Australia Archives - Page 37 of 112

Apr042018Apr042018

New Information on Cocaine Addiction

Articles, Australia, Celebrity Rehab, Education, International, LGBTQ, Malaysia, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

It is widely known and understood that cocaine is dangerously addictive. Cocaine addiction can be fatal. Prolonged abuse of cocaine causes heart attacks, among other catastrophic consequences. The long term health problems associated with cocaine use are devastating. Once thought to be the “harmless” recreational drug, cocaine emerged after the 1980s as especially deadly and addictive. New research suggests that cocaine is even more addictive the people once thought.

Even now, there are those who believe they can use cocaine more or less recreational. That casual use of cocaine is not necessarily addiction to cocaine. A recent study at McGill University in Montreal, Canada has shown that signs of addiction to cocaine arise as early as the first use.

Researchers demonstrated even after using cocaine one time, subjects of the study responded to visual cues of cocaine use with the same responses as those who were fully addicted. When casual cocaine users were shown visual signs of cocaine, the presence of the drug for instance, their bodies released dopamine in the areas to the brain responsible for driving cravings.

Dopamines are the pleasure-inducing chemicals which drugs generally stimulate in our brains and nervous systems. For people who are addicted to certain types of drugs such as cocaine, the release of dopamine in the brain plays a massive part in the cycle of craving and increased drug use. Thus the cycle of addiction is a circuit of release and craving stimulated by dopamine. That casual users of cocaine exhibited this response is reason for concern.

It is generally accepted that cocaine users, those who have not become fully over-run by the cycle of addiction, are safe with respect to sign of addiction. That a cocaine user can stop using the drug until they have consciously decided to use again generally indicates that this person is not addicted. This study by McGill University forces us to question this assumption.

At this stage, this study does not suggest that casual users of cocaine are necessarily dependent on the drug. What the study does show is that the patterns of addiction are in place long before people begin to show more obvious signs of addiction. The real benefit to this study is to facilitate a more heightened awareness of just how addictive cocaine can be.

Those who feel they may have a trouble managing the so-called recreational aspect of cocaine may wish to consider that dependence may be taking hold more quickly than they once thought. Certainly those who provide treatment for cocaine addiction would need to consider this study as they evaluate how far advanced a patient’s addiction may be. It seems likely that, where we once may have assumed a short out-patient treatment would have been sufficient, a more long-term and comprehensive in-patient treatment could be warranted in more cases than previously thought.

The simple conclusion to all of this is that cocaine is far more addictive than anyone realized. Far from the “safe” drug of the 1970s, cocaine is insidious in the way it manipulates brain chemistry, and it creates addictive patterns much easier than anyone imagined.

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Apr032018Apr042018

Violence and Ice Addiction

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

Ice, or methamphetamine, remains a persistent problem in Australia. The epidemic numbers of people addicted to ice in Australia has created a plethora of social issues beyond the obvious health crisis these drugs cause. The impact on families and communities branches into all aspects of life. Of the many problems that attend ice addiction, the tendency for some addicts to become violent is a very real worry.

The violence associated with ice abuse and addiction stems in some measure from the desperation of the drug addict who struggles to maintain his or her dependency as their resources dwindle. This can be true of all addiction, especially addiction to illegal street drugs. Yet, ice seems to have a stigma at least of being associated with violent behavior.

Some of this violent behavior is attributable to the particular nature of methamphetamine. Ice has the effect of depriving users of sleep to such an extreme degree that the psychological toll can become on the order of psychotic episodes. Being sleep deprived for days at a time, coupled with the manic effects of the drug itself has fueled psychological problems which inevitably turn violent.

In addition to the side effects of prolonged sleep deprivation. Ice directly and negatively effects the function of the limbic system which plays a role in controlling anger. Methamphetamine seriously compromises the proper function of the limbic system so that ice users, who are already in a severely debilitated state, have little control over their responses to stress and frustration. All of this obviously tends to lead to violent outbursts.

However, the general problem of violence and ice addiction is largely due to the direct effects of the drug itself. Methamphetamine is simply dangerous on all counts and leads to psychotic and violent behavior. One study showed that as many as one fourth of ice users had experienced psychotic episodes while using the drug or coming down form the drug in the last year. These episodes are characterized by extreme paranoia and desperation. Many of them leading to acts of violence.

Authorities throughout Australia have expressed concern over the violence which attends widespread ice addiction. Just the sheer drive to keep using the drug seems to fuel the violence associated with it. Dealing with the violence remains one challenge among many but these are the effects of the drug. Treating addiction to methamphetamine would interrupt the problem altogether.

Methamphetamine is dangerously addictive. But there are highly effective treatment programs available to get people out of the nightmare of this drug. Beginning with medically assisted withdrawal regimens designed to alleviate the complex of withdrawal symptoms, to a long-term program of recovery, effective treatments are easily accessible to Australians.

DARA Drug and Alcohol Rehab of Thailand is easily reached from Australia. Working with state of the art and medically proven techniques for full treatment, DARA helps people break the cycle of ice addiction and guides people to life free of addiction. The best way to stop the violence associated with ice addiction is to treat the addiction.

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Apr012018Apr012018

The Return of Meth

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

A recent article in the New York Times reported that methamphetamine is making a serious come-back. They reported that as meth became widely available in its first turn as a dangerous and destructive recreational drug. Measures to stop the manufacture of methamphetamine stepped up to stop its availability. From the start, one of the most dangerous features of meth was its ease of manufacture. With a few simple items and some over the counter cold medicine, people were able to make the drug in home labs. This of course led to another series of problems. The state of Oregon began requiring people to obtain a prescription to purchase the main cold medications needed to manufacture meth, and this more or less shut meth down as a readily available drug.

However, where there is demand, a supply will eventually materialize and so it has. Drug cartels form south of the U.S. border have begun filling the demand for meth and the drug is making a rapid return. Overdoses from methamphetamine increased 11% over the last year. This is a dramatic rise. Users are no longer just smoking and snorting the drug. They are shooting up meth along with heroin. It seems the heroin epidemic has helped amplify the dangers of meth use and abuse.

The problem of the rise of meth is not isolated to the United States. Australia and New Zealand have seen a substantial increase in the amount of the drug and the widespread use of meth. Authorities in New Zealand recently seized a half ton of methamphetamine coming from Hawaii. Authorities stated that this was more than all of the meth taken in during the entire year of 2015. Customs officials seized approximately 700 million dollars worth of meth in Sydney smuggled in bras and art supplies.

The demand for meth, it would seem, never went away even as the rate of use decreased with the availability of the drug. Meth is a highly addictive drug. There is no safe way to use meth and people who use it, in any form, rapidly become addicted. The general physical destruction of the body which meth users experience is profound.

With this kind of increase of availability of meth in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, we are bound to see a rapid increase in the number of people who are addicted to the drug. While some people may benefit from outpatient rehab and recovery programs. The severity of meth addiction is such that most users will likely require more long term care. Meth addiction is so severe, its physical and mental toll so pronounced, that inpatient rehab is generally required to interrupt and recover. Inpatient rehab for meth addiction generally consists of a range of medical treatment to alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal. Followed by a full emotional, psychological, and physical treatment program.

DARA Drug and Alcohol Rehab in Thailand is fully equipped to handle meth addiction. This is not a 12 step program. Rather, DARA utilizes the most recent scientifically verified methods for treating all addiction including methamphetamine addiction.

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Mar312018Mar262018

Prescription Drugs and Addiction

Articles, Australia, Celebrity Rehab, International, Malaysia, Treatment, Understanding Addiction, United Kingdom, United States

Prescription Drugs and Addiction – By now, most of us have learned about the rampant addiction problem associated with heroin and methamphetamine. The problem in general, the overdoses, and the heartbreaking stories of young people whose lives have been destroyed by these drugs are all over the evening news in most parts of the world. We tend to hear less about the dangers of prescription drugs.

It is common practice for people to be prescribed powerful pain medications for everything from sports injuries to post-operative pain. The people who take these drugs are following doctor’s orders and following prescription guidelines. The problem lies in the fact that many of these drugs are highly addictive. Once an individual tries to stop using the drugs, they begin to experience withdrawal symptoms without knowing that this is what is happening to them. The take more of the medication, and the addiction cycle is in full bloom.

For some, this perfectly innocent and accidental addiction becomes a path to heroin. Prescription opioids are difficult to obtain without a prescription and they are expensive. The logical leap to a cheap and readily available street drug in the form of heroin is a small step to feed a growing addiction.

Recent studies in Australia revealed that there were more than 1800 overdose deaths from prescription drugs in 2016. This is more than the number of heroin overdoses at the height of Australia’s heroin problem in 1999. A recent report stated that more people are dying from prescription drugs in Australia than from illegal drugs.

Experts are particularly worried about the elderly since they often find themselves isolated. They are therefore more prone to fall into addiction and to suffer with addiction without any recourse. They are unaware of what is happening to them, and there is often no one around to intervene in the problem.

Another complication in this is that for some people, the addiction can go on for years without them being fully aware of it. People report taking prescribed oxycodone for as long as eight years and even admit that they cannot function without it. Yet they remain unaware of the fact that this inability to function without the drug is in fact an addiction. This is intrinsic problem with prescription medications.

We all have that element of trust and faith in the judgment of a doctor. We simply trust that we are being treated correctly and safely. If prescribed a drug, especially if we are living with chronic pain in which relief may be all we can think about, we simply take the drug. We expect that if we take the drug as prescribed, we will be fine. The problem is that so many of these drugs are dangerously addictive.

Oxycodone, for example, operates on the central nervous system in exactly the same way as heroin and morphine. It attaches to neurotransmitters and helps to block pain, and basically all feeling, in order to perform the prescribed task. As we use the drug, our bodies begin to require the drug in the same way as heroin.

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Mar302018Mar262018

Mindfulness and Relapse Prevention

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

Moving beyond initial treatment is both a blessing and time of anxiety. As we move on from the first steps toward living free of addiction. We can feel the weight of addiction off of us. Most people are tremendously relieved to think of a life that will not involve the endless machinations required to obtain drugs, to have enough money, and to just survive. On the other hand, this new life is frightening. How will we deal with the triggers and temptations which lie before us?

All treatment programs will offer training on relapse prevention. There are as many programs for preventing a relapse as there are treatment programs. One of the emerging ideas in relapse prevention which is gaining serious traction in mindfulness.

Mindfulness involves a program of meditation and general awareness which seeks to free people form the negative judgments and reactions which are programed into us. All of us have a lifetime of personal and social expectations as to how we are supposed to respond to things in life. Even as we experience our own internal thoughts and feelings, we assign judgments to those thoughts and feelings. Mindfulness seeks to re-direct those judgments.

In the early days of sobriety we are likely to encounter situations which offer triggers. These are situations which make us want to use, and as addicted people, we generally use without any reflection at all. As we apply mindfulness to these moments, we are asked to take time to go ahead and experience the mix of feelings and thoughts. Rather than attempting to control those thoughts, mindfulness asks that we simply allow them to flow through our minds.

It seems that by relaxing our judgments in these situations. We are able to experience negative feelings and thoughts which are the substance of triggers in such a way that the power of these triggers is taken away. If we can work with techniques of meditation and quiet thought, the triggers do not overwhelm us.

What practitioners of mindfulness offer is a program of relaxation and meditation. This requires some training and practice. But over time, we can internalize these practices such that they become our immediate response to stressful or negative situations.

The idea here is that we cannot change our behavior until we change our minds. Changing our minds requires a program of exercise just like working our muscles. The types of reactions we have to stressful and negative situations are learned behaviors. We were not born to treat anxiety with alcohol, for example. Given this, we can learn new ways of thinking about situations in life and this will inevitably lead to new behaviors. Behaviors which do not involve drugs and alcohol.

As we move beyond treatment and rehab we can take the methods and practices of mindfulness with us. These practices do not require counselors or support groups, although there are groups who support and practice mindfulness. We need only learn the meditation techniques and develop the habit of applying these the moment we encounter triggers and difficult situations.

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