Drug addiction is a disaster with many hidden casualties.  It’s obvious to see the alcoholic with multiple DUI’s or the homeless drug addict getting arrested for stealing or assault.  What you don’t often see are the suffering family members.  They are worried and upset about their loved one’s addiction, but they also have their own pain.  And since they aren’t the most obvious sufferer, they may not be sure what to do with themselves.  Let’s take a look at why support for family members and significant others is so important.

Unpredictable Life With Drug Addict Or Alcoholic

Living with an alcoholic or drug addict can be very unpredictable.  You may not be able to count on them for family meals, holiday gatherings, or being around for child supervision.  They may or may not go to work when they need to, and they may break a lot of promises.  It may feel like the family has another teenager to take care of instead of a functional adult.

Instead of having a capable parenting partner, the non-addicted spouse may learn to depend on others for child supervision.  Instead of having an adult companion who can share the workload of a family, the non-addicted spouse may feel like a single parent.  Marriages no longer seem balanced because the addicted person’s needs always seem to take precedence.

Choices Painful For Family Members

Parents and adult siblings of an addict can feel equally stressed.  Addicts and alcoholics often come to family for favors, rides, money, food, and shelter.  Since they spend so much of their time using and acquiring their drug of choice, family members often help out to keep some contact with their loved one.

The choices are all painful - refusing their requests or suggesting drug treatment could result in the addict rejecting the entire family.  Giving in just allows the addiction to grow and flourish right in front of their eyes.  Some families can become divided over this, with some members giving in and others drawing a clear line in the sand.  All of this may seem to be all about the person’s addiction on the surface, but this conflict can damage family relationships for years.  It becomes the big elephant in the living room - an obvious problem that nobody wants to talk about.

Support And Help For Families Of Alcoholic and Addicts

As you can see, families of alcoholics and drug addicts need a lot of support and help.  They need to understand how to help their loved one without promoting the addiction any further.  Families want so much to be useful and helpful, but much of the help they give creates more harm than good.

Support groups like Alanon can teach families about being truly helpful to a person with an addiction.  They can also share their hurt, their confusion, their feelings of loneliness and betrayal.  Family members don’t have to feel isolated and alone anymore when they try to survive their loved one’s addiction.  Help and hope are available today.

Drug addiction withdrawal is one of the biggest obstacles people face when they consider sobriety.  Their bodies are so tightly entangled with the chemicals that any prolonged time without them can result in nearly unbearable symptoms.  Rather than enduring that, may drug addicts just keep on going and put off sobriety.  They may also want to avoid going to a drug detox clinic, wanting to keep their drug use their private business.  If you or someone you care about is considering getting sober from strongly addictive drugs, you’ll need to know some important things about drug detox.  Without detox, sobriety may not stand a chance against withdrawal misery.

Drug Detox - Is It The Same For Every Drug

No - addictive drugs can have different kinds of withdrawal symptoms, thus requiring either more or less help during detox.  In some cases, withdrawal symptoms are more mental than physical.  This is particularly true with cocaine.  Alcohol withdrawal can be difficult, but often does not last more than a few days.  Meth and narcotic drugs can produce longer lasting more miserable symptoms than any other addictive substance.  These kinds of drugs may require detox medication for months before true sobriety is attained.

What About Privacy And Dignity During Drug Detox

The professionals at drug detox clinics are special people.  They understand the importance of privacy and dignity during drug detox.  People in recovery are often looking and feeling their worst during the detox process.  Along with the physical and emotional difficulties, they also don’t want embarrassment.  Many high quality drug detox centers have private spaces for each individual.  If the clinic is connected with a drug rehab center, people in detox are usually kept separate from those going through treatment.  When a person is finished with their detox and feeling better, they can discretely enter the treatment center with dignity intact.

So What Are All These Withdrawal Symptoms Like

Many of the physical symptoms include digestive upset like diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, and appetite changes.  A person could also get headaches and experience a variety of muscle or joint pain.  They could have difficulty with sleep, either sleeping too much or not enough.  Other physical symptoms can include palpitations, sweating, tremors, tightness in their chest, and difficulty breathing.

Some of the more severe and dangerous symptoms require immediate medical attention - delirium tremors (DT’s), hallucinations, strokes, heart attacks, and seizures.  This is perhaps the most important reason for a person needing sobriety to do it at a professional drug detox center.  Clinic professionals provide 24-hour medical supervision until the entire process is completed.  That’s something no “cold turkey” attempt can ensure.

Emotional problems could include depressive symptoms, anxiety, irritability, insecurity, trouble concentrating or “thinking straight”, social isolation, and restlessness.

Methods Used With Drug Detox

Drug detox for narcotic drugs almost always involves medications.  These drugs are so addictive that the body needs these replacement medications to ease the body into sobriety.  Many symptoms can be treated with various medications or natural treatments as necessary.  Also, a person going through detox will be allowed as much rest and privacy as they need.  Caring staff members will do whatever they can to keep a person as comfortable as possible through the ordeal.

Is This All You Need To Know About Drug Detox?

Perhaps this article has answered your questions about drug detox.  Or, it may have sparked new questions that now linger in your mind.  Don’t let this be your only source of information.  Pick up the phone and find out what you need to know about drug detox today.

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.

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems.  It is also one of the most treatable conditions, but only a small proportion of people with anxiety get properly treated.  Mental illness still has a big enough stigma that admitting it, even to a professional in confidence, can seem like a personal failure.  Worse, some people with significant anxiety problems attempt to self medicate with drugs and alcohol.  It provides some level of temporary relief, but in the end it creates another monster.

Suffering With Anxiety

Many people suffer and change their entire lifestyle in an attempt to reduce what makes them anxious.  They may never really feel relief, but they may feel some sense of control.  This may actually alienate the people they need most in their life, such as family and friends.  If they are too paralyzed by anxiety to admit they need help, they may end up suffering with their problems alone.

You can see why someone might turn to drugs or alcohol to help them with their anxiety problems.  They may think that a few drinks will help settle their nerves, or prescription pain pills will finally calm their mind.  Depending on how severe their anxiety is, a person may have trouble giving up this seemingly quick fix.  They may never intend for it to get out of control.  But if they rely heavily on the drug’s effects for daily functioning, they may quickly find themselves in the quicksand of an addiction.

Controlling The Uncontrollable

A person with anxiety and addiction may fiercely believe they are in control of it, even when it consumes their daily life.  The thing a person with anxiety wants the most is some sense of being in control of themselves.  That is a very normal desire, but drugs and alcohol are a very unhealthy way to meet this need.  Medication along with good consistent counseling will give the best results.  But again, this requires some level of admitting something is out of their control enough that they need help.

For some people with anxiety, this admission will only make them feel worse.  Drugs and alcohol can give them some way to feel like they are solving their problem, being in more control and escaping the constant grind of their symptoms.  They may fear giving up their escape more than anything else after some time.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Commonly Paired With Addiction

It is not uncommon for people who have been through trauma and abuse to develop post-traumatic stress disorder.  This is an anxiety disorder with exaggerated sense of alertness to threat and flashbacks of the trauma they have faced.  This can be so distressing that drugs and alcohol may become a very attainable escape from the horror.  They can’t stop reliving the nightmare and end up being hypervigilant, never relaxing or letting their guard down.  When this becomes exhausting and overwhelming, drugs and alcohol may be the simplest answer.  Anything to make it stop, even for a short while.

Dual Diagnosis Drug Treatment For Anxiety and Addiction

Drug treatment for someone with an anxiety disorder is more complex.  Dual diagnosis treatment is a special type of drug treatment that puts equal focus on the addiction and the mental disorder.  If the anxiety is not properly treated, the person is much more vulnerable to relapse.  People with addiction and anxiety usually just want relief, not more problems.  Dual diagnosis treatment is the way out - call to learn more today.

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.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse held a conference in New Mexico in April of 2010 discussing many current issues and cutting edge ideas about drug and alcohol treatment.  Researchers and drug treatment experts were brought together to discuss new directions of study and action in the drug treatment community.  So many new advances in drug treatment have emerged in the last several years.  These kinds of collaborations and conferences are essential for the future of treatment and addiction prevention. Read about these five exciting new developments for addiction treatment.

Buprenorphine Treatment For Younger People

Buprenorphine has been used to effectively treat drug addiction for adults, and is now being considered for long term use for a younger population.

Developing New Drug Treatments

Researchers are looking more deeply at the biological and genetic components to drug addiction to find new opportunities for effective drug treatment.

Vaccines For Cocaine Addiction

Vaccine development may seem like an unlikely direction for drug treatment.  But researchers are now looking to manipulate the immune system to help fight drug addiction.

Native American Populations And Addiction

Native American populations have special genetic and social considerations when it comes to drug addiction.  Experts are looking at specific evidence-based treatments to be used in new and more effective ways with this population.

Military Veterans With Post Traumatic Stress

Post traumatic stress puts military veterans at a strong risk for developing drug or alcohol addiction.  Researchers continue to look closer at the connections between trauma, addiction, and military families.

Focus On Evidence Based Addiction Treatment

The focus for this conference was on evidence-based treatment and prevention tactics for drug and alcohol addiction.  When addiction professionals get together to discuss these important issues, the future of drug treatment takes another step into the future.  The drug treatment community isn’t sitting on the sideline or sticking by old ideas.  They are constantly challenging and strengthening the ways drug treatment professionals help people.

By focusing on evidence-based treatment, they clarify the methods of drug treatment that are shown to work time and time again.  This provides guidance for drug treatment facilities around the world to deliver the best treatment possible.  By bringing forth new ideas, they expand treatment options to meet the needs of every individual.

Changing The Future Of Drug Treatment

This kind of focused effort takes time and careful consideration, but anyone needing drug treatment in the future will benefit from this collaboration.  The future of drug treatment continues to be a vibrant area of growth and strength.  What works is being continually confirmed, and new ideas are being developed into viable forms of treatment.  Check back here for more news about developments in drug and alcohol treatment.

Fighting drug addiction is hard enough-the physical illness, the emotional drain on relationships, the problems at work if you’ve managed to keep your job and the financial hardships if you haven’t-without also having to sift through tons of information that may or may not be correct when it comes to finding drug addiction treatment.

How do you know what’s true and what isn’t? How do you go about determining what the right drug rehab choices are for you?

Drug Addiction Facts Versus Fiction: Consider the Source

If you’re hearing stories from someone who failed at rehab or from a friend of a friend of someone’s sister, then take the information with a grain of salt. It may or may not be correct. It may or may not be an embellishment of the truth. It may or may not be someone’s personal perspective. Bypass these sources and seek out something more reliable.

If you’re starting online, you can get information about the mechanism of drugs and how they work in the body and brain most reliably from government and university websites. Research-based and evidence-based publications and studies are published all the time with the hope of enlightening the public.

Another strong source is a reputable, certified substance abuse treatment facility. Here you will find articles and information about the effects of drug addiction, your drug addiction treatment options, how your family can help and get help as well, what to expect during and after rehab, et cetera. If you have questions, they may also be able to point you to a phone number to call for more direction.

Drug Addiction Facts Versus Fiction: Follow Your Instinct

Just like everything else in life, if something appears too good to be true, it likely is. Promises of “rapid detox” or instant treatments that occur if you just follow a program in a book or take a bottle of herbal supplements are hoaxes. If it were that easy for you to leave drug addiction behind you, you would have done it already.

The fact of the matter is that drug addiction is a disease. It is a physiological dependence and a psychological addiction and the combination of the two can be virtually impossible to break free from on your own. Infomercial treatments or expensive day-long or weekend-long programs will only take your money and leave you with the same problems you had before.

Drug Addiction Treatment

If you are searching for the right drug addiction treatment for you, start by taking an honest look at your drug history and the withdrawal symptoms you experience. Talking to your doctor can help you put things in perspective and determine the best type of program for you. For example, if you have tried outpatient programs or drug rehab programs with lighter commitments and it didn’t work for you, you might want to find a program with a different philosophy. If you have tried a “one-size-fits-all” approach and the rigidity kept you from completing your program, then something more holistic may benefit you this time around.

Keep an open mind and ask questions, just make sure that you’re asking substance abuse treatment specialists who can give you honest answers.

It’s a question that could not be more hotly debated in the United States and a group called Project Prevention is traveling around and stirring up the controversy everywhere they go. The group, run by Barbara Harris, has but one goal in mind: pay drug addicted women $300 to undergo sterilization voluntarily so that they can no longer have children. Harris believes it helps the women, their potentially drug addicted children and the community at large who are hard pressed to care for these sick, unwanted youngsters. Critics say that the program takes advantage of desperate women and takes away their reproductive options when they are vulnerable.

Clients Defend Project Prevention’s Program

Some of the biggest defender or Project Prevention are the women who have undergone the procedure, many of them mothers who have children with developmental issues due to their mother’s drug abuse during pregnancy. Even mothers who are now clean and sober are glad that they underwent the procedure and are not now dealing with children who would have been punished due to their problems.

One woman who chose sterilization through Project Prevention used the money to pay household bills for her family of 11: herself, her husband and their 9 children. She says: “At first I was scared but then I thought, ‘I have too many kids already’. They’ve suffered so much through having both parents addicted. I had my children taken away for two years because of my meth addiction. That was the worse time of my life. I didn’t want to risk putting any more babies through the same thing.”

How It All Began

Harris, the program’s founder, adopted several children who were born to drug addicted. The first was in 1990 and the child’s mother, who was addicted to crack, had two more children over the next few years. Each one was born addicted to crack and Harris adopted them all, helping each one of them through detox and recovery.

Says Harris: “The scream of an addicted baby is like no other scream you’ll ever hear.”

Though she was 57 years old at the time and had six sons of her own in addition to the children she adopted, Harris vowed to find a way to stop addicts from having children they couldn’t care for. She used her own money and began the first incarnation of Project Prevention and paid women to choose sterilization or long-term birth control. Harris and her group drive a 30-foot motor home to communities with high levels of drug use and pass out flyers.

Harris says: “These women have so many children that even if they do get clean they have more children than they can care for. I didn’t know who I was more angry with - the mothers for having these children or the system for allowing it to happen.”

What They’ve Done: Project Prevention’s Track Record

Over the past decade, almost 3300 women have been sterilized through Project Prevention. The sterilization procedure of choice: fallopian tube tying, not hysterectomy. Men are offered the opportunity as well, but only 35 have volunteered to do so. Though Project Prevention has focused on the United States, that may soon change.

Harris says: “I was sent a check for 13,000 pounds by a man in London who had heard me on the radio and supported what I’m doing. I’ve had emails and letters from people in Britain saying I should bring the program over, so I’m planning a visit in May to get it rolling.”

What do you think? Is Project Prevention ethical or not?

Drug addiction and drug dependence sound a lot alike; in fact, many publications use the two terms interchangeably even though the two are defined slightly differently. In the past, both drug addiction and drug dependence have been reason enough to enroll in a drug rehab or drug detox facility despite the fact that they aren’t identical disorders. However, due to upcoming changes in diagnostic standards, this may no longer be the case. The new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V) seeks to update and change how one defines drug addiction and thus change who can get what types of services for different disorders.

Drug Dependence

Drug dependence refers solely to the physiological tolerance that one develops over time while taking a drug or medication. No matter who you are, most will begin to need more and more of any medication in order to experience the same effects it originally supplied. That is to say, when you first take aspirin for a headache, one tablet may suffice. But if your headaches persist daily, then you will need a tablet and a half, then two tablets, then three and so on in order for the medication to do its job effectively.

For those who take prescription painkillers to treat pain (i.e., Vicodin, OxyContin, hydrocodone, Percocet, et cetera), the same is true. They start out with a small dose and then, when that stops working and the pain persists, doctors usually increase the dose, until that no longer works and increase it again or add other pain relievers, and so on. This buildup of tolerance when you take addictive drugs like painkillers means that if you stop taking the drug abruptly, you experience withdrawal symptoms. These withdrawal symptoms do not signify drug addiction, says the new DSM-V. Rather, they signify drug dependence and a detox may be beneficial, but a simple step down program that helps you stop taking the drug slowly may work as well when there are no psychological cravings.

Drug Addiction

The psychological cravings, according to the DSM-V proposed changes, are the key to what defines drug addiction. Drug addiction is characterized by the same physiological tolerance found in drug dependence but it is worsened by the overwhelming drive and need for the drug. Simply cutting back a little more of the dose each day does nothing for those who are struggling with drug addiction; they require treatment for the psychological dependence in order to learn how to overcome the chemical changes in their brain and the rewiring that occurs over time with continued drug use and build a new life without drugs and alcohol.

Treatment for Drug Addiction and Drug Dependence

If drugs are overtaking your life or if the withdrawal symptoms are too much to bear, treatment may be indicated when drug dependence is an issue. Depending upon your co-occurring disorders and the reason you began using the drug in the first place as well as your drug of choice, different types of treatment may be a good choice for you. It depends on your circumstance.

If you are a drug addict, however, it is clear: the only way out drug rehab. The more intensive, long-term and all-inclusive the drug rehab is that you choose the more likely you will be to successfully complete the program and begin a new life for yourself. Learn about your options and get the help you need today.

When it comes to teen drug addiction, prevention usually comes in the form of talking to teenagers about the dangers and health issues that result when drugs are an issue. The risks of drug addiction, drug overdose, teen pregnancy and disease through unprotected sex as well as death due to accident or negligent behavior are the primary focus at high schools, teen centers and other anti-drug venues.

While this has had an effect on the perception of drug and alcohol danger, it has only marginally decreased the incidents of use and possession of drugs among teens. Perhaps another approach to disseminating information about the risks associated with drug abuse and addiction is to educate parents and caregivers.

Drug Addiction Education: Never Assume

There are a few assumptions that we, as a community, tend to work under. One is that parents are knowledgeable about the dangers facing their children. It is assumed that parents are functional themselves and that if there were any drug use in the home that it would have been figured out long before the kids reached high school.

Unfortunately, children are often more knowledgeable than their parents about drugs and alcohol, their availability, use and the risks of addiction. While arming teenagers with the information they need to protect themselves, it is helpful for those who are still straddling the fence to have parents at home that can reinforce what they’re learning at school.

Parental Drug Addiction Education Tactics

There are a number of different ways to get the information to parents that they need to protect their kid. Sending home flyers with the kids or mailing them directly to parents may be helpful. Including short informational sessions for parents at school events for families can be beneficial as well (i.e., school plays, band concerts, choral concerts, et cetera). Back to School Nights at the beginning of the year for parents can include a short segment on drug problems, drug addiction, what to look for and how to help your child.

What Parents Need to Know About Teen Drug Addiction

There is quite a bit of information that parents need to know about teen drug addiction in order to best help their children stand strong against drug abuse. These include:

• The mechanisms of peer pressure and specific things kids can say to stand up to it
• What drugs look like so that they will know it when they see it
• Slang terms for drugs and getting high so that they will know when their children are talking about it
• The signs and symptoms of specific drugs of addiction so that you know what drugs to look for
• Drugs that are prevalent in that particular region
• Locations of local drug trade (i.e., where addicts are going to buy different drugs) so that parents can make sure that their children don’t frequent these places

Increasing the communication between parents and teenagers starts with a conversation in which both sides are knowledgeable. Giving parents the same (and more) information to talk intelligently to their children can help them know the signs, know what to look and listen for and help their kids avoid dangerous places.