Everyday Stresses and Recovery

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Daily Routine

Going back home after treatment often means the recovering addict is subjected to the same daily routine they encountered prior to rehab. In fact, addiction may have become part of the daily routine, something the addict automatically did at certain times. It could have been a certain time of day, such as after work, after eating, before and during smoking a cigarette, on pay day.

Identify what these daily routine stressors are that most likely will trigger relapse and then design ways to modify your behavior so that you don’t fall victim to them.

Stressful Relationships

A big trigger to relapse involves stress in relationships. When the recovering addict returns home following treatment, the loved ones are the first people he interacts with. At first, there may be underlying tension, apprehension, even fear, as family members tiptoe around the returning addict. Things may be left unsaid, or, on the opposite spectrum, too much may be said. Arguments may occur, becoming heated. The threat of physical violence may loom as tensions escalate.

Anticipating the kinds of relationships that may be stressful, or the types of situations that may provoke stress in the relationship also means that you need to develop ways to overcome the stress. Individual and group counseling can assist in defusing the tension, help ameliorate the stress, and put you back on track toward repairing the family relationships.
There are times when you may need to take a break from the family – or vice versa. Things may have become so frayed, the relationship so tenuous, that a temporary split is advisable. Don’t take this as an indictment of your recovery. It is what it is. Everybody may need time to learn how to deal with these new circumstances – your recovery – and to learn how they play a part in helping your recovery along (or not).

If your family relationships are a contributing part of your addiction, either they get counseling and change – or you need to remove yourself from the surroundings. Each situation is different, and each solution needs to be worked out with the best interests of all concerned. Don’t attempt to figure it out on your own. Talk with your continuing care counselor, your 12-step sponsor and fellow group members. Encourage your family members to participate in Al-Anon or Nar-Anon or the family portion of whatever 12-step group you attend. Almost every 12-step group has a family component – and there are many resources available to you and your family members through such groups. Make use of them.

Testing Yourself by Trying to Meet Old Challenges

Just because a person has gone through treatment for addiction, learned a few coping strategies, listened to a few lectures on relapse prevention, doesn’t mean he or she is well-equipped to waltz back into their old life and resume the kind of lifestyle that previously contributed to addiction. Some persons in recovery seek to test their ability to withstand the urge to use by hanging out with old drinking buddies or going to bars, clubs, or hangouts. This often leads to relapse – and is an unnecessary and totally preventable risk.

Don’t put yourself in that position. Recognize that you cannot hang out with former drinking or using friends. There is no such thing as just stopping by to say hello or drinking coffee or soft drinks while your pals down shots and beer. It won’t last. Before your mind even recognizes that you are going to do it, the chemicals in your brain will have been activated by the sights and sounds and smells (the triggers) – and you will pick up a drink. No, you won’t want to, and you will do it despite your best intentions not to. The only way to avoid this is to stay away from the people, places and things that will prompt those urges.

Internal Stressors

Monitoring your emotions is a good way to help avoid the stressors that may trigger relapse. Think about how your body feels when you experience cravings and urges. When you do experience them, what kinds of emotions do you encounter?

Common stressor feelings include:

• Anger

• Anxiety

• Boredom

• Depression

• Fatigue

• Fear

• Frustration

• Loneliness

• Indifference

• Sadness

• Self-pity

• Shame

• Suicidal thoughts

• Other feelings

How do you deal with these emotional stressors that may trigger relapse? Talk over what you can do with your 12-step sponsor, your counselor, and your loved ones. Work out a strategy that encompasses each of them. Make a list of concrete things you can do to get your mind off the negative emotion before you find yourself giving into the cravings and urges to use.

Preventing Relapse is Up to You

Preventing relapse requires knowledge and awareness of triggers and cues. Once you’ve identified the risky situations, toxic emotions, worked out all the potential stressors that could catapult you into relapse, the rest is up to you. Ask yourself the following two questions:

Am I willing to do something about it?

What am I willing to do?

Then, do it – making sure that you avail yourself of all the resources and help that are available to you. Will it be easy? No, it probably won’t be. Some days will be more difficult than others. But, over time, you will become stronger, more self-confident, and more capable of addressing the stressors that come your way – without triggering a relapse.

Source: Drug Addiction Treatment

Filed Under: Drug Addiction, drug rehab center, drugs, pain medicine addiction, Pain Medicine Recovery, treatment center Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What Helps People Stay in Treatment?

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Getting treated for an addiction is hard work. It inevitably involves a slew of difficult challenges – logistical, financial and personal. Patients may find it hard to get time off from their jobs. They may have trouble getting transportation. They are likely to be called upon to explore personal or family issues that are painful. In addition to the logistical, social, and interpersonal issues, withdrawing from drugs is physically and emotionally challenging. The process necessarily forces the individual addict to deal with a myriad of uncomfortable, and often painful, experiences such that they may come to believe that he or she can not make it – or that it’s even desirable to get off drugs.

Replacement therapies have proven very helpful in many people’s efforts to stick with their recovery effort. Addiction specialists have learned a great deal about how these medications can make the difference in recovery; scientists are enthusiastically testing new replacement therapies for other types of drugs. That said, many people have entered into and sustained recovery from drug addiction without the use of prescribed medications – thus, medications are tools that can be utilized when available and appropriate, but they alone can not sustain recovery and recovery can be sustained without them.

Another vital element of continued treatment: dedicated work by family members and friends to support the person in treatment. This is never easy.

“It takes almost a saint in a way to sort of maintain a loving supportive engagement with somebody who may be doing things that really hurt you,” acknowledges Dr. Mark Willenbring of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “I mean, they may be spending a lot of money. They may be acting irresponsibly. They may be saying hurtful things.”

Nonetheless, emotional support – not only from family members and friends, but also from counselors, physicians and other healthcare practitioners – is essential for an addicted person.

The first step: ensuring that the treatment is the right fit for the recovering person’s personality and needs. Does the treatment plan respond to the patient’s particular addiction? Do the program and plan address any co-occurring disorders? Are the counselors supportive and sympathetic? Is the program sensitive to the recovering person’s age, gender, or racial or ethnic identity? Do the physicians prescribe some of the new prescription medications that can help get recovery off to a strong start, and can help a person stick with their treatment plan?

These are some of the most important factors affecting a person’s willingness to stick with therapy:

  • family involvement – which may include participation in family therapy – is one of the strongest factors affecting people’s ability to hang in with their treatment
  • the counselors – the person must be able to forge a personal connection of some kind with at least one counselor or caregiver and maintain a positive relationship with the recovering person
  • the type of treatment – there are many approaches to treatment, from replacement therapy, which involves the use of prescribed drugs, to cognitive behavioral therapy. If a treatment program doesn’t feel right, the patient shouldn’t give up – instead try again until connecting with a program that’s the right fit
  • personal motivation of the recovering person
  • pressure from an outside force, such as the criminal justice system or an employer

Source: HBO Addiction

Filed Under: Drug Addiction, drug rehab center, drugs, Pain Medicine Recovery, treatment center Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Myths of Addiction

May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Old Ideas

Since so much of our scientific understanding of addiction is relatively new, and since so much about drug and alcohol use is tied up in belief systems, it’s not surprising that myths about this disease abound.

“There are two main misconceptions that really drive me crazy when it comes to addictions,” says Dr. Kathleen Brady, a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. “One of them is this whole idea that an individual needs to reach rock bottom before they can get any help. That is absolutely wrong. There is no evidence that that’s true. In fact, quite the contrary. The earlier in the addiction process that you can intervene and get someone help, the more they have to live for. The more they have to get better for.”

The other big myth, says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the federal government’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, is that you have to want to be treated in order to get better. Even as an internationally respected researcher, she once believed that to be true, Volkow says, but she knows now that people who are forced into treatment do recover. Addicted people may be pushed to enter a treatment program by an employer, a companion or the criminal justice system. Employers may threaten to fire a person unless treated; a spouse may threaten to leave the relationship, or the court may offer treatment in lieu of prison. (In this case, people convicted of nonviolent, drug-related crimes may go through specialized alternative courts, called drug courts, in which they can reduce their sentence or avoid jail altogether by getting intensive addiction treatment.) In fact, research has shown that the outcomes for those who are legally mandated to enter treatment can be as good as the outcomes for those who entered treatment voluntarily.

Myths About Addiction*

* Adapted from Myths of Addiction. Carlton K. Erickson, Ph.D., University of Texas Addiction Science

1. Addicts are bad, crazy, or stupid.

Evolving research is demonstrating that addicts are not bad people who need to get good, crazy people who need to get sane, or stupid people who need education. Addicts have a brain disease that goes beyond their use of drugs.

2. Addiction is a willpower problem.

This is an old belief, probably based upon wanting to blame addicts for using drugs to excess. This myth is reinforced by the observation that most treatments for alcoholism and addiction are behavioral (talk) therapies, which are perceived to build self-control. But addiction occurs in an area of the brain called the mesolimbic dopamine system that is not under conscious control.

3. Addicts should be punished, not treated, for using drugs.

Science is demonstrating that addicts have a brain disease that causes them to have impaired control over their use of drugs. Addicts need treatment for their neurochemically driven brain pathology.

4. People addicted to one drug are addicted to all drugs.

While this sometimes occurs, most people who are dependent on a drug may be dependent on one or two drugs, but not all. This is probably due to how each drug “matches up” with the person’s brain chemistry.

5. Addicts cannot be treated with medications.

Actually, addicts are medically detoxified in hospitals, when appropriate, all the time. But can they be treated with medications after detox? New pharmacotherapies (medicines) are being developed to help patients who have already become abstinent to further curb their craving for addicting drugs. These medications reduce the chances of relapse and enhance the effectiveness of existing behavioral (talk) therapies.

6. Addiction is treated behaviorally, so it must be a behavioral problem.

New brain scan studies are showing that behavioral treatments (i.e., psychotherapy) and medications work similarly in changing brain function. So addiction is a brain disease that can be treated by changing brain function, through several types of treatments.

7. Alcoholics can stop drinking simply by attending AA meetings, so they can’t have a brain disease.

The key word here is “simply.” For most people, AA is a tough, lifelong working of the Twelve Steps. On the basis of research, we know that this support system of people with a common experience is one of the active ingredients of recovery in AA. AA doesn’t work for everyone, even for many people who truly want to stop drinking.
Source: HBO.com  Addiction

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Women and Methamphetamine Use

May 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The ratios of men to women who use particular substances vary greatly and generally statistics show a significant trend toward more substance use by males for all classes of substances. For example, the ratio of men to women who use heroin is close to 3: 1 while the proportion of men to women users of cocaine tends to be two males for every one female. Methamphetamine, however, is significantly different and appears to be a substance of abuse and addiction that appeals to both men and women equally. That ratio of use along gender lines is close to 1:1. Similarly, admissions to treatment facilities for the use of methamphetamine are also approximately 50% women and 50% men.

While the numbers of men and women who use meth are similar, there are significant differences between men and women who use methamphetamine, however. Women who use methamphetamine are more likely to have certain characteristics and life circumstances that male users of meth do not. Some of these issues that women who use methamphetamine typically have are:

• unemployment
• a live-in partner who abuses substances
• a history of physical and sexual abuse
• a history of multiple suicide attempts
• introduction to methamphetamine by an intimate partner
• motivation to use methamphetamine by the desire for weight control
• more negative medical and role functioning consequences of use than men
• more frequent use
• habitual smoking of methamphetamine rather than use by inhalation or injection
• psychiatric methamphetamine-related symptoms, issues and conditions

For women, methamphetamine use and recovery seem intricately tied to relationship issues. It is typical that a woman addicted to meth will also have a partner who is similarly addicted. This social dynamic significantly complicates recovery efforts for women. For example, women who complete treatment for methamphetamine use, and return to partners who continue to use meth, are more likely to relapse than women who do not return to such relationships after treatment. On the other hand, women who successfully complete treatment and return to partners who are also in early recovery from methamphetamine use have fewer incidents of relapse.

Further gender differences in the world of methamphetamine addiction are that women who seek treatment for meth use are more likely to remain in treatment longer and to have longer periods of abstinence after treatment than men. Women addicted to methamphetamine, however, have many psychosocial stressors that complicate treatment and recovery that men do not. Some of these include pregnancy and the risks to unborn children; children and issues of non-protection; domestic violence and financial dependency upon others, particularly their partners who are apt to also be methamphetamine users and/or involved in criminal lifestyles.

Meth and Pregnancy

There are many severe consequences for the babies of women who use meth during pregnancy. Methamphetamine use during pregnancy has been shown to result in pre-mature delivery as well as birth defects. Meth use can affect development of vital organs of the fetus such as the brain, heart, stomach and kidneys. It can also cause skeletal abnormalities. Additionally, there have been cases of babies in utero experiencing strokes and brain hemorrhages due to the mother’s methamphetamine use.

Babies who were delivered at full-term but exposed to methamphetamine may have problems similar to premature babies such as, for example, low birth weight and difficulty sucking and swallowing. Also, meth-exposed babies may have difficulty tolerating light and touch and become unusually irritable, restless and inconsolable. As children, these babies tend to have learning disabilities, problems of inattention and hyperactivity as well as behavior problems related to anger and impulsivity.

Children and Non-protective Parenting

Children of addicted parents are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, malnutrition, truancy and medical neglect. Some children are chronically exposed to toxic chemicals in their homes if parents make meth. Therefore, many women with methamphetamine addiction are involved with child welfare agencies due to abuse and neglect of their children. Children living in such conditions are removed from their parents’ care and typically return (if at all) only after a significant period of recovery has been achieved.

Domestic Violence And Meth

Methamphetamine and other stimulants of abuse and addiction are known to cause increased levels of agitation, paranoia, and aggression. Incidents of violence increase significantly with meth use. Meth-related violence in domestic settings generally involves situations in which women are victimized by their partners.

Treatment

Successful treatment of women for methamphetamine use may require helping them to extricate themselves from relationships with partners who continue to use meth, are involved in criminal lifestyles, batter their partners and have financial control over their partners. Consequently, many women will require assistance in securing shelter and financial independence if recovery is to be sustained. Additionally, women in treatment for methamphetamine use may also need support and guidance in negotiating the requirements of child protection agencies in order to plan for successful reunification with their children or to prevent further disruption of their families.

Source: Drug Addiction Treatment

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Addiction, Recovery & Yoga- The Film

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Addiction, Recovery & Yoga – Directors note

Addiction Recovery and Yoga was a documentary that I did not expect to make.

It came about through my work as a yoga teacher and yoga therapist. For about fifteen years I have been teaching mostly privately and “specialize” in treating people who have stress-related conditions. Over the years, a few of my students have had addiction problems – cocaine, alcohol and prescription drugs mostly. They were dealing with staying free of their addiction in a number of ways, one of which was AA – Alcoholics Anonymous.

I did not know anything about AA, I only had a vague idea that there was something pathetic about it – a sort of prejudice that I had picked up along the way somehow. I know a little about drugs and addiction, not so much from personal experience, but as a filmmaker in the 70s and 80s, I had directed hundreds of music videos and was used to musicians and artists using drugs as part of their work. And, in some cases, the way they suffered as a result. I had started my yoga practice in 1970 and, along with my wife Bobby, had spent a lot of time in Pune attending intensives with B.K.S. Iyengar. So in London at that time, I was the odd man out when my clients, music celebs and record company executives, were snorting cocaine at the nightclub. Drugs were cool. But yoga was not cool in 1970’s; it was only just beginning in the West.

So, very much later, as a yoga therapist, I was not shocked that some of my (very successful) students had addiction problem and were attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which deal not only with alcoholism, but also with drug and other addictions. But I realized that I did not know much about it all. So in order to educate myself, I went along to the nearest AA meeting. It happened to be held at the Community Center, which our garden backs onto here in Greenwich Village, New York.

I was blown way (like very impressed.) My experience of the AA meeting was more than positive. I was inspired by it. I had never experienced a social situation where people were being so open and honest about the most intimate and difficult (we are talking disastrous) aspects of their lives. But more than that, there was an atmosphere of genuine support that was based on a defined group practice of non-judgmental fellowship. It was an effective practice that made it possible for people to confront their own difficulties more clearly. Basically being on your own case and not everyone else’s. I learned that this was just a small part of some very practical and profound principals that made up the AA 12-step program.

My vaguely prejudiced attitude had changed. So in the class that I teach at the New York Institute, I said to my students “Oh I went to an AA meeting the other day, it was really great, I was so surprised”. Anyway, about three months later one of my students in that class came up to me and said, “Thank you so much for saying that about AA, I am now 63 days sober.” Well, if you have ever been to an AA meeting you will know that when someone is counting the days that they have been sober (one day at a time) it is very important to them. I was happy that something good had come out of my comment. It really appealed to my way of thinking, that I could do a little bit of good by just talking ? a bit lazy, I guess.

During the brief moments of lucidity that occasionally come to me after the second cup of tea in the morning, (and this paragraph is for yoga types) it struck that having a practice (12-steps) that enabled someone to relinquish affliction (alcoholism) was like the important assertion of The great yoga Patanjali’s observation: That one way negative mental conditions can be addressed is by applying the principles of abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (detachment). Or to put it another way, having a practice that removes the obstacles to one’s freedom.

It also struck me that; unlike some addiction rehab facilities that can cost a thousand dollars a day, AA 12-step and yoga were really cost-effective options. Ordinary people could afford them.

I think that it was after the third cup of tea that it further struck me that if I made a film about addiction recovery and yoga, I could distribute it for free on the Internet and thus, with very little effort, help many more people, maybe thousands, the way just a few words had helped the student in my class at the Iyengar Institute ? at this date 500 plus days sober.

The allure of the idea was irresistible. After all, I was some sort of award winning filmmaker at one time, so why not do it. And any way, where did I stand now, forty years later? What was my attitude now to the 60’s & 70’s era of sex, drugs and rock and roll and the voices of the social revolution that was hoped for at the time? I’ll keep it simple, no room to examine these issues now, except to say that the drugs were the big problem.

For a fairly large and influential generation of artists writers and musicians, from Aldus Huxley with “The Doors of Perception” the Beatles with “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” the idea was proposed that the way to explore or manage consciousness was with drugs, including alcohol. It made sense if one was 18. But from my point of view now as a been there, done that, grey haired, senior Iyengar yoga teacher and therapist, I can clearly observe that the idea of managing the mind with drugs has brought about some big problems. Yes some creative people gained some useful insights and perspectives because of drugs, but at what price? I think that substance abuse, either recreationally for stress relief, or psychotherapeutically with overly prescribed pharmaceuticals for depression, anxiety etc. is the cause or unhappiness and worse for many people.

All so heavy! What to do? I was part of that 60’s generation. I can remember saying at the time that I thought that commuters would get a better grasp of reality by smoking a joint in the morning rather than reading Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. But times change. I had seen the very bad effects that drugs can have and I had seen the substantially positive effects of yoga on many people over the years, so I do not have any doubt on the subject. And apart from anything else, I felt a need to make some sort of statement on my own behalf as well as taking an opportunity to be of some help to people generally.

I knew from past experience that not knowing much about a subject is actually quite a good place to start when making a film. I did a few sound only interviews with my proposed subjects to start and then was very lucky in that my old friend from years ago in Pune, Father Joe Pereira, was coming to New York to do a weekend yoga workshop. He was actually staying with my wife Bobby and me, and he liked a cup of tea in the morning, so we had a chance to talk about the documentary project that I had in mind.

Father Joe is probably the world’s leading expert on yoga and 12-step recovery. He is a longtime senior student of B.K.S. Iyengar, heads up 30 rehab centers in India and had just been honored and awarded the Padma Sri medal by the Indian Government for his work in this area. A great yoga practitioner, Father Joe was my first interview. He got me off to a good start.

You might think that it would be difficult to get people to talk about this part of their life, especially in a film. But it is one of the AA principals to reach out and help others. This is most clearly expressed by Louise in the very first line of the film when she says: “I don’t have a problem with answering questions about alcoholism because I think it is such a huge problem, for so many people, and its part of my duty ? not duty- duty is too strong a word. It’s part of my recovery process to allow people into that part of my life, and to own it. There might be someone out there, who is struggling, who might need some help – who might think, oh my God, that girl’s an alcoholic, perhaps she can help me. So that’s why I am prepared to talk about it”

Louise’s statement was an inspiration to me.

Students of yoga will appreciate Louise in many ways when they watch the film. Notice that, in that very first statement, she makes a switch from using the word, “duty”, with its implication of an externally approved edifice of individual achievement and virtue, to “my recovery process” with it’s liberating humility and focus on the subjective condition.

Liberation from that aspect of our mental process, which we refer to as ego, and the sometimes lethal delusions and capacity for denial that can be part of it, is an interesting theme that runs throughout the film – explained very adequately by all the interviewees who include two Iyengar Yoga teachers. Also explored is the concept of surrender to higher power, which in AA is considered essential to recovery. It is interesting how people effectively interpret this idea in different ways and for others it is a stumbling block. Nonetheless, freedom from ego-dominant and compulsive behavior will help anyone be a little happier. The film does not have a position on Higher Power. It is not an infomercial for any particular group. It hopes only to inform the viewer as a way of helping with the difficulties that people sometimes face in life. And it is there for free.

We have had a very good response showing the film and following it with a workshop. Robert Cory and I have done one and so has Tori Milner, who is the expert and more are planned in USA and Canada. We welcome other teachers to do the same. It is possible to make a DVD by downloading from one of the sites listed below.

Anyway it took about 18 months to shoot with Jake Clennell and edit the film with Hisayo Kushida. Currently the film is being translated into Japanese and Spanish. I want to get a Russian translation started before the end of the soon. (any offers??)

I hope you get a chance to see the film. Its easily available on YouTube, Google video, Veoh, Vimeo or www.adyo.org.

Filed Under: Drug Addiction, drugs, pain medication, pain medicine addiction, Pain Medicine Recovery Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How an Addict can Leave

May 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

When you are the addict, in recovery or not, if you’ve made the decision to leave you still have some planning to do in order to do so with dignity and compassion for all concerned. Take stock of the situation you will be walking away from. This doesn’t mean that you shirk your responsibilities to your spouse or partner and any children. It does mean that you have to shoulder your burden and provide as much in the way of support as is necessary to allow them to continue without you.

This, of course, entails a lot of sacrifice on your part. Not only will you need to provide for the spouse/family you are leaving – for their own good – but you will also need to be able to provide for your own living accommodations. You will need to make a new life, albeit one without being in the same household as your family. How can you go about this?

First, talk with your counselor, if you still have one. If you don’t have one, join a 12-step group and work with your sponsor and other group members to find a compassionate way for you to disengage from your spouse/family. It may take some time for you to figure out the arrangements, or you may need to leave immediately (if your spouse demands it, for example, or things deteriorate to such an extent that you need to leave in order to stabilize the situation). It’s better if you have some time to get your plans together, but if you don’t, do the best that you can.

While you are working out your plans, it’s important to communicate with your spouse about your intentions. Try to do so in as respectful and dignified a manner as possible. It doesn’t do either party any good to resort to name-calling or hashing through all the detritus of the past. Blame and bitterness similarly should have no part in your conversations. If discussions turn ugly, the best thing to do is to leave the room, saying that you will resume the conversation at another time after things cool down. This gives both parties breathing room and an opportunity for reason to return.

Be sure to stress that you’re not quitting the family. You are leaving in order that they may move on. You need to reassure your spouse that you will continue to provide support and be in the lives of any children to the extent that is permissible and reasonable, but that you will not jeopardize them any longer as a result of your addiction and/or recovery. Be prepared for your spouse/partner to be angry, fearful, confused or relieved, disbelieving or eager for you to leave. Until you finally walk away, you may witness any number of intense emotions – and have them yourself. The key point to remember is that walking away is a process that takes time. You will physically leave, but you are also going to need to leave emotionally as well.

Again, it’s important that you don’t try to tackle this on your own. You need the support of others who have been in your position and can at least listen to what’s going on with you now and offer encouragement on your decision to move on. After all, you want to do what is in the best interests of your spouse/family and you. This takes courage. Sometimes courage requires reinforcement from others.

Will Everyone be Better Off?

The logical question that many people who leave have is whether or not they’re making the right decision. Will everyone be better off if you leave? Think of it this way: If, by leaving, you are setting the other party free, removing danger or a barrier to growth, doing so out of an act of love and compassion, then leaving is most likely the right thing to do. It may not seem so at the time, but the realization may dawn on you later. Your leaving also may be a temporary measure while you sort out your life, get your act together, become firmly grounded in your recovery and achieve significant goals (that you’ve set for yourself).

When the time comes to walk away, do so with a clear head, a firm plan, and a conscious decision to make life better – for all concerned.

Source: Drug Addiction Treatment

Filed Under: Drug Addiction, drug rehab center, drugs, Pain Medicine Recovery Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

20/20 reports on Sunrise Detox

April 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

20/20 ABC News Reports on Sunrise Detox

Mom Hits Bottom After Years of Drinking

By SEAN DOOLEY and SHANA DRUCKERMAN
Today, 1:32 PM EDT
Lynn Wardlow says concern for her health and family helped convince her to quit.

At the end of a country road, inside the walls of a quaint and calm Hattiesburg, Miss., home, a family was in crisis.

Lynn Wardlow, a 50-year-old wife and mother of three, had been a drinker for more than 20 years. All the while, though, she ran a family business and raised her children.

In January, “20/20″ visited Wardlow. It was the day before she’d planned to give up alcohol for good.

“My hands are shaking,” said Wardlow as she packed her bags. “God, I hope I remembered to bring underwear.”

Watch the full story Friday on “20/20″ at 10 p.m. ET

Click HERE for further “20/20″ coverage of mothers and alcoholism.

In the morning, Wardlow would travel from the Gulf Coast to Palm Beach, Fla., check herself into a medical facility for detox and then enter a 30-day rehab program for her alcohol addiction.

Meanwhile, Wardlow planned one last hurrah. She took a bottle from a cabinet in her bedroom.

“Would this be my best choice for my last bottle of wine?” she asked.

The last year in the Wardlow home had been particularly difficult, especially for the children — Bo, 21; Jessy, 20; and Marina, 17.

“She’s been drinking every night for as far back as I don’t even know,” said Bo. “The last year there’s been a lot of drama, and it’d be nice if things were just normal for even just a little while.”

Wardlow poured herself some wine. “My kids want me to just stop, stop, stop, but I like, I don’t think I can just stop,” she said.

“And if I did, I don’t know if I would feel very good, or if we might have to go to the hospital, because I just stopped after I’ve been going, go, go, go for so long.”

Wardlow’s children have witnessed things no child should ever see: their mother passed out in her closet, in a drunken rage at a bookstore, in a car attempting to drive after an alcohol-infused fight.

“It’s hard to see someone you love have to be addicted to something in order to feel better,” said Marina.

“It makes you feel like you’ve done something wrong,” said Jessy.

Drunken Moms: ‘When She Gets Like That’

The kids say their mother’s drinking had reached a critical point. Last April, Wardlow was diagnosed with hepatitis C, unrelated to her alcoholism. Unless she quit drinking, she could die.

But even the threat of losing her life, the family said, hadn’t stopped Wardlow from consuming alcohol.

“I want my mom to get better and not just for our sake but for her sake for her health,” said Jessy.

Wardlow’s last night at home was tense. The alcohol fueled her anxiety of what was to come.

“I think after two drinks, I’m like, you know what, these people aggravate me,” said Wardlow, who ran the family’s ceiling construction business. “And they aggravate me during the course of the day, and at the end of the day, I have a couple of drinks.”

The kids knew better than to stick around once Lynn started drinking. Wardlow’s husband, Bob, soon became a target.

“If you want to spend more time with Bill O’Reilly and your computer then go ahead,” Wardlow cracked.

“When she gets like that, conversations can turn to arguments,” said Bob.

“Or being an a**hole can turn to arguments,” said Wardlow. “Maybe I’m just able to say, you know what, [I've] had it up to here!”

The next morning, her head a little clearer, Wardlow acknowledged that rehab may be her last chance.

“I’ve affected my children. … Our relationships would be different if alcohol wasn’t a part of my life,” she said.

But just before she walked out the door, the leftover wine from the night before called to her.

“I’m not going to drink that,” Wardlow said, wavering before she gave in and took a sip.

Wardlow’s family walked her down the steps. She gave them kisses. She grew emotional.

“I’m not the only person who needs to be healed,” said Wardlow. “I’m not the only person who has been affected by this.

“It’s gonna be good,” she assured her famliy. “I’m going to get better.”

Two planes, three bloody mary’s and two beers later, Wardlow landed in Florida.

She was greeted by Loren Seaman from the Orchid Recovery Center, where Wardlow would surrender herself for treatment.

“Did you drink?” Seaman asked.

“Well, hell yeah,” Wardlow said.

Wardlow and Seaman had been talking for weeks on the phone to prepare for her arrival.

But before her bags had even make it downstairs, a shoeless Wardlow headed off for one more drink.

“We’re going to make a new martini,” Wardlow said. “It’s called the Lynn’s-quitting-drinking-and-going-to-rehab martini. Ready?

Drunken Moms: Tough Recovery Odds

Finally, it was time for Seaman to sign Wardlow into the center.

“Have you ever been to detox?” Seaman asked. The answer was no.

“It’s OK, I’m good,” said Wardlow, laughing. “I’m drunk, so right now I ain’t scared. Give me a day or two, and I’m probably going to be frightened out of my wits.”

Over a million people submit to detox and rehab programs for alcohol addiction every year in this country. The odds going into rehab were against Wardlow. Studies show that 90 percent of people in recovery relapse.

Wardlow had a session with Linda Burns, head of nursing at Sunrise Detox.

“How much are you drinking a day, about?” Linda asked.

“Four, five, six …” replied Wardlow.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse, one third of alcoholics in the United States are women.

Staff at both the Orchid and Sunrise Detox Center told “20/20″ that about 95 percent of the women they pick up at the airport are intoxicated upon arrival. Wardlow was no exception.

A Sunrise Detox tech measured Wardlow’s blood alcohol content upon admission.

“You’re not too bad — .106,” the tech said.

“What does that mean?” said Wardlow. “Would I be arrested?”

“Oh, definitely, yeah.”

“I would be arrested.”

“Yeah.”

“Point-zero-8 is the limit, and I’m at point 1-plus over. I’m over the limit to drive a vehicle.”

“Yes, you would be wearing nice bracelets.”

For the next five days — standard for alcohol addiction — Wardlow remained at Sunrise. She was medicated with a drug called librium to eliminate the side effects of withdrawal, which can range from tremors and insomnia to delirium or even seizures.

From day one, Wardlow was restless.

“If you reached in your pocket right now and pulled out a beer, it would be really hard for me not to drink it,” she told “20/20.” “Quite honestly, it would.”

By day four, her impatience and boredom reached all-time highs.

“I have not had a good morning,” she said, talking to a portable camera “20/20″ gave her to document her journey. “I have cried on more than one occasion today. I have come to the realization that this is the closest thing to a jail that I have ever been in.”

But it was only the beginning of a long and difficult journey.

The next step for Wardlow was the Orchid Recovery Center, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center designed specifically to treat women.

“We’re just glad you’re here, Lynn,” said an Orchid staff member who welcomed her.

“Thank you,” said Wardlow. “I’m glad I’m here too.”

Drunken Moms: From Detox to Rehab

Normally, TV cameras are not permitted to see inside the walls of a rehab facility. But with Wardlow’s permission, the Orchid Recovery Center allowed “20/20″ unprecedented access to their treatment process.

“You don’t know Lynn clean and sober,” Mindy Appel, Wardlow’s therapist at the Orchid, told her. “You don’t know that woman.”

Unlike at detox, Wardlow’s days at rehab would be packed, from six in the morning until nine at night. She would have individual and group therapy sessions mixed with yoga, meditation, accupuncture and art.

An all-female facility, the Orchid is run almost exclusively by women, many of whom have been through some type of addiction recovery of their own.

The Orchid places enormous weight on the honing of life skills, encouraging women to shop and cook for themselves — all of the things they’ll have to do back home. But sometimes, even a simple trip to the grocery store can spell trouble. Once a woman from the center drank vanilla extract from the store. It’s 24 percent alcohol. The woman drank five or six big bottles, staff said — and came back reeking of alcohol and walking funny.

For recovering alcoholics, triggers to resume drinking can be anything from beer commercials on TV to the wine store they used to frequent — anything that reminds them of drinking, said Orchid staff.

Wardlow’s heavy lifting for the next 30 days would happen inside the office of Appel, her therapist.

“We want to stay really focused, and I’m going to keep you on task here,” Appel told her.

During her first session, Wardlow confessed her reasons for drinking went back to her relationship with her father.

“So what was growing up like for you?” asked Appel.

“I had times of sadness,” said Wardlow. “My father was an alcoholic… When I was 15 he decided it was time to go … so he died.”

Genetics may also have had a role in Wardlow’s addiction. Studies show that children of alcoholics are four times more likely to develop the problem.

A week into her treatment, “20/20″ co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas paid a visit to Wardlow at Orchid. She appeared more calm and focused but still struggled with her addiction.

Vargas asked her if it was hard.

“It’s really hard,” she said. “It is hard and it’s, and it’s hurtful, and you realize how many people that you’ve hurt. And my children are amazing. I mean, I look at them, and I know I’ve not been a bad mother. I’m like, I know I’m a good mother. I’ve mothered them well — but how much better could it have been if these past 10 years, I hadn’t been living in the bottom, in the bottom of a bottle?”

Wardlow described the cycle of her drinking.

“I wake up the next morning, you feel horrible, and you say, ‘I’m gonna do better. I’m gonna do better. I’m gonna do better. So, but I don’t feel very good today. So this afternoon, I’m just gonna have a beer.’” Which turns into “three or four or five or six.”

Are Mothers Drinking More?

The team of therapists at the Orchid said regrets and expectations about being the perfect mother are often what push a woman deeper into her addiction.

“There’s so many women that are so sophisticated at covering up and being, you know, the PTA mom and being the soccer mom and doing all things for everyone,” said Appel.

But are women, particularly mothers, drinking more — or are we just finding out about it more?

“I think we’re finding out about it more,” said Mindy Agler, another therapist on the Orchid team. “[It's] just not something you talk about. … If a man walks away from a family because he needs to focus on his recovery, everybody says OK, so he needs to do that. But if a woman leaves her family to go get treatment and then decides ‘You know what, I’m not ready, I got to go to a halfway house before I go back to my kids,’ everybody goes, ‘Oh my God.’”

That double standard and the stigma of alcoholism can keep a woman’s disease under wraps. But past traumas, the therapists say, can also play a role.

In her short time at the Orchid, Wardlow opened up about not only her alcoholic father but other traumatic experiences: an abortion at 17, and a horrific gang-rape on her 18th birthday.

“She identifies, from 15 to 18, these were horrible years for her,” said Appel. “That she’s never, never dealt with.”

The entire time, a question hung in the background: Would Wardlow make it through treatment, and would she be able to stay away from alcohol once she was back home?

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m scared as hell,” she said. “I’m scared, I’m scared to go home.

Wardlow left the Orchid with 30 days clean and a lifetime of hurdles in front of her. We visited Wardlow in Hattiesburg after her release. She was ready to add another day to her sobriety.

“This is my little tablet,” she said, indicating a pad of paper. “And I wad up yesterday and I write today down, put my little tablet back up there, and if I drink, I have to put that tablet on zero — and I don’t want to have to do that.”

The time back home had not always been easy.

“We had to relearn how to live with one another,” said Wardlow. “The first week or two was pretty volatile. Not in a physical way, but there was lots of screaming and gnashing of teeth.”

But there are signs of healing.

“We’re all really proud of her,” said Marina. “I know if she sets her mind to anything, that’s what she’s going to do. I’m just glad that she finally set her mind to it.”

“I think she’s trying to be more aware, and I think she’s trying to make up for, in some aspects, everything that’s happened and stuff,” said Jessy. “But I think she’s working on it. … I think she’ll do it. I believe in her.”

Wardlow had followed her care plan closely. She had daily phone calls with her sponsor and attended support group meetings regularly.

To stay with the recovery program, Wardlow can never consume a drop of alcohol — or take any habit-forming medication — again.

“No mood-altering drugs, as far as any type of benzos or opiates or whatever,” she said. “I was on tremizal for joint pain. Also I was taking lunesta to sleep, and I’m not taking that any more either.”

Wardlow left one support meeting with a chip marking how long it had been since she’d stopped drinking.

“Ninety days! 90 Days,” she said. “Big three months. Three months sober.”

Filed Under: Drug Addiction

Prescription Pain Medication and Addiction

April 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Prescription pain medication and addiction can go hand in hand and can be a serious problem.  Prescription pain medication can be used to reduce the pain associated with temporary ailments like sprains and broken bones.  It may also be used to relieve the discomfort caused by arthritis or chronic back pain.

When pain medication is used for prolonged periods, a dependency can develop. Prescription drug addiction can also occur when pain medication is not used as directed. Because addiction is such a common problem, many physicians limit the amount of medication they prescribe, and may even under prescribe medication as a result.

Common Addictions

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reports that over 15 million people within the U.S. abuse prescription drugs. If this figure is correct, more people are addicted to prescription drugs than heroin, meth and cocaine combined.

While some prescription pain medications can be more addictive than others, all of them come with some risk of dependency. These medications include, but are not limited to:

  • Vicodin
  • OxyContin
  • Morphine
  • Demerol
  • Codeine
  • Oxycodone

Signs of Addiction

As mentioned earlier, prescription pain medication and addiction can go hand in hand. There are many people who find that they are unable or unwilling to cut down and/or eliminate the use of prescription drugs.

Fortunately, the signs of addiction to prescription pain medication are relatively easy to spot in others or even in yourself. The most common signs include:

  • Taking more medication than is prescribed
  • An inability to stop using the medication
  • Strong cravings for the drug
  • Using prescription pain medication to treat other things besides pain
  • A change in mood when the medication is not taken
  • Lying about the amount of medication  that is being taken
  • Manipulating physicians to get more medication
  • Faking or exaggerating pain to get more prescription pain medication
  • Requesting more medication before any is needed
  • Illegally purchasing pain medication

Preventing Addiction

To reduce the likelihood of becoming addicted to pain medication, you should always use the medication as prescribed. If you feel that the medication is not relieving pain as it should, do not take more. Instead, speak with your physician about your concerns. The physician may decide to increase your dosage or try another medication. In any case, this is a decision that should be made by a qualified medical professional.

To prevent an addiction to prescription pain medication, you can also keep a diary to carefully track your progress while on the drug. If you feel that you do not need the drug anymore or if you feel like you are becoming addicted to the drug, you can take your diary to your physician and discuss the next step in your treatment.

Treatment Resources

If you or someone you know has a problem with an addiction to prescription pain medication, there are many different resources that can be tapped for help. To start, you should speak with a physician to determine the best way to get off the medication.

Different people have different levels of addiction and must be treated accordingly. The type of pain medication can also play a role in determining treatment options. A physician should be able to recommend a plan of action, and may even be able to provide detox or addiction treatment center referrals.

Contacting an addiction support group like Narcotics Anonymous can also be helpful. Many people find that it is easier to overcome an addiction to prescription pain medication if there is a support group or a network of people that can assist them through the initial recovery period

Filed Under: detox, Drug Addiction, drug rehab center, drugs, pain medication, pain medicine addiction, Pain Medicine Recovery, sunrise detox, treatment center Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Abuses Are Found in Online Sales of Medication

April 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A large majority of 365 Internet sites that advertise or sell controlled medications by mail are offering to supply the drugs without a proper prescription, according to a new study. The online trade is stoking the rising abuse of addictive and dangerous prescription drugs, the authors and federal officials say.

Drugs offered online include generic versions of opiates like OxyContin, methadone and Vicodin, which are legitimately prescribed as painkillers; benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium, which are prescribed for anxiety; and stimulants like Ritalin.

Federal and state efforts to crack down on Internet sales appear to have reduced the number of sites offering such drugs, from 581 last year, said Joseph A. Califano Jr., director of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

“Nevertheless, anyone of any age can obtain dangerous and addictive prescription drugs with the click of a mouse,” Mr. Califano said. The center is issuing the study, the latest of five annual surveys, on Wednesday.

The Drug Enforcement Administration found that 85 percent of all Internet prescription sales involved controlled drugs, compared with just 11 percent of those filled through regular pharmacies, suggesting that online sales often are destined for misuse.

“Abuse of prescription drugs has exploded among college students, and we think that one way they get these drugs is over the Internet,” Mr. Califano said. The use of prescription opioids and anxiety drugs, especially in combination, accounts for a growing share of deadly overdoses nationwide.

“The Internet made it easy for the drug dealers to sneak into your living room,” said Francine Haight of La Mesa, Calif, whose son Ryan died in 2001 at the age of 18 from an overdose of hydrocodone, generic Vicodin, which he had secretly ordered online with a debit card. An A-student and varsity tennis player, he had claimed in an online questionnaire to be a 25-year-old with back pain, got his prescription and was mailed the drug. Ms. Haight, a registered nurse, has since fought against online sales.

Federal law bars dispensing dangerous medications without a prescription from a doctor who has a bona fide relationship with the patient. But officials have had a hard time catching up to rogue Internet pharmacies that sometimes ship the drugs from foreign countries in disguised packages.

For the last several years, the Drug Enforcement Administration and others have worked to halt the illegal trade and prosecute involved doctors and suppliers, with limited success.

“One of the main problems is that the sites can literally open up for a week, close and open up under a different name,” said Michael Sanders, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In a more recent practice, the new study found, some sites sell written prescriptions that can then be used at local pharmacies.

Using popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, the Columbia researchers found 365 sites offering controlled drugs by mail. Of these, 206 were advertising sites, directing consumers to a seller. Of the 159 sites that directly sold controlled drugs, 135, or 85 percent, did not require a prescription or provided them on the basis of online questionnaires.

In an effort to make their surveys consistent, in each of the last five years the researchers have spent the same amount of time searching, 210 hours, for the same list of drugs. The number of sites rose to 581 in 2007, then fell to 365 this year. The study will be available online on Wednesday at www.casacolumbia.org.

In April, the Senate passed the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act, which would require certification of online pharmacies and that doctors see patients before prescribing controlled drugs. The bill is now in committee in the House.

At least eight states have passed laws barring electronic prescribing or sales without a legitimate prescription. Minnesota passed a law in 2007 requiring doctor-patient consultations but found that “the Web sites went around us, doing 30-second consultations on the phone,” said Dan Pearson of St. Cloud, Minn., whose son Justin died of drug poisoning in 2006, aged 24, after obtaining large quantities of hydrocodone and Xanax from 17 online pharmacies. The law was strengthened this year to require face-to-face consultations.

“Anyone can have these drugs at their door within 48 hours,” usually using a credit or debit card to pay for an online prescription and then a money order to pay for express delivery, C.O.D., Mr. Pearson said.

Federal drug authorities have begun working with credit card companies and banks to try to prevent such transactions, while major Internet search engines have used a verification program called Pharmacy Checker to confirm that advertisers are legitimate. But the system appears to be full of holes, critics say.

Mr. Califano sent letters this week to senior officials of Google, Yahoo and MSN asserting that they were “profiting from advertisements for illegal sales of controlled prescription drugs online,” and calling for stronger action.

Diana Adair, a spokeswoman for Google, said the company took the problem seriously and in addition to using Pharmacy Checker, had consulted with federal agencies on ways to stem the trade. Kelley Benender, a spokeswoman for Yahoo, said the company was “working to identify the illegal sites and will take appropriate action.”

A spokesman from MSN said the company had no comment.

By ERIK ECKHOLM from The New York Times

For help with abuse of prescription drugs you can contact Sunrise Detox center located in Florida and in New Jersey.

Filed Under: detox, Drug Addiction, drugs, pain medication, pain medicine addiction, Pain Medicine Recovery, sunrise detox Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

8 Factors To Consider When Choosing a Drug Rehab Program

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Facing the fact that someone you love is not only suffering from drug addiction, but now must receive help to overcome the addiction, is difficult for anyone. Where should you start? Who do you turn to? What questions do you need to ask about drug treatment programs? Perhaps, you may have been at this point before, and you now feel a sense of hopelessness in finding a residential treatment center that will work this time around. Maybe, though, this is the first time you’ve had to take these steps to help someone you love. The process can feel overwhelming.

Ultimately, you want your loved one back. You want that person you love free from drugs. You want that person to live a healthy and productive life. By asking the right question on each of the following areas when choosing a residential drug treatment center, your chances of making this happen for your loved one will increase.

1.Success Rate –
What is the success rate of the residential drug treatment center? Obviously, the higher the success rate, the more likely your loved one will succeed. Ask to speak with graduates of the drug rehab facility or their families. Get real opinions from real people.

2.Methods –
What method does the drug treatment center use? Ask yourself if they are addressing all aspects of your loved one’s addiction, including what led them to drugs in the first place. Methods that only deal with one aspect of addiction are more likely to fail. Remember addiction results from a combination of many factors, including a lessening of morality and integrity and an increasing burden of guilt and shame. The life of an addict includes bad habits, poor health and difficulty facing problems. After speaking with the facility, ask yourself if they are handling not just the psychological aspects, but also the physical and mental aspects of addiction as well. Are they providing practical skills that will help your loved one succeed once the drug rehabilitation program is completed?

3.Services –
What services does the residential drug treatment center offer? This is not only for your loved one, but for you as well. Will they help with legal issues? Will they assist in an intervention? In other words, to what length will they go to make certain your loved one gets the drug treatment they need?

4.Staff –
Who are the staff members at the residential drug treatment center? The best trained staff will have had experience with drug addiction. They will not have learned about it in a book. Are they qualified for their positions? What real-life knowledge do they have with drug addiction? What is their reason for working in this field?

5.Follow-up Program –
What type of follow-up program does the residential drug treatment center offer? This is important. Sending a newly rehabilitated drug addict back into the world without any follow-up can be disastrous. Make sure that there is a program of this type in place. Good programs keep in touch over the phone regularly after one leaves the program.

6.Location –
Where is the residential drug treatment center located? A residential drug treatment center should be protected. Ask how easy it would be for your loved one to leave. Many addicts when first coming off drugs want to leave. Ensuring that this is difficult, while not seeming like a prison, increases the chances that the person will stay to finish.

7.Length –
How long does the residential drug treatment center take? Although the standard program is 28 days, if the residential drug treatment center offers a longer program, it is more likely your loved one will succeed. However, if the residential drug treatment center allows your loved one to work at his or her own pace, without imposing time constraints, your loved one has an even greater chance of overcoming drug addiction.

8.Price –
How much does the residential drug treatment center cost? Before eliminating any program because of its price, ask yourself this: What are they offering? Look back at the points above and determine what the drug rehab is truly giving to the one you love. Yes, the more it offers, the more likely the price will be higher. However, your loved one will have a greater chance at becoming a healthy productive member of society. How much is that person worth to you?
Choosing a residential drug treatment center can be difficult. Dealing with a loved one suffering from drug addiction is devastating. By breaking the process down into what is important and finding out the answers to the questions above, you will be able to make an informed choice as to which residential drug treatment program can best help you and your loved one. Drug addiction can be dealt with and overcome.
By John Frank

Filed Under: detox, Drug Addiction, drug rehab center, drugs, pain medication, pain medicine addiction, Pain Medicine Recovery, sunrise detox, treatment center Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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