Feelings of a full life

Stéphanie Bélanger is alive and four years sober today because someone respectfully called out her lies.

That someone was Dr. Adam Newman.

Bélanger was referred to addiction specialist Dr. Newman after being diagnosed by a gastrointestinal (GI) specialist with failing kidneys and liver.

She didn’t know it yet, but this was the lifeline she needed.

When the GI doctor gave her a year to live if she didn’t stop drinking, she was still trying to downplay her alcohol consumption, making it seem like just a couple of glasses of wine a day. In reality, she was also drinking much more than twice that amount of hard liquor.

Shame is a powerful emotion often experienced by those living with addiction. It can hinder open communication and prevent them from seeking help, among many other negative impacts.

It was six months and many failed attempts to cut down on drinking on her own before Bélanger went to see Dr. Newman, a member of Kingston Health Sciences Centre’s (KHSC) Substance Treatment And Rehabilitation Team (START).

Recognizing where she was at in her off-and-on, 35-year struggle with alcohol use, Dr. Newman began to challenge her ideas about her addiction and chuckled at her desire to consume alcohol in moderation someday—a goal very few people successfully achieve.

“Not in these exact words, he told me I was not the façade I was putting up for my family, friends and colleagues,” says Bélanger. No one other than her two medical specialists knew about her addiction. But even they didn’t know the full extent of her drinking.

To start, Dr. Newman suggested she begin with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and at their next appointment, he prescribed medication to help with alcohol withdrawal as she continued to try to cut back.

Attending online AA meetings helped Bélanger get used to hearing people admit to addiction. “It was strange for me to listen to people say they were alcoholics without crying.”

Time to quit

“It wasn’t until our third meeting that I gave him an accurate account of my daily alcohol consumption so he could help me better manage my addiction.”

Dr. Newman was floored by the amount and frequency. He told her that even though she wasn’t feeling the effects of alcohol, he had to report her if she intended to drive her car.

“When I panicked about my family finding out, Dr. Newman reminded me that the person I had become was already not the mother, wife, colleague or friend I wanted to be. I vowed right there and then to never drink again. I haven’t had a drink since.”

Within a few days of that promise she started to experience symptoms of wet brain (Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome), a rare, life-threatening brain disorder caused by a vitamin B1 deficiency, mostly commonly due to alcohol misuse.

“It was only then that I admitted my problem to my husband.”

And, it was her husband who drove her to the KHSC Emergency Department when her condition, which included confusion and the inability to see and walk, went from bad to worse.

Seriously ill and admitted to the hospital, Bélanger was once again supported by START and Dr. Newman.

After her close call with, and full recovery from, wet brain, her next challenge was an eating disorder that may have developed, like addiction, as a coping mechanism for psychological pain associated with multiple traumatic experiences stemming from childhood.

“I couldn’t eat and I felt like I wanted to die.”

Months spent in residential and outpatient eating disorder treatment programs and starting psychotherapy helped her continue along her recovery journey, and become the person she wants to be.

‘I’m a human being with options’

“Dr. Newman has always been blunt with me, which I needed because I was lost in my faulty thought patterns. Being respectful and kind, never judgmental, he helped me believe I’m a human being with options. For him, it’s never too late for someone to choose to survive addiction and he knows exactly what people need to hear.

“He saved my life. I am here, helping others struggling with addiction because he saw the person behind the addiction.”

Two years ago, Bélanger obtained a certification in addiction from Laval University. She already has a PhD in Literature and is a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. A military veteran herself, she co-founded the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research and hopes to support veterans who suffer from addiction and mental health challenges.

She also now works, as needed, as an addiction-care worker at KHSC’s Detox Centre.

“I love this job, it’s my way of giving back. It’s my calling, and caring for others in this way helps me care for myself. If I can show compassion to someone with similar struggles, I can do the same for myself.

“I see people arrive at the front door and I know that pain—it’s not natural, people don’t choose that.

“I help them get the support they need. I also clean their living spaces and make meals.

“They deserve to heal and to see people caring for them.”

About START

START is an addiction medicine consultation service that officially launched at KHSC in 2019 to help patients in the hospital cope with their substance use disorders while receiving medical care for conditions directly or indirectly related to their addiction. The team is made up of medical doctors, psychiatrists and registered nurses, with support from a nurse practitioner and addiction-care navigator.

“When withdrawal is properly managed, patients are more likely to stay in the hospital until their care is complete,” says Dr. Newman. “By not leaving the hospital to cure their withdrawal on their own, they won’t risk compromising treatment of their infection or chronic disease and they have a better chance of not returning to the hospital with worsening or reoccurring conditions.

“It also gives members of START an opportunity to meet patients where they are at in their recovery journeys, and provide a non-judgmental, hopeful approach to their substance misuse.”