Always candid, bodybuilding veteran Lee Priest remains committed to fans of the sport in retirement. In a recent endeavor, he reflected on stopping painkillers cold turkey after neck surgery, and mental health struggles. In addition, he discussed why he refuses to lie about his steroid use.
Boasting decades of experience on the IFBB Pro League circuit, Lee Priest led an unforgettable career courtesy of his compact muscle volume and grainy conditioning. Having defeated names such as eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman on stage, Priest was a dangerous threat within the Men’s Open class, who never let his stature stand in the way of success.
Lee Priest Opens Up on Detox from Painkillers, Mental Health, and Why He Doesn’t Lie About Steroids
Six years following a car accident in 2015, Priest was finally able to have neck surgery. However, the ordeal left him with an addiction to painkillers.
“When I had my neck operations and the doctor gave me the Oxy, and I was taking it and that’s the sort of thing with those sorts of things, you don’t even know you’re addicted to it.
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Okay, the longer you’re on them I could feel like it got to the point where I didn’t want to go to the gym because the more you take the more you become like a zombie.”
Eventually, Priest quit the painkillers cold turkey, though he suffered severe withdrawals.
“Fuck it, I didn’t need them anymore, the pain is not too bad, I went to stop them cold turkey and your body goes into withdrawals and shakes and fucking you feel like shit. I put myself in detox. I’ve talked about that before.”
He contacted a private hospital, packed his bags, and quit the medication under medical supervision.
“When I went to come off of them I couldn’t do it straight away myself that’s why I called up the Toronto private hospital, the Woodlands Center there for anyone local. I called them up and told them I’d been taking Oxys for this long and it’s shit. I could have done it at home but that’s when I was with Jade and the kids and I was like shit I don’t want to go through this shit with the kids around.”
“Packed the bag, put myself in there for two weeks that day,” adds Priest. “They give you stuff to come off of it but it was [hard] for a while. You’re laying in bed and you just got pain, your stomach is cramping, you got diarrhea and you feel like shit.”
Although Lee Priest acknowledges that people suffer from mental illness, he believes most are using it as a ‘get-out-of-jail-free card.’
“There’s more people stressing out when back in the day, like you said, they made things from scratch, they went to work. They actually went through a time in life called the Great Depression and they survived. You didn’t hear of this shit but now if some little thing goes wrong, it’s ‘Oh my God. I’m going to break down. Mental health.’
There are people that generally have mental health problems but now it’s a get-out-of-jail-free card, if you can’t handle life just throw the mental health card out there. I see it so many people, ‘I need a mental health day,'” shares Lee Priest.
Priest underlined the challenges of life and the importance of perseverance.
“Life is hard, work is hard, you’re going to have shit days but you don’t need to break down over it.”
As for his steroid use, Priest shared that he has no reason to lie about it. He advises those who reach the Pro level to ‘use it not abuse it.’
“Why would I lie because I’ve always been like if you’re going to use them and you’re at that level and you’re going to use them, use them don’t abuse them. I’m telling you this is what I’ve used. I’ve given other people small amounts and they have made the gains.
That’s why I tell people if you’re taking a large amount and you call me a liar, why don’t you stop taking that large amount come off for a month or two, try a small amount like I said and just see what happens. If it works, it works, then if it doesn’t, go back to taking a large amount.”
“I’d say that I was in a threesome and a guy blew me but I’m going to lie about my steroid use. Okay, if I was going to pick one to lie about,” shares Priest.
This wasn’t Lee Priest’s first time opening up on his performance-enhancing drug use. He recently defended using small amounts of compounds, explaining that legends like Sergio Oliva and Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to build impressive mass without tools like growth hormone.
Even though Lee Priest has endured considerable struggles, he maintains a positive attitude. Thanks to his honesty and experience, he continues to inspire the bodybuilding community since stepping away from the sport.
RELATED: Lee Priest and Milos Sarcev Discuss PEDs and Sam Sulek: “He Has All The Potential”
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