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Addiction is a destructive force. Be it in the life of the addict himself or those that care for him. It has the tendency to take while conjuring an elaborate illusion of giving. An addiction is a double edged sword no matter which way you turn it. The drugs give you pleasure while destroying the very brain cells and receptors that govern the feeling of pleasure. They give you the confidence to interact with people while pushing everyone that ever wanted to talk with you further away. A vicious cycle with no end if left to its own devices. In the end, there is very little left of the person the addict once was. Continue reading “Rehab – Refurbishing Body & Mind” →

Abuse is not a pleasant word. It is often associated with physical abuse but in this context, we will be talking about abuse on a whole new level – multiple drug abuse.

Various types of drugs and substances when abused and used incorrectly and/or irresponsibly, can bring grief, pain and bodily harm in many ways. The dangers of abusing them are multiplied exponentially the more of them you use at the same time. Today, we look at one of the most dangerous and deadliest of drug mixing habits – alcohol and opiates.

Everyone knows what alcohol is, it is legal after all. Most people consume it in some way and when used responsibly it can be even beneficial – a glass of wine a day can keep blood pressure in check and provides many essentials for a healthy immune system. Why is it such a source of hardship and pain for so many people worldwide?

It is legal.

Everyone knows drugs are illegal and bad, right? Yet why are the same people proclaiming the dangers of cocaine while holding a beer in their hand? Because it is legal and sadly highly addictive. People have been placed at a false sense of security when interacting with alcohol. They believe that since it is legal and in some cases even beneficial, that it is ok to consume it and be under its influence every waking minute of the day. A lot more people die of alcoholism complications than overdosing on heroin and that is a fact perpetuated by the carefree attitude today’s society has towards alcohol.

Speaking of heroin.

It falls under a specific class of drugs – opiates. Derived from the beautifully red poppy flower seed pod, these drugs are classified as opiates and cover a wide range of prescription drugs as well as heroin and opium itself. This amazing plant has given us countless painkillers and pain relief therapies. As much of a saving grace these drugs are for people who truly need them, they are a double-edged sword and prove to be one of the most addictive types of drugs in the world. Most heroin addicts today started with prescription opiates, meant to alleviate pain caused by a sports injury or some other type of accident that calls for pain control for the patient to be able to lead a comfortable and fulfilling life. When the medication course is over and the doctor deems painkillers unnecessary, the patient has already been hooked. Usually due to misuse and abuse of said drugs. The patient is in pain, so he takes more than allocated dose thinking that double dose will kick in twice as fast. What it does though, is signing him up for a fast-lane to addiction.

A cocktail of death.

Now, combine the two. As blatantly obvious as it may be, combining two highly addictive substances is a terribly bad idea in general. Even more so if we are talking about opiates and alcohol specifically because they amplify each other, bolstering and intensifying many times over.

Opiates play a trick on your body and make it absorb alcohol at a much faster rate making its effects set in faster and with multiplied force. Meanwhile, alcohol boosts the depressant effect opiates, makes forgetting that your addiction will kill you sooner or later that much easier to forget. Double attack to central nervous system, both actively depressing it and making the addict even more disconnected with the world.

This focused attack on two fronts is often too much for normal human nervous system to handle for a prolonged period of time. This deadly cocktail will make your breathing irregular while making you suffer from heart rate decrease, which in turn lowers your body temperature. The brain is slowly starved of sufficient oxygen supply and may induce nausea, vomiting and even full-body seizures. This often leads to the addict falling unconscious or in a coma. Death is also a very real threat in this case.

Since opioids make your body absorb more alcohol, severe alcohol poisoning is just a matter of time. Since alcohol in return boosts the effectiveness of opioids, the chances of overdose are extremely high. This is a case where separately a certain dose of these two substances would not kill you, but together they very well might because of the mutually increasing properties of these potent drugs.

 

Fighting an addiction is hard. Fighting two addictions at the same time is exponentially harder, especially if your liver is failing and your heart can’t keep up with the opioids. It is never a time to give up, however. Every addict has a chance to get a new lease on life, turn a new page. It will take all you have, both physically and mentally, but it is better than the ugly alternative.

Those people who are going through treatment and recovery for an addiction to alcohol or drugs will be acutely aware of how easy it is to relapse.

Their counselling sessions will have hammered the message home in a strong and determined fashion. This is in the hope that a relapse and subsequent return to drug use or heavy drinking is something that can be avoided.

Here are some major aids and things to avoid for those going through recovery:

HALT

This acronym is commonly used to help remind those on the road to recovery that defences are at their weakest when Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. Continue reading “Awareness Will Minimise A Relapse” →

While all drugs carry the capacity to be devastating to both the user’s body and mind not all of them can be compared to each other. There are some drugs that are consumed with gusto while earning them the title of being the most damaging to your brain, liver, heart or just body overall.

Prescriptions

The easiest way to get addicted these days, statistics do not lie, over 8 million people abuse prescription drugs in the USA alone. Might seem odd that various drugs prescribed by vetted professionals could ever cause harm or damage. Unfortunately, it is very easy to acquire addictive prescribed drugs and pharmaceuticals because they do wonders to people who really do need them. There are plenty out there that legitimately need help from these medications but it takes just a few extra pills now and then to get in the loop. This leads to an inevitable switch to harder drugs which we will discuss a little bit lower below, or even overdose on the prescription meds themselves. Thousands of people every year get rushed to emergency rooms worldwide due to medication overdose.

Crack

Earning the horrifying title of being one of the most addictive drugs out there, Crack Cocaine is one of the most damaging and coveted drugs. Its unrivaled addictivity is attributed to extremely potent high that lasts only for a short period of time, thus inducing a vicious circle of ever increased dosage uses of this drug. Crack raises the blood pressure and attacks the entire cardio-vascular system. It leaves permanent damage to major blood vessels in the brain thus limiting its oxygenation. Chronic paranoia and addiction set in almost immediately. Eventual dementia, heart attack or stroke is not far off.

Heroin

This drug has a devious side to it, which earns its place among the most destructive drugs in the world. Its continuous use may not be immediately any more damaging than cocaine or its aforementioned cousin crack cocaine, but it makes it up in addictivity and once it sets in, it is very hard to fight with. Sobriety and complete recovery is a very difficult slog away. The reason it earns to stand tall among its deadliest peers is its ability to kill people who are set on quitting it. It is one of the few substances in the world that creates such strong physiological dependency that rapid cut-off from this drug after prolonged period of time usually ends in death. As a result carefully planned and controlled detox plan needs to be carried out. Going “cold turkey” will almost always kill a heroin addict.

Meth

Not even once. The most popular anti-meth slogan in a long line of failed anti-drug campaigns. It even became a meme, as something to make fun of. Sadly methamphetamines are many things but funny they are not. Considered to be one of the most more-ish drugs available, meth is incredibly addictive and ravages a human body like no other drug. Causing week-long sleepless binge uses the stress on the human body is intense. It is well known for causing shocking transformations in people that have fallen victim to its deadly grip. The addict’s body seems to be aging at an accelerated pace, destroys circulatory systems and leaves permanent damage to the brain causing irregularities in judgment and basic motor functions. Crack throws a rock in the clockwork of your brain like no other, it changes the human brain chemistry and its ability to function. Even prolonged rehabilitation sometimes prove to be an uphill battle, despite regenerated dopamine receptors the addict may still suffer from adverse effects due to meth use for the rest of his life.

The damage we do unto ourselves every day is staggering. Ecology and healthy living aside, outright poisoning ourselves is doubtlessly not the way to go. Addiction has an incredible potential to cause both emotional and physiological damage that grows harder to reverse with each day idly thinking about getting clean. No time like now, act quick and you or your loved one may yet have a new lease on life ahead of them.

Similar to the age-old question about the chicken and its egg, no one really knows the true answer. Does depression breed addiction or does addiction cause depression? To fully understand which is the case, we will have to step back and look at both from each other’s perspective.

Addiction first.

Depressed addict is an addict with cravings. It will be hard to find a sad addict that has just had its dose of their drug. Being high is actually a very short-lived experience during an addiction. Much more prevalent is the feeling of uncontrollable need to find more and use more. Being addicted to meth and not having any meth is unsurprisingly a very stressful situation. The addict is in dire need of the drug both mentally and physiologically. After a while, this constant depressive and stressful feeling of cravings that are not satisfied take its toll and the depression sets in as a normal daily routine. Contributing to this is that many addicts realize they are slowly (some faster than others) killing themselves, yet feel unable to do anything about it. This feeling of uncertain future, dread, and knowledge of certain death either by slow onset of organ failure or quick overdose, it makes the addict in question very susceptible to depression and its symptoms.

In a lot of ways, depression for an addict is not a question of “if”, but rather “when”. For many, it is a given and only a matter of time until it sets in and amplifies the hardship an addict is going through and often makes the addict use more and more often, to combat it. It is a vicious loop, though, one that will never end until at least one of these two contributing factors get addressed.

Depression first.

A depressed person is very hard to understand for he is often depressed due to factors that are of any matter only to himself. Anyone who has ever seen a child losing his mind because he dropped a lollypop will know the challenge to empathize and understand the upset person while suspending their personal beliefs in regards to losing candy to the unforgiving force of gravity.

A depressed person feels trapped and chained to their current life. A life that feels unfulfilling and a dead end. Drugs can be a very dangerous thing to a person with that kind of thinking. If there is one thing that drugs do well, it is the feeling of being someone else. Being constantly and utterly depressed and suddenly feeling like a new person with no worries in the world after a bump of cocaine or a drag of meth is a cocktail for disaster. It does not take a crystal ball to foresee the need to use again and again, just to sustain their escape from their depressive world. Drugs are addictive and make their victims feel like they need to use more already, all by themselves. Adding depression in that mix magnifies and speeds up this need exponentially and with devastating results.

Ready availability of prescription drugs that are highly addictive does not make it any easier to avoid a potentially self-destructive scenario. If a person who is prone to depression gets prescribed some painkillers for his broken leg, it will not be long until he will realise that these painkillers help with both their broken leg pain and their world views. Then the point of no return comes – the leg is healed and there is no longer any need for prescription painkillers. So the now addicted and depressed person feels like there is no more way out and resorts to illegal sources of this or a similar drug.

In the USA alone more than half of heroin addicts at some point started with prescription drugs like Lortab or Oxycodone and when their treatment course called for them to stop the use of these drugs, it was already too late. The addiction had set in and with the legitimate source of this drug cut off they devolved to heroin use.

 

It is not necessary to be depressed to get hooked on drugs and become addicted. Likewise, you do not need drugs to become depressed. They both compliment each other in a truly spectacular and devastating way, yet are not mutually exclusive to each other. That said, it is only good to look out for early signs of either case. If caught quickly enough, proper care and attention can mean the world of difference to the person who suffers from an addiction, depression or even both.