The National opioid epidemic is taking the country by storm, causing record numbers of addiction, people seeking help, and people dying as a result of their opioid addiction. This is becoming news to some and people are wondering what is being done to stop the crisis and how bad it has already gotten. Much of the hysteria came to the national stage when a New York Times published an article citing that drug overdose deaths had risen 22% from 2015-2016, with no indication of this upward trend slowing down. The Federal government has given a lot of lip-service on the issue, but little material action has been taken so far. Here are some crucial opioid epidemic facts everyone should be aware of: Trump Declared A Public Health Emergency - NOT a National Emergency The slight difference in the name of these declarations is significant. A National Emergency would immediately allow emergency funding for plans of action, new committees, and funding for health care. A National Emergency gives the president broader power to address the issue by any means necessary. A Public Health Emergency put the issue under the Department of Health and Human Services, which has far less funding. In fact, according to an article by Forbes, the currently available funding for a Public Health Emergency is only $57,000. This is hardly enough to put ONE person through funding, let alone the millions of people currently needing help for addiction. The Epidemic Started With Prescription Drugs Another important opioid epidemic fact is that the whole problem started with prescription painkillers. Companies like Purdue Pharma (the inventor of OxyContin), Teva, Johns...
In addiction recovery, many people feel filled with remorse and shame from what they did in active addiction. It can be so easy to dwell on the past and feel unworthy of love or forgiveness. These feelings can be very dangerous and many times lead to relapse. Learning present moment awareness meditation can help this greatly accompanied by action and being useful to others. When I first got into recovery, I told someone in my support group that I had very low self-esteem. He told me, rather bluntly, something that I hadn’t really thought of before. He said, “you have to do esteemable acts to have self-esteem.” He wasn’t afraid to tell me how it is. With the way I had been living in active addiction, it should be pretty obvious I would have low self-esteem. It would take effort and life changes to gain confidence and self-esteem. Here are some helpful positive affirmations and ways to put them into action: “I forgive myself for my mistakes and will learn from them” The is one of the most important positive affirmations of recovery. The first step to being able to share your experience and be helpful to others is to forgive yourself. You can't travel to the past, so you are going to have to accept the mistakes you have made and make an effort to never allow them to happen again. When you forgive yourself, you can use these mistakes to share with others to form a bond and camaraderie. Many other people have made the same mistakes as you and it would help them with their own self-forgiveness...
As you can imagine, the brain is severely altered after years of substance abuse. Many illicit drugs, including alcohol, affect the parts of the brain that are responsible for reward and pleasure. Dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and GABA receptors are all synthetically manipulated while using drugs, which eventually causes long-term damage that can take a lot of effort to correct. When these receptors do not function properly, it can be hard to function, leading to feelings of depression, anxiety, lack motivation, and a lack of the ability to concentrate. Feelings like these can lead to relapse if they are not addressed. Some of these symptoms can be corrected with medication, but for some, this is not the ideal route nor is it always a cure-all. Sometimes, the most natural remedies are the most effective at correcting damage that has been done to the brain’s neurotransmitters. One of these remedies is a regular exercise routine. Exercise in addiction recovery is one of the best ways to start feeling happy and healthy, and quickly. More and more studies are proving the vast benefits of exercise routines, not just for recovering addicts. Exercise can help treat several mental health conditions, like depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Many addiction treatment centers beginning to incorporate exercise into their treatment plan because of the significant effects it has on patients. For many, an exercise routine becomes one of the strongest pillars of their recovery program. These are some of the major reasons exercise in addiction recovery is so important: It Alters Brain Chemistry As mentioned above, substance abuse alters brain chemistry in a negative way. After long-term...
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