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 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

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 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.

Parents are enablers
I cannot fix his
My addict is a liar
My addict is a criminal
Others don’t want them around
Life will not be the same
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

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 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:

My addict is a liar
My addict is a criminal
Others don’t want them around
Life will not be the same
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

The Roles of Parents in Taming Substance Abuse

May 13, 2015

The Roles of Parents in Taming Substance Abuse: Setting the Record Straight

The Roles of Parents in Taming Substance Abuse. It is not a wast of time to start early in bringing up healthy children free from all kinds of substance abuse

If you have not been there it may seems like listening to music or watching a movie which you are not obligated to act on from the comfort of your living room. Many of us parents, guardians and care givers to children may not be aware of the indicators of different forms of addiction and so when they are attributed to our children, we ignorantly become very defensive. I agree with the sentiment that our children are the most important people in our lives, and this importance must be protected even as we choose to protect them to the last dollar. That is why this article is tailored to helping you get the hits of the roles of parents in taming substance abuse in the lives of our children and the societies at large. In our line of duty at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center a medical facility established by doctor Dalal Akoury to offer solutions to all people across the globe suffering from drug addiction, we meet a couple whom we want to use their experience to help many parents out there do the right things in solving the problems of addiction in our children.

From their experience the couples explain and throughout the discussion the man of the house was sharing what they did and did not do to help their son when he needed them the most. And he says “I feel deep sympathy and compassion toward parents and guardians who are just beginning to come to terms with the terrible journey of their children’s drug addiction and those facing the mayhem of a next step which is the treatment aspect: rehab, incarceration, dislodging the addict from the family home. We have been there and what we went through is something that will forever be fresh in our minds (I and my wife). We have been there and we want to share our story with you on this plat form to help you and many others get ready for the possibilities and impossibilities.

The Roles of Parents in Taming Substance Abuse: The lessons Learned the Hard way

Dear parents the following are some of the inputs that we want to share with you from what we have been through. It is important for all parents to appreciate the following:

Parents are enablers
I cannot fix his
My addict is a liar
My addict is a criminal
Others don’t want them around
Life will not be the same
Homelessness may be the path he chooses

In many cases due to being protective to our children, we get into denial and for sure we were in denial in the beginning. Being in denial made us to fight among ourselves and point fingers at each other as to who did what or dint do what. Listening became a problem and even when we were told by our friends and neighbors, we took offence for we knew our son better than them and that he is a well behaved boy who cannot get into drugs. Nonetheless today we have come to accept these truths and now it is much easier to deal with the heartache and we’ve become more effective helpers for our son in his struggle with addiction. Now let us look at some of the lessons mentions above briefly.

The Roles of Parents in Taming Substance Abuse: Parents Are Enablers

I believe that just like we love our sons and daughters you also do the same. For our case we would do anything to ease the pain he was going through. Take away the addiction. Smooth the road. In fact we would give our life if it would help protect our son from the sufferings of addiction. In one of my communication with my son over his addiction and to bring my message home I made it simpler using the illustration of a moving train and him standing on the railroad. In this illustration, the train represented the drugs. Encouraging him that it was my duty as a father to take care of him by pushing him off the danger and take his place. Of course that is what you would have done too. However, I now understand how wrong I was since all that would only save his life and risk mine on the tracks and thereafter he would repeat the same thing again and again. His mind set shall have not been changed and I will be dead not being there to take my role as a good father I am.

Even though we are bringing up our children in the best way we can, it does not guarantee that they will forever be that way. In those unforeseen circumstances, they will often take the wrong railroad. I realize that we can only support them and give then the opportunities to make another decision. It may not be easy but that is why there are other professionals who are well trained in such disciplines. It does not mean that they will be taking our roles as parents but professionals like experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center and others including recovering addicts, police officers, probation officers, corrections officers, pastors, counselors, all these people can do a better job than we can in showing our addict the correct path. I appreciate that this may be very difficult to some because no one loves our children like we do but, then a gain we must also be flexible and accept that we cannot do what the experts can do and more importantly what our children need and when they need it. That is why we are only enablers we do our part and let the others do the rest with our full support.

The Roles of Parents in Taming Substance Abuse: I cannot fix this

Doctor Akoury has maintained that the first step in the addiction treatment and full recovery is by make self-acknowledgement that I have a problem which needs to be fixed. This is in support of my earlier remarks that the addiction problem of our children needs our support, but the decision of stopping must be made by the addicts themselves. It is true that as loving parents we would always want to fix all the problems of our children and so this may be a challenge. However no one has the access of our addict’s children’s minds besides them. This decision remains with them and for them. This you can’t fix for them as a parent. All you can do is to be supportive and living in the very best way you know how. And like doctor Akoury puts it, no meaningful recovery program will succeed where there is denial on the part of the addict. Therefore any loving parent trying to force this decision on the children is likely to fail and get frustrated as they watch their children sink into more and more of substance abuse. To prevent this parents needs to talk to experts for help and doctor Akoury will be very helpful if only you can schedule for an appointment with her today.

The Roles of Parents in Taming Substance Abuse: Setting the Record Straight

Exposing the Effects of Opium and Heroin

May 13, 2015

Exposing the Effects of Opium and Heroin: What is Heroin and Opium?

Exposing the Effects of Opium and Heroin. As a plant these drugs can be very appealing unto the eye but when processed for abuse they represent death and suffering

Before we can settle into the discussion of exposing the effects of opium and heroin, let us try to understand the proper definitions of the two. A lot has been said about heroin across the globe and one very important point is that heroin and generally all substance abuse has got nothing beneficial to human health. All that can be associated with them are poor health, suffering and even death to the extreme. So what really are these dangerous and devastating substances?

Heroin is derived from the morphine alkaloid found in opium and is roughly 2-3 times more potent. A highly addictive drug, heroin exhibits euphoric (“rush”), anxiolytic and analgesic central nervous system properties. Heroin is classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 and as such has no acceptable medical use in the United States. Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste. Most illicit heroin is sold as a white or brownish powder and is usually “cut” with other drugs or with substances such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, or quinine. It can also be cut with strychnine or other poisons. Because heroin abusers do not know the actual strength of the drug or its true contents, they are at risk of overdose or death. Another form of heroin known as “black tar” may be sticky, like roofing tar, or hard, like coal. Its color may vary from dark brown to black. Heroin has some funny street names include smack, H, skag, junk, brown sugar, horse, and black tar.

This is the simplest definition for heroin nonetheless as for opium which is also a highly addictive narcotic drug it is normally acquired in the dried latex form from the opium poppy seed pod. Customarily the pods which have not ripened are slit open and their sap seeps out and dries on the outer surface of the pod. The product realized will be yellow-brown latex, which is then scraped off of the pod; it is bitter in taste and contains varying amounts of alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, thebaine and papaverine.

And now back to exposing the effects of opium and heroin in both the short-term and the long-term, can actually be overwhelming in a number of different ways. The high or euphoria experienced in the short-term can overtake the senses, making the patient incoherent, unresponsive and unable to focus. In the long-term, the health effects can erode major organ systems and cause infections that can be very life threatening. From the first use, heroin overdose is a risk as well, and once physical addiction has set in, withdrawal symptoms are a constant threat explains doctor Dalal Akoury.

Exposing the Effects of Opium and Heroin: The Short Term Effects

The short-term effects of opium and heroin are generally the reason why people use opiates in the first place. This is when you experience the high or euphoric rush associated with the drug.

Less than 10 seconds after intravenous injection, opiate users will feel a rush while an intramuscular injection provides a high in less than 10 minutes.
For those who snort or smoke the drug, the euphoria takes up to 15 minutes.
Other short-term effects of heroin and opium include dry mouth, a warm feeling, and heavy arms and legs.
When heroin is cut with poisons or dangerous drugs like Fentanyl or when too much heroin is taken, a short-term effect of the drug can be overdose or death.

Exposing the Effects of Opium and Heroin: The Long Term Effects of Using Heroin and Opium

Generally when considering the long-term effects of opium and heroin, ordinarily this will depend upon the methods with which the drug is administered into the body like for instance:

When the drug (heroin) is administered through an injection the direct effects would be that the veins will collapse veins quickly followed by a huge risk of infections in the heart lining and valves.

Abscesses are a problem as well and those occur whether you are shooting up heroin intravenously or intramuscularly.

One very fundamental point that needs to be appreciated is that, it may not matter how you go about doing heroin, whether the mode of administration is through injection, smoking or snorting or otherwise, the problems with liver and kidney disease as well as liver failure, pneumonia, and issues with the lungs and the brain will always be there. In other words so long as there are traces of heroin in your body system, there are health conditions that you will have to endure. It is also very important to appreciate that those who have an addiction to heroin are more likely to develop co-occurring medical conditions too, this is so because their defenses are weakened and they are more vulnerable to infection and disease.

Exposing the Effects of Opium and Heroin: Opium and Heroin Addiction

According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury’s care, one of the most significant effects of heroin and opium use is their addictive nature and the fact that they are indiscriminative meaning that everyone is vulnerable and can be affected anywhere and anytime. With regular use and in a relatively short period of time (especially when needles are the chosen method of ingestion), heroin addiction develops quickly thereby weakening the body systems significantly. Opium use and addiction on the other hand is less common compared to heroin addiction. This point is supported by the fact that these days accessibility and cost of heroin is within rich for many. Experts are confirming that in each case, each of these drugs have certain common similarities, like for instance the frequency of abuse influences your desire for more and subsequently the more addictive they become on an individual. If this trend is allowed to thrive breaking the addiction will be very difficult and hence the more severe will be the experience with heroin withdrawal symptoms in the long run. Therefore to correct this situation, it is very necessary that you seek for help in good time from the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. You can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for the most excellent and professional treatment and recovery program.

Exposing the Effects of Opium and Heroin: What is Heroin and Opium?

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