BEAT ADDICTION WITH LOVE AND HOPE

July 23, 2015

Beat Addiction With Love And Hope

Beat Addiction. The road leading to addiction is straight and smooth. Addiction is both rewarding and repetitive, literally making the ride fun. But there are consequences, most of the time dreadful. This reminds us the way back to recovery. Unlike the road down to addiction, the one back to sobriety is rough and bumpy. Sometimes it is so rocky we get stuck, other times it’s so muddy and slippery we get back down to addiction and wait for another season. After a few more attempts, we lose hope and let nature take its course. Recovery then seems impossible, however it is within reach. And we can give it one more shot. Only this time differently. How about beat addiction with love and hope?

Beat Addiction with Love for Others

It has been said over and over, and this will serve a reminder, this time because we have to beat addiction, the path to recovery requires great deal of support by others. These include members of the family, friends, neighbors, class mates, and medical care givers. Well you must be wondering about that small concern, the fear to share deep and personal information with others.

It is important to note not everyone is willing to help as some of these same people led you into addiction in the first place and are willing to stifle your efforts for as long as it takes, especially when there is the risk of losing certain mutual benefits. In order to beat addiction one needs to trust someone, or some people. On the other hand others have to be lost. This is where we get to discriminate. See, it is simple. Identify one or two people you are willing to share with, and remain accountable to them. On the other hand drop those buddies who do not support your bold steps along the long dusty and rusty road back to sobriety.

BEAT ADDICTION

Beat Addiction with Love for Self

The prime way to beat addiction is making the decision. The secret lies in making the first step. However there is magic in doing the same with love. Other than love for those wonderful people helping you recover, there is love for self. C’mon who doesn’t need a healthy life? Who wants stay in bed while others go about their businesses? The answer to the questions is obvious, NO.

It is also obvious we do love ourselves. But we hardly think about it, about us. Just like you would buy yourself a gift on a special day, you must take the challenge to reward yourself a healthy life. If addiction is the obstacle to your achieving true happiness, why not make the step, at least make an effort. C’mon I do not mean the short lived pleasure brought by the addiction substance itself. There is a challenge though. Maintaining love is a difficult thing in itself. And many have failed a number of times at it. It is demonstrated by commitment and persistence to forever show care, to cherish and like a rose flower always keep fresh. This is the challenge we must take. It should be much easier to prove love for ourselves.

Beat Addiction with Love for God

The last form of love is a rare one. Not very many of us are recognize it. Unfortunately not even the very experienced of specialists. It is however as important as any other kind of love listed to beat addiction. This is love for a higher power, God the creator. Love for God is marked by constant communication with Him. As earlier stated, the road to recovery is difficult; it is characterized by failures and pitfalls. Sometimes hope is all we need. In as much as we make various initiatives and stay true to them, we also need spiritual intervention. Those who have been successful to beat addiction, the few of them however have actually often confessed the great power of the knee in rebuilding from addiction. Further when a person loves God, he/she recognizes the body is His temple and would strive to keep it clean, healthy and holy hence abstain from many forms of behavioral and substance addiction.

BEAT ADDICTION

Winning Addiction at a Glance

However in order to beat addiction, we need more than love and hope. Actually we must have employed several other initiatives. The following are some of those I summary:

Exercise Regularly: Work outs release endorphins. It gets rid of stress. And helps in building emotional stability.
Meditate Regularly: Yoga is a great way of dealing with one’s inner emotions. It is another yet excellent way to handle stress.
Enjoy Nature: Stepping out to a beautiful view and a warm mildly scotching sun is a great way to come to terms with your present.
Listen to Music: Simply music is a healer. It blows away your mind. It takes one off present hassles and soothes your emotions.
Keep Records: Of course you need to make an extra step. Mean you cannot do the same thing every day and expect a different result.
Start a project: Keep yourself busy at something positive. Spend all your free times at it that at the end of each day you have very little energy to tolerate an addiction.
Be the expert: Help someone beat addiction. While giving a list of convincing reasons to fight an addiction, you might benefit as you reflect on them.

For more information to beat addiction click on www.awaremednetwork.com. You may as well call up Dr Dalal Akoury (MD) of Integrative Addiction Institute and International Organization of Integrative Cancer Physicians. Also click on: http://www.integrativeaddiction2015.com for more information about this year’s August Integrative addiction medicine conference. The site also contains info about how to sign up for the same as well as speakers at the integrative conference.

BEAT ADDICTION WITH LOVE AND HOPE

Social skills training for the substance abusers

July 22, 2015

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Alcoholics and drug addict

Social skills training for the substance abusers is very instrumental in rehabilitating drug addicts.

The rate at which the prevalence of drug use is escalating is worrying that we can no longer keep quiet about it. The most valuable gift we can ever have is that of good health. If this virtue is under threat because of substance abuse, the all of us must pool together in finding lasting solutions. As an individual you can seek for social skills training for the substance abusers to make a difference in their lives by impacting knowledge of rehabilitation and treatment of this unhealthy condition. I know that this may not be very easy on many people since addiction is something many would not want to associate with. But the most important thing is that we lend a helping hand to drug addicts and all alcoholics. Doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are acknowledging that one common trait of many drug addicts and alcoholics are problems interacting with others in social situations. This is known as a lack of social skills. Sometimes this difficulty is what leads an individual into addiction in the first place. And some people have been addicted to substances for such a long time that it has affected their social development. Therefore if anyone is lucking social skills, then that calls for social skills training.

When opting for social skills training for an alcoholic or drug addict then these are some of the things that you must be ready to take the following into consideration: you must be ready to learn how to interact with friends, family members and even colleagues at work. You must also know how to interact in social situations especially when drugs and alcohol will be served or present and finally you must take a firm stand in declining any offer to use drug and alcohol in other words, you must be well armed with the refusal skills. That is to say when you say NO then it must remain that way irrespective of the prevailing circumstances. Doctor Akoury says that social skills training are closely associated with behavior therapy. Behavior therapy attempts to remove unwanted behaviors and replace them with desirable behaviors. It must be noted that for desired result, social skills training may not be very effective on its own but when combined with other cognitive behavioral therapy treatments, then its effectiveness can be realized. From the professional findings, it has been established that social skills training can significantly decrease the relapse rate for alcoholics and drug addicts.

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Interpersonal relationships and substance abuse

Social skills training can teach drug and alcohol addicts how to relate with coworkers, friends, and family in a variety of social settings. Clients will learn such skills as:

Listening as well as talking; that is, two-way communication
Empathy
Understanding unspoken clues such as body language
Assertiveness, and how not to be taken advantage of

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Social settings in addiction recovery

After addiction recovery is complete, drug and alcohol addicts still face a lifetime of social settings where drugs and alcohol may be present. Social skills training can teach clients better ways to deal with these situations. Different skills that can be taught are eye contact and small talk. Some people drink or take drugs to overcome their awkwardness in social settings. Learning the art of small talk can help a recovering addict get past this awkwardness without relapsing.

The recovering addict can choose to avoid social situations where there will be alcohol or drugs. However, this is not always possible. In that case, the recovering addict can also learn skills to avoid drinking in social situations where alcohol or drugs are present. These are called refusal skills. Refusal skills training are often conducted by role-playing in group therapy. This way, patients in recovery can get experience in saying no, which makes it easier to remember when the patient is in the social situation. The following are some of the refusal skills that may be applicable to drug addict or alcoholic:

No phrases to use
Strategies to deal with peer pressure
Practice saying no at home, before the social situation
Ask friends and family to help with saying no by supporting your resolve to make your No to be No and your Yes to be Yes.

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Where to Find Social Skills Training

When you have made up your mind to get the social skills trainings, it is important to appreciate that social skills training in many cases will take place in group therapy. When you are finally there, in many instances one or two therapists will work with a group of patients in recovery to teach social skills. Clients will be taken through practices of drink refusal skills by role playing with each other. They will also practice small talk and drink refusal skills. Besides that clients in recovery can also learn these social skills in individual therapy. This is less common, as the group model is important for role playing. Finally in the explanation given above in response to the question “where to find social skills training I want to urge that do all it takes to be on top of everything that is threatening to bring your life down. This may be quite a challenge to many and therefore I want to introduce to you the best way forward that will be simpler for you. Your struggle will be no more if only you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for a much more lasting solution. It will interest you to know that on seeing the difficulties people were going through, Dr. Akoury made a decision to create a medical center whose main objective is to transform each individual’s life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to find their own inner healing power. Dr. Akoury’s practice focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. So stop going for symptom patching and come to the place of solutions right now.

Social skills training for the substance abusers: Alcoholics and drug addict

Seeking the experts opinion about Pain Management

July 22, 2015

Seeking the experts opinion about Pain Management: Pain management health center

Seeking the experts opinion about Pain Management is very important because from there you will realize that it is not only medication that relieves pain. Other activities like exercise are also good for re leaving pain.

We have been making inroads in the line of pain management with a view of living a more comfortable life without pain. But we have also realized that pain will always be there with us as long as we live. This means that we have to device means and methods of living with it or better still ensuring that what we have as pain is manageable and has little or no effect on the comfort of our lives. For a couple of articles we have posted in the past we noticed that there are several kinds of pain and doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center has been very instrumental in helping us put several things about chronic pain to perspective. We therefore want to introduce another dimension of looking at pain holistically by seeking the expert’s opinion about pain management in the current society. It is important to note that pain is a global problem and must be treated with a lot of seriousness it deserve. Take for example a country like America with a population of about 50 million people living with chronic pain this should be a serious point of concern. With such a huge population struggling with pain living a full and active life may be compromised and may seem like an impossible dream. If this is troubling you, then we want to give you hope that all is not lost and giving up must never be an option. Doctor Akoury says that in the event that the pain treatment you have tried doesn’t provide relief as you would want it to be, a pain clinic may help.

If you are wondering what a pain clinic is, then worry no more this is a health care facility that focuses on the diagnosis and management of chronic pain. Your specific pain will be addressed professionally in such facilities where professionalism is the practice. It is important to note that some of these facilities specialize in specific diagnoses or in pain related to a specific region of the body which can be an added advantage to your specific needs. These health facilities are also known as pain management clinics. Most of these pain clinics often use a multidisciplinary approach to help people take an active role in managing their pain and regaining control of their life. These programs are focused on the total person needs and not just the pain.

Seeking the experts opinion about pain management: What does a pain clinic do?

This is a very good question. Therefore it is important to note that even though pain clinics may differ in their respective focus and offerings, most of them involve a team of health care providers that can help you with a variety of strategies to manage your pain. These health care providers are likely to include doctors of different specialties and gifting’s as well as non-physician providers specializing in the diagnosis and management of chronic pain. These providers may include psychologists, physical therapists, and complementary and alternative therapists such as acupuncturists or massage therapists. Together, they will put together a pain management plan for you.

Seeking the experts opinion about pain management: Strategies for pain relief and management

When you visit any of the pain clinics your therapy plan will be tailored to your specific needs, circumstances, and preferences. And just for your consumption, depending on the cause of your pain, the administration of treatment may include one or more of the following:

Medications in many cases, patients are prescribed treatment before receiving other forms of therapy. Medications for pain may include:

Non-aspirin pain relievers – These drugs, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), relieve minor pain and are sometimes combined with other drugs to provide greater pain relief.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – These are available over the counter or by prescription, these drugs may include ibuprofen (Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn) are used to treat pain and inflammation.

Corticosteroids – Available only by a prescription, these cortisone-like drugs are used for more severe inflammatory conditions.

Opioid pain medications – this morphine-like drugs are often prescribed short term for acute pain or for cancer pain. Occasionally, doctors prescribe them for chronic, non-cancer pain.

Antidepressants – Originally designed to treat depression, these drugs can be useful for relieving certain types of pain. Antidepressants may also promote sleep, which can be difficult when you are in pain.

When you are struggling with certain pain and you are seeking for treatment, it is important for you to appreciate that many at times it is not going to be medication alone. Ideally medications alone may not be enough to treat chronic pain. Other treatments may be more effective than medications, and medication may be more effective when combined with other treatments. Therefore the other available treatments offered by pain centers may include:

Injections – Local anesthetics, sometimes combined with a corticosteroid, may be injected around nerve roots or into muscles and joints to relieve irritation, swelling, and muscle spasms.

Nerve blocks – If a group of nerves, called a ganglion or plexus, causes pain to a specific organ or body region, injections with local anesthetics may be useful for blocking the pain in that area.

Physical and aquatic therapy – A physiatrist (doctor specializing in rehabilitation medicine) or physical therapist may prescribe a specially tailored exercise program to increase function and decrease pain. Other physical therapy options at pain clinics may include whirlpool therapy, ultrasound, and deep-muscle massage.

Acupuncture – This ancient Chinese practice involves inserting very thin needles at specific points on the skin to relieve pain.

Psychological support and counseling – Although pain is a physical sensation, many people in pain suffer emotionally with feelings of anger, sadness, and hopelessness. Dealing with unrelenting pain can affect your ability to hold a job, maintain a home, meet family obligations, and relate to friends and family members. Psychological support, along with medical treatment, can help you manage your condition.

Relaxation techniques – In addition to counseling, mental health professionals can teach you self-help techniques such as relaxation training or biofeedback to reduce stress and relieve pain.

Surgery – Although sometimes surgery is clearly necessary to relieve a problem that is causing pain, it is often a treatment of last resort. If pain has not responded to any other treatment, surgery on certain nerves may offer relief and allow you to resume normal activities.

Seeking the experts opinion about Pain Management: How to Find a Good Pain Clinic

If you decide you want to try a pain clinic, your doctor should be able to refer you to one that offers services to help your specific pain problem. If your doctor cannot help you, try the following:

Your local hospital – Ask your local hospital or medical center if they have or are affiliated with a pain treatment center. If the hospital does not have one, ask to speak with their department of anesthesiology, which may have doctors on staff who can refer you to a different hospital.

Organizations – Organizations that support pain research or advocate for pain patients may be able to help. Like for instance, you may call the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

Because there are many forms of pain treatment and not all centers offer the same services, it’s important to do your homework before you consent to treatment. Find out what types of pain therapies are offered, what the specialists’ credentials are, and if they have successfully helped others with your type of pain. Finally if you have any concern about pain doctor Akoury will be able to help you out in the most professional way call her today.

Seeking the experts opinion about Pain Management: Pain management health center

Addiction: A Neuroplasticity Disease

July 22, 2015

Addiction: A Neuroplasticity Disease

Had an accident or stroke? Developed amnesia? Lost consciousness for some reason? Well maybe not you. You may be wondering however how a friend or neighbor is recovering from such incidences of short or long term memory losses. Well thanks to technology now we know the brain has a way to self-regenerate in its functions through a process called neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity and Addiction Defined

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to adjust to new environments or needs by developing new nerve cells throughout the body. it is the brain’s way of recovery. neuroplasticity allows the cells to compensate for any injuries or diseases in the nerve system. It also allows the neurons reorganize themselves to perform new functions of the brain depending on changes in their working environment.

One of the most common mechanisms in neuroplasticity is axonal sprouting. This is the process whereby active axons develop new nerve endings to connect with those their links were severed. Inversely, the damaged one can also grow new nerve endings to reconnect to the active neurons. Neuroplasticity is a term derived from the words; “neuron” and “plasticity”. A neuron is a nerve cell of the brain. Plasticity on the other hand means ability to remold. The process is at times referred to as brain malleability. Other times it is simply called brain plasticity.

Addiction on the other hand is an intricate condition of the brain, usually categorized as a disease that involves reward and motivation cerebral systems structurally and chemically altered. It is a mental condition characterized by a compulsive urge to indulge in rewarding stimuli despite possible dire consequences. Addiction is both reinforcing and rewarding. It manifests itself in the form of repetitive, intrinsic behavior including; gambling, food, exercises, shopping and substance abuse.

neuroplasticity

Influence of Neuroplasticity on Addiction

At one time Aristotle said: “We are what we repeatedly do.” Even though the Greek coined the phrase in the context to advice his readers of making a habit of excellence, the great philosopher had his brain develop a pathway around his successes over time. See, that is what the brain does. It creates a path of neurons to support our habits. A weight lifter for instance develops stronger muscles as a result of repetitive action. Similarly the brain may develop a path around addiction.

Once such pathways are created, addiction takes control of the brain. Eventually the addiction becomes the only thing that matters to the addict. Once the addiction hijacks the brain’s centers of pleasure it becomes the only thing that brings the addict a sense of joy or happiness. Soon his/her brain recognizes more of the addiction and less of other socio economic aspects of life including: friends, relatives, family, responsibilities, and work among other normal forms of social interactions and activities.

Neuroplasticity on Addiction Treatment

For a long time detoxification has been used as a treatment mechanism against addiction. This is the removal of the substance of abuse from the body. Victims however fell back on to substance abuse shortly afterwards. The billion dollar question then was how this still happened sometimes way after the victim’s blood had been cleaned of the same. This was one very interesting aspect of scientific state of quandary.

It is however through neuroplasticity scientists discovered treatment of an addiction needed more than mere detoxification. The brain actually needed to be retrained back to its normal functions. It required an intensive psychotherapy among other medical interventions to remold the recovery process. Also, it required an intense psychotherapy to reconfigure the brain’s recognition of what initially seemed normal and of the person as a whole especially in terms of behavior change. The nerve cells needed to rebuild a connection along initial, rather former normal pathways.

neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity and Drug Abstinence

The process, neuroplasticity however does not take away the addictive neuron pathways like probably in the case of severe brain damage usually by accidents. It only retrains the brain to develop new ones along the old clean pathways. It is therefore often advisable to abstain from drugs completely during recovery. This is so as to avoid reinforcing the addictive path.

It is the same case each time you reread your favorite novel. You might have read it last twenty years ago. And you could have forgotten a few characters already. However if you picked that same book today you would remember a lot more, the story would begin to unfold in your sub conscience mind even without rereading the whole story yet again. You would remember the chapters more clearly, vividly the characters, deeply their roles and or attributes without going into it a whole other time.

Relationship between neuroplasticity and addiction is not a simple support of addictive habit and recovery alone. It is an inter-disciplinary connection of varied other fields; computer technology, anthropology, and psychology among others. Want to learn more on this? This year’s August integrative addiction medicine conferences could just be the answer you are looking for. Click on: http://www.integrativeaddiction2015.com and sign up for the upcoming event where you will have a chance to meet various medical experts, and listen to speakers on the neuroplasticity and integrative addiction recovery.

Addiction: A Neuroplasticity Disease

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically

July 21, 2015

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically: The best ways of managing pain and depression

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically is a sure way of restoring the comforts of life for absolute happiness and life enjoyment to the fullest.

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically can be a tall order for many people owing to the many life demands and challenges. But all the same we must all do something about these two conditions despite those known challenges. That is why we as professionals from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury we are on the front in creating awareness to all people about depression and chronic pain so that people can take timely actions to defeat all the consequences that comes with late responses of these conditions. Therefore it would be very important for all of us to appreciate that depression doesn’t only affects our brains and behavior but it also affects our entire body. Doctor Akoury says that depression has been linked with other health problems like chronic pain and therefore if we have to address depression, then it would mean that we will be dealing with more than one health problem at a time which can be very difficult at times, but all the same it must be done professionally for timely treatment. Besides these it is important to note that depressive disorder or depression is a serious mental illness which can interfere with your daily activities, life and routine by impacting negatively on the quality of your life.

Pain on the other hand can also come in different kinds. The major types of pain we have include acute and chronic pain:

Acute pain – this kind of pain can be intense and short-lived, in which case we call it acute pain. Acute pain may be an indication of an injury however when the injury heals the pain usually goes away.

Chronic pain – this sensation lasts much longer than acute pain. Chronic pain can be mild or intense (severe). Therefore knowing how to deal with these conditions is very important and to get more about the approaches to take, we are going to respond to some of the questions that have been raised so that we can be up to speed with the modalities of dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically as we progress into the discussion.

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically: Is there a whole-life approach to treating pain and depression?

Like we had mentioned before, chronic pain and depression can affect a person’s entire life. Consequently, an ideal treatment approach addresses all the areas of your life that are affected by chronic pain and depression. Because of the connection between chronic pain and depression, it makes sense that treatments for these conditions overlap.

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically: How do antidepressants help both chronic pain and depression?

Because chronic pain and depression involve the same nerves and neurotransmitters, antidepressants are used to treat both chronic pain and depression. Antidepressants work on the brain to reduce the perception of pain. There is adequate evidence of the effectiveness of tricyclic antidepressants such as Elavil and doxepin. However, because of side effects, their use is often limited. Newer antidepressants known as serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (Cymbalta, Effexor), on the other hand, seem to work well with fewer side effects.

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically: How can physical activity help both chronic pain and depression?

Many people with chronic pain avoid exercise. But, if you don’t exercise, you get out of shape and have an increased risk of injury and worsened pain. Consult with a physician to design an exercise plan that’s safe and effective for you. Remember that exercise also helps in easing depression by releasing the same kind of brain chemicals that antidepressant medications release.

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically: Why is taking control important for healing?

Chronic pain affects your ability to live, work, and play the way you’re used to. This can change how you see yourself sometimes for the worse as you feel victimized by the pain and depression. Getting busy and taking control of your life is important. Working with a health care provider who refuses to see you as a helpless victim but sees you as a healthy person with pain is important.

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically: How does talk therapy help chronic pain and depression?

Research clearly shows that, for many people, certain kinds of mental training can help improve chronic pain. Like for instance, cognitive therapy is one approach. In cognitive therapy, a person learns to notice the negative “automatic thoughts” that surround the experience of chronic pain. These thoughts are often distortions of reality. Cognitive therapy can teach a person how to change these thought patterns and improve the experience of pain. Besides that cognitive therapy has also been proven as an effective treatment for depression and can reduce symptoms of anxiety in those with chronic pain.

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically: What’s the best way to manage chronic pain and depression?

The best way to approach managing chronic pain is to consult regularly with a pain specialist or even your family doctor to create a treatment plan. When chronic pain and depression are combined, the need to work with a doctor is even greater. When you visit your doctor’s office, tell him/her that you want to gain control over your chronic pain and depression. As you develop a plan, keep in mind that the ideal pain management plan will be multidisciplinary, which means it will address all areas of your life that are affected by the pain. Therefore empower yourself by tapping into available resources such as the American Chronic Pain Association, the American Pain Foundation, and the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. It is important that when you’ve started the treatment process, you must stay committed to the treatment plan until you feel in control of your pain and depression and can fully live your life, doing the activities you enjoy.

Finally to defeat this problem, don’t wait for too long but find a cognitive therapist near you with experience in the treatment of chronic pain. If you are in doubt then you can locate one by contacting AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center or alternatively you could settle for any of the cognitive therapists’ professional groups mentioned above.

Dealing with depression and chronic pain specifically: The best ways of managing pain and depression

Category Archives: Dr. Dalal Akoury