The Canyon

Drug addiction wrecks havoc on a person’s body. Liver damage, blood vessel damage, heart damage, and other problems can make good health a real challenge. And is there any hope to make things better after a drug addiction? Yes, there are many ways to make your body healthy after you have become sober. You’ll also find out how a healthy body can offer some protection against relapse risk.

Help Your Body Recover From Drug Addiction

Some physical damage resulting from a drug addiction cannot be reversed. It may not be possible to restore issues that have been broken down or cells that have been destroyed. However that doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement. Physical exercise is a terrific way to gradually improve functioning across the entire body.

Yoga combines the physical benefits of exercise and the mental benefits of meditation. It’s a relaxing way to stretch and strengthen muscles and a person’s own pace. Yoga can help a person become more aware of how their body works and what it needs. Every person doing yoga is accepted no matter what their body is like what they can or can’t do.

aerobic exercise and weight training can help the cardiovascular system. Improve heart functioning will help a recovering addict have more energy and feel better every day. Physical exercise trains the body to regulate the heartbeat, expand and contract blood vessels, and function more efficiently.

Physical Exercise Helps Prevent Addiction Relapse

Physical activity does more than just help the body recover from drug addiction. It also provides some protection against relapse. Let’s be clear, exercise is not a magic pill that keeps cravings away. However, it does provide some benefits that make relapse a lot less likely.

When a person exercises in some way, the body pumps endorphins through the blood system. These chemicals give a person a mild natural high, reinforcing the benefit of doing exercise. Even when exercise gets a little tough or boring, the person remembers that good feeling they get when they are finished. This process is especially important for a person recovering from drug addiction.

Addictive drugs take over the “feel good” chemical process, displacing the body’s natural release of endorphins. The body needs to be retrained once the addictive drugs are out of the body system. Since exercise is a process. The body can take its time getting the normal release of endorphins back on track.

A person who regularly gets a good feeling from exercise may have less need for an artificial drug high. cravings may not have as much punch. They already know how to get more energy and feel better each day by doing exercise. Plus, exercise can help fill time that might have otherwise been used for drug activities. Again, less opportunity for relapse triggers to take hold.

Stay Healthy and Keep Addiction Relapse At Bay

If you have been through drug rehab, you may have already learned these benefits of exercise. Many drug treatment programs are including various forms of exercise and yoga now. This holistic approach helps a person stay healthy and sober long after drug treatment has ended.

photo credit: Johnathan!

In true Tiger Woods fashion, Jesse James has chosen to respond to the ever-increasing line of women confessing to affairs with him during his 5-year marriage to Sandra Bullock by enrolling in rehab. What kind of rehab is yet a mystery, according to TMZ, who broke the story (Is it drug rehab? Alcohol rehab? Sex addiction rehab? Some combination thereof?), but there have been confirmations that Jesse attended sessions at a rehab in Arizona.

Hitting Rock Bottom: The Need for Rehab

Just days after his wife, Sandra Bullock, won a Best Actress Oscar for her work in the movie Blind Side, a woman named Michelle McGee came forward alleging that she had had an 11-month affair with Jesse James. Over the past few weeks, another four women have come out claiming the same thing (one affair was alleged to have last 3 years), one of them just this week. A woman who used to work for Jesse at West Coast Choppers even filed a sexual harassment case against him before he married Sandra and others close to the 40-year-old father claim that he often placed ads online for women with “tattoos and big boobs.” His infidelity was an open secret and now it’s no secret at all.

Sandra apparently found out about her husband’s infidelity when a tabloid called her just before the story broke. After confronting Jesse, it has been reported that she left their home and disappeared for a few days as the story unfolded. Magazines and online news sources are now saying that she is filing for divorce. They are also reporting that Jesse James has headed to rehab.

Drug Addiction and Sex Addiction

By heading to drug rehab, Jesse James and others in his situation seem to be saying that not only are they sorry for their behavior and sorry they got caught but that they are taking action to help fight against this happening again. By elevating their choices to the status of a disease they are also, in part, claiming that their behavior is beyond their control. The only way this argument stands is if they follow up the assertion by seeking medical treatment.

While Jesse’s trip to rehab may or may not impress upon Sandra the depth and breadth of his remorse, it will serve to provide him with a little respite from the swarms of paparazzi and give him something positive to focus his attentions on that will also give him back a sense of control in his life.

Drug Addiction Rehab and Sex Addiction Treatment

Both drug addiction and sex addiction are serious psychological and physiological disorders. For someone who is truly struggling with either disorder or both disorders simultaneously, it is virtually impossible to break free without medical intervention. At a certified dual diagnosis treatment center, you can get help for both problems at the same time, which has been proven to be the most effective way to treat those with co-occurring disorders, statistically.

If you would like to learn more about addiction treatment, The Canyon can help. Call today.

Sometimes you live with something for so long, it becomes part of the landscape. You don’t see the details anymore, you learn to live with the irritating problems and pick up the slack when things fall apart. Do you know if you are living with someone gripped with an addiction? Read this post to learn about crucial red flags that signal a drug addiction and what you can do if you see them.

Here’s a quick list of what you might notice if you are living with a drug addict or alcoholic.

- Drinking heavily on a regular basis
– Secretiveness and excuses about drinking or drug use
– Missing money that can’t be accounted for
– Prescription pain medication being taken more frequently or in larger quantities than prescribed
– Drinking or drug use (even pain medication) to deal with stress
– Increased problems at work
– Lots of time being spent drinking or using drugs and getting the alcohol or drugs
– Blackouts
– Extreme emotions
– These problems are starting to affect family life, social life, work situation
– Legal problems resulting from drugs or alcohol
– They protect their drug or alcohol use above other priorities
– They say they will stop or slow down their use, but they can’t seem to

What Next If You See Drug Addiction

When you realize that you are living with an addicted person, you have a choice to make. You can either allow things to continue as they are or you take a courageous step to make a change. If you decide to do nothing, you may believe that person can and will eventually snap out of it on their own. You may be playing a dangerous waiting game if you make this choice. Drunk driving, being high while using electricity or fire, unexpected suicide attempt – these ad other devastating things could happen when a person has an untreated addiction.

Help Your Loved One Start Drug Rehab

If you decide to take action, first call a professional for guidance. You may need some support to start the conversation with your loved one, or you may want more information about drug detox and drug treatment centers in your area. Even if your loved one doesn’t seem open to starting drug or alcohol rehab, a drug rehab professional can steer you towards support groups for yourself and other strategies to help your loved one open themselves to treatment. Don’t let something destructive like drug addiction become part of your background landscape. Bring it out into the light, out in front of you. Deal with the truth and turn your family life in a different direction.

photo credit: nzgabriel

There is one country in the world that imprisons more people than anyone else and consumes 66 percent of the world’s illicit drugs. According to Ruben Rosario at TwinCities.com, that country is the United States.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse released a 188-page study linking criminal behavior with drug and alcohol addiction. The Center calls the study “the most exhaustive analysis ever undertaken to identify the extent to which alcohol and other drugs are implicated in the crimes and incarceration of America’s prison population.”

The number of drug-related offenders in all manner of lockup make up 85 percent of the prison population. So why isn’t there more of an effort to get treatment to those who are inside? Without it, they simply make more connections with other drug users and sellers while locked up and leave the facility to hit the streets a smarter, more hardened criminal than before with the same drug addiction issues.

Joseph Califano heads the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. He says that if “all inmates with substance-use disorders who are not receiving treatment were provided evidence-based treatment and aftercare, we would break even on this investment in one year if just over 10 percent of those receiving such services remained substance- and crime-free and employed.”

As it stands, only 11 percent of inmates with drug addiction disorders receive drug addiction treatment during their incarceration, according to the study. Officials always like to cite cost as a reason for not providing a given service in any context, but the fact that federal, state and local government agencies spend upwards of $74 billion on probation, parole, court costs and prison costs makes it difficult to believe that diverting some of the funds toward drug rehab instead wouldn’t be cost effective, especially when the recidivism rate is effectively decreased as a result, which in turn decreases future costs.

How much do they currently spend on drug addiction rehab and abuse prevention for prisoners? About $632 million, according to the new study. That’s less than 1 percent of what is invested into other forms of “rehabilitation” through imprisonment.

Califano comments on the financial aspect of the issue:

“For each succeeding year that these inmates remained substance- and crime-free and employed, the nation would reap an economic benefit of $90,953 per inmate in reduced crime, lower arrest, prosecution, incarceration and health care costs, and economic benefits from employment. That’s a return on investment that would satisfy even the greediest Wall Street bankers.”

Just to be clear, the suggestion to insert drug rehab more dominantly into the prison system should in no way be interpreted as a “get out of jail free” card for violent offenders with drug addiction issues. The idea is to actually help the person who has a drug addiction that is putting them in a position to do things they otherwise wouldn’t. The hope is that drug treatment over imprisonment will increase their chances of successfully kicking their habit as well as the treadmill of prison rather than digging a deeper hole for their lives that is harder to get out of.

But don’t take my word for it. Take a look at the study online and draw your own conclusions.

Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research just released a study about heavy drinkers and their general health habits. They report that both men and women have worse health habits if they are heavy or risky drinkers. Only moderate drinkers showed health benefits from consuming alcohol.

Attitudes About Health Significant For Alcohol Drinkers

It seems that the key difference between moderate and heavy drinkers were their overall attitudes about general health practices. Heavy drinkers tended to use cigarettes, not wear seat belts, eat an unhealthy diet, and not see their doctors regularly.

Another part of the story is heavy drinkers’ belief of how much they are in control of their own life. According to the study, they tended to think that good health was a matter of good or bad luck. Instead of collaborating with their doctors, heavy drinkers reported not liking doctor’s visits.

Alcohol Affects Mental Health and Physical Health

The results of the research study has pointed out the connection between attitude and general health. But which comes first, the attitude or the drinking? This is a complicated question, and most likely they occur together. Many people who drink heavily often do so because they are trying to cope with problems. They may already think that their life is out of control, so why would their physical health be any different?

Also, a heavy drinker could be (or become) an addictive drinker. They may need alcohol treatment to get their life in order. But most don’t seek help at an alcohol rehab center. If anything, they might go to their doctor about physical complaints. When addiction thinking sets in, a person sees the world through a black-and-white perspective. Things are either good or they are bad, in control or out of control.

Health Of Alcoholics Depends On Getting Alcohol Rehab

Alcoholics are also more likely to be pessimistic because of their persistent negativity. This outlook on life likely bleeds into their health habits. Just another part of their life that’s out of their control, probably more bad news. So what’s the point of making any sort of change?

Unfortunately, heavy drinkers who don’t get treatment will likely face many health challenges in their future. Heart disease, high blood pressure, skin problems, and liver disease are just a few of the health risks associated with heavy drinking. If you have a loved one who seems to be a heavy drinker, do whatever you can to get them to the doctor or seek alcohol rehab. They may not like going to the doctor now, but they will be doing it a lot more without professional treatment.

photo credit: Tif Pic

In a well publicized article in the UK’s The Sun, Lindsay dished the details on her drug and alcohol use, how her abuse of specific drugs affected her and scared her and went on to say that she was done with that behavior as a result.

It appears that that was a resolution that quickly faded for Ms. Lohan. After London and Atlantic City, Lindsay was busted in Los Angeles partying with drugs and alcohol as per her usual not once, not twice but for three consecutive nights.

Concerns for Loved Ones On the Edge of Drug Addiction

While paparazzi and close friends publicize Lindsay’s nights out at Bardot Hollywood or Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, gossip about her apparently ongoing desire to rekindle a relationship with ex-girlfriend, Samantha Ronson, and discuss the actress’s worn appearance, others are expressing concern for Lindsay and worry that she’s headed to a dark place with drug abuse and addiction and potentially should go back to rehab before that happens.

One friend close to Lindsay told the press that Lindsay “needs help. She needs to solve her problems. She’s just not taking care of herself.”

Michael Lohan, her estranged father, is concerned as well. Though Lindsay say that it was Michael who first introduced her to cocaine, Michael blames Lindsay’s behavior on her feelings about his divorce from her mother.

Michael Lohan told People Magazine that: “The reason Lindsay tries to drown her sorrows and mask her pain was because of my divorce from her mother, which in turn tore her apart.”

How to Help Friends and Loved Ones with Drug Abuse Issues

It’s a difficult spot to be in: someone you care for has had obvious difficulties curtailing drug and alcohol abuse in the past, but they claim that they are now okay and can use socially without any long-term detrimental effect. Support them on this and you could be aiding them as they sink deeper into addiction. Fight them on it and you could lose contact with someone you care for deeply as they fall irrevocably further into a life that will eventually kill them.

So how do you help your friend or loved one effectively? First, don’t make it the focus of every interaction with them. When their drug and alcohol addiction or their behavior under the influence hurts you, someone else or them physically or emotionally, take note.

Next, find others who share your concerns. If drug and alcohol addiction is truly a problem, then there are others who have noticed as well: family members, significant others, siblings, close friends, bosses or mentors. Gathering a handful of these people together for an intervention can be an effective way to allow everyone to communicate their concerns and convince your friend that it’s time to get help at a drug rehab.

Finally, you need to be prepared that your friend may or may not accept help. For everyone in any relationship, there are deal breakers. Drug and alcohol addiction or continued abuse of drugs is likely one of yours, especially when it means that you have to watch your friend hurt themselves and others. Let them know that if they don’t get the help they need for themselves, that you will no longer be a part of their life. And then follow through: if they choose drug rehab, be there to support them with letters, phone calls and visits and make sure you are available and supportive when they come home. If they choose not to go to rehab, then walking away and maintaining your distance is the right thing to do for both of you.

Energy drinks have been a growing fad for the last several years, especially among younger people. One of the more popular combinations is Red Bull and vodka. While this may seem like the trendy cool thing for young folks in a partying mood, it is actually very risky. People who do this may not hear the truth about how this combination affects them. Get ready because you are going to read about it right now.

Three Key Risks of Alcohol and Energy Drinks Together

1 – Reduces perception of impairment

2 – Triples the risk of getting drunk

3 – Increases the risk of injury

The biggest problem is that the combination of high levels of caffeine and alcohol is having a misperception of how intoxicated they are. When a drunk person feels stimulated, all they are is a wide awake drunk person. The stimulation doesn’t make them more focused, quicken their reflexes, or help them stay more sober. The stimulation only fools them into believing this. Thus, they may drink more to feel their normal level of alcohol intoxication. They may do things like driving or walking home that they cannot do safely.

If a person drinks excessively because they miss the cues of strong intoxication, just think how much more likely they are to develop an alcohol abuse problem or alcoholism. Just one typical energy drink contains four times the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee. Alcohol rehab could be right around the corner for someone who continues to drink heavily and develop a tolerance.

Energy Drinks And Alcohol Trend With Younger People

Some alcohol manufacturers are even creating combined alcoholic energy drinks such as Sparks, Tilt, Bud Extra. In the last two years, several companies have agreed to reformulate their drinks or completely remove caffeine from the ingredients. While the market for alcoholic energy drinks is a small percentage, that market is almost exclusively young people. Without the benefit of wisdom and seasoned judgment, these kids have little idea how to handle the mixed effects of stimulation and intoxication. Having it prepackaged for them is a pretty bad idea.

This phenomenon is almost exclusively a problem among young drinkers. Combining stimulants and depressants is not new, and many people with drug addiction end up doing this to regulate their mood and daily functioning. This is a bad sign that their own body’s chemical system has been overtaken by the drugs. While energy drinks aren’t on the same level as illegal stimulants, the practice is very risky.

Be Aware Of Alcohol Treatment

If you are a parent, make sure you tell your kids the truth about alcohol and energy drinks. It’s up to you to keep up with these trends so you can stay informed and arm your kids with knowledge. Having an open dialogue about this can possibly keep your kids from trying such a dangerous combination. It could also prevent your kid from ending up in alcohol treatment.

photo credit: djtutusaus

Yet another doctor has had a run-in with the law but this one went further than just having a few too many patients on prescription painkillers or overmedicating someone who eventually succumbed to a drug overdose. Lawrence Carl Runke, 66, of Arizona decided to take his pharmaceutical knowledge and apply it to an illegal pharmacy. For his trouble, he got himself five years in prison and four years of probation.

The Charges: Illegal Painkiller Prescriptions

Runke was found guilty of 12 criminal counts. These included charges like money laundering, sale of prescription drugs, possession of prescription drugs for sale and possession of dangerous drugs for sale as well as conspiracy.

Where did Runke get the drugs to fill the prescriptions at his illegal pharmacy? The same place many Americans go to get their illegal painkillers when they can’t get a legal prescription in the United States: India. The way prosecutors tell it, Runke purchased drugs for his pharmacy, Global Medicines, LLC, from unapproved Indian suppliers and then resold them here.

Runke’s medical license was suspended long ago and he was never licensed as a pharmacist in Arizona. This is what originally started the investigation in 2005. Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations and the Phoenix Police Department worked together on this one and found that Runke’s little business was potentially creating serious health problems for his clients.

The risks that Runke took with patients’ health certainly wasn’t hurting his bank account: he generated over $1.5 million dollars since 2005.

Arizona and Illegal Prescription Painkillers

Arizona, it seems, is a new hotbed for these illegal pharmacies. With the spate of busts recently that close down illegal pharmacies, Arizona is making quite a name for itself.

Another Arizona doc, Dr. Albert Szu Yun Yeh, was shut down last year with 14 felony counts for opening a clinic (only on Tuesdays) that managed to fill 100 prescriptions weekly for drugs like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin. He wrote the prescriptions, in some cases, without even seeing the patient and refilled them without checkups; both of these actions are practices that violate the Controlled Substances Act when opiate painkillers are in question.

Fighting Prescription Drug Fraud in Arizona

Due to the many arrests and illicit pharmacies recently as well as the fact that 50 percent of people entering drug rehab are doing so for prescription drug addiction, law enforcement has been working harder than ever to fight the problem. They have built a statewide database to track painkiller and stimulant prescriptions that are often abused, making it more difficult for an individual to receive multiple prescriptions for the same or similar drugs from different doctors and even harder for doctors to prescribe copious amounts of addictive drugs to hundreds of patients.

Databases have worked to limit prescription drug fraud in some states and is a good preventative measure, but it’s not enough to eradicate the problem of prescription drug addiction. Drug rehab for prescription drug addiction is the only way to break free if you have been struggling with painkiller or stimulant addiction. Call now for more information.

Our society has dreamed up so many myths about drug addiction and drug treatment. When you hear discouraging things from people you know and sources you trust, it’s hard to know what the truth is. Let’s take a look at three myths about drug addiction. Before you read each paragraph, consider what your first reaction is to each myth.

Drug Addiction Recovery Is About Having A Lot Of Willpower

Maybe you’ve heard discouraging comments from friends, “You just need to get over it, man.” Or, perhaps your family can’t understand why you don’t just stop when you see your drug use hurt your life. You may even believe the negative lies your mind is telling you – that you are weak and hopelessly incapable of doing one simple thing like not using drugs. The fact is you need help to overcome something as powerful as a drug addiction. The mistake is in thinking you have to do it alone. Caring drug treatment professionals know this and will help you get started with a sober lifestyle.

Cheating Once In A While Won’t Hurt

Once you establish your sobriety, it’s easy to think that you have total control. The illusion of control may lure you toward the idea that you could really cheat just once, just one joint or just one little hit of heroin, and it wouldn’t matter. While there may be a handful of people out there that could use a few times causally and still avoid total relapse, that number is very small. The chances are much greater that using again, even once, could pull you back into the whole drug environment and mindset again. The risk just isn’t worth it, and using again would go completely against the point of a sober lifestyle. You may have cravings and longings for certain parts of your past, but don’t believe for a second that it would be OK and “no big deal”.

If Drug Rehab Didn’t Work Once It Can’t Ever Work

Thankfully, this really is a myth. Of course there is still hope if you have been through drug rehab once before. People continually change and evolved as time passes, even if the change seems slight. Doing drug rehab five years ago wouldn’t be the same experience as doing it today or ten years from now. Different circumstances, different age, different relationships, different drug rehab center – all of these factors make each drug rehab experience unique.

Even if you didn’t feel your first time in drug rehab didn’t lead to consistent sobriety, chances are good you picked up something that time that would make a difference the next time around. Just having done it once already takes some of the unfamiliarity away from the process. Perhaps that leaves you with more energy to focus on recovery rather than just getting adjusted. Rest assured that it is not uncommon for people to go through drug treatment more than once in their lifetime and still have many months and years of sober life in between.

Drug Rehab Can Work For You

Drug rehab isn’t a one-size-fits all type of thing. There are hundreds of rehab centers and outpatient programs across the United States, thousands more across the world. They come in all kinds of formats, locations, residential settings, gender groupings, and treatment focus. It may take a little time to find the right one for you, but don’t give up. And don’t believe any of the myths stated above. You can have a sober life with drug rehab.

photo credit: BurningQuestion

Online gossip magazines are abuzz again with the latest news in Tiger Woods’ personal life. It seems the golf pro will be staying at drug rehab (or is it sex rehab?) to continue his recovery and wife Elin is returning home to Florida without her hubby in tow.

Sex Rehab or Drug Rehab?

Conjecture of the masses can’t seem to agree: is Tiger blaming his many illicit affairs on sex addiction? Or is painkiller addiction that has him making decisions that he wouldn’t ordinarily? No one knows for sure right now, though it is being reported as fact by some sources that he has enrolled himself in treatment for Ambien addiction and Vicodin addiction.

Some view the fact that, on the night that Tiger got into his car accident, Elin told police that her husband had prescriptions for Ambien and Vicodin. The implication that many news sources took from this was that Tiger’s use of these prescriptions was perhaps the cause of the accident.

One source told The National Enquirer that, “In therapy, Tiger blamed a lot of his cheating behavior on his drug addiction, saying that the drugs were responsible for impairing his judgment.”

The only thing Tiger had to say about drugs in his recent public statement was: “They said I used performance-enhancing drugs. This is completely and utterly false.”

Of course, few would describe a sleep medication like Ambien and a painkiller like Vicodin as “performance enhancing” drugs, so perhaps this commentary doesn’t quite refute the possibility of drug addiction as the reason for his stint in rehab.

Dual Diagnosis: Sex Addiction and Drug Addiction

It’s not uncommon to find that those living with sex addiction are also dually diagnosed with drug and/ or alcohol addiction. Having two simultaneous diagnoses is exceedingly common as those with psychological or psychosocial issues often feel uncomfortable and seek to self medicate with drugs and alcohol. It’s exceedingly important in these circumstances that treatment for both disorders is received simultaneously.

The old way of doing things was this: if drug addiction is present, treat that first and then treat the co-occurring disorder. That’s no longer the accepted way of doing things. Too often, further treatment was not sought after drug rehab and, in many cases, drug addiction treatment wasn’t as effective as it could be because issues associated with the other disorder got in the way. Dual diagnosis treatment is the best way to increase the effectiveness of recovery for both disorders.

Drug Rehab and Sex Rehab: Getting Treatment

Whether you or someone you love is living with sex addiction, drug and alcohol addiction or both disorders, it is essential that you choose rehab to heal. Both of these conditions are medical conditions and it is imperative that medical treatment is sought. It is almost impossible to walk away from these conditions for any meaningful length of time without holistic treatment that addresses the many different levels of addiction, including psychological addiction. Call The Canyon today for more information about dual diagnosis treatment.