On a new episode of the Not A Damn Chance! podcast, Paul Rodriguez sat down and opened up about something a lot of people in skateboarding didn’t expect him to talk about so openly.
P-Rod admitted that drinking had been a real problem in his life and that it almost got the best of him.
He shared that while he is still skating, staying active, and enjoying the life he has built, things slowly started to slip.
The 40-year-old noticed himself getting lazy, putting on weight, and not sleeping right. That was when he realized alcohol was doing more damage than he wanted to admit.
At one point, P-Rod reached out to fellow pro skater friend Brandon Turner, who runs West Side Recovery.
Turner is someone who has his own story of change, and P-Rod looked to him for advice. He also mentioned Andrew Reynolds and Erik Ellington, who were once tied to the Piss Drunx era but eventually found their way out of heavy drinking.
For Switch God, though, it wasn’t as simple as just cutting it off. He admitted he had already ruined relationships because of substance abuse and knew he needed something different.
Even while filming and skating in the streets, he said drinking was always on his mind.
That constant pull finally made him start looking deeper into what could actually help. He ended up watching The Diary Of A CEO podcast that focused on addiction and learned about a medication called Naltrexone.
What caught his attention was how few people seemed to know about it.
Even the podcast hosts, Neen Williams and Chef Phillip Frankland Lee, said it was new to them when P-Rod explained how it works.
Naltrexone reduces cravings and helps people cut back or stop drinking altogether, and for P-Rod it became a tool that made a real difference.
The Primitive Skateboards' head honcho admitted he never felt comfortable going to AA because of how shy he is, but taking Naltrexone gave him a way forward.
By speaking about it publicly, P-Rod said he hopes more skaters and people outside of skating can hear his story, realize they are not alone, and understand there are options out there.
For someone who has been at the top of skateboarding for years, it was a gnarly moment to hear him speak so openly. Instead of hiding it, P-Rod put it out there, showing that even pros deal with struggles that can’t be seen on the board.