Drug Addiction

Your family probably already knows you have a drug addiction. If they don’t, admitting your dependence to them is a crucial step towards recovery. Sit them down and be as honest with them as you have been with yourself. It probably won’t be fun and it most likely won’t be pretty, but as soon as you have that off of your chest, you’ll be free to start pursuing your goal of being drug-free.

Tell your family members that you want their support in your endeavor and that it’s important for you to know that you can count on them to give that support. If they don’t, just accept it and move on yourself. Some people just can’t be that strong, but if you are sincere in your request, they will most likely be as supportive as you need them to be.

Your family needs to be supportive without becoming enablers. Remind them that you need them to be supportive of your decision and be available if you need to talk. But also tell them that it is not their responsibility to cover up your mistakes, relapses, or problems.

At all times, you need to respect them and show them that you appreciate their support. As difficult as it might be for you, it’s doubly as difficult for them to watch you going through the pain that you are.
As a family member, here are some things you can do to support your addict.

• Remind them to attend any meetings they need to (AA, NA, etc.)
• Do not loan them money
• Participate in group therapy if asked
• Encourage them to eat healthy and exercise
• Point out when they are engaging in damaging behavior
• Be open to listen when he or she wants to talk
• Don’t try to solve all their problems

You may have to change the way you celebrate family events. This is especially true with people who are trying to overcome alcohol addiction. Often, when some families get together, alcohol is a big part of the celebration. Be understanding if your family member with a problem doesn’t want to attend a function.

Try to keep alcohol in a separate place where they can’t get to it. DO NOT, under any circumstances poke fun at them or try to get them to join in. They are having a hard enough time as it is – they don’t need “peer” pressure on top of it all.

Generally, most families play certain roles during the addiction and recovery process. See if you or your family fits into any of these roles:

• The Addict: The person with the addiction is at the center. They are not necessarily most important, however, they will be the center of attention. After all, their addiction is the issue at hand. The rest of you will assume other roles around the addict.

• The Hero: This is the person who feels they have to make all family members “look good” in the eyes of others. They often ignore the problem and present things in a positive light as if the problem didn’t exist. The Hero is the perfectionist demanding more of The Addict than he or she can provide.

• The Mascot: The Mascot will often try to inject humor into the situation. Sometimes this humor is inappropriate and can hinder the recovery process. The Mascot is also the cheerleader providing support where possible.
• The Lost Child: This is the silent person who always seems to be in the way or left out. They are quiet and reserved not making problems. The Lost Child gives up self needs and tries to avoid conversation regarding the problem.

• The Scapegoat: This person often acts out in front of others. They divert attention from The Addict and the problems that you are all facing together.

• The Caretaker: This person is the enabler. They try to keep the whole family happy and keep all roles in balance. They often make excuses for The Addict’s behavior and puts on a happy front for outsiders. The Caretaker denies that there’s any problem and usually never mention anything about addiction or recovery.

The parts played by family members lead to codependency. Members make decisions concerning what the other person needs. Codependency leads to aversion and lack of self orientation in a situation where an addiction is present. Ultimately people "become" the part they are playing.

The goal in alcohol and drug addiction recovery is to bring each member as a whole into a situation where the problems can be dealt with. Individual talents and abilities should be integrated into the situation, allowing emotional honesty about the situation, without guilt or punishment.

People become familiar with and dependent on the role they play in families. In overcoming the family roles, you will begin to overcome issues, and what could be classified as the addiction to the role. While conquering the substance is important to the person with the addiction, a point to remember is the substance(s) is not the key to family recovery, removing the underlying roles are.

In beginning recovery, each family member must become proactive against the addiction to the role, and learn to become their true self. The goal is for each to person to become independent, and then approach the substance addiction recovery as a group of individuals, rather than as people playing a part. Whole, independent people can freely contribute to the recovery of the person overcoming the addiction, while a person playing a part can only perform the role.

Each family member must realize which role they play and then start thinking about how to change that role or make it work to the advantage of The Addict. Working together is a must when it comes to getting a loved one off of drugs. Make a list of strengths and weaknesses then assess that list to see how you can use your strengths to help The Addict without bringing your weaknesses into play.

Realize that the process and that role contributes in some way toward helping. Family members should acknowledge their individual parts in this process and acknowledge that they have an integral role that in unique to them. Each person is just as important as the other.

As a family, you have to prepare to be flexible. Overcoming drug addiction is a difficult journey – one that is met with bumps and dips and curves. Life can change from day to day even hour to hour. You need to “roll with the punches” and adapt to whatever situation is thrown at you in the whole process.
As a family member, you may want to consider having an intervention. How do you do that?

Drug detox is the most important part of becoming free from addiction, and because of this drug detox should be handled with great care. Drug detox is a medical procedure. Drug detox should be handled in a medical facility under great supervision.

The reason for this is because drug detox can be fatal. What happens to the body when one becomes addicted is a chemical change, and to take this chemical away from the body all at once without proper care from the drug detox can turn from a positive process to a fatal one.

If you elect to enter a rehab facility, you will have the guidance and help you need to get through the detox procedure. However, if you decide outpatient rehab is more your speed, you must contact a doctor and be under his or her supervision while you are ridding your body of drugs.

The physical symptoms of detoxification vary according to what type of drugs you are coming off of. Because there are thousands of chemical reactions that occur in our body as a result of the drugs, taking the drug away will affect those chemical reactions.

Symptoms range from cold sweats to shaking to things as serious as convulsions and heart palpitations. Here is what you can expect from specific drugs:

• Stimulants – Cocaine, amphetamines – These drugs enhance nerve cell signaling. As a result, the nerve’s native signaling chemicals are depleted. This and sleep disturbance are the neuro-biochemical reasons for the "come down" from cocaine and speed.

• Benzodiazapenes – Valium, Xanax, Ativan, Ambien – Drugs in this category turn down the signal of nerve cells. They make you sleepy and relaxed. When these drugs are stopped, the nerves are sensitive to the smallest stimulation. Taking these drugs out of your system will make you very jittery and shaky. You may have trouble sleeping, and in severe cases, you could have convulsions.

• Alcohol – Alcohol is a very subtle foe and a sneaky drug. Initially, consuming alcohol can make you energized and focused, but after a few drinks, the sedative effects kick in making you relaxed and clumsy. In your brain, millions of chemical reactions are taking place. The brain becomes more sensitivity to cope with those sedative effects. An abrupt cessation of alcohol can cause seizures or even heart attack. Hallucinations, sleep disturbance, and anxiety can occur as well.

• Opiates – Heroin, Vicodin – These drugs are used as pain killers and are meant to soothe and calm the body. Withdrawal from opiates can be particularly painful and severe. Expect sweating, severe muscle aches, nausea, and intense cravings. Because these symptoms are so painful, detoxing from opiates often lead addicts to begin using again.

Medical technology has provided specific drugs that can help with detoxification symptoms. I know it sounds odd – take a drug to get off a drug – but because some of the symptoms are so severe, having these drugs available can be very important. Plus, they are not addictive, and when you are under the care of a doctor, they will monitor your usage very carefully until you won’t have to take those drugs anymore.

One very effective treatment of opiate withdrawal symptoms is methadone maintenance therapy. It is safe when administered under the care of a doctor. Taken orally once a day, methadone suppresses narcotic withdrawal for between 24 and 36 hours. Because methadone is effective in eliminating withdrawal symptoms, it is used in detoxifying opiate addicts. It is, however, only effective in cases of addiction to heroin, morphine, and other opioid drugs, and it is not an effective treatment for other drugs of abuse.

Methadone reduces the cravings associated with heroin use and blocks the high from heroin, but it does not provide the euphoric rush. Consequently, methadone patients do not experience the extreme highs and lows that result from the waxing and waning of heroin in blood levels. Ultimately, the patient remains physically dependent on the opioid, but is freed from the uncontrolled, compulsive, and disruptive behavior seen in heroin addicts.

Withdrawal from methadone is much slower than that from heroin. As a result, it is possible to maintain an addict on methadone without harsh side effects. Many MMT patients require continuous treatment, sometimes over a period of years.

Physicians and individualized health care give medically prescribed methadone to relieve withdrawal symptoms, reduce the opiate craving, and bring about a biochemical balance in the body. Important elements in heroin treatment include comprehensive social and rehabilitation services.

When methadone is taken under medical supervision, long-term maintenance causes no adverse effects to the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, bones, blood, brain, or other vital body organs. Methadone produces no serious side effects, although some patients experience minor symptoms such as constipation, water retention, drowsiness, skin rash, excessive sweating, and changes in libido. Once methadone dosage is adjusted and stabilized or tolerance increases, these symptoms usually subside.

Methadone does not impair cognitive functions. It has no adverse effects on mental capability, intelligence, or employability. It is not sedating or intoxicating, nor does it interfere with ordinary activities such as driving a car or operating machinery. Patients are able to feel pain and experience emotional reactions. Most importantly, methadone relieves the craving associated with opiate addiction. For methadone patients, typical street doses of heroin are ineffective at producing euphoria, making the use of heroin less desirable.

Another huge part of safe detoxification has to do with nutrition. Because the body will be going through some harsh abuse, it’s important that your body is at its strongest. That means eating healthy and getting some form of exercise. You may want to consult with a nutritionist to be sure that you are getting the proper nutrition, but you CAN simply make your own changes in what you eat so your body is at its peak level of performance.

You will also want to get some psychological help with a counselor or therapist. You must treat your mental state along with your body. The therapist can help you remain focused on your recovery and take away some of the mindsets that can hinder your recovery.

As we said previously, twelve step programs have proven to be very effective in overcoming problems with addiction. These can be great self-help options.

Medical research shows two major causes of physical addiction. First, your cells adapt to the drug and, second, your metabolism becomes more efficient.

To your cells, the drugs you’re using become a way of life. Every time you use a drug, your blood carries it to every cell in your body. Your cells adjust. They grow to expect these doses on schedule.

Your cells learn to cope with various drugs by defending themselves against the drugs’ toxic effects. Cell walls harden to retain stability and reduce toxic damage. But as your cells get tough against drugs, gradually more and more can be consumed. Your tolerance increases.

In the long run, however, cell walls break down. At this point, your cells not only lose their ability to keep toxins out but also become unable to retain essential nutrients. Many of them stop functioning altogether or start functioning abnormally. That’s when your organs (heart, brain, liver, or lungs), which are nothing more than whole systems of cells, begin to fail.

The problem with metabolism is that it is intimately connected to diet. Your body metabolizes food (breaks it down into its constituent parts) to get vital nutrients to all the cells. To serve this purpose, your body can metabolize many different foods and can learn how to gain nutrients from almost any kind of food you give it.

Metabolism also helps to rid the body of unwanted toxins. The liver is the key organ in this process. The liver “sees” drugs as unwanted toxins and begins producing enzymes that will help eliminate them from the body. It produces a different combination of enzymes for each drug. Moreover, the liver becomes extremely efficient at producing these enzymes. The more it “sees” a particular drug, the more efficiently it produces the enzymes that inactivate that drug.

Thus, a drug that you use often will get eliminated from the body with greater and greater efficiency. It’s as if the liver begins to “expect” that drug and has enzymes ready and waiting. This is a key reason that tolerance increases, that is, why it takes greater and greater doses of a drug to get the same original effects.

Yet your personal metabolism works differently from anyone else’s. Studies show that each individual has a unique biochemical makeup and that individuals differ greatly from one another in the way they metabolize different foods, drugs, or toxins
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To give you an idea how much possible variation there is, researchers have presently identified over 3,000 metabolic substances (called “metabolites”) and over 1,100 enzymes. Each individual has different proportions of all 4,100 of these bio-chemicals. Of the enzymes, only about 30 are responsible for metabolizing all drugs.

Also, the mixture of bio-chemicals varies for each kind of food you ingest. For example, your body uses different bio-chemicals to metabolize the different classes of foods: meats, grains, vegetables, beans, fruits, and nuts. As you might have guessed, you need a whole different biochemical preparedness to handle drugs, alcohol, sugars, chemical additives, and toxins.

However, your body adjusts to whatever diet you give it, and the most frequent foods in your diet come to be expected. Biochemical pathways become established the more they are used. Thus, if your body doesn’t get an expected food, you actually begin to crave it.

In fact, your body becomes addicted to the foods you give it the most. Your metabolism so completely adjusts to your regular diet that any change from this diet becomes increasingly difficult. Ask anyone who has attempted a major shift in diet.

For example, if you eat meat regularly, your metabolism will take a long time to adjust to a vegetarian diet. Although the same nutrients are available, your body doesn’t have the biochemical preparedness. The ability is there. Your body can metabolize vegetarian meals. No problem. But to gain the same efficiency with a new diet can take from one to seven years.

The important thing to remember is this: Metabolism depends on diet. For our purposes, “diet” includes not only the nutritious foods but also the non-nutritious foods, such as sugar and alcohol, as well as other substances, such as chemical additives in foods, environmental toxins, and drugs.

You can change your metabolism if you change your diet. Although it will take a long time to change your metabolism significantly, you’ll feel incredible improvements after just a few months. You’ll discover the kinds of changes you need to make in a later chapter.

We become addicted to drugs partly as a way to avoid life’s misery. In our minds at least, we become unwilling to suffer.

Real life is loaded with suffering. We not only experience myriad physical pains but also must cope with psychological pain. Many events make us ache inside. Things happen that cause us to feel sad, miserable, angry, nervous, tense, disgusted, confused, weakened, tortured, cheated, abused, frightened, or upset.

But we can avoid these feelings—at least for the moment—-by using drugs. We can do drugs and almost instantly feel “high.” We can forget about life for a while. We can experience pleasure, excitement, power, courage, thrills, joy, enchantment, and a sense of connection with other people and the world around us.

Of course, in the long run drugs become less and less effective at bringing these benefits. Over time, the drugs themselves start causing suffering. Soon, we find we’re using drugs to relieve the misery that drugs themselves have caused. This is known as the “vicious cycle of addiction.”

It goes something like this: Life doesn’t feel too good. Bang! Try this drug or that drug, and things feel better. Come down off the drug, and things feel worse, just a little worse than they did before you took the drug in the first place. No matter. Bang! Use the drug and feel good again.

Gradually, your biochemistry changes. Your brain learns that it doesn’t have to keep producing the chemicals that make you feel good. These chemicals keep appearing without the brain having to do any work. That’s why each time you try to get off the drugs, you feel a little worse than the time before. It becomes harder and harder for you to get off the drugs because you feel so bad whenever you try to stop.

And it all started with suffering, with your inability to accept suffering as an intimate part of life. You can break a drug habit anywhere along the way, or never start with drugs at all, simply by accepting life’s suffering and facing the suffering head-on.

This doesn’t mean that you will live a sad, miserable, and tormented life. There are plenty of ways you can face your suffering and then cope with it. In fact, once you learn these ways and begin using some of them, you’ll feel as if your spirit has been renewed.

Of course, it’s your choice.

If you choose drugs to cope with life’s suffering, you choose a buy-now-pay-later method. It works in the moment, but it just postpones the suffering. And by postponing it, it builds up, so that when you finally do face it, the suffering is immense.

The detoxification from drugs might take a week or two, but the long-term withdrawal, the period of time when your biochemistry (and thus your physical and mental health) returns to normal, can take years. Luckily, during this time, you gradually feel a little bit better, day by day.

What can you do to get help? You have many options. First, let’s consider an in-patient rehabilitation facility.

When you use drugs, they can quickly become a problem. Addiction can happen before you know it. You need to really take a look at your drug use and be honest with yourself when evaluating whether or not that drug use has become a problem.

Start by asking yourself one simple question: “Do you sometimes think you have a drug problem?” If the answer is yes, you probably do have an issue with addiction. Why?

Most of the time, drug abusers deny they have a problem, or they hide from it by making excuses. It’s a natural reaction to defend yourself and your behaviors. But your defenses break down once in a while. So if you sometimes think you have a problem, you almost certainly do.

Think about how you feel the morning after heavy using. Your body aches, your head is cloudy, you feel guilty for over-using and promise yourself you’ll stop. You decide that you won’t be using drugs that day. You feel beaten and broken and want to do something about it. Your defenses are down and you are vulnerable to your own rational thoughts.

As the day goes on, though, your defenses start coming back up again and you begin excusing yourself for the previous day’s binge. You start to make excuses for your over-indulgence. You tell yourself you were having a bad day, you didn’t eat enough, you were really stressed out, or some other excuse.

You decide to let yourself use “just a little”. After all, you were having a bad day yesterday. Today won’t be the same. And the cycle continues.

You may go through this hundreds of time before you recognize that there’s a pattern going on. Almost all drug abusers go through this cycle. When you decide to really face the possibility that you have a problem, how do you identify it? The answer is really quite simple.

You have a problem when you use too much, too often, and the use is out of control. But you have to be your own judge and be honest with yourself. Pay attention to your feelings. You may want to write down how you feel about your drug use. Sometimes seeing the words can help you face the problem and start helping yourself.

Let’s take a look at a few questions that can help you identify if you have a drug problem. Answer the following questions honestly.

1. Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drug use?
2. Do you ever use drugs when you’re alone?
3. Have you ever used more of a drug than you intended in a given period of time?
4. Have you ever used drugs for a longer period of time than you originally intended?
5. Have you ever used more than one drug at a time?
6. Concerning your use of drugs, has anyone ever told you that you use too much?
7. Have you ever taken one drug to overcome the effects of another?
8. Have you ever thought that your life might be better if you didn’t take drugs?
9. Have you ever felt angry at yourself or guilty because of your drug use?
10. Do you regularly use a drug at certain times of the day or on certain occasions, for example, when you go to bed, when you wake up, before or after a meal, or before or after sex?
11. Have you ever lied about your drug use to family members or friends?
12. Have you ever lied to a doctor or faked symptoms to get prescription drugs?
13. Have you ever stolen drugs?
14. Have you ever stolen money or material goods that you could sell to obtain drugs?
15. Have you ever done things to obtain drugs that you later regretted?
16. Has your drug use ever caused problems for you with school or with work?
17. Have you noticed that you need to use more and more of a drug to get you high?
18. Do you experience withdrawal symptoms when you go without drugs for a few days?
19. Do you panic when your drug supply gets low?
20. Have you ever done something when you were high that you felt guilty about later?
21. Have you ever gotten into fights when high on drugs?
22. Have you ever been arrested for any drug-related activity (including possession)?
23. Have you ever been diagnosed with a medical problem related to your drug use?
24. Have you ever overdosed on a drug?
25. Have you ever attended a treatment program specifically related to drug use?
26. Have you associated with people with whom you normally wouldn’t just so you could have access to drugs?
27. Have you stopped associating with any of your friends because they don’t use drugs as much as you?

If you answered Yes to any two of these questions, this is a sign that you have a problem with drugs. If you answered Yes to any three, the chances are that you do have a problem with drugs. If you answered Yes to four or more, you definitely have a problem with drugs.

But this test is just a tool. You have become addicted to drugs when you start needing more of the drug to get the same effects, and you start to feel like you can’t get along without that drug. You may try to quit, but the withdrawal symptoms are just too much to take so you continue using.

Another good way to identify a drug addiction problem is to write things down. Again, you need to be brutally honest with yourself when you answer the following questions. Take your time and list everything you can think of. The purpose of this exercise is to realize what your addiction has done to your life.

1. History: Go back to the start of your alcohol or drug addiction history. List each drug, and alcohol individually and trace the pattern of your life. What age did you start? When did you start increasing either the quantity or frequency of each drug? This will show you if you have increased tolerance and if you have become dependent on which drugs.

Something to be noted is that if you have been only addicted to marijuana, if you decide to quit the marijuana and start alcohol, there is a high probability that you will again become addicted

with time. If you have a family history of alcoholism or drug addiction you may be more susceptible to dependency. Part of this is genetic and also a learned model.

2. Health: Look at your physical health. List effects or any accidents, which may have been due to alcohol or drug use.

3. Concerned Persons: Think of comments others have made and the effect you have made on them because of your alcohol or drug addiction. Did you miss birthdays? Did you break promises? List each person personally and what effects you remember.

4. Irrational, or Dangerous Behavior: List times you took careless actions that put yourself or others in danger. List things you would not do if not using alcohol or drugs.

5. Sex: Look at your sex life. Did your addiction to drugs or alcohol allow you to have sex without knowing someone? Did you take health risks such as lack of birth control or unprotected sex? Did the use of alcohol or drugs put you in danger of STD's and Aids?

6. Work: List examples of days missed, late, quitting or being fired from work. Did you get demoted, laid off or miss promotions or pay raises due to drug or alcohol use?

7. Social Life and Friends: How have your social activities and friends changed while using alcohol or drugs. Did you lose or drift away from drinkers or drug users? Did you become a part of a drug culture? Did you miss your partner's or children's activities when they wanted you to participate?

8. Money: Write down all legal costs, treatment expenses, loss of work pay, and how much you spent weekly on your alcohol or drug addiction. Add the years up to determine the loss. You may find you could own a house or have a large savings with the money spent on alcohol and drugs.

9. Preoccupation: Did you start looking forward to or leaving work early to get alcohol or drugs? Did you use alcohol or drugs on the way to, or during work? Did you hide your drugs so nobody could use or throw them away?

10. Control: Did you make promises to cut down on either drugs or alcohol and not be able to? Did you quit after a DUI and
then begin again?

11. Emotions and Feelings: What did alcohol and drug use do to your feelings? List the way they affected fear, anger, love, guilt, depression, loneliness and hurt. What is the difference between when you are using alcohol or drugs and sober?

12. Spiritual and Character: How are you different from what you desired or planned your life to be at this age. Are you divorced, giving up on God and full of selfishness for only the addiction and you? What are your spiritual beliefs? Write them down, and if you are able, ask God to help remove your alcohol or drug addiction for things that build yourself and others up.

 A good ending to the alcohol and drug recovery plan is to write a Dear John letter to the alcohol or drug addiction itself. List what they did for your life including the damage and why you need to say good bye.

If you have a loved one you suspect is struggling with a drug problem, how do you recognize that problem?

CNS depressants slow normal brain function. In higher doses, some CNS depressants can become general anesthetics. Tranquilizers and sedatives are examples of CNS depressants.

CNS depressants can be divided into two groups, based on their chemistry and pharmacology:

• Barbiturates, such as mephobarbital (Mebaral) and pentobarbitalsodium (Nembutal), which are used to treat anxiety, tension, and sleep disorders.

• Benzodiazepines, such as diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide HCl (Librium), and alprazolam (Xanax), which can be prescribed to treat anxiety, acute stress reactions, and panic attacks.

 Benzodiazepines that have a more sedating effect, such as estazolam (ProSom), can be prescribed for short-term treatment of sleep disorders.

There are many CNS depressants, and most act on the brain similarly—they affect the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that facilitate communication between brain cells. GABA works by decreasing brain activity.

Although different classes of CNS depressants work in unique ways, ultimately it is their ability to increase GABA activity that produces a drowsy or calming effect. Despite these beneficial effects for people suffering from anxiety or sleep disorders, barbiturates and benzodiazepines can be addictive and should be used only as prescribed.

CNS depressants should not be combined with any medication or substance that causes drowsiness, including prescription pain medicines, certain OTC cold and allergy medications, or alcohol. If combined, they can slow breathing, or slow both the heart and respiration, which can be fatal.

 Discontinuing prolonged use of high doses of CNS depressants can lead to withdrawal. Because they work by slowing the brain’s activity, a potential consequence of abuse is that when one stops taking a CNS depressant, the brain’s activity can rebound to the point that seizures can occur.

Someone thinking about ending their use of a CNS depressant, or who has stopped and is suffering withdrawal, should speak with a physician and seek medical treatment.

 In addition to medical supervision, counseling in an in-patient or out-patient setting can help people who are overcoming addiction to CNS depressants. For example, cognitive-behavioral therapy has been used successfully to help individuals in treatment for abuse of benzodiazepines.

This type of therapy focuses on modifying a patient’s thinking, expectations, and behaviors while simultaneously increasing their skills for coping with various life stressors.

 Often the abuse of CNS depressants occurs in conjunction with the abuse of another substance or drug, such as alcohol or cocaine. In these cases of poly-drug abuse, the treatment approach should address the multiple addictions.