Category: International

Surrender To Win

Surrender To Win

Alternative Treatment, Articles, Australia, Education, International, LGBTQ, Malaysia, Treatment, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

When You Are Addicted, You Are At War With Yourself

When you are struggling with an addiction – no matter what it is – you are constantly at war with yourself. You don’t want to be addicted to drugs, alcohol, sex, or gambling, yet you are addicted anyway.

An addicts will tell themselves that they are going to stop, but they can’t. They convince themselves that they will moderate, but they find themselves going on binges in spite of their best intentions. They promise themselves that they won’t devote any more time or money on their habit. Only to empty their bank account in pursuit of the next fix. When you are hooked, no matter what you say to yourself, you will always end up engaging in addictive behavior. This ultimately leads to remorse and regret afterwards.

It is important to recognize that addiction is a powerful force that drives people to do the things they don’t want to do. Addiction has a way of hijacking your brain and taking on a life of its own. Though you want to control it – and try to – it will always lead you down dark roads and leave you feeling completely powerless. 

Most people who are addicted to drugs, alcohol, or other behaviors stay in their addiction for a considerable amount of time before they come to terms with it. This is what denial is all about. Denial tells you that you don’t have a problem, that you can control it, or that next time will be different. As long as you continue to lie to yourself about your condition, you can not recover from it. And – the war will wage on. You will continually be stuck in the cycle of battling yourself.

Ready To Win The War? Surrender Is The Answer

The only way to win the war against yourself and your addiction is to surrender. Surrender is what happens when you stop fighting and give up completely. This may sound like a foreign concept. It’s certainly a difficult one to wrap your mind around. Most people resist the idea of surrender because they have been taught that giving up is a sign of weakness – but this is not the case.

It takes incredible courage to surrender. By relinquishing your illusion of control, you open yourself up to receive the help that you need to overcome your addiction. The truth is, you are NOT controlling your addiction – it is controlling you. You are running around trying to fix everything and hold on to everything because you are afraid that if you stop doing that. You will drown in the sea of your own consequences. The truth is, when you admit that you can’t manage your own life as a result of your addiction, you finally find the strength to recover from it. 

Surrender To Win

There is an old saying in recovery: “Surrender to win”. This is a paradox indeed, but one that offers you a way out of your addiction. When you surrender, you stop fighting yourself. You admit defeat. You accept the fact that your addiction is killing you and ruining your life. Although you wish you could overcome it with your own willpower, you can’t – and you know it. Only when you come to the end of yourself and surrender do you open yourself to victory.

CLICK HERE to get a Free Confidential Addiction Rehabilitation Assessment.

Over eating - Obesity May Be An Addiction

Obesity May Be An Addiction

Articles, Australia, Education, International, Malaysia, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

When a person cannot stop a pleasurable behavior despite negative results, they are generally considered to be addicted to that activity. Over eating can bring on such good feelings that they can override the brain’s ability to bring about a directive to stop eating. Consequently, because the resultant feelings are so good, overeating occurs again and again and again.

Obesity has not been officially declared an addiction; but it has been compared from all angles, so to speak, with addictions to drugs. The characteristics of both are quite similar.

A country’s medical association has declared over eating a disease. This has been considered to be the case for some time now with respect to alcoholism. Both alcoholism and overeating agree that a disease lowers life expectancy and impairs regular body functioning.

There are also those who ask if drugs and over eating are really a disease, or, perhaps, a choice. The answer to that is that the first cigarette, the first beer, and the first sugar coated cookie are; but after that, choice has gone out the window. Assuming that the partakers of these goodies gained pleasure form the items, they will want another—and another– beer, cigarette, and cookie. Soon one cookie won’t be enough to replicate the pleasure of the first one. 

It is this repetitive behavior that means an addiction has occurred. The brain’s system has been altered. As time went by cookies were insufficient and so were other sugar and fat laden foods.  Food intake increases, and the people’s hedonistic desires over rode their concern about self preservation. As well, Leptin and insulin, which suppress a person’s appetite, have become insufficient to manage to suppress a person’s urges with a now insatiable appetite. The urges for more are strong, resulting in impulsive behavior to attain what they desire.  Low levels of serotonin exist in people who are prone to such behavior.

If you are seriously craving a yummy six layer cake in the window of a bakeshop, but do not have money to buy it, stealing appears to be the solution; which, somewhat to the surprise of the thief, was most pleasurable. That activity is most likely to be repeated again and again due to the fact that the neurotransmitter Dopamine that was released was most pleasurable.

Urges are regulated by the brain’s Opioid system; and if an imbalance occurs, resisting urges become harder and harder. It seems that women, as well as men, in developed countries are constantly going on diets. Diets that demand that they abstain not only from over eating, but especially from fat and sugar laden items. These diets seem to work for a while before people are eventually relapsing. This has become known as the on and off diets.

This is very similar to alcoholics going on the wagon, relapsing, and trying again. A major cause of craving and relapsing are environmental cues in our rich developed countries with loads of food saturated in fat and sugar. This makes it difficult for an obese person to quit over eating. Also, the many wine tasting events, do not have to try too hard to get an alcoholic on the wagon to fall off it.

CLICK HERE to get a Free Confidential Addiction Rehabilitation Assessment.

Percocet Addiction

Percocet Addiction

Articles, Australia, Education, International, Malaysia, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

Introduced in the 1990s, Percocet has become one of the most widely prescribed pain medications on the market. It is prescribed for moderate to severe pain and many experts agree that the widespread availability of Percocet has contributed to the global opioid addiction crisis.

Percocet is actually a brand name for a drug which contains a mixture of acetaminophen and the opioid oxycodone. It is this latter which is highly addictive. Since the drug is so often prescribed for everything from tooth pain to sports injuries, it has entered the drug market as something of a common-place—as if it is not dangerous at all.

If fact, Percocet addiction can begin as quickly as two to three weeks regular use, even if taken as directed. As people attempt to stop using a medication which was prescribed for them for a real need, they begin to experience the symptoms of withdrawal. Many will take the medication just to relieve these symptoms. Once this begins, a downward spiral addiction has begun.

For people who have developed a tolerance and dependence on Percocet, the early symptoms withdrawal include fever, headaches, runny nose, and stomach cramping. The danger here is that taking more Percocet will immediately relieve these symptoms, not because Percocet treats the symptoms, but because the symptoms are a direct result of not taking Percocet. It is a deadly cycle.

More intense symptoms of withdrawal will eventually develop. These include severe anxiety, digestive problems, headaches, heart palpitations, muscle pain, and panic attacks. Once someone has begun to experience symptoms of this order, a real treatment program will likely be necessary.

Detox from Percocet addiction largely depends on how long an individual has been taking the drug. For some, detox may only take the minimum three days. But people who have been using Percocet for long periods may require up to three weeks of detox in order to be fully stabilized. The more advanced the state of abuse, the more intense the period of withdrawal.

Another crucial factor for evaluating detox and treatment is the dosage of the drug. Prescription Percocet ranges from 2.5 mg of oxycodone to 10 mg of oxycodone. The amount of acetaminophen remains constant at 325 mg in all doses. Obviously, the higher dosage prescriptions will have a much more far-reaching impact on the body. People who have using the higher dose forms of Percocet may require medically assisted detox and treatments.

Treatment for Percocet addiction is effectively the same as other opioid addiction treatments. The most basic treatment for Percocet begins with a complete medical evaluation. This leads to a period of stabilization. If necessary, patients are given medications designed to assist in the withdrawal period. These may include buprenorphine or even methadone. These medications allow a patient to move away from the intoxicating feelings derived from Percocet abuse.

Once stabilized, a more long-term treatment is in order. Cognitive Behavioral approached have been shown to be extremely effective for long-term recovery from opioids in general and Percocet in particular. This approach, based in science rather than experiential learning, has worked for countless people. Those who have basically stumbled into addiction in the ways which seem to attend Percocet have found a new freedom using this approach to addiction treatment. 

CLICK HERE to get a Free Confidential Addiction Rehabilitation Assessment.

Dual Diagnosis and Treatment

Dual Diagnosis and Treatment

Articles, Australia, Education, International, Malaysia, Treatment, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

The co-occurrence of substance abuse issues and mental health conditions can make both problems difficult to treat. The facts are that approximately 50% of people who suffer with severe mental illness also wrestle with some type of substance abuse problem. More than 30% of those who abuse alcohol also have at least one mental health problem. And more than 50% of people who abuse drugs also have a mental health condition. These facts lead to what is now called dual diagnosis treatment. These are treatments specifically designed to treat both mental health and substance abuse problems at the same time.

The complexity of treating someone who suffers from both addiction and mental illness demands a specific strategy for recovery. While those who wrestle with a substance abuse disorder may benefit from treatments which follow fairly well known programs of recovery. Those with a dual diagnosis disorder face particular challenges. Simply removing the substance from their lives in the course of a traditional program that demands abstinence may complicate a vastly more complex disorder such as depression, OCD, or PTSD. These types of patients have specific needs and require a specific regimen of treatment. Likewise, any attempt to treat the mental health problems without taking addiction into consideration is likely to be ineffective.

In many cases, the psychological problems precede the substance abuse problem and are likely what fueled substance abuse in the first place. For some people, the mental health problems may have developed in childhood or adolescence which they then tried to treat by self-medicating with drugs and/or alcohol. In other cases, the effects of substance abuse either brought on a psychological problem like severe depression or severely complicated a pre-existing issue. In any event, both the addiction and the psychological disorder require treatment. One problem is unlikely to get better without treating both at the same time.

In the most general terms, dual diagnosis treatment is practiced through a series of staged interventions. Many people who are suffering from both addiction and mental health problems are unable to participate in treatment programs in the same way as someone who deals with addiction only. The motivation necessary to begin treatment may well be inaccessible to them. For this reason, establishing a real trust with clients is the first order for treatment professionals. These interventions are stepped up as trust and willingness are established. At this point counseling and social support interventions can be introduced which directly involve clients with treatment.

From this point, dual diagnosis treatment is determined by the specific types of addiction and mental health issues. The decision to use medication, for example, will depend on the type of substances the client has been abusing and the type and severity of the psychological diagnosis.

The problem of co-occurring issues is now better understood than ever before. The unique and specialized treatments are also more available. People who are struggling with co-occurring mental illness and addiction have a much better chance for recovery now that the science of treatment has adapted to a more comprehensive understanding of how best to treat this complex issue.

CLICK HERE to get a Free Confidential Addiction Rehabilitation Assessment.

Most People Are Addicts

To Varying Degrees, Most People are Addicts

Articles, Australia, Education, International, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

I can just hear hundreds of people yelling, “I’m no addict,” but you are you know.

Loosely defined, you are addicted to anything that is pleasurable to you. Which you have had or done for a long enough time that you would go to great lengths to continue. Not only can many people not start their mornings without their coffee, but they even have it sitting on their desks while they work.

Then there are people who roll out of bed, and half asleep begin their jogging in all kinds of weather for several miles. Why?  The payoff is a rush of endorphin , which make you feel good. If you missed a morning of jogging you would definitely miss that harvest of morning endorphins all day long. You would not likely receive any negative feedback for this, as most people are not aware that done consistently to the extent that you need the results to get you through the day is actually an addiction. You would receive kudos instead. However, as with many activities that society does not even recognize as an addiction, a lot of exercise has been connected with feeding and eating disorders.

Most of us love sweet things; and the more sugar we put on our cereal and raspberries, the more we love it; and will be on the lookout for more before we even clear off the table. Again, this is not good for your health, but not viewed negatively by society.

Then there are the many sex addicts; mostly men, but also women.

Then there are the addictions to various types of prescriptions. Sometimes doctors prescribe too many; and the patients do not notice it because either they don’t know better, or because the more they take the better they feel, since they cause an increase in dopamine, a neurological  chemical that stimulates pleasure. Regardless of who may be to blame, each year there are a goodly number of prescription overdose deaths.

The downhill skiers are already lining up in the summer for their season downhill skiing pass, which most will use to their fullest extent. The hue and cry that occurs when a couple of warm days come along; and some ski runs are closed is heartbreaking, because the faithful skiers really miss their daily dopamine injection.

To top it all off, there are numerous health care professionals who believe that addiction is an illness just like cancer, for instance. Consequently, according to the particular problems, their treatment methods vary somewhat from those health care providers who do not agree that addiction is a disease. One thing that this type of thinking does, is to let addicts hold their heads up a little higher. Because their part in becoming addicted, whether to alcohol or drugs, is minimized because surely they cannot be more responsible for that than they would be if they got cancer.

Finally, a couple of the addictions that I mentioned earlier should not be difficult to cure by the individuals themselves. Such as foregoing unnecessarily infusing food with sugar. But sex addiction, well that’s another story!

CLICK HERE to get a Free Confidential Addiction Rehabilitation Assessment.