05:16:06
SHANE DOUGLAS
Following
TNA’s Sacrifice PPV and Impact taping, Shane Douglas joined
us and began with a medical update on Samoa Joe. During
the Impact tapings, Joe suffered a first degree medial collateral
ligament (MCL) tear, which is basically a sprain, and a
second degree posterior cruciate ligament (PCL)--which is
like a severe sprain.
While
serious, it could have been much worse as third degree is
a complete tear and doctors expect that he will be able
to perform again within 2-4 weeks. Shane also shared that
Joe’s immediate concern was about letting the company down--but
he was assured that was not the case and he should take
proper care of his injuries.
The
conversation then turned to how that mindset, one of wrestlers
having to work through injury for fear of losing their spot,
played a role in Douglas becoming addicted to painkillers
and his recent absence from TNA to seek rehabilitative help.
“I
don’t think it’s a present day mindset. I think it’s a mindset
that has always been in the business. In a business where
there are no protections for the worker, you work or you
don’t get paid. So we (Raven) were broken in, myself by
Dominic DeNucci and Bruno Sammartino, they drilled into
our heads from the first day we were at practice that you
make the building and you make your appearance. And later,
I kind of took that philosophy that they had drilled into
me and sort of twisted it a little bit as I became the centerpiece
talent for ECW.
“We
had such a thin roster, we didn’t have a hundred wrestlers
under contract so we all had to perform when advertised
or we’d really be letting the fans down I felt. I know in
my case, like Raven said, there were dozens of times I performed
when I shouldn’t have--that was under no pressure from anybody--except
from myself. The personal responsibility I felt to the company
and to the fans, to make sure we went out there and gave
as good a performance as we could possibly give as opposed
to no performance. And I know there were several times that
happened.
“There
still is that concern within the business and I hope it
becomes less and less because that is what drives guys to
popping the pills and taking the shots and doing whatever
they have to do to get through, we all remember “North Dallas
Forty” from back in the ‘70s.
“Where
that road leads is no good. For anybody. It’s not like five
out of ten can do it and have no problem. Ten out of ten
that choose that road are going to have problems. And as
I’ve documented in a lot of interviews I’ve been doing,
addiction is a hell that you don’t want to see anybody go
through. So, I hope these young guys learn to take time
off when they need to and I hope the companies are cognizant
of that and prepared to deal with it.
“Again,
Joe’s injury last night, I distinctly remember hearing several
management figures saying ‘don’t worry about when you get
back, get healthy’. A frequent guest of The Stranglehold
dating back to his time in ECW, The Franchise had shared
on more than one occasion about injuries and surgeries he
had suffered in the ring. But the most recent conversations
had expressed he was feeling healthy--thus there was even
more surprise when it was learned back in January that he
was seeking help for pain killer addiction.
“In
my case, there’s physical and mental addiction, mine was
physical addiction to the drug that they had put me on five
years ago. When you get it from a doctor, it comes from
a pharmacy, and the insurance company pays for it, there’s
a mindset that it must be safe and okay.
“Well,
there couldn’t be anything further from the truth. And for
me, over the years I’ve taken percosats, vikadens, and other
things and never had a problem. I would take a couple and
put the rest in my bag and never had an issue with it. But
with the Oxycontin, it was take one twice a day today and
within three to five days, you double that and then keep
going up in dose because you simply couldn’t the pain relief
from it and your body was starting to go into withdrawl
from the effect of not taking the drug. So it became a damaging
cycle…I was taking 50 pills a day, which should have killed
me--there’s no reason why I’m still here.
To
still be alive at this point, Douglas realizes that it was
more than just luck…
“Blessed.
In our business especially, where wrestlers become statistics
and for me to be at the point of addiction and still be
here I know a lot of guys who took a far less number of
pills and far less potent of pills and passed away. So,
I’m thankful to God above that I am still here and my two
boys have a dad still. And to be able to talk about it on
this side of addiction--it was the worst experience of my
life, hands down.
The birth of his second son in December of 2006 led Douglas
to seek help, but as noted above he was already the proud
parent of a son. So what was the difference between the
first and second birth which led to the decision for a change…
“Well,
it was the exact same thing. Here I was five years later
and having tried, literally, dozens and dozens of times
when my first son was born and always failing. Here comes
my second son and I’m thinking ‘I’m either going to make
a stand right now or just commit myself to I’m going to
end up dying and I wasn’t content with that’.
“Plus,
really my first son’s birth probably weighed heavier in
the decision. I said in the interview (on TNAWrestling.com)
that it was my second son who provided the impetus, but
really my first son--seeing and knowing how much I love
him and just how much he means in my life, now I’ve got
a second boy here. I’ve got the privilege to be able to
raise and get to know. I want to be around to get to know
him. I wanted to be around and get to know him, I wanted
to know how he was at five years old like I know Connor.
So it wasn’t necessarily Caden’s birth that made me do it.
It was Caden’s birth that made me take a look at my first
son and assesing where everything was and deciding that
now was the time if ever.
And
while Shane Douglas had been a champion inside the ring,
it was now time for Troy Martin to step to the forefront
while “The Franchise” took a back seat.
“Absolutely.
They teach you when you start going to classes for addiction
is that the first thing you have to do is put your ego and
pride aside--which is what had kept me from succeeding in
the first place. I was ashamed, first of all, to go to any
meetings or seek any help from psychiatrists or anybody
else because first and foremost, I was fearful that if I
went to a meeting that come Monday morning it’d be on the
internet somewhere and I’d get fired.
“I
was very cognizant of the fact that Shane Douglas, the character,
had to take a back seat in this one and Troy Martin the
person had to stand up and not care what anybody thought
or said or what was reported on what internet site or whatever.
And decided for me, it was the most important thing I had
to do. More important than a job. More important than making
a paycheck. More important than if somebody thought good
or bad about me. And that really to me has been the big
difference this time.
In
his interview on TNAWrestling.com, Shane shared that he
made calls to over forty facilities before finally settling
on one for rehabilitation. Why was there so much difficulty
in finding help?
“Anybody
who’s facing addiction and listening right now knows what
I’m talking about. You would think that when you start reading
that upwards of twenty to forty million Americans are facing
some kind of addiction, you would think help would be as
readily available as McDonald’s on the street corner. And
it’s not.
“I
picked up the phone book five years ago and made five, ten
phone calls to different places and was told ‘call here’,
‘we don’t deal with that’, ‘we don’t know what to do with
you’, ‘we don’t take your insurance’, ‘we don’t take any
appointments’, ‘we don’t have room for any more patients’--it
was just a whole litany of road blocks that really made
me roll my eyes.
“And
this time, after I made the first five or ten phone calls,
I decided to keep making phone calls. For an addict, it’s
really easy to sit there and say ‘hey, I made ten phone
calls but I tried and I’m just gonna keep using.’ And instead,
this time I said I’m just going to keep making phone calls.
“So
I made another five or ten phone calls. And another five
or ten phone calls. And the most ludicrous thing to me,
that I found, I stopped using on my own December 27th. So
I had basically detoxed myself--which I don’t advise anybody.
It’s dangerous, it’s an incredibly painful thing to go through.
But because I had done that, I would say 75-80% of the places
we called said they couldn’t help us, or help me because
I had already detoxed.
“The
most lucrative of going through rehab is detox in the hospital,
so exactly, it was a money issue. Which I find sickening.
All these people who are addicts are out there should just
have to make one phone call and then they shouldn’t be able
to get off the phone. Someone on the other side should be
saying ‘don’t hang up, we need to talk with you, we’re going
to get you whatever help you need’. And the best advice
I can give is, first of all don’t be ashamed of it--meet
it head on because this side of addiction is so much better
than going through it. Being able to know that you don’t
have to worry about where you’re going to get your next
pill or the shame you feel in taking the pills or whatever
else--it’s a more wonderful place to be now than then.
“But as far as practical advice, don’t give up. Keep making
those phone calls. If you have to, go to the local hospital
emergency room and say you’re not leaving until you get
help. As a last gap emergency go to the hospital and say
‘I’m sick, I’m addicted, and I’m afraid something bad is
going to happen to me if I leave.’ and just refuse to leave.
Because until someone gets out there-- and this is the big,
dirty secret that gets swept under the rug and nobody wants
to talk about it--the help’s out there, but you have to
beg, borrow, and steal to get it.
"Some
places that we called, Brian, wanted $30,000-40,000 cash,
up front. I don’t know about many other Americans, but I
personally can’t afford $30,000-40,000 cash up front. To
put it in practical terms for you, I could use for thirty
six months instead of paying for that. So to an addict that
is not sure if they want to quit or not, when you can sit
there and say you can keep using drugs for thirty six months
or you can get clean--well that’s a no brainer.
“So,
these places that are charging these outlandish prices and
stuff, I’m sure there are a lot of issues behind the scenes
that are causing that, but let’s get some of these Congressmen,
who can’t even get a gallon of gas down, involved in this
and try to get this thing solved. Because if it’s true,
and I believe it is that 20-40 million Americans are addicted
to something, then this is a massive problem for the United
States and if we don’t start to deal with it, we’re going
to have some really bad side effects.
“People
robbing, or killing trying to get money for drugs. If what
we see right now in inner cities going on over crack cocaine
could hit the suburbs in your hometown and mine because
if 20-40 million Americans are addicted, that means the
neighbor two or three doors down is, then we’re going to
have problems. And if we don’t deal with it now, when?
While
having the means that robbery wasn’t necessary, Shane does
admit that his addiction caused a change in his behavior…
“For
me, it was hiding my useage. For me, when I took the Oxycontin,
unlike a lot of drugs that make you drowsy and sleepy whatever,
the Oxycontin made me feel like I was 20 years old again.
My joints didn’t hurt anymore. My neck and back didn’t hurt
anymore. So I could go to the gym. I could go out and work
in the yard. I could keep myself ultra-busy doing the things
that I couldn’t do because I was sore or achy.
“Good
addicts have it down. They know how to get their fix in
and that’s what is even worse about it. The other thing
I want to say right now is, anybody listening who thinks
‘oh, he felt ashamed’ don’t be. Because the feedback that
I’ve gotten across the board--there has not been one person
or one email or comment that I’ve seen that has been close
to negative. It’s been so overwhelmingly positive. All those
people that you think are going to frown down on you for
getting help, are going to be the first ones to pat you
on the back and say ‘Good Luck.’.
“Don’t
be ashamed of it. Just go out there and get that help. And
believe me, this side of addiction is so much better than
be addicted.
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