Break Free from the Cycles of Addiction

Valuable Resources:

https://www.allianceforaddictionsolutions.com/

Quiz: Could Amino Acids be YOUR Missing Link?

In this episode, I introduce you to Dr. Shelly Jo Wahlstrom, CHT, CRNS.

Dr. Shelly Jo, "The Amino Acid Lady," is a dedicated hypnotherapist and founder of Hypno Aminos Nutritional Supplements. Dr. Shelly Jo received her DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, Ph.D., specializing in HOLISTIC LIFE COUNSELING

Inspired by her daughter's battle with addiction, Shelly Jo has helped over 28,000 people improve brain health and reduce cravings, anxiety, and depression. She is the chairman of the Alliance for Addiction Solutions. She authored bestsellers "Feed Your Brain, Change Your Life" and "From Crazy to Calm," and launched a Certified Hypnotherapy School. A leader in addiction recovery, Shelly Jo lives boldly, inspiring others through her work, family, and nearly 40 years of marriage.

Today she speaks about:

Addiction recovery with Dr. Shelly Joe, hypnotherapist and advocate. (0:00)

Mother's struggles with daughter's anxiety and addiction. (2:01)

Addiction, fear, and rehab. (5:44)

Addiction, relapse, and recovery with a mother's personal experience. (8:20)

Amino acid therapy for addiction and its impact on families. (11:10)

Brain chemistry and emotions, including the impact of depletion on mental health. (14:38)

Addressing addiction through biochemical solutions. (16:38)

Nutrition and mental health, with a focus on amino acids and neurotransmitters. (21:39)

Addiction recovery resources for moms with children. (24:25)

Addiction, empowering caregivers, and personal experiences with a child's recovery. (27:47)

Join me for this episode of Mommy Heal Thyself to learn more about recovery from addiction.

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Welcome everyone to another episode of mommy heal thyself today. I have with me, Dr Shelly, Jo Wallstrom, and we're just going to say Dr Shelley, Joe, because that's I think we are just going to have fun today as we also take a deep dive into a significant area of concern, especially at this time in our nation, we are dealing with a significant number of our children that are struggling with the world of addiction now. Dr Shelley Joe the amino acid lady is a dedicated hypnotherapist and founder of Hypno aminos, nutritional supplements. Dr shell received her doctor of philosophy PhD specializing in holistic life counseling inspired by her daughter's battle with addiction. Dr Shelley, Joe has helped over 28,000 people improve their brain health and reduce cravings and anxiety and depression. She's the chairman of the Alliance for addiction solutions. She's authored best sellers like feed your brain and change your life and from crazy to calm. And she has launched a certified hypnotherapy school, a leader in addiction recovery. Shelly Jo lives boldly, inspiring others through her work, her family and nearly 40 years of marriage, wow,

Unknown Speaker 1:38

we need to talk about just that in

Speaker 1 1:41

another episode, I tell you so welcome. Welcome Shelly, thank you so much for agreeing to be part of our conversation today. Oh, I'm

Speaker 2 1:53

so excited. Dr, Michelle, you know you and I met. We were on a public forum for the Alliance for digital solutions, and we had combined with via to us, and I happened to be on there and talked a little bit about my story, just out of the blue, because it was the topic, and I'm so excited when You said, let's talk about, let's talk about

Unknown Speaker 2:24

what our children, they go through

Unknown Speaker 2:29

and and it's not even because

Unknown Speaker 2:33

of the desire or the want, because of the brain.

Speaker 1 2:35

Exactly you know. So before we go any further, please share with our community. What is your story? What brought you into this world?

Speaker 2 2:47

Awesome. I would love to first of all, I'm the mother of three daughters, an amazing, incredible ladies. My youngest was diagnosed with anxiety at age six. I think just what mom did the time, did the doctor not on the medicine? They're like, it's just chemical imbalance, give her these

Unknown Speaker 3:10

medications and

Speaker 2 3:14

help me ever after, not really, but you know what I mean, and so and I'm not against I'm not against marriage. This is my disclaimer. There's a place for them, but they don't heal anybody. They just keep it on that, that low part, but it also stops the high part. So they're just gonna say numbness. But we didn't know any different. We just stopped. That's what you do. And then you go to counselors and different counselors, and I thought I was doing everything I could, and until the day she was 15 years old that she came to me in tears, and she's crying, and she's like, Mom, I'm tired of being a doctor science project. I just want to feel normal. And those words, I just want to feel normal from my heart, because I'm like, Wait, I've done everything I could for you. I My hands are tied. I was so sad. I felt like I felt her, because I didn't know there was anything else. And how many of us have felt that feeling? I just want to feel normal, right? Even adults and unfortunately for her, she turned to marijuana and alcohol,

Unknown Speaker 4:30

and it wasn't the world I understood

Speaker 2 4:34

as I, you know, as a family, addiction was not part of our life. I just got like, stop eating, stop ruining your life, right? And it was so frustrating. I mean, I spent time in the juvenile system. I learned about that because

Unknown Speaker 4:53

she kept getting in trouble.

Speaker 2 4:55

The hard part was, is that she was actually getting it from her friend's parents. So I felt like I was swimming upstream. Because I'm like, stop this. Stop, please. You know, I feel like I was just swimming upstream and had no support, because parents don't either got their kids alcohol and drugs, right? So I didn't understand. I was just so frustrated. And the hard part is, you know, most of her friends feel like they just used because it was a thing to do, right? But for her, her brain usually said, this place, and she became a student quickly,

Unknown Speaker 5:50

you know what we did? Got her to high school, yay,

Speaker 2 5:55

there. And I always said, Yeah, I I graduated, and she just came along with me. So got into high school thinking, okay, life is good. We're gonna just move on. And we thought, you know, let's put her in a let's get her the rehab center. Because, you know, let's give her a new start. Let's get her out of this situation. She can start out new, and life will be better. So we put her, spent 1000s of dollars for her in our rehab program. Wow. They said, Hey, she'll come out clean after 30 days. They're like, Oh, great. You know, it'll be worth all that money to get her out of there and then help somebody start well, she came out 30 days later clean from alcohol, marijuana, but she cannot visit the sugar happy and tobacco, at

Unknown Speaker 6:46

least they're legal right

Speaker 2 6:48

at the time. And I was like, Okay, that's great. At least we can move on, we're through this addiction thing and stay for us

Unknown Speaker 6:58

a little did I know that that was just the beginning of my house,

Speaker 2 7:02

30 days later, her friend that she met in the rehab center now, and that became a drug war choice. And if you've been around people who are addicted to men, it is, I call it the threat of adult because it changes every single thing about them. And I became fearful. I, at that point, was so afraid I'm going to lose my daughter. She would leave the house, and I would, you know, I track her on my phone, just so I know if something happened I could find her.

Unknown Speaker 7:37

It was such a scary

Speaker 2 7:40

the fear was so palatable. There are several times that she threatened to suicide and and I didn't know how to how to handle this, because it was so foreign to me, and my heart broke because I'm like but wait, I just want my daughter.

Unknown Speaker 8:01

And so

Speaker 2 8:03

my fears were, she's gonna kill somebody. She's gonna kill herself, she's gonna hurt me, because that can cause them to become so volatile to the people around him,

Unknown Speaker 8:15

I was dreadful. She's gonna end up in jail.

Speaker 2 8:20

So the perception of a jail I was actually relieved, because I was like, I know where my daughter's at. And like,

Unknown Speaker 8:31

she was there

Speaker 2 8:33

and she got out, and I'm like, Yes, right? Because I know myself, if I ever got to put in jail, that's this again, and I believe her, and I believe her, she believes it. Yeah, this is awesome. And so at that point I watched her, she just went nuts. So even though she's not using so good, I watched it cycle. She had about six months,

Unknown Speaker 9:13

and this happened four times. Wow.

Speaker 2 9:17

And what I learned about people with struggle with addiction, sometimes nobody wants to be enough. Be in that world thinking, Oh, this is what I want to do with my life. They're usually self medicating from either trauma or something that's not working right. And so I kept thinking, What is going on here. How can I find out about what addiction is and why is it stuff such a hold on my daughter?

Unknown Speaker 9:48

So after the fourth time of her going to jail,

Speaker 2 9:53

and I watched her, and I see her struggling, right? And I'm like, I gotta use something, because I'm gonna lose my daughter, I did the only thing I could do, and that was pray. Yes. I said, God, please give me an answer.

Unknown Speaker 10:12

I don't want to lose her.

Speaker 2 10:15

And two days later, I was watching this, there was a community with a similar report on TV about how they're using amino acids and feeding the brain through it, and what a student it was helping reduce those cravings, and they were finding great success in the world of recovery. And I'm like, This is my answer. It was $1,000 a day. Like, okay, can I have a different answer? But can I have a different answer? And and so the five kids made. Well, I knew I could get amino acids and amino acids and just a bit of like the protein supplement, my thought was, I'll just go to the open store and I'll buy a whole bunch of amino acids, and I'm a gift store. And maybe it might take longer than maybe it takes, like a month, but maybe she could at least get the point where the cravings are down enough that she can handle reading through this until she can be strong enough to get into recovery.

Unknown Speaker 11:32

And so I did the next vaccine,

Unknown Speaker 11:36

dear Dr Google,

Speaker 2 11:39

and I Googled, finally, the recovery center that uses amino acid supplements rather than amino acids through an IV. And I found that in Florida, and I called the owner, and I was like, Look, first of all, I'm a certified data therapist, and I had those plans for the company. I really wanted to have a team, and it looked at them. I'm like, a great session. And then they come back. And then, because I hadn't done anything at work, everyone's great work for them again, great session. And then they go back to, like, 51st States, over and over. And that was what dominoes. I may not understood what was wrong. There's probably something in the brain that's not allowing them to accept and this hypnotherapy session, plus, I told the owner therapist, I'm a mother of a daughter, what can you teach me about amino acid therapy. He said, I can teach you everything you need to know, but in two weeks right on the training for Salt Lake City, this is 30 miles from my house,

Unknown Speaker 12:52

learn all these great tools

Unknown Speaker 12:55

that changed my life.

Unknown Speaker 12:58

Wow, that was what I learned that

Speaker 2 13:02

was so mind boggling to think it was that simple. And the crazy thing is, I went looking for my daughter, who was in hardcore addiction.

Unknown Speaker 13:15

But what I realized is

Speaker 2 13:19

it wasn't just the hardcore social addiction, but it's that little child that six who's struggling with anxiety, or the teenager who can't get off their phone, and they're so addicted to the phone and all their social from that Phone, and they've got social anxiety, and they've got, you know, their low self esteem, because everything's coming from here that just doesn't feel good along to the normal Well, this concept, it's all a family, And that's when things exploded, because it's like, wow, I didn't realize that this affects so many people. And the crazy thing is, I'm the mom, right? And as mom, sometimes we personally have children who are struggling, put everything into our children, and so we forget to take care of ourselves. And I realized that my own chemicals in my brain had become differently completed because I was in so much fear for my daughter. And what I learned was a tool to take back to brain and your life. That's my book, right? That's what I wrote. And the idea is that it's actually so simple. It's brain bond and emotions, right? The brain? What the brain is chemicals and brain endorphins. Chemicals, and when they're firing, they're amazing, yeah, but when I quit firing, or for whatever reason, sometimes your forum was less of them with children who are struggling, sometimes lifestyle, diets, traumatic. People are they 40, don't really start it on menopause veterans. So when they become depleted, what? How is it caught that creates false moves. It's like, you know, when you're in fire flight, because you received by a line or tiger or a bear. Who am I? Right? You want that. But when you wake up anointing and you feel that way,

Unknown Speaker 15:52

anger is

Speaker 2 15:56

a great emotion that moves you forward, right? When I learned about this information, I was actually angry, and I'm like, Why didn't I know this when my daughter was kids?

Unknown Speaker 16:09

Have I known about this information?

Unknown Speaker 16:13

You may not have turned to

Unknown Speaker 16:16

so that anger really cool your

Speaker 2 16:20

child to do something and they don't. Freak out and you're still mad. Our lawyers don't remember why that's that's a false clue. So we have emotions that we're human. So

Speaker 1 16:40

you're bringing up so many different points. And the first thing I have to say is that I completely relate to everything that you're saying in terms of your journey in dealing with your daughter. And I think the beginning is recognizing that the various emotions that our children go through can sometimes be the trigger of this long, protracted journey, meaning that you said she started with at six, dealing with anxiety, and the craziness is that, and I think the malpractice of this was that the doctors at that point in time didn't say, Hmm, why is this little girl at six dealing with anxiety? Instead, they started her on this journey of navigating mind altering medications that, as you said, do nothing to actually address the issues. And so when we look at the issues in terms of, why is this child dealing with anxiety, there's so many different things that interact with that, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, you know, from maybe the environment at school, the fact that maybe she didn't learn certain tools on how to deal with the bullies in the classroom, or how to deal with that feeling of not fitting in, and things of that nature. And then what you're bringing to the forefront, which is beautiful, is that very few providers are looking at the biochemistry, whether or not you have the reserves in your system to create the net neurotransmitters, the reserves in your system to regulate the parasympathetic nervous system, to regulate your ability to deal with various stressors effectively. They don't talk about any of that. And so I am just mind boggled by the fact that you did exactly what I did in that moment of crisis with my children, which was to go down on bended knee and say, Look, God, I surrender. This is not working. I'm losing my child. I'm losing myself. Please help me. And I tell people all the time, the power of prayer is remarkable, and you will seek, and you will find and Dr, Google, you know, go on there. And I'm telling you, if you have a heart of humility, God will send the right link to you, will send the right study. To you will send the right news article, YouTube videos, something will come across your path that will open up that awareness of there is something else out there. And as you said, to be really clear, that we're dealing with an addictive pattern. You know, sometimes we get obsessed with the with the element of addiction, you know, like, oh, it's meth, oh it's marijuana, oh it's, you know, cocaine. But that is not the point. The point is that you have that addictive pattern, and so I would love for you to tell us a little bit more about the Alliance, and what are some of the resources that parents can expect in becoming part of Alliance or going to the events you know, tell us a Little bit more. Alliance

Speaker 2 20:18

is a nonprofit organization. Alliance, prediction. Solutions that picks things, looks at it differently. It's transforming recovery through, like you said, biochemical through the brain and the body, right? So be the brain, what the brain needs. Because what happens is when the brain, like I said, the load in those great chemicals. Dopamine is your energy or dry. Serotonin is your positive mind. Endorphins make you happy and gallons calm you down. So when they're fires are off, but when they're not, they can lead to killing either lack of energy, like sleep, you know, perfectionism, ruminating, thoughts, stress, and when the brain is in that state, it says, I want to feel better. Feel better, right? Give me back a home enough basis. And so that's when somebody can turn to drugs or alcohol or medications or behaviors with shopping, game, family, yeah, just because the brain is wanting it. And once the brain decides that this is what it wants, sugar, fresh, it takes you hostage and says, I want what I Feed me. Feed me. Feed me. Now, control of your life. That's actually the chemicals in the brain, right? Can understand those chemicals and how to feed down through specific amino acids, and like I said, amino acids come from the building blocks of protein, right? You get it from your food. Some of them your box. I actually create. And people say, What can I just eat? More protein, right? More meat, more something that's going to feed out. But the problem is, once you become the plated, you can't raise those no transmitters, because you eat the food goes to all parts your body, bring your body, and so you're not able to get graves those. So the idea is you're supporting the body with food. And then you're coming in with these specific supplements that are for the brain. And you get the brain firing, which if your body needs them, and you get the right amount. And so you can feel a difference within minutes. And so you get the grade firing, and then eventually the meat of the glasses go down

Unknown Speaker 22:42

another instances that can support you

Speaker 2 22:46

and so that that's kind of why it's important when you eat. Matters mental health, and that's what we teach. That's what the resources are on the alliance is that we want to give options people are

Unknown Speaker 23:02

struggling to see that

Speaker 2 23:05

the things that are out there, the recovery centers, the 12 steps, they're just missing one, and that

Unknown Speaker 23:15

is people aren't

Speaker 1 23:19

just Exactly And you know, a lot of people forget the basics, which is that you cannot have a balance of your neurotransmitters without the building blocks, aka amino acids. And so it's like, to me and you, it's like a no brainer. And yet, most of the mental health providers that I have interacted with have no clue about any of this, and subsequently, in their interactions with moms dads, they don't bring that into the conversation. So now the alliance is that basically providers that have a network, or is there also a component of support forums or things of that nature. Yeah, so it has. So when I went

Speaker 2 24:09

looking one of the instructor who taught me the class, named Christina Bess is part of the Alliance, that's how I met her, and also, through the Alliance, I was able to meet Julia Ross, become friends with her. She's the one. She was a new tour, the diet tour and tour. And they're amazing people who are like the movers and shakers in the recovery world, being able to offer and show that there are different ideas. So the public forum that we have once a month, it's free from the costuming. We bring in different professionals that are understand this concept and how and give you resources for addiction solutions, right? And then on there you can actually find those who have signed up to become practitioners that can give you the information

Unknown Speaker 25:06

that you're looking

Speaker 1 25:07

for. Awesome. And we're going to have the link in the notes of this lady so that you can definitely go to this phenomenal resource, which is the Alliance for addiction solutions.org and find out how you can get more information, as well as more resources, tools and assistance in helping you to navigate through this tremendous challenge that many people are going through today with the world of addiction. So now Shelley, Joe, is there anything that we have not covered so far that you think is really critical for our mama bears to know before we wind up for today? First of all, a lot of moms who have children and people they love

Speaker 2 26:01

and addiction. Become co dependent, right? And the funny thing is, the first time I heard that word, I was in a meeting with I got a counselor, and they were talking back and forth, and he said, Are you co dependent? I'm like, No, I'm not dependent on anybody. It's like, no more. You need to read it. I read it like, oh, very much. Codependent. Out of that fear and out of that room of my daughter, I would go, I went to death of hell, right? But I also wanted to take her a lot her choices from her, we got to take care of Mama Bear. The mama bear can help navigate through this, right? That's the first thing. The other part is, like I said, frame body, emotions. I am a certified hypnotherapist, so when you get to the problem of Trump goes away. So we're also looking at that emotional aspect. When you've got those women beliefs or sabotaging your goals or negative thoughts, there could be some emotional stories that you've created since you were a child, right? It's creating optimal health through brain, body emotions, and that that would be so important, because we're navigating love our children and want to help them get through this World of craziness, right?

Unknown Speaker 27:37

Help them to become

Unknown Speaker 27:41

adults. Help healthy adult, yeah,

Speaker 1 27:47

absolutely. You know, that's why we entitle our podcast, mommy heal thyself. A lot of times in the journey of serving the ones that we love, we forget that it actually starts with us. We can't give our children what we ourselves don't have. And it's interesting to also note that in the world of addiction, they say that addiction is hereditary, and I think there are a lot of nuances towards that, you know. So there's the biochemistry of it, but there's also the emotional aspect of it in terms of whether or not we ourselves have dealt with certain traumas, or we ourselves have dealt with certain challenges. Let's put it that way, and whether or not we were effective in communicating or transferring those skills to our children. So what I have found that is that a lot of times as we as parents navigate this world of working to strengthen our children, we have to recognize that the best way to strengthen our children is to first strengthen ourselves so that we can then be that role model. We can then enable them, or, should I say, empower them to take the reins for themselves and to not slip into that possibility of, as you said, becoming co dependent, where our existence depends on our role of being a caregiver. And that can be a very tricky, slow so I thank you for identifying that for us, and I look forward to you guys, gals, all of us, clicking on that link, going to the Alliance for addiction solutions and empowering yourself as A caregiver, as a mom, as a dad, so that your children can become empowered and no longer have to be prey to the cycle of addiction. I love

Speaker 2 29:52

that Michelle and I just have one more thing I want to say is that

Unknown Speaker 29:56

the one question I get all the time

Transcribed by https://otter.ai