Now he looks for another kind of high: Crystal meth recovery

Joe Duavit says he turned to crystal meth, or speed, in college to help study for exams. But the powerful upper also gave him a high, and an addiction that consumed him. He began to steal from his family to support his habit, going on binges that would last for days. "I ended up in a straitjacket in a psychiatric ward," says Joe, who in 1992 finally conquered his addiction. He then went to work for Habilitat, a drug treatment center in Kaneoho, Hawaii. The urge to take the drug again was the most difficult part of the recovery process, Joe says.

New research may help explain why drug abusers struggle so much with the compulsion to take such a risky drug again and again. A scientific study now suggests that compulsion can be traced back to damage to a part of the brain involved in making good decisions. Yet people such as Joe do recover -- often with the help of therapy. Studies also now suggest that the brain may heal itself after a person stops abusing a drug, a finding that indicates that recovery may get easier as time goes on.

Joe didn't notice any memory problems after he quit meth. But he did have to learn how to take pleasure in things that many people take for granted. He says he had to learn how to get satisfaction from working hard toward a goal, such as getting a college degree. And, over time, Joe did experience a healing, in his case one that freed him from a seven-year addiction to meth. Now as a drug treatment counselor, he looks for another kind of high, one that he gets from helping others break free of drug addiction.

Advice to people struggling with addiction: Look for a better high in helping people, like Joe did.

Read another of our addiction recovery stories, or read Dr. Don Miller’s source story, from the USA Today of April 18, 2002.

She saved the lives of her twins: A misdiagnosis, cerebral palsy and dopa-responsive dystonia

When Joe and Retta Beery welcomed Noah and Alexis into the world 11 years ago, the babies seemed as healthy as their older brother. But within a year, they were diagnosed with cerebral palsy. As time passed, the children progressively became sicker and weaker. Retta became convinced that Noah and Alexis had something other than cerebral palsy, a non-progressive disorder that affects muscle control and is often linked to prenatal brain damage.

The doctors disagreed. But Retta began spending several hours a day poring through medical literature, looking for a name for the disease that robbed her children of sleep, turned their muscles into rubber bands and caused them to cry incessantly and vomit regularly.

"I had been doing my own research for two to three hours a day for several years," Retta said. "I came across an article about a rare disorder that is often misdiagnosed as CP."

Alexis, who suffered more severe symptoms than Noah, experienced dramatic developmental regression. By age 5, she had trouble walking, sitting and swallowing. Her body stiffened with tremors and her eyes vacantly rolled backward, all classic symptoms of dopa-responsive dystonia, a treatable genetic condition caused by a dopamine deficiency in the brain. Dopamine-deficient brains are unable to transfer nerve impulses between nerve endings and have difficulty converting thoughts into actions.

Specialists were hard to find. Retta located the doctor quoted in the article and took the kids to Chicago to visit him. He promptly confirmed Retta's suspicions and gave the twins Sinemet, a drug that stimulates dopamine production. Within hours, Alexis' muscle control radically improved and the little girl who was hidden behind the contorted movements began to emerge. Noah, too, saw remarkable improvement shortly after taking the drug.

These days, they are normal fifth-graders, thanks to daily doses of dopamine-stimulating medication.

"They're doing everything now," says Retta. "Noah has been playing baseball and doing well academically. And Alexis beat the elementary school track record for the 100-meter dash last year. She loves to run."

Retta, who calls the transformation a miracle, is promoting awareness of the disorder, which she suspects may not be as rare as doctors think. Since an article appeared in Woman's World in June 2006, Retta has received calls from as far away as Canada from people with similar symptoms. She has spent countless hours sharing information about the disorder and treatment, which she says can be tricky.

"I've had a lot of opportunity to reach out to people who have been misdiagnosed and share our hope with them."

Now her discovery has ignited a passion to help others with the same rare disorder. Their story will get national media exposure again as the focus of Discovery Channel's Mystery Diagnosis. The episode will air at 10 p.m. Sept. 3 and will be repeated throughout the week.

For more information about the Beerys and dopa-responsive dystonia, visit www.thebeerys.com.

Advice: If you doubt the doctor's diagnosis, you can investigate other possible diagnoses, e.g., here.

Read another girl’s misdiagnosis story with a happy ending, or read Susanne Tso’s source story.