There are a number of blogs written by addicts, both active and in recovery, as well as by family members who love their son, daughter, or partner who is an addict or alcoholic. New ones spring up every day and while many tend to fall off, often there are great little seeds of truth in just the few posts that make it online. I’ve chosen some to share with you.

OxyContin and Opiate Addiction: A Mother’s Story

A mother whose son is/was going through detox and recovery provides a different perspective on addiction. She says:

“My name is Debby, and my son is an addict. The purpose of this blog began as a way to keep my loved ones informed on how my son is doing with his detox/recovery. To date, this blog is evolving into what I hope will be a ministry and blessing to others who might be experiencing what I am. To respect my son, I will not use full names, in the theme of Nar-Anon.”

The Junky’s Wife

This blog is written, obviously, by the wife of a man addicted to heroin. Her honesty provides insight into just how heartbreaking it can be to be in love with someone who is strung out and struggling. She says:

“He’s been to three meetings in three days. It’s a big deal. He’s sometimes crazy, but when he says things that are hurtful or when he’s hyper-sensitive in that maddening addict way, he calls himself on it. He’s trying to clean up the messes he’s made, slowly but surely. It’s all good stuff, and it scares me, and it fills me with hope.”

Mom Vs Heroin

Written by the mother of a heroin addict, she is also a grandmother fighting for custody of her grandchild, who was born to her addicted daughter.  Her posts are often detailed discoveries of a life loving someone who is addicted to drugs and how difficult it is to help them in a way that’s constructive and love them at the same time. She wrote a poem:

My Changeling

Who crept soft among mine
With envious delight,
To rob me of preciousness
As if overnight?

How slowly I awakened,
From my blissful bed,
To find my child gone away;
A changeling in her stead -

Bright eyes turned to angry stares,
No more laughing innocence;
What was once solicited
This being stoically resents

Pray keep me strong; accepting
Of this challenging changeling, who
If I frighten her away from me
She takes my baby, too

(And sorrowfully I see
For now we won’t agree,
Though I’m a changeling,
too)

Do you know of any great drug addiction and recovery  blogs that you would like to share? Perhaps you have one of your own. Let us know!

Nutrition and Drug Rehab

Think of your brain as the Internet. Every brain cell is a different PC that needs a modem (or, in this case, a synapse) to connect to all the other cells on the neurologic network. But as any IT expert can tell you, plugging in the right wires is only half the battle. Power has to be turned on for the machine to be able to function.

Chemical messengers called neurotransmitters must be running at peak performance for information in the brain to be processed correctly. Four specific neurotransmitters handle all communications relating to our emotional well being and tranquility: serotonin, endorphins, GABA, and dopamine.

Genetic Mutations Set the Stage for Drug and Alcohol Addiction

When the synapses or neurotransmitters fail to function like they should, transmission gets garbled and we begin to feel intense loneliness, stress, anxiety, and depression. Most often this malfunction happens because of genetics. In fact, an estimated 33 percent of people have some type of genetic predisposition to addiction.

Drugs and alcohol make us feel good because they stimulate neurotransmitter functioning, which is why we keep going back for more. It is a false sense of euphoria, however, because addictive substances eventually deplete the neurotransmitters necessary for healthy functioning.

What’s more, drug and alcohol addiction impedes on the uptake of vital nutrients our body needs to stay alive. When drugs take over, changes in appetite bring malnutrition which exacerbates the awful symptoms we try to avoid. We can’t get enough because we never actually feel good anymore.

Prime the Mind for Successful Drug Addiction Recovery

If you could jump-start your body into feeling good again without the need for addictive substances, you could essentially erase all cravings and free the mind to focus on behavioral and cognitive improvements.

Amino acids have been found to be the stuff neurotransmitters are made of. Supplying the body with an abundance of specific amino acids can help restore their functioning, reduce cravings, increase sensations of wellbeing, and minimize relapse.

Brain Food for Drug Addiction Recovery

Amino acids are found in foods high in protein. Below is a list of specific amino acids that have been shown to alleviate symptoms of addiction, and the most commonly available food sources from which they come:

• L-tryptophan – Egg whites, spirulina, atlantic cod, raw soybeans, parmesan cheese
• L-5 hydroxytryptophan chromium salts – Minute traces in turkey and cheese, supplements derived from the seeds of Griffonia simplicifolia
• L-Glutamine – Meat and dairy products, beans, beats, spinach, parsley, and cabbage
• L-phenylalanine – Cow milk, goat milk, aspartame sugar substitutes
• L-tyrosine – Cheeses, spirulina, soy protein, egg whites, salmon
• Phenylalanine – Meat, poultry, fish, soybeans, dairy products, nuts and seeds

The body is a sucker for sweets and carbohydrates when it’s lacking other vital nutrients. Replacing sugar and refined starches with just some of the foods listed here can help restore balance and emotional integrity to an otherwise stressful situation.

Along with psychological and spiritual therapies for overcoming addiction, nutritional support and dietary supplements are quite literally the food our brain needs for enhanced recovery.

Tell Us: What’s your favorite recipe using some of the foods mentioned above?

You’d better fasten your seat belt - the road of addiction recovery can have some surprising turns and bumpy spots.  All this new awareness and the realizations, it can all seem like too much to absorb at once.  How do you keep on the straight and narrow without getting overwhelmed with it all?

Addiction Keeps You in the Dark About Yourself

Well, there is no guaranteed way to prevent you from feeling overwhelmed.  For quite a while, you’ve been shutting out your self awareness and the truth about your own life.  Seeing these things for the first time can feel like a sharp change in the weather, like a sudden stiff breeze from the north.  Add a few more new discoveries, and you may feel like you’re about to be blown over flat. 

When the mind does feel overwhelmed, it tries to shut things out again.  This is a fairly normal self-protective action taken by your brain.  It’s the same process that keeps us from actually attending to every single bit of stimulation in our environment.  You need to be able to “tune out” certain things to be able to pay solid attention to other things.  But when you have a drug addiction, you do way too much of this.  The important stuff goes right out the window with the trivial things.  That’s really how you got to this narrow crooked viewpoint in the first place.  It was shaped by your addiction, and when you are in recovery it can be shaped again. 

Balancing New Ideas and Not Being Overwhelmed

It can be challenging to know when shutting out new ideas is helpful and when it resembles your old addiction way of thinking.  This is why AA, other support groups, and professional drug treatment can help you get and keep your bearings.  This kind of support is especially important in the beginning of your addiction recovery.  During drug rehab, you most likely had professionals surrounding you and able to help at any moment.  When you are back into “real life”, you will still need some help as you get started.

Is it the exact topic that you are thinking about that is overwhelming, or is it just the amount of new things you are trying to process?  What triggers are getting lit up because of your new awareness?  Talking to a support person or writing down your thoughts about what overwhelms you can get it off your mind for a while.  You may not really be ready to deal with everything yet, which is OK.  Digest smaller amounts at first so you can keep moving forward.  You can revisit your list or notes again and see what you’ve learned since you wrote them down. 

You may not really be ready to deal with everything yet, which is OK.  Digest smaller amounts at first so you can keep moving forward.  You can revisit your list or notes again and see what you’ve learned since you wrote them down.  This gives you peace that you’ve acknowledged these important thoughts, and you won’t forget them.  You are not ignoring your insight, just keeping some aside for a short while. 

Self Discovery Helps Everyone Not Just Recovering Addicts

Learning how to manage self-discovery and emotional stability is a skill everyone needs, not just people recovering from a drug addiction.  Don’t be concerned that you are singled out or a real loser if you struggle with this.  Everyone struggles with it!  You have been out of touch for a while, and you’re getting yourself back in the game.  New perspectives can be scary, but they are also filled with opportunity.

Meditation During Drug Rehab

While the stereotypical approach to meditation involves brown-skinned bald men in orange robes sitting cross-legged on a mountain top, meditation benefits every person who makes the time to practice simple ways of relating with the world around and within them. Buddhist monks are the Olympic athletes of meditation, and you can choose to devote your every waking moment in the quest to cultivate enlightenment, or you can seek balance and renewal while you wait for a red light to change during rush hour.

What is Meditation and How Does it Enhance Drug Addiction Recovery Efforts?

The stereotypical image of Buddhist monks deep in meditation is just that – an image. Assuming the posture can alert your senses that something different is about to happen, but active meditation is much more than a sitting pose. It is an exercise of the mind that aims for detached contemplation, focused observation, expanded awareness, and letting go.

Just thinking about un-thinking can bring immediate relief. Your muscles loose their unconscious tension, your breathing becomes relaxed, the brain slows down to let everything pass. Sound familiar? The feeling is probably very similar to what you experienced when using depressant substances. The difference is no harmful side effects. Meditation can’t kill you because it’s what your mind does anyway when you’re not actively using it.

Turning inward offers you insider information as to how your body is handling the stress of rehab and recovery, and actively participating in the practice of meditation gives you something to focus on whenever you start feeling the urge to use again. It’s free, it’s always with you, and most importantly, it puts you in control quickly.

Types of Meditations that Enhance Drug Addiction Recovery Efforts

Visualization – Find the center of your cravings; imagine drawing an outline around the edges. Sit with it for a while; don’t try to push it away. Let it be. When the time is right, let it go.

Breathing - Bring awareness to your breath, focus on one area of your body (such as your head, your neck, your shoulders) and release any tension you find along with every exhale.

Rhythmic sounds – Moving water is one of the best ways to encounter the natural rhythms of the Earth and allow your personal rhythms (breathing, heartbeat, digestion, brain waves) to become harmonious with their surroundings. Drums, bells, singing bowls and chanting mantras are all further ways to find a peaceful rhythm you can connect to.

Moving in mindfulness – Walking, stretching, dancing, yoga, qui gong, swimming, even lifting weights can all combine the effects of the previous techniques for an all-around exercise in mental as well as physical transformation.

Tell Us: What are some other meditation methods you’ve found for helping you stay clean?

You relapsed - again.  You swore this was the last time, and you were going to finally get it right now.  You’ve been through this a hundred times.  How does it keep dragging you down again and again?  Are you just weak and destined to have this half-drugged life all the time?  The thought of it all just makes you more depressed than you already were.

Nobody Enjoys Going Through Addiction Relapse

Relapse is kind of the ugly unpopular part of a person’s addiction recovery.  Nobody wants to go there, nobody likes it when they end up there, and it can seem like “relapse” is really a four letter word.  To some it may mean failure, not doing recovery the right way.  If you did things perfectly, you wouldn’t relapse ever.  To others it may mean weakness - their drug addiction has exposed a perpetual defect they can’t fix, which lowers their value as a person.  Relapse may even bring back words you have heard others say to you, how drug rehab was pointless and you were just going to end up a loser drug junkie like so-and-so. 

Actually, addiction relapse is an opportunity.  People can have the same experience “on paper” but have a completely different outlook from it and perception of it.  Walk down a busy street during the daytime and one person will only notice the crowded feeling, the noise, and the industrial smells of gas and rubber.  Another person taking the same walk will notice the smiling mom and her daughter walking toward them, the bright sunshine, and the crisp hint of autumn in the air. 

See Addiction Relapse In A New Light

When you relapse, it’s tempting to beat up on yourself.  But take look at it from a different angle.  Trace back your steps between when you seemed to be doing OK to when it all hit the fan.  Did you start getting overwhelmed with a difficult emotion?  Were you lured into spending time with a friend that still uses drugs?  Have you been dropping your exercise routine, forgetting your medications, eating or sleeping poorly? 

If you have a dual diagnosis needs to pay double attention to their relapse.  Very likely, a problem with your mental illness could be involved.  If it has been in remission, perhaps some symptoms have emerged that you were trying to minimize or ignore.  The importance of you thinking you have it under control may have fooled you into pushing aside clear warning signs of your depression, bipolar, anxiety, or PTSD returning with stronger force. 

Talk with a few people that you trust will respect your need for sobriety.  Have they seen signs of you changing back to some old habits, showing some symptoms of your mental disorder, disregarding their well-meaning suggestions because they thought you might be headed for trouble?  Again, this isn’t about lecturing yourself about how you “blew it” yet another time.  If you learn something valuable that you have missed through other relapses, you have been given a golden gift. 

Dual Diagnosis Drug Rehab Helps Addiction Relapse

If you should find that your relapse has sent your life totally out of control, it may be time to seriously look at dual diagnosis drug rehab.  Anyone with a dual diagnosis needs to see their situation as serious as a heart condition or high blood pressure.  It needs monitoring, a healthy lifestyle, and occasional intense treatment for flare-ups (relapse).  The right drug rehab can make the difference between having lots of relapses or longer sobriety. 

Therapeutic Drug Addiction Treatment

The stereotypical reaction to the phrase “therapeutic arts” conjures up images from the movies that depict severely mentally ill patients wearing hospital gowns and building popsicle-stick sculptures in the psychiatric ward.

While it is true that therapeutic arts are widely used for emotionally and physically handicapped people, this is because it’s one form of rehabilitation that reaches across the boundaries of conventional talk therapy and opens up new methods of communication. 

The goal is to provide an outlet for healing where clients in recovery can tap into uncharted territories of the mind and a way to interpret the symbolism brought up from the unconscious.  The medium you choose to create with can vary greatly depending on your skill level and personal desires.  And, no, you don’t have do it in your pajamas.

What are Therapeutic Arts and How Do They Enhance Drug Addiction Recovery?

Any activity you participate in with the purpose of creating and sustaining health is considered therapeutic.  Art is a broad term that encompasses any creation specifically designed for aesthetic or thought-provoking pleasure.  When art is utilized as a therapeutic tool, spontaneous creation is the most important part of the process, and the finished work a representation of our innermost selves.

The two sides of our brain communicate in different ways.  The left half (which controls the right side of the body) is analytic and logical in nature, using language and speech to convey information.  The right half of our brain (which controls the left side of the body) is creative and emotional in nature, using symbolism as a means of expression.

Just as powerful imagery triggers emotional reactions, overwhelming emotions trigger intense imagery, most often in the form of dreams.  Honoring the metaphors and symbolism within us by giving it a voice through therapeutic arts provides a practical means of processing complex feelings and a healthy way to purge them without trying to stifle their existence.

Group discussions and evaluations of one’s art help to clarify and interpret images that have been expressed and bring light to those issues which may not have been explored before in great detail.

Types of Therapeutic Arts that Enhance Drug Addiction Recovery Methods

Plastic arts – Works created by shaping or molding a medium to produce a physical three-dimensional object: collage, ceramics, glass, metal, sculpture, woodworking.

Performing arts – Presentations which rely heavily on the artist’s face, clothing, makeup and posture: dance, music, theatre.  Most effective therapeutically when performances are improvised under the direction of a group leader (i.e. role playing).

Visual arts – Also known as “fine arts”, most popular as therapeutic models, highly effective even for individuals who have little to no previous experience: drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and filmmaking.

Tell Us: Would you be more likely or less likely to check in to a treatment center that uses therapeutic art throughout the course of the recovery program?

Ninja Drug and Alcohol Interventions

As with most attempts at communication, the message you intend to send can be easily garbled if the receiver has an entirely different interpretation. The original meaning can be so obscured that it appears completely different from what you were actually trying to say.

The case of the “Intervention Ninjas” from Clifton, New Jersey is one such example. Realizing that drugs were creeping into the lives of their friends, two courageous 20 year olds decided to do what friends do best: intervene and hope for the best. Except in this case, the lads decided to go dressed as ninjas – complete with swords, throwing knives and stars, nunchucks, masks, and homemade smoke bombs – delivering anonymous letters in the middle of the night to the homes of known drug abusers and dealers. That was the plan, anyway. Caught in the act by local law enforcement officers, the dysfunctional duo were apprehended running swiftly into the night soon after delivering the first letter.

Keep Drug and Alcohol Interventions Safe, Simple and Legal

Clearly, intention is not everything. These guys could have been killed if a homeowner happened to see them sneaking around the premises. Admittedly, though, the chance to personify your favorite superhero for a legitimate cause is almost too good to pass up. But the time these guys invested in dreaming up this plan and drafting threatening letters written in Shinobi-style prose to deliver under the cover of darkness could have been better spent reaching out to parents, peers, and teachers for help.

The Right Backup is Everything at A Drug or Alcohol Intervention

The best way to get the attention of someone who is in the grip of alcoholim or drug addiction is to approach them openly and honestly, gently and with an overflow of compassion. Focus on their good qualities, seek to understand the source of their suffering, offer hope through continued friendship and help through a commitment to rehab. Come prepared for emotional turmoil, and accept what happens. Insist that your needs in the relationship be valued and respected. Speak from the heart, and know that what you ask is both rational and reasonable.

Get your ducks in a row before the actual intervention. Know who will be there, who will say what, what you will do if the person accepts or rejects an offer for drug addiction treatment. If it seems like too much, lift the burden from your shoulders and hire a professional interventionist to take care of the organizing, delegating, and moderating of the process from start to finish. You’ll be free to focus on what matters most – how much you care about the dangerous situation your friend is involved in.

Tell Us: Have you ever taken part in an intervention? Put one together? Been the one intervened upon? Any pointers you want to share? Anything you wish you had known ahead of time?

Drug Addiction

No doubt you’ve seen, heard, or know someone personally who’s tried to quit smoking and ends up gaining weight. Or the pot head who eases up for a while, only to find he’s going through cigarettes faster than weed. Maybe you’ve sworn off cocaine and discovered crystal meth, traded shopping sprees for sex, gambling instead of drinking. Whatever your poison, if you rely on it to help you feel better and you just can’t stop yourself, it’s an addiction and addictions are chronic medical issues that require medical treatment.

Legal vs. Illegal Drugs

Narcotics that have been found to be easily addictive are placed on the DEA’s controlled substances list, but the legality of a substance doesn’t mean you can’t be addicted to it. Caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol are the most commonly available drugs, found in nearly every type of grocery and convenience store, and soda can still be found in most school vending machines. An estimated 8 million men, women, and teenagers have an eating disorder, 17 million Americans are compulsive shoppers, and countless millions struggle with obsessive-compulsive sexual urges.

Once an Addict, Always an Addict

New research comes out all time about certain genes being linked to certain types of addictions, but what’s important to note is the effect on the brain’s operating circuits when addiction kicks in. Chemical messengers (known as neurotransmitters) are damaged when consistent levels of drugs or alcohol interrupt the flow of information. Your body begins to rely on the chemical reaction produced by the addictive substance and is unable to recreate that response sufficiently to justify being without the drug. (For non-drug addictions, the activity itself elicits heightened pleasurable responses in much the same way as drugs or alcohol.)

Some drugs are so similar in their effects that your body may not notice there has been a change. Other times, a substitute drug might fill the void temporarily if you’re unable to find your favorite for a while, but the end result is still the same.

Take Back the Power of Choice

Addressing the underlying addictive personality and learning how to take control before cravings commit you to another binge is the only way out of the cycle. Recovery is a long, difficult journey, and you’ll need as much support as you can get. Start with a comprehensive drug addiction treatment program to give you a solid foundation in recovery and go from there. Realizing you don’t have to tackle it all at once may bring some relief – the only day you need to work on being sober is today. Say that to yourself every day and little by little it will get easier.

Prescription Drug Addiction

If you’re like most people, you probably don’t even attempt to decipher the warning labels that come with a prescription or medicine bottle. But if you’re a recovering addict, you need to pay close attention to what you’re taking so you won’t be caught unaware. The hard work of rehab and the progress of recovery could be at risk depending on the medications your doctor prescribes.

Know What You’re Taking

Whether it’s a cough syrup for bronchitis, a pain killer for an injury, or a pill for insomnia, inform your doctor and pharmacist of your history with addictive substances before taking anything. If it’s a drug you’ve never heard of before, look it up. Most prescriptions are filled with generic equivalents that have different names than what you might have come to recognize.

Consider the Side Effects

According to a News Inferno article from July 2008, “a recent Canadian and American study found that people taking dopamine agonist drugs…which help control movement problems, were two-to-three times more likely to have at least one of four common impulse control disorders: Pathological gambling, compulsive buying, compulsive sexual behavior, and binge eating.”

Take five minutes to read those patient info cards that come with your medicine. Educating yourself about potential side effects might mean the difference between life and death. (Yes, there are medications that list death as a side effect.) Ask yourself how far you are willing to go in order to find pharmaceutical relief.

Get A Second Opinion

What if you have to see a specialist who doesn’t know your medical history or an emergency room doctor prescribes something you’re not sure about? If there’s any hesitation, for any reason, make an appointment with your regular doctor and explain your concerns again. Ask for an alternative medication if necessary and stand your ground if you’re concerns are not taken seriously.

You are the only one who has final say over your health and emotional well-being and you’ve worked so hard to get where you’re at. Don’t let a little pill knock you off the wagon.

Prescription Painkillers Versus Chronic Pain

This is a huge debate and one that has no answer as far as I can tell. It’s such a personal struggle when you’re stuck between debilitating physical pain and an equally debilitating prescription drug addiction. Is this a struggle for you? How do you make it work?

Drug Abuse Among Medical Professionals

Doctor shopping and liberal use of internet pharmacies are just two signs of prescription drug abuse, but when it comes to the doctors or pharmacists who have easier access to these addictive substances, how can you tell if there’s drug abuse involved? Frequent drug screenings, quality control measures, and drug abuse awareness training for all employees are good places to start. Zero tolerance policies involving police reports for theft of medications are further deterrents for potential abusers.

Coming Clean Versus Getting Caught

Obviously, the best thing to do when you realize the pills are consuming you is to admit it. Supervisors, licensing boards, patients and colleagues are much more forgiving if you can muster up the courage to speak out and ask for help. Some states even provide both privacy and immunity while you take a leave of absence to enroll in rehab. There is such a thing as a second chance.

When drug abuse is discovered through other means, however, reactions aren’t nearly as supportive. Complaints from patients or co-workers, allegations of theft, police investigations… these things get messy and can ruin the reputation of not only the addict but also the health-care facility and other colleagues to boot.

Drug Rehab for Medical Professionals

While you may get to keep your job without license suspension as a reward for coming clean, the best route for treatment is intensive inpatient rehabilitation. You need to be able to focus on the work of detox and recovery before you can take on the responsibility of administering care to others.

“The success with physicians is higher than the standard population, partly because they have more at stake,” notes Paul Anderson, who runs a treatment program for professionals in Chicago. “There are also very tight monitoring and support systems, and they do very well.”

So don’t despair if you’re struggling with an addiction you can’t control. It might feel like the end of the world, but there is help out there if you’re willing to reach out. It’s a frightening feeling to realize you’re out of control, but a necessary step in order to get back to where you were.

Are you a medical professional struggling with drug and alcohol addiction? Are you in another profession where addiction of any sort is taboo? How did you handle it? What do you recommend to others in the same position?