Tag: News

Study Questions Treatment For Pregnant Women With Opioid Addiction

The study’s findings might cause medical providers to reconsider what is the best standard of care for pregnant women with opioid addiction, according to the lead study author.

A study released this week found that infants who are exposed to opioids in the womb have significantly smaller head sizes at birth than babies who were not exposed to opioids, suggesting that they are at increased risk of mental health and developmental problems and potentially calling into question the standard treatment for women with opioid use disorder who discover they are pregnant.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that infants who were exposed to opioids were three times more likely to have a head circumference that measured in the bottom 10%. A small head circumference has previously been linked to mental health problems and developmental delays.

“Babies chronically exposed to opiates [during pregnancy] had a head size about a centimeter smaller’ than babies born to moms not using drugs,” said Dr. Craig Towers, lead study author and professor of obstetrics and gynecology with the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. This included babies whose mothers were on medication-assisted treatment with methadone or buprenorphine, the current standard of care for women who discover they’re pregnant while abusing opioids.

Towers said that the findings might cause medical providers to reconsider what is the best standard of care for pregnant women who are addicted to opioids.

“What we’re recommending these moms do, which is get on methadone and buprenorphine, may result in a smaller head size of the baby,” Towers said. “This is going to have to make us re-look at what we’re doing.”

During the study, mothers were routinely screened for drugs so that researchers could control for the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs other than opioids. With this information, they were able to definitively link opioid exposure and lower head circumference.

Although the results may call into question the use of prescribed opioids during pregnancy, Towers said that putting women on maintenance therapy remains the best option for now. Women who are abusing opioids and stop suddenly can experience withdrawal that may cause them to miscarry or can increase their risk of relapse, which can have fatal results for both mom and baby.

“I don’t want anyone to think putting them on methadone or buprenorphine is not the way to go. If they continue to use street drugs, that’s exponentially worse,” Towers said. With prescribed drugs, a woman and her doctor at least know exactly what she is taking, he said.

He said the study could encourage more conversations between women and their care providers.

“There are risks to the mom if she tapers and detoxes, but there are risks to the baby if she stays on maintenance therapy,” Towers said. “There needs to be informed consent so the mother can choose how she wants to go.”

Dr. Mark Hudak, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, said that the research is likely to be “very controversially received.”

“I think there’s going to be pushback on it, but one has to follow the evidence,” he said. ”The whole pillar of opioid maintenance therapy is based upon the fact this is better for the mother and the baby in the sense that the mother is in therapy, she is more closely monitored, she’s more likely to access good prenatal care, she’s less likely to engage in behaviors that would be harmful to her or the fetus… You now have to ask, is that the only or the best way for all women.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 December 2018
Young Mayor’s Overdose Death Captures National Epidemic

“I never would’ve thought he had an issue. Brandon made a mistake and paid the ultimate price,” the former mayor’s mother said after his fatal overdose.

The story of a small-town Pennsylvania mayor and his friend who both fatally overdosed on opioids is highlighting the dangers of the national drug epidemic and the heartbreak of families left behind.

Brandon Wentz was 24 when he overdosed last year. He had recently resigned as mayor of Mount Carbon, population 87, because his family had moved to a nearby town. The resignation hit Wentz hard, said his mother, Janel Firestone.

“You could just see the stress and sadness in him,” she told the Associated Press.

After struggling to write his resignation letter, which ended up being just 180 words, Wentz’s friend Ryan Fessler came over. The pair had been spending more time together, according to Fessler’s childhood friend.

“They were the same person,” she said. “They both wrote, they both drew, they would make up funny raps together. They really did want the best for each other.”

However, this worried some of Wentz’s friends, who knew that Fessler struggled with substance abuse.

“He wasn’t a bad person, he was nice, but he had his own demons, too, and demons will invite more demons,” said Brandon Radziewicz, Wentz’s longtime friend. “I think they were good at fueling each other’s habits.”

The day of the resignation letter, the two men went to Wentz’s room until Fessler left. That afternoon, Firestone tried to wake her son for his overnight shift, but he wouldn’t rouse. She suspected he had a migraine, and since he had always been a heavy sleeper she wasn’t concerned. However, the next morning Wentz was dead of an overdose of heroin and fentanyl, something that shocked Firestone.

“I never would’ve thought he had an issue,” she said. “Brandon made a mistake and paid the ultimate price.”

While Wentz’s family was blindsided, Fessler’s family knew of his addiction and did everything possible to protect him from overdose until he died just six months after Wentz, even sending him to treatment in Florida. However, Fessler’s grief over losing his best friend just made his addiction worse. A few weeks after Wentz died, Fessler’s girlfriend found him in bed crying, saying, “I killed my best friend. I gave it to him.”

Firestone, who was always skeptical of her son’s relationship with Fessler, blamed him for Wentz’s overdose. Fessler’s mother, Kim Kramer, said she understands completely.

“I get it, I truly do,” she said. “You wake up, you think about it all day, it’s forever there. You want to find out who gave it to them. … You want to hate the one who handed your son the bag.”

Firestone says she wishes Wentz’s friends had brought his drug abuse to her attention, something Radziewicz says he should have done, in hindsight.

“I was thinking, foolishly, that I would lose my best friend, and he wouldn’t talk to me again,” he said. “Guess what? I lost my best friend.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 December 2018
"Hedge Fund Tycoon" Helps Fund Mental Health Clinic For Vets

The Cohen Veteran’s Network in Tampa, Florida will soon add another clinic to its ranks thanks to a “hedge fund tycoon.”

Veterans in the Tampa area will soon have another option for mental and behavioral health treatment, as the Cohen Veterans Network plans to open a new clinic by March.

The clinic, according to The Tampa Bay Times, is funded by “hedge fund tycoon” Steven A. Cohen. This will be the network’s 12th such clinic, and the concept behind them is to fill in the areas of mental and behavioral health that the Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t reach.

This, according to the Times, will include services for veterans with “less than honorable” discharges as well as members of their families.

The clinic is expected to serve about 500 patients in the first year of operation. To start, the clinic will be funded with $8 million in seed money, the Times states. The network covered the costs for the clinic buildout and the first three years of operation. By the six-year mark, clinic officials are required to have raised 50% of the operating costs.

While both the American Veterans (AMVETS) and the Department of Veterans Affairs have expressed support, others aren’t so convinced. Marvin Southard, who was CEO of the Cohen Veterans Network’s first clinic at the University of Southern California, tells the Times that the clinics avoided treating more difficult patients for “commercial reasons.”

“Both USC and NYU had problems with the Cohen program,” Southard said.

Southard added that he feels “that what is required in a veteran-heavy locality like Tampa is a true convener organization or person who could bring the veterans service community together as collaborators rather than as competitors. I had hoped that the Cohen project could have served that role, but in Los Angeles, at least, they were inclined to do the opposite.”

However, Anthony Hassan, the Cohen Veterans Network CEO and president, says the clinic’s mission is to simply fill the gaps in care. He says that since the first clinic opened in 2016, more than 8,600 patients have been treated through the network, and about half of those were non-veteran family members who were not eligible for treatment from the VA.

According to the Times, US Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Trinity), who is the vice chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, is giving the clinics the benefit of the doubt.

“Any entity serving the veteran community … should be held accountable for meeting the highest standard of care,” his spokesperson, Summer Robertson, told the Times via email. “If the Cohen Network helps meet an unmet need by providing mental health services in the Tampa area, that could potentially be a good option for some veterans.”

Like the other clinics, Hassan tells the Times that the Tampa clinic will work with the VA and other local services to find patients needing care. He also says the clinics are not a method of privatizing care or profit-making.

View the original article at thefix.com

12 December 2018
Family Of Woman Whose Obituary Went Viral Sue For Info About Her Death

According to the suit by the ACLU, police refused to provide Madelyn Lisenmeir with medical attention while being held in custody–neglect that may have led to her death.

When Madelyn Linsenmeir died after a battle with opioid addiction on October 7, 2018, her family penned a heartfelt obituary for the 30-year-old single mother and earned sympathy and praise across the globe for turning their tragedy into a plea to help other opioid dependency sufferers.

Now Linsenmeir’s family is suing the city of Springfield, Massachusetts and its police force to find out what happened to her in the days leading up to her death. According to the suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Linsenmeir had requested and been refused medical attention while in police custody and remained in a woman’s correctional facility until October 4, when she was taken to intensive care. Linsenmeir died three days later, and her family is requesting that the Springfield police turn over any audiovisual recordings that would corroborate the allegations of neglect.

According to the suit, Linsenmeir texted her family on September 28, 2018 with complaints that she was “really sick” and needed to be hospitalized. The following day, Springfield police arrested her for probation-related violations, including providing a false name, according to their arrest log. She was transferred to the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and held at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

The ACLU suit then alleged that at the time of her arrest, Linsenmeir was allowed to call her mother, Maureen, with a Springfield police officer on the line. She reportedly informed her mother that she was not receiving medical attention, but as the suit alleged, “the police officer refused to provide medical attention and even made a sarcastic comment to Maureen after Maureen expressed concern that Madelyn was being denied care.”

On October 4, Linsenmeir was transferred by ambulance to the Baystate Medical Center’s intensive care unit and died there on October 7, still in police custody but with her family in attendance.

The ACLU alleged that the phone conversation with Linsenmeir’s mother confirms that the Springfield Police Department was aware she had been refused medical treatment and is “likely in possession of audiovisual recordings” that would corroborate their claim. In the suit, Linsenmeir’s family wrote, “release of the requested records would serve the public interest by supporting Madelyn’s family in their public advocacy for the humane treatment of opioid users and for increased access to medications and medical care for people suffering from opioid use disorder.”

According to the suit, the police department and city of Springfield have not responded to the family’s request. Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi, whose department was not named in the suit, expressed his sympathies to Linsenmeir’s family in an statement to CNN.

The obituary that drew attention to Linsenmeir’s struggle, penned by her sister, Kate O’Neill, was brought to global attention through social media, where it was picked up by news media outlets. In the obit, O’Neill wrote, “If you are reading this with judgment, educate yourself about this disease, because that is what it is. It is not a choice or a weakness. And chances are very good that someone you know is struggling with it, and that person needs and deserves your empathy and support.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 December 2018
Can Medical Marijuana Help Alzheimer’s Patients?

After nothing but marijuana edibles seemed to offer his Holocaust survivor father reprieve from Alzheimer’s, Greg Spier began funding medical marijuana research through the Spier Family Foundation.

When Greg Spier’s father Alex was dealing with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease, he was prone to experiencing delusions and irritability, behavioral problems that are common in dementia patients.

For Alex, who had survived three years in concentration camps during the Holocaust, this involved reliving some of his worst memories.

“It was the most difficult time of my life, having to see him deteriorate. My father spoke five languages, and he was speaking Dutch and German, reliving the three concentration camps he survived,” Greg Spier told ABC News, recalling how his father often pleaded, “Where is my mother?” in German.

Antipsychotic drugs, which are often used to control distress in dementia patients, did little to alleviate Alex’s symptoms, so Spier decided to try something more unconventional.

“The only thing that seemed to give him any reprieve was the marijuana,” Spier said. When he began feeding his father edibles up to four times a day, his dad was less distressed and better able to sleep.

Now Spier is helping to fund research into marijuana as a treatment for dementia symptoms through the Spier Family Foundation, the philanthropic arm of a successful realty and development corporation Alex founded after he emigrated to America after World War II.

Dr. Brent Forester, chief of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Harvard’s McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, said private funding is important for marijuana research, which receives very little federal funding because cannabis is a Schedule I controlled substance.

Forester said that research suggests cannabis might be beneficial for dementia patients and that it has different effects on older brains than it does for younger users.

“We really need to open up opportunities to study medical marijuana for this particular indication. I think there’s enough evidence from the synthetic THC as well as anecdotal reports that it’s certainly worth studying,” he said.

One study Forester ran found that treatment with a medical form of THC provided relief for dementia patients who were experiencing distress or psychotic symptoms. Another study found that low doses of THC can improve cognitive function in older mice, the opposite effect that it had on younger mice. In addition, animal research has shown that THC may increase the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, the same way that the FDA-approved dementia drug Aricept does, and that the compound can slow the accumulation of amyloid beta plaques, which are a telltale characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

Forester theorizes these protections might help reduce the distressing behaviors people with Alzheimer’s often exhibit. The Spier family hopes that by funding this research, they can help other Alzheimer’s patients and their families find more peace during the final stages of the disease.

View the original article at thefix.com

12 December 2018
Mental Health Specialists Strike Over Staffing, Resource Issues At Kaiser Permanente

Approximately 4,000 mental health specialists are expected to strike over Kaiser Permanente’s lack of mental health staff and resources in California.

Thousands of mental health workers began a five-day strike on December 10, 2018 to protest what they view as shortages in patient resources at Kaiser Permanente facilities across California.

Approximately 4,000 psychologists, therapists, nurses and addiction specialists are expected to picket the non-profit HMO’s medical centers in Sacramento, Modesto, Stockton and other locations in an attempt to demand increased staffing for mental health patients, whom the union claims often have to wait more than a month for appointments due to a lack of medical professionals.

Kaiser Permanente condemned the strike as “disheartening,” especially at the holidays, when patients may need more mental health assistance.

The strike was organized by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), which has reportedly been locked in conflict with Kaiser for years. At the heart of the union’s concerns is what they described in a statement as a “long history of forcing patients to endure extensive waits for therapy appointments.”

The union cited a 2013 fine imposed on Kaiser by the California Department of Managed Health Care (DHMC) for violating the state’s Mental Health Parity Act, which requires insurers to provide equal coverage for physical and mental health conditions and Timely Access to Care standards, which limits wait time for access to care. The statement also claimed that in 2017, the DHMC required Kaiser to accept outside monitoring of its mental health services.

Though Kaiser patients can now see physicians within state-appointed timeframes, the union stated that many have to wait one month or more for a follow-up appointment. It also claimed that 1/3 of patients in Southern California are sent out of Kaiser’s network for therapy and must find quality, affordable treatment on their own while dealing with what the union said are serious mental health issues. Addressing these concerns would require the HMO to reduce follow-up wait times for appointments, the number of patients sent to non-Kaiser treatment and balance the number of returning patients to intake patients.

“When you delay treatment appointments, it substantially delays recovery times, and it increases morbidity rates and mortality rates,” said Fred Seavey, the union’s research director, to USA Today. “It has huge implications for people’s lives . . . It has impacts on their incomes, their families and their relationships with loved ones.”

In response to the union’s claims, Josh Nelson, vice president of communications at Kaiser, called the strike “completely unnecessary” and pointed to a 30% increase in the number of mental health professionals statewide since 2015 as evidence of its compliance with patient needs. “When necessary, we contract with community providers to further ensure its members have access to the care they need,” he added.

A statement from Michelle Gaskill-Hames, chief nurse executive for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, claimed that the strike was “particularly disheartening” during the holidays, “when many of our patients with mental health needs may be at their most vulnerable.” But Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane is galled by the notion that Kaiser would decry a five-day strike as harmful to patients.

Zane’s husband struggled with anxiety and depression and sought treatment with Kaiser therapists in 2010. He was instead sent to an anxiety group and finally saw a therapist in late December of that year. After two appointments, the therapist told him that he was ineligible for a follow-up for two months. Three days later, Zane’s husband took his own life.

Zane, who told USA Today that Kaiser asked her to remain neutral in the strike, said, “They’re making the point that somehow or other, this is irresponsible for therapists to leave their patients for five friggin’ days. They could put a patient on a five-week waiting list and not blink an eye, and then they’re worried about five days?

“My husband’s dead, my kids don’t have a father, my grandkids don’t have a grandfather,” she said. “I’m glad these therapists are striking.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 December 2018
Julia Roberts Shines In Powerful Addiction Drama "Ben Is Back"

Ben is Back follows the Burns family over the course of a turbulent 24 hours as Holly tries desperately to save her son, who’s fresh out of rehab, from danger.

Ben is Back is an acclaimed new film about a mother whose son is struggling with opioid addiction. Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges, who play mother and son in the addiction drama are both receiving rave reviews for their performances.

In Ben is Back, Ben Burns (played by Lucas Hedges) unexpectedly returns to his family’s home on Christmas Eve, a time that can be even more tumultuous for those with addiction. The film follows the family over the course of 24 hours as Roberts tries desperately to save her son from danger, as he’s fresh out of rehab. The film showcases the toll that addiction takes on the loved ones of those dealing with the disease.

In researching his role, Lucas spent time with Roberts’ family, and as the Oscar-winning actress told The Daily Beast, that quality time together “served us in the dark, cold night of shooting. We had these sunny days to reflect back upon.”

Ben is Back was written and directed by Peter Hedges, Lucas’ father, who also wrote and directed What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Addiction ran in Peter’s family. His mother battled alcoholism and became sober when Peter was 15.

Hedges told The Hollywood Reporter he was struggling with writer’s block, but after the death of a friend from an overdose, and the subsequent death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, he became obsessed with the subject of addiction.

Once the Ben is Back screenplay was finished, Disney quickly snapped it up, and producer Nina Jacobson said it was “the fastest journey I’ve ever taken from script to screen.”

As Lucas explains, “I think the movie is a reflection of my dad’s passion for triumph in family. He’s always had an intense gift in being able to see the innocence and beauty in people who struggle with addiction, because that’s very close to his own story with his family and how he relates to his mother who struggle with it.”

Lucas also feels that Ben is Back has great potential to help other families who are suffering from addiction to heal as well. “I felt like this movie was an opportunity for us as a family to confront something that’s hereditary and that maybe it would be easier going forward for what maybe my kids will have to deal with.”

“This is a lot of families,” Roberts says. “It’s such a huge issue. I just don’t know that there could be anyone who could sit in a room and say is there anywhere here who could say alcohol abuse, drug abuse, addiction has not touched your life in some way.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 December 2018
Patrick Kennedy On The State Of Addiction, Suicide Rates

“If this were some other illness that evoked the same type of compassion that other illnesses receive, we would be spending dramatically more money to combat these rising suicide and overdose rates,” Patrick Kennedy said.

Patrick Kennedy recently spoke to US News about the latest statistics on addiction and suicide and what he believes could be at the root of the problem.

Kennedy says recent news about the drop in US life expectancy due to suicide and drug overdose deaths was “extremely shocking, but frankly, not surprising.”

He added, “As a nation, we’re absolutely in denial about how bad this crisis is. If this were some other illness that evoked the same type of compassion that other illnesses receive, we would be spending dramatically more money to combat these rising suicide and overdose rates.”

Kennedy has been very vocal about the stigma surrounding addiction and mental health. In his book, A Common Struggle, he detailed his own experience of living with addiction and bipolar disorder. Kennedy believes stigma plays a massive role in preventing people with addiction and/or mental health issues from getting the treatment they need.

“The real tragedy is what it says about the people who suffer from these illnesses – they’re still shamed by their illness, they’re overwhelmingly stigmatized,” he tells US News. “They’re relegated to a system of care that is substandard at best.”

Addressing the increased rates of addiction and suicide, Kennedy said, “There is obviously great complexity to all of the causes and how they converge together to create the crisis that we’re in right now,” and he also felt “there’s a well-established narrative here that pharma had a huge responsibility for this, and there should be a huge national settlement in helping to create this crisis…”

Kennedy added, “I think that both insurance companies and Big Pharma made a lot of money in this process, and a lot of people died. And I think if we’re going to go after the pharmaceutical industry, then it would be absolutely inexplicable why we would not also go after the insurance industry with the same fervor for their part in letting this crisis unfold without doing what we needed to do to address it.”

Kennedy also took time to reflect on the 10-year anniversary of the Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which he called “a medical civil rights bill” where people are treated for mental health and addiction on the same “primary care level, secondary care level and tertiary care level as you would find when treating any other medical surgical illness.”

Yet Kennedy recently acknowledged that the act still has a long way to go, and he started a website in October called Don’t Deny Me, where people can report insurance companies that won’t cover their addiction and mental health issues.

He told The Washington Post, “There are plenty of solutions to bring people the care they need, but what is missing is the political will and the economic and legal pressure to make it happen and that’s why we’re marking the anniversary.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 December 2018
How Cannabis Sales Are Affecting Canada’s Employment Rate

A new report suggests that the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada has made a positive impact on unemployment rates.

Canada’s unemployment rate is the lowest since 1976 – and the country may have the legalization of cannabis to thank.

According to new data from Statistics Canada, the legalization and growth of the cannabis industry have played a role in the drop in unemployment.

High Times pointed out that the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2% in November, bringing the rate to 5.6%. In six different Canadian provinces, the rates increased, and the report stated that “private sector jobs” grew the most while public sector jobs and self-employment remained fairly unchanged. Cannabis was legalized in Canada in October.

Part of the report focused specifically on the cannabis industry and stated that in November, the month following legalization, there were 10,400 jobs related to the industry. In comparison, last November there were 7,500 fewer jobs in the industry, meaning that in one year, the jobs more than doubled.

More specifically, 58% of those jobs were in agriculture, while the other 42% ranged from educational services to health care to retail. Those working in the industry were also making more wage-wise than average, at about $29.58 per hour in comparison to the average of $27.03.

The report also states that men were more likely to work in the industry than women, as men made up about 79% of jobs in the cannabis industry.

Alison McMahon, founder and CEO of Cannabis at Work, tells The Growth Op that the biggest demand for jobs is coming from licensed producers needing assistance with growing, cultivation, quality checks, post-production and order fulfillment. And the market will likely keep growing, as McMahon adds that “we expect to see a lot of jobs emerge around extraction, formulation and product R&D (research and development).”

In fact, there is even a new job engine dedicated solely to cannabis-related jobs. Brian Sekandi, the co-founder of Careers Cannabis, agrees that more and more research related jobs will be emerging over time. He also tells The Growth Op that he thinks jobs will be opening in the marketing of cannabis as more products hit the market.

“With the massive restrictions on brand marketing and advertising the cannabis industry is faced with now, the big challenge is on how to educate consumers – particularly those who may be new cannabis users – about the different types of cannabis that are available to them and what the effects are of using cannabis,” Sekandi said.

Sekandi added that as of now, those working in the industry in Canada are ahead of much of the world.

“Things are only going to go up from here for people gaining skills and experience in the Canadian cannabis industry,” he said. “The trend is definitely toward more liberalized cannabis laws being introduced around the world, so anybody who starts working in the industry in Canada today has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be at the ground floor of a global industry and to help shape it for years to come.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 December 2018
"Real Housewives" Luann de Lesseps Takes Sobriety "Day By Day"

“Rehab saved my life. It was the best thing that I could do for myself and I’m so glad I did that,”Real Housewives of New York City’s Luann de Lesseps said in a recent interview.

Real Housewives of New York City’s Luann de Lesseps is more than 120 days sober and says she is taking her recovery one day at a time after a rocky year that involved two stints in rehab.

“It’s not easy, but I take it day by day,” the 53-year-old reality star explained. “I feel so much better and happier without it, so it works for me.”

Last December, de Lesseps was arrested on New Year’s Eve for being drunk and disorderly. She pleaded guilty to the charge and had to attend two AA meetings a week as part of her plea deal. Shortly after that, she checked into rehab after realizing that her drinking had gotten out of control.

“I had two or three [martinis], then I think two bottles of rosé wine by myself, and then I probably had a six-pack of beer or something,” de Lesseps said. “I was dancing in my kitchen with a bikini on.”

Initially, she was successful in recovery.

“At this point in my life, I don’t want to drink, nor do I have interest in drinking,” she told Extra in April. “Rehab saved my life. It was the best thing that I could do for myself and I’m so glad I did that.”

In July she posted that she was celebrating six months of sobriety by spending Independence Day with her family, with whom she has a fraught relationship. However, shortly after that she checked into rehab again.

Still, de Lesseps didn’t shy away from her struggles during a recent conversation with Fox News.

“It’s something that happened very publicly to me, so it wasn’t easy going through,” she said, adding that she hopes other people who are struggling with alcoholism will see her story and know that they can get help — even when things don’t quite go as planned.

“I think it’s important for people to see that even if everything implodes, you can pick yourself up,” she said. “For me, it was getting on the cabaret stage, and then, of course, filming another season of the show.”

de Lesseps is able to continue filming, even though her co-stars still drink.

“The girls are very supportive of my sobriety and I’m able to do the new season without too many problems,” she said. She doesn’t expect others to change their drinking habits to accommodate her.

“That’s life in general,” she said. “It’s going to always be there. Temptation is always there. It’s up to me to not pick up and drink, but the girls have been very supportive of my sobriety, and that’s made it a lot easier for me.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 December 2018