Posts Tagged ‘assistance in recovery’

Signs and Symptoms of Drug Abuse and Addiction

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

How do you know when your loved-one has surpassed the point of casual drug use and ventured into the dark territory of abuse and addiction?

Determining whether someone you care about has become addicted to drugs is difficult for many, not simply because the signs aren’t obvious, but because many times it’s difficult to admit someone so close can have gone so far.

Because of its difficulty, many times those standing by continue to not only allow the addiction and abuse to continue, but in their attempts to either help the situation themselves or pretend it doesn’t exist, they “enable” the user – inadvertently help them continue this lifestyle. Enabling endangers everyone affected, and drains the love and happiness from families.

Those addicted to or abusing drugs may exhibit different physical signs, as different drugs have different effects, but the symptoms of addiction remain generally the same, regardless of the substance.

When diagnosing issues of addiction, we look at whether someone is abusing substances or has moved into dependence.  Some of the symptoms of abuse are:

• Regularly neglecting your responsibilities at school, work, or home (e.g. flunking classes, being chronically late for work, neglecting your children) because of use.
• Taking risks while using, such as driving while on drugs, using dirty needles, or having unprotected sex.
• The use is causing legal trouble, such as arrests for driving under the influence, drunk and disorderly conduct or stealing or dealing to support a drug habit.
• The use in general is causing problems in relationships, partner or employer.

Common signs and symptoms of drug or alcohol dependence include:

• Tolerance. This is the need to use or drink more to get any effect.
• Withdrawal symptoms.  Experiences symptoms such as nausea, restlessness, insomnia, depression, sweating, shaking, and anxiety from a lack of use.  People with this problem often times can’t go 3-4 days without using something to feel better.
• Loss of Control. When someone can no longer make choices about how, when or how much they use, even though they told themselves they wouldn’t.
• The addict spends a lot of time using and thinking about drugs or alcohol, figuring out how and when they can get their substance, and recovering from it’s effects.
• When someone is abusing substances, we are concerned that they are neglecting their roles and responsibilities.  In dependence, people are more likely to abandon activities they used to enjoy, such as hobbies, sports, and socializing.
• Continued use despite knowing it’s causing major problems in one’s life—blackouts, infections, mood swings, depression, paranoia—but they continue to use anyway.

The more drugs and alcohol begin to affect your decisions and judgment the more they control your life.  While people may go through a stage where they are abusing and can walk away, once addiction takes control it can be hard to break away without some form of help. Unfortunately, when you’re in the middle of it, the denial that you or your loved one may be experiencing can cloud one’s ability to look at the problem subjectively.  That is why many people are “forced” into treatment by family, employers or the legal system.

The earlier someone recognizes the symptoms of addiction, the more likely they are to avoid some of the major consequences that often go hand in hand with addiction.

Post written by Jim Stoltz, Clinical Director for Assistance in Recovery and Licensed Independent Clinical Social worker who has spent almost 20 years working with addicts and alcoholics to achieve long-term recovery.

Tags: addiction recovery, assistance in recovery, drug abuse, drug addiction, prescription drug abuse, prescription drug overdose, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program
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E! Special Sheds Light on Prescription Drug Abuse of Everyday People

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Flipping through the channels this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see E! going deeper than the celebrity deaths due to prescription drug abuse. Their new special looked into everyday people’s struggle with prescription painkiller and sedative addictions.

The show profiled different types of people—from the typical juvenile druggie, to the overachiever, to the unintentional addiction of someone simply prescribed poorly—and discussed how each became hooked, the steps they took to find sobriety and family reactions throughout. All of this was done with compassion and an absence of judgment, potentially leading viewers to gain the footing to seek help in response.

While I applaud them for delving out of their ordinary murder mysteries and celebrity documentaries by looking at the effects of the disease on normal people outside the Hollywood spotlight, the program ended without educating the audience as adequately as it could.

The show’s depictions neglect the concept of “continuing care” (the receipt of guidance after one leaves treatment), a crucial step in the recovery process to which the general population and media have yet to catch on, instead only going through the routine of intervention, treatment and either success or failure.

I don’t mean to rag on E!, but this special is another example of TV programs with the right idea yet lacking the correct and complete education to properly comment on the subject. Discussing recovery of any kind as a behavioral health problem by only highlighting intervention and treatment but missing continuing care is like missing the bread in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich; the other parts have the opportunity to be really satisfying, but without the boundaries, they just fall apart.

Tags: assistance in recovery, celebrity addiction, celebrity drug addiction, prescription drug abuse, prescription drug overdose, prescription pill addiction, Recovery Assistance Program, recovery support
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Innovative College Recovery Programs

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

With more and more adolescents and young adults seeking drug and alcohol treatment, there have been some distinct innovations in the recovery sector of colleges. According to research done at Yale University, adolescents and young adults are more prone to addiction due to their still-developing brains. There are nearly 50,000 college-age kids in America who are abusing alcohol or other drugs to the extent that they are unable to make it successfully through college. As a result, the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse are more and more prevalent in the world today; however, with additional resources available for young adults and more awareness allowing for earlier intervention, a good number of those young people are entering the journey of recovery at earlier ages. These earlier ages present new and different challenges in the recovery world, and college tends to be a place full of rampant triggers and challenges for a newly-recovering person. As a result, more colleges around the country are starting to develop programs specifically for people in recovery (for a complete list, check out the Recovery Schools website here).

A couple of programs stand out- in our backyard, Minneapolis, Augsburg College has their innovative StepUp program to meet the needs of the recovering community. With support groups and sobriety-specific dorms, Augsburg has some great wrap-around services for those young adults going to college for the first time, or heading back into an environment where they’ve struggled.

Texas Tech, in Lubbock, TX also has their own recovery program for students. Dr. Kitty Harris, director of Texas Tech’s Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery, had this to say about the program: “I want our students to have a true college experience. I don’t want them to feel separate. I don’t want them to feel apart from. I don’t want them to feel different. And I especially don’t want them to drink or do drugs.” This program, integrating students into the college milieu, provides new hope for students that have struggled in the past. Here’s a video about Texas Tech’s program.

However, there are some barriers before college. Should your adolescent or young adult need treatment, please contact us at 877-320-0247 or www.a-i-r.com. We also would highly recommend, for any person in recovery entering a college environment, our Recovery Assistance Program, which will provide additional accountability. When heading off to college, especially those without a recovery program for students, having the Recovery Assistance Program in place can provide a safety net for your loved one.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, adolescent addiction, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, augsburg stepup program, college, college recovery, drug addiction, intervention, recovery, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, sober college, sober in college, stepup program, substance abuse, texas tech, Treatment, young adult addiction
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Suboxone- the pluses and minuses

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Suboxone (or buprenorphin) seems to be all the rage these days. With the power of the multi-lateral corporation Reckitt Benckiser (whose exclusive license on Suboxone brought in fifteen percent of their overall revenue in 2009), a huge push is being made to medical doctors to prescribe Suboxone as a way to combat heroin use. Since Suboxone is a semi-synthetic opiate, many dangers arise from the over-prescription of this drug. While we at AiR have seen many benefits to Suboxone during the initial detoxification process, we worry about the addicts who get saddled in trading one maintenance drug for another. Now the website for Suboxone does suggest that “more than medication alone” makes for successful treatment; however- we’d like to see some facts and research behind the amount of people who seek outside therapy along with their medication management.
Here’s the main problem, directly from the Suboxone website:

“All opioids can cause physical dependence. SUBOXONE belongs to a class of opioids called “partial opioid agonists.” As a partial agonist, buprenorphine appears to produce less physical dependence, limited euphoria, and less potential for abuse compared with a full agonist, eg, heroin, oxycodone, and hydrocodone. SUBOXONE has potential for abuse and produces dependence of the opioid type with a milder withdrawal syndrome than full agonists.

When patients are ready to stop taking SUBOXONE, the dose is slowly and gradually tapered. The withdrawal symptoms of SUBOXONE are milder than those seen with a full opioid agonist and can be managed with your doctor’s supervision.”

So, basically, are we dealing with the new methadone here? It sure looks like it. We need physicians to be responsible and educated around addiction before they reach for that prescription pad. If a doc wants to use suboxone to assist in the detoxification process, then please do- just be sure to remove a patient from this opioid. Creating additional dependence, albeit on a lower-level substance, still encourages a dependence instead of a solution. Hazelden had this to say (from a CNN article earlier this year): “At Hazelden, a small proportion of patients receive anti-addiction drugs, but medical director Dr. Kevin Clark says the traditional model — based on intensive therapy and the 12 steps — is still best. ‘It is a disease of the brain, but it’s a multifaceted disease. It has a spiritual component, a behavioral component to it,’ says Clark. ‘Our experience tells us that having the network of support and recovery is what really makes the difference.’”

With the help of residential treatment, twelve-step programs, and support from a family, the chances of an addict getting into recovery skyrocket. Medication alone will never be the solution, because, at the end of the day, the drugs are only a symptom. An addict needs help outside of a pill.

For help for yourself or a loved one, please call us at 877-320-0247 or visit our main page at www.a-i-r.com.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, buprenorphin, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drug deaths, methadone, prescription drug abuse, Recovery Assistance Program, suboxone, substance abuse, Treatment
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Increasing Substance Abuse levels in older adults

Friday, January 15th, 2010

According to a press release by SAMHSA, treatment providers and families should be expecting a “dramatic increase” in substance abuse among adults 50 and older.The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the US government agency faced with the goal of improving the quality and availability of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitative services for in the substance abuse and mental health fields. SAMSHA’s latest report, published on January 8th, states that services for those of the aging baby boomer generation should be expected to double by the year 2020.

“This new data has profound implications for the health and well-being of older adults who continue to abuse substances,” said Pamela S. Hyde, J.D, the SAMHSA Administrator. “These findings highlight the need for prevention programs for all ages as well as to establish improved screening and appropriate referral to treatment as part of routine health care services.”

The stats point to a rising trend in marijuana use, with 8.5% of men between 50 and 54 reporting having used marijuana in the past year.  And with a rise in prescription drug abuse (up from 1% to 5% of treatment admissions from 1997 to 2009), one can only expect that drug abuse will increase. The National Institute of Health reports that nearly 20% of adults have used prescription drugs for non medical reasons.  Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of Geriatric Psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center, stated: “We need much better support services for the number of older adults who are going to have substance abuse problems.” The New York Daily News even picked up on the story, stating that the Woodstock generation still has a tendency to get high.

So what do we do? Become better educated for prevention and awareness. Talk to your loved ones if you’re concerned about their use. Learn about the signs and symptoms of drug abuse. And when you need it, ask for help. Addiction is a disease of silence; keeping secrets keeps loved ones sick, and the only way to get better is through outside help.

If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, please call us at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.

Also, for those in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, we will be presenting a family education series in conjunction with Hazelden on February 8th.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, intervention, older adult substance abuse, pain addiction, pain medication, prescription drug abuse, SAMHSA, substance abuse, Treatment
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Mental Health Issues on the Rise

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

A new study from San Diego State University found that FIVE TIMES as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues as youth of the same age who were studied in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, anxiety, assistance in recovery, depression, drug addiction, intervention, recovery, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
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A new year, a new start.

Friday, January 8th, 2010

With a new year (and a new decade as well, depending on who you ask) upon us, we in the addiction world often see many people come to us with New Years resolutions, things such as:

“2010 will be the year I get sober.”

“Maybe I should cut down on my drinking.”

“This is the year I talk to my son about his drug use.”

“This is the year of big changes in my family.”

We at AiR encourage these resolutions- they can be a big catalyst for change, and help people get on the path to recovery. However, what’s important to remember here is how many times one has made these said resolutions. If you find yourself saying for the fifth year in a row that it’s time to quit drinking, it’s probably time to seek outside help. If you’re a family member and you’re hearing the same resolution year after year- we can help with that too.

Since the holiday season seems so volatile (as we’ve covered here), now is the time to act. A new year can bring about new changes. If you’re a family member and your loved one is hurting from a compulsive behavior, reach out. Ask for help. If you can’t make the phone call yet, then check out our book, It’s Not Okay To Be A Cannibal (available here); some good advice is available there, but be sure to get outside assistance when you decide to move forward.

If you or a loved one are in crisis, please call us at 877-320-0247 for immediate assistance, or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drugs, eating disorders, gentetics of addiction, heroin addiction, intervention, mental health, methamphetamine, pain addiction, pain medication, prescription drug abuse, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
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Addiction at Home and in the Workplace

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Dr. A. Thomas McLellan, one of the leading researchers on addiction and a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, recently shared his story with the New York Times. Dr. McLellan recently accepted a position with the U.S. government, at the invitation of Vice President Joe Biden, to be the nation’s number two drug control officer. This gave him an interesting choice- to stay a professor, or to go work for the new administration. However, some experiences in his home life led him to move to work with the administration.

Last year, Dr. McLellan’s 30-year-old son passed away from an overdose of anti-anxiety medication and alcohol, at the same time as his other, older son was in residential treatment working on his own addiction issues. This, McLellan said, is what led directly to him making the post. With the help of Gil Kerlikowski, the nation’s drug czar, he hopes to turn addiction from a punitive crime into one where we can see more people get help instead of jail time. From the article: “Dr. McLellan said that of the 25 million substance abusers he estimated were in this country, only about 2 million were receiving treatment. He and Mr. Kerlikowske want to triple that number, partly by spending more money and partly through other tactics, like integrating addiction treatment into the primary health care system.”

An interesting quote from Dr. McLellan: “If it has to happen, better it happens to me, I’m an expert, right? I didn’t know what to do and none of my buddies knew what to do, and let me tell you they were experts. So I said, “˜What the hell are we doing?’ ”

So what happens when the experts don’t know what to do? Well, that’s why we’re here. At Assistance in Recovery, we’re available to coach you through all those difficult questions, whether you’ve been researching addiction for 30 years or you know absolutely nothing about it, and everywhere in between. In the struggle with chemical dependency, it can happen to ANYONE- and is always better having an outside perspective on what to do.We can assist on all of those difficult questions and help put a solution in place.

Call us at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.

Tags: addiction, addiction genes, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, anti-anxiety, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drug deaths, methamphetamine, overdose, pain addiction, pain killers, pain medication, prescription drug abuse, substance abuse, Treatment
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Recovery and the Holiday Season

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

The holidays tend to be a tough time for any family struggling with substance abuse or other compulsive disorders. Since there seems to be quite a bit of family time, a family member who may be using drugs or recently out of treatment will most certainly be exposed to more family time than they’re used to, making the holidays a very difficult environment for families who are struggling. The holidays also, it turns out, tend to be a time where alcohol is very present, i.e. toasts, cocktail hour, Christmas parties, etc. When people who normally struggle with substance abuse are in this high-stress environment- not to mention other factors, like the economy, joblessness, etc.- things can very rapidly get out of hand. When that happens, we at AiR are here to support you.

The holidays, and the immediate days following, are a great time to offer a loved one help. With the help of a trained, credentialed interventionist, having the family all together over the holidays generally allows for some honest conversation and work towards setting appropriate boundaries with a loved one who is struggling. Getting a loved one the help that they need is truly the greatest gift a family can offer. What’s better than giving someone their life back?

If a loved one is getting out of treatment before the holidays, our Recovery Management Services can be a great support to the family and to the member who’s been struggling. With some additional support, an traditionally tough emotional time can be navigated significantly easier. Let us help your family make this the best holiday season you’ve ever had. Take action- the sooner, the better.

For immediate help, please call us at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.

Here are some tips from SAMSHA about youth drinking over the holidays.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, alcohol holidays, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, holiday drinking, intervention, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
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Sex Addiction- A misunderstood compulsive behavior

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Last week, Dr. Drew Pinsky, an addiction specialist, medical doctor, and TV personality, appeared on Oprah to discuss sexual addiction and compulsivity. Sex addiction has long been known to disrupt families and relationships, and now is being brought more into light as it makes its way through different media channels. Dr. Pinsky came on to talk about what sex addiction is, and how to treat it.

He talks quite a bit about the effects sex addiction has on others. Basically, like any addiction or compulsive behavior, sex addiction can cause many varying consequences, from damaging relationships, to sexually transmitted diseases, legal issues, etc. As with other addictions, these compulsive behaviors create a pattern of unhealthy events that eventually creep into every area of an addicts’ life.

Dr. Patrick Carnes, one of the leading experts in sexual addiction and compulsivity and former clinical director at The Meadows, puts sex addiction in this perspective: “Generally, addicts do not perceive themselves as worthwhile persons. Nor do they believe that other people would care for them or meet their needs if everything was known about them, including the addiction. Finally, they believe that sex is their most important need. Sex is what makes isolation bearable. If you do not trust people, one thing that is true about sex (and alcohol, food, gambling, and risk) is that it always does what it promises, for the moment.”

Dr. Drew says 80 to 90 percent of the patients he has treated for sex addiction suffered trauma as children. “If you have a history of trauma, particularly sexual trauma, in childhood, you want to look very carefully at this behavior,” he said. A history of trauma, in early childhood, can create patterns of self-destruction, codependency, and compulsive behaviors. Carol Cannon, the co-founder of The Bridge To Recovery, says this about codependency:  “Codependence is the pain in adulthood that comes from being wounded in childhood, which leads to a high probability of relationship problems and addictive disorders in later life.” Trauma early on in one’s life can lead to a whole host of problems and, without help, can create an unmanageable life.

Here’s a clip from the show.

If you or a loved one are struggling with sex addiction or another compulsive behavior, please contact us directly at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.

Tags: addiction, addiction genes, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, behavioral health, dr. drew, dr. drew sex addiction, oprah, sex addiction, sex addiction treatment, sexual addiction, sexual compulsivity
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