I had a chance yesterday to tour the new Sunrise Detox facility in Ft. Lauderdale. You can see some more photos here at the blog. If you’re interested in more details, leave a comment or use the contact link.
Where the chefs work their magic
It’s unclear if there are long-term health impacts for children born to opiate-addicted mothers who get through their first weeks of life okay. Some but not all studies on the question have found those kids grow up with a higher risk of developmental problems, according to Patrick.
What is clear is that babies born in opiate withdrawal significantly drive up health care costs.
According to the study, the average hospital stay for a newborn in withdrawal averages 16 days, compared to just three days for other newborns. Care costs were more than five times higher.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/health-babies-opiates-idUSL4E8G10AH20120501
Such giveaways may have saved more than 10,000 lives since the first program was started in 1996 in Chicago, according to a survey by the Harm Reduction Coalition, a national group that works to reduce the consequences of drug use.
Opponents say that making the antidote so easily available is an accommodation to drug use that could make addicts less likely to seek treatment.
OK…most of my readers know more about this issue than the so-called “authorities.” What do you think? Will making it available to addicts and their families make folks more likely to get high? I say horsefeathers!
Please read the article before you comment. I’d like to get some reasoned thoughts here, not just knee-jerk reactions.
Bain Capital is trying to consolidate an unlikely industry: addiction treatment centers.
Ignore the political references. I didn’t think they were appropriate either. They polarize, to a degree, what should be an objective article.
After you read the article, why not come back and tell us what you think. If you’ve been in treatment, tell us about your experience, and how you think something like this might have impacted it. Of course you have an opinion. All addicts do; we’re overloaded with them!
The DEA estimates that 7 million Americans abuse pharmaceuticals, leading to a 346 percent spike in overdose deaths from oxycodone alone from 2005 to 2010.
The trend is responsible for 11 deaths per day, on average, from oxycodone, methadone, hydrocodone, benzodiazepines and morphine, federal officials say. Prescription drug abusers include an estimated one in seven teenagers
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-24/lifestyle/sns-rt-us-usa-healthcare-drugsbre83o04w-20120424_1_prescription-drug-oxycodone-overdose-deaths
If you hang around treatment centers for any length of time, you will eventually hear someone say (or say yourself) something on the order of “I already know this stuff. Why should I stay here?”
This makes perfect sense, from the standpoint of someone in very early recovery. In treatment, there are things that get repeated over and over. That’s because we learn by repetition. If we were studying for a part in a play, we would think nothing of going over our lines and actions repeatedly. In recovery, we’re trying to replace old ways of instinctive thinking with new ones. Repetition helps, but it can be the “same ol’ same ol’” after a while.
We know, however, that addicts often need a second or third trip through treatment before they actually learn what they need to know to change old behavior and stay clean and sober. More…
(From the Sunrise Detox Blog, which I write.)
Copy could use some editing, and the site is search engine optimized to the point of almost sounding silly at times. Nonetheless, there’s some useful, if superficial, information.
Rehab Alert: Finding the Best Drug Rehab Centers in the US http://goo.gl/mag/ovq3D
Previously we mentioned that the pleasure center is a portion of the brain over which we have no conscious control, and that it can be stimulated by a variety of chemicals — some of them produced inside our bodies and some that we introduce from outside. We said that the pleasure center rewards us for activities that it interprets as contributing in some way to our survival, whether they be social interactions, exercising, or more prosaic things such as eating. We also stated that these pleasurable feelings, when pursued too far or for too long can create problems. Now we need to examine how that happens….
http://sunrisedetox.com/blog/2011/08/24/addiction-alcoholism-compulsion-2/
Both of my faithful readers will by now have noticed that I’m not posting very regularly on this site. It’s not though lack of interest, and I didn’t relapse (in fact, I just celebrated my 21st sober anniversary on 9/14/10).
Thing is, I’ve taken a part-time job writing for a recovery site, and I don’t have time to maintain both blogs. Since the other (paid) job covers the same territory, and since I have the potential to reach more people, it was a no-brainer. I’ll continue to post here from time to time, but it will be irregular at best.
I invite you all to subscribe to my posts at the Sunrise Detox Blog. (Click the thingy at the bottom left of the page.) Thanks for visiting WhatMeSober.Com, and thanks for your interest.
Keep on keepin’ on,
Bill
Want to know why relationships are the number one cause of relapse?
Of course you don’t. But here’s the reason, anyway:
…love is comparable to a drug addiction: It activates the parts of the brain associated with motivation, reward and addiction cravings, according to new research from Stony Brook University.
Researchers were able to show a connection between romantic rejection and a cocaine craving via brain images….
So…we fall in lust, our addiction center is stimulated again, something goes a little bit wrong — or we feel the need to celebrate — and boom, there’s Mrs. Jones.
I have been asked to post this notice from counselling-directory.org.uk in the UK. Please note that this refers to the UK only, and that it is not an endorsement of services. The proprietor has no connection with the organization.
All addicts, from any walk of life, in any situation, face one universal problem to take the first step on the road to recovery – accepting they are suffering from an addiction.
There is no doubt that this is the hardest part of the recovery process. However, there are still many questions that needs to be asked and answered in order to start healing. Counselling offers a non-judgemental, safe and relaxing environment to discuss problems and feelings out loud, with the help of a trained professional. Underlying issues can be exposed and dealt with, and grief and all its associated feelings can be released.
The counsellor works with what their client tells them, dealing with the issues central to their addiction, and offering practical solutions to working through the most difficult days and coming out the other side. They can also help the person adjust to their life without the source of their addiction.
Dealing with addiction is one of the hardest experiences a person will have to go through. But there are people on hand to help, and though many people have reservations, counselling can be a hugely helping healing and cathartic process.
Counselling Directory (www.counselling-directory.org.uk) provides an easy, worry-free way of connecting those that need help with those that provide it. Simply type in a location and a list of counsellors in the area are displayed, showing the distance from the original location. Each counsellor has their own profile, detailing at bit about themselves, their qualifications, and what areas they deal with. Many counsellors also list their fees. There is then the option to contact the counsellor directly.
To find a counsellor in your area, (UK) as well as information about grief and other types of distress, go to www.counselling-directory.org.uk
On Dec. 14, 1934, a failed stockbroker named Bill Wilson was struggling with alcoholism at a New York City detox center. It was his fourth stay at the center and nothing had worked. This time, he tried a remedy called the belladonna cure — infusions of a hallucinogenic drug made from a poisonous plant — and he consulted a friend named Ebby Thacher, who told him to give up drinking and give his life over to the service of God.
Wilson was not a believer, but, later that night, at the end of his rope, he called out in his hospital room: “If there is a God, let Him show Himself! I am ready to do anything. Anything!”
As Wilson described it, a white light suffused his room and the presence of God appeared. “It seemed to me, in the mind’s eye, that I was on a mountain and that a wind not of air but of spirit was blowing,” he testified later. “And then it burst upon me that I was a free man.”
Wilson never touched alcohol again….
In October 1909, Dr. Alexander Lambert boldly announced to a New York Times reporter that he had found a surefire cure for alcoholism and drug addiction. Even more astounding, he stated that the treatment required “less than five days.” The therapy consisted of an odd mixture of belladonna (deadly nightshade), along with the fluid extracts of xanthoxylum (prickly ash) and hyoscyamus (henbane). “The result is often so dramatic,” Lambert said, “that one hesitates to believe it possible.”…
An Alcoholic’s Savior – Was It God, Belladonna or Both? – NYTimes.com
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(Unnamed website) looks interesting, and I’m glad that you are getting something out of it.
Please understand that my remarks are not specific toward (unnamed website). I don’t know enough about it to judge.
I’m not sure that I’ve ever reviewed or recommended a commercial site. Once that starts, everyone and his brother wants a review, and I’m not able to take the time (nor do I have the expertise) to read books, evaluate programs, analyze philosophies and so forth. In any case, I’ve read too many explanations of karma already — some accurate, and some off the wall — and too many efforts at trying to take millennia-old ideas and wrap them in new paper for the sake of selling what is widely available for free.
But the main reason I avoid recommending programs of this kind is that they are not specifically about recovery, and do not focus people’s minds on the details that are necessary to recover from addiction. Being told that the Universe is watching over us is of little use when we’re jonesing for a drink or a hit, or subtly convincing ourselves that “one or two won’t hurt.” At that point we need people to talk to who will understand exactly where we are coming from, won’t shame us and call us “weak,” and who can share with us the intimate details of how they got through such tough spots themselves. In other words, we need a 12-Step or similar support group of addicts and alcoholics working with other addicts and alcoholics, not spouting lofty philosophy.
Finally, I am convinced that if a person gets involved in AA, NA or the other groups, and really puts his or her mind to it, that it will take all the time and energy they can muster for at least several months. There is no time for distractions. This is a life and death issue. Personally, I almost distracted myself into a major relapse because I thought those folks had nothing to tell me. I was different. I was better-educated. I knew how the world worked. What could that bunch of people have to teach me? Besides, they were too cheerful. Didn’t they know the world was a serious place? Et cetera, et ctera, et cetera…
All they had to give me was a proven way to save my life, that I almost missed.
I don’t push the 12 Steps because they’re a fad, or a religion, or anything like that. I participate for the same reason I’m a Buddhist, because both are based on cold, hard reasoning. They both provide guidelines for emotional, physical and spiritual improvement. They are both specific to me and my life.
But your mileage may vary, and that’s OK. As long as you do the next right thing, and don’t drink, and stay open to change and new ideas (not the strong suit of most alcoholics), you’ll be OK. The key is change. As I’ve said before, if you keep on doing the same old things, you keep on getting the same old results. To quote another philosopher, “You can run, kid, but you can’t hide.”
Namasté
