The Role Of Vitamins In Rehab


There are many layers to drug addiction and its effects. On a physical level, addiction does more than saturate cells with dangerous toxins--it leaches vital nutrients, leaving a recovering addict drained, parched and gasping for vitality. In today's current food culture, it is nearly impossible to fully recover from drug addiction with supplementing the diet. Adding essential nutrients to the diet can aid recovery and be the make or break point between rehabilitation and relapse.

Bandaids, or Full Recovery?
Conventional methods of treatment for drug addiction involve methadone--in other words, replacing one narcotic with another. Not only does this continue addiction, it creates a number of health problems and side effects including depressed breathing, wheezing, low blood pressure, severe constipation, vomiting, cloudy thinking, sedation and death.
While this method of treatment may be ideal for physicians and administrators who make their living on addiction, it is not the optimum solution for addicts. In fact, it is not even a solution.
The Importance of Vitamins
The role of vitamins in the human system was discovered in the search for a remedy for scurvy. With so many seamen returning from their journeys suffering from gum disease, anemia, weakness and even death, research began as to the cause of the problem. What was discovered was the value of a nutrient found in fresh fruits and vegetables: vitamin C.
Vitamin C is not produced naturally by the human body. It must be obtained from diet. Nowadays, however, the American diet consists mostly of processed foods, which are lacking in vitamins and minerals. If one does eat fresh fruits and vegetables, they come from such depleted soil that even this is not sufficient to maintain health.
Add years of drug addiction to the equation, and you have a body that is severely drained. Not only does it lack vitamin C, a water-soluble nutrient that must be continually replaced, it is deficient in a number of other vitamins and also minerals, which are necessary for the body to absorb vitamins. This is why withdrawal and recovery can be so difficult. Body pains, nausea, vomiting, exhaustion, sleep problems, delirium tremens, and various other withdrawal symptoms can be greatly eased by supplementing the diet with the nutrients it has been robbed of.
Vitamin C plays an essential role in the body's management of stress. All mammals besides primates, guinea pigs and humans convert glucose to ascorbate (vitamin C) when they are under stress. As drugs place serious stress on the body, vitamin C supplementation can greatly aid a recovering addict's ability to cope with it. It helps tissue heal, increases appetite, aids sleep, and increases mental alertness.
B vitamins are also known as the "anti-stress" vitamins. They promote a feeling of wellbeing, help convert food to energy, form healthy red blood cells, and reduce the risk of heart disease. B vitamins are severely lacking in drug addicts, which is why supplementation is key.
Other vitamin and mineral deficiencies contribute to painful withdrawal symptoms. By replacing the nutrients lacking through diet and supplementation, an addict can have a much easier time in rehab.

What You Need To About Understanding Relapse


Terrance Gorski is a world renowned relapse specialist, has spent his entire career studying relapse and methods to prevent it. In this article (Linked Below), "Understanding Relapse, " Gorksi describes the process which takes place before an addict/alcoholic takes that first drink or drug after a period of abstinence. Gorski states that certain behaviors are precursors to a return into addiction. With this modality of thinking, relapse can be predicted in individuals which show certain "relapse warning signs." It is important that an addict/alcoholic looks for these behaviors and strive to address them as they arise, for each person to have the best possible chance for recovery, as well as life-long sobriety. Some common behaviors that appear to manifest within an addict/alcoholic before a relapse might be: sexual promiscuity, a gambling habit, rage/anger, financial benders (spending too much money or working to a level of unhealthiness), isolation and depression.
When we, as addicts and alcoholics, lived our lives as we have: selfishly, self-centered, erratic, and careless, and we refuse to change, we are asking for trouble. We must surrender more than our drug and alcohol abuse. We must let go and accept an entirely new way of living' we must practice altruism as best we can, we must be unselfish and loving towards all, and learn to treat our own mental, physical, and spiritual health with the utmost care. Our selfish way of living had failed us. We had to learn to live on a spiritual basis or die from our disease of addiction. We had to "Grow or Go."
Practical experience has shown 12-Step recovery programs are the most successful and efficient method for arresting alcoholism and drug addiction. It is proven that in the beginning of recovery addicts do well with constant support and guidance from other addicts who have recovered. Addicts will trust other addicts in what they say because they know that they understand. Sober living residents should obtain a sponsor and begin taking the 12-Steps of any relevant recovery program within the first 14 days of their residency. Alcoholism and drug addiction are best conquered on a spiritual basis and by practicing the principles the 12-Steps teach.
A well structured and safe sober living home is important in allowing individuals to recover in an environment that facilitates the best means of recovery possible while allowing them a chance to learn how to be sober in this world. It is important for the addict to have the responsibility and guidance a sober living home provides.
Nickolas Henderson is a recovering addict and alcoholic with 13 years of experience helping other addicts and alcoholics recover from this disease of addiction. He has been a drug counselor and worked all of these years helping people into recovery. This is his passion in life.


Drug Addiction Treatment: Recovery Coaching


What is Addiction?
Addiction to drugs or alcohol is an unhealthy relationship where you use more of the substance than you would like to use and continue to use despite the negative consequences. A very realistic perspective of heroin addiction is portrayed in the brilliant 1996 Film with Ewan McGregor Trainspotting. However this is just one image of drug addiction.

Alcohol dependence is often overlooked as an addiction due to it being legal and socially acceptable, something most of us indulge in from time to time. According to a survey of adults who have used one or more illicit drugs within the last year Cannabis is the drug most likely to be used followed by powder cocaine, but it seems all the attention and treatment is focused on opiates and it is important to consider the other side of the addiction coin.
Signs & Symptoms of Addiction
The medical definition of an addiction is classified by the DSMIV and the World Health Organisation ICD10. You will need to meet three or more of the following criteria to be classified as dependent:
1) Tolerance: A need to use more over time for the same desired effect.
2) Withdrawal: Experiencing physical or emotional withdrawals. Shakes, sweats, low moods, irritable.
3) Limited Control: Using more than you intended over increased periods of time.
4) Desire to cut down: Attempts to cut down or stop not being successful.
5) Significant time or energy spent using: A great deal of time spent thinking about using, getting, planning and concealing your drug or alcohol use.
6) Neglected activities: Work, family or recreational activities are neglected to use drugs or alcohol.
7) Negative Consequences: Physical or mental health is adversely effected but still continue to use.
Who is effected by addiction?
It is estimated that around 10% of any population is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Addiction is more common than diabetes and crosses all socioeconomic boundaries teachers, plumbers and CEO's suffer with addiction it is not just limited to poorer or less educated parts of society there is a growing number of professionals in full time employment who are juggling a full time career with their hidden addiction.
It is not to be underestimated the daily struggles a person will face in the battle against the chronic relapsing qualities of addiction fluctuating between hope and setbacks. A large part of the work is to explore with people their fears of giving up and sharing tools for survival in the darkest times of their addiction. I have worked for years supporting people with addictions on an emotional roller coaster of desperation and celebration. Some make it to sobriety and feel absolutely great when they have completed treatment, for others abstinence will not be their goal but staying alive, becoming more aware and making healthier choices. Getting back the control of their life is enough to turn sadness into laughter.
Consequences of Addiction
People are often able to overlook the destruction they cause in their home, work or business in exchange for stimulating the pleasure centre in the brain which also provides temporary relief from any painful memories. The adverse consequences caused by addiction are often the focus in the treatment of addiction but the reality is there is a feel good factor which may act as a payoff to the negative consequences.
The short and long term consequences to your health from addiction can be a heart attack, respiratory failure, a coma, high blood pressure, dizziness, impotence, blurred vision, paranoia, psychosis, nausea, a hangover, depression, lung damage and vein damage the adverse health effects of addiction do not discriminate any of these may effect your health even if you are just a recreational user.


Drug addiction treatment
Opiate treatment remains the main drug for which people receive treatment for, 49% of all treatments in the UK. The majority of the drug treatment budget in the UK is spent on substitute prescribing, a cost effective medical model of providing a one size fits all treatment to the masses. It entails going to your local drug service every other week to be given a methadone prescription after a 15 min intervention about your drug consumption, which you then collect daily if on supervised consumption or perhaps weekly if unsupervised from your local chemist. Either way it can be a humiliating and very public process that is extremely inconvenient if you are in full time employment.
If you are able to take a significant break from your job a residential rehabilitation clinic in which you can also receive a detox if needed and more structured support can be useful for respite and a kick start to fighting the addiction battle. The power of being supported by someone who has survived an addiction is a very powerful tool to overcoming addiction. The Mutual aid or peer led 12 step models like Narcotics Anonymous NA, Alcoholics Anonymous AA and Cocaine Anonymous CA are well established and have meetings daily that you can drop in and out of at your convenience.
Family and friends may provide emotional, physical and financial support that is so necessary, they are the people who are often providing the additional out of hours support which is so vital to overcoming addiction, as well as taking on the burden of looking after their loved one when treatment is no longer working. These are the people who should be equipped the most to tackle addiction but are often overlooked and forgotten in the treatment of addiction.
New but increasing in popularity for drug addiction treatment is Recovery Coaching. A form of strength based support for people in active addiction or already in recovery. A Recovery Coach helps you to make decisions about what to do with your life and the part the addiction or recovery plays. It is action orientated with an emphasis on improving your present life and reaching goals for the future. Hence it does not matter where you are in your addiction you can still get the help and support you need.

Addiction Redefined


The face of addiction is changing as the newest draft of the American Psychiatric Association's latest diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) excludes the disease classifications for substance dependence. Now it is called Substance Use and Addictive Disorders. The reason for this is that dubbing the term dependence misrepresents it wholly.
In the DSM-V, which will be released in May 2013, addiction is defined as abuse of any substance or behaviour, including gambling but not including sex. Exactly how addicted an individual becomes depends on how self-absorbed and compelled they are with the substance or behavior.
There is a rising debate over the changes of the new DSM-V. The reason for the debating is that it must be remembered that this manual, like it or not, determines much health insurance coverage to determine what is and what is not going to be covered. However, the medical definition of addiction is forever now changed.
Those who are responsible for the newest changes to the DSM-V worried that anyone that relied on any substance would be categorized as substance dependent and that would be an incorrect assessment. This would then mean that if a person needs antidepressants or even anti-anxiety drugs they would be considered addicts.
The treatment community is not happy with the new changes and worry that the new definition of addiction will taint statistics, cause false epidemics, and cause a massive over spending of funds that is not necessary.
The new DSM-V indicates that it used criteria for determining addiction that added "craving or a strong desire to use," replacing other certain terms with new ones, and adding gambling to the list of addictions. Sex and Internet addictions were not added just yet.
It is expected that there will be a lot more diagnoses and many of these will be when there truly is a lack of need for it. More diagnoses lead to more prescriptions going out, which could fuel the prescription drug epidemic even farther. In addition, consider the low rate of success with treatment for addiction and many are justifiably concerned with how the new DSM-V just add salt to the open wound.
Finally, many also worry that pharmacological interventions will take a turn and that redefining existing terms and techniques can only lower the number of promising treatment options that may have helped. With the new DSM-V a typical college student that binge drinks would be diagnosed as a mild alcoholic. Bottom of Form
It is not expected that changing a few terms will have more people seek help nor is it expected to alter the way that providers offer their services. Many are keeping their fingers crossed that this will bring about earlier and more significant interventions. That is all that can be hoped for at this point.

Procrastination During Smoking Can Kill!

The worst thing we can do while smoking is to delay quitting. By prolonging the quit, the closer we become to walking that one-way street into deaths arms. You may think that I'm being a little extreme, but take a look at the statistics of young smokers dying. The age of 'terminal smokers' is dropping fast. Fact. There 2 main factors causing this change;
  1. There are more children in their early teens taking up smoking.
  2. The amount of chemicals that are added to cigarettes have varied and increased.
Procrastination during smoking is literally life threatening. The longer we put off quitting smoking, the more chance there is of a deadly disease taking over our body. Every single cigarette we put to our lips is like another pull of the trigger during a game of Russian roulette. Problem is that there are only so many empty chambers before the hammer finally strikes a bullet.
When quitting smoking, the term "sooner rather than later" has more truth than we think. According to the surgeon general Regina Benjamin, one puff of a cigarette could kill you. Although cancer can take quite a long time before it takes a hold on your body, a heart attack could be just around the corner.
Its become quite clear recently that the harm caused by smoking (especially those concerning the heart) can start in right away says Dr Terry Pechacek of the CDC. This means that the so-called "social smoker" is also at risk from a heart attack, if the persons arteries are silently clogged then one cigarette is enough to cause a cardiac arrest.
There are more than 7000 chemicals in each puff and as they surge through your body, they cause cellular damage in nearly all organs, and as you take each puff the smoke enters the body and transforms its chemistry so that its sticky and tacky, this is how arteries are blocked.
You really are playing Russian roulette when you decide to keep smoking and I don't believe we're even close to discovering the true extent of the damage that smoking causes, not just to us but also our loved ones through passive smoke.
None of us actually think that it will happen to us, but believe me when i tell you that if you keep smoking then there's only one way out! Don't just be another statistic, quit now before it's too late. Quit for good.
Defeating the 'smokers delay' is relatively easy. Please visit HERE to find out how.

Stop Smoking Without Gaining Weight



Many people are wanting to quit smoking but fear the extra weight gain that is sometimes associated with quitting. Snacking is the major cause of this weight gain. As we fight off the cravings for nicotine we replace it with whatever we can stuff in our mouths. In effect replacing one bad habit with another. Obesity can be as harmful as smoking.
Nicotine is a powerful toxin primarily used as an insecticide. It has absolutely no medicinal benefit, and it continues to kill thousands of people each year. Fortunately, once we quit, nicotine only stays in our system for a short while. The percentage of nicotine in our bodies is cut by half every two hours so the physical effects of nicotine withdrawal have usually left our bodies by the time we get up each day. Our bodies become 100% nicotine free in 72 hours. 
That means that we just have to deal with the psychological effects of nicotine withdrawal, and that is usually much tougher for a lot of people. When people quit smoking often they will satisfy their cravings for a cigarette with a snack. If you were to do this five or six times a day you would soon start packing on the pounds and foolishly wondering if it's all worth it. Anxiety and irritability are also symptoms of nicotine withdrawal along with difficulty concentrating and sleeping. Not to mention the increased hunger.
Smokers have to realize that this is an addiction and like other addictions we have to face it hour by hour and day to day. The easy part is that this is a psychological addiction and we can beat it by training our minds to remember that we are now non-smokers and non-smokers don't go around being irritable all day. Non-smokers aren't consumed with thoughts of lighting up. Non-smokers don't snack all day long because they haven't got their nicotine fix. Non-smokers don't stink like smoke, and they haven't got tobacco stained teeth.
 They dramatically cut their risks of heart attacks and strokes. Non-smokers live longer, more healthier lives. Remember that each craving lasts only a few minutes, and you can talk yourself through it. As each day progresses the cravings will subside. There is only one rule for 100% success and that is - No Nicotine Today. If you fail in your attempt to quit smoking, try again. It's never too late to quit smoking. You are only a smoker when you are smoking, and if you want to be a non-smoker, don't smoke.
There are many products out there that will replace cigarettes with other forms of nicotine injection. That's all they do is replace nicotine with nicotine. It's not the smoking we are addicted too it's the nicotine. Remember there is only one rule for 100% success - No Nicotine Today.
My recommendation is that you replace cigarettes with something that will suppress your appetite. Something to manage stress and enhance your mood. Something that encourages mental clarity and focus. Something like Visi's "Trimma". This one a day capsule is made from a proprietary formula of all natural ingredients including the Arctic Cloudberry. Trimma will help you fight off those cravings all day, safely and naturally. Many people have successfully quit smoking and I encourage you to keep trying
Please Contact me for more information. 
erictherockman@gmail.com

5 Life Changing Lessons I Learned From Quitting Smoking


Being a smoker for over 10 years and an ex-smoker of 3, I have experienced every low and high that a smoker can face. I have been at the lowest point a smoker can possibly reach. Quitting smoking is a journey, it's a long winding road of the lowest lows and the highest highs. Quitting smoking is a series of lessons, It can be some of the best lessons you will ever learn in life.

1. Patience is a virtue... Really, it is!
The main thing we learn on the path to quitting smoking is patience. Every step we take on that path requires patience. Quitting smoking requires a high amount of patience as the task in question cannot be achieved in a day. It simply isn't an overnight thing. It takes time.
2. Achieving a goal is life changing.
To achieve what you believe to be the most impossible thing in the world is an amazing feeling to say the least. As soon I realised that I had made it to the land of the smoke-free, setting goals and seeing them through became a slight addiction! I wanted to realise my current dreams and also rekindle my lost ones.
3. With pain comes pleasure.
Nothing we do in life should be easy. We should strive to deal with the difficult situations that life throws at us and face them head on. The biggest lesson I learned from quitting smoking was to face my demons. I decided to no longer cower and hide from what tormented me, instead I grabbed them by the throat and said "that's it, no more"
4. Fear nothing.
The thought alone of going through quitting shook my bones to their core. I had no idea of what to expect, I'd smoked for so long that I'd forgotten how beautiful life was without that little stick of death. It taught me to respect my fear, not to dismiss them but to harness them and use them to my advantage.
5. My life is amazing!
Life is simply amazing without smoking, you can only see it once you've quit. But believe me when I say that life is precious and that we should never take it for granted. As far as we know, we only get 1 shot, we should never even think of burning it prematurely by smoking. Life is exactly that, its life. And we should live it to the full.
It's now time for you take that first step to freedom and learn your own lessons from stopping smoking. Whatever those lessons are make sure you learn them, make sure you never smoke again. Trust me, its worth it.
There are certain barriers we face when we attempt to quit smoking, they are easy to overcome once we know how. To learn these lessons.