Systemic Sclerosis and Sobriety with Caitlin NelsonSystemic Sclerosis and Sobriety with Caitlin Nelson
The Elevate Experience
Caitlin Nelson shares how a childhood diagnosis of systemic sclerosis, teenage crack and heroin use, and years of heavily medicated rehab stays led her to seek a different path. She describes coming off 12 medications, embracing fitness and structure, and now working in detox while urging others to stop making excuses and choose change in the present moment.
1:10:04•21 Sept 2021
Systemic Sclerosis, Crack Addiction and a CrossFit Comeback with Caitlin Nelson
Episode Overview
- Early chronic illness and intense medical treatment can fuel a sense of lost control that feeds into substance use.
- Repeated stays in traditional rehabs that focus heavily on medication and disease labels may leave people feeling numb rather than genuinely recovering.
- Coming off multiple psychiatric and maintenance medications under supervision helped Caitlin finally reach a clear mental and physical baseline.
- Exercise, especially structured training like CrossFit, became a healthy outlet for stress, confidence and the sense of power she once chased in drugs.
- Caitlin’s straightforward advice to anyone considering sobriety: stop making excuses and take responsibility for the next decision you make.
“Our true power exists in the present moment. What decision are you going to make right now?”
Gain insights from experts and survivors on how chronic illness, heavy drug use, and over-medication in treatment can all collide – and how someone can still come out thriving. This conversation follows Caitlin Nelson, a detox technician at Elevate Addiction Services, whose story starts with a rare autoimmune condition and spirals into serious addiction before looping back into a life of purpose.
Diagnosed first with linear scleroderma as a child and later with systemic sclerosis, Caitlin explains what it was like to be seven years old, watching her body change and being pumped full of steroids and powerful medications. As a teen, she finds alcohol and drugs, describing her crack use at 15 as “vicious” and laughing grimly about spending time with people twice her age who had no business partying with a child.
Hosts Angie Manson and Dallas Terrell walk her through years of meth, heroin and multiple traditional rehabs that kept labelling her “sick” and piling on prescriptions. By the time she arrives at Elevate, she’s 24 and on 12 different medications, feeling like a zombie and being told she might need things like Suboxone forever.
The tone shifts when Caitlin talks about coming off everything in detox, finding her “baseline” for the first time since age 12, and discovering that exercise, nutrition and real connection can give her the confidence and relief she once chased in drugs. Her face lights up describing CrossFit, hitting personal records and loving the feeling of being truly tired from training rather than from illness or substances.
Now almost two years sober and working in detox, she shares honest, funny and very real reflections on self-sabotage, family distrust after “treatment number nine,” and learning to like herself again. Her closing message is blunt: “Stop making excuses for yourself.” If you’re wondering whether change is actually possible for you, this conversation might be the nudge you’ve been waiting for.
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