30+ days   a few months ago,  relapsed  so I watch Intervention on A&E   (which I applaud their show)....  tried the Celebrity Rehab show to share with my 21yr old,  and she thinks it is as much nonsense as I do.....  and with all "stuff" related to drug addiction and recovery I research the heck out of it.  

I think  "Celebrity Rehab"  is fine for entertainment  and as with the majority of "reality tv" I hope entertainment is all anyone is looking for from this show.    I guess for anyone that believes you can go thru w/d's, detox  and be out on your way in 18 days   the success  for recovery will be about the same as it is for this show.

Just my opinion.  

[Mandapanda17]

yeah, no kidding! They wanted to go in the water..... UH the ocean???? during detox??? I was freezing for at least 2 months. I'm still cold all the time... maybe I have anemia. anyway, off subject lol :) I'm hoping Amber does write me on myspace, its RARE that a celeb. will message you, but I know that IF she herself reads the message, its a possibility! So, Kim I will let you know for sure if it happens. Hmmmm... shes probably been clean for months now, considering that show was taped a lot earlier this year probably.

[kim715]

Thats another good question...Why aren't they cold? I was freezing for 2 months afterwards......You could have lit me on fire and I still would have been cold.That must be some really good stuff they medicate them with.

[dominosarah]

AND one more thing.......why are they all dressed like they arent cold??  Dont they get the chills???

[lady67]

We all have to learn how  to live once we are off the drugs.  Those old haunts are still going to be around, and we have to be strong enough to be able to go in and enjoy things sober, or we have to avoid them all together.  In my opinion, I think it was probably good to take them there and see how they were going to react to that situation before they left rehab rather than later.  At least now he still has some contact with them and can have some idea of what is going to happen once they geton the outside and address it.  I mean look what happened to Seth after he left.  

[dominosarah]

AND another thing.......how were they all able to eat at the beach that day......i would of been digging a hole in the sand!!!!!

[dominosarah]

i wondered that too as every piece of hair i had hurt.  I posted a thread about a week after i had gone thru wd and tried to put on mascara........He!! i looked like a member of Kiss..........

[kim715]

Oh yeah,PLEASE let me know.
I don't know anyone who ever did an in-patient medical detox from drugs.I'm just curious are they all like that? I mean are the w/ds really that much more manageable?And what exactly do they medicate them with?

[Mandapanda17]

blows my mind too... I searched google and it seems Veyda is correct. I added amber smith to my friends on myspace and sent her a message.. we'll see if I end up getting a response. If I do, I'll be sure to let you know :)

[kim715]

OMG I wonder the same things.How are they able to get out of bed,let alone do their hair and make-up and get dressed.I don't care if they have make-up artists and hairstylists there to do it for them.I couldn't have sat upright in a chair long enough ,let alone had enough patience,to let  someone else do it for me. I don't think I even ran a comb through my hair the first week,didn't care either.How are they all up running around,feeling fine,on day 5?

Who remembers the episode when Amber was laying in the hallway getting sick? All I could think of is how in the he!! can she be laying there feeling that sick but yet she has make-up on and her hair styled.That just blew my mind.

[Mandapanda17]

then HOW is she ok? It doesn't add up... she was on adderall, pain meds, benzos, anything you can think of... for like 16 years or something like that... I don't get how she could even be able to talk, let alone walk around and get dressed and do things. I felt like I was dying for WEEKS, and I was only on 1 drug... and not as much as she. ?? I don't know, it just seems theres more behind it than Dr.Drew leads the public to believe.

[mjax024]

i agree with steveo and jacqui...it was just wrong to do what they did to those patients. and he just took them to see a sober living house........that reminded all of them of old dope spots they used to frequent...then to the comedy club? sounds like the producers are looking to drag this group thru another season.

[steveo30]

you don't bring a bunch of alcoholics and drug addicts into that type of atmosphere,espically being sober less than a month.people places and things are one of the first things you learn in rehab.i don't know what dr drew was thinking.just because their celebrities dosen't make them less vulnerable

[alienshadow]

The only thing that hurts me about it with him is first I think he will die young he dosent care
2) He acts like he cares soo much for his kids but when hes got money they are put on the back burner I have a big problem with that.
3) If I confront him like I have in the past it always comes to a near fight
4) As long as I know that in reality he knows I am there for him maybe when hes ready he will come to me I have never told him to stay away from me which would be so easy.

[Mandapanda17]

oh I'm so happy you haven't been addcited to anything!! I didn't know that, sorry you have to go thru that with a loved one. Me being the addict, I haven't had to deal w/ it from someone elses perspective, I'm sure its no picnic for the people us addicts hurt around us either.

[alienshadow]

You know it is sad that they went there for help but somehow find ways to still get what they crave for.
I have never been addicted to anything but I have a brother who is an addict but he hides the truth.
Thats the sad part for me just watching someone who I was really close with take every dime and just spends it as quick as he can just to get a 20 min rush.

[Mandapanda17]

lol, he does!! I like shelly tho. I felt bad for her having to watch seth binzer smoke crack on the roof. u could tell she wasn't feeling good about that at all..

[Jacqui805]

Frankly, I don't know how ANY of 'em are okay during this short period of time.  For me, the first week of w/d was not the worst...mine dragged on and on and I felt awful with restless anxiety and back pain for a long time.  THese people all seemed fine after like 4 days, that to me was a shock.  Made me think they HAD to be on something.

[alienshadow]

Maybe with him but not his associate he looks like a long lost hippie to me LMAO

[Mandapanda17]

I love this show. Watch it every week, when it was on and I was going thru Xanax withdrawal, I kept having to turn it off. It made me have the WORST panic attacks. lol

I noticed in a commercial the Dr.Drew is an 'addiction medicine specialist'.... do u think this means he puts a lot of them on Sub?? I think so... ESPECIALLY Amber Smith the supermodel. theres no way she could even be that OK after 17 days considering all the drugs she was taking... just a thought..I do love Dr.Drew.. I'd love to have even an hour to chat with him.

[alienshadow]

Sara dont worry VH1 will have a marathon like they do with everything else lol

[Jacqui805]

...I forgot to mention this....

Ya know the commercials during that show, the ones with the people silently screaming, "Help!" ?   I remember watching those when I was in w/d and it used to make me cry...so now when I see them they really speak to me......you guys too?

[Jacqui805]

Yeah, sara, I feel like he is one to watch for sure.  He seemed to have a death-wish for himself and I'm thinking when he's out of the vicinity of his supportive rehab pack, that may come back, if it ever left in the first place.  

[dominosarah]

I didnt see that episode.......hopefully they will replay it......I am curious to see how Steve Adler does.