Take it from an addict, I would have never admitted to you that I needed help until I was literally starving and almost dead. CONVINCE an addict to get sober before they are ready? Yeah! When Pigs fly! (If pigs ever learn to fly I will edit this blog immediately). The only thing that is one hundred percent sure to make an addict go to rehab is complete and utter defeat. As much as that stinks for the rest of the people in our lives who love us and have to watch us kill ourselves, it is the only option. That being said, we addicts will come up with thousands of different excuses and reasons to avoid going to rehab. We like to think we don't need it, or that we have it all under control. As a recovered addict, I realize now that my mother was.... probably right the FIRST time she brought up that I had a problem. However, she was crying and it made me angry so I shut her out and continued on my delusionally merry way, stating I couldn't go to rehab because "I wasn't as bad as my friends." Plot twist, I didn't have any friends, they all stopped hanging out with me because they were worried about me too, but she didn't know that. Frothy Emotional Appeal Seldom Suffices -Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous One of the hardest parts of loving an addict is watching them kill themselves, and being unable to do anything about it. No matter how much you may beg,...
Going into drug and alcohol treatment for the first time can be a pretty confusing and chaotic experience. Just finding a good place to go can feel like finding a needle in a haystack, so there are a few helpful tools to help you or your loved one navigate through the levels of what the treatment process looks like for drug and alcohol recovery. The first step is finding your location, depending on where you want to go and how much you are able to spend, you will most likely have a plethora of options to choose from. It is up to you to decide if you would like to attend a 12 step centered treatment facility or one that provides holistic alternatives, or even a long term wilderness program, the options are endless. A good starting rule of thumb is to ensure that your center is licensed, accredited, and provides a wide range of therapeutic options such as individual therapy, group therapy, and access to 12 step fellowships. Detox. Detoxification is usually necessary for people to safely eliminate any of the drugs and alcohol in their system. Some people will require longer stays in detox, where their levels can be monitored closely. This is usually the case for alcoholics and people who abuse benzodiazepines, as these two categories of drugs can be fatal if removed from the system suddenly. The point of detox is to provide patients with round the clock monitoring, access to 12 step meetings, medications to aid with the mental and physical side effects of withdrawal, and access to therapy if necessary. The whole aim of detox...
"Drug paraphernalia" is a term to denote any equipment, product, accessory or material that is modified for making, using or concealing drugs, typically for recreational purposes. Remember the good old days when drug paraphernalia simply meant a burnt out roach or a little glass pipe to smoke some pot in? Those were the simpler times before my addiction exploded into the full force monster it eventually became. By the time my active using had reached its pinnacle, I would need to carry around a separate bag to contain all the tools and items needed in order to properly get high. I carried one purse for all of my day to day items like a wallet, sunglasses, cell phone, chapstick, etc. And then I always carried around a little crown royal bag to carry the REAL necessities. Keep in mind, I have a type A personality, and can be a bit of a germaphobe as well, so while I was usually stocked to the teeth with various paraphernalia, many people may not have been this anal retentive about their equipment. If I had ever been searched by the police, I could have easily been locked away for a long time. As I look back on my past, I realize how absolutely insane I was, and I am sometimes in shock when I think about how much the ritual really was a huge aspect of my addiction. The Cocaine Essentials If you were an avid cocaine user such as myself, there were probably a variety of items you kept on you at all times to ensure you could be prepared wherever you...
According to the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step in recovery is admitting that we have a problem, that we are powerless over alcohol and our lives have become unmanageable because of it. This is usually the hardest step that many of us have to take. No one likes to admit that we can't control our drinking, that we are abnormal, that we have failed at something and to say that we are, in fact, an alcoholic. It's definitely a heavy blow to the ego but on the bright side, it also presents us with an opportunity to grow, change, and become responsible human beings. Obviously, everyone is a little different in their addictions, but there are usually 10 major signs that a person's drinking has gotten out of control. 1. It's No Longer About Socializing At the beginning of our drinking careers, we usually used alcohol as a way to boost our self-confidence at a party or to celebrate the weekend. As we progress, we start to drink more and more out of necessity rather than pleasure, and we no longer care about who is with us as long as we are getting drunk. Denial is usually a huge issue with alcoholics, so when we drink alone or with other alcoholics, we don't have the opportunity to be judged by our peers. 2. It's Getting in the Way of Real Life If and when the effects of our drinking start to present themselves negatively in our day to day life, it becomes an issue. Events such as calling out of work due to a hangover, getting drunk...
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