Addictions Treatment Blog

Not everyone that uses drugs is necessarily addicted to them. There are people that are able to use prescription or recreational drugs without becoming addicted or suffering negative consequences. However, for many others, using prescription or recreational drugs may lead to problems in relationships, in school, at work, or at home. This often leaves people feeling ashamed, helpless, or isolated.

If you are worried that you or someone you care about may be addicted, it is important to remember that help is available. While signs may be different from person to person and depending on the drug that they may be using, there are some signs that you should look out for. Not all of these signs are going to be evident, but if you see a combination it could be a good indicator that something is amiss.

A tolerance to the drug of choice
Whereas a small amount of drugs may have achieved the desired effect before, overtime the body becomes tolerant of the drug. This is when smaller amounts no longer work and a larger amount of the drug has to be used.

Drugs taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms
Is someone is addicted to drugs and go too long without using, they can experience symptoms such as anxiety, shaking, sweating, depression, insomnia, restlessness, and nausea.

Drug use is out of control
Once drugs start controlling how often someone uses or they do it more than they had planned, this is a clear sign of addiction. When people tell themselves that they are not going to take anymore drugs and end up doing so anyway, it leaves them feeling powerless.

Life revolves around using drugs
People that are addicted spend a great deal of time thinking about drugs and how to get their next fix. They also spend a great deal of recovering from the effects of drugs.

Given up on activities that used to be enjoyable
Some of the main things that people give up on when they are addicted because of drug use are socializing, sports, and hobbies. Things that used to matter, but have become significantly unimportant since becoming addicted.

Continuous to use – even knowing that it hurts them
Oftentimes drug use causes major problems in the user’s life. Paranoia, depression, mood swings, infections, blackouts, financial difficulty, but they continue to use anyway.

Relationships are starting to falter
Oftentimes drug addiction will lead to losing old friends, unhappy employers, and fights with family members or significant others.

Drug use is leading to legal trouble
Whether this means stealing to support a habit, driving under the influence, or disorderly conduct, drug use can often lead to legal trouble. And of course it is important to that quite a few narcotics are considered felonies when in possession without a prescription.

Unacceptable risks
Oftentimes people do things under the influence of drugs that they would not do without the influence of drugs. Having unprotected sex, using dirty needles, sharing needles, or driving while on drugs are just a few examples.

Biophysical drug rehab may sound complicated and unknown to most, but rest assured that this is going to change in the future. Even though biophysical drug rehab has been around for nearly 40 years already, it has only recently started becoming more popular. One of the reasons for the recent interest in this holistic rehab method is because the internet allows people to do more research about what has been successful for others when overcoming their addiction. When people are able to do more research on alcohol and drug rehab alternatives, they soon realize that traditional rehab simply cannot compete.

High Rehab Success Rate
It is documented that biophysical drug rehab has some of the highest rehab success rates when it comes to people staying sober and clean long-term. The rehab percentage of people that actually are able to manage their addiction through this rehab rests in the 70-80% range. Compare that to traditional rehab programs and you will see that the biophysical rehabs' average success rate is over five times higher.

A Different Approach
This form of rehab does not simply focus on the traditional 12- steps, it does not just focus on the emotional underlying problems that may result in addictive behavior – it deals with the physical problems. Unfortunately, whereas the emotional gets the vast majority if not all the attention in a traditional rehab program, the physical is often neglected or considered irrelevant.

The Problem with Traditional Rehab
When you ignore the physical part of addiction, you are neglecting the fact that our body stores toxins in fatty tissue. Through our natural, metabolic process, these small amounts of alcohol and drugs residue (toxins) are released back into the bloodstream. This means that even people that are not actively using alcohol or drugs anymore are overwhelmed with the desire to do drugs or drink. When you ignore this fundamental physical step, it should come as no surprise that people eventually relapse because of these urges. It is more than a psychological craving; it is their body feeding them small amounts of their addictive substance.

Why Biophysical Drug Rehab is Different
That is precisely why biophysical drug rehab takes much longer to complete (approximately three months for most) than the standard 12-step programs. This extra time allows for a complete physical detoxification. This means that while the patient is experiencing complete metabolic release of all drug and alcohol residue stored in the body, they are not left alone and helped by professional staff. With proven regiments such as a medical sauna (to sweat out toxins), patients are not left to their own devices when it comes to having to fight physical addiction.

The Aftermath
As you can understand, feeling as if you cannot overcome addiction can eventually make someone feel hopeless. It creates a dwindling spiral of addiction where people feel as though they will never fully recover from their drug addiction. With biophysical drug rehab, once the actual physical craving is eliminated, these are gone. That means that the patient still needs mental and emotional support, but the attempt to stay clean is no longer undermined by the body being fed small doses of what was the drug of choice.

Addiction is a tough subject for the person addicted, as well as, their friends and family, because how or why a person develops a chemical dependency has no rhyme or reason. It is extremely difficult to watch a person vanish and become replaced by an addict. Yes, there may be some who are genetically predisposed, but that alone will not determine if an individual will develop a problem. A person's coping mechanisms in real life also plays a large part.

If you have a teenager or college aged student it is extremely important to talk to them about the lasting effects alcohol and/or drug abuse will have on their lives. However, you may unknowingly be the first one to turn your child on. Adderall is a prescription drug used for managing the effects of Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It is extremely addictive and many people find they like themselves better when high on it. Most who abuse it are abusing their own prescription or that of a friend's.

The Cold Hard Facts
Adderall is classified as a Schedule II drug by the Drug Enforcement Agency, because abusing it can cause severe psychological or physical dependence. It is a member of the amphetamine-salts family and is known to promote wakefulness and focus with decreased appetite and fatigue.

This is what makes it such an appealing drug of choice for college students. Suddenly, that term paper that they have been putting off for weeks can be accomplished in one night. Schoolwork is not the only reason this performance enhancer is sought out, it is frequently accompanied by binge drinking, and one can party harder and for longer amounts of time. In addition, those who abuse this pill are far more likely to go on to give other drugs a try. Adderall addiction is a downward spiral, but once identified in a person can be remedied with the right type of drug rehabilitation program.

Treatment Programs that Work
Adderall rehab is a hard choice; it can be extremely difficult for an individual to admit they have a problem. Furthermore, family members may choose to look away rather than look at the reality starring them in the face. Once the substance abuse problem is recognized it is important to get the type of treatment that will have lasting effects.

The path to sobriety takes time and effort, but there are successful rehabilitation programs that can help an individual get their life back.

When it comes to knowing what would work best for their drug addiction, addicts perhaps know better than any one else and its worth listening to them.

There is a price to pay for being a drug addict or alcoholic and nobody knows this better than the substance abuser themselves. In fact, they pay the price in many different areas of life. One of these many areas is their lack of credibility. In general society looks at the drug addict as being an individual that can offer nothing of substance to the world, while they are dealing with an addiction. As a result any input an addict may have concerning drugs and the rehabilitative measures that are in place holds no credence. After all what do they know? They are too warped by their drug use to be able to offer anything intelligent right?

Well perhaps we are the ignorant ones here, if that is the type of thinking we have adopted. Who better is there to explain the pain a person is in when something is wrong with their body other than the sufferer themselves? So why is this any different for the drug abuser? They know their thoughts and they know their body. They know the symptoms that appear when they are in need of their drug of choice, and they know what it is going to take to alleviate what they are going through.

So if the drug addict knows all this wouldn't they be the ones to listen to when they tell you what would give them their best shot at rehabilitation? Yet how often do we hear drug addicts tell you they won't consider drug rehabilitation because it doesn't work. We just assume that this is their excuse for not wanting to become clean. However, how many of their fellow addict friends have gone into rehab numerous times and relapsed? Unless we are in this inner circle, we don't have the answer for that but you can bet there are several. Drug addicts are aware of the tremendous effort it is going to take for them to sober up and become clean. It is understandable why they would be wary of taking this first step when they have seen so much failure in the rehab systems. Based on this it would be fair to say that addicts think much more logically about drug rehabilitation then society does.

How many addicts are there out there, that if they knew that there were other drug rehab programs that have a much higher success rate compared to the old standby programs, such as the 12 step or drug replacement programs, would not give it a shot?

If we plan on taking an active role in convincing drug addicts and alcoholics that rehabilitation really does work, then we have the responsibility of educating ourselves about what really is available, and start looking at the success stats instead of just going with the rehab programs merely because they have been around the longest.

Perhaps the best approach to drug rehabilitation is drug rehab education first, then we have something viable to offer to the addict. It can even become easier than that if we responsible individuals who are acting on behalf of the addict, seek out professionals who do have the expertise and knowledge that the drug addict and alcoholic needs to help make a decision.

ESPN covered this story some weeks back but I do not believe it really got the coverage it deserved. Probably due to the NFL lockout and other headlines but also due to how the media and NFL try to sterilize the matter.

The backup QB for the Jets, Erik Ainge (nephew of former basketball star and current Celtics GM Danny Ainge) just did something that so few current athletes ever do - he details his addiction in the present time. Many other athletes admit to such things later in life and in memoirs or when being paid to do speeches. But Erik took another path and may save lives.

He is only 24 years old and while he still technically has his job with the Jets. He admits now that he's been using since pre high school and how by college he was severely addicted to pain pills and other drugs and alcohol.

While the article leaves you sad for him and what he is going through in life, I think every student athlete should try to find it and read it. It's about a pro athlete who lost control and experience multiple overdoses, DUI's, rehabs and relapses and ultimately how he's likely to lose his professional career over it.

While I am not a fan of his NFL work or his choices in how he is working to resolve his addictions (mostly AA and NA, psychiatrist) I am happy that he's working on getting help and even more, I have admiration for what he did to help so many others by telling his story.