Addiction Testimonials

TESTIMONIAL: Alcohol, Cigarettes & Sex Addiction

I came to Hawaii Naturopathic Retreat Center because I realized that I needed help and I found that my friends and family weren’t enough. I wanted help rediscovering myself, and my true purpose and I feel that’s exactly what I did. I was helped in a compassionate yet firm way. What amazes me most about the retreat is the broad spectrum in diversity of help that they can provide to anyone in any walk of life. I wish I had enough money to send many of my friends and family to the retreat – I have a list of people I would send if I could!

The biggest benefit of the retreat was calming the storm in my head. Before coming, I avoided talking to myself with drinking, smoking, chasing girls, etc. It was hard; there were days when I wanted to leave because I didn’t want to sit with myself. The retreat is set up in a way that I could have escaped and made mistakes if I wanted to – but the fact that I was able to make the decision to stick through makes me know it was my decision and makes me feel stronger to be faced with the freedom of choice when I leave the retreat. It’s an excellent way to set up recovery for the rebellious of mind.

I feel like I was having an identity crisis and this place helped me strip the façade that I’ve built around my core. I’m reconnected to myself in a profound way. I’m still somewhat nervous about the future – but not nearly as much as when I got here.
I feel a huge relief not waking up craving cigarettes every morning. That’s like breaking out of a certain kind of bondage. No matter what your addiction is – whether it’s work, or sex, or drugs… it doesn’t matter what it is – it’s all the same masking a connecting with yourself. You have to face the parts of yourself that hurt to heal it and make peace with it. I came to the retreat to find freedom from all addictions – over thinking in itself was as much an addiction to me as sex, drugs and alcohol. My brain and my heart were really disconnected and now I know my core is a ball of golden light!!!

-J.K.
Age 31, California
February 2014

TESTIMONIAL: Type I Diabetes (pancreatitis), Anxiety, Alcohol Addiction

What I Learned:

My deepest pain comes from my relationship with my wife. My perfectionism, low self esteem, need for others’ approval, and my guilt over my son, proved less painful than my dysfunctional marriage and the desire for a perfect romantic love. Here, I learned how unhealthy that relationship was, and also how unrealistic the idea of perfect romantic love is. I learned that I am all I need, that I can be alone with myself and at peace, that I don’t need another to complete me.

I have spent years analyzing, journaling and talking about my precise issues, but never reduced the pain in my heart or the warring voices in my head. I used to argue with my false beliefs all day long, and then feel fatigued, depressed and like a failure at the end of the day. At the Hawaii Naturopathic Retreat Center, I learned not to fight, instead to detach from those thoughts, either by becoming mindful and concentrating on a flower or my breathing, by simply watching the thoughts and being detached from them, or by recognizing that they are all a part of the agreements imposed on me when I was young and that I need not acknowledge them today. I let things go. I don’t resist reality. I accept whatever is.

Natural food satisfies my body unlike the empty calories of processed food. The empty calories made me alternatively sluggish and buzzy, up and down, and helped fuel the confusion of voices in my head. A mostly raw food diet using organic ingredients will keep me calmer. I really don’t need coffee….

My body is full of toxins and heavy metals from years of processed food and working on boats, etc. Cadmium can cause kidney dysfunction. Mercury is linked to anxiety, sleeplessness and depression. Lead and lead encephalopathy are linked to sleeplessness, restlessness and concentration difficulties.

I used to not permit myself to take care of my body properly – it was always a lower priority than work, other peoples’ needs, etc. Here I learned that my body can help me be happy and peaceful, if I honor and care for it. The EFT work showed me that the body has unconscious mechanisms that have eased both physical and emotional pain for me. Listening to my body puts me in touch with the present, and out of my mind. It also tells me what I really need.

Anthony
October 2013

TESTIMONIAL: Natural Rehabilitation – Methadone

I stayed at the Retreat for 6 weeks and this time truly changed my life. I had surgery and became addicted to opiates. One thing led to another, and before I knew it seven years of my life went by on drugs. Methadone was my drug of choice and I had tried five ‘detoxes’ and two rehabs to kick this drug. Nothing seemed to work. I suffered hard at these traditional rehabs. But I was surrounded by negative people and bad food. At the Hawaii retreat it was almost the opposite. Yeah, I went through a rough detox but the food, saunas, enemas, hydrogen peroxide baths, massages and tons of other things made it bearable. I fully detoxed from methadone and it was not as painful as it had been in the past. I’m really grateful that I had the opportunity to come here.

The staff at the Retreat Center were awesome. The Doctor really knows her stuff. She can help heal a person to health without throwing pharmaceuticals down your throat. That was something I couldn’t understand until I went through it. The cooks and assistants were all really helpful. The first week here I was real sick. They nursed me to health in a way you will never get at a rehab or detox.

Thank You All The Staff,
Dominic
26 years old
July 2012

TESTIMONIAL: 44 year smoking addiction

I would like to share with you the wonderful experience I had at the Naturopathic Retreat Center. I came there to release my 44 year smoking addiction. I have tried all kinds of therapies to stop in the past from acupuncture, patches, and hypnosis. None of these worked for me.

To my sheer amazement I came off the cigarettes very easily at the center. I believe the supplementation and raw food detox was the key. I found Dr. Baylac and her staff to be very loving and knowledgeable. They helped me process the addiction and release it completely. They taught me a new way of living that was easy to take back into my every day life.

Love and Blessings,
D. S.
October 2010

TESTIMONIAL: Addictions, anxiety, eating disorder, insomnia, depression, etc. – raw diet, juice fasting, sauna & hydrotherapy

For years, I was dealing with a configuration of health and emotional issues that involve, but are not limited to, substance abuse. In addition, I was addressing toxic metal levels, a long term eating disorder, and insomnia.

For the past year, I was prescribed various medications for depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders; all which proved to have diminishing returns. The side effects exacerbated the problems, leaving me in a confused, frightened, and vulnerable state. I found that the stress of medical school, a recent breakup with my fiance, and a change in my environment reveal to me that I had been in denial. Two trips to the emergency room served as the catalyst that gave me the courage to get help in this matter. Without my health, all else is irrelevant.

Dr Baylac’s program is forward thinking in the field of treating addictions and demonstrates the budding growth and direction of naturopathic medicine. I stayed at Hawaii Naturopathic Retreat Center for a four-week residential program that addressed the issues that I have been struggling with. I went through an intensive schedule of naturopathic therapies, such as cleansing, juice fasting, constitutional and colonic hydrotherapy, and daily FIR saunas. I was also engaged in powerful Reichian Breathwork sessions, acupuncture, yoga, exercises, and daily psychotherapy therapy sessions. I went on a complete regimen of dietary supplements that facilitate phase 1 and 2 detoxification and amino acids that serve as precursors of neurotransmitters that stabilize mood and sleep patterns. All of this combined made the detoxification process manageable and comfortable and finally after a long time, I am able to concentrate effectively and my energy levels have raised significantly.

Before my treatment at the center, anxiety would cause debilitating bouts of shakiness and confusion. My main problem is addiction, but I found that anxiety and toxic overload as substantial contributing factors. I had also been exposed to chemicals and heavy metals when I worked as a chemist for a botanical perfume company.

I went through a series of non-invasive chelation therapy treatments that also eased a lot of the anxiety that I was dealing with. It was encouraging to find out that factors, such as a GABA deficiency can be corrected by diet and supplementation.

I am very fortunate to have had this opportunity to rid my body of toxins and it is relieving to be able to sleep naturally and relax without the aid of pharmaceuticals, such as benzodiazepines. With diet and detoxification, I have been able to think with more clarity, to understand my emotional issues, and thus, begin to heal my body at a cellular level.

Kristin Odegard
August 2008

TESTIMONIAL: Methamphetamine daily addiction for 5 years – & other addictions – detoxification, living raw foods

Holly’s tattoos are landmarks in her life. While she was recovering from drugs at our center she got her third tattoo. This third tattoo represents a commitment to be true to herself.

I got this one in loving memory of my dog, and also with the rat representing my beautiful pet who brought herself into my life. I also got this tattoo on my arm as a representation of a new phase in my life where I am no longer willing to compromise who I am, for a job or other people.

When I arrived to Hawaii Naturopathic Retreat Center I was physically, mentally, and spiritually very sick and weak, as the result of many years of habitual drug use, including over five years of daily methamphetamine use, and over twenty years of chronic cigarette smoking, alcohol and recreational drug abuse. I felt very weak, hopeless, and just plain tired.

I was literally unable to function without getting high, and even then everything in my life was a struggle. I felt completely exhausted from the years of trying to maintain my life, while suffering from addiction and years of sleep deprivation and malnutrition, not to mention the enormous amount of energy that was spent daily trying to cover up, finance, acquire, and do the amount of drugs I needed on a daily basis just to get by.

Through this program I feel I have gotten a complete mind/body overhaul. I feel literally like a new healthy person, with a new healthy life ahead of me. The program is a very extreme detoxification process, out of which I feel almost as if I have been re-born (not in the religious sense, but the physical sense, on a cellular level and spiritual level). I feel like I have detoxed not only from all of the drugs/cigarettes/alcohol, but also from all of the food toxins I have been exposed to all my life, and eating the raw food diet has literally brought unbelievable life back into every part of my body. I never realized how important it is to consume food that is still living, and still contains life force that is then converted directly into my own physical, mental and spiritual energy.

In addition to all of the amazing nutrition and health treatments received, Dr. Baylac’s knowledge and wisdom have been invaluable, along with her ability to truly help me sort through all of the deep emotions and feelings that have been driving my physical and mental state up to this point. I also feel forever grateful for what I have gotten from all of the amazing staff here, the people who create all of the amazing healing foods, they have all truly changed my life, each one of them. The best way to describe them is to say that they are all absolutely glowing, so full of life and health that it literally changes you just to be around them. Jack, I will remember your voice and words always, and replay them whenever I need to hear them…
“HEAL THY SELF”
(in other words; do what you need to do, you can do it!)

I am forever grateful to you all!
Holly
35 years old
2008

TESTIMONIAL: Cocaine addiction for 16 years, overweight – raw foods, juices – cocaine free for two years

The most important decision of my life was pulling into the driveway of Dr. Baylac’s retreat. I almost chickened out at the last minute even though I had come all the way from New York City. I was 298 lbs and severely addicted to cocaine.

I had been doing drugs heavily for sixteen years and no rehab or therapist could change me. I was too full of toxins for the twelve-step program to ever work on me. I needed to clean my body out so that I could feel normal enough to fight the desire to do drugs.

Dr. Baylac awakened me. She taught me to live a conscious raw vegan lifestyle. To be aware of what I eat and think. After a few days at the retreat I began to feel alive from the food and juices. These amazing new feelings gave me momentum to continue on the program. I had lost about 15 lbs in the two weeks at the clinic. By adhering to the lifestyle I gradually lost about 10 lbs a month until I became a steady 210 lbs.

I also have remained cocaine free now for two years (2008). I always knew that I had to change the way I ate and lived… but there was no way to do it on my own. Dr Baylac’s retreat makes it possible by coaching you through this difficult transition.

Sam Chartouni
2008