Sober living homes are unique birds.  They aren’t really drug rehab, and they certainly aren’t like living by yourself.  The gap between drug rehab and home life can be too big for some people to cross with good success. That’s why this transitional living arrangement was originally developed.

People make their own independent choices and hold up their personal responsibilities.  But they also learn how to act as a good team member and actively help each other with sobriety.  This kind of transition arrangement can be very valuable for someone who is going through such huge changes.  Find out more about what makes sober living homes so unique.

Clear Expectations of Independent Living Skills

Whether a sober living home is modest or luxurious, all of them require their residents to hold up to personal responsibility.  That doesn’t just mean being honest and communicating openly, that means going to work and bringing home a paycheck. Or, going to school fulltime and keeping up good grades.  Whatever your course of action, you are expected to do something worthwhile and sustainable with your time.

You are also expected to pitch in with all household care and maintenance, just like you would in your own home.  The advantage is that many people are contributing, so it isn’t all on just one or a few people.  If you can’t pay rent, many places give just a short grace period before you are kicked out.  The environment is supportive, but it parallels the realities of living on your own.  If you can’t fulfill your obligations, you aren’t ready for that kind of arrangement.

Support With Less Formal Structure

People in sober living homes are expected to attend their outpatient counseling and support groups on a regular basis.  The home doesn’t provide formal treatment, but people needing that kind of environment are all still participating in these activities.

Having an expectation gives residents a good framework for setting up their own sober life.  They’ll need to know how to blend social time, work time, home and personal care time, and sober care time when they live on their own.  When they are ready to go home, they will have some experience and some connections to help them replicate the good habits they have established at the sober living home.

You Make The Choices But Help Is Close By

It’s a bit like going to college.  You aren’t quite out in the real world pulling your whole life together on your own.  But it’s more independent than living at home with your parents.  You are there to do a different job - learn about and craft your talents and to grow up a little.

With sober living homes, you are focused on learning about yourself and your sober lifestyle.  You are more independent than when you were in drug rehab, but you are not floating on your own either.

What Makes Sober Living Homes Unique

Now you have a better understanding about how sober living homes fit in the larger world of addiction recovery.  They aren’t quite like private independent living, but they aren’t drug rehab centers either.  They cover a much needed middle ground and create a unique identity for themselves.  For more information about how sober living can work for you, call today.

The news often promotes studies that show the benefits of drinking alcohol.  But when someone misuses or becomes addicted to alcohol, the list of associated health problems gets very long.  These effects are different depending on a person’s gender, and is unfortunately worse for women. Because alcohol use is common and legal for adults, this is an article you just can’t miss. Before you take another drink, you need to understand whether you are putting yourself at risk.

Gradual Organ Breakdown And Dysfunction

When a person’s body is subjected to the toxic effects from excessive alcohol, the effeciency and interconnection among the body’s organs starts to fall apart.  Because the organs all depend on each other to keep the body going, big problems in one area can mean big problems for the whole system.  This can eventually cause death.

Alcohol-Related Liver Disease

Cirrhosis of the liver is scarring from excessive alcohol use  This scarring is permanent and cannot be reversed.  Scarring means that parts of the liver are non-funtional, causing the remaining portions of the liver to pick up the slack.  As a person keeps drinking, they overwork the ever-shrinking remainders.

The liver’s job is to process and filter out toxins from the blood.  If a person stops drinking, they can preserve the remaining unscarred portion of their liver.  But if they continue to drink, they can eventually die from complete liver failure.

Alcohol-related hepatitis is another serious disease related to alcoholism.  Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver and can cause abdominal pain, jaundice (yellowing of the skin, eyeballs, and skin), and fever.  Like cirrhosis, it can be fatal if a person continues to drink.  If they stop drinking, the effects of hepatitis can be partially or even completely reversable.

Alcohol-Related Heart Disease

It’s now well known that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can have some heart benefits, especially if a person already has a risk for heart attack.  But if you go over the modest recommended amount, the benefits quickly disappear.  Excessive drinking will increase the risk for stroke, various forms of heart disease, and blood pressure problems.

Other Alcohol-Related Health Problems

Heavy drinking causes capillaries near the surface of the skin to break.  This gives the face and other exposed skin a ruddy blotchy look.  This damage is generally not reversable.

The extra empty calories consumed by an alcoholic can also contribute to obesity.

Obesity can cause a great deal of strain on muscles, bones, and the circulatory system.  While obesity is a problem on its own, obesity can also be a leading cause of Type 2 Diabetes.  Diabetes can lead to loss of vision, poor circulation, organ damage, and loss of feeling in the extremities.

Brain cells are permanently damaged or killed with excessive drinking.  Nerve damage can also develop over time.  Bleeding ulcers and other digestive problems can emerge after years of irritation by large amounts of alcohol.

Health Risks From Excessive Drinking

So now you know a few of the worst health problems associated with alcoholism.  Many of these can be fatal in one way or another.  If you think you may be drinking excessively, call your doctor for help and more information.

Alcoholism has already been part of your life for years. No, you haven’t drink a drop of alcohol - yet.  But you worry about what your future holds. Are you destined to repeat the problems of your family? Can you break away from these old patterns and stay healthy? The news is good. You certainly can live a different life than your alcoholic family members. But it won’t happen automatically. Keep reading to learn about staying on track with a healthy life.

Reality Check - Your Alcoholism Risk Factors

The fact that you’re even thinking about all this is a good sign. Being aware of the destructive pattern of your past can help you create a different future for yourself. But it’s not enough just to know that you want to make change. You have to really understand what you are up against and how to keep going. The following is a breakdown of a few risk factors you’ll have to consider.

Genetics - Alcoholism isn’t a genetically inherited condition. But sharing genetics with an alcoholic means you could have some of the same vulnerabilities.  You might inherit a high tolerance for drugs and alcohol. You may inherit personality traits that lean towards addiction, such as being thrill/risk seeker and impulsivity.  You may also inherit heart conditions, high blood pressure, and other conditions that would be exacerbated with heavy alcohol use.

Familiar With Addiction Environment - Since you grew up with addiction, you know a lot of the ins and outs.  Of course, this could give you more fuel in your fire about rejecting alcoholism. But you need to be cautious that alcohol doesn’t tempt you as a coping skill. Your father used it, or your mother used it, or your grandpa, so maybe it could work out better for you. Things turned out bad for them, but you can handle it. That kind of minimizing and excusing can get you into trouble.

Family And Friends May Not Support You - Not everyone may think sobriety is a great idea. Despite seeing all the destruction in your family, some may treat you like an outsider if you don’t drink. This kind of pressure could make you cave in and start drinking. And just because you drink doesn’t automatically mean you have a problem with it. But if you give high value to these family member’s opinions, you may have trouble ahead.

Keeping Alcoholism At Bay

Here are some quick tips for keeping your healthy lifestyle intact when your family life and genetics are working against you.

You Choice Using Alcohol- There’s no hard and fast rule that children of alcoholics shouldn’t ever drink.  Not everyone who grows up in that situation will develop a problem.  But if you feel at all unsure, staying completely sober can be a good safe choice.

Dealing With Your Family - You may need to decide how much you can and want to interact with your family.  Some may be healthier than others.  Some may care more or less about your drinking.  Just be prepared to deal with some land mines.

Live A Generally Healthy Lifestyle - Eat right, exercise, hang around good people who also make good choices.  This will keep you from getting influenced by extreme thinking or risk taking.

Drug addiction is a maze of mixed up emotions, a wild round-the-clock schedule, tension, arguments, loneliness, and confusion.  You may not even really remember how you got here.  You just know that somewhere along the way, you got lost.  How do you go on from this point?  Do you just stick with what you know, what your life has become?  Do you ride this runaway train until it runs you into the ground, or is there anyone anywhere able to help you?  After the way you’ve treated everyone around you, is anyone even willing to stick their neck out for you?

Lost In A Strange Land Of Drug Addiction

You wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to jump into the frey with you anymore.  You’ve burned just about every bridge you’ve crossed with most people you know.  You’ve tried a therapist or two in town, at the insistance of your family.  You didn’t want to be saved from anything back then, and you sure weren’t going to talk about it with anyone. And even if they could help, would it even be worth it?  What has anyone missed by you being zoned out with drugs for the last few years?

That’s just the problem - you’ve been in another universe for a long time now.  At first, it seemed like a whole new world of adventure.  Way better than real life with its misery and boredom.  Drugs made you feel alive and like you had something to do.  Now, after you need drugs just to function a little bit each day, you don’t know where to find any shred of usefulness in your life.  This world you created with drugs may still be familiar, but it is also hell.

The Hell You Know Versus The Hell You Don’t Know

So now what?  You’re lost in your own universe of drugs and you wonder if you’ll ever get out.  And if you did get out, what is there for you?  More family arguments, more realization of how worthless your life has become, and more emotional pain.  Your family says you have to face these facts so you can move on, but you just don’t know.

Really, somewhere inside, you do want the pain to somehow get better.  You don’t know how much longer you can stay lost in limbo like this.  You’ve seen friends die and end up like vegetables after they’ve overdosed or just been on drugs for too long. That’s not really what you want, even as strong as your desire is to get away from pain.  You don’t actually want to end your one shot at life.  But you have gotten yourself to this point, and you are lost more than ever before.

Reaching Out And Finding Hope

You decide that even if you get rejected or laughed at, maybe you should try reaching out once before it’s too late.  Before the drug addition pulls you down so far you don’t even realize what’s happening.  Before that last hit takes your last breath away.  Before you are lost for good.  Maybe this time, someone will find you and help you find hope for tomorrow.

When a person with drug addiction decides they may need to slow down or even quit their drug use, they might strongly consider going cold turkey.  Just drop it all at once and gut out the symptoms.  They don’t need a shrink telling them what to feel or what to do, and they certainly don’t need to share their feelings with bunch of strangers.  This might be the mindset of someone who decides to go cold turkey from drugs or alcohol - a lone wolf who’s confident and gutsy.  But is this really the best way to handle a tough drug addiction?

Pros and Cons To Cold Turkey Approach

Let’s go over a few pros to the cold turkey approach.  First, the addict may feel a strong sense of control over their situation.  They may also feel some pride in believing they are self sufficient enough to manage something so “bad”.  Deciding to tough it out may boost their ego.  They can demostrate they are capable of handling it.  It could also show that their drug use really wasn’t as bad as everyone has said.

Unfortunately, a lot of the benefit of going cold turkey is on the front end of the process.  The idea of it may sound good, but following through the entire withdrawal process without any professional help often ends with relapse or other trouble.  Symptoms can be miserable and even somewhat dangerous if a person has other health conditions.  Relapse risk is very high simply because the quickest way to end the misery is to use again.  And that usually ends the cold turkey process dead in its tracks.  Perhaps a good theory, but for the true drug addict or alcoholic, very difficult to carry out in practice with healthy lasting results.

Pros and Cons To Drug Treatment

First, the cons to drug treatment.  It will take time and patience to complete a full drug treatment program.  This could also mean a halfway house or sober living arrangement for a while until sobriety is better established.  This could be tough for a person with a job or  a family to look after.  However, the alternatives are to either continue with the drug use or go cold turkey.  Neither of those prospects will result in good things for a job or a family.

Drug treatment can also cost some money.  These days, everyone has to watch their wallet closely.  Drug addicts and alcoholics may not want to spend another dime if they are in dire straights with their finances.  On the other hand, what would happen if the addiction wore on?  Would they eventually lose their job or continue to spend foolishly?  Yes, most likely.  And thankfully, there are many financial options with insurance, government supported programs, and payment plans.  Drug treatment can actually save your finances.

Drug Treatment Or Cold Turkey

So what do you think?  Drug treatment or cold turkey?  Which approach will truly help you get and stay sober?  When you are ready to consider drug treatment, it only takes a phone call to get started.

Some may think that sobriety magically happens to you once you stop drinking.  Or, once you begin your sobriety any type of relapse is a complete failure.  In other words, you aren’t really in control of it in the first place.  It is placed upon you and it can be taken away.  And once you lose it, you may stop drinking but your sobriety is tainted because you “failed”.

Sobriety May Seem Too Perfect To Be Reached

This kind of outlook on sobriety falls in line with the typical black-and-white thinking of an alcoholic or drug addict.  It either is or it isn’t, and if you fail you are shamed forever with no chance of forgiveness.  Sobriety may seem such a pristine unattainable goal of perfection, it may seem impossible.

So why try if you know you will fail?  How could you possibly live without mistakes for the rest of your life?  This is a rather inflexible way of looking at sobriety, and it can keep a person from considering it a realistic choice.

Sobriety Is A Choice For Each Moment

Sobriety is really a choice each and every moment. You may be sober for a day, for an hour, or for twenty years, and it all still comes down to choices in moments.  It may take all the energy and focus you have to stay sober for one particularly difficult hour.  Or you may have several days or even a few weeks when living sober feels organic and rejuvinating.

It all changes just like life changes.  Even though it involves staying away from drugs and alcohol completely, it is not a perfect or consistent process.  People slip up and have a drink when they shouldn’t. People give in and take a few hits with friends they haven’t seen in a long time.  People have close calls when they feel vulnerable.  Some even have longer periods of relapse before they make a definitive move to get sober once more.

Time Gives New Chances For Sobriety

Since it can be started and kept from moment to moment, the passage of time continually gives people chances for sobriety.  An addict may feel like you are completely at the mercy of their addiction, and they may be in almost every way.  But if they find that very small voice in their heart that tells them they need to stop, they can use that moment to be sober.

They can muster their courage to stop using right then, to walk away, and be with someone they know will help them.  They may not know what to do next, but if they can take that first brave step they will have become sober for that moment.  As they string moments together, they can see their sobriety grow.  They can keep making that tough choice every moment they are aware of it, or they can give it up and return to their drug lifestyle.

Hope For Sobriety Always Close At Hand

No matter how long a person has been sober, for a minute or for a decade, they always have the choice to fight for their sobriety or return to their addiction.  That’s why hope for sobriety is always close at hand.  Time keeps giving the gift of opportunity.  Drug treatment can begin during one of those moments - just a phone call can get the process started.  Use that moment of courage to make today sober.

When you think about older people drinking alcohol, so many misconceptions and stereotypes exist.  A new revealing study done by the school of medicine UCLA exposes much more about risky drinking by people 60 years old and older.  Many people assume that drinking an older age isn’t that much of a problem or that not much can be done. Read on to learn more about how older drinkers are at risk and what can be done to help them.

Many Factors Put Older People At Risk With Heavy Drinking

This fascinating study breaks down the risk factors in several ways. And of course, it’s so important to remember how much variety there is among people age 60 or older. Marital status, specific age, ethnic background, financial situation, gender, and health all matter when considering risky drinking behavior.

Older drinkers are much more likely to take a variety of medication. Some of these medicines can be dangerous when combined with alcohol.  also, certain health conditions can significantly worsen with heavy alcohol use, especially heart and liver conditions.  Some older drinkers were simply at risk because they drink alone, perhaps because they had been widowed or divorced. Older drinkers are also at great risk for injury because of more frail bones, worsened sense of balance, or weakened muscles.

More Information About Older Alcohol Drinkers

To expand the picture, let’s take a look at a few of the results from this study.  Caucasians were more than twice as likely to have risky drinking then Asians.  Ages 60 to 64 seemed to be particularly difficult, more than twice as risky as for a drinker 80 years or older.  Graduating from high school seemed to decrease in older persons chances for risky drinking by 2.5 times.

Another way to look at this: a 62-year-old Caucasian person that did not graduate from high school has a significantly higher chance for risky drinking then and 82-year-old Asian person who did graduate from high school. As you can see, the details of this study showed just how different older drinkers can be from each other.

Alcohol Rehab For The Older Drinker

Older people tend to be somewhat ignored when it comes to alcoholism. People often assume that symptoms associated with alcoholism are just a normal part of aging. Or, if grandma needs her two drinks every night to keep her from being angry, what’s the harm? The fact is, there’s a lot of harm to be done when this is left to continue unchecked.

Dangerous medication and alcohol combinations, falls, and accelerated disease can all shorten in a person’s life or dramatically impact their quality of life. No one wants this for their older relatives.  Fortunatley, alcoholism is definitely treatable for older people.

Family Support Helps An Older Person Needing Alcohol Treatment

Family support is so important for older person going through alcohol treatment. They themselves may doubt that anything could change, especially after so many years. But with family participation and encouragement, older people with at-risk drinking can improve and even save their lives by going alcohol treatment. If you need to get more information about helping an older loved one in your life, call and ask about alcohol treatment options today.

If you read the stories of five different alcoholics, would you think it all had a problem with alcohol? Your prejudices and stereotypes can make a difference when you try to identify who an alcoholic is. You may have someone in your life who drinks heavily, but you don’t think much of it because they don’t fit a certain definition or picture in your mind.  Maybe the heavy drinker is you and you are not aware of your own risk. If any of this sounds a little familiar to you, this is a blog post you can’t miss.

Alcohol Treatment Needed To Improve Life

Alcohol treatment is almost always needed improve a life of an active alcoholic.  Going cold turkey can work for a fraction of alcoholics, but most will need professional help. Also, many alcoholics will need help figuring out that they even need alcohol treatment. It’s so easy to excuse drinking behavior as normal or simply not understand how heavy drinking is impacting a person’s life.

The most dangerous thing is relying on narrow stereotypes to identify a heavy drinker. The loud rude drinker at the parties and family gatherings is only one type of alcoholic. Some alcoholics withdraw almost completely from socialize, except what might keep them from drawing suspicion. They go to just enough family gatherings to keep people from becoming alarmed. Other alcoholics may drink in complete secrecy.  They might make sure nobody sees them drink in any situation.

What Does Alcoholism Really Look Like

Just because a person hasn’t lost their job, gotten a DUI, gotten a divorce, or stolen money also doesn’t mean they don’t have alcoholism. They may be quite functional in many ways, at least on the surface. You would need to be able to see their life a little more closely to see how and when they are escaping reality.  Having one small drink after work or in the evening is one thing. Having four or five each night, or on most nights, creates a problem.

It isn’t even the drinking itself that matters so much. Why would they need to escape reality? Are they having some families stress? Financial problems? Is that person in a job they hate with few other outlets for feeling purpose in their life? Have they have a lot of adjustment lately or perhaps a chronic condition that has changed their quality of life?

Heavy Drinking Always Catches Up With Alcoholics

Eventually, a person’s heavy drinking will catch up with some. Even if they don’t get absolutely stumbling drunk most of the time, long term heavier drinking will eventually break the body down. Heart Disease, liver problems, blood vessel problems, and just overall general health will decline. There is always a price to pay, and it doesn’t always come at the beginning of a person’s alcoholism.

All Types Of Alcoholics Need Alcohol Treatment

When you notice someone’s drinking seems out of control or heavier than normal, it’s time to say something. Alcohol treatment can help, but only if that person understands they have some kind of problem. Could this be a loved one in your life with chronic declining health and a noticeable drinking habit? Could this be you, drinking away your evening and escaping the doldrums of everyday life?  Not all alcoholics sit into stereotypes. Learn about alcohol treatment and what it can do for you or someone you love before it’s too late.

When it comes to marriage, birds of a feather tend to flock together.  In other words, people often marry someone similar to themselves in background, interests, and socioeconomic standing.  This includes a risk or vulnerability to alcohol addiction.  But something rather unexpected happens when this risk is thrown into the marriage mix.  A study from 2007 explains how a married couple with risk of addiction can actually be a positive thing.

Research Shows Marriage Can Help Prevent Addiction in Both Spouses

Researchers don’t quite know why, but their 2007 study at the Washington School of Medicine in St Louis showed that two spouses with addiction risks didn’t necessarily both end up having addiction problems.  One would think that both people might be just as likely to become alcoholic, especially since they share the same living environment and overlapping social circles.

Whatever the case, this apparently positive influence is too important to ignore.  What might drive one spouse towards addiction while the other moves away from it?  How does that person buck their vulnerabilities and risk factors to make different choices with alcohol?  Does this happen equally among wives and husbands, or more for one gender?  And most importantly, how might this affect the addicted person being willing to go to alcohol treatment?  The relationship dynamics and individual personalities within a marriage create so many different possibilities. It may be challenging to figure out what really happens here.

Drug and alcohol addiction does so much damage to marriages and families around the world.  Communication worsens, emotional intimacy is lost, and isolation creates a cavernous distance between family members.  It makes one wonder what it might take for the one spouse to start turning away from drugs and alcohol despite their own risk for addiction.  Do they start to feel the emotional gulf widen before their addicted spouse?  Do they notice the behavior changes?  How do they perceive the way alcohol play into their own emotional pain so they turn away from it?  How else do they choose to cope with their spouses addiction aside from drugs and alcohol?

New Questions About Marriage And Drug Addiction

Obviously, there are many questions about how marriage and alcohol addiction work together.  This does give hope that some children of parents at risk for alcoholism may end up with at least one healthier parent.  Still, alcohol treatment may be an inevitable part of the picture.  There is still hope that after alcohol treatment, both spouses have a good chance of becoming healthy individuals with a more solid marriage.  The more researchers look into this phenomenon, the more they may be able to help spouses put their family back together after alcohol addiction pulls it apart.

Do you know how many people die every year from drug and alcohol related situations?  Over 120,000 per year across the United States because of drugs and alcohol.  That is like a small city being wiped out each and every year.  This kind of death toll costs society and families so much - emotional loss, money, and societal stress.  The case for considering drug and alcohol treatment has never been stronger.

People Lost Forever From Drugs And Alcohol

People who die from drugs and alcohol are lost forever, no way of getting them back.  It’s too big of a loss to overlook. The drug and alcohol treatment community is dedicated to providing better treatment and greater accessibility to people needing their services. Unfortunately, it’s not just up professionals to turn this situation around.

This is a prime example of the old cliché about leading a horse to water but not making it drink.  Even when people attend drug and alcohol treatment, relapse is not uncommon. It is a fairly normal part of drug addiction recovery. However, damage can still be done. It is up to each addicted person to find motivation for pursuing sobriety.  It simply can’t be forced.

Complexities Of Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Drug and alcohol addiction is such a complex problem. Law enforcement is usually focused on reducing the drug supply to their communities. While this can certainly be helpful, that’s not the only source of trouble. The unfortunate truth is that the human race never seems to run out of emotional pain. For some families, the cycles of dysfunction are deep and ingrained.  Tiny babies born with so much potential and innocence often end up following the patterns of their family members. Even those who attempt to escape them have scars.

In many cases, drug addiction and alcoholism is passed on through generations. Some of this may be biological vulnerabilities, but in many cases is simply the generational transfer of emotional pain. When that pain becomes too great, human beings will try many things to survive. Some people reach out in ways that truly help them.  But for those vulnerable to addiction, the solution seems obvious. Drugs and alcohol become the unavoidable coping mechanism of choice.

Change The Future - Break The Cycle With Drug Treatment

You may be in a position to help break the cycle. If you know you have a problem with drug and alcohol, this is your chance to stand up and take it a step in a different direction.  Going to drug and alcohol treatment can change not only your life, but the lives of generations to come. And if you see someone you know with the struggle, you may be able to help them take that step. Don’t delay, consider starting drug and alcohol treatment today.