Oxycotton Detox

Stigma is one of the meanest and most difficult aspects of addiction because it makes it harder for individuals and families to deal with their problems and get the help they need. Society imposes stigma – and its damage – on addicts and their families because many of us still believe that addiction is a character flaw or weakness that probably can’t be cured. The stigma against people with addictions is so deeply rooted that it continues even in the face of the scientific evidence that addiction is a treatable disease and even when we know people in our families and communities living wonderful lives in long-term recovery.

Stigma is the reason there is so much social and legal discrimination against people with addictions. It explains why addicts and their families hide the disease. Discrimination always hurts stigmatized groups because they are excluded from the rules that apply to “normal” people. So insurance companies get away with refusing to pay for alcohol or drug treatment, or with charging higher deductibles and co-pays than for treating any other disease. People who need the help are often afraid to speak up. State and federal agencies feel safe in denying food stamps and baby formula to mothers who have past drug convictions because mothers who used drugs have few supporters in the political system and face lots of people who think they must be “bad mothers.” Though studies have found that helping employees to recover is more cost-effective than termination, some employers believe that firing an employee with a drinking problem is a lot easier than providing rehabilitation. A firestorm of protest would erupt if employers treated workers with cancer or heart disease the same way.

People who are victims of stigma internalize the hate it carries, transforming it to shame and hiding from its effects. Too often, people with alcohol and drug problems and their families begin to accept the ideas that addiction is their own fault and that maybe they are too weak to do anything about it. In many ways, hiding an addiction problem is the rational thing to do because seeking help can mean losing a job and medical insurance, or even losing your child when a social service agency declares you an unfit parent because you have an alcohol or drug problem.

The stress of hiding often causes other medical and social problems for the individuals and their families. This is especially true when an adolescent has an alcohol or drug problem. Fear often prompts kids to conceal the problem from parents. Then, when parents find out, stigma makes them feel guilty and somehow negligent. Illness and family dysfunction explode. When that happens, parents find it even harder to fight for the care and resources their child urgently needs from a social and medical system that blames the family and the child.

By David L. Rosenbloom

Opiates are a class of drug that is derived from the opium poppy, most commonly heroin and many narcotic pain medications which are some of the most addictive and harmful of drugs. There are also synthetic opiates that don’t come from the poppy plant, but which have a similar effect. Many prescription drugs are opiates, including Oxycontin, Percocet, Lorcet, Vicodin, Dilaudid and MSContin. People who abuse heroin or pain medications gradually develop a habit, having to take a certain amount of the drug every day in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms. This habit will intensify over time as more drugs will be needed to maintain the same effect. Some of the opiate withdrawal smptoms include:

Muscle aches

Vomiting

Chills

Diarrhea

Insomnia

Anxiety

Runny nose

Headache

Stomach cramps

Twitching, and/or muscle spasms

Nausea

The length of time these opiate detox symptoms persist also varies. A small habit may result in a short opiate withdrawal period of 3 or 4 days and only produce a few withdrawal symptoms. Larger habits may cause detox symptoms that last for weeks. The typical opiate withdrawal period is around 7 days, with the most intense symptoms peaking about 72 hours after last use. Because of the length of the physical and psychological withdrawal process, it is extremely difficult for people to get through it without the help of a detox center like Sunrise Detox. Most people will break down after 2 or 3 days and return to using the opiates, and feeding their opiate addiction.

Some detox centers do not medicate their patients during withdrawal. This unpleasant method is known as “cold turkey” and here at Sunrise Detox, we don’t believe in it. Opiate withdrawal symptoms can produce potentially dangerous health situations including elevation in blood pressure and dehydration. Left untreated, the pain of the withdrawal symptoms can make it psychologically difficult to stay in the detoxification facility and makes the client more likely to leave detox prematurely.

While cases of performance-enhancing substance abuse by professional athletes are not unfamiliar to national headlines, what may go unnoticed is the flip-side to the story: drug dependency among pain-stricken athletes. Participating in the most grueling and physically demanding contact sport, American football players are expected to endure pain and continue playing. To maintain performance, players are often advised to take pain medications to numb injury, and inevitably ignore early indications of serious complications.

In October 2009, 10-year pro football veteran Randy Grimes came forward about his condition in hopes of attracting positive reform for the treatment of NFL retirees. Grimes admitted himself to a drug rehabilitation clinic after recognizing that his dependency on prescription pain medication was consuming his life. Sustaining several injuries during his career, Grimes suffers from chronic pain in his knees and neck, requires replacement knee surgery, and cannot get out of bed without the help of pain medications. His dependency became so uncontrollable that Grimes would seek various “health clinics” and take as many as 30 capsules throughout the day—an amount that soars above safe levels. His dependency has become so strong that medical advisors are currently attempting to wean him off the medications just so he can be able to safely go under anesthetic for his much needed knee replacement surgery. After applying for medical assistance, Grimes has been denied coverage by the NFL even though it did not evaluate his condition with an insured physician.

As with any drug addiction, Grimes’s condition has taken an unfortunate toll on his personal life, causing serious distress and emotional instability. Aside from physical conditions, the NFL has also refused coverage for behavioral health issues to its players. Grimes stands as a single paradigm for what might be an epidemic among retired players. In addition to chronic pain, Grimes experiences opioid addiction, depression, anxiety, and cognitive problems—problems which may be an ominous indication of the presence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease.

Organizations that provide medical and disability assistance for and research on former players has been growing in recent years, including: PAST (Pain Alternatives, Solutions and Treatment); Hall of Famer Mike Ditka’s foundation Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund; Brain Injury Research Institute at Blanchette Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University (BIRI); Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE); and former Buccaneers team president Gay Culverhouse’s own Players Outreach Program.

If the injuries that players sustained during their careers had been properly treated and players were not sent back out on the field after experiencing concussion, these retirees would not be experiencing such extreme dependency on painkillers today or require such extensive medical treatment. CSTE and BIRI’s findings evidence that individuals who have experienced continual damage to the brain (specially multiple concussions) are much more likely to suffer from dementia and depression than the general public. The struggles with mental and cognitive disability are preliminary symptoms of CTE, which progressively develops over time into full-blown dementia. Discovery of CTE in a player during their retired years has made medical assistance so difficult since the NFL insists that the illness occurred after players’ careers.

According to the University of Michigan’s Institute of Social Research’s study on retired professional football players, retired NFL players are two to five times more likely to suffer from arthritis and joint pain than the regular U.S. male population, and are more likely to experience several categories of health problems, including breathing disorders, organ problems, sleep disorders, certain cardiovascular problems, and cancer.

More predominantly, NFL retirees are much more likely to be heavier drinkers than the regular U.S. male population. In such a brutal and demanding environment, some players have been told that painkillers are the only way to cope with their pain. Sedation may seem to be the only solution to these men who are consistently denied assistance from the NFL, an organization to which they dedicated their lives and their health. In 2008, former Buccaneers lineman Tom McHale died at the age of 45 from prescription drug and cocaine overdose. In 2009, it was confirmed that McHale had been suffering from CTE. Other diagnoses of CTE have now been confirmed in dozens of other retired players, both living and dead.

Medical advisors and retired players alike have remarked on the accessibility of drugs in the locker room; yet the NFL claims that such abuse would have been reprimanded and eligible for criminal investigation. The National Football League is a multi-billion dollar celebrated industry in America that fans, players, owners, sponsors, and media corporations all willingly invest themselves in for the love of the sport. Yet life after NFL for these players remains a long, controversial path of uncertainty, buried by countless legalities and loopholes.

Despite the controversy, advocates like Gay Culverhouse, Randy Grimes, and Mike Ditka are speaking out, not just on behalf of retired players, but for existing players and America’s youth involved in contact sports. According to the National Center of Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3.5 million sports-related concussions occur each year in the United States, with youths more likely than adults to experience traumatic brain injury. As long as football remains America’s most celebrated sport, the safety and health of its players remains a social responsibility.

Source: Drug Addiction Treatment

Over the past two decades, conflicting medical ideas have surfaced about narcotic painkillers, the drugs that Rush Limbaugh blames for his addiction while being treated for chronic back pain. And both of them, not surprisingly, have centered on the bottom-line question: just how great a risk of abuse and addiction do narcotics pose to pain patients?

Throughout much of the last century, doctors believed that large numbers of patients who used these drugs would become addicted to them. That incorrect view meant that cancer sufferers and other patients with serious pain were denied drugs that could have brought them relief.

But over the past decade, a very different viewpoint has emerged, one championed by doctors specializing in pain treatment and drug companies eager to broaden the market for such drugs. It held that these medications posed scant risk to pain patients, and some experts now believe that it also had unfortunate consequences because it caused, among other things, physicians to develop a false sense of security about these drugs.

”The pendulum went in two opposite directions,” said Dr. Bradley S. Galer, group vice president for scientific affairs at Endo Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures two widely used narcotics, Percodan and Percocet. ”Luckily, now the pendulum is focusing where it should be, right in the middle.”

The reassessment of narcotic risk comes at a time of skyrocketing rates of misuse and abuse of such drugs. Medical experts agree that most pain patients can successfully use narcotics without consequences. But the same experts also say that much remains unknown about the number or types of chronic pain sufferers who will become addicted as a result of medical care, or ”iatrogenically” addicted. The biggest risk appears to be to patients who have abused drugs or to those who have an underlying, undiagnosed vulnerability to abuse substances, a condition that may affect an estimated 3 to 14 percent of the population.

Dr. James Zacny, an associate professor at the University of Chicago and a leading narcotics researcher, said there was a dearth of data about the long-term risks that narcotics pose. ”We don’t know a lot about the rate of iatrogenic addiction,” he said.

It is not unusual for views about particular drugs and their hazards to change over time. But a look at the shift in medical thinking about the risk of addiction shows a struggle that was waged both as a guerrilla war among doctors and a high-powered drug industry initiative. It was also an effort that, while seeking a laudable goal, inaccurately portrayed science.

Modern views about the threat posed to patients by narcotics were shaped in the mid-1980′s when pain treatment experts reported that cancer patients treated with such drugs did not exhibit the type of euphoria displayed by people who abused narcotics. That led some physicians to argue that strong, long-acting narcotics could also be used safely to treat patients with serious pain unrelated to cancer, like persistent back pain or nerve disorders.

One leader of this initiative, known as the ”pain management movement,” was Dr. Russell Portenoy, who is now chairman of the pain medicine and palliative care department at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. And soon Dr. Portenoy and others were pointing to studies that they said backed up their contention that the risk of powerful narcotics to pain patients was scant.

”There is a growing literature showing that these drugs can be used for a long time, with few side effects and that addiction and abuse are not a problem,” Dr. Portenoy said in a 1993 interview with The New York Times.

Drug companies amplified that theme in materials sent to doctors and pharmacists. For example, Janssen Pharmaceutica, the producer of Duragesic, called the risk of addiction ”relatively rare” in a package insert with the drug. Endo termed the risk ”very rare” in presentations to hospital pharmacists. Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the powerful narcotic OxyContin, distributed a brochure to chronic pain patients called ”From One Pain Patient to Another,” contending that it and similar drugs posed minimal risks.

”Some patients may be afraid of taking opioids because they are perceived as too strong or addictive,” the brochure stated. ”But that is far from actual fact. Less than 1 percent of patients taking opioids actually become addicted.”

The trouble, however, was that studies that looked at the experience of pain patients who used long-acting narcotics for extended periods of time did not exist. So narcotics advocates like Dr. Portenoy and drug companies like Purdue Pharma had looked elsewhere, at surveys of patients whose use of narcotics was limited. And those reports were not always put into proper context.

A frequently cited survey of narcotics use, taken in 1980, found ”only four cases of addiction among 11,882 hospitalized patients.” A director of that survey, Dr. Hershel Jick, an associate professor of medicine at Boston University, said his study did not follow patients after they left the hospital and did not address the risk of narcotics when they were prescribed in outpatient settings.

In another case, advocates of increased narcotics use also misstated a study’s results. It involved a study of chronic headache sufferers conducted at the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago that some pain care specialists repeatedly claimed had found only ”three problem cases” among some 2,000 patients.

While the Diamond Headache Clinic did treat 2,369 patients in the study period, just 62 were studied because they met the criteria of having used painkillers alone or in combination with barbiturates for six months before entering the clinic. And the report’s findings were far different from the way they were characterized by narcotics advocates. It concluded, ”There is a danger of dependency and abuse in patients with chronic headaches.”

Dr. Seymour Diamond, the clinic’s director, said in a recent interview that neither pain experts nor narcotics manufacturers like Purdue Pharma who cited his study contacted him to discuss how they planned to use it. And he added that he believed that it was mischaracterized.

”It distorts the picture and it clearly underplays the risks,” Dr. Diamond said.

In a recent interview, Dr. Portenoy said he now had misgivings about how he and other pain specialist used the research. He said that he had not intended to mischaracterize it or to mislead fellow doctors, but that he had tried to counter claims that overplayed the risk of addiction. Still, he and others acknowledge, the campaign by pain specialists and drug companies has had consequences.

”In our zeal to improve access to opioids and relieve patient suffering, pain specialists have understated the problem, drawing faulty conclusions from very limited data,” Dr. Steven D. Passik, a pain management expert wrote in a 2001 letter published in The Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. ”In effect, we have told primary care doctors and other prescribers that the risk was so low they essentially could ignore the possibility of addiction.”

Today, some narcotics manufacturers like Endo have changed or are changing the way they present abuse and addiction information. For example, Purdue Pharma, while maintaining the accuracy of its past position, now states in patient information that it does ”not know how often patients with continuing (chronic) pain become addicted to narcotics but the risk has been reported to be small.” Ligand Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures a time-released form of morphine under the brand name Avinza, makes a similar statement.

For its part, a spokeswoman for the federal Food and Drug Administration, Kathleen K. Quinn, said the agency believed that ”the risk of addiction to chronic pain patients treated with narcotic analgesics has not been well studied and is not well characterized.”

In a letter to The New York Times, Purdue stated that it had found no cases of iatrogenic addiction in a recently completed long-term study of chronic pain patients suffering from osteoarthritis, diabetes and low pain back. Purdue did not identify where it planned to submit the study for publication although the company said it involved an older group of patients whose average age was 55.

Such results are encouraging. But several pain experts said that the full risks of narcotics will not be fully known until these drugs are tested in a wide range of pain patients of different ages and conditions.

”You may have a study telling how uncommon these problems are in patients over 50,” Dr. Portenoy said. ”But what does that tell you about the risks to younger patients or those patients who walk into a doctor’s office with a history of substance abuse or psychological problems.”

By Barry Meier from The New York Times

Co-occurring disorders, also referred to as dual diagnosis, is a term used when you have both a mental health disorder—such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder—and a drug or alcohol problem. Both the mental health issue and the addiction have their own unique symptoms that may get in the way of your ability to function, handle life’s difficulties, and relate to others.

Complicating the situation, the two problems affect each other and interact. When a mental health problem goes untreated, the substance abuse problem usually gets worse as well. And when alcohol or drug abuse increases, mental health problems usually increase too.

Recovery depends on treating both the addiction and the mental health problem

Whether your mental health or substance abuse problem came first, recovery depends on treating both illnesses. The good news is that most people suffering from co-occurring addiction and mental health problems are able to recover, given proper treatment and support.

• There is hope. Recovering from co-occurring disorders takes time, commitment, and courage. It may take months or even years. But people with substance abuse and mental health problems can and do get better.
• Combined treatment is best. Your best chance of recovery is through integrated treatment for both the substance abuse problem and the mental health problem. This means getting combined mental health and addiction treatment from the same treatment provider or team.
• Relapses are part of the recovery process. Don’t get too discouraged if you relapse. Slips and setbacks happen, but, with hard work, most people can recover from their relapses and move on with recovery.
• Peer support can help. You may benefit from joining a self-help support group like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. They give you a chance to lean on others who know what you’re going through and learn from their experiences.

What comes first: Substance abuse or the mental health problem?

Addiction is common in people with mental health problems. But although substance abuse and mental health disorders like depression and anxiety are closely linked, one does not directly cause the other.

The relationship between substance abuse and mental health problems

• Alcohol or drugs are often used to self-medicate the symptoms of depression or anxiety. Unfortunately, substance abuse causes side effects and in the long run worsens the very symptoms they initially numbed or relieved.
• Alcohol and drug abuse can increase underlying risk for mental disorders. Mental disorders are caused by a complex interplay of genetics, the environment, and other outside factors. If you are at risk for a mental disorder, drug or alcohol abuse may push you over the edge.
• Alcohol and drug abuse can make symptoms of a mental health problem worse. Substance abuse may sharply increase symptoms of mental illness or trigger new symptoms. Alcohol and drug abuse also interact with medications such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety pills, and mood stabilizers, making them less effective.

Recognizing and diagnosing co-occurring disorders

It can be difficult to diagnose a substance abuse problem and a co-occurring mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder. It takes time to tease out what might be a mental disorder and what might be a drug or alcohol problem.

Complicating the issue is denial. Denial is common in substance abuse. It’s hard to admit how dependent you are on alcohol or drugs or how much they affect your life. Denial frequently occurs in mental disorders as well. The symptoms of depression or anxiety can be frightening, so you may ignore them and hope they go away. Or you may be ashamed or afraid of being viewed as weak if you admit the problem.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery

Just remember: substance abuse problems and mental health issues don’t get better when they’re ignored. In fact, they are likely to get much worse. You don’t have to feel this way! Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards conquering your demons and enjoying life again.

• Consider family history. If people in your family have grappled with either a mental disorder such as depression or an alcohol or drug addiction, you have a higher risk of developing these problems yourself.
• Consider your sensitivity to alcohol or drugs. Are you highly sensitive to the effects of alcohol or drugs? Have you noticed a relationship between your substance use and your mental health? For example, do you get depressed when you drink?
• Look at symptoms when you’re sober. While some depression or anxiety is normal after you’ve stopped drinking or doing drugs, if the symptoms persist after you’ve achieved sobriety, you may be dealing with a mental health problem.
• Review your treatment history. Have you been treated before for either your addiction or your mental health problem? Did the substance abuse treatment fail because of complications from your mental health issue or vice versa?

Signs and symptoms of alcohol or drug addiction

If you’re wondering whether you have a substance abuse problem, the following questions may help. The more “yes” answers, the more likely your drinking or drug use is a problem.

• Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking or drug use?
• Have you tried to cut back, but couldn’t?
• Do you ever lie about how much or how often you drink or use drugs?
• Have your friends or family members expressed concern about your alcohol or drug use?
• Do you ever felt bad, guilty, or ashamed about your drinking or drug use?
• On more than one occasion, have you done or said something while drunk or high that you later regret?
• Have you ever blacked out from drinking or drug use?
• Has your alcohol or drug use caused problems in your relationships?
• Has you alcohol or drug use gotten you into trouble at work or with the law?

The mental health problems that most commonly co-occur with substance abuse are depression, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder.

Common signs and symptoms of depression

• Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness
• Loss of interest in daily activities
• Inability to experience pleasure
• Appetite or weight changes
• Sleep changes
• Loss of energy
• Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt
• Concentration problems

Common signs and symptoms of mania

• Feelings of euphoria or extreme irritability
• Unrealistic, grandiose beliefs
• Decreased need for sleep
• Increased energy
• Rapid speech and racing thoughts
• Impaired judgment and impulsivity
• Hyperactivity
• Anger or rage

Common signs and symptoms of anxiety

• Excessive tension and worry
• Feeling restless or jumpy
• Irritability or feeling “on edge”
• Racing heart or shortness of breath
• Nausea, trembling, or dizziness
• Muscle tension, headaches
• Trouble concentrating
• Insomnia

Treatment for co-occurring substance abuse and mental health problems

The best treatment for co-occurring disorders is an integrated approach, where both the substance abuse problem and the mental disorder are treated simultaneously.

How do I find the right program for co-occurring disorders?

As with a substance abuse program, you want to make sure that the program is appropriately licensed and accredited, that the treatment methods are backed by research, and that there is an aftercare program to prevent relapse. Additionally, you should make sure that the program has experience with your particular mental health issue. Some programs, for example, may have experience treating depression or anxiety, but not schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

There are a variety of approaches that treatment programs may take, but there are some basics of effective treatment that you should look for:

• Treatment addresses both the substance abuse problem and your mental health problem.
• You share in the decision-making process and are actively involved in setting goals and developing strategies for change.
• Treatment includes basic education about your disorder and related problems.
• You are taught healthy coping skills and strategies to minimize substance abuse, cope with upset, and strengthen your relationships.

You will know if you are receiving integrated treatment because your clinician or treatment team will do several things at the same time, including:

• Help you think about the role that alcohol and other drugs play in your life. This should be done confidentially, without any negative consequences. People feel free to discuss these issues when the discussion is confidential, nonjudgmental, and not tied to legal consequences.
• Offer you a chance to learn more about alcohol and drugs, to learn about how they interact with mental illnesses and with medications, and to discuss your own use of alcohol and drugs.
• Help you become involved with supported employment and other services that may help your process of recovery.
• Help you identify and develop your own recovery goals. If you decide that your use of alcohol or drugs may be a problem, a counselor trained in integrated dual disorders treatment can help you identify and develop your own recovery goals. This process includes learning about steps toward recovery from both illnesses.
• Provide special counseling specifically designed for people with dual disorders. If you decide that your use of alcohol or drugs may be a problem, a trained counselor can provide special counseling specifically designed for people with dual disorders. This can be done individually, with a group of peers, with your family, or with a combination of these.

Source: SAMHSA’s National Mental Health Information Center

Group support for co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders

As with other addictions, groups are very helpful, not only in maintaining sobriety, but also as a safe place to get support and discuss challenges. Sometimes treatment programs for co-occurring disorders provide groups that continue to meet on an aftercare basis. Your doctor or treatment provider may also be able to refer you to a group for people with co-occurring disorders.

While it’s often best to join a group that addresses both substance abuse and your mental health disorder, twelve-step groups for substance abuse can also be helpful—plus they’re more common, so you’re likely to find one in your area. These free programs, facilitated by peers, use group support and a set of guided principles—the twelve steps—to obtain and maintain sobriety.

Just make sure your group is accepting of the idea of co-occurring disorders and psychiatric medication. Some people in these groups, although well meaning, may mistake taking psychiatric medication as another form of addiction. You want a place to feel safe, not pressured.

Supporting recovery from alcohol or drug addiction and mental health problems

Getting sober is only the beginning. Your continued recovery depends on continuing mental health treatment, learning healthier coping strategies, and making better decisions when dealing with life’s challenges.

• Get therapy or stay involved in a support group. Your chances of staying sober improve if you are participating in a social support group like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous or if you are getting therapy.

• Follow doctor’s orders. Once you are sober and you feel better, you might think you no longer need medication or treatment. But arbitrarily stopping medication or treatment is a common reason for relapse in people with co-occurring disorders. Always talk with your doctor before making any changes to your medication or treatment routine.
• Learn how to manage stress. Stress is inevitable, so it’s important to have healthy coping skills so you can deal with stress without turning to alcohol or drugs. Stress management skills go a long way towards preventing relapse and keeping your symptoms at bay.

• Know your triggers and have an action plan. If you’re coping with a mental disorder as well, it’s especially important to know signs that your illness is flaring up. Common causes include stressful events, big life changes, or unhealthy sleeping or eating. At these times, having a plan in place is essential to preventing drug relapse. Who will you talk to? What do you need to do?
• Adopt healthy habits to support your mental health. Basic self-care practices are essential to good mental and physical health. Eating right gives you plenty of energy and helps prevent mood swings. Sleep and exercise are also key to good mental health. Regular exercise is a powerful antidepressant and sticking to a sleep routine helps balance mood.

Helping a loved one with both a substance abuse and a mental health problem can be a roller coaster. Resistance to treatment is common and the road to recovery can be long. It’s common to feel isolated, overwhelmed, scared, and confused.

The best way to help someone is to accept what you can and cannot do. You cannot force someone to remain sober, nor can you make someone take their medication or keep appointments. What you can do is make positive choices for yourself, encourage your loved one to get help, and offer your support while making sure you don’t lose yourself in the process.

• Seek support. Dealing with a loved one’s mental illness and substance abuse problem can be painful and isolating. Make sure you’re getting the emotional support you need to cope. Talk to someone you trust about what you’re going through. It can also help to get your own therapy or join a support group.
• Set boundaries. Be realistic about the amount of care you’re able to provide without feeling overwhelmed and resentful. Set limits on disruptive behaviors, and stick to them. Letting the substance abuse problem or mental illness take over your life isn’t healthy for you or your loved one.
• Educate yourself. Learn all you can about your loved one’s mental health problem, as well as substance abuse treatment and recovery. The more you understand what you’re loved one is going through, the better able you’ll be to support recovery.
• Be patient. Recovering from addiction and mental health problems doesn’t happen overnight. Recovery is an ongoing process that can take months or years, and relapse is common. Ongoing support for both you and your loved one is crucial as you work toward recovery.

Source: Helpguide.org

The truth about the cycle of addiction

The brain and addiction… what is the relationship? There has been an ongoing debate for years about where addiction actually originates from. You will find some drug addiction treatment professionals who claim addiction is a lack of willpower, while others insist that addiction is a disease of the brain, complete with signs and symptoms. The truth about addiction, as concluded by the American Medical Association with research-based criteria, is that addiction is most definitely a disease that is chronic in nature not unlike cancer, diabetes or bipolar disorder. Another critical outcome of the research-based study showed that the brain of the individual suffering from drug or alcohol addiction is both chemically and physiologically dissimilar from that of the normal brain. This particular finding supports the theory that the brain and addiction are interconnected. This is critical to understanding addiction, its development and an individual’s recovery process.

Addiction Definition

The word addiction is best defined as the obsessive thinking and compulsive need for and use of drugs, alcohol, food, sex or anything that is psychologically or physically addicting. Addiction can also be described by the development of tolerance with distinguishable withdrawal symptoms upon discontinuing the use of the particular drug or behavior. In addition to the development of tolerance with regards to addiction, the addict or alcoholic will experience intense physical cravings for the drug accompanied by an emotional obsession to take the drug regardless of the consequences. The process of addiction that leads the individual to experience the compulsive need for drugs regardless of the consequences is directly related to the change in brain chemistry affecting the process of thought.

The Science Behind the Brain and Addiction Relationship

Scientifically-based research on the brain and addiction relationship has demonstrated to us that drugs, alcohol and specific behaviors have a significant impact on the reward center located in the brain. Levels relating to certain neurotransmitters, send messages to the brain. These neurotransmitters include serotonin and dopamine. Chronic use of drugs and alcohol tends to over-stimulate the brain until it must depend upon substances and behaviors to produce the needed chemicals. This chemical dependency is what leads to tolerance and addiction.

Most people believe that drug addiction lies in the additional use of drugs or alcohol when it truly is related to chemical imbalances in the brain and the compulsion to use, regardless of the consequences. In light of all of this scientific research, we still find professionals who adopt the philosophy that addiction is due to a lack of willpower and/or moral imperfections.

Brain Chemistry and Addiction

Most individuals suffering from addiction use drugs or alcohol to feel “good” or to self-medicate physical or emotional pain. Substance use and addictive behaviors stimulate and increase the brain’s production and use of REWARD chemicals such as dopamine. Depending on the dose of the drug, the brain accepts neurotransmitters that are significantly more intense than they would experience during the “natural” highs produced by the brain normally. In basic terms, this is why addiction takes place physically and emotionally.

Addiction Alters the Brain

Over time, the continued use of a drug alters the way the brain functions. A person’s brain becomes dependent on receiving the substance. These changes in brain chemistry create the addiction and create the tolerance, withdrawal symptoms and cravings. The only “good” part regarding drug addiction is the disease is treatable and recovery is possible.

By Jonathan Huttner

Coming back from the cycle of addiction is a long and tough road. Not only does it take a lot of courage and determination, but it’s physically and mentally taxing as well. When you’ve finished your treatment and are in recovery, you really need the love, support and encouragement of your loved ones to help you maintain your sobriety. So what happens if your loved ones cannot forgive your addiction? What if there’s so much weight in your baggage that they can’t look beyond the past?

Don’t worry. You can get past this. Here are some things to keep in mind.

First Things First

It’s important to recognize yourself first for the incredible achievement you’ve attained. At this stage of the game, you’ve completed your treatment – however personally challenging that may have been – and are now in recovery. This accomplishment alone is reason to celebrate. Sure, it would be great if your loved ones stood up and gave you credit for this, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that you did it. So, before you think about anything else, give yourself high marks for reaching this milestone.

Count Your Blessings

Now, while you are still giving yourself kudos for reaching the recovery stage, count your blessings for all the positive things that you have in your life. Loved ones notwithstanding, you do have them. Here are some that should rate high on your list. You now have a healthier physical condition, due to the fact that your body is no longer full of the harmful substances you previously ingested, or the addictive lifestyle you once maintained. You’ve made a lot of progress in understanding the roots and underlying causes for your addiction, learned how to identify triggers and how to avoid giving in to them. You worked hard on your self-esteem and self-confidence, learning that you have contributions that you can make to society. Even if you never felt that you made much of a difference before, you now know that each person can impact the lives of many around them, and that you have a tremendous opportunity to not only benefit your own future, but those of others as well.

These are all terrific blessings – and they don’t cost you a penny. While you’re at it, you can probably rattle off a few more. Include the fact that you now sleep better, are less depressed and anxious, look forward to each day rather than dreading what it will bring, and others.

How Bad is the Relationship?

Still, you need the love and support of those closest to you. Whether this is your spouse or partner, children, siblings or parents, the relationships mean a lot and are definitely worth preserving or repairing. Before you attempt to make any amends, however, you should first look at how bad the situation is with your loved ones. What do you see is the biggest obstacle to being whole again in their eyes? In other words, what will it take for them to forgive you – if you know? Maybe you think it is one thing, when, in fact, it may be something else altogether. Don’t just assume. Sit down and really try to figure it out.

Let’s say you’re the husband of a working wife who’s been struggling to keep the family together while you were in treatment. If there are children involved, magnify that struggle by increments depending on what shape (financially, emotionally, socially, etc.) the family was in prior to your entering treatment. Chances are, the inability of your loved ones to forgive you have a lot to do with heavy-duty emotional turmoil. Your spouse, for example, shouldered the burdens while you were away. She had to make many decisions on her own, not being able to get your input, or the situation demanded immediate attention. For a wife used to sharing decisions with her husband, this can take a tremendous toll.

Perhaps she had to scrimp to help pay for your treatment, since your insurance coverage either only covered part of it or you didn’t have any coverage. Having to sacrifice comforts the family has come to rely on or even pare necessities to the bone will build up resentment in the strongest and most caring person. Add that to the list of perceived grievances.

Being the sole parent also meant she shouldered dual roles in your absence. It’s tough to show love, dole out discipline when necessary, keep up appearances and try to ensure the children still have fun when you’ve got so much riding on the situation. She may have begun to wonder if the family would be better off without you. This thought, which is certainly understandable, would likely be instantly quashed as out of the question or a sign of betrayal (although it could still lurk beneath the surface). As you know from your own treatment, when you bury your emotions, they come back to haunt you or, at the very least, make growth more difficult.

While the above is just one example, the point is that you should make a list of the things that you believe stand in the way of your loved one forgiving you for your addiction. Once you have the list, you can go on to the next step.

Figure Out What to Do About It

Work down your list and try to come up with solutions to the problems. Again, this is something you do on your own even before having any conversation with your loved ones. Taking financial concerns into consideration, perhaps you can address how and when you will be able to alleviate this concern. Can you go back to your previous job? What are your employment prospects?
Did you get training in a new vocation or skill while you were in treatment? How willing are you to take any kind of job to
immediately start contributing to the family’s well being?

Recognize that you may have to start from scratch. You may have burned your job bridge behind you if you were fired for your addictive behavior. Or, your prospects upon your return may be limited for some time to come. In either case, start where you are and work your way back up. It’s really the only option you have, since you do have obligations and need to resume your role within society.

If you need training, look into how you can get it. Take any job and go to school at night, or learn a new trade or skill in an apprenticeship. Another advantage to tackling the financial concerns that may stand in the way of your loved ones’ forgiveness is that you will be doing something positive for yourself as well. Now could be the opportunity to ditch the old job you found boring or distasteful, or not reflective of your true talents or desires. Figure out what it will take for you to get where you really want to be – and then draft a plan to make it happen.

No, this goal won’t be realized overnight. It may take years for you to complete your degree, build up your own business, or become profitable, for example, but it is a positive first step toward eventually achieving the goal.

Speaking of time, it may be that you’ll need to prove yourself to your loved ones by being on your own for a while. It may be too painful for them to have you home on a full-time basis for now. You will need to accept that and really work at making the kinds of changes that can turn that around.

As for the emotional barrier that undoubtedly puts a strain on your relationship moving forward, this, too, requires time. Your loved ones may miss the financial security and feeling of self worth that came from having things in control – prior to your problems with addiction. A drastic drop in self confidence and self worth inevitably follows in the path of addiction, affecting everyone in the family. In fact, emotional turmoil is difficult for loved ones to overcome without some form of family treatment or counseling. They often are not able to see past barriers without professional help. Fortunately, such counseling is relatively easy to access – either as part of your aftercare treatment program, or through community services or self-help groups such as Al-Anon/Alateen, Nar-Anon, and others.

Remain Positive and Upbeat About the Future

Although it seems hard to look at a future without your loved ones in it, for now just keep as upbeat and positive as you can. Reach out to your support network of 12-step members and step up your meeting attendance. This is especially important at time in your life when your family environment may be severely constrained or restricted.

Your 12-step allies also include your sponsor. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from your sponsor, since he or she is ready, willing and able to give you the kind of encouragement and support you need, 24/7. You already have a pretty good familiarity with the 12-step process through contacts during your treatment program – if you went through a formal treatment program. If not, you do have a ready-made support network available to you through 12-step fellowships. There are 12-step groups for every kind of addiction. They are free to attend and have no memberships or dues. All they ask is for voluntary donations if you are able.
While the philosophies are similar and all are based on the 12-step principles, each has its own original focus and personality, if you will.

Here are some of the 12-step groups:

• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Cocaine Anonymous
• Crystal Meth Anonymous
• Debtors Anonymous
• Gamblers Anonymous
• Marijuana Anonymous
• Narcotics Anonymous
• Sexaholics Anonymous
• Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous
• Sex Addicts Anonymous
• Sexual Compulsives Anonymous
• Workaholics Anonymous

Besides in-person meetings, 12-step groups often offer online and phone meetings, blogs, and chats. Each group has its own website which provides access to articles, news, books, CDs, DVDs, and other resources, as well as helpful links for additional help. When you’re feeling down or lonely in the middle of the night, go online and check out some literature that may help – or get in touch with your sponsor or other 12-step group member with whom you have established a connection.

Make a Plan – and Stick To It

Besides continuing counseling, keeping an upbeat attitude and seeking the support and encouragement from your 12-step groups, what else can you do? The best advice is to make a plan, and stick to it. What do we mean by that? What kind of a plan are we talking about? It doesn’t matter what your plan is, or how simple or detailed. The point is that you will be doing yourself a great service by sitting down and designing a plan for your future.

Note the emphasis on your future. Here we are talking about what it is that you want for yourself one year, 5 to 10 years, or longer down the road. Make a list of your short-term (1 to 2 years), intermediate term (3 to 5 years), and long-term (5 to 10 years and beyond) goals. In the next column, jot down what you may need to do in order to reach the particular goal. This may include going to school, getting training, learning a new language, becoming proficient at a sport, joining a recreational or travel group, or something else. In the next column, write down everything you can think of in the way of resources available to help you get started. Include websites, organizations, advice or recommendations from friends, scholarships, grants, community, state or federal programs, etc.

Once you have your list, get started on the short-term goals, things you can tackle right away. Keep in mind that you should strive to make some progress each day or week toward your intermediate and long-term goals as well. This can take the form of gathering information, checking out websites, filling out applications, taking a class, and so on. Remember that your list of goals is only a guideline. Nothing is written in stone. Keep it flexible and always consider it a work in progress. Once you achieve a goal, take time to acknowledge your achievement. Give yourself the credit you deserve.

While you are pursuing your goals, and especially when you reach milestones in your sobriety (first year of sobriety, for example), take a moment to reflect how much differently you feel now than at the beginning of your recovery. Each small step you take toward the future means that much more progress that you have made. Your overall outlook will change as well. You will look forward to each day as a new opportunity to make a difference.

During this time, if not before, you may have been able to repair your relationship with your loved ones. If they have not forgiven you, they may have at least accepted your sincere expression of wanting to make amends. You will find that you will be able to move on. To do this most effectively, you need to be able to forgive yourself. Forgiveness from others, including your loved ones, has more of a chance.

There is an old expression, When one door closes, another opens. This is true in recovery from addiction as well. Open your heart to be able to receive love, as well as give it.

Source: www.drugaddictiontreatment.com

Buprenorphine was initially introduced on the market in the 1980s as an analgesic. Now, its primary use is for the treatment of opioid addiction.

One dose of buprenorphine remains active in the human body for as long as 48 hours, which provides a longer duration than morphine. This is one of the qualities that make this drug ideal for helping opioid addicts to break free of their addiction. Since the drug remains in the body for 48 hours, it also ensures that the withdrawal symptoms that people experience are significantly decreased.

Buprenorphine requires sublingual (under the tongue) administration on a frequent basis. Drug administration should always be supervised by a substance abuse treatment professional, and doses must be strictly monitored. Federal regulations require this in order for treatment centers and medical facilities to be able to administer the drug at all.

There are some side effects that can occur along with the use of buprenorphine. They range from moderate to severe, and it should be pointed out that this drug can, in some cases, produce fatal side effects. The most commonly occurring side effects include the following:

• Headache

• Drowsiness

• Dizziness

• Vomiting

• Decreased libido

• Constipation

• Respiratory depression

Respiratory depression is the side effect that presents the most serious problems with the use of buprenorphine, as it can be fatal in some people. Unfortunately, there is no way to correct or treat this problem should it develop.

While undergoing buprenorphine treatment, all patients are regularly monitored to see how their livers are functioning, as some adverse effects can be caused by using this drug.

Even though buprenorphine is used to treat people with opioid addictions, the possibility does exist for an addiction to the buprenorphine itself to develop. The types of dependencies that can develop include both physical and psychological. People who are considering undergoing treatment with this drug should be aware, however, that instances of people becoming addicted to buprenorphine are quite rare.

Often times, one of the primary questions that people have is whether they should choose buprenorphine or methadone as a treatment option. Both of these drugs are routinely used for short-term and long-term treatment of opioid addiction. Dosing requirements may be a bit better with buprenorphine simply because of the drug’s ability to remain in the body for 48 hours, thereby offering longer-term effects. With buprenorphine, patients typically only have to receive a dose every other day, while methadone requires daily dosing.

Buprenorphine also has an advantage regarding the total amount of treatment time that is required to successfully complete a detoxification program. With buprenorphine, treatments generally last for a few months, while with methadone indefinite or sometimes lifelong treatment is necessary.

It is very important that buprenorphine be administered in an inpatient treatment facility, particularly one that specializes in substance abuse treatment. Inpatient treatment programs not only offer patients detox programs, they also offer treatment or rehabilitation programs that are designed to help people learn healthier ways of living. Some of these treatment programs include counseling, diet and exercise, massage, acupuncture, and group therapy.

The purpose in these additional treatments is to give patients a better chance of maintaining success by giving them the tools they need to lead lives that are free of substance abuse. If patients learn how to be healthy and happy (physically and emotionally) then they will be far less likely to have a relapse.

A dual diagnosis is when a person has been diagnosed with two or “dual” conditions: an alcohol, drug or other substance addiction coupled with a mental health disorder. Many patients that are in addiction treatment are found to have a dual diagnosis. Of the two million people in the United States that suffer from mental illness, about 50% of them also are an alcohol, drug or other type of substance abuser. For an alcoholic, whether they have a dual diagnosis or not, they need to enter an alcohol addiction treatment program. For others that have substance abuse and addiction, a dual diagnosis, addiction treatment is not only warranted but desperately needed. Not every addiction treatment center is equipped to help this illness. It’s vitally important that a center with professional staff prepared to work with patients with a dual diagnosis is chosen.

Probably the most challenging area for health care providers is diagnosing patients who truly have a dual diagnosis. The reason a dual diagnosis is so difficult to determine is because more cases than not, a mental illness is coupled with a substance abuse and addiction situation. It is for this reason that many of these patients are placed in addiction treatment homes or centers only to discover that they are in fact dealing with a dual diagnosis. The problem is that substance dependence can masquerade as a psychiatric disorder, so many times the mental illness is not discovered or revealed until much later than at the initial evaluation.

It can be a very difficult situation to identify a patient with dual diagnosis. Most times they are in denial about their substance abuse so when the addiction is discovered, they overlook the fact that the mental illness is still exacerbating the substance problem and vice-versa. Therefore only one of the two issues is identified. And with teens it is even more difficult. With kids going through puberty and all of the emotional fluctuations that accompany that, how can you be sure that this young man or woman are actually suffering from a bi-polar disorder or even depression? For that very reason it is imperative that when seeking an addiction treatment center you find one that has an acute awareness of this dual disease. It is only then that you can truly have hope for a full recovery.

by Groshan Fabiola

Drug abuse is everywhere and Oxycontin addiction is no exception.  It is surprising how Oxycontin addiction can be found in business circles but the truth is, many business people are addicted and some people can not even tell.

People in business circles can find themselves with an Oxycontin addiction and not pinpoint it as such, much like those in other circles.  However, people in business circles can go to the doctor and get a prescription and be hooked quite easily.  They can go to each other’s doctors as referrals, and before one knows it, several are hooked and sharing and passing it around.

The soccer mom, the bank executive, the pastor’s wife, the attorney, all and more are subject to an Oxycontin addiction that can ultimately take over, and thanks to others in their social and business circles using it, Oxycontin can get passed around like one would borrow a mower or a hammer.

Oxycontin addiction is not unheard of in business circles, it is simply not spoken of as an addiction.  Someone can walk up to someone else and say, “I feel a little sore, I left my prescription at home” and presto, the second person pulls out his or her own pills and shares.  The double standard of thinking someone who is addicted to drugs is just on the streets, homeless, on the rougher side of town helps these people to deny their own addictions for a longer period of time.  There is help, though, and it is up to the very people who make decisions that affect their employees and extended families to realize they have a problem and deal with it effectively.

A leave of absence or vacation is a good way to get help discreetly, for an Oxycontin addiction, or for any addiction.  Private treatment programs are available for those in business circles. It is time for those who have the brains to successfully pull ahead in business to realize they can pull ahead successfully in this area as well and beat an Oxycontin addiction.

Finding support in aftercare will also make the business person aware of just how rampant an addiction can be in his or her own circle or environment.  Taking the steps to break free of the addiction is just as sure a sign of success as any bank account or stock report.  Make the ultimate decision today and you will understand the truth behind that statement.