Category: Australia

A drug rehab or rather a drug rehabilitation center is a medical facility that caters to those who find themselves addicted to various substances like heroin, alcohol, cocaine or even prescription drugs. These facilities vary greatly around the world, both in their location and specializations. There are rehabs out there that provide nothing more than a locked room with a bucket and a mattress, for the addict to go “cold turkey” in it. Hardly a professional and caring environment for an addict to learn his way to control the addiction and be able to re-integrate into society with ease. Then there are real rehabs, those that provide care in all its forms – medical care, psychological care, physical care, social care and much more.

Let’s look into what benefits can be found in a rehabilitation center and why anyone with an addiction problem should seek help in one as soon as possible.

Who are rehabs for?

Short answer – for people who believe they don’t need it. The real answer is a bit more complex. Practically every rehab center patient at some point denied their addiction problem and laughed or felt offended when someone recommended he should seek professional help in one. It is that same “it only happens to people in movies” mentality, that they are normal and can stop at any time or don’t see the consumption rate and frequency of the drug as a problem. Surely only weak people get addicted and need rehab help and they are not weak. Sadly this is not true and even the mentally and physically strong people get addicted to various substances. Falling for addiction is not something that can be placed in a neat frame and quantified in specific terms. We are all different as human beings, we all have our very own personalities and as such addictions are also “custom made” and rarely can be called identical to an addiction of another patient. Being addicted is an odd combination of physical dependence and mental addiction. Rehabilitation centers are for people who understand they need help, check in willingly and with determination to get clean.

What kind of help do I need?

There are many types and specializations of rehab centers. There are those that have gender, age, and type of addiction limitations. These rehabs go above and beyond to ensure a safe, pleasurable and like-minded rehabilitation course. That said, such strict limitations are not always necessary and many even believe that insights from addicts of other types can be beneficial to the addict and his recovery. Specialized rehabs aside, most offer two types of rehabilitation approach.

Outpatient

This type of rehab course provides many different courses and therapy types for a busy individual. Usually, the course lasts two to three weeks and consists of regular meetings in private therapy sessions at first and then get introduced to group therapy. In this kind of rehab course, the addict is provided with information, both about themselves and their addiction. This type of rehabilitation is great for addicts who have already gotten clean at some point and feel themselves slipping and need a touch-up on their resolve. For first time addicts, this type of rehab can prove underwhelming and unsuccessful since nothing really changes in the addict’s life, he is still among peers and temptations that put him on the path to addiction in the first place.

Inpatient

This type of rehab is much more “hands on” and require the addict to check in and live for a period of time in the rehab facility. Many believe this is the only real way to achieve sobriety as it places you in a safe and relaxing environment, away from drug suppliers and in direct contact with like-minded individuals who are also struggling with similar demons. Rehab centers like DARA Rehab specialize in this type of rehabilitation by providing luxury rehab environment and combining it with professional counselors, physicians, dietitians, and psychologists. The most important thing that this type of rehab brings to the table is structure, discipline, and order to the lives of patients. That is something they desperately need in order to regain control and become fully functional members of our society once more.

 

Whichever rehabilitation path you choose it will be littered with obstacles, doubts, and self-questioning. In either case, professionals will accompany you on this path, offering tools to overcome your obstacles, suppressing doubts and shining a light on the roots of your problems.

Join us again in our next post where we will discuss the benefits a rehab can provide and things that an addict will learn throughout their course, both inpatient and outpatient.

We continue our overview of alcohol, its effects on the human body in varying stages of inebriation and the science behind measuring it accurately.

Blood Alcohol

No, it is not an alcoholic drink made from some type of blood. Blood Alcohol or rather its levels are how we and the scientific world quantify levels of alcohol and inebriation effects on human body. It is specifically, a numerical percentage of ethanol concentration in blood. This is to date the most accurate way to measure levels of alcoholic intoxication as it provides values people can understand and have heard about since they were kids. Alcohol has been around for millennia and this specific way to measure it has also been around for a good while, albeit only in the recent decades we have developed technology to determine and test it reliably outside of laboratory environment and most importantly – fast, as lab results could take months to come back. Law enforcement worldwide has jumped at the chance to reliably determine a person intoxication levels in the form of a “breathalyzer”, which is, in fact, a brand name product of the device, much like Xerox for copiers and Kellog’s for breakfast cereal. When the user exhales into a breath analyzer, any ethanol present in their breath is oxidized to acetic acid at the anode while at the cathode, atmospheric oxygen is reduced. The overall reaction is the oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid and water. In turn, the electric current produced by this reaction is measured by a microprocessor and displayed as an approximation of overall blood alcohol content (BAC) by the alcohol sensor.

There are a lot of variables when it comes to being under the alcoholic influence. As mentioned in the previous article something as simple as your age, gender and build can play a large role in how many drinks you can handle before making a complete fool of yourself. Or worse. Same goes for whether or not alcohol was consumed on an empty stomach or did the person have a full meal beforehand as food absorbs alcohol, slows down and makes the same amount of alcohol to be released in the bloodstream a lot slower, acting as a buffer.

Addiction

If a person maintains above normal amount of alcohol consumption on a regular basis, he runs the risk of becoming addicted to alcohol. Since alcohol affects our brain, using it too much and too often re-writes the normal coping mechanisms and brain functions, becoming dependent on the external stimulus of the alcohol and eventually as a result needing it in the system just to function. While generally accepted and even idolized, alcohol consumption has a great chance to spiral out of control into a full-blown addiction which is one of the hardest to treat due to the fact that if done improperly could result in the patient’s death. Detox period especially is very critical as stopping alcohol intake outright after years of abuse can result in respiratory arrest, stroke or heart-attack. This is why alcohol addiction and its treatment should not be treated lightly.

Alcoholism and its dependence only get worse over time. Once the “hook is in the lip” most people find it extremely difficult to come to terms with their addiction. Mostly due to how people have made alcohol into a socially acceptable way to relax in a recreational way and the fact that the addict has made such a seemingly innocent substance the crutch of their lives can be a hard truth to swallow for most. The truth is, alcohol is anything but innocent and destroys lives in more ways than we would like to admit. When used in moderation and by an adult and responsible people alcohol can be enjoyed, but that slope is steep and slick with false expectations and overestimated personal resistance.

If you or anyone you care about show signs of alcohol abuse, do not hesitate to seek out help. Alcohol has been considered a harmless substance for so long that only recently have we stopped to look around and face the truth – alcohol destroys and you don’t have to fight its devastating effects alone.

Alcohol is quite a unique substance. It is one of the few rare drinks that our digestion system can absorb almost immediately. Unlike food, it requires practically no digestion and processing before it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. We all know that the more you drink the drunker you get, yet so many people have no idea of their own limits. Since the level of inebriation depends highly on many external aspects, such as whether or not the drinker has eaten anything before or during the drinking, their metabolism, body build and even gender most people seemingly refuse to accept their limits. Let us go over what are the stages of inebriation when it comes to alcohol and what could be the potential outcome should the drinker continue to drink. Also keep in mind, that we are talking about stages of inebriation and not the stages of alcoholism, as in – this refers to alcohol consumed in one sitting and does not delve into the depths of long-term alcohol abuse.

Euphoria

In this stage, the drinker is getting a bit “tipsy” as people affectionately call it. Often described as slight dizziness similar to when a person stands up too fast. A mild euphoria floods the body, inner barriers shrink and inhibitions decrease making the person more talkative and seemingly more self-confident resulting in countless youtube videos that start with “hold my beer, check this out”.

Excitement

Fine motor skills and coordination becomes questionable at this point. Time seems to flow slower and reaction times delayed. Impaired cognitive and decision-making processes. All of these combined usually result in spontaneous, dangerous, illegal or socially unacceptable behavior as the drinker is flooded with various “genius” ideas.

Confusion

At this point, the drinker is no longer experiencing fun and is definitely not fun to be around. At this point, the person also becomes extremely emotional and can become easily offended and even aggressive. Inability to string together coherent sentences and impaired vision further puts the person at physical risk. Nerve sensitivity is reduced and results in dulled touch and pain responses. Relaxed muscles, mostly due to delayed body response to external stimuli. There have been countless accounts of drunk people surviving an accident of some type just because they did not or rather, were unable to tense up and thus minimized injuries like broken bones, pulled tendons and ripped muscle tissue. That said, the alcohol inebriation that saved you from those injuries also placed you in the position to be injured in the first place, so getting drunk before you hit the slopes on your snowboard is definitely NOT a good idea.

Stupor

This is the stage where your body is actively fighting the alcohol poisoning that it is experiencing, albeit with reduced effectiveness. This is the “end of the night out” stage with your friends. The drinker usually is so inebriated that their motor skills are shot to pieces and they are barely able to crawl, let alone walk. Vomiting and passing out on the curb is a normal bodily response at this stage. Likewise, if the constitution of the person allows for their bodily functions to persevere despite the intense intoxication, very few people actually remember anything after this point.

Coma

Should the drinker continue drinking despite his body actively protesting, very grim things happen indeed. At this point, he is so drunk that your body is beginning to fail. Heart rate, pressure, and body temperature falls, resulting in shallow breathing that results in passing out completely and slipping into a coma.

Death

A human stomach can hold a very large amount of liquid. If the person drank large amounts of alcohol and filled it up right before stupor and coma stages, there is a great risk of respiratory system arrest and consequently – death. Most people survive this by getting their stomachs pumped at the ER, should they be found unconscious and still alive, then delivered to the emergency room. If a person reaches this stage of inebriation alone and is not found in time, he will die as it is impossible for him to seek out help himself, since being in a coma puts you at quite a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to that.

 

That concludes our overview of how alcohol affects your body during ever-increasing alcoholic inebriation. Come back for our next part of this article which will delve a little bit deeper into how alcoholic inebriation can be measured and what affects its levels in your blood.

The human brain is extremely complex organ. And that is just from the physical aspect, psychologically its depths are infinite. Let us return to our overview of what is an addiction and take a deep dive into our brain and its dysfunctional relationship with drugs and alcohol.

Drug Withdrawal

While this also applies to various behavioral addictions such as addiction to sex or gambling, we will focus on various substance abuse and how its withdrawal affects an addict. Every drug or pleasurable activity has some type of withdrawal symptoms. They can be very subtle and barely noticeable or very obvious and violent.

Have you noticed how that first cup of coffee in the morning is the best thing in the world? It is not really, but for a person in withdrawal to receive their “hit” is the best thing that happened to them that day. Yes, even coffee creates addiction and knowing the scope of coffee enthusiasts across the globe I would venture a guess it is one of the most popular and widely accepted drugs in the world. That said, coffee is also one of the most harmless ones so it is accepted with good reason. Still, as always – everything in moderation. Now, let’s get back to serious substance abuse and the symptoms they bring.

Two sides of the same coin.

The first stage of withdrawal is called the Acute Stage and its length can vary depending on what substance is in question. Several weeks is the average time, though, and during this time the user experiences various unpleasant physical withdrawal symptoms, sensitivity to bright lights, increased aggression, nausea, headaches and in extreme cases even hallucinations, seizures, heart attack or stroke.

The second stage of withdrawal is called Post-Acute Stage, often referred to as Post-Acute Stage Syndrome as well. While there are fewer physically associated withdrawal symptoms, emotional type of symptoms surface with vengeance. These symptoms may include irritability, anxiety, depression, insomnia and inability to focus.

As the addict progresses through these stages of withdrawal during their rehabilitation course, it is important to understand that they can come in various combinations, in varying frequency and are never guaranteed and seldom predictable. These two stages can and will overlap each other and some physical symptoms may come back during the post-acute stage as well, most commonly tremors, shaking hands and increased blood pressure. Road to recovery is filled with ebbs and flows between a trinity of factors – the rehabilitation course, reactions, and counter-reactions of your own body and last, but definitely not least – your mind and its infinite facets of personality, experience, fears, and aspirations. Sudden and inexplicable urges can and will surface so it is paramount to be prepared for this inevitability. Slips, moments of weakness and full-blown relapse is always on the menu and are very important to resist for a successful and uninterrupted path to full sobriety and become an addict in recovery.

Learn to walk before you run.

The biggest struggle with recovery is by far the need to re-learn various basic skills, only without drugs this time. As an addict, your brain chemistry is drastically different when compared to non-addicts. This imbalance has very long lasting effects and is not broken easily. An addict is forced to learn such seemingly self-explanatory and basic life skills as social interaction, maintaining and adhering to a daily schedule and a structure in life, eating a healthy diet and taking care of your own body, personal hygiene and of course being master of your own financial independence. Mastering life skills like these are so important because they help you step out of rehab as a new person and one who is willing to fight tooth and nail for a better life for himself and his loved ones.

 

Everyone has the right to be sober and independent from harmful things. There is enough in our daily lives to worry about, addiction and the landslide of problems that follow it are utterly unnecessary for any normal functioning individual and do no good even to the dysfunctional ones. Whatever the case, never a better day to call it quits and seek professional help that will keep you safe from your addiction and yourself while you regain a foothold on your own life and begin as a new and better person.

As most diseases go, addiction is an odd one. It is a genetically relevant disease that is bolstered by easy access to brain altering substances. That definition is however very vague and for good reason – each addiction is tailor made. While most diseases get their vaccine or cure in some way shape or form, addiction is difficult when it comes to uniform treatment. Our brain while built and functions almost identically to any other human out there, the personality, experiences and opinions greatly alter the disease in every addict.

While various substance abuse is by far the biggest part of addiction types that have been confirmed to exist, there are many different manifestations of addiction. Drug and alcohol abuse being the most popular, such addictions as working out, sex, food, and gambling are also very real.

Slaves to our brain.

Remember the first time you bit into a big fluffy sugar-glazed donut? While the whole context may be hazy as it was so long ago, but you still remember one thing very clearly – it was good. Why is that? Why do our brains make us feel good when we do things that benefit our well-being both mentally and physically? The answer is quite simple, to keep us alive. How often do you do things you don’t particularly enjoy? Out of your own volition of course. Stepping on a lego piece hiding in the carpet is something you clearly remember but it seldom invokes a sense of pleasure, achievement or feels beneficial to your well-being in any way. Just how pain tells us not to stick our fingers into an open flame pleasurable feelings remind us how something was good and we should probably do that again. When these good things happen our brain releases dopamine and serotonin to invoke a sense of achievement and pleasure, quite simply as a reward and making us remember that some particular action or thing was good.

Addiction to drugs and alcohol are a bit different and as a result quite a lot more popular. Since both of these types of addiction requires using chemicals that our body does not produce or just doesn’t produce at those quantities in such a short time, they override our bodies natural filter of what is good for you and what is not. Drugs and alcohol literally hijack our brain and bypasses this very vital function that every human being naturally possesses. Snorting a brain cell-destroying rail of cocaine is hardly beneficial, yet the drug sends the user into throes of euphoria and intense pleasure. Do that enough times and the brain natural chemistry gets out of balance and this leads to an avalanche of other addiction-related problems, such as absent-mindedness, lack of interest in anything but their drug, becoming a hermit and avoiding friends and family due to even longer list of relationship related problems caused by drug abuse. An addiction is a terrible disease exactly for its cascading effect on every aspect of our lives.

Genetics do not define you.

Ok, that’s half-true. It does define what you are, but not who you are. While we inherent various types of genes from our parents and all the other ancestors in our own lineages – blue eyes, blonde hair, freckles, even facial and body structure, our minds are our very own. Genetically it is possible to inherit a gene that is predisposed to addictive behavior. Does that mean, if your parents were addicts, so will you? Not necessarily. While predisposed to addictions it is entirely possible to maintain a personal stance against things that would otherwise be very addictive. Quite a lot also depends on childhood upbringing and personal moral compass. If your mother loves chocolate to an almost fanatical extent, does not necessarily mean you will too. You might become fixated with an addiction that is quite different and not necessarily drug or alcohol related either. That said, people who find various pleasurable things irresistible should definitely avoid over-indulging in them, least of all drugs and or alcohol.

Your addiction does not define you, there is help and support available to even most desperate of addicts. Join us in our next article where we shall examine withdrawal effects, symptoms, and solutions.