When a person gets sober, they make a lot of big changes in their life.  They change the way they spend time, the way they handle stress, and the way they view the world.  They also have to change the social group they spend time with.  If you are newly sober, this may be a difficult adjustment.  Take a look at why social changes are necessary and how they you can manage them.

Get A Change Of Scenery

You may have had some memorable times with your drug using or drinking friends.  But now that you are sober, you’ll need to really think twice about being around them again.  The biggest risk is potential relapse.  Relapse is always going to be more likely when you are faced with direct temptation or an obvious reminder of your active addiction days.

My drinking wasn’t really wasn’t that bad, was it?  Did I really have to go to drug and alcohol rehab?  Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to just sit with them while they had a drink, just this once.

Those kinds of thoughts are the slippery slope that can bring you face-to-face with relapse.  The temptation can be almost too powerful to resist.  Even if your friends say it’s OK for you to just “hang out” while they drink or use drugs, that’s not good enough.  Your sobriety is at risk unless you steer clear of your old social life.

Staying Committed To A Sober Lifestyle

You probably learned a few things about social interactions when you were in drug or alcohol rehab.  Other recovering addicts may have already been through the temptations of being around old friends.

If your old friends still make plans around drinking, using drugs, being at parties, and maybe even scraping with the law, they aren’t for you.  It can be painful to back away from people who have been a big part of your life.  But if you are committed to sober living, this is one of the more important changes you’ll ever make.

Positive Social Choices Support Sobriety

The right social choices can make a big difference for your sobriety.  People who live a sober life are thinking and living in healthy ways.  They will support your sober lifestyle by doing what is best for you, not just for themselves.  They will spend time with you in positive ways, helping you relieve stress, and help you have fun again.  They will also model healthy living with their words and actions.

You can find these people in your support group meetings, rehab alumni activities, churches, your neighborhood, and possibly among people you already know.  Your community will have positive activities and social opportunities all year round.

Making Social Changes With New Sober Life

Old friends can feel comfortable and familiar, but they may not be healthy for you.  If you have just started a sober lifestyle, you need to be very mindful of who you spend time with.  Positive people will make a big difference with your sobriety every day.  If you need help finding support groups or other positive social gatherings, call us today for more information.

photo credit: Owen Richard

When it comes to relationships, location matters. By that I mean the location of where your relationships starts. Where and how you need a person can be a sign of how likely the relationship is the last and how healthy it may be. If you find yourself searching for the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend in a bar, you may need to ask yourself some questions. What are you really looking for? what do you expect to find here? How already are you to be a mature person in a relationship? with relationships, you often get what you ask for.

Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

Let’s imagine that you or someone who hangs out at the bars on a regular basis. Sometimes you go with friends, sometimes you may end up there alone. Now, imagine that you started thinking about finding a relationship. The one you just got out of ended badly. Too much fighting, not much in common, and way too much work. You now avoid the bar you found that person in because you know they still go there and you want to avoid drama. But now you find yourself surveying the field, seeing who you might like to approach next.

What Happens When You Meet A New Person In A Bar

Of course, many kinds of people go to bars for different reasons. Just because they are in a bar doesn’t mean they have an unhealthy life or are incapable of being a good relationship partner. However, you may want to reconsider this is your main source for potential relationships. Take a close look, a real close look at how your relationships start at the bar. Do you do most of your talking before anyone has much to drink, or do you hook up when you were both drunk and looking for sex or companionship for the night? If you find that you’re doing a hookup most of the time, you may be choosing the most unhealthy people in the bar.

If you can’t talk to someone unless you’ve had a lot to drink, you may not honestly be ready for a relationship. You in the other person may not be comfortable talking to healthier people. Two people with the risk for alcohol addiction won’t make good relationship partners for each other. Even if one drinks very little, the heavier drinker is likely to be less committed were bought in the relationship. This is a set up for disappointment and heartbreak.

Reconsider Meeting People Where They Drink Excessively

Does this sound like you? You may need to consider this as a sign that you may have a problem with alcohol. If you have never been to alcohol treatment, this might be the time to go. Before starting a new relationship at another bar, you need to consider what a sober lifestyle would be like and what a healthy lasting relationship would be like. Alcohol treatment might seem like the last thing you want to consider when you are lonely and uncertain about yourself, but you can avoid a lot of heartache and disappointment by getting yourself in the right direction. Call today to learn more about alcohol addiction and drug treatment near you.

photo credit: Horia Varlan

Going to drug rehab can seem like going to prison. You may have agreed to go under less than ideal circumstances. Maybe you feel pressure from your family, or you have pending legal consequences. You may be tempted to flake off drug rehab altogether – who needs it? So how can you possibly make the most of your treatment opportunity?

Sometimes More Than One Time At Drug Rehab

Sometimes you have to fall more than once to realize you don’t have to keep falling in the first place. So maybe your sister went to drug rehab and bailed after two weeks. Perhaps your dad said he’d go to drug rehab and got himself kicked out after a short stay. Not the best history with rehab? Doesn’t mean it can’t still work.

Yep, most of us learn the most about ourselves through our mistakes. When you squander an opportunity, sometimes you feel it bite you in the rear end pretty soon. That time in drug rehab was part of a bargain to avoid jail. Or maybe you had a living arrangement with family that would only happen after a full 90 day treatment. When you end up jailed or homeless after that, you might find yourself more ready for drug rehab than you were the first time.

Fear May Have You In Its Grip

If you have a lot of insecurities or frequently use self defense mechanisms, you might allow fear to really control your life. Drug rehab is something very different from daily life as a drug addict. And whatever is very different can seem very threatening. You may be willing to argue and push any angle that will keep you from having to give up the life you know.

Fear doesn’t go away easily – it’s an emotion everyone goes through. When you put fear in charge, life can be so complicated and boxed-in. Even good change isn’t allowed to happen. If you can put your foot forward and take one step, you can remain full of fear and full of courage at the same time. Just overcoming that first barrier can allow you to receive so many benefits from being in the drug rehab environment. Knowing you can face fear and do something anyway can go a long way towards healing what drives your addiction in the first place.

Making The Most Of Drug Rehab

Drug addicts tend to burn a lot of bridges behind them. If you know you’ve done this and have resisted drug rehab for a long time, it’s not to late. There is always another chance at making the most of drug rehab. Call today to find out how to get your next chance at a sober life.

If you’re having trouble envisioning your life sober all the time, you aren’t alone. Lots of recovering addicts can’t easily envision their future, let alone a sober one. It’s just too hard to comprehend making that much change with something inside pulling so hard against it. Take a few minutes and read this post to settle your mind. By trying to focus too far ahead, you may actually be hurting your chances of staying sober.

Drug Rehab In The Moment

The main goal of a drug or alcohol addiction is to avoid the current moment of reality. Or to avoid reality in the past. Or to avoid any reality that may come in the future. In short, facing any sort of truth becomes too painful to bear without emotions being fuzzed out.

It takes a lot of work just to get used to being in the moment. Whatever is right in front of you – painful or otherwise – just being with it and keeping focus on it. In drug rehab, this can be one of the first challenges you wrestle with. It’s hard to avoid since your body has been rid of the chemicals.

Facing The Current Moment In Addiction Recovery

If facing the current moment can be difficult, imagine what it’s like trying to see your whole life like that. Overwhelming for sure, and even confusing. If you have had an addiction for even a short time, your brain has been affected and your perception of the world has been altered significantly.

Thinking about your life being totally different (sober) might be like imaging life on another planet. You may have never really known what a stable healthy life was like, especially if you have had alcoholism or drug addiction in your family history.

The addicted mind works in blacks and whites, even if it doesn’t really make sense. So if you are thinking you can only achieve sobriety if you can envision your whole life in front of you, that thought might swing your emotions toward pessimism. If you become hopeless about ever achieving some kind of sobriety perfection, you may throw in the towel and wonder why it’s worth trying.

Only Think About Sobriety Now

Stop right there. Don’t think about the rest of your life, or next year, or next month. Don’t even think about tomorrow. Think about today – think about the next ten minutes. How can you stay sober for the next ten minutes? What will it take for you to make that happen? Think about what you have learned in your drug rehab experiences to help you get through the moment if you are feeling cornered or stressed. When you can cope with those difficult times, you can keep your hope for the future.

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Alcoholism – definitely a family problem. If you’re alcoholic, you probably already know this. Growing up with an alcoholic or drug addict made you learn how to survive, parent yourself, and do without much loving attention from your family. The pain from alcoholism is usually passed from generation to generation.

Seeing Old Pain In Your Family Members Eyes

It’s not just you – you have seen something bitter and ancient in your parents eyes when you grew up. Their dulled expression when they were drunk, their uncontrolled anger, and their illogical rants. Something wild and untamed was there in the way they look at you and others. This is the generational gift of alcoholism – old pain from generations past.

No one ever went to addiction treatment, they refused support groups, or claimed that all that counseling stuff never worked. Or worse yet, the elder generations of alcoholics in your family didn’t have alcohol treatment available to them. Help wasn’t offered, and help wasn’t asked for.

Don’t Ask For Help With Alcoholism

Unfortunately, your family also passed down this distrust of anyone prying into their business. And that includes you, as the child trying to understand your world. So in your innocent efforts to understand the chaos of your family, you are left with but a few conclusions. Any sort of help you need isn’t going to come from your family. Or, you can succumb to the chaos and cope like everyone else does – with alcohol.

You might be the first generation in your family to actively seek help for your alcoholism. Awareness is better than it used to be, and alcohol rehab is far more available than ever. But other problems have plagued you. Chronic health problems, not unlike your relatives have faced. Trouble connecting with others, also similar to your family situation.

So when the chips are down and you are backed into a corner, alcohol may seem like your only refuge. At least it’s familiar. You know you shouldn’t, but what’s the use? Everything hurts, just like it does with everyone in your family. They hurt, you hurt, and it doesn’t seem to be anything different for the future.

Hope For Sobriety Still Exists

As a person with generational alcoholism, you might feel that the cards are stacked hopelessly against you. Each and every day you have the chance to make a change. If you can step out and start alcohol treatment, go to just one AA meeting, or just talk to someone you trust, there is always hope for sobriety. Always.

photo credit: Mossaiq

You see a public service ad on TV about people needing drug rehab. You hear news about your state government discussing funding for drug treatment services. Why would the average person need to know about drug treatment services? Because it could touch anyone’s life at any time. You may be the difference between someone continuing to suffer or moving towards sobriety.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Your Family

You may think you know what’s going on in your family, but the truth is that every family has skeletons in the closet. You could learn sometime that one of your relatives is quietly struggling with a prescription drug addiction following a surgery several months ago. You might find out that your teenage niece has been abusing alcohol. Someone you care about could need your help finding a drug or alcohol rehab center. Someone you love might need your listening ear and supportive commitment.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction With A Friend

Something has changed with one of your friends. They used to come around and go to lunch with you. After her husband died in a car accident, she has been very withdrawn. You also notice that she seems drunk when you talk on the phone or stop by. She may need dual diagnosis alcohol rehab to help her deal with alcohol addiction and depression. You can get her one step closer to sobriety if you know what to do.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction In Your Life

Someday in the future, you may fall closer to rock bottom. You will finally understand and realize that you have a big problem with drugs and alcohol. You started out using drugs as a way to relax after a stressful job and to escape your bad marriage. You will have become a recluse – using drugs, doing temporary work to get by, and watching your diabetes symptoms get worse. You will feel completely ashamed that you dug this hole for yourself, but you really don’t want to die alone like this. You want a way out and you know you need to start somewhere.

Information About Drug Rehab Can Save a Life

If one of the above situations develops in your life, you will have the opportunity to make a difference. You don’t need to know it all, but you do need to know who to call and how you can help. What you know about drug rehab can save a life, and it may be yours.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Drugs and alcohol are used by many people all over the world. Sex often goes along with alcohol and drug use. When these activities are combined, many problems can arise. Sex is about intimacy, trust, and personal pleasure. Unfortunately, drug and alcohol use can be about hiding from emotions, dulling pain, and escaping reality.

Exchanging Sex For Drugs

Many hard drug users exchange sex for drugs. Crack cocaine, heroin, and meth are so addictive and so quickly debilitating. Many people cannot keep employment once they get hooked, but drug sellers still expect to be compensated. Users usually have just a few choices – stealing, becoming a drug seller themselves, or exchanging sex.

This practice is not uncommon for women in urban areas addicted to hard drugs. They give up their dignity and intimacy because it may be all they have left of value. Despite how personally damaging this is, the woman doesn’t see how she can live without getting her drugs every day. In the end, this personal sacrifice creates a pit of shame and worthlessness. Another reason to be sure she has plenty of drugs to use every day.

Drug and Alcohol Use and Unsafe Sex

Unsafe sex is unfortunately too common in our world. People spread diseases and created unintended pregnancies every single day. Drug and alcohol use often strongly contributes to this destructive trend. Drugs and alcohol lower a person’s inhibitions and distort their judgment, making them feel brave and indestructible.

This lowered inhibition may make them much less cautious about being sexually active. The biggest problem is not using sexual protection. Sex happens in the moment without much thought about the consequences. Does that person have a sexually transmittable disease? Could sex result in pregnancy? Am I even really ready to have sex right now? Is this the way I want to be having sex? This critical questions are not likely to be considered when a person is drunk or high while having sex.

Drug And Alcohol Use and Unwanted Sex

Something even worse than unsafe sex is unwanted sex. Certainly, some men have experienced unwanted sexual advances and assaults from females and males. However, most of these situations tend to involve women being assaulted by men. Remember how drugs and alcohol can reduce a person’s inhibitions and distort their judgment? An unscrupulous man or teen boy may look for girls who are intoxicated to this point. They may take the lack of struggle as permission to do what they want. Or, they may expect some struggle but also hope the woman would be incapacitated enough that she couldn’t fight back well or even remember what he looked like.

Using drugs and alcohol themselves may make advances on women who don’t want to have sex with them. Instead of backing off when the woman resists or says no, they may feel emboldened in their state of intoxication. They may choose to be aggressive and dominating, making the woman have sex against her will. All of these incident qualify as sexual assault and can have long lasting consequences for both parties.

Drug and Alcohol Rehab

Drug and alcohol rehab may be necessary for someone who makes poor decisions about sex while intoxicated. Very likely, he or she may have significant underlying problems that contribute to their drug and alcohol use. Drug rehab can help a person see these problems and address them properly. They can get out of the dangerous loop of drug use and sex.

photo credit: frannie60