Category Archives: Alcohol recovery

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Defeating drug cravings negativity during recovery

Defeating drug cravings

Defeating drug cravings negativity during recovery makes you have the feelings of victory

Defeating drug cravings negativity during recovery: Sharing freely about craving

Talking about drug addiction is not a taboo because it is through sharing freely that defeating drug cravings negativity become possible. When patients have supportive friends and family members, talking freely about craving when it occurs, it gives the recovering addicts the confidence to pick up the pieces and move on. Sharing is a very effective strategy and can help reduce the feelings of anxiety and vulnerability that often accompany it. Besides that it can also help patients identify specific cues. It’s true that sure family members may become distressed when they hear their loved ones (patients) sharing about craving because of the fear that this might ultimately lead to use of drugs, it is however important that therapists and other lined professionals to spend some time in identifying which patients would feel comfortable to talk with freely about craving, how that person would react, and whether it makes sense to ask that person in advance for support.

Defeating drug cravings negativity during recovery: Going with the craving

Doctor Akoury says that the idea going with the craving technique is to let it (craving) occur, peak, and pass and that is to say experiencing them without either fighting or giving into them. Giving patients the imagery of a wave or walking over a hill may help convey this concept that is, gaining control by avoiding resistance.

From the various studies, experts have identified the steps involved which should be practiced within sessionsc before craving occurs. Besides that patients should also be told that the purpose is not to make the cravings disappear, but to experience them in a different way that makes them feel less anxiety provoking and dangerous and thus easier to ride out. The steps are summarized below.

Pay attention to the craving – This usually involves, first, finding someplace safe to let oneself experience craving (e.g., a comfortable and quiet place at home). Next, relax and focus on the experience of craving itself – where it occurs in the body or mind and how intense it is.

Focus on the area where the craving occurs – This involves paying attention to all the somatic and affective signals and trying to put them into words. What is the feeling like? Where is it? How strong is it? Does it move or change? Where else does it occur? After concentrating in this way, many patients find the craving goes away entirely. In fact, the patient may find it useful to rate the intensity of craving before and after the exercise to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique.

Finally understanding the negativity of drug cravings and coping strategies alone will not be helpful if you do not take the next step of seeking for help. Yes you now have the information, but if you don’t apply that information, it will not be helpful. That is the reason why doctor Dalal Akoury founded AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center for every individual who is struggling with any form of addiction to seek for help. You can reach out for her on telephone number 843 213 1480 so that you can have a one on one with her and you will have all your addiction related concerns addressed professionally.

Defeating drug cravings negativity during recovery: Sharing freely about craving

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Dopamine Rush

Reducing stigma and shame of addiction

Reducing stigma

Reducing stigma and shame of addiction paves way for patients seeking for treatment and support to face the future with confidence

Reducing stigma and shame of addiction: Addiction is a disease of free will

Over the last few decades of my practice as a medical professional I have come a cross so many patients from across the globe with different disturbing health conditions coming to my office for treatment which we have gladly offered to them to a resounding positive feedback. We have made it a routine in our facility (AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center) to give our very best to all our clients irrespective of their limitations because we believe in offering lasting solutions to all health complications that we can professionally handle. This has made us to move from strength to strength over the years. However one problem of drug addiction keeps recurring owing to the nature of its effects to people differently. This one story disturbs me the most because it came to my attention several years after I was first introduced to the couple. That story is going to form part of our discussion in this article even as we focus on reducing stigma and shame of addiction both internally and externally.

But before we get there we want to assure all people reading this article now that drug addiction is a real medical problem and the sooner we deal with it the better. It is very painful seeing people losing hope and giving up on treatment because they keep relapsing every time they are about to have a break through. We are taking seriously the issue of relapse so that we can be on the front lane in defeating the beast of addiction. Therefore if you or anyone you know is struggling with any kind of addiction, our doors are always open at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury to help you recover from it professionally and with a lot of dignity. So don’t keep in hiding come up and purpose to regaining your life back with us professionally.

Reducing stigma and shame of addiction: Stop the humiliation and disgrace

Back to the story, three decades ago a couple visited my office with an addiction problem. The man who was alcoholic was in company of his wife to seek for help. Before we could even start the session, they excused themselves shortly and I felt that they were consulting on something before the session. I was surprised several minutes and hours later that my client vanished never to return. Several years later one of my student narrated this story to me and I was astonished. The student said “when I was five or six years old, my maternal grandfather died of what I was told was complications of heart disease.” She believed that because that is what she was told. It was not until several years later, after she had graduated from a medical school in psychiatry, and had secured a job for a very long time using neuroimaging to study the addicted brain, that she learned the real reason for the death of her grandfather. One day her mother gave her the revelation that shocked her life. This was coming when her mother was sick and almost breathing her last, “I need to tell you something I have never spoken to you about.” She disclosed to her that her grandfather had been an alcoholic, and that he took his own life in his distress at not being able to control his strong urges to drink.

“Oh Jesus I almost lost my grip.” Her mother had out of fear of stigma and shame kept the real reason for her grandfather’s death a secret from her that long. What surprised her is that even though she knew that in her whole professional life was devoted to trying to understand what drugs do to the brain, and that she had heard her speak of addiction as a disease of the brain, still she was not going to tell her the whole truth.” So she wondered how she had miscommunication, and how she had not made her realize that it was not a taboo to speak about addiction and that there should be no shame in it. This really troubled her and so she came to confide in me. stop stigmatizing patients and lets support them get better.

Reducing stigma and shame of addiction: Addiction is a disease of free will

http://www.awaremednetwork.com/

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Adrenal Exhaustion Female sex addiction

Stopping addiction stigmatization for quick recovery

Stopping addiction stigmatization

Stopping addiction stigmatization for quick recovery will go along way in facilitating quick recovery

Stopping addiction stigmatization for quick recovery: Is addiction a brain disease?

Is addiction a brain disease? Ideally in addiction there is nothing like physiological malfunction. Addiction may be defined in many different ways however, for the purpose of this article, addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite the harmful consequences. Addiction is seen as a brain disease simply because drugs has the power of making changes in the brain. These change then alters the brains structure and how it works. When this happens users may develop certain characters and behaviors that are likely to be viewed negatively in the community. It is this negativity that makes observers within the community to start isolation and pointing fingers. That is why we want to create awareness on stopping addiction stigmatization to give treatment a chance says doctor Dalal Akoury MD and also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center.

Stopping addiction stigmatization for quick recovery: Dopamine

All drugs of abuse, whether legal or illegal, cause large surges of dopamine in brain areas crucial for motivating our behavior—both the reward regions (such as the nucleus accumbens) as well as prefrontal regions that control our higher functions like judgment, decision making, and self-control over our actions. These brain circuits adapt to these surges by becoming much less sensitive to dopamine, a process called receptor down regulation. The result is that ordinary healthy things in our lives like all the pleasurable social and physical behaviors necessary for our survival (which are rewarded by small bursts of dopamine throughout the day) no longer are enough to motivate a person; the person will therefore needs a big surge of dopamine from the drug just to feel temporarily okay and they must continually repeat this, in an endless vicious cycle.

Stopping addiction stigmatization for quick recovery: Addiction and suicide

Finally addiction and suicide are closely linked together and if you followed our last posting about the story of this grandfather who committed suicide because he could not control his drinking problem and the daughter who could also not share about the actual cause of his death freely because of shame and stigma, then you will notice that the shame was not just because the father had been an alcoholic, but because he committed suicide, out of hopelessness and helplessness at his inability to control the strong urges to drink. We all have a duty to play in stopping addiction stigmatization so that patients can seek for treatment freely. It pains very painful that something that could be treated caused this great damage simply because of stigma, shame and fear. Dear reader if you’re following this story, let this be the last one, addiction is a treatable condition and stigma or shame are just perceptions that should not result in death. Come quickly for help today and together lets kick out of our lives the problem of drug addiction.

Stopping addiction stigmatization for quick recovery: Is addiction a brain disease?

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Alcohol fetal effects on pregnancy

Alcohol fetal effects

Alcohol fetal effects on pregnancy. Any alcohol consumption however little finds its way to the unborn baby’s system

Alcohol fetal effects on pregnancy: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

When we are expecting our bundles of joy we often choose to do the right thing in order to bring forth a healthy baby. Mothers who have nursed pregnancy before will agree with me about this and they will also acknowledge that the whole process is not easy. Any mistake done can cause serious consequences both for the baby and the mother. One element that we must avoid by all standards is alcohol and drugs. Alcohol and pregnancy have nothing in common, if anything bringing these two together will only result in anarchy and sorrows. And before we get there, we want to share with your some of the alcohol fetal effects on pregnancy which is professionally referred to us Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE). The purpose of this writing is to inform you of the other side of alcohol and not to scare you in all way. Doctor Dalal Akoury is an addiction veteran of several decades and she is going to professionally help us bring this discussion to perspective.

Alcohol fetal effects on pregnancy: Being exposed to alcohol

Even as we get into this discussion, doctor Akoury is registering that it is important to note that Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is actually an umbrella term used to describe the range of effects that can occur in an individual if he or she is exposed to alcohol. These effects are never friendly and collectively or individually they may include physical, mental, behavioral, or learning disabilities. If not addressed in good time they can have a very long life implication to the victims. Remember that there are no boundaries when it comes to alcohol consumption. Like for instance, prenatal exposure to alcohol may cause disabilities that range from mild to severe. This is very important for all of us, take note that says doctor Dalal Akoury (MD) and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center it doesn’t matter what kind of alcoholic beverage you use “whether it is a wine cooler, a glass of wine or a bottle of beer, any kind or amount of alcohol that a pregnant mother consumes is also being consumed by her unborn baby.”

The best cure is prevention and FASD is 100 percent preventable if a pregnant woman abstains from alcohol. We appreciate that alcohol like any other substance is very addictive and may not be easy to abstain from, but what is important is that it is not impossible. What you see as a serious obstacle is achievable with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury. All you need to do is to call her on telephone number 843 213 1480 to schedule for an appointment with her and she will be glad to help you go through that obstacle in confidence, humane  and professionally.

Alcohol fetal effects on pregnancy: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

http://www.awaremednetwork.com/

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consequences of alcohol

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder comes with a host of complications like malnutrition and the solution is quitting

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: FASD for prevention of mental retardation

According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is actually the leading known cause of preventable mental retardation. It can occur anytime a pregnant woman drinks alcohol or any other drink with alcohol content. To solidify that, research has numerously demonstrated that drinking any alcoholic beverage is harmful, especially if it is binge drinking that is to say consuming four or more drinks on one occasion. Besides that it is also important to note that even a single binge during pregnancy has been associated with increased risk for learning disabilities in the newborn. To that effect researchers has established that the odds of a child experiencing gross motor skill impairment more than tripled if the child was diagnosed with Fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, or they were exposed to alcohol while still in the womb. And like we mentioned in the introduction that when we are expecting bundles of joy we must do all it takes to keep them safe, it is therefore necessary that all pregnant women must abstain from any alcoholic drink before, or during pregnancy and after even after delivery. In other words the simple fact is that a pregnant woman should not drink at all says doctor Dalal Akoury.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Plain and simple, a pregnant woman shouldn’t drink alcohol

This might sound harsh to some of us but for our own wellbeing and that of our unborn children, doctor Akoury is not missing her words, she says that “if you’re pregnant it is important that you don’t drink alcohol however if you must drink alcohol then, just don’t get pregnant.” That is not very accommodative to many but it is the naked truth when it comes to the fetal effects of alcohol on pregnancy. This fact is supported because as things stand now, there is no proven safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy. However, if you stop drinking at any time during the pregnancy, it will help the fetus. Here are some Facts about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD):

  • Drinking any kind of alcohol when you are pregnant can harm your baby, whether it is a 4-5 oz. glass of wine, a 12 oz. serving of beer or a 1.5 oz. shot of distilled spirits (hard liquor) as all contain the same amount of alcohol.
  • The easiest way to prevent FASD is to abstain from alcohol use during pregnancy. If a woman never drinks alcohol during pregnancy, her baby will not have problems from prenatal alcohol exposure.
  • Remember that you don’t have to be a heavy drinker to have a baby affected by alcohol. Therefore if a pregnant woman drinks any alcohol, it passes directly from her bloodstream to the placenta of the growing baby.

Finally it is important to note that drinking alcohol at any time during pregnancy can cause Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) with life-long consequences. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, her baby does, too and so the problem continues, that is why you must seek for help from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center today.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: FASD for prevention of mental retardation

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