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    Health & Fitness

    The Hopeaholics

    Chad Carlsen started The Hopeaholics Podcast after his soon-to-be son-in-law died of fentanyl poisoning. Not as therapy. As a response to a crisis that kills tens of thousands of people a year while most of the country looks the other way.

    Hosted by Chad and WWE superstar Natalie Eva Marie, The Hopeaholics brings on survivors of addiction, mental illness, and the kind of rock-bottom moments most people never talk about. Long-form, unfiltered conversations with people in recovery, families who’ve lost someone, and the professionals working inside the addiction treatment system.

    327+ episodes. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

    If you or someone you love needs help with addiction or substance use, call 949-615-8588

    Advertise

    Copyright: © 2024 The Hopeaholics

    • Apple Podcasts
    • Google Play
    • Spotify

    Latest Episodes:
    Firefighter PTSD, Addiction & the Cost of Being "Tough" w/ James Owen | The Hopeaholics Podcast #363 Sep 24, 2026
    Show notes

    Retired Long Beach Fire Captain James Owen spent his career running toward other people’s emergencies while addiction, trauma, and post-traumatic stress were building behind the badge.
    In this episode of The Hopeaholics, James opens up about the murder of his close friend and fellow firefighter Captain Dave Rosa, surviving a motorcycle crash that broke his neck, losing and rebuilding his sobriety, and the realization that ultimately changed his life: after spending his career trying to save everyone else, the last patient he needed to save was himself.
    James joined the Long Beach Fire Department and built the career he had dreamed about, eventually becoming a fire captain. But as the job became more of his identity, his recovery began to disappear. After years of sobriety, James found himself drinking again while dealing with divorce, overwhelming stress, internal investigations, traumatic calls, and the cumulative weight of life as a first responder.
    James also discusses first responder PTSD and suicide, Alcoholics Anonymous, Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families (ACA), nonlinear recovery, alternative recovery modalities, the importance of continuing to seek new ways to heal, and his book, The Last Patient.
    Firefighter PTSD, Addiction & the Cost of Being "Tough" w/ James Owen | The Hopeaholics Podcast #363


    My AA Friend Got Me Drunk In My First 90 Days w/ Rachel Sereni | The Hopeaholics Podcast #362 Sep 14, 2026
    Show notes

    Rachel Sereni is co-host of the 2 Girls in a Chair podcast and sober for over 2 years. She grew up mostly alone with her little sister while their dad worked two jobs, because their mother was addicted to opiates and spent most of Rachel's early childhood nodding out on the couch. Rachel got a DUI after she left work early to drink and forgot to pick up her son from school, woke up in jail with her car impounded and her son at his grandma's house. By the end of her drinking she was 221 pounds, had over 32 W2s because she couldn't hold a job, and was blacking out most nights and cursing out her husband without remembering any of it. On April 10th, 2024, she drove to a parking lot with a bottle of wine and two shooters for one last hurrah, got halfway through the wine, started throwing a tantrum in her front seat and almost kicked her windshield in. She got out, threw everything into a field, and landed on her knees sobbing. She drove home, woke up April 11th, and that was her sobriety date. She's been sober since, lost 80 pounds, and chose April 11th as the date she married her husband.
    Rachel also announces an amazing surprise for the very first time in our show's history!
    Check out the 2 Girls In A Chair podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@2GirlsInaChair
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
    Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics
    Our Merch:
    https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com
    #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie
    00:00 — Intro
    04:00 — Pregnancy Announcement
    08:00 — Day one of sobriety: got on the scale, saw 221
    13:29 — In and out of halfway homes with Mom
    15:14 — Mom came back at 11
    16:57 — Mom had numerous overdoses
    17:31 — The night mom died
    21:51 — Daily drinking by 19; violent, fighting people;
    22:20 — Found out she was pregnant
    23:33 — The friend nobody wanted to go out with
    24:18 — Left work early to drink; forgot to pick son up; woke up in jail
    29:40 — The surrender moment
    31:39 — Friend did an intervention while she was the one who got Rachel drunk
    33:17 — Started 2 Girls in a Chair with Jessica
    36:41 — She thought she'd never genuinely laugh again
    37:49 — Addiction doesn't have to define your whole personality
    43:55 — "I married the love of my life the day I got my life back."
    46:41 — Grief in sobriety
    47:24 — Started EMDR for PTSD from seeing her mom's body
    50:47 — Not continuing EMDR while pregnant
    53:33 — What you feel during pregnancy, the baby feels
    54:33 — Her son forgives her
    57:22 — Blackout drinking
    57:47 — How alcohol is glamorized vs what it actually is
    1:02:19 — AA experiences mirror bad church experiences
    1:07:04 — How she and Jessica met
    1:09:14 — Grew up with no mother; all mother figures have passed


    I Hid My Heroin Addiction from My Wife for 3 Years w/ Jesse Sanchez | The Hopeaholics Podcast #361 Sep 10, 2026
    Show notes

    Jesse Sanchez was 11 the first time he smoked weed, 14 when he tried cocaine and opiates, and 17 when he looked up from a carpet covered in crack and thought "holy s***, what are we doing." He eventually landed on heroin as his drug of choice and spent three years hiding it from his wife, driving 4.5 hours round trip to his dealer while she thought he was at work, once using a co-worker's real funeral as cover to go pick up. When she finally found out, he ended up on his sister's couch in Washington sweating it out, then a year in AA still drinking, still taking chips for heroin. He's been six years off heroin, four years fully clean.
    Six months into his final sobriety, his brother Julian had died from fentanyl poisoning. The depression that followed got dark enough that when the thought of taking his son with him crossed his mind, it scared him into finally getting real help.
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
    Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics
    Our Merch:
    https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com
    #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie
    0:00 — Into
    2:07 — The shirt: in memory of Julian
    7:43 — Parents divorced when he was 2
    8:14 — Age 11: first smoked weed with a friend, not his brother
    10:06 — Age 14: no weed around, tried cocaine
    13:17 — Age 17: became a crackhead
    14:12 — Opiates vs everything else
    17:15 — When pills got scarce, friends switched to heroin
    18:06 — Met his wife from Ukraine
    23:17 — Wife caught him, admitted pills, never mentioned heroin
    32:37 — Used a co-worker's real funeral as cover to go pick up drugs
    34:30 — Confessing addiction to wife
    42:45 — Detoxing at sister's house
    45:18 — 6 years off heroin, never touched it since
    46:04 — Tried AA while still drinking
    51:22 — Relapsed on cocaine at work, told his sponsor
    55:24 — Mom calls to tell me my brother died
    58:20 — 800-pound steel tube cut his fingertips off on the job
    1:04:39 — Staying sober through brother's death
    1:09:05 — Rock bottom in sobriety
    1:17:33 — What turned the corner: therapy, EMDR
    1:21:06 — What you tell your sponsor vs what you tell a therapist


    My Dad Was My First Dealer w/ Jessica Nolin | The Hopeaholics Podcast #360 Sep 07, 2026
    Show notes

    Jessica Nolin is a content creator, recovery advocate, and co-host of 2 Girls in a Chair podcast. Jessica's dad dealt drugs her entire childhood and helped manage her anxiety by giving her a vodka orange at 12 along with random pills she didn't even know the names of. By 15 she was drinking daily. A few years ago she detoxed at home alone over nine days without telling anyone, sleeping an hour at a time, still showing up to work and helping customers on the sales floor between rounds of throwing up. What got her through it was sheer will and a decision she made going in that she wasn't going to be ashamed of it. After those nine days she started figuring out what sobriety actually looked like for her and found an Instagram community of people in recovery just by putting herself out there during a dry January and posting every day. Today she has two years sober, a genuine support system, and is continuing to share her experiences and spread her message with her content.
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
    Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics
    Our Merch:
    https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com
    #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #mystory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie
    01:12 — Jessica Nolin
    04:38 — Parents were 17 and 18
    05:27 — Struggling with anxiety and depression
    06:28 — First drink at 12: dad gave her a vodka orange for her anxiety
    11:46 — Living in dad's trap house
    19:24 — Hair falling out, throwing up every day
    25:42 — Grandpa and dad sold drugs
    30:00 — Moment of clarity
    31:47 — Nine days of home detox
    33:46 — What's kept her sober
    35:49 — Radical self-acceptance
    36:46 — How she met Rachel and started their podcast
    42:58 — Dad is still using; relationship with mom is better now
    43:48 — Why she does this


    I Used To Do Heroin At Work Now I'm 10 Years Sober w/ Adam Wittbrodt | The Hopeaholics Podcast #359 Sep 03, 2026
    Show notes

    Adam Wittbrodt is a personal trainer and recovery advocate. He grew up with an alcoholic father who walked out on his 12th birthday and died before Adam turned 19. Carrying grief Adam spent the next decade and a half burying under IV heroin, forged checks, and 8 felonies. One day he collapsed at the front desk where he worked after injecting what he thought was heroin. It was laced with fentanyl and cocaine. A hotel guest walked in at exactly the right moment and called 911. Three weeks into county jail after that, he heard himself tell his cellmate he was pissed that the paramedics had saved him. That was the break. He went through Midland County Recovery Court, then treatment at Harbor Hall in Petoskey. Sober June 22nd, 2016. He has 10 years, runs a personal training operation with 100+ clients, a fitness and recovery program inside the Midland County Juvenile Justice Center, and co-hosts the Level Up Life podcast.
    I Used To Do Heroin At Work Now I'm 10 Years Sober w/ Adam Wittbrodt | The Hopeaholics Podcast #359
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
    Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics
    Our Merch:
    https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com
    #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie
    0:00 — Intro
    0:58 — Adam Wittbrodt
    11:59 — Cigarettes at 13 to IV heroin
    12:53 — First Vicodin prescription at 14
    14:50 — "Maybe if I do what my dad did, I'll understand him"
    16:34 — Dad dies; $10K in life insurance gone in a month
    18:29 — First 90 days in jail at 21
    21:06 — The Curry Hotel: 3 × 80mg Oxy loaded into one shot
    23:24 — Conning doctors
    25:08 — 23 months to 14 years
    30:00 — Grandmother dying in the ICU
    31:20 — Using laced Heroine at work
    33:06 — It was fentanyl and cocaine: just hitting the market in 2016
    33:52 — Survivor's remorse: "Why was I saved?"
    35:42 — The ER should treat addiction like a diabetic emergency
    52:32 — 7th and 8th felonies, $500K bond
    1:03:23 — 10 years sober; 210 meetings in 210 days
    1:14:37 — Building the personal training business
    1:15:48 — The Rebuild Program
    1:19:52 — 300 fentanyl deaths a day: why he thinks he was saved


    I Called 911 Mid Psychosis And They Hung Up On Me w/ Riley Jensen | The Hopeaholics Podcast #358 Aug 31, 2026
    Show notes

    At 18 Riley moved to LA, got into the adult entertainment industry, made fast money, found cocaine & alcohol, and ran that combination through her entire 20s. In 2023 she got pregnant but couldn't stop using. She missed 2 Christmases that she blamed on her daughter being sick when it was Riley being hungover. Riley's breaking point was being in closet at 4am doing coke, convinced there were people in her house that weren't there, called 911, the operator told her to get some sleep and hung up, and she grabbed her daughter and drove 80 miles an hour to her ex's parents' house to try and convince them they needed safety.
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
    Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics
    Our Merch:
    https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com
    #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie
    00:00 Intro
    01:40 Riley Jensen
    06:40 The family disease
    08:32 Doing P*** at 18yo
    14:14 First attempt at sobriety
    16:23 Pregnant and couldn't stop
    18:28 Post partum addiction
    20:06 Going Into Psychosis
    22:33 Walking into AA, 3 times a day, the first 60 days
    31:55 First sober airplane and vacation
    35:51 80-year-old sponsor
    39:43 Dad chaired her first meeting
    43:18 Breaking the cycle
    56:24 "This is me. This is the real Erica."


    (TW) I Tried Committing Suicide Now I Help Prevent Them w/ Nate Block | The Hopeaholics Podcast #357 Aug 27, 2026
    Show notes

    Nate Block is a professional crisis de-escalation instructor with Jumpstart Mastery, traveling the country to train correctional departments and agencies on how to work with people in crisis. Nate dropped out of high school and spent the years that followed bouncing between apartments, bar shows, and eventually a college town he moved to chasing a girl, working odd jobs and drinking past the point where it felt like a choice, past the point where it was the only thing that made him feel like he was worth being alive. At 19 he made his first suicide attempt, and he'd make 3 more over the years that followed. Today Nate is 13 years sober and he's 60 days into "The Weight We Carry," a rucking challenge he built from scratch where he adds 1lb into a pack and runs a mile until he can't anymore; for 1 goal: to force men to talk about suicide.
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
    Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics
    Our Merch:
    https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com
    #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie
    0:00:00 Intro
    0:05:26 Oklahoma City bombing
    0:08:48 "Childhood ends the moment you realize your own mortality"
    0:14:16 Finding out he was adopted at 12
    0:17:44 First drink at 13: punk rock and playing bars at 15
    0:25:57 A friend is killed, dropout at 15
    0:32:10 Drinking was the only thing that made me feel worthy
    0:33:03 4 close call suicide attempts
    0:36:29 "There is a big difference between reactive and premeditated"
    0:38:05 "I heard a voice that wasn't mine"
    0:46:09 1lb a day for men's suicide prevention
    0:51:00 Men's suicide and the cost of being told to toughen up
    0:53:50 Reasons to Stay: writing letters to people who are reaching out
    0:54:13 You have no idea how good it can get
    0:57:08 Firefighting
    0:58:33 2 kids from his safety class didn't make it out
    1:13:36 What he does now: crisis de-escalation, men's coaching
    1:21:43 "Don't doubt the addicts"
    1:23:04 Mama Bird pushes the babies out of the nest


    America Has A Prescription Culture Issue w/ Shannon Hatfield | The Hopeaholics Podcast #356 Aug 24, 2026
    Show notes

    Shannon Hatfield grew up in section 8, her dad in federal prison, and her mom spent 2 decades working through OxyContin, black market heroin, and finally fentanyl. She's now a chiropractor running Evolve Sport and Spine working with professional athletes and anyone needing help. Shannon talks about what growing up inside that house actually looked like: finding her mom nodding out with cigarettes on her chest, being brought to the ER as the "normal daughter" so her mom could look functional enough to get Dilaudid, building boundaries as she got older, and being told "you think you're better than us" every time she took a step towards furthering her education. Her brother was also deep in meth and heroin while she was in college. Shannon gets into the medical philosophy that came out of all of it: the system was made so that over-prescription is the rule not the exception, the insurance model is broken by design, and her job is to sit with people long enough to actually figure out what's wrong.
    My Parents' Addictions Led Me To Become A Doctor w/ Shannon Hatfield | The Hopeaholics Podcast #356
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
    Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics
    Our Merch:
    https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com
    #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie
    0:00 - Cold open: "people just want to be heard"
    2:51 - "Both my parents were addicts"
    3:26 - Her mom's path: Vicodin to OxyContin to heroin to fentanyl
    4:14 - The call from the OC sheriff: her mom was gone
    4:33 - Nine months later: dad on life support
    6:34 - First NFL client after graduating
    6:51 - Flying to Texas to take boards one month after her dad died
    7:32 - Why she practices the way she does: root cause, not symptom
    15:21 - Growing up in section 8
    16:45 - Finding her mom nodding out
    17:40 - Being used as a prop at the hospital
    18:03 - Building walls, getting called "you think you're better than us"
    19:25 - Her brother in the thick of meth psychosis
    23:46 - How she turned trauma into fuel instead of an excuse
    28:41 - Her parents once sent her to AA
    38:19 - Evolve Sport and Spine: what she does differently
    46:52 - "At any given moment we have the choice to change direction"


    Breaking A Generational Addiction Curse w/ Noel Arevalo | The Hopeaholics Podcast #355 Aug 20, 2026
    Show notes

    Noel Arevalo returns to the show to talk about three things she's been sitting with: how your breakthrough gives the people closest to you permission to do the same, how deep alcohol gets woven into your identity without you ever noticing, and how the people, places, and patterns that were dragging you down start to fall away naturally once you surrender the thing that was holding it all together. For 15 years Noel Arevalo cycled through bender weekends while running a fitness coaching business and telling herself she had it under control. Two and a half years ago she finally let it go. Since then, her brother and older sister have both gotten sober. She talks about what she does today to stay grounded without a 12-step program, and what it actually feels like to say "I am so proud of myself" and have it mean something for the first time, and what do you do when someone you love looks too far gone to everyone around them?
    Breaking A Generational Addiction Curse w/ Noel Arevalo | The Hopeaholics Podcast #355
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
    Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics
    Our Merch:
    https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com
    #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie
    Timestamps:
    0:00:00 - Intro
    0:04:19 - The 3 things she came here to share
    0:05:59 - The bender cycle that started at 13
    0:07:01 - Addiction on both sides of her family
    0:11:57 - People, places, and patterns that sabotage you start to fall away
    0:13:52 - Chad: meth was his drug of choice; the one promise of NA is freedom
    0:20:39 - The person who went sober with her for 10 months — and what happened after
    0:23:38 - What she does today: cold plunge, church, gym — no 12 steps
    0:37:09 - There's someone very close to her currently struggling
    0:38:31 - "Nobody is too far gone"
    0:44:51 - Chad's his mom was scared to come to his house — she thought they'd find him dead
    0:51:19 - "I'm in this chair because people have prayed for me my entire life"
    0:57:27 - What we tell ourselves we'd never say out loud to another person
    1:04:42 - "Your mind quits before your body does"
    1:06:01 - Closing


    (TW ED) My ED Caused Heart Failure & Almost Killed Me w/ Kate Avnaim | The Hopeaholics Podcast #354 Aug 17, 2026
    Show notes

    (TW ED) My ED Caused Heart Failure & Almost Killed Me w/ Kate Avnaim | The Hopeaholics Podcast #354
    Kate Avnaim's father was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was just 6 months old. When Kate was 13 they found it had spread through his whole brain. He chose quality time over more rounds of chemo. She was furious at him but she just didn't understand yet. He passed away and her mom was laid off right after, leaving Kate stuck in a permanent feeling that there was nothing in her life she could control. But she found 1 thing she could control and her eating disorder started shortly after.
    When her mom took her to the doctor, Kate hid it, wore a weighted vest under her clothes to fake the scale. They still knew something was wrong. They couldn't draw blood from her arm. She was diagnosed with bradycardia, a dangerously low heart rate, with fallouts happening in her sleep. Doctors told her mom on the spot: she needs to go to the hospital right now. No going home first. No packing a bag. The average hospital stay for what she had is one to two weeks. Kate was there for 35 days, on complete bed rest. After that, an online recovery program at home for 8 hours a day for about a month.
    Kate has since picked up training and has fallen in love with helping others see the potential within themselves and to hopefully be symbol of hope for others who are battling the same things she did growing up.
    National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline — 1-866-662-1235
    Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
    https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
    https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics
    Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!
    Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
    If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.
    Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
    https://www.infinitigroupllc.com
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    06:48 — Dad diagnosed with brain cancer
    07:53 — Remove the tumor and lose everything, or 7 more years
    10:43 — The beginning of losing control.
    11:11 — Mom laid off right after his death
    15:36 — No prior body image issues
    17:22 — The eating disorder started
    17:51 — Wore a weighted vest to fake the scale at the doctor's office
    18:34 — No blood could be drawn from her arm
    19:29 — Bradycardia: dangerously low heart rate
    21:24 — Hating the mirror, isolating from everyone
    21:44 — 35 days in the hospital
    22:48 — Online recovery program at home
    23:13 — Feeling proud of her body for the first time
    27:05 — ED are addiction. Once you start, you cannot stop
    29:50 — Screaming at anyone who tried to help.
    38:07 — Relationship with God
    39:52 — Got mad at God after dad died
    50:07 — Eight months recovered
    52:09 — What would my dad be thinking watching me in the hospital?
    54:29 — God gave you this body to use
    56:03 — Exercise as a blessing instead of a punishment
    1:00:22 — What would you tell someone silently struggling right now?


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