Education Care

A person seeking help for addiction and guidance about how to stay clean from their addictive behaviours will have a wide variety of options to choose from. However, most do not realise that in order to stay clean once out of treatment, a daily programme of recovery is needed such as a Twelve Step Programme to keep them present and aware.When a person is immersed in obsessive and compulsive behaviours, their life revolves around this behaviour. Whether it is substance abuse, sex addiction, gambling addiction, alcoholism or any other addiction, the addict will usually have been on a path of avoidance regarding their feelings and reality for a long while. Addiction is seen by many today as a disease, incurable, progressive and eventually fatal if it is not arrested.Addicts in recovery often report having felt ‘different’ and somewhat uncomfortable with life and normality since a young age, despite sometimes appearing normal, healthy and well balanced on the exterior. Most addictive behaviours are not simply about the substance or the behaviour, they are about the individual. Abstinence is the start of the recovery process. Change and healing is the rest of the process, occurring for the rest of a recovering addict’s life.Going Into RehabWhen a person seeks help for an addiction by going into a rehabilitation centre this provides a safe and constructive environment for their being able to deal with their deeply rooted issues and begin a healing process.Life in a rehabilitation centre is also a learning experience and preparation for them to begin a new life after rehab. Any addiction requires the using habit to be broken and ceased completely before healing can begin.Intense therapy will help deal with issues of the past, anger of the present and fear of the future. However, after a period in treatment, an addict will often leave, feeling they have been ‘cured’ and can carry on their lives without attending to themselves any further. This usually leads to relapse, taking the addict to an even darker place than they were before.Secondary Care and a Programme of RecoverySo how does an addict stay clean after leaving a treatment centre? Therapy and abstaining for a time seems not to be enough, which is why many treatment centres endorse working a Twelve Step programme and continued treatment at a secondary care facility.A primary care facility is usually a facility where patients stay on the property under supervision the entire time. A secondary care facility is a rehabilitation centre where addicts have more freedom and responsibilities than in a primary care facility and is an incredibly helpful step in assisting newly recovering addicts in re-integrating back into normal life in a safe and assisted manner.An addict has the best chance of maintaining sobriety if working a programme set to help them deal with life constructively and provides a tight net of support and guidance. Life is not easy, whether clean or using. Every person alive has to face pain. Losing a loved one, work problems, break ups and divorces and other problems and disappointments, even simple boredom. Yet addicts deal with these emotions in self-destructive ways.It is easy for an addict to slip into old ways. An addict needs constructive methods to process heavy emotions, the same thing applies to happy emotions. Some addicts have no idea how to feel happiness and celebrate without using. Extreme emotions are one of the hardest things for an addict to experience after years of numbing themselves with compulsive acts which remove them from their feelings.Applying the StepsThe only price an addict will pay for working a Twelve Step programme is vigilance. Knowing is not enough – an addict in recovery needs to work at bettering themselves on a daily basis. A Twelve Step programme will help them to have a better quality of life – as has been mentioned, pain is inevitable. Yet misery is optional. With working a programme, an addict will heal the pain of living and have a method of coping with life on life’s terms, not the addict’s terms.A Twelve Step fellowship offers a daily programme for maintenance and growth for an addict, mixed with the support of other member’s experience and new comer’s needs. When two addicts help each other in life to find a better way of living, true recovery is seen. The main purpose of addicts working a Twelve Step programme is to help those that still suffer so the suffering may find help and the addict who is helping may find a way to give back what they have been given.Such a fellowship is not affiliated with treatment centres but treatment centres are allowed to advise clients to follow the programme and work the steps whilst they are there as well as participating in therapy. A Twelve Step programme is what will help an addict to stay clean from compulsive and self-destructive behaviours after leaving treatment.The programme consists of attending meetings regularly, working the Twelve Steps through written work on the Twelve Steps, giving back to their respective fellowship (such as Narcotics Anonymous), reading literature, working with a sponsor (a more experienced member of the fellowship – it does not relate to finance), giving back through service (such as sponsoring, helping out at meetings or even putting chairs out before a meeting) and allowing a loving higher power and spiritual principles to work in their lives (the Twelve Steps are not religious, they are based on spirituality).Through working the Twelve Steps, an addict will find their life become more focused on doing good for themselves, becoming responsible for their actions and finding a new way to live that is far from the hell of active using. The steps help an addict stay present and aware of their behaviour and patterns and can be a powerful force in alerting an addict as to a possible imminent relapse or negative behaviour.At meetings, it is emphasised that “alone we can’t but together we can”. Knowing that they are not alone is incredibly comforting and helpful for any addict in recovery – especially an addict that is struggling or wanting to get abstinence from their compulsive, self-destructive behaviours.After getting help for addiction and learning how to stay clean, an addict faces quite a big feat in staying abstinent from using. With the help and support of a programme in their lives, they are able to find a reprieve from themselves and live a normal life, without the use of addictive behaviours. Many addicts become extremely successful, marry and become wonderful parents and constructive members of society. But due to the nature of their disease, vigilance and awareness of themselves and their condition as well as working on their patterns is an important tool for their continued survival.

The detoxification process or detox process plays an important part in the addiction treatment program in New Mexico. The detox process cleanses the body of the addict and removes all the residual addictive substance from the body of the addicts. The detox process is also done for those who have some or the other digestive problems. The detox process helps them to fight with their digestive problems by cleaning their digestive system.
Detox treatment can be done on the entire body or also on certain body parts like kidney or colon. The detox process in regards to the addiction treatment in New Mexico means the removal of the toxins that are accumulated in the addict’s body due to their addiction habits. The addictive substances like drugs or alcohol doesn’t get metabolized completely inside the body and hence there is a great chance of toxins getting accumulated in the addict’s body. The main body parts like liver, kidney and the digestive system are the main places where these toxins get accumulated.
These toxins that are accumulated inside the body are harmful and can anytime result into severe health conditions. Even if the addict stops consuming the addictive substance, the already accumulated addictive substance can make the health conditions possible. Hence detox process is performed on the addict in the addiction treatment program in New Mexico. The detox can ring the bodies of the addict back to their normal healthy self.
There are three main important purposes of carrying a detox treatment on the addict.
1. Due to the presence of the accumulated addictive substance in the body of the addict, the body of the patient may be already having certain health conditions. By removing those toxins, the detox will make it possible for the addict to be healthy again.
2. Many addicts can come out of their addiction without undergoing any treatment. But the already accumulated addictive substance in the body of the patient can anytime be dangerous for the addict. The detox treatment program in New Mexico will remove these substances from the body of the addict and thus help the patient come out of their addiction completely. Thus there is no future risk to the health of such patients.
3. Even if the accumulated substance remains in the body, the addict can anytime feel like having more of that substance. Thus the body can feel cravings towards the addictive substance in future. Thus unless and until the entire body is cleaned by means of detox treatment program, the addict cannot come out off their addiction. The detox will take care and remove all the addictive substances from the body of the addict and thus make the addict come out of their addiction.
The detox treatment is a very important aspect of any addiction treatment program in New Mexico. The recovery of the addict becomes a speedy process because of the detox treatment center. During the detox program, the patient will be asked to completely stay out of addiction. The patient will be given medications so that their body will not feel any need to consume the addictive substances.
Depending upon the level of addiction of the addict, he or she will start feeling the need to consume the addictive substance. The body of the patient will start showing certain symptoms in absence of those substances. These are known as withdrawal symptoms. When this stage arises, the healthcare providers will try to control the withdrawal symptoms by giving certain medications. Thus the patient will be bought back out of these withdrawal symptoms.
The patient will be given various medications for controlling their temptations to consume the addictive substance and also to make their bodies normal. These steps play a very important role in boring the addict out of their addiction. Thus the detox treatment is given more importance in the overall addiction treatment program in New Mexico. The length of the detox treatment is different for different patients.
The overall length depends upon the level of addiction of the patient, the age of the patient and the number of years the patient is into addiction. The detox treatment process for teenagers is lengthier compared to that for adults. The teenagers get more dependants on the addictive substance and hence they may have severe withdrawal symptoms. To bring their bodies back to their normal selves more than three weeks will be needed for completing the detox program. The normal length of the detox program is anything from three days up to three weeks.

First of all, the term addict in our society has a very negative connotation. It comes part and parcel with an image. The image is largely stereotyped from movies we have all seen. When we hear the word addict, the image we see is one of scruffy figures, sneaking through dark alleys or holed up in bathrooms with syringes. The image we see is winos in the street with paper bags and we fancy we can even smell the noxious fumes. The image we see is chairs flying, fists hitting, & Marlon Brando in the streets yelling “Stellaaaaaaa.” We see these images when we hear the word addict, and we wonder why no-one wants to admit they have the sickness of addiction. Certainly when my fiancee said many years ago that he thought he had a ‘problem’ (nice word, same image) I recoiled at the very thought.

 

So what does the term addict really mean. It simply means someone who is addicted to a substance. It could be alcohol, some illegal drug, or some legal drug. We also extend the term addiction to encompass gambling addictions, sexual addictions, food addictions etc.. But for our purposes now, let’s just focus on alcohol and drugs. With alcohol and drugs, being addicted means that of the 10 trillion cells in a person’s body, that person has more cells that are addicted than cells that are not addicted.

 

This leaves a wide range of varying degrees of addiction, as you might imagine. We go from the person who has just tipped over the scale and has 5 trillion and 1 addicted cells, to the person who has 10 trillion addicted cells. Addicted cells, by they way, never revert to normal cells and remain addicted for the life of the cell. So when you think of our stereotyped image of the addict, you can probably see that he or she is more on the side of the 10 trillion addicted cells, than the 5 trillion and one. The more addicted cells you have, the more the substance runs your life and the more you become a slave to it. Hence the more down-and-out you look.

So what does an addict look like before he or she becomes Marlon Brando yelling Stella in a dead, unhearing alley? Truthfully, there are as many ways addicts look as there are people in the world. But there are also lots of commonalities. I can only tell you my experience, and later the experiences of others. Perhaps these will help you to see early on that your loved one has a problem. Then you can get the help you need for your life. This may or may not cause your loved one to do the same, but it certainly will help more than it hurts. And at least one of you will have a better chance at health and happiness.

For me the way it started was with lots of little petty arguments. I never saw them coming, and I never connected them to alcohol. It seemed in these arguments that I was forever being blamed or accused, and I was trying to defend against a losing battle. So one sign that addiction may be around is if you feel yourself defending all the time over nonsense and trivialities.

Had I known to look I might also have noticed that the arguments in those days tended to happen after a few beers, and they tended to happen on the weekends. Had I known I might have connected that a lot more drinking was occurring on the weekends. So if you notice more arguments as an evening or weekend rolls on, that could be a sign. You should ask yourself, has my loved one been drinking, smoking, etc. etc.

Now as for sings of intoxication, with Dave, there was never a slurring of speech. There was never a blurring of the eyes. He had in those days what they call a very ‘high tolerance’, and he could down a lot of alcohol with very little outward sign. Later as I was educated and able to perceive the signs I would notice a slight glossiness of his eyes- almost imperceptible, but it was there. And there would be just the tiniest of muffling of his speech. Now you would need to know Dave very intimately to see these signs, and even the average family member would never have known the difference between a sober Dave and a drunk on 8 beers Dave. Unless he or she knew that he tended to get very argumentative and sensitive- which nobody knew as it easily passed as just a bad mood.

So another thing to look for is just a recurring bad mood in someone on a regular basis.

Now this seeming not intoxicated peculiarity about Dave allowed for another oversight. For ten years I marveled at Dave’s sleeping habits. The man could jump out of bed at 6 am, fresh as a daisy. He always took a shower and he always looked and smelled good. But I wondered that he could jump out of bed that early and be on his way without a groan. But then at 6:00 at night, when I was just getting going, he might well be found asleep on the couch. And you truly had a better chance of ‘seeing God’ than you did of waking Dave up once he had fallen asleep. I used to struggle to get him to go to bed. Inevitably I always gave up the fight and just put a blanket over him on the couch. It was not until 10 years later, when I got to know him for a brief year or two sober, that I realized he was not sleeping… He was actually passed out. No wonder I couldn’t wake him up!

So another sign, if someone falls asleep at irregular times on a regular basis, they may not be sleeping, they may be passed out from drugs or alcohol.

So again I can say that with Dave, there was no real way for the layman to perceive in the early years that he had a problem and was heading for a huge fall. Had I been knowledgeable or a professional, however, there would have been one big sign. He drank a heck of a lot. On weeknights without fail he would consume anywhere from 6-8 beers. Beer was his ‘drug of choice’-although this must be taken with a grain of salt because 15 years later when he could no longer hide his addiction, he quickly switched to vodka, which is less obtrusive. This is one major attribute of an addict. If he can’t get one substance, he will make do with another. Addicts are not real picky and even an alcohol based mouthwash or rubbing alcohol will do to feed a desperate, 10-trillion-celled addiction.

So at any rate, Dave would drink 6-8 beers each and every night, and a couple more on the weekends, before his body took over and he passed out. And I never could figure out why, as the years dwindled down, we could never do anything much on a weekend night except stay home. But the major point to make here is… if someone drinks a lot, you can pretty much just assume they have a problem. Now I’ve known some weekend alcoholics who binge and lose control. I’ve known sporadic alcoholics who every now and then lose control, or entire days and weekends of their lives. So addiction can show up in all of these ways. But if someone drinks every day, that’s a sure sign. Now I have to say here that it doesn’t matter if it’s alcohol, or marijuana, or cocaine, or sleeping pills… if they do it every day, that’s a problem.

Now I think as young adult I had heard that thing about daily drinking somewhere, but Dave didn’t really look alcoholic, and since I didn’t at all trust the older generation and their assessments about drugs and alcohol, it never really clicked. And I could do a whole entry on why the older generation’s arguments have no validity with the younger generation. Suffice it to say that we talk a big game to our youth, but the question remains- “If my parents can do it, why can’t we?” But that’s a topic I will save for another day.

So back to the signs of addiction. Another one is that addicted people hide their stash. It could be booze, pills, pot, or whatever. If you’re onto someone’s addiction, he or she will go into hiding. And they will lie. Every addict will lie in order to continue to drink or drug and there is a saying in the rooms of AA “How do you know an alcoholic (addict) is lying?… His lips are moving.”

Now in the beginning, Dave never lied to me or hid his booze. Why not? Because I was absolutely no threat to him. He could drink right in front of me and I wouldn’t say a word or raise an eyebrow. But ten years later, when he was on the start-again, stop-again roller coaster and I was beginning to see his game- he lied plenty. And my only advice to you, if someone you love has this problem, is; “If you think he’s lying, he is.” I say he, but of course it may just as well be a she, as there is no sex discrimination when it comes to addiction. So I will try to alternate between the two sexes when I write.

Now the other reason the addict will lie is a bit profound. You see the addict wants her drug, but she also wants you. She doesn’t want to lose you- and rather than lose you, she will lie. Now many people say the addict does not want to lose you because you are the enabler. You are the strong one. You are the bread and butter. This is true. But I am a true-blue sentimentalist, and I say the addict also loves you. He or she loves you, and needs the drug. Both are powerful motivators, so of course the addict lies. So if you are ever wondering if you are loved and wanted, just look at how much your addict lies to keep you around. If you do that, you will have to concede, he or she does not want to lose you, and will do anything in the world to keep you. Except to stop drinking and drugging.

There is a lot more to say about signs of addiction and how Dave’s addiction showed up in my life. But it is late and this is long, so I will save it for part two tomorrow.

But I will leave you with this. The task in loving an addict is to see it quicker, and change it sooner. And I don’t mean to change him, but rather to change how you are about his sickness- to know you need help and to get it. And be assured, even knowing you need help is a huge step.

I also look down the line. I can see that as we create a critical mass of people around the addicts who see it quicker and change it sooner, the addict will need to do the same. She will have no choice because her jig will be up and there will be no-one to believe her con anymore. Now I can see that this is when a huge scale difference can be made in the disease of addiction. But all this is far down the line, and for now we just need to take care of ourselves. One person and one day at a time.

So keep coming back to my blog, and tell your friends to do the same.

 

Written by Second Hand Addiction specialist, writer, and spokesperson, Lorelei F.

 

www.secondhandaddiction.blogspot.com

It’s one of those “everybody knows” data: It’s the irresistible cravings that make drug or alcohol addiction so hard to beat. Cravings for addictive prescription drugs, illicit drugs or alcohol are so strong that addicts will feel like life itself is dependent on getting and consuming their addictive substance.

In fact, drug and alcohol abuse creates cravings in two distinctly different ways. Drugs and alcohol rob the body of essential nutrients and that depletion causes tiredness, pain and cravings that an addict may want to cover up with more drug or alcohol use. Plus these substances leave behind toxic residues stored in the fatty tissues that are easily reactivated by stress, exercise or intense emotion.

These stored residues can interfere with hormones that affect moods and energy levels. That disruption causes cravings for what the body lacks or a similar substance, such as the drugs that originally caused the disruption. The reactivated residues can also act as a physical trigger for memories of drug-related experiences and discomforts from the past, causing a desire for more drugs or alcohol at these times.

The solution? A thorough detoxification of residual drug or alcohol toxins with a carefully-monitored program of exercise, sweating in a sauna and nutritional supplements. This is the Narconon New Life Detoxification Program, developed by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard in the late 1970s.

“The Narconon New Life Detoxification Program has been helping people eliminate their cravings for nearly 30 years,” stated Ryan Thorpe, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. “Our sauna detoxification program is a major reason we have a seventy percent success rate two years after graduation from our program. It is such a powerful program that those on this program talk about smelling or re-sensing the drugs being emitted from their bodies while they are in the sauna.”

After receiving medical approval to start, and under continuous and close supervision, people on this program exercise to stimulate circulation, spend time in a dry sauna and take a specific regimen of vitamins and minerals proven to support thorough detoxification. The end result of this program is a person who can think more clearly and whose physical cravings have been alleviated. The positive effect of this program is clearly evident in this compilation of comments from those who completed it:

“My sleep is great, my thoughts are clear and I don’t think about drugs anymore…” “I had the scent of alcohol coming out of me…” “My senses have improved enormously…” “The aches and pains have subsided and I can sleep for eight hours straight…” “Depression is now a thing of the past…” “(The) sauna (program) has also made me more calm and has gotten rid of my compulsive thoughts about using drugs…” “I don’t have that foggy feeling in my head that I used to have…” “I am not an evil person like I was on drugs.”

Out of the 8.3 million considering suicide, 2.3 million Americans made a plan in the last year while 1.1 million adults had actually attempted suicide in the last year. Factoring into the risk levels was gender, age and history of substance abuse. Substance abuse, not surprisingly, increased the risk of seriously considering, planning or attempting suicide. It was found that people experiencing substance abuse disorders within the past year were more than three times as likely to have seriously considered committing suicide as those not battling substance abuse. Those with past year substance abuse were four times more likely to have planned a suicide than those without substance abuse disorders and nearly seven times more likely to have attempted suicide. These numbers are tragic but not altogether too surprising when taking into consideration the lifestyle of a person caught in the cycle of addiction. Most people tried a drug to avoid a problem and then continued with taking drugs instead of handling the problems in their life, finding them actually worse than at first and now finding themselves addicted to their drug of choice. Now their foremost problem is the cravings for the drug and the “how –to- get -more” of said drug. The lifestyle to keep the addiction fed brings on depression and guilt due to the activities to keep their cravings at bay. This of course increases the guilt where the only way out of this lifestyle to the addict is to commit suicide, which in the their mind will handle all their problems and do their friends and family a favor by them not having to worry over them any longer. Rebecca Pool, C.A.D.C.  (Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor) states, “We encounter many people entering our program stating upon arrival they had considered suicide because they had hit rock bottom and saw no other way to stop using drugs and in the process destroying not only themselves but their families. A person addicted to drugs can not see anyway out of this lifestyle. This is where Narconon steps in and is able to give that addict the tools and skills to overcome their addiction and to achieve their goals and dreams upon completion of the program, drug-free.”The Narconon international network of drug and alcohol rehabilitation and education programs was founded over 43 years ago. Narconon Arrowhead is the networks premier facility, located in southeast Oklahoma on 216 acres in Arrowhead State Park, is the perfect treatment environment for those addicted who are trying to regain control of their life. Since Narconon’s center opened in Oklahoma in 1990 over 3,580 people have graduated the full program. Over 70% of these graduates are enjoying sober and productive lives today. If you or someone you love needs help please call 1-800-468-6933 to speak to a counselor who can help you get started on the road to recovery or log on to www.heroinaddiction.com.