The debate rages on over prescription painkillers and whether they should be taken long-term. What are the dangers and what else can you do to manage chronic pain?

There’s so much talk about the dangers of prescription addition these days that many people are afraid to take any prescription painkillers at all for fear of winding up at one of the many prescription drug rehab programs. For others, who’ve already struggled with and overcome addiction, they know they need to be extremely careful of taking anything that could cause them to relapse. But a new Institute of Medicine report claims that 116 million American adults struggle with chronic pain everyday, and many are to face that pain without narcotic painkillers.

For those battling ongoing pain, there are many natural ways to lessen the effects. Everything from weight loss to yoga, bike riding, stretching, regular icing of the area and taking supplements like fish oil, glucosamine and chondroitin can help. These measures won’t likely make the pain completely disappear, but they can get it the point where it’s tolerable enough to not necessitate the use of painkillers.

The use of narcotic painkillers like Percocet and OxyContin long-term is much debated in medical circles and can be quite controversial. On one side are doctors who do everything they can to avoid prescribing opioid painkillers to their patients, while other doctors, many of them pain medicine specialists, believe narcotics can be used safely on a long-term basis.

Doctors on both sides agree that narcotic painkillers can be addictive. According to the new Institute of Medicine report, studies show about 3 percent of chronic pain patients who regularly take opioids develop abuse or addiction, and 12 percent develop “aberrant drug-related behavior.” Even those who don’t become addicted can become desensitized to the drugs, so they need higher and higher doses to combat the same amount of pain. In time, the pills do little for the pain they are taken to treat.

The important thing is to look for the root of the pain and find ways to alleviate it so that taking medication on an ongoing basis is no longer necessary. One doctor compares it to taking medication for toothache pain without ever bothering to treat the problem with the tooth.

For those who are currently battling chronic pain, Health Magazine offers the following five tips for improving the problem:
1. Exercise
2. Alternative therapies
3. Sleep
4. Supplements
5. Heat and ice

Prescription Drug Rehab

If you or someone you love is in need of prescription drug rehab, call The Canyon at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

It’s one of the most common paths for recovering addicts to choose for their lives after they successfully complete drug and alcohol addiction treatment: becoming a drug rehab counselor. Equipped with the firsthand experience of how easy it is to develop an addiction and how hard it is to successfully combat the problem, all the recovering addict is missing is the required education and certification.

But is it a good idea for someone in recovery to become a drug addiction treatment counselor after attending drug rehab? What are the pros and cons?

Pros of Choosing Drug Addiction Treatment Counseling as a Career

You know the ropes of treatment. You know what it’s like to be an addict. You know the ploys and manipulations that are common among patients who are trying to fool themselves into thinking that using or drinking “just once” isn’t that big of a deal – you may have tried a few of those games yourself. You’ve got “street cred” if you’ve spent years with an active addiction and this can be extremely valuable in getting through to people who need help.

Another plus: the education you need to get started working at a rehabilitation facility with minimal responsibility is a certification that often takes just a couple of years to acquire. The classes may also serve to help you remain dedicated and focused on your own recovery, a requirement if you’re going to work in substance abuse treatment.

Cons of Choosing Drug Addiction Treatment Counseling as a Career

It’s not always the best choice for people in early recovery (the first couple of years) to spend so much time around active addicts. In some cases, new counselors with a long drug addiction history may be more likely to be influenced by the patients they are meant to be helping to sobriety than the other way around. Running into old friends with whom they used to use drugs and alcohol can be a trigger as well, and some drug addiction treatment counselors even report stealing the addictive prescription medication of patients when they felt tempted to get high.

Also, those in recovery are not known for always being sensitive to the feelings of others. Part of the process of growing in treatment is learning how to take responsibility for one’s own actions, follow rules even when they seem silly or unreasonable, and treat others with respect even when having a bad day. Often drug addiction treatment counselors bear the brunt of the abuse when patients have a tough time and for those in the first few years of recovery, this can be difficult to take.

Whether or not the job of drug addiction treatment counselor is right for you will depend upon you, your personality, your long-term goals for yourself, and your ability to prioritize your sobriety even when the job gets stressful.

Gambling addiction is a medical and psychological issue, just like drug addiction. While half of those seeking treatment for drug addiction are struggling with a co-occurring psychological disorder like depression or anxiety, it is estimated that one in three people in drug rehab also have a gambling problem. It can be complicated to extricate a gambling disorder from a drug addiction disorder during treatment, but because one issue can trigger the other, it becomes important to address both problems at the same time during addiction treatment.

Problem Gambling and Gambling Addiction After Drug Rehab

Many people think that they can continue to gamble even after they go through drug addiction treatment and get clean and sober. Unfortunately, for most, gambling triggers drug addiction temptations. Free drinks at a casino are hard to pass up and the urge to take other stimulant drugs like crystal meth or cocaine in order to stay awake and continue gambling is extremely hard to resist. It’s almost impossible for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics to continue to gamble if they used to gamble during their addiction – it’s akin to hanging out at bars and clubs every night of the week while trying not to drink or get loaded. It just doesn’t work for very long.

Treating Gambling Problems and Addictions During Drug Addiction Treatment

Though many recovering addicts play cards before AA or NA meetings or even to entertain themselves during rehab, if the addict is one of the 33 percent with a co-occurring gambling disorder then this is no longer fun and games. It can trigger the pleasure pathway and adrenaline in much the same way that drugs and alcohol do, and it quickly becomes impossible to stop. With all the same effects on life that drug addiction brings – financial problems, relationship issues, difficulties at work, social problems – it requires the same kind of treatment and this is most effective when it happens in conjunction with drug addiction treatment.

The key is therapy and psychological treatment. What purpose does gambling serve? Escape? Soothing? Why do you feel that you need assistance in these areas? It’s often unresolved trauma and other psychological issues that are dealt with through drugs and gambling. Dealing with those issues during treatment can alleviate the need to get high or gamble.

Additionally, experiential therapy explores the emotions underlying the traumatic events and experiences while personal therapy also provides the guidance necessary to learn better coping mechanisms that don’t include gambling, drugs, alcohol and other dysfunctional and damaging choices.

Contact us today at the Canyon to learn more about our drug rehab programs and how we can help you heal from dual diagnoses like addiction and gambling.

The reality show Deadliest Catch follows a few different privately owned fishing boats in the Bering Sea, chronicling the hard labor that comes with the job and the personal stories of many of the fishermen as well as the boats’ captains. One thing that the show doesn’t do is address the drug addiction that is rampant among fishermen – until now.

Drug Addiction and Deadliest Catch

It’s not uncommon for fishermen to abuse crystal meth and other stimulants in order to stay awake for 36+ hours at a time during the most labor intensive parts of the trip or for them to smoke marijuana or drink heavily to unwind. But the problem this time around was likely a mixture of job stress and depression. Jake Harris is one of the new owners of the Cornelia Marie after his father, Phil Harris, the former captain of the boat, passed. Though Jake had struggled with drug addiction for years, he sought drug addiction treatment right around the time that his father died and did well during rehab. When he got out, he and his brother were tasked with finding a captain who was a good fit for their boat and would be able to help them carry on their father’s legacy.

The man they chose didn’t quite work out as the brothers had hoped. The boat made absolutely no money at all on their trip and the captain got along with no one on the crew, causing many long-time crew members to find a new boat. It was alleged by the captain that Jake had been smoking marijuana while aboard the ship, and he had a cop waiting to drug test Jake at the dock to prove his charges.

If Jake did get high on board the Cornelia Marie, he wouldn’t be the first fisherman to do so. Stress over the relations between the crew and the captain, financial concerns, and the sheer wear and tear caused by the job may have made it difficult for him to avoid triggers to get high. It’s a topic that the reality show has handled with grace and objectivity, allowing fans a better look inside both the world of fishing and the issue of drug addiction in the workplace.

When Work Encourages Drug Addiction

It’s not an issue exclusive to fishermen. Many people struggle with getting high while at work or drinking heavily and abusing drugs after work and on the weekends due to stress and pressure. The constant threat of losing your job because of the state of the economy doesn’t help, either, and if you don’t like your job, the risk of drug addiction only gets worse.

If you are living with a drug addiction and feel that your job is part of the cause, take measures to find new employment. If that’s impossible –and for many, it is – then get the drug rehab help you need so that you can learn to manage the stress without drugs and alcohol. Contact us at The Canyon today for more information about our drug rehab program.

Courts are cracking down more and more on those who enable a patient’s drug addiction by providing them with illicit drugs – especially when the patient takes those drugs and ends up overdosing as a result. A new twist on this legal trend is highlighted by a recent case in which one patient charged with burglary claims that not only are his actions due to his drug addiction, but that his drug addiction isn’t his fault either – it’s the fault of his brother.

Donald Dovenbarger is the man who was charged with six counts of burglary and then sentenced to five years in prison as a result of his crimes. Says Dovenbarger: “I believe he is my biggest relapse trigger. I looked up to Curtis. He was kind of a role model to me. Well, not really a role model, but I just wanted to be like him.”

His point? He shouldn’t have to serve the five years in prison, though he likely won’t argue with the mandatory drug rehab program that the judge ordered for after his release. What Dovenbarger doesn’t see is that, in this case, five years is a blessing; he could have gotten as many as 30 years in prison.

And it’s not like his brother, Curtis, got off scot-free. In fact, Curtis was with Donald on the burglaries and was also charged with six counts of the crime. He too was convicted but his sentence was even stiffer: eight years in prison instead of Donald’s five year sentence.

Donald’s lawyer, Kristen Burkett, agrees that Curtis had a lot to do with Donald’s drug addiction issues, his crimes, and ultimately, his conviction. She said: “That relationship has brought him to where he is today.”

Donald reports that he began using drugs by smoking marijuana, then began drinking, then took prescription drugs, and eventually developed a heroin addiction. He said the real problems began when his brother told him to try Xanax because he would like the high. Hanging out with his brother was what Donald credits with his repeated and unsuccessful attempts to remain clean and sober.

It was perhaps those failed attempts at sobriety that made the judge decide to give him five years – one more than prosecutors asked for. The five-year sentence means that Donald will not be eligible for judicial review and will be required to complete the full sentence, remaining in custody until he completes a drug rehab program – the one thing that will be able to help him from repeating his mistakes in the future, no matter what influences are around him.

If you are living with heroin addiction, alcoholism, marijuana addiction, or addiction to prescription drugs, The Canyon can help. Call now for more information about our different addiction treatment programs.

A new novel by Chris Robinson is hitting the shelves soon, and in it the writer details some of the events that happened to a close friend, Alan Boden, during his drug addiction. The book was completed just months before Boden died of liver cancer, making the release a bittersweet moment for Robinson. Robinson considers the book a tribute to the man he knew. Perhaps it can help others to tell their story – or change their story, if they, too, are living with an active drug addiction.

Robinson and Boden worked together at a recovery center and Boden would often tell stories from his past. He felt compelled to share what he had gone through in hopes that others would heed the warning inherent to the stories. He also wanted to show that, no matter how bad it got for him during his active addiction, he still managed to overcome it. Robinson hopes that his work conveyed all that Boden was and wanted to pass along to others.

Robinson said The Road to Recovery was written and edited in 12 months and, though Boden was alive to see it finished, he passed away in May, 2010, less than a year before it was published in March, 2011.

Said Robinson: “I just felt really privileged to have known the guy and written his book. He was a qualified drug counselor for 22 years. He must have changed so many lives. He told it how it was because he had been there and worn the t shirt.

“During the years we worked together he used to tell stories from his past, some were highly amusing and some were highly tragic. He was always self-deprecating and we used to say that he should write a book. He would sit in my office in my chair talking and I would be on a cushion on the floor, sometimes I just couldn’t look up at him because of some of the stuff he was telling me.

Robinson described the book as “a tribute to [Boden’s] life and the work he did.”

The book is now available online at Amazon.com. What are some of your favorite books about recovery from drug and alcohol addiction? Are there any books that you read that inspired you during recovery or helped you to stay on track when you felt tempted to relapse? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Jeff Allison has staged something of a comeback that should be inspiring to anyone who has considered drug addiction treatment but avoided it because they feel like they’ll never have anything else in their life. It’s a big deal: Jeff Allison has officially reached the big leagues despite a drug addiction that almost killed him. It took more than eight years, but it happened.

Allison was once a first-round draft pick for the Marlins – but that was before he got arrested, mostly for drug-related issues. He went to drug rehab, got the treatment he needed, made his way back into the minors and now, he’s wearing  uniform No. 92 for the Marlins and serving as an “extra” to be used in case of emergency during spring training. He isn’t fully in the lineup by any stretch, but it’s the closest he’s ever been and he’s grateful for the chance.

Said Allison: “It’s really cool. I’m just blessed to have this opportunity to even come up here for a day.”

Opiate Addiction and Allison

Allison was Baseball America’s High School Player of the Year and a first-round pick in 2003. Then he overdosed on heroin a couple of times and developed an addiction to OxyContin. He was arrested a couple of times and almost died as a result, losing his shot at the big leagues at the same time.

The Marlins supported Allison through his struggle with opiate addiction. He was kept on board with the organization over the last eight years but never made it past the Double A level.

Said Allison: “I still have a jersey. That’s what it’s about. Whether it’s a minor-league or major-league jersey, it’s still a jersey at the end of the day.

“It took a lot of hard work and want and desire to come out of a hole — and I mean a deep, deep, deep hole — because a lot of people don’t get out of it.”

Coming Back After Opiate Addiction

But Allison has pulled out of it. He says he’s been clean and sober for four years and four months.

Though Allison didn’t get a chance to pitch during spring training. He wasn’t needed. He sat and watched the game with the other relievers. He returned to the minor-leaguers soon after.

Allison said: “I did what I did, and now I enjoy life. If it’s a day, it’s a day. Minor league or major league, it doesn’t really matter. It’s just about being here.”

How Did You Come Back After Addiction?

Tell us your story about recovering your dreams after drug rehab here!