How Can Nutrition Affect you In Sobriety?

When we get sober, we make an agreement with ourselves to stop getting drunk and high. What we are not aware of, is that sobriety really entails a journey much deeper and more spiritual than simply putting the bottle down. With this change eventually comes the need to clear out a lot of other poor habits we have in our lives, and for many of us, this means an overhauling in what we eat. I don’t know about you, but before I got sober, I survived on coffee, gummy worms, toast, and cans of Chef Boyardee. I never had much of an appetite, thanks to whatever I was or was not putting into my body. Every ounce of my being was filled with drugs, booze, or sugar. No wonder I felt like death all the time! Now that we are sober, poor eating habits can be lumped into the category of step 6 and 7, character defects. We know what we are doing is harmful but we find comfort in the easy access, the sugar rush, the quick fixes, and the salt content. Whether you eat like a dumpster, or whether you still struggle with even eating at all, here are some tips and facts around how nutrition can affect sobriety. Sugar = Addictive There has been substantial research showing that sugars activate the same receptors in the brain as drugs and alcohol. There has also been research about cheese, but let’s not get crazy now. Have you ever noticed why coffee, candy, cookies, and other sweet snacks are always at the meetings? We love sugar! It triggers that same...

Is a Sober Home After Rehab Right for You?

Making the decision to get sober can be hard. Many of us still hold to the idea that we can control our drinking and using. A majority of young people in the rooms these days were strongly encouraged by their parents to get sober, so sometimes it can feel like the decision wasn’t really their own. Hopefully, by the time the end of rehab comes near, the truth on whether or not you struggle with addiction will have become clear, and the decision to move into a sober home will be plain to you. Not everyone needs to go into sober living after rehab, as some people have other arrangements that better suit their needs. So how can you know which category you fall into? If You Have Relapsed Before Listen, most people aren’t one chip wonders. In other words, a large majority of people in the rooms have experienced a relapse after trying to get sober. For many people, they first tried at home or on their own, maybe stringing together a few days or even a few weeks. However, without the protection of a quality sober home, they were left to their own devices and drank or used again soon after. Sober homes don’t do all the work in keeping people sober, however, they do provide a safety net after rehab before entering the big bad world. Rehab is often like a very safe bubble, where there are limited temptations and troubles to tempt addicts and alcoholics back to using. When people just go right back home, they are often faced with the same old triggers and behavior...

How to Safely Have Fun on St. Patrick’s Day In Sobriety

It seems like just about every holiday, at least if your an alcoholic or addict, is a perfect excuse to get good and messed up. During our first year of sobriety, they can often become a day where we mourn the past, feel a little squirrelly, and maybe for the first time, miss our family. Re-learning how to celebrate holidays can be an emotional and tumultuous time in early sobriety, but what about St. Patrick’s day? Other than devout Irish Catholics, everybody else just uses the day to get blackout drunk and wear green. So how can you enjoy the holiday while sticking to your sobriety? The easiest method; avoid the scene! Do Something More Productive If we are being honest here, I think it’s safe to admit that most people aren’t celebrating Saint Patrick, who converted the island to Christianity. They are celebrating booze. It compares to how we celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Ireland doesn’t really celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and Mexicans don’t really celebrate Cinco de Mayo. We just use it as an excuse to get hammered. That being said, is it really that important that we feel the need to celebrate the holiday? If you are an Irish Catholic and enjoy the church, by all means, go to church. For everyone else, find something else to do. Here is a long list of other, just as fun and not sobriety threatening options to do instead of joining in on the parade or accidentally going out for lunch where a bar crawl is taking place. Celebrate Green, outside! Go on a hike, have a picnic in the park...

Symptoms of Alcohol Withdrawal

Kicking the bottle is no easy feat. If you’re drinking has begun to become a problem for you or your loved one, there are two choices to make. You can keep drinking and punishing your own life, liver, and sanity, or you can get the help you need to recover. A normal drinker wouldn’t have to think twice about this; they would get help and stop drinking. However, alcoholics are different. They continue to drink even when everything tells them they should stop. When the day finally comes that the decision must be made, chances are the person is well accustomed to many of the initial symptoms of alcohol withdrawal; nausea, the headaches, the shakes. Usually, an alcoholic would simply drink, and these physical symptoms would go away. So what happens when the road to sobriety is continued, and the detox process is seen through? The Importance of Medical Detox There are really only two classes of substances that can actually be deadly to withdrawal from, alcohol and benzodiazepines. Alcohol withdrawal, since the dawn of smashing grapes, has been known to be a potentially deadly endeavor for those who drink often and heavily. It is dangerous in that it can cause: Stroke Seizures Liver Failure Delusions (which have been reported to be the cause of many suicides and attempts) It is absolutely imperative to go through the alcohol withdrawal process in a medical detox facility. In the old days, people would slowly wean themselves off the bottle throughout their detox process, drinking less and less until they could stop. Despite this being a somewhat successful way to go through it,...

5 Ways to Deal with Chronic Pain in Sobriety

Unfortunately, for many people in sobriety, a lot of us have experienced a whole slew of painful and pretty traumatic experiences due to our drinking and using. Ranging from car accidents to fist fights, to horrible drunken falls and even the emotional scars that leave us with crippling anxiety and depression. It can sometimes feel like our bodies are aging at twice the rate we are. While the rest of the country is still taking prescription drugs that we used to abuse, how are we supposed to counteract the chronic pain that we have now? Advil and Tylenol help to a point, but what about actually RESOLVING the issue, rather than just putting a bandaid on it (Que, flashback to old life.) Here are five ways to help counteract and treat chronic pain in sobriety. Physical Therapy For those of us with the bad backs, the bad knees, the tendonitis, the whatever else you have, it is really rewarding to know that it doesn’t have to be that way forever. Chances are, most of our chronic pain is due to unhealthy movement patterns that we don’t even realize we have but have been doing all along. They are called motor mechanics, and they are often the whole reason why we experience the pain we do. For example, I am guilty of crawling out of bed sometimes like a gremlin, rather than propping myself up on my top arm, sitting up straight and putting my feet down. I am also guilty of hunching over the computer screen and always standing with my hip to one side, balanced on one leg rather...

What is Delirium Tremens?

The Diagnosis Delirium Tremens is a medical condition that most commonly occurs in chronic alcoholics. It is not always permanent and can be largely reversed through the aid of medical intervention, but the symptoms can be pretty alarming and if not taken care of professionally, can actually cause serious long term damage. Delirium Tremens, also known as, “the DT’s” or “the shakes” are more common in people who drink large amounts over a long period of time. So relax Jessica, your weekend binging, while most likely problematic, will only result in a hangover and most likely some guilt. However, for the folks who have been drinking daily for months or years, Delirium Tremens should be on your radar. Signs to Look For Whether you are concerned about yourself or a loved one's drinking problem, the fact that withdrawing from alcohol should, at this point, be very clear to your now. Just about everyone has experienced a hangover, but for alcoholics, suddenly putting the bottle down can actually be extremely dangerous outside of a medical detox facility. When the time comes to stop drinking, for a person who has been doing so for an extended period of time at a rapid pace, there are some warning signs of Delirium Tremens to be aware of, such as: Symptoms showing up within the first 48 hours after the last drink Tremors Confusion Hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t there) Delusions (believing things that aren’t true or in reality) Insomnia OR Sleeping more than 18-24 hours Erratic mood swings Memory Loss Seizures The Dangers of DT’s It can be pretty scary to watch...

3 Ways to Make Sober Supports

If there is any one thing in sobriety that will save your butt when everything else fails, it is the sober supports you make in these rooms. If you’re new, the idea of having a whole crowd of sober friends who have sober fun probably seems like the most nauseating thing in the world. Or, you could be one of those lucky people who has finally hit bottom and has the gift of desperation and the desire to have what those people have. Whatever boat you find yourself in, the bottom line is that your sober supports are your shipmates, and you are going to sink without them. When we first come in here, most of us feel like we have entered some crazy episode of the twilight zone, where people are smiling and seem genuinely happy. Deep in the back, or even right up front in our minds, we tell ourselves it has to be fake or it’s all a lie or there’s some catch. Well, it isn’t fake, there is no lie, and the catch is, is that they have worked the steps and are actually living better lives because of them. So if you are meandering through your early days of sobriety, and knowing that you need to reach out and make sober supports but still feel too uncomfortable in your skin or uneasy about these people, here are three ways (and a few more suggestions tossed in) to help you find your people. Go To Meetings Listen, in the beginning, most people don’t want to go to meetings, especially on a Friday night or after a...