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Common Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms

June 25, 2014

Are you having an alcoholism Problem?

addiction withdrawaAlcohol withdrawal refers to an assemblage of symptoms that may occur from suddenly discontinuing with the use of alcohol after chronic or prolonged ingestion. Not everyone who stops drinking experiences withdrawal symptoms, but most people who have been drinking for a long period of time, or drinking frequently, or drink heavily when they do drink, will experience some form of withdrawal symptoms if they stop drinking suddenly.

What Is It?

Alcohol withdrawal is the fluctuations the body goes through when a person suddenly stops consumption after prolonged and heavy alcohol use. Symptoms include trembling (shakes), insomnia, anxiety, and other physical and mental symptoms. Alcohol has a decelerating effect (also called a sedating effect or depressant effect) on the brain. In a heavy, long-term drinker, the brain is almost continually exposed to the depressant effect of alcohol. Over time, the brain adjusts its own chemistry to compensate for the effect of the alcohol. It does this by producing naturally stimulating chemicals (such as serotonin or norepinephrine, which is a relative of adrenaline) in larger quantities than normal. If the alcohol is withdrawn suddenly, the brain is like an accelerated vehicle that has lost its brakes. Not surprisingly, most symptoms of withdrawal are symptoms that occur when the brain is over stimulated. The most hazardous form of alcohol withdrawal occurs in about one out of every twenty people who have withdrawal symptoms. This condition is called delirium tremens (also called DTs). In delirium tremens, the brain is not able to smoothly readjust its chemistry after alcohol is stopped. This creates a state of temporary confusion and leads to dangerous changes in the way your brain regulates your circulation and breathing. The body’s vital signs such as your heart rate or blood pressure can change dramatically or capriciously, generating a risk of heart attack, stroke or death.

  • Pathophysiology

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome is mediated by a variety of mechanisms. The brain maintains neurochemical balance through inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters. The main inhibitory neurotransmitter is γ-amino-butyric acid (GABA), which acts through the GABA-alpha (GABA-A) neuroreceptor. One of the major excitatory neurotransmitters is glutamate, which acts through the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) neuroreceptor.

Alcohol enhances the effect of GABA on GABA-A neuroreceptors, resulting in decreased overall brain excitability. Chronic exposure to alcohol results in a compensatory decrease of GABA-A neuroreceptor response to GABA, evidenced by increasing tolerance of the effects of alcohol.

What causes withdrawal?

Alcohol thinning is a physical reaction to cutting down or discontinuing alcohol use. It is most common in people who are heavy drinkers because they have developed a tolerance to alcohol. Alcohol acts in the central nervous system by changing the balance of neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that send messages between nerves. Alcohol reduces the effect of excitatory neurotransmitters, and increases the effect of inhibitory neurotransmitters, altering the natural balance of the nervous system. Over time, the brain tries to fix this unevenness by increasing the activity of the excitatory neurotransmitters and reducing the activity of the inhibitory neurotransmitters. When alcohol is suddenly taken away, this compensatory effect keeps going, resulting in over activity of the excitatory neurotransmitters and under activity of the inhibitory neurotransmitters. This causes withdrawal syndromes.

What Are the Common Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms?

Withdrawal symptoms are hinged on the amount you were drinking and for how long. Some persons will have only mild symptoms while others will have severe, even life-threatening symptoms.

  • Mild to moderate symptoms

These can start from six to forty eight hours after people stop drinking or cut down, and usually last one to five days. They include: Shaking, Sweating, Racing heart, Feeling sick and vomiting, Headaches, Trouble sleeping, Feeling anxious or agitated, and Hallucinations

  • Very severe symptoms

Seizures -Usually occur within the first two days, it occur in about 2-9% of alcohol dependent people. Delirium tremens’ Usually occur 3-4 days after stopping drinking and typically resolves within 3 days, it occurs in about 5% of people admitted to hospital for alcohol problems Includes: Vivid hallucinations, confusion and disorientation ,agitation and hyperactivity, Insomnia, trembling, racing heart, sweating and fever.

Diagnosis

addiction withdrawal symptomsAlcohol withdrawal is easy to identify if you have distinctive symptoms that occur after you stop hefty, habitual drinking. If you have a past experience of withdrawal symptoms, you are likely to have them return if you start and stop heavy drinking again. There are no specific tests that can be used to diagnose alcohol withdrawal. If you have withdrawal symptoms from drinking, then you have consumed enough alcohol to damage other organs. It is a good idea for your doctor to examine you prudently and do blood tests, checking for alcohol-related damage to your liver, heart, nerves in your feet, blood cell counts, and gastrointestinal tract. Your doctor will evaluate your usual diet and check for vitamin deficiencies because poor nutrition is common when someone is dependent on alcohol. It is customarily difficult for people who drink to be entirely honest about how much they’ve been drinking. You should bang your drinking history straightforwardly to your doctor so you can be treated safely for withdrawal symptom.

Obtain Expert Help and Care at the New Frontier Medicine Academy

Our good and hardworking team of experts from New Frontier will toil with you persistently until you lastly heal from alcohol withdrawal symptoms. We treat all consumers in an exceptional manner after listening to their problems and assessing their conditions. Your well-being is our duty consequently we will not only help you from alcohol withdrawing symptoms but also get you back into a faultless shape. Heal your body, mind and spirit so you start a whole new life free of liquor and depression. Visit New Frontier for reliable results.

Common Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms

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Seek Addiction Knowledge: Read Addiction Books

June 24, 2014

Get Equipped With Addiction Knowledge through Reading Addiction Books

addiction books

Free eBooks are also a better way to learn more about addiction

Our current population is experiencing a lot of health challenges and addiction rates are staggeringly scary. So I thought I could share with you about this thorny topic and inform you of some of the best books that you can get your hands on for in-house help and reading. Substance abuse and addiction have reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Every day, on average, about 8,120 individuals age 12 and over try drugs for the first time and 12,800 try alcohol. About 60 million people binge drink. Mortality rates from abuse of prescription pills are skyrocketing. All-in-all, in addition to destroying families, devastating inner cities, and causing crime and car accidents, substance abuse is responsible for more deaths than any other “non-natural” cause.

In Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy, David Sheff, the author of Beautiful Boy, a moving account of the addiction and treatment of his son, Nic, draws on research in psychology, neuroscience and medicine to present a new approach to dealing with what may well be our greatest social problem. Sheff insists that addiction is an incurable but treatable disease, not a moral failing. Since choice “has nothing to do with the disease,” he emphasizes, it is counter-productive to exhort young people to “Just say no” or dismiss addicts as dissolute or undisciplined. Treatment must be based on evidence, not urban legends, guilt or wishful thinking.

Providing a wealth of information and practical advice, Clean is the best book on drug abuse and addiction to appear in years. Sheff’s claims about choice, however, raise far more questions than they answer.

Clean busts a mountain of myths. People living below the poverty line, he reveals, are 100 percent more likely to abuse or be addicted than more affluent individuals. Sheff cites studies that show that the DARE program, which is used in 75 percent of the nation’s school districts, may actually raise rates of drug use. He demonstrates that addicts will not respond best if they’re allowed “to hit bottom.” He makes a compelling case that “no one really knows how often AA works and for whom,” and that we do know that AA retention is low and attrition is high. Although he cites no studies, Shef claims that “the science based approach rejects cold-turkey detox.”

Sheff also makes specific recommendations about management options and how to make informed selections. He sorts out types of accreditation and licensing for facilities; favors programs where psychologists, clinical social workers and family therapists are “full-time and don’t just stop by weekly” and psychological and physical examinations and medications (if necessary) are managed on site; and he advises nailing down ahead of time the assistance staff will provide with a transition to a new program when the patient is ready or he or she has been expelled.

Grounded in evidence of genetic predispositions and the effect of drugs on the brain, Sheff’s main theme — that addiction is a disease, not a character flaw — does counter a pervasive and pernicious tendency to “blame the victim” (or the parents of the victim). But it leaves us struggling to comprehend the role of “free will” in resisting the disease.

In our judgment, Sheff is neither consistent nor clear in distinguishing between drug abusers and addicts or in finding a way to understand or explain the choices users make. Hard put to explain “why some people do stop using on their own,” he speculates that members of this small group “aren’t as addicted in the first place.” His analogy, that “blaming an addict for relapse is like blaming a cancer patient when radiation and chemotherapy don’t work,” doesn’t seem entirely appropriate.

addicton booksThroughout his book, it is worth noting, Sheff acknowledges that choices are available to abusers and addicts. “Before a person can change his behavior,” he writes, “[he] has to want to change it.” Motivational interviewing “can help addicts understand the conflict between their life goals and their drug use.” Given “cues” during Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Sheff asserts, addicts can be trained to select alternative behaviors to defuse triggers — like going for a run — when they reach a “choice point.” When Luke Gsell took Dramamine and drank beer while in rehab to celebrate his 15th birthday, came down from it, recognized he was an addict and vowed “I’m done with this,” Sheff declares that “if he needed confirmation that his decision was a smart one, he received it the next day,” when his roommate OD’d after taking 36 pills. And in the appendix to Clean, Sheff concludes, “If kids are to make informed choices about drugs, they need to have facts about them. They need to know what they’re risking in order to get high.”

Free will is an elusive and enigmatic concept. Though philosophers have gone free will hunting for centuries, they have never really understood why people choose what they choose. Nor is free will yet amenable to measurement by scientists. We believe that choice, as it is commonly understood, and as Sheff himself uses it, is relevant to the scourge of abuse and addiction, and to the tactics, strategies, and policies his extraordinarily valuable book lays out to help us to overcome them. Contact NEW FRONTIER Medicine Academy for addiction help.

Get Equipped With Addiction Knowledge through Reading Addiction Books

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Addiction Medicine; Natural Treatment

June 20, 2014

Excel In Addiction Medicine Specialty 

 

Addiction medicine is a medical specialty that deals with the treatment of addiction. The specialty often crosses over into other areas, since various aspects of addiction fall within the fields of public health, psychology, social work, mental health counseling, psychiatry, and internal medicine, among others. Amalgamated within the specialty are the processes of detoxification, rehabilitation, harm reduction, abstinence-based treatment, separate and group therapies, oversight of halfway houses, management of withdrawal-related symptoms, acute intervention, and long term therapies designed to reduce likelihood of relapse . Some specialists, primarily those who also have expertise in family medicine or internal medicine, also provide treatment for disease states commonly associated with substance use, such as hepatitis and HIV infection.

addiction medicine

Addiction Medicine

Physicians specializing in the field are in general agreement concerning applicability of treatment to those with addiction to drugs, such as alcohol and heroin, and often also to gambling, which has similar characteristics and has been well described in the scientific literature. There is less contract concerning definition or treatment of other so-called addictive behavior such as sexual addiction and internet addiction, such performances not being marked generally by physiologic tolerance or withdrawal.

Doctors concentrating on addiction medicine are medical authorities who focus on addictive disease and have had special study and training focusing on the prevention and treatment of such diseases. There are two routes to specialization in the addiction field: one via a psychiatric pathway and one via other fields of medicine. The new frontier Society of Addiction Medicine notes that approximately a percentage of its members are psychiatrists while the remainder have received medical training in other fields.

Studies have found that, despite the prevalence of addiction, the enormity of its consequences, the availability of effective clarifications and the evidence that addiction is a disease, both screening and early intervention for risky substance use are rare, and only about 1 in 10 people with addiction involving alcohol or drugs other than nicotine receive any form of treatment.

Of those who do receive treatment, few receive anything that approximates evidence-based care. This compares with seventy% to eighty% of people with such diseases as high blood pressure and diabetes who do receive treatment. This report exposes the fact that most medical professionals who should be providing addiction action are not sufficiently trained to diagnose or treat the disease, and most of those providing addiction care are not medical professionals and are not equipped with the knowledge, skills or credentials necessary to provide the full range of effective treatments

The time has come for addiction medicine to be fully integrated into health care systems and medical practice. Health care providers, especially physicians, are our front line in disease prevention and treatment. They must understand the risk factors for addiction, screen for risky substance use and intervene when needed, and diagnose, treat and manage addiction just as they do all other diseases.

The Treatment Options for Addiction.

addiction medicine

Addiction Medicine

The first step for the addicted individual is to acknowledge that there is a substance dependency problem addiction problem. The next step is to get help. In most of the world there are several support groups and expert services available. Treatment options for habit depend on several factors, including what type of substance it is and how it affects the patients. Typically, treatment includes a combination of inpatient and outpatient programs, counseling, psychotherapy, self-help groups, pairing with individual sponsors, and medication.

  • Treatment programs – these typically focus on getting sober and preventing relapses. Individual, group and/or family sessions may form part of the program. Depending on the level of addiction, patient behaviors, and type of material this may be in outpatient or residential settings.
  • Analysis – there may be one-to-one (one-on-one) or family sessions with a specialist.

Help with coping with cravings, avoiding the substance, and dealing with possible relapses are key to effective addiction programs. If the patient’s family can become complicated there is a better probability of positive outcomes.

  • Support groups – these may help the patient meet other people with the same problem, which often boosts motivation. Self-help groups can be a useful source of education and information too. Examples comprise Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. For those dependent on nicotine, ask your doctor or nurse for information on local self-help groups.
  • Help by withdrawal symptoms – the main aim is usually to get the addictive substance out of the patient’s body as quickly as possible. Sometimes the addict is given gradually reduced dosages (tapering). In some cases a substitute matter is given. Depending on what the person is addicted to, as well as some other factors, the doctor may recommend treatment either as an outpatient or inpatient.

The doctor or addiction expert may recommend either an outpatient or inpatient residential treatment center. Withdrawal treatment options vary and depend mainly on what substance the individual is addicted to:

  • Addiction to depressants – these may include dependence on barbiturates or benzodiazepines. During withdrawal the patient may experience anxiety insomnia, sweating and restlessness. In rare cases there may be whole-body tremors, seizures, hallucinations, hypertension (high blood pressure), accelerated heart rate and fever. In severe cases there may be delirium, which according to the Mayo Clinic, USA, could be life-threatening.
  • Addiction to stimulants – these may include cocaine and other amphetamines. During withdrawal the patient may experience tiredness, depression, anxiety, moodiness, low enthusiasm, sleep disturbances, and low concentration. Treatment focuses on providing support, unless the depression is severe, in which case a medication may be prescribed.
  • Addiction to opioids – Opioids are a class of drugs that are commonly prescribed for their analgesics or pain killing, properties. They include substances such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone, and methadone.

The addiction medicine physician is a key member of the health care team at New Frontiers in Medicine Academy are trained to coordinate and provide consultation services for other physicians and to use community resources when appropriate. Some addiction medicine physicians limit their practice to patients with addiction or other patterns of unhealthy substance use for the wellbeing of human affected.

Excel In Addiction Medicine Specialty

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Addiction Services You Need To Know

June 17, 2014

Addiction Services helps to improve the lives of those who are harmfully involved with alcohol, gambling, tobacco, or other drugs.If you are struggling with dependence, thank you for starting to think about getting help. It is your choice to start big, start small, start tomorrow, today or next year. Thinking it’s time, it’s the first step congratulations! Please visit again and again until you are ready to start. Programs at New Frontier are staffed with professionally trained counselors. Some programs have eligibility criteria but there are no restrictions related to age or gender, youth, adults and seniors are welcome.A range of services are provided from NEW FRONTIER through Addiction Services Authorities, it provides a continuum of care and service relating to health promotion, addiction prevention, early intervention, and treatment.

addiction services

Continuing Care

Continuing Care Services are provided to suitable people who need care outside of the hospital in their home and community. Maintenance can be provided on a long or short-term basis.Continuing Care Programs and Services include: Home Care that is: Nursing, Home Support, Respite and Palliative Care, Long-Term Care like Nursing Home or Residential Care Facility, Home Oxygen Facilities, Adult Protection Services, Protection for Persons in Care, Aboriginal Continuing Care, Caregiver Benefit Program, Treatment Dispenser Assistive Technology Program, HELP-Bed Loan Program, Personal Alert Assistance Program, Self-Managed Care Program,  Supportive Care Program, Particular Equipment Program ,Long Term Care and Respite Care at home or in Long Term Care.

Emergency Health Services is responsible for the continual delivery, development, implementation, nursing and evaluation of emergency care and out of hospital primary and urgent care through the ground ambulance.Looking for a Family Doctor? The NEW frontier Department of Health and Wellness has an online directory listing physicians within the sphere who are taking new patient.

New frontier health programs are designated to provide eligible populaces with coverage for medically required hospital, medical, dental and optometric services with some limitations. New frontiers are eligible for health insurance and should have a new frontier Health Card. This location includes answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the new frontier Health Card.

Primary Health Care

Primary Health Care is where patient centered care starts. From the first visit to enduring supports, follow-up and management, the goal is safe and quality services for patients and families.

We help persons think about change and support them in making healthy choices. Each person’s path is different. Our staffs are trained health care specialists who are here to offer caring and non-judgmental support along the way. All of our services are free, completely confidential and available through self-referral; no exterior referral source is required.

Some of the services offered are:

Counseling, Community groups, Support for family members and others who are affected, Recovery groups, Inpatient Treatment Program, Day Treatment Program, Opioid Treatment Program

Visit New Frontier Medicine Academy & Learn More about The Programs

Individual, couple or group counseling, Support for family members and others affectedWorkshops and instructive sessions, Recovery and Structured Relapse Prevention groups and Recreational Therapy, Driving While Impaired and Interlock Program, societies and others affected recovery groups, Inpatient Treatment Program, Day Management Program, and Opioid Treatment Program.

Self Help and Valuation

At this time, here are some self-help and assessment tools you can use to explore your participation with tobacco, alcohol, other drugs and gambling.

Tobacco: Are you concerned about your smoking?Tobacco Intervention, Workbook, Ask yourself these questions about your tobacco use are you ready to quit smoking?

Why Addiction Services At New Frontier?

At new frontiers, we know that there is no single formula for repossession. There are certain principles that we all should abide by, but they are administered in a variety of solutions. We know that when you call and ask for help, you need to get answers right on the spot. What sets us apart from most behavior centers is our exclusive treatment evaluation that we conduct with you right over the phone. This allows our experienced treatment counselors to get to know you right away.

awaremed

Once we know a little about your dependence and specific situation, we can make immediate arrangements and quickly admit you to the treatment center that is going to be the best fit and provide you with the best chance for a full and long term recapture. It doesn’t matter whether you want to stay local or go somewhere across the country; at NEW FRONTIER we have relationships with the finest specialist and treatment centers across the country.

Addiction Services You Need To Know

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Addiction Cure

June 15, 2014

Addiction Cure Is Of Great Relevance

Material abuse treatment is a behavior alteration therapy for those who use drugs and alcohol to the detriment of themselves and others. Regulation enforcement officials, politicians, and religious leaders often cite drug and alcohol abuse as tribulations so great that they threaten the survival of our civilization.

What is addiction management?

Addiction treatment is envisioned to help addicted persons stop compulsive drug seeking and use. Cure can occur in a variety of settings, take many different methods, and last for different lengths of time. Because drug addiction is typically a chronic disorder characterized by infrequent relapses, a short-term, one-time treatment is usually not sufficient. For many, treatment is a long-term process that involves numerous interventions and regular nursing.

There is a variability of evidence-based tactics to treating addiction. Drug treatment can include behavioral therapy such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or contingency management, medications, or their amalgamation. The specific type of treatment or mixture of treatments will vary depending on the patient’s individual needs and, often, on the categories of drugs they have been using. Drug addiction treatment can include medications, behavioral therapies, or their combinations of managements.

Treatment medications, such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone which include a new long-acting formulation which are available for individuals habituated to opioids, while nicotine preparations such as patches, gum, lozenges, and nasal spray, and the medications varenicline and bupropion are available for individuals addicted to tobacco. Disulfiram, acamprosate, and naltrexone are medications obtainable for treating alcohol dependence,which commonly befalls with other drug addictions, including addiction to prescription medications.

Managements for prescription drug abuse incline to be similar to those for illegitimate drugs that affect the same brain systems. For instance, buprenorphine, used to treat heroin dependence, can also be used to treat addiction to opioid pain medications. Addiction to prescription amphetamines, which affect the same brain systems as illicit stimulants like cocaine, can be preserved with behavioral therapies, as there are not yet medications for treating addiction to these types of medications.

Interactive therapies can help persuade people to participate in drug handling, offer strategies for coping with drug hankerings, teach ways to avoid drugs and prevent relapse, and help individuals deal with relapse if it occurs. Behavioral therapies can also help people improve statements, relationships, and parenting skills, as well as family subtleties.

Numerousmanagementsequencers employ both individual and group therapies. Group therapy can provide social underpinning and help enforce interactive contingencies that promote self-restraint and a non-drug-using lifestyle. Certain of the more established behavioral treatments, such as eventuality management and cognitive-behavioral therapy, are also being adapted for group settings to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness. However, particularly in adolescents, there can also be a danger of unintended harmful (or iatrogenic) effects of group treatment. From time to time group members especially groups of highly antisocial youth can reinforce drug use and thereby derail the purpose of the therapy. Consequently, trained counselors should be aware of and monitor for such belongings.

Since they work on dissimilar aspects of addiction, amalgamations of behavioral rehabilitations and medications,when obtainable, generally appear to be more effective than either approach used alone.Lastly, people who are addicted to drugs often suffer from other health e.g., downheartedness, HIV, occupational, legal, familial, and social problems that should be addressed concurrently. The best programs provide a mixture of therapies and other amenities to meet an individual patient’s needs.

Psychoactive medications, such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety agents, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotic medications, may be critical for treatment success when patients have co-occurring mental disorders such as unhappiness, anxiety disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. In addition, most people with severe addiction abuse multiple drugs and require treatment for all substances abused .Treatment for drug abuse and addiction is delivered in many different settings using a variety of behavioral and pharmacological viewpoints.

One more drug, topiramate, has also shown promise in studies and is sometimes prescribed off-label for this purpose although it has not received an official approval as a treatment for alcohol dependence.

How effective is drug addiction treatment?

In accumulation to stopping drug abuse, the penalty area of treatment is to return people to productive operational in the family, workplace, and community. According to research that tracks individuals in treatment over extended periods, most people who get into and remain in treatment stop using drugs, decrease their illicit activity, and improve their professional, social, and psychological functioning. For example, methadone behavior has been shown to increase participation in behavioral therapy and decrease both drug use and criminal behavior.

However, individual handling outcomes depend on the extent and nature of the patient’s problems, the correctness of treatment and related services used to address those problems, and the quality of interaction between the patient and his or her management benefactors. Relapse rates for addiction resemble those of other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma

Start on the Road to Recovery Now

Individuals who are addicted to drugs or alcohol are designated as being “in recovery” when they are living abstemious lives. Being in recovery means you have power over your dependence. You are able to live a healthy, fulfilling life, free from the monopoly of addiction. You aren’t cured but you are in control.

New Frontier Medicine Academy

To take the first step toward recovery, visit New Frontier Medicine Academy to get information about drug abuse cure options. Whether the accurate fit for you is an inpatient program, an outpatient clinic or a luxury facility, help is available. Just VISIT now. Don’t wait; get help for your drug addiction today.

 

 

Addiction Cure

 

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