Saturday, September 18, 2010

Crystal Methamphetamine Addiction Recovery

Crystal Methamphetamine Addiction


Addiction to crystal methamphetamine is horrible, a house of mirrors.  Sadly, addiction does not take long and depending on other factors, such as genetics, strength of the drug at the time, trauma history, using other drugs, trying crystal meth can quickly turn to occasional use then abuse and soon enough full-blown crystal methamphetamine addiction.  Recovery from meth addiction and quitting altogether might not occur to the user, but slowing down or changing the way its ingested will eventually creep in.  Most people who wind up addicted to crystal methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, pills, other opiates, hallucinogens typically experience denial, and depending on the drug and the person, the addiction denial is deep and scary. 

Crystal meth denial is strong, but it can be broken through if you know what to look for or if you get help.  This happens to both genders as well as a variety of ages.  A lot of users attempt to quit crystal methamphetamine, but they do not know what is in store for them.  Because of the grip that crystal has on the brain it will cause strange side effects during withdrawal.  Although crystal meth withdrawal is different for everyone there is usually an extreme fatigue that occurs as well as a depression.  If you have someone close to you who has recently quit using meth then getting educated about what is going on for them is helpful.  It is also helpful if the meth addict is able to get info themselves. 


Whether you go to treatment or have stopped using crystal on your own, it is helpful to know what to expect over time.  You can also learn how to stay clean after quitting crystal meth, other than the advice of "hey, go to a meeting".  There is hope after using crystal meth.  It might take a long time depending on how much you were using or the people that you were around because often meth comes with violence.  If you are experiencing nightmares, flashbacks to bad events, or an increased startle reflex (jump out of your chair when someone walks in the room), then you should consider talking to a counselor.   Just always remember that there is hope and over time your brain will normalize.  Eating right, sleeping, avoiding alcohol, and other things can help the process.  Reading some information on assertiveness can also help your recovery.  If you can learn how to be assertive and maintain boundaries then you will have a better shot at staying clean.


Saturday, July 31, 2010

Suboxone Resources: Quit Opiates With Suboxone/Buprenorphine/Subutex

Quit Opiates with Medication - Suboxone aka Buprenorphine

Addiction to opiates is hard to kick. Heroin, Oxycontin, and other opiates are very easy to get addicted to and then extremely hard to stop. One aspect that makes it hard to quit opiates is because of the withdrawal. It is physically and mentally anguishing, and although it does not last too many days at its prime sickness, those first few days kicking are hard 


Many people have heard about methadone, but now there is something different called Suboxone*. You can quit opiates with Suboxone/Buprenorphine or Subutex. Often you will be started on Subutex and switched to Suboxone. Using Suboxone to quit opiates will help you get your life back. Suboxone is a form of medication assisted treatment and it is finally allowing opiate addicts to be treated for addiction inside of a doctor's office instead of having to go to a special clinic. The Suboxone treats addiction as a medical condition, which it is.


Suboxone helps people quit opiates and stay off of them. Doing this, no matter what route you take, is not going to be easy. Even quitting opiates with Suboxone/Buprenorphine is hard. Withdrawal is the beginning of a long process of healing. Make sure to find a good Suboxone doctor to help you quit opiates.

I've met countless addicts, many of them addicted to opiates, and in my experience there are many opiate addicts who have an inherent level of pain, innate, a pain so strong that it drove the person to a drug with the stigma associated with heroin.  When people quit opiates, Suboxone, Buprenorphine, Methadone, or cold turkey, that original pain will eventually surface, so be prepared to deal with any darkness that needs light. 

Suboxone is a mix of Buprenorphine and Naloxone.  Suboxone is often misspelled as Suboxin, Suboxon, Suboxen.  Buprenorphine is sometimes just called Bup and also spelled incorrectly as Bupenorfin, Bupenorphin.


Suboxone resources. Quit opiates with Suboxone/Buprenorphine.




Saturday, February 13, 2010

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew - Good or Bad for Addiction

Celebrity Alcoholics and Addicts in Rehab on a Reality Show

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew Pinsky was a reality show about addiction started in January 2008. Dr. Drew hoped Celebrity Rehab would help save lives, dispel ignorance about addiction, and show that going to rehab isn't a 21-day vacation from your problems; drug rehab is hard, emotional work, and addiction treatment is only the beginning of the long road to recovery.


A reality show.  Celebrities.  Rehab.  A mix of men and women from a variety of backgrounds with one thing in common -- addiction. Celebrities who've lost their children, careers, job offers, beauty, fame, fortune, and much more. Celebrity Rehab showing celebrity addicts coping with addictions going through withdrawal and rehab was sure to air some crazy, wild television.


Some viewers may ask if Celebrity Rehab is merely a scripted reality show made by blood-sucking vulturous vampires preying on celebrity drug addicts and alcoholics lining everyone's pockets to produce the show.  The truth is there is incentive for the celebrities to agree to go to rehab and publicize their detox and addiction treatment process. These celebrity addicts and alcoholics who agree to go to rehab at Pasadena Recovery Center not only get free treatment (worth approximately $50,000 to $60,000) and receive a prorated stipend once per week to stay on Celebrity Rehab and continue with their addiction treatment.


Maybe the money is the reason they agree to go to rehab, some celebrities have lost their fame, family, wealth, careers, and tried repeatedly to stop using drugs. I know addicts, alcoholics, cravings, withdrawal, rehab, relapse, recovery, so if getting these celebrities into free treatment and paying them incentive money to stay can help them then maybe it's worth it.


Dr. Drew stated in an interview that the media exploits addiction and addicted celebrities, and I agree. He uses Britney Spears as an example.  She is parading around partying, but the media and paparazzi are only interested in taking the most embarrassing photo or video to degrade her.  Dr. Drew is a physician who specialized in addiction medicine and treats all sorts of people with addiction, including dual diagnosis.  He treats celebrity addicts, but the Pasadena Recovery Center is not just a "celebrity" alcohol and drug treatment center. I don't believe Dr. Drew Pinsky had any malicious intent or a goal to harm any of the alcohol or drug dependent substance abusers who came through his doors for rehab.



The purpose of Celebrity Rehab was to raise awareness about addiction, likely using celebrity drug addicts to attract viewers, however after relapses and five celebrities who died surrounding a relapse, Dr. Drew Pinsky decided to end the show because of the media criticism blaming him for five celebrities who died after their appearance on Celebrity Rehab. Celebrity or not, a stay in rehab does not cure addiction, and relapse rates are high; because these celebrities appeared on the show and then passed away they are forever tied to the show.  There were many celebrities who were helped by Celebrity Rehab and went from rock bottom to working again and living in recovery.



People claim Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab is not about helping addicts, it's bad for addiction, and a way to exploit addiction by using celebrities.  If Celebrity Rehab wasn't about people recovering from addiction, but instead recovering from cancer I wonder if Dr. Drew's show would have undergone such scrutiny.  Addiction is a disease but addicts in remission aren't celebrated like a cancer patient.


Watch Celebrity Rehab and decide for yourself whether the show helped or hurt addicts and the perception of addiction.  Some scenes may seem overdone, but the truth is your watching people publicly struggle with addiction and drug abuse, some for the first time, and even though they're celebrities, they are still addicts, real people going through real detox and treatment.

Be Safe.







Saturday, January 23, 2010

Chronic Pain Issues in Recovery

Chronic Pain in Addiction Recovery


Chronic pain is a serious and sensitive issue without the added stress of being in recovery from alcohol and drugs. Everyone does recovery differently and for those who attend 12 step meetings there is a lot of pressure to be perfect in your recovery. According to Narcotics Anonymous as long as you are taking your medication as prescribed, according to the label and doctor's orders, then you are still clean even if you are using narcotic pain medication. But, not many other NA members will let you in on this because the total abstinence theory or model is more important. We cannot deny that addicts and alcoholics will indeed suffer with chronic pain or go through periods of time when they have to use pain medication because of surgery or some other illness. Chronic pain offers a unique case though because it tends to require ongoing use of pain pills.

The following articles are useful resources for anyone who has chronic pain even without having an issue with addiction/recovery. However, they are very helpful for someone trying to balance both issues and stay healthy.

Learn how to cope with chronic pain when you are a recovering addict.

Read a Methadone pain pill review. Granted, this one will not work for everyone, so keep in mind it's only a review by someone professing to use Methadone solely for pain reasons.

Prepare for the time when you need to stop taking the pain pills for your condition. Being ready for withdrawal of opiate pain medication in recovery or as a person dealing with chronic pain is important.

More articles and information are being added soon.  I've been gone for awhile and apologize to anyone who came here for information and was let down.  (5-24-16)



Saturday, January 9, 2010

Writing About Addiction Without Triggering Drug Cravings

If you're an addict who reads about addiction it is quite hard to do it sometimes without being severely triggered by people with good intentions. So often I see someone who has written an article or web page about getting clean, stopping a drug cold turkey, finding a rehab, and then they put big pictures of the drug or syringes on the article. It goes from being helpful to harmful.

This articles details how to write with an addict in mind, how to write about addiction without triggering drug cravings. Granted, there are always going to be triggering topics when an alcoholic or addict reads about addiction because they are programmed to respond to the stimuli, but reading this will help writers effectively talk about addiction with some understanding of what not to do.

Take the time to learn to write about addiction without triggering cravings. If you at least have this in mind while writing you are one step ahead of many and the folks in recovery will surely appreciate this gesture.