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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.

You would be hard pressed to find an addict that decided to consciously take that first dose with an intention of becoming addicted, losing friends and family and have their lives spiraling out of control. It could start innocent enough, as an experiment or a dare. Or for an emotionally weathered person to find himself at difficult stages in their life and they take their drug of choice to alleviate the depression and stress. If it was not tragic, it would be funny, really – to avoid stress, depression or unpleasant relationships a person throws himself into a temporary mirage of an oasis only to doom himself for the hardship that is nothing compared to the problems he ran away from, to begin with. Sadly the punchline for that joke never ends with a laugh.

Support.

Whichever the case for the addict to find himself in the deep chasm of addiction, it is quite impossible for him to claw his way out all by himself. The way out takes a lot of time, perseverance, and support from loved ones and professionals alike.

I would wager that any addict who has fought their addiction and won first tried to do it in secret, ashamed from the stigma associated with drug use. All of them fail because while addicts own mental power and will to become clean is a huge factor, there is no such thing as “mind over matter” when it comes to fighting addiction. There are a lot of obscured facets to an addiction and craving is just one of them.

Some use drugs as a retreat from their problems, a sort of coping mechanism. While this helps short term, it creates more problems very shortly afterward, losing a job and income for example. The actual solutions to these problems get blurred away in ups and downs of having an addiction. To become clean, the addict has to essentially re-larn how to cope with the world without the crutch of drugs.

Then there are those, that slip into addiction because of their lifestyle choices and external pressure. Such a simple thing as availability can be a huge factor for a person to become addicted. Just having a dealer who can provide and fellow users who consider it normal can make the choice to experiment and inadvertently get hooked very appealing. Keeping company with other users also gives the addict a biased opinion of drug use and misguided acceptance of peers.

Either path leads to semi-permanent brain damage and ever-increasing urge to use. When the body is repeatedly flooded with chemicals that alter brain functions and patterns, it re-writes itself towards the new stimuli. Drugs usually provide a sense of intense euphoria and happiness, but it is important to understand that they act as a catalyst for the brain itself to produce neurotransmitters like serotonin which provides the feeling of pleasure. Our brain naturally creates it but in much smaller amounts during various life activities. A nice meal, favorite chocolate, and sex provide the same chemicals. A drug simply tricks the brain and sends it into overload when it comes to producing it. Repeated drug use re-write the regular brain patterns and external stimuli become necessary to induce these feelings of happiness and contentment. Worse yet, ever-increasing amounts are required to reach the same peaks. This vicious cycle repeats ad infinitum until the addict dies of an overdose or fatal organ failure.

Get support.

It is never too late to become clean and is almost impossible without help. This help can come from many factors and sources, a good talk is all it takes in some lucky cases. Most require interventions by family and friends and more yet require inpatient rehabilitation programs, professional support, counseling and like-minded fellow addicts on their path to recovery. Successfully completing a rehabilitation course program gives the best chances for the addict to become clean for a number of factors. Such as inpatient rehabs provide refuge from availability and peer pressure of drug use. During their time there, the addict learns to cope without drugs in perfect peace and harmony, without the problems and company of other active drug users. The addict is taught structure and purpose, both in themselves and in their world. Counseling and on-going support from group therapy provide insight into the addiction and how to cope with in their lives.

 

By all means, become clean on your own, but when it inevitably fails, do not hesitate to seek help from friends, family, and trained professionals. It is never too late to be sober and genuinely happy.

There are many new years resolutions we have all vowed to adhere to, but ultimately failed and abandoned. Quit smoking, quit sweets, quit heroin, quit stress? Most are unattainable at best, others impossible outright. Then there are those that are a bit of both. To commit and complete a rehabilitation course and kick an addiction is probably one of the most ambitious new year’s resolutions one could attempt and definitely no other more necessary.

Millions of people claim to kick a bad habit every year, be it open and candid or perhaps secretly and to themselves. You would be hard pressed to find an addict that loves to be one and doesn’t mind all the lost friends, family, and opportunities that came and went over the years. Very few actually reach and complete their new target, even fewer do so in that very year. Battle with addiction is a long and hard one, but like every road has to have a beginning, so must the path to sobriety.

Do not deny the problem.

There are countless addicts out there that genuinely do not believe that they are addicts. People will find a justification for almost any action. Using drugs is not an exception. It usually takes for them to hit the proverbial rock bottom or attending a particularly candid intervention by friends and family to realize and come to terms with the fact that yes, you are indeed an addict and no you don’t need that bad habit to cope with the world.

An addict with a runaway addiction problem is almost constantly looking for drugs or using drugs. A simple delay in that schedule can send an addict into panic and at odds with everyone around them. Addicts become withdrawn and anti-social. For better chances of recovery, the addict himself must come to the conclusion that he has a problem and he wants to claw his way back out of it. Forceful rehabilitation is very unlikely to succeed because they must want to get clean. Simply locking someone in a room will cure them of their dependence, but it will never cure their addiction. As soon as they are out and left to their own devices, the addict will find any chance to score a hit again. For forced addicts rehab is just a sentence one must endure to be set free again. While trapped in their own minds, addicts will never be free.

Taking the step.

Once the addict has understood that the only path away from wasting away in a ditch is a rehabilitation course, it’s important to choose the right rehab center. The first choice is between inpatient and outpatient rehabs. While outpatient rehabs and their programs are much cheaper, they seldom have the success rates of an inpatient rehab. It’s important to remember, that the inpatient centers have an environment, facilities and activities catered for the addict’s recovery. Being isolated from the outside world the addict can focus on his recovery without temptations and stress that would not be possible otherwise.

What to expect.

Be it an inpatient or outpatient rehab, the basis for recovery is the same. Support and care. The addict is surrounded by like-minded people who want to help you on your way to independence from drugs. A peaceful and serene bubble of their very own so the patient can thrive and heal both mentally and physically – an inpatient rehabilitation center. Outpatient addicts receive the same kind of support and help, yet they run the risk of temptation. They remain in their usual comfort zone, where drug using friends keep coming by and offering a bump, where a dealer is a call away and ready to sell you some poison. In the case of alcohol its even worse, since every shop and corner store sells hard liquor and every other type of alcohol.

Getting clean is a conscious choice. It is a battle of will every inch of the way and will not come easy. Wanting to be clean and dedicating oneself to be sober is a just and worthwhile new year’s resolution and definitely one to keep.

You have been an addict for years. You have been on the straight and narrow for a while now, could be years, perhaps just months. Still, you are crystal clear and on your way to sobriety. Then something happens. It could be anything – an old friend you used to use drugs with, that taste of fries sauce from the local late night eatery you used to frequent when high, or something that someone says. It could be anything and at any time, an addict gets triggered and relapse is about to happen, right? Not really.

A slip into relapse.

First thing anyone should understand is that there is a common misconception about what a relapse is. Most people refer to a slip as if it’s a full-blown relapse. While both are similar in nature, it’s important to understand the differences.

A slip is a one-time weakness. It’s a misstep, a mistake. For an addict to make a step back from their treatment is a huge deal, since every step made forward has been hard-fought and exchanged for intense work and sweat so a slip will occur only against the addict’s knowledge, like getting spiked or tricked into using a substance or during a moment of extreme weakness. Typically, as soon as the slip has occurred the addict feels bad about it and his morale is boosted with more dedication for their rehabilitation program. One slip is not necessarily a confirmed relapse.

A relapse is a slip that got out of hand. Instead of feeling shame for the moment of weakness, the addict feels relief and seeks shelter in drugs once more. Abandoning any rehabilitation programs and contact with their sponsor, counselor and support group is a relapse. Returning to regular abuse of drugs or alcohol, avoiding friends and becoming anti-social is a textbook relapse.

I relapsed. What now?

It is never too late to resume your battle with your addiction. Each addict has a very special case, no such thing as a universal approach to addiction. Since addiction is both a physical and a mental affliction, the methods of countering the addiction must be tailor made. A slip or even a relapse is simply a sign of the addict’s resistance to the rehabilitation program. The only specialist staff of a rehabilitation center can determine the best steps forward but usually, the best course is to return to the program with extra determination or a new program to be introduced. The longer the relapse has had its hold on the addict, the harder and further back the rehabilitation process will be set back. No time like right now.

Why do we relapse?

As mentioned before, we are all different. Our minds have extremely varying properties, dreams, hopes, fears and aspirations. Previous experiences and upbringing also play a huge part in how an addiction develops in a person. It is important to remember that an addiction is a disease and it affects the addict’s brain in a very bad way. Continuous abuse of drugs or alcohol damages the brain by overwriting its behavioral patterns and how to react to certain stimuli. Essentially our minds forget how to cope and exist without the drug of our choice.

A well-planned rehabilitation course aims to alter the addict’s brain in a good way, to restrict stimulus to the affected areas of the brain and give it time and a chance to heal and restore normal processes. In many cases complete recovery is not possible, there will always be that voice in the back of an addict’s mind, that urges to return to using. It becomes easier and easier to control this voice over time, but sometimes the old addictive patterns kick in and a slip up happens. Statistically the relapse rate is 40-60%, however, it is up to the addict if he is to become part of this statistic.

It all depends on how a slip is treated. If it is treated as a challenge and reminder of why strict discipline and willpower is needed to continue normal and fulfilling life, it can even be beneficial. Ignored, however, the slip up will become a relapse and return to addiction is guaranteed.

To fight addiction is to sign up for an almost never-ending battle with yourself. Best anyone can do is to stack the odds in your favor by regularly receiving help and guidance from professionals and family alike.