Answer Addiction

Tag: drinking

  • Bam Margera Talks to Dr. Phil About Problems, 'Self-Medicating'

    Bam Margera Talks to Dr. Phil About Problems, 'Self-Medicating'

    Jackass star Bam Margera appeared on Dr. Phil to talk about his recent troubles, including his drinking problem.

    Former Jackass star Bam Margera appeared on the season premiere of Dr. Phil on Monday (Sept. 9) to talk about his battles with substance use after his cry for help last month. 

    On the episode, which was filmed on August 5, Margera talked about how his drinking escalated when he started filming Jackass, according to People.

    “If you’re a professional skateboarder, you can’t drink,” he said in a clip from the show. “You need the balance of being on a handrail. I never drank until I was like 22. I never tried drugs until I was like 24.”

    However, the outrageous stunts on Jackass left Margera turning to alcohol for liquid courage and pain management. 

    “When you try a skateboard trick, you’re supposed to land it and ride away,” he said. On Jackass, the stunts were set up to fail. “You’re not going to land it. You’re going to eat shit no matter what. Give me a few shots of tequila and okay, I’m feeling pretty numb. Mission accomplished.”

    When Drinking Became a Problem

    Margera, 38, said that he knew he had a problem when he needed to drink a beer every morning. 

    “Before, it was a fun party, let’s get all messed up and go do some crazy stuff,” he said. “Then it came to the point where I felt so terrible in the morning that I knew if I instantly would crack open a beer I would feel better. Then if I had another beer I would feel normal. Then, now that I feel normal I’ll have another and have a little buzz on, so by the end of the day you’re pretty much toasted.”

    His drinking became even worse when his Jackass costar Ryan Dunn died in a car accident in 2011.

    “After Ryan Dunn died that really exacerbated the alcohol,” Margera’s mother April said on the show. “He almost uses Ryan’s death as a big excuse to behave badly.”

    Margera didn’t dispute that — he said that Dunn’s death made him question his life.

    Repairing His Family Life

    However, he said he reached out to Dr. Phil in hopes of getting help for his whole family, including his mother April and his wife Nikki. “My family’s in shambles,” Margera said. 

    However, Margera said that his son, Phoenix Wolf, keeps him going. 

    “He is the raddest kid ever,” Margera said, becoming emotional. “He’s so interested in skateboarding. I have all these toys everywhere and he goes right to the skateboard. He’s like my best friend and I’ve only known him two years.”

    Dr. Phil responded, “You’d die for him, but the question is will you live for him?”

    After the show filmed in early August, Margera spent the month in and out of rehabs. It’s not clear whether he’s sober at the moment.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Steve-O Discusses Bam Margera's Recent Relapse

    Steve-O Discusses Bam Margera's Recent Relapse

    Margera was allegedly seven months sober prior to cracking open a beer following a traumatizing mugging, but Steve-O doesn’t buy it.

    Jackass alum, Steve-O, sat down for an interview with TooFab where he weighed in on a recent Instagram post by former Jackass co-star, Bam Margera.

    In a recent post, Margera shared that he had been robbed of $500 during a taxi ride from the airport to Cartagena, Colombia. He then cracks open a bottle of Club Colombia beer with one hand, though the latter part seems to have been removed.

    Bam’s act was significant as it marked the end of seven months of sobriety, which came hard won after being charged with a DUI in January and being sent to rehab by the courts.

    However, Steve-O seems to believe that Margera had already broken his sobriety prior to the robbery. “I guess. I don’t know that that’s the case, but perhaps,” Steve-O said in regards to the alleged seven-month timeframe.

    Steve-O was at first hesitant to expand on what he meant by the statement, but ended up explaining himself.

    “I mean, I don’t know. And I don’t want him to [feel like] I’m attacking him or calling him out, I just think that there were signs that, if he hadn’t already drank, it was evident that he was going to,” Steve-O explained. “The signs were there. I think if you’re a sober alcoholic that you kind of can tell.”

    Steve-O seemed to believe Margera wasn’t ready for sobriety.

    “When people are on the path, sort of doing the things that sober people do, it’s evident,” he exanded. “It’s evident that he’s not been ready or willing to do the simple things that sober people do that make our lives really great. It’s sad, and I wish that I could somehow force him to want to do these things and get healthy and have a great life, but it doesn’t work that way. You can’t push people into it.”

    Speaking with 10 years of sobriety, Steve-O said that even if Margera resorted to drinking because of the robbery, it’s still a poor decision.

    “Let’s say he did get drunk because of being robbed—we call that the philosophy of a man who having a headache hits himself in the head with a hammer so that he cannot feel the ache,” Steve-O explained. “Way to go. Now you got two problems.”

    Margera has long struggled with alcoholism. He recently tried to get healthy by taking a long trip and isolating himself, but ended up falling off the wagon.

    “I think the catalyst was when I stepped on a scale after a fucking drinking bender and I was 230 pounds. So I flew myself to Estonia, to the middle of the fucking woods in a log cabin for six months. I was on a full-blown Rocky Balboa mission to hike and bike and get myself in shape just to be able to skate,” Margera said.

    However, in January Margera got the DUI that landed him in rehab.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Coffee Won't Help Sober You Up

    Coffee Won't Help Sober You Up

    While you might feel more caffeinated, coffee does not improve motor skills that are affected by alcohol.

    Many people who need to quickly sober up reach for a cup of coffee, but while the caffeine might make you feel more alert, it won’t do anything to reduce the effects of alcohol.

    Professor Tony Moss of London South Bank University said that people might feel more sober because they’re caffeinated, but coffee does not improve hand-eye coordination or other motor skills that are affected by alcohol, according to The Independent.

    “We know from wider research that coffee isn’t an antidote to alcohol,” Moss said. “Taking coffee is a stimulant that will reverse that feeling of being slightly tired as your blood alcohol is coming down.”

    However, you’re still impaired, even if you feel slightly better.  

    “The only thing that’s going to sober you up in that respect is a bit of time,” Moss said.

    During a segment for Food Unwrapped, Moss gave five students a glass of vodka and tonic. Each cocktail was custom made to have enough alcohol to make the specific student feel tipsy, according to their body mass. The students were then asked to complete a hand-eye coordination test, guiding a metal loop around a wire without touching it. All five of the students failed the task.

    After having a strong cup of coffee, the students reported that they felt more alert, but all five still failed the test. A breathalyzer reading showed why: drinking the coffee had done nothing to change their blood alcohol levels.

    While coffee won’t sober you up, it might help you feel a bit better after drinking, especially if you’re hungover. Nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert told The Independent that while no food or drink can make you less intoxicated, there are certain choices that will make you feel better after drinking.

    “Firstly, your body is often dehydrated after drinking alcohol so it is imperative to drink more water than you usually would,” she said. “Secondly, think nutrients. Although we often crave sugary foods when there is alcohol in our system, try and start your morning with a nourishing dish to help your body to recover. Try something like a refreshing smoothie bowl or a filling porridge with nut butter and berries.”

    If you are trying to sober up, the most useful thing about a cup of coffee is the time it takes to consume. A typical beer or glass of wine takes 2-3 hours to break down in your body, so enjoying a leisurely expresso with a friend will do more than a strong brew to return your motor function to normal.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Country Music's Complicated Relationship With Alcohol

    Country Music's Complicated Relationship With Alcohol

    From songs about drowning heartache with whiskey to ones about partying with rum, country music’s link to alcohol is almost as old as the genre itself.

    Country music has been associated with drinking practically since its incarnation, but in the age of recovery some think the relationship between the popular music genre and alcohol has become more complicated.

    The Washington Post recently chronicled the long-running relationship between alcohol and country music.

    Country musicians have a long tradition of writing songs about drinking and drowning your sorrows in alcohol, to the point where Nashville has even been jokingly called “a drinking town with a music problem.”

    It’s also been a big part of the music’s culture since the days of Hank Williams, a hard-partying country star who was a bad influence on a lot of his peers. After a long battle with alcoholism and pill addiction, Williams died from a heart attack at the age of 29.  

    Songwriter Bobby Bare, who recently wrote a song called “I Drink,” told the Post, “Everybody I know wanted to be like Hank Williams. And everyone I know bought into the drinking. You figure if Hank did it, it must be OK.”

    Late country icon Waylon Jennings called it “Hank Williams syndrome,” according to the Post.

    In a 1988 interview, rising country star Keith Whitley said, “I thought everybody had to drink to be in this business. Lefty Frizzell drank, Hank drank, George Jones was still drinking, and I had to. That’s just the way it was. You couldn’t put that soul in your singing if you weren’t about three sheets in the wind.”

    Whitley died at 33 years old from alcohol poisoning in 1989.

    But the modern country music scene has refocused its relationship with alcohol. Now, there are more songs about drinking and having a good time, á la Jimmy Buffett, and a lot of modern country musicians often have to keep up their party image, even when they’re sober.

    It’s an image that’s being projected to a much younger audience. The Country Music Association reports that the 18-to-24 age group of country fans has increased by 54% in the last decade.

    As the president of Sony/ATV Music Publishing in Nashville told the Post, “For the younger country consumer, alcohol in a celebratory manner is very relatable.”

    Brad Paisley, who is sober, had a big hit with the song “Alcohol,” and he brings out a bar onstage when he performs the tune, even though the drinks on tap are usually non–alcoholic.

    Dierks Bentley told the Post that at his gigs, “People are coming out to blow off steam and have a great time. I’m kind of like the lead bartender: Jumping up on the bar table, drinking shots with you and singing ballads with you like at an old Irish pub somewhere.”

    In today’s country music climate, some artists have been afraid to be openly sober. Ray Scott is one country artist in recovery who was concerned that fans would turn against him because he stopped partying.

    He told Variety, “Some fans can kind of build you up to be this thing that they think you are, and a couple of these songs sort of painted a picture of who I was. I’ve been pleased that people take it for what it is. It’s just fun music; I don’t have to live the part.”

    Today’s country scene is also strongly connected with alcohol companies who make a lot of money when artists namecheck their brands. Kenny Chesney launched a successful rum company that sponsors his tours, and the company’s sales have nearly tripled in the last three years.

    The country group Smithfield has even pointed out the paradox of singing a sad drinking ballad, “Hey Whiskey,” while they have an endorsement with Rebecca Creek Distillery.

    As Smithfield singer Jennifer Fiedler confessed, “It’s kind of weird, because if you listen to the song, we always wonder, ‘Why do we have a whiskey endorsement?’ Because it’s like, the whole song is about how whiskey ruins [a] girl’s relationship—but hey, we’re handing out whiskey.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com