Health

Aftercare – Life After Rehab

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Staying in a rehabilitation center or belonging to a rehabilitation group is essential in the journey from addict to sobriety. Rehab arms you with the tools to manage your addiction and will help you lead a life drug free. However, rehab isn’t the end of the healing process. In order to fully recover from your addiction you must partake in an aftercare program to ensure your continued success.

Aftercare is defined as the period following discharge from the rehab center, when the addict no longer requires the same intensity of treatment that they received while in rehab.

Aftercare is an integral part of staying drug free. You won’t leave rehab being miraculously cured. Every day will be a struggle but various aftercare programs are available to help you maintain a drug free existence. Various aftercare treatments include:
- Therapy or counseling
- Group therapy
- 12 step meetings
- Medical support
- Online therapy
- Buddy system

Many rehabilitation centers offer some kind of aftercare services as part of their treatment plan but these are vastly under utilized because many people feel as though they are cured after they leave rehab. No matter how good you feel or how long you’ve been sober, take advantage of some kind of aftercare program. If you didn’t go to a traditional rehab center, you can find quality aftercare programs by either talking with your doctor or therapist.

Even after completing your time in a rehab program your chances of remaining free from your addiction are not great. By being involved in an aftercare program you vastly increase your chances of staying drug or alcohol free. Many rehab centers offer aftercare programs that involve the addict’s immediate family. Addiction isn’t easily overcome and the family needs to also be educated so that they can help the addict deal with daily issues and to continue to motivate them and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

Filed Under: Addiction And Recovery | Tagged: Tagged With: Addictions, California, Centers and Counseling Services, Drug rehabilitation, Health, Substance abuse, Substance dependence, United States

Pharming – Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse in Teens

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Today’s teenagers are getting smarter and sneakier when it comes to getting drugs. The latest movement in the teen drug culture is known as Pharming, which is slang for using and sharing pharmaceutical drugs.

It is oftentimes difficult for adults to have conversations about drugs with their kids, and while many parents understand the dangers of alcohol abuse and drugs such as cocaine or heroine, many forget to include prescription or over the counter drugs when discussing substance abuse with their kids. Teens may begin experimenting with prescription drugs because they see them as a safer alternative to illegal drugs.

Part of the allure with pharming is the hunt. Teens will gather in each others homes while the parents are away, going through medicine cabinets, purses, bathroom drawers and more all on the hunt for prescription drugs. The thrill of finding something that can be used to get high is for teens, almost as good as the high itself. Kids today call these gatherings swap parties. Be ready to ask some hard questions of your teens if you hear them using the words swap or swapping when talking to their friends.

Teens can also arrange or attend pharming parties and the price of admission is to bring prescription drugs from home. These drugs are then mixed together in a bowl allowing guests to grab a handful of this “trail mix” for consumption. These pharm parties are becoming increasingly popular and are arranged at any time during day or night when the parents might be out.

An additional danger to pharming is the mixing of drugs with alcohol. This is referred to as a “recipe”. Drugs such as OxyContin and Ritalin are combined with alcohol increasing the effect of the drug or altering it giving the teen a rush or a high that is exhilarating and addicting.

Discussing the dangers of prescription drug abuse with your kids is as important as discussing illegal drugs. The pharming subculture in schools today is very real and isn’t likely to go away considering that we live in a pill-popping society.

Filed Under: Drug Abuse | Tagged: Tagged With: Adolescence, Health, Illegal drug trade, Over-the-counter drug, Oxycodone, Pharmaceutical drug, Prescription drug, Substance abuse

Using Niacin to Aid in Detox

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Recovering from substance abuse is a difficult process that requires the healing of body and mind. A rehab center will provide the emotional and mental healing you require but in order to heal physically you need to detoxify your body.

Using niacin to detoxify your body is a popular and safe method. Niacin is a naturally occurring water soluble vitamin otherwise known as B3. Also known as nicotinic acid, niacin is found naturally in chicken, turkey, beans, grains and red meat. Niacin works in the body to open blood vessels thereby increasing the flow of blood through your body. Toxins are stored in fatty tissue and it is only by widening the capillaries allowing more blood to pass through that the toxins are removed from the fatty tissues and flushed out of the body.

This process of flushing out toxins is neither harmful nor dangerous and it is painless. One of the side effects to this procedure is that your skin may look flushed due to the fact that there is more blood flowing through the tiny capillaries just under the skin.

There are only two safe forms of niacin to consume in doses greater than those recommended which you need to do in order to use niacin for detoxification.

- Immediate release or crystalline niacin. This is an effective and inexpensive form of niacin. The niacin is released into the blood stream immediately which often results in feeling flushed. Start the dose at 250 mg and gradually increase it until the desired amount is reached. Never exceed 500 mg daily unless under direct medical supervision.

- Extended release niacin. This is a time release capsule but it is not slow release niacin. Studies have shown that niacin is completely safe even in large doses provided exposure to the liver is limited. Slow release formulations can be harmful to your liver because the niacin is in your system for extended periods of time.

Niacin is inexpensive and available where you can buy other natural supplements. Always check with your primary care physician prior to beginning any drug therapy.

Filed Under: Drug Abuse Treatment | Tagged: Tagged With: Blood, Detoxification, Flushing (physiology), Health, Niacin, Substance abuse, Time Release Technology (medicine), United States

Robo Tripping – Cough Medicine Abuse

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Ever inventive, teenagers today will experiment with just about anything in order to get high. One popular activity is called robo tripping. Robo tripping is the street name for cough medicine abuse. Either in tablet or syrup form, teenagers and even children can consume potentially dangerous doses of cough medicine that contains dextromethorphan, in order to get high.

Abusing cough medicine and other cold remedies is a relatively inexpensive and accessible way to get high. Kids will consume up to fifty times the amount recommended in order to achieve a trance like state where they’ll hallucinate or “trip”.

Not everybody has the same experience while trying to get high on dextromethorphan. Each person requires a different amount of the drug in order to hallucinate, and there is a fine line between the amount taken to hallucinate and the amount consumed which will cause a loss of consciousness.

The effects of this drug can last for up to six hours and during that time it distorts the user’s vision and cognitive processes. As a result the abuser can easily cause harm to themselves or others. In addition, large doses of dextromethorphan can cause an inability to talk or move your arms or legs. Slowed breathing, brain damage, stroke and death can also result from large doses of this drug.

Parents should be aware of symptoms such as confusion, drowsiness, hallucinations, vomiting, lack of coordination or speech and dizziness as a sign that their child may have consumed too much cough medicine.

Always discuss with your children the dangers of abusing any sort of drug, whether they are legal or not. Robo tripping seems to move from school to school as kids hear of it and begin experimenting. Next time you’re at the pharmacy check to see if cough medicines are available on the shelf or if they’ve been moved behind the counter. If they’re not readily available then there may have been reported incidents of robo tripping in your area and increased vigilance of your children may be necessary.

Filed Under: Drug Abuse | Tagged: Tagged With: Cough medicine, Dextromethorphan, Drug, Food and Drug Administration, Government, Health, Recreational use of dextromethorphan, United States

Discovering a Problem

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One of the first steps in most recovery programs is the crucial step of the addict admitting that he or she has a substance abuse problem. While this step might be a personal triumph for the individual it took a long time for there to be a collective societal acknowledgement that constant obsessive alcohol abuse was a disease.

Human life was a short and harsh existence in the natural world of earlier recorded history. It took generations of human achievement to build civilizations capable of sustaining life into an old enough age for there to be a pattern of addiction that could be recognized and studied. Discovering that addiction existed and then discussing it became a tipping point in creating rehabilitation models and programs.

Their was a revolution akin to a great awaking where the grouping of all drinkers into the same category was discovered to no longer be sufficient to describe everyone who partook in alcohol consumption. The drinkers became separated from abnormal drinkers.

Part of the problem of discovering and making a distinction was how widespread alcohol consumption and abuse was. Even though some of the puritanical religious sects banned drinking, alcohol was a major part of American culture dating back to the colonies. Each class had its preferred beverages, but abuse did not know a class, gender or race. Even though alcohol addiction predated the American Revolution there was not a lot written or examined regarding combating alcohol consumption in the United States until later.

Per capita alcohol consumption rose after the nation declared its independence from Great Britain. And as prosperity rose and alcohol became more available so did efforts to control drunkenness. Perhaps the earliest example of American coming to grips with its drinking was an 1784 work by Benjamin Rush. Rush’s “An Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits” described habitual alcohol consumption as a disease. The language was now in place to examine a problem, but like all new concepts it would take sometime and the influence of others to make a good idea into a popular one.

Filed Under: General Rehab & Addiction | Tagged: Tagged With: Addiction, Alcoholism, Benjamin Rush, Centers and Counseling Services, Great Britain, Health, Substance abuse, United States

Creating “Alcoholism”

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It might have taken awhile for the United States to examine if persistent alcohol consumption was a problem, but once a market was established to examine the effects of alcohol abuse it grew rapidly. Benjamin Rush is credited with writing one of the first pieces of popular literature on the effects of regular drinking. And after his thesis gained some recognition so did the concept of over indulging in alcohol as a disease.

By the 1840s there were even societies to assist alcoholics. A group called the Washingtonians is recognized as the first popularly known group of recovering alcoholics. While it was an important step in combating addiction in America it is also an example of an honor that the first President of the United States could probably do without. There was a support group for alcoholics, but using science to study addiction would be a future development. Instead the Washingtonians condemned “drunkenness”. They referred to themselves as confirmed drinkers, drunkards, sots, tipplers and inebriates.

Alcohol itself was an Arabic word that meant the spirit or essence of something. And for the “drunkards” of that era Alcohol was akin to a haunting. There was no knowledge of predispositions towards addiction or family history of drinking. At this time alcohol referred more to any intoxicating drink rather than the actual ingredient that caused drunkenness.

By 1849, science was beginning to notice distinctions in the consumption of alcohol. Swedish physician Magnus Huss introduced the world to the term alcoholism, which was described as a chronic use of alcohol with the intent to become intoxicated that was characterized by a serve disruption in social functioning. It took decades before the term was widely used in the United States.

Alcohol had been a part of human culture for thousands of years by 1849. And abusing alcohol probably dated that far back, but it was not until that year that the concept of alcoholism was invented. The disease was recognized, but now came the difficult task of finding a proper way to treat it.

Filed Under: General Rehab & Addiction | Tagged: Tagged With: Addiction, Alcoholic beverage, Alcoholism, Benjamin Rush, Health, Substance abuse, Support group, United States

Alcoholic Anonymous

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By the mid 19th century an age old problem had a name. A Swedish physician introduced the world to the concept of alcoholism. His finding had created a name and awareness that regular alcohol consumption could be habit forming and destructive to social interaction. As with any invention it now fell onto others to improve upon the initial concept and find practical applications.

Alcoholism had a name, but other widespread acceptance lingered. Alcoholism was also referred to as barrel fever, dipsomania and inebriety. Dipsomania literally meant drink crazy. At this time alcohol abuse, was less considered an individual with a disease than someone who could not control themselves when it came to alcohol. Dipsomania was characterized as periods of binge drinking followed by periods of abstaining.

The term alcoholism and its definition first gained popularity in professional circles. It was cited in more and more studies until a universal acceptance was gained by the early 20th century. Richard Peabody and Charles Towns were among the first to bring the terms to the general public by using the terms in popular articles. Towns ran a “drying out” hospital that was an early rehabilitation center.

As the public became exposed to the concept of alcoholism, it took awhile for the term an its recognition to become accepted the label of problem drinker continued in the 1930s as the belief maintained that there was not a physical addiction to alcohol, but individuals who could not handle themselves.

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in the 1930s, and the success of the organization made alcoholic the preferred term. The organization made the term so common that some professionals were annoyed that alcoholic was being overused and was no longer meaningful enough to be used in professional papers. These pleas might have been heard by researchers, but for the general public the term had been established and so would the methods of Alcoholic Anonymous.

Alcoholics Anonymous has stood the test of time and has been successful for many addicts. The concept of support groups to help suffers would also spread to other cases of addiction.

Filed Under: Addiction And Recovery | Tagged: Tagged With: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholic beverage, Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholism, Health, Substance abuse, Support group

Alcoholism or Alcohol Abuse?

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Alcoholics Anonymous is perhaps the most famous and popular way for those with drinking problems to combat their addiction. The organization has become so successful the term “go to meetings” and the abbreviation “AA” have also entered the lexicon as terms to describe treatment to addiction. While widespread and available treatment is normal in modern times it was not always the case.

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in the mid-1930s. At that time is was still taboo to call drinking a disease or for people from important families to admit that they had a drinking problem. The rise of the modern alcoholism movement began in the 1940s. A centralized leadership was finally established to enact standards for treating alcoholism and to increase the general public’s awareness and understanding of the disease.

The National Committee for Education on Alcoholism provided the leadership to modernize alcohol treatment. One of the first issues that movement leaders E.M. Jellinek faced was creating an understanding of exactly what constituted alcohol abuse. It was a difficult subject to tackle because the effects of consumption depended on the individual. But by the 1960s the movement was having an identity crisis because the term alcoholic had as many as 200 different definitions. In 1957 the World Health Organization had already suggested that alcoholism had lost its clinical specificity. It urged that diagnosis of alcohol problems include terms such as alcohol addiction or alcohol habituation.

The World Health Organization findings were debated during a five-year study that was carried out by the Cooperative Commission on the Study of Alcoholism. They added the phrase problem drinker to the plethora of ways to describe alcohol abuse.

Fretting over the phrasing was part of the movement to gain a wider acceptance for the treatment of alcohol addiction. The labeling of the disease was also complicated by new discovers that wiped out previous thoughts on how and why individuals become addicted. As health professionals attempted to define alcoholism in modern terms it became clear that substance abuse and addiction involved defining a subset of personality disorders and neuroses.

Filed Under: General Rehab & Addiction | Tagged: Tagged With: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Centers and Counseling Services, E.M. Jellinek, Health, Substance abuse, World Health Organization

Alcohol Consumption and the Noble Experiment

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Alcohol is poison to humans that works to slowly poison then. The immediate effects cause what is known as drunkenness, when excessive amount of alcohol has entered the bloodstream. But the long term effects can include heart or liver failure. Yet despite knowledge of the effects of alcohol, drinking remains a popular past time in the United States and around most of the world.

Part of the reason that alcohol remains part of the culture is that it is addictive both physically and mentally. The bodies of regular drinker crave the substance, and the cravings can be multiplied by conditioning. For example if a person drinks to get over a stressful situation, any stress could trigger a drinking episode.

While every society that drinks must deal with the negative effects of alcohol consumption, the negatives today are not nearly as bad as they once were. Alcoholism was once so widespread in the United States that it inspired a movement to completely ban consumption. Alcohol was considered the venom of man, and by some in religious circles as too dangerous for anyone to become involved with.

There was good reason to fear the effects of drinking in 19th century America. Crime rates soured on holidays when saloons poured freely. Women who had limited rights in the court systems of the day were also frequent victims of husbands or other men who had allowed alcohol to get the best of them.

Their were numerous anti-saloon leagues that had formed and united to become a political force in the United States. They had grown so powerful at one point that anti-drinking advocates proposed exiling drinkers to remote islands. While this proposal did not gain much political traction, the United States engaged in a great social experiment by passing the 18th Amendment. After Jan. 18, 1920 it was illegal to purchase or consume alcohol in the United States. The government hoped to save addicts from themselves. A great question would be asked and answered: can governments justly enforce morality? The Noble Experience was underway.

Filed Under: Alcohol Drug Intervention | Tagged: Tagged With: Alcohol, Alcoholic beverage, Alcoholism, Government, Health, Specific Substances, Substance abuse, United States

Fish Oil and Substance Abuse Recovery

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Substance abusers often don’t seek help until they’ve hit rock bottom or some event happens that triggers their awareness and spurs them into seeking help. Most commonly the aid they seek is in the form of therapy, though some doctors and practitioners will prescribe medications that are thought to help alter the body’s chemistry in an effort to help the addict feel better mentally and physically.

Therapy is integral for the addict who wishes to overcome their addiction, however research is emerging that there may be some natural supplements that can help ease the transition from addiction to sobriety.

Studies are showing that there is a link between a deficiency in omega 3 fatty acids in the body and depression, anxiety, stress and other mood disorders. Many times it is these mood disorders that cause one to turn toward illegal substances in an effort to handle overwhelming emotions. Once the connection between mood disorders and the omega 3 deficiency was established it was a logical step to see if increasing omega 3 levels could aid in the addict’s recovery.

By taking a fish oil supplement which is high in omega 3 fatty acids you can increase the brain’s ability to create serotonin and dopamine. These hormones help you feel better, increasing your mood and lightening your depression. In addition, fish oil can also help increase blood flow throughout your brain allowing for better distribution of oxygen. Studies are showing that adding fish oil supplements to your recovery regime does in fact aid the addict’s recovery.

Finding a good quality fish oil is paramount. Many brands contain high levels of pollutants including mercury. It is important to find a brand that is labeled as mercury free or purified.

There is no magical cure to overcoming substance abuse, however taking a supplement such as fish oil will at best be beneficial and aid in recovery and at worst it will help restore the balance of essential nutrients in the addict’s body.

Filed Under: Drug Addiction Recovery | Tagged: Tagged With: Disorders, Fish oil, Health, Mental health, Mood, Omega-3 fatty acid, Research, Substance abuse