Category Archives: Dr. Dalal Akoury

The battles of Heroin Addiction in Families

May 15, 2015

The battles of Heroin Addiction in Families: The wrong choices we often make

The battles of Heroin Addiction in Families

The battles of Heroin Addiction in Families must all be inclusive. Heroin addiction is a great to every family

There are certain things that we do not because we want to but because we see our friends and relatives do. The motivation is to have the feelings they have upon using the things they use or doing what they do. In other words the sense of belonging is the reason why all these are happening. Take for instance in the world of drug addiction you will be amazed at what people do just not to be left out and in the process they find themselves into real problems not just in their health and peace of mind but also with the law enforcement agencies. Even though addiction cuts across and everyone is vulnerable, it hit the hardest at the family unit. We spoke to doctor Dalal Akoury the MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center about the battle of heroin addiction in families and it is amazing seeing how simple desires can land us into real threats of addiction.

As a professional in this discipline doctor Akoury is going to shed some light on how influential heroin can be in your life no matter how you got introduced to it. She says that one morning while in her office a lady walked in and was very depressed. When she gave her time to share her problem she open up and poured out her heart on the battles she has with heroin addiction. For confidentiality we will call her Jimssy not her real name. Jimssy is a full-time housewife and mother and hardly fits the stereotypical picture of a heroin addict. However for the past two of her adult life, she was obsessed with getting high on heroin a passion she shared with her husband, Jim not his real name who has been battled his own addiction for over two decades now.

Jim had been struggling with heroin addiction for years when his wife joined the league of shooting up heroin. Even though Jimssy was not ignorant of the effects of heroin on her husband, she voluntarily decided to test the water one day following an advice from her friend who informed her that using heroin would significantly relieve the pain of headache and muscular pains she had suffered from epileptic seizures she has been struggling with for more than 15 years now. It is amazing how friends can be very destructive to our well-being. This friend without any consideration of the know consequences, approached her friend with the news she knew Jimssy would be interested in, that is the solution to her struggle with pain. Jimssy acknowledges that, that was her first time and regret having such a friend in her life. She goes ahead to explain that her main reason for testing the waters even though she knew the struggles her husband, was to get better, the pain was becoming unbearable. What do you think about her decision? You may suggest that under the circumstances she was justified because she was looking for solutions about her pain. Nonetheless it is still not right, every advice you get from a friend must be confirmed by a medical doctor and that is why doctor Akoury founded this facility where you can get all the professional assistance concerning your health and addiction at any time of the day.

The battles of Heroin Addiction in Families: Breaking the Boredom

Another point doctor Akoury observed from the patient is the mind set of many people about things and situations around them. Like for instance Jimssy says that besides the advice from the wrong friend, she was curious, she wanted to understand the feelings of this drug heroin, and she confesses that “I wanted to know what this was that [Jim] was doing. Why it was so attractive. And she sought the silence that if she was to try it just briefly for a few times, it won’t do her any harm and that it wouldn’t result into addiction since it is only for a few times.” That is what she thought and besides she had also heard that heroin improved sexual performance. (The seizure medications she had taken for her epilepsy had dampened her libido.) Heroin, she says, helped her feel more sexual, and that was a big attraction.

Doctor Akoury says that she had it all well planned. And in her own wisdom, to avoid getting hooked, she refrained from doing the drug for four days between uses. Then, she started doing it on the weekends “to break the boredom.” This plan may have looked brilliant, but remember that heroin is such an addictive drug and so despite her plans and to her great denial she quickly became addicted. She adds that “I saw what it had done to my husband. But I had no idea at all of the pull it had on users.” If you are listing keenly to Jimssy and you or anyone you know is struggling with any form of addiction, you can be of help first to yourself and then to the others by scheduling for an appointment with doctor Akoury today.

In the meantime Jimssy tells us that as at that time she was being introduced into drugs, she was working and earning her money from her job which was well enough to finance this new expenditure. The income helped her feed their habits and every day was such a good day because they could afford for more drugs. But it also caused strife in their relationship. They would share their drugs, and Jimssy says, the pull of addiction quickly introduced an enemy in their relationship, the enemy known as mistrust. They longer had trust for each other. She feared sending him alone to buy drugs with her money because he would take more than his share on the way home. He felt the same way about her. “It just starts eating away at your love, your partnership, the whole marriage,” she admits. Doctor Akoury reacts to this professionally and informs Jimssy that drugs will remain bad irrespective of the influence you may get from any of your friends. We will continue listening to Jimssy in our next article but for now, we must choose and choose wisely. This life we have, we can only live it once and when we still have that opportunity, then we must consult with the medical experts from time to time to have things done the right way. Talk to us today at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center and we will offer you real time solutions to all your addiction problems.

The battles of Heroin Addiction in Families: The wrong choices we often make

 

 

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Drug Addiction Recovery process is never easy

May 14, 2015

Drug Addiction Recovery process is never easy: Parents Love to their addicted children

Drug Addiction Recovery process is never easy

Drug Addiction Recovery process is never easy and the sooner treatment is sought the better for you

We have been following up on a story about the rough road of quitting heroin addiction in the previous article and for sure life as an addict is not everyone cup of tea. There is no peace in drug addiction and even during treatment you will still experience very strange things as has been the case with this recovering patient whose story forms the basis of our discussion. In more than two decades of her medical practice in the line of addiction, doctor Dalal Akoury met this client and who recovered from heroin addiction the hard way. In her introduction in the previous article we show how she become homeless from time to time, running out of cash and wasting her life in less valuable activities. We want to further the discussion with a view of using this story to impact positively in the lives of many young people and also to seek for lasting solutions.

Drug Addiction Recovery process is never easy: Being Homeless

At one point during the stay with my friend, I got word that my parents were coming for a vacation in the neighboring country and this trip could not have come at the right time. After being accommodated all this while, my friend had just given me notice that her roommate needed the couch for her guests who were visiting with her soon. This would have meant that I was going to be homeless again. The good news to me is that my parents were not just coming for me to have a roof over my head, but also at a time when the addiction healing process was picking up well. And so to play safe, I told my parents that I will be joining them for the vacation but am down with a very bad flu and needed a place to crush for sometimes.

Even though I was making this lie, my parents actually knew the truth because they had seen me go through it several times in the past even though they never commented about it. And with the assurance of getting accommodation and the love of my parents, I threw away all my bags and needles and headed to joining them. I spent the next few weeks there shacked up in their bedroom, sleeping on an air mattress and refusing to leave the room. By and by the physical pain started to recede paving the way for mental anguish to hit like a train and this time I couldn’t move. I cried a lot struggling to hide the real thing from my parents but it was pointless and I just didn’t care.

Realizing that I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar, I figured what is the difference between this and a depressive episode, anyway? So I rode it out like anyone else. So many things crossed my mind including suicide but I just didn’t have the strength to follow through with any of my half assed plans. I thought about trying to find dope in this city however hard could it be but I was so depressed that the idea of trying to get out of bed was exhausting enough, let alone getting dressed and leaving the house. Besides, I had no money and I knew my parents didn’t trust me so what was I going to do? Steal money? Forget it. I didn’t have the strength.

Drug Addiction Recovery process is never easy: Struggling with relapse

The next thing that came in my mind now that am that weak is to go online hoping to connect with people who might be able to help but no luck there. I ended up reaching out to the guy whom I had dated shortly for like a week before I move to another town. As fate would have it, he had also been kicked out of his house around the same time and had left the state. But he missed me a lot and wanted to come back. Because I needed company of a friend, I requested my mother if my “boyfriend” could stay with us for a while and like a loving mother to her only daughter she agreed. So he hopped the first plane over here. And that’s how my real life started, I suppose.

I ended up marrying that guy and having a child and then divorcing him almost immediately and now we are working things out or whatever. But the most important thing is that we don’t do heroin any more. And we don’t use needles. We are both well aware of the pain and the consequences of the drug. Still we seem to have different views. I feel like there is a junkie living in my head and she will never go away. For this reason, I think of myself as forever an addict and I don’t trust that I will turn down a shot if offered. He claims to feel no desire for the drug at all but he was not as hard into it as I was. He didn’t even know how to shoot up on his own; I remember at some point I had shot him up a few times and clearly he wasn’t as much an addict as I was. That may be good for him but I will never rid myself of that voice in my head, my inner junkie. She is locked away in the back of my mind but she is always screaming and begging to be let out. There’s always that suggestion of just one time. Just one hit for fun this time. I’m in control because I have chosen to.

Finally, if you ask me what cold turkey heroin withdrawal does to a person, I will tell you that it searches deep within the reaches of your mind for any shred of hope and joy  or anything resembling such and destroys it completely, killing it brutally and mercilessly. It leaves you as just a shadow of your former self. And for some, it never ends. In some form or another, it stays with you for life. That is why doctor Dalal Akoury founded AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center to help you cope with all these withdrawal challenges. You can call doctor Akoury today to book for an appointment with her for a more professional recovery treatment process.

Drug Addiction Recovery process is never easy: Parents Love to their addicted children

 

 

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The rough Road of Quitting Heroin Addiction

May 14, 2015

The rough Road of Quitting Heroin Addiction: The Experiences of Heroin addicts when the quit cold turkey

The rough Road of Quitting Heroin Addiction

The rough Road of Quitting Heroin Addiction begin with the victim acknowledging that there is a problem which needs to be fixed

We are at it again and I long for that day when we will in unison change to the tune of victory that we have both collectively and individually defeated the problems of drug addiction. Our sons and daughters, parents, relatives and friends are all suffering the scourge of this problem. This is one of the biggest reasons why doctor Dalal Akoury decided to form AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, a facility 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. It therefore means that when we acknowledge that we have a problem on our own will without any threats or undue influence, then and only then will start the rough road of quitting heroin addiction and other addictions as well. Remember that when you have made up your mind, you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury for professional help. Even as you consider doing that, it may interest you to know that doctor Akoury’s practice focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. I encourage you to make that lifesaving call today and escape the agony of addiction today.

The rough Road of Quitting Heroin Addiction: The agony of Heroin Addiction

The rough road of quitting heroin addiction is one that you need to take and do not be scare with the used adjectives. This is just to prepare your for the healing process because the truth is, it will not be an easy one. Let us listen to the story one former addict and her experiences with heroin addiction. She says that the last time she quit heroin, she went cold turkey on a friends couch. This was not really planned but all the same it happened something like this. At that time she was living with some junkie in her parent’s house. Her parents were both coke heads and they knew she was an addict to heroin. Her stay here did not last long since this family had a strong policy in their house that no needles’ shall be used in their home. What that meant is that her welcome was no longer needed there and she was requested politely to leave.

At this time I was again becoming homeless and with no money I had to do something she says. This is the rough road of quitting heroin addiction she wondered. In that state of confusion, she thought of an old friend and as fate will have it this friend agreed to accommodate her on her couch as long as she wanted. Immediately I bought a bus ticket headed to my friend’s place which was quite a distance of about 10 hours’ drive. To keep me going I chose to take with me some ten bags of dope and ten needles and by the time I got to my friend’s place only one dope and one needle was left, this was the beginning of my gradual reduction technique.

The rough Road of Quitting Heroin Addiction: Fighting Craving

It was the middle of the night at my friend’s house and I could not hold it no matter the efforts I made and as it is accustom, I took a small shot before going to bed. I finished it off the following morning in her bathroom and this time round committed to going cold turkey. The new environment was very hostile to me and since I knew nobody in the area there was very little I could do to get another shot no matter the intensity of craving. Things happened very first and this one thing I’ll never forget. The first morning, I was very nervous as I sat and waited for the unforeseeable. I and my friend we sat together chatting trying to catch up with the lost time and believe you me, I tried all I could not to let her notice my struggle but deep inside I was not myself.

As the hours went by, I kept running into her bathroom to do what the people I knew called “cotton shots” and “scrape bags” (keeping empty bags and used cottons to try to get a tiny bit of dope just to take the edge off). I thought doing this would help or delay the withdrawal or something (because this is what I had been brought up during my introduction moments into drugs). But in reality, it was just like a nervous tic. The demands of my body said something else and it kept pushing and reminding me that “it’s time for a shot” so I did whatever I could to comply. It will be my pleasure if my story can help you in this journey we are calling the rough road of quitting heroin addiction. Remember that it is not just about heroin addiction but this is applicable even to other substance abuse. But in the meantime the very first thing I noticed was that I was shaking violently as I tried to shoot up what was basically just dirty water. It was not a very good seen because I was struggling to locate the veins on my arms and in the process jabbing randomly and bleeding furiously everywhere. Besides that I was also sweating profusely. Or what some junkies may call the cold sweats because it was freezing cold and burning hot at the same time.

For a couple of days a week or more this was the order of the day and my friend’s bathroom was like my second home. While at the bathroom all I could do was to shooting up water, vomiting constantly in her toilet and soaking my achy body in a hot bath. Dear readers she posse, the pain of addiction is indescribable and to be honest I won’t even try to describe it. Suffice it to say that I hurt in places I didn’t know I had. Every inch and every cell of my very being screamed out in endless agony for days on end. And when I could not cope any longer it had to come out in the open and I begged my friend to help me find something just anything that could “get me through this.” Like a good friend she was she tried (or claimed to) but she didn’t have a clue. One day she came to me with some prescription strength ibuprofen and I almost strangled her. But after all she was letting me stay in her house and puke in her toilet so I couldn’t afford to be a bad house guest and the story continues in our next article … but in the meantime, from the narrations above, it is obvious that addiction harts and treatment also come with its own challenges. To help you overcome those challenges or at least reduce them, visiting AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center would be the starting point. At this facility, doctor Akoury and her team of experts will help you in the most professional way to get your life back because you deserve to live and enjoy life to the fullest.

The rough Road of Quitting Heroin Addiction: The Experiences of Heroin addicts when the quit cold turkey

 

 

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Engaging the Right gear in Controlling Drug Addiction

May 13, 2015

Engaging the Right gear in Controlling Drug Addiction: Acknowledge When we go wrong

Engaging the Right gear in Controlling Drug Addiction

Engaging the Right gear in Controlling Drug Addiction will go a long way in creating an addiction free society

Have we been doing the right things when it comes to bringing up our children as we should? Why is it that today most young people are seriously hooked up in drugs? Time has come for us to choose engaging the right gear in controlling drug addiction and also to acknowledge when we go wrong in some of our actions especially as responsible parents. In the past few articles posted, we have been discussing some of the experiences, many people and especially parents have gone through. The seven lessons listed below are some of the insights we have discusses with the exception of the last two which we want to finish with in this last series of articles about the roles of parents in taming drug addiction. The problem of drug addiction is not new to us and certainly it is not going to be ending any time soon. However, we can pool together to help in reducing the impact of drug addiction from our societies and with the help of professionals from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center this will not be a problem. Now back to the topic of discussion, doctor Dalal Akoury the MD and also the founder of this health facility is one professional of great value more so when it come to her area of specialization. If your children or any of your loved ones are struggling with substance abuse, all is not lost, talking to doctor Akoury will be the starting point for your great recovery from this problem.

  1. Parents are enablers
  2. I cannot fix his
  3. My addict is a liar
  4. My addict is a criminal
  5. Others don’t want them around
  6. Life will not be the same
  7. Homelessness may be the path he chooses

And now to conclude on the lessons and experienced gained from the parents who have been there and are now coming to terms with the addiction of their sons and daughters. We are going to discuss the last two as follows:

Engaging the Right gear in Controlling Drug Addiction: Life will not be the same

This father of three is explaining to us that “at the age of five years old my son thought he was Michelangelo of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Running around the house with an orange bandanna tied around his head brandishing plastic weapons fighting evil and the bad guys. When we look at our addicts we see that 5 year old and mourn the loss and try anything we can to get them back. My addict is now a 21-year-old man. He is every bit an adult with at times a child’s maturity. But our world recognizes chronological ages, not maturity levels. Parents must do that too. I believe Michelangelo is lost inside of him. Those that are lost sometimes find their way back, but some do not. I can grieve this loss but it will not help him or us to move forward. An addict does not live in the past or the future. An addict lives in the here and now, if you want to help your addict you must live in the same world he does.

Engaging the Right gear in Controlling Drug Addiction: Homelessness May Be the Path He Chooses

Mom works in downtown Kansas City. When you drive down there you see homeless people with signs and some of them living under the bridges. They are dirty and hungry. They very likely are addicts, alcoholics or suffer from a mental illness. The one common denominator for all of these men and women living alone and homeless is that at some point in their life they had people that loved them. They are sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins, and friends to someone. That doesn’t change their situation. They made choices that got them to this point. They can make other choices, and there are people and organizations to help them change. The key is, they must make the decisions. If our son makes the decision to live this way, it will hurt me terribly but he will do this until it is time for him to change, I cannot change him or those circumstances. It will not help him for me to give him a bed in my home if he continues to live the lifestyle.

Engaging the Right gear in Controlling Drug Addiction: Why is this Important?

We struggled mightily against these truths, fought with every ounce of strength. We lost our fight. We have accepted what we wished was not true. My learning is: until you understand the truth you cannot find peace within yourself or really be able to help your addict. Accepting the truth is what allows you to help your addict by helping yourself.

In all these seven points we have now discussed in these three articles, I have learnt my lessons and it must be understood that like a responsible parent, I do not hate my son for using drugs and putting all of us through this pain. For sure I can’t pretend that all is well because under these circumstances, all cannot be well and therefore the truth is that I hate the things he does. I hate the lying, the stealing and all those improper things he does. In spite of all these, I still love my son very much and it is only his ways that I hate. As a good parent if you were in my place, you would do the same and it is perfectly okay to separate the two. Finally the life of addiction is not just dangerous to the individual patients or addicts, but also to their loved ones. This even complicates the whole thing further and the sooner you take action the better. Remember that your health is best thing you can have and scheduling for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury for a more professional treatment approach that will leave you healthy for a more productive life a head of you.

Engaging the Right gear in Controlling Drug Addiction: Acknowledge When we go wrong

 

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Parental Obligations in controlling Drug Addiction

May 13, 2015

Parental Obligations in controlling Drug Addiction: Important Facts to Observe

Parental Obligations in controlling Drug Addiction

Parental Obligations in controlling Drug Addiction is key irrespective of your economical engagements.

While looking at the roles of parents in taming substance abuse in our previous article, we highlighted certain lesion points from what other parents have experience while exercising their parental obligations in controlling drug addiction. It became clear that most of us have let our children plunge in to the intoxication of addiction, for very simple reasons like denial. Of the seven lessons we were able to address two and we want to progress with the remaining five as we progress into this discussion as follows:

  1. My addict is a liar
  2. My addict is a criminal
  3. Others don’t want them around
  4. Life will not be the same
  5. Homelessness may be the path he chooses

Parental Obligations in controlling Drug Addiction: My Addict is a Liar

Traditionally addicts will often find something to hide their habits with and ensure that their real business is not exposed. It is possible that when they are making all these efforts of concealment, they may not be in their proper senses to tell exactly what they are doing. They are actually not even aware that they are lying because to them, they are telling you exactly what you want to hear. Normally they their motive is sincere of trying to seek your approval of their deeds and not really for pride. It is also true that most addicts are not happy with themselves for their actions are only that they have no way out at least while still in that state of mind. At this point their only survival ways would be to seek for some approval by telling lies no matter the consequences. As parents we will be laid to whether it is an innocent lie or not, it will still remain to be a lie. Like in my case when my addicted son tells me that he is not abusing drugs, I don’t buy that and instead I tell him repeatedly that “my eyes can hear even better than my ears” because ideally what they say is not what is really happening. It is therefore very important that we make efforts of finding facts for ourselves and not relying on what the children tell us. If you were to rely on what they say you may be surprised that you have no clue of who your child really is. Choose to be on top of everything so that you can be in a better position of protecting your children from all the harms of drug addictions.

Parental Obligations in controlling Drug Addiction: My addict is a Criminal

It is normal to feel hurt when someone tells you that your child is a criminal or is showing signs of being one. Honestly I won’t take that kindly but when it comes to drug abuse, before you get angry and dismiss in rage the whistle blower about the behavior of your son, investigate. Remember that symptoms of this disease include illegal behaviors and criminality is justified. But as many would become outrageous about such adjectives so will be the consequences of drug addiction. Substance abuse can cause your child to be incarcerated. So be warned and if you don’t heed the warnings, then be ready to face up to it dear parents. If he has done things wrong under the influence of his addiction, you must be ready to pay the price to the society. It will do you no good to bad mouth the police, judges, prisons, advocates and so on. Remember that this people or institutions did not cause the problem neither did they put him there instead it is his actions that sent him there.

I know this may not sound good to most of us because of the attachment we have with our children. But wait a minute, interrogate your memory line and remember that one fateful evening when you were at the comfort of your living room and you heard gun short in your neighborhood. You were terrified and when calm was restored you realized that it was your best friend who was the victim and he did not make it. Luckily the thugs were arrested and this was the head line news in the subsequent days. The thugs were all found guilty and sentenced according to the provisions of the law. Am justifying that when we read about others or watch on TV and in jail we appreciate how much they deserve to be there but our babies aren’t like them. In my view and this is from experience is that, it doesn’t how we can justify and separate the wrongs by misdemeanor and felony but the truth is those are legal terms to which our children are not immune to. Am not saying that you should be happy about it, No because no one can, the law needs to be applied to all and if my addicted son has done some wrong things that got him put in there, it is very sad and painful not just for me as a parent but to the whole society and he must pay for his actions.

Parental Obligations in controlling Drug Addiction: Others don’t want them around

Isolation is one element that people don’t want to be associated with. However acts of violence and hooliganism arising out of substance abuse often cause people to keep distance from the victims. Therefore if the society feels otherwise and they don’t want them (our addicted) sons and daughters, then that are justified because they have wronged the society and its people. I am in agreement with my fellow parents that we all ore our children that unconditional love, and for sure as an individual I love my children unconditionally, that is the indisputable truth and it will remain that way so long as am still alive. However it is not wrong in any way for friends, brothers, sisters, grandparents, relatives to have their own feelings and pain about this situation. We are all at liberty to make choices and if we make the wrong choices, there will be consequences. Finally no matter the consequences our (AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center) doors are always open for you daily. We are standing in the gap for you and will be more than willing to offer our expertise in your addiction recovery. Our team of experts led by doctor Dalal Akoury will be there waiting for your appointment call and in the most confidential and professional manner address your individual situations satisfactorily.

Parental Obligations in controlling Drug Addiction: Important Facts to Observe

 

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