Tag Archives: Substance abuse

SUDs

Nutritional Intervention For Substance Use Disorder (SUDs)

March 24, 2016

Evidence-based nutritional treatment interventions should be initiated for all patients referred to specialty care treatment of SUDs

SUDsSubstance Use Disorders (SUDs) alternatively called drug addiction has long kept the focus of scientists and other medical practitioners. Once a person has been become an addict, quitting addiction become s are really difficult decision to make. Surprisingly many of the drug addicts for once in their life time do gather the courage and will power to quit substance abuse. Once a decision is undertaken, choosing the right addiction option is really important. These individuals have mostly got only one shot at recovery because there is no guarantee that they will be able to have such high motivation to quit again ever in their life. Unfortunately it has been seen that people have tried quitting but they ended up with a treatment option that wasn’t suitable for their needs. That’s where Evidence based treatments come into play.

The foremost requirement for people in order to make the best choice for addiction treatment is their access to reliable information. Specifically they should be provided with some evidence that how a treatment performs, and how it had helped people having similar symptoms and severity of addiction. They also need to know if the treatment had worked for people who were addicted to one type of substance or multiple drugs. This is exactly what evidence based substance abuse treatment refers to. Every addict is different so are their treatment requirements, in evidence based treatment an addiction specialist tailors a treatment option to make sure that his client gets the best available resources present at their disposal. Despite noteworthy advancement in improving the evidence base for SUDs treatments, only a portion of the spectrum of care for SUDs is validated by the most thorough evidence in the current scientific literature.

Evidence for substance use treatment (SUD) can be divided into different levels which include:

  • Level 1: The evidence that is gained through true experimental design such as clinical trials that includes some randomization.
  • Level 2: This evidence comes from a quasi experimental design that does not include randomization.
  • Level 3: This level indicates those treatments that have been decided on the basis of consensus between most of the professional community.
  • Level 4: Evidence gained through literature reviews and publications.
  • Level 5: The last level of evidence based treatment includes personal experiences by other addicts related to a certain treatment option.

Evidence based treatment is an integrative approach; it does not only rely on medication or only behavioral counseling. This integrates multiple aspects of medication, psychotherapy and even nutrition. It is a great misconception that medication and psychotherapy is enough of a treatment combination for substance use disorders neglecting the fact that how important a role nutrition plays in over all wellbeing of an individual. It is now stressed upon at most forums that evidence-based nutritional treatment interventions should be initiated for all patients referred to specialty care treatment of SUDs. It is important to get a nutritionist on the panel while treating SUDs and the role played by dietician in treating substance abuse is very important but often had been eliminated from the patient’s long term recovery process. Nutrition therapy is a complex procedure as the risks vary considering the substance of choice and some negative overall conditions such as poor support from the family, other co occurring mental disorders and sometimes financial instability.

Proper balanced diet and hydration are tantamount to the substance abuse healing process because they help in restoring physical and mental health and improve the chance of recovery. While a person is suffering from SUDs, their eating habits are usually disturbed, they often eat a lot or too less and even if they eat well enough, their diet lack certain nutrients that are required for proper functionality of human body. Another explanation for lack of these nutrients is that they are depleted from the body due to drug abuse. These macro- and micronutrient deficiencies can directly lead to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and low energy, all of which can force someone who already has a tendency for addiction to start using drugs or alcohol or trigger a relapse.

There are multiple programs and courses that aim at substance abuse prevention and concentrate on nutrition as well because a healthful lifestyle can promote mental health and that too for people who have been involved in substance abuse over a number of years prior to treatment. For those who are fighting substance abuse, diet tends to play the same important role in sustaining recovery while also improving the resulting health conditions and deficiencies.

Nutrition can help an addict in many ways. Substance abuse leads to vitamin and other essential mineral deficiencies that damage physical and mental health, vital organs, nervous system, and also been known to decrease immunity. Drugs and other psychoactive substances have been found to have detrimental and toxic effects on brain’s chemistry; this toxicity could lead to psychiatric problems. Balanced diet having enough carbohydrates can greatly remediate the damage that has been done to the reward and survival pathway of the patient. A stable blood sugar can also help avoid craving and irritability.

There are innumerous other benefits an evidence based nutritional intervention can offer to a substance abuser. It is safe to say that excluding nutrition therapy from treatment options can greatly reduce the treatment efficiency. There are multiple other aspects of this integrative approach that require further discussion. We are proud to announce that we have tried to bring health professionals, psychologists, and other stake holder in this area over one platform through our “Integrative Addiction Conference”. If you are somehow affected by any of the consequences of the above mentioned addictions or you are an expert on evidence based treatments of addiction, we warmly invite you to register with us on the link below and share your valuable views with us thus helping us build an integrative approach towards addiction treatments. The link is as follows: http://integrativeaddictionconference.com/

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Trump works the crowd after a rally at the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort and Spa in Hilton Head Island

Trump’s Brother Died of Addiction

March 15, 2016

Trump’s Brother Died of Addiction

Trump's brother died of addictionAddiction is something of a big deal. It always starts with a try, a ‘shot’, a sip, or just a little bit and then just like fire, it grows bigger and becomes something uncontrollable by the ones affected. Donald Trump’s brother was one of such individuals. His name is Fred, popularly called Freddy. Donald J. Trump, currently running for President of the United States of America said the death of his brother had taught him that bad choices could drag down people who are destined to rise and that such event had taught him to stay away from alcohol and cigarettes. Trump’s brother died of addiction and so are many that don’t get to make the news daily.

Addiction is something of a big deal and should not be swept under the carpet. It should be tackled heads on as soon as possible because it tends to get harder to deal with after successive failures of trying to quit. People who have been addicted to substance misuse will agree that several times they have tried to quit but every time they seem to fail and it gets harder to summon up courage to attempt quitting all over again.

We have heard many stories, Trump’s brother is just one of them, of how addiction has destroyed promising lives in our society. There have been reports of the extent an addict will go to and the crazy things they wouldn’t mind doing just to lay their hands on drugs, crack and alcohol, all these serving as tales to caution those who are treading the same path.

Questions don’t cease coming about what causes addiction and how it works. Can deny addiction mean one is addicted? Is addiction caused by exposure to certain drugs or substances alone? The questions are endless when it comes to drug and alcohol use prevention measures. In order to get an individual to stop the substance abuse, there are certain pitfalls which are often overstated and this can also generate feelings of distrust.

How Addiction Works

People get addicted or hooked to a substance or certain activity for the same reason they tried the substance or activity in the first place  – there is a good feeling attached to it. While so many people have tried drugs, drinks and foods and were never addicted to it, it is worthy of note that all humans are prone to addiction in some way. Different things just tend to affect different people differently. Given the right amount and exposure, everyone could be an addict. Before addiction can happen, a substance user must have crossed a threshold and strayed into dependence on the substance.

Research has thrown light on what actually takes place in the brain after an individual transits and crosses this threshold. It is more like a ‘brain disease’. According to Dr. Scott Glassman, “addiction is simply the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of displeasure”. An individual gets exposed to a substance and likes the feeling it brings. Maybe this substance reduces pains or make the individual feel numb or forget every worry. After a certain period of continuous exposure, the brain tolerates and gets used to this substance. The resultant effect is that more of such a substance will be needed to bring that initial ‘good feeling’ the individual had. Progressive increase in doses increases the level of addiction till there is a craving that is constantly beyond control. Then the threshold is crossed and the individual can do nothing meaningful without exposure to this substance or activity.

 

Don’t Criticize Addicted People, They Need Help

Donald Trump’s brother died of addiction because he didn’t get the right help. Freddie could have made it if he wasn’t just criticized and talked down upon to “do something good with his life!” Definitely, every addicted person wants to be free. No one loves chains! It may look like they don’t want to because they keep going back to the things that held them addicted but the truth is, the substance is like “life” or breath to an addicted person; they need it to stay alive. That’s how the brain now sees the substance. Their judgment of what is right or wrong has been compromised. That is why they need help. They need help of family and friends. They do not need criticisms and long sermons on how they are living a life that is destined for destruction. What they need is love and someone who can stand by them till they are completely rehabilitated.

How to Get Help

There are several kinds of help for different levels and kinds of addiction. Addiction treatments range from detoxification to medication to combat withdrawal symptoms, to group therapy for varying lengths of time. There is no on-size-fits-all treatment for addiction. Consultations has to be made with experts in this area and the proper kind of help administered.

 

 

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Evidence Based Treatment Practices for Substance Use Disorders

March 12, 2016

Evidence Based Treatment Practices for Substance Use Disorders

substance abuseSelecting the appropriate addiction treatment option is very crucial. The individual suffering from substance use may only have one shot at recovery as there are no guarantees that they will ever gather-up the motivation to try quitting substance use again. Unfortunately however, there have been many reported cases where people have attempted quitting but have ended up with a treatment that wasn’t the best for them. In order to ensure that better choices are made when choosing the best treatment to give someone with substance disorders, adequate information is very important. The data gathered about the individual and the treatment option has to be reliable and dependable. By selecting an evidence-based treatment option for substance use disorders, the individual is set in the best position where it is much likely for them to enter a path that leads to recovery.

Definition of Evidence Based Treatment Practices for Substance Use Disorders

Whenever people do online searches for possible treatment options for substance use, they will find many possible treatment options which may be overwhelming. Aggravating the issue is the fact that many of these treatment practices are pure scams or a little more than scams. Some of these results promise the individuals instant results simply by drinking some herbs, swallowing some pill or by wearing some special necklace. Evidence based treatments are therefore put in place to ensure that the individual trying to quit addiction is placed next to the best options or resources that could help them in their journey to freedom.

Evidence Levels to Guide the EBT Practices

All types of evidence cannot be treated equally by professionals; some will get more attention than the others. Data obtained from subjective or anecdotal approaches are considered to be of lesser value as against data obtained from objective scientific approaches or researches. Now this is not to mean that subjective or anecdotal evidence is not of important use because they are but there are challenges with information proceeding from such sources. Such problems as human biases and errors are common with such methods. There are different evidence levels that can be assigned to Substance use Disorder treatments and they include:

Level 1: Indicates evidence that proceeds from true experimental designs and that includes trials performed in the clinic that include some kind of randomization.

Level 2: Indicates evidence that proceeds from quasi-experimental designs that includes no kind of randomization

Level 3: Talks about evidence emanating from professional consensus. For instance, a professional community may believe that a particular treatment works better than the other.

Level 4: Speaks of evidence that proceeds from qualitative literature reviews and publications that of good authority

Level 5: Indicates anecdotal information involving personal experiences and accounts.

From the above, evidence proceeding from Level 1 is of the utmost importance and value while evidence at Level 5 has the least value.

 

Issues with Anecdotal Evidence

Normally in life, humans tend to learn easily from other people’s personal stories and experiences. It is really simple, people tend to connect real time when someone is talking about what they are going through presently. The belief is there that the person is telling the truth and as such their personal experiences can be related to. It makes it easier to learn from the errors and mistakes such people had in order to avoid the pains they went through and wasted time. However, it is also very natural for humans to think anecdotally that thinking scientifically and there are problems with such thinking such as:

  • Human have been absolutely wired to locate connections between things even when these connections may not actually be there
  • The ways people find interpretation to things they have been through and what has happened to them is extremely affected by personal biases. What this means that even when the same event happen to similar kinds of people, their interpretation of the event might be absolutely different.
  • Humans sometimes have hidden motives and their interpretation of their evidence may be to support these hidden motives.
  • People, more often than not, tend to select experiences and information that best suits what they already believe as their reality.
  • In many ways, the human sense can be compromised and this means events can be inaccurately interpreted and this can be a big problem for those whose only reliance is on eye witness testimonies.
  • Humans possess a subconscious confirmation bias which means that they are much more likely to pay attention to things that relates to what they already believe as their reality and miss things that prove their belief otherwise.

For the above reasons, anecdotal evidences when treating Substance use disorders are taken with a pinch of salt.

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Examples of Evidence Based Treatment Practices for Substance Use Disorders

Below are some of the best evidence based treatment practices for substance use disorders:

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This is a psychotherapeutic approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. Many studies have shown and proven the efficacy of this approach when dealing with addictions.
  • The Matrix Model: This is also one of the effective Evidence based treatments used in treating the misuse of stimulants. This employs education and encouragement practices to help the individual recover.
  • The Community Reinforcement Approach: This approach seeks to provide supports for the addicted individual within a common community of addicted people who are trying to recover. This is usually combined with a reward scheme that rewards people who can abstain for a certain period of time.
  • Drugs such as topiramate, acamprosate and disulfiram have been confirmed very useful pharmaceutical agents that are evidence backed when treating substance use disorders. Disulfiram, for instance, make people feel sick when they drink alcohol.
  • The 12 Step Facilitation Therapy is a kind of EBT that encourages addicted individuals to participate in a 12 step program.
  • Motivational Enhancement Therapy: This used a counselling approach which is aimed primarily at increasing the individual’s motivation to quit substance misuse. This involves motivating the individual to see themselves in a positive light and see themselves as being able to quit addiction.

It is very imperative for clinicians and health professionals to employ evidence based practices in treatment of substance use disorders as this helps to greatly improve the chances of the addicted individual’s recovery and prevents the possibility of them retracting and sinking deeper into addiction.

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Solving stress complications and substance abuse

February 23, 2016

Solving stress complications and substance abuse: Providence of temporary relief from stress

Solving stress complications

Solving stress complications and substance abuse is a must if one is to live a much comfortable life. The tow conditions doesn’t complement one another and must be addressed individually and even collectively.

If there is anything that is causing us sleepless night in our daily activities, then it must be stress. In all sectors of life there will be something stressful and worrying. Certain stress can be very demanding positively while others can be very chronic in nature. In all these we have a duty of taking care of ourselves and being free from any danger caused by stress. Many people are not able to be good managers of their stressful situations and this article is going to interrogate a few points about stress to help you pick up portions that can help you be safe. Therefore our point of focus is going to be on solving stress complications and substance abuse in our daily lives. Talking to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, it is very evident that the effects of stress can cause harm to people’s mental and physical well-being. The experts at this facility are agreeing that the situation may not be all that bad, but the inability of people to deal with it effectively is the born of contention. Many at times people often choose the wrong ways in dealing with stress. Like for instance, many have attempted to manage their stress by indulging in alcohol or drugs. This is what worries experts the most and doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is making emphasis that it is this type of self-medication often offer a misleading temporary relief, and hence people run to alcohol and other illicit substances which are self-defeating. The understanding of that point is that an individual while under the influence of their choice drugs may feel better but the moment sobriety sets in, they pick up the pieces and often become even more stressful than they were before. Currently we have several ways of managing stress which doctor Akoury is going to share with us in a short while but in the meantime, let us understand the definition of stress clearly.

Solving stress complications and substance abuse: Definition of stress

Stress is known to everybody yet giving clear definition to this (stress) has proven very difficult to many. All that people often do while defining stress is to give details of a long of consequences of stress and some of the examples of what stress does. However in simple terms stress can simply be defined as the extent through which the human body attend and address life prevailing circumstances and demands. It does this by releasing different chemicals in the body so that it is prepared to take action. The fight or flight response is produced by the body when there is a sense of danger. Because of what stress is, we can allude to two significant elements that is bad reputation which is very essential for survival too. Why is this so? Listen to this suppose people were not reactive to the external events, they would certainly be in danger. On the other hand stress can be of some benefits take for example like for instance when one is preparing to sit an examination, there is always some pressures that come with ensuring that the student sits and pass the exam. It is stress that will cause the student to remains focus lets they fail to meet their objectives of doing well in the exams.

Stressors and triggers of stress response

Anything that triggers the stress response is referred to as a stressor. The most common stressors include:

  • The dangers of chronic stress
  • Substance abuse as a self-medication for stress
  • The dangers of using alcohol and other substances

Solving stress complications and substance abuse: The Dangers of chronic stress

If people spend a lot of time feeling stressed it can begin to cause damage both physically and mentally. This is because the chemicals associated with the stress response are only meant to be in the bloodstream for short periods. Those who are chronically stressed will have such chemicals working overtime and the dangers of such chronic stress may include:

  • Chronic stress causes the immune system to become less effective. This is because stress forces the immune system to release chemicals so that they end up being overused. Instead of helping people fight off infections, these chemicals begin to damage the individual’s own organs. This can increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
  • Chronic stress leads to fatigue and depression. Those who are dealing with a lot of stress in their lives will have poor mental health.
  • It can increase the risk of developing ulcers and digestive problems.
  • Many people who are dealing with chronic stress will turn to substance abuse.

Substance abuse as self-medication for stress

We have already sited self-medication as a situation where people resort to using alcohol or drugs as tools of managing their stressful moments. These substances are just but depressants. Take for example a depressant like alcohol produce a calming effect on the body, and by so doing so, the individual will feel like they have escaped their difficulties. Because of this they may start to take these substances more and more as a way to manage their stress levels. This is dangerous because the cure can be far more damaging then the initial symptoms.

The dangers of using alcohol and drugs to deal with stress

Finally dear reader, indulging in alcohol and drug usage life is a short lived solution. This can be very dangerous because of the following:

  • It can lead to addiction. If this happens then the individual may find it difficult to stop. Addicts can end up losing everything including their possessions, health, friends, family, and self-respect.
  • Substance abuse only masks the problem and doesn’t solve it. It will be almost impossible for the individual to learn better ways of managing stress while they are still abusing alcohol or drugs.
  • Substance abuse increases the amount of stress in people’s lives. It makes it difficult to be effective at work, and it damages people’s ability to form meaningful relationships. The longer a person abuses these substances the more things they will have in their lives to feel stressed about. The whole exercise will then be repeated again and again causing the individual to be deeply rooted into drugs thereby causing then to be prisoners of substances and failing to escape the stress that is being caused by their substance abuse.

You can however escape this tragedy by scheduling for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for a more professional treatment that will bring back your life to its best.

Solving stress complications and substance abuse: Symptoms of Stress

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Drug Addiction recovery and undesirable effects

February 17, 2016

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects: Recovery is possible with the right treatment

Drug Addiction recovery

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects must be handled professionally , this way recovery is possible for a drug free society.

When we talk about drug addiction recovery and the undesirable effects of not letting go many may narrow it down to the direct victims only but this is not really the true picture of the problem. Drug addiction recovery or recovery is complex and covers a wide spectrum including the family members caring for the addict, colleagues at work stations and the society at large. Therefore according to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are registering that while handling addiction recovery it is important to remain focus and concentrate only on the good memories. Good memories are very helpful in the healing process because they cause sense of motivation to the victims to keep to their objectives of being whole again. Doctor Dalal Akoury who is the founder, MD and President of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, is equally registering that paying much attention to bad memories is not helping in the addiction recovery not just to the direct victims but also to the indirect victims too. We must therefore remain committed to letting go all our addictive substances and turn our focus into the benefits of not using alcohol and drugs. And for us to effectively do that, we must first of all be informed adequately about some of the consequences of clinging to this unproductive behavior. Such may include:

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects: Cumulative Effect

When you pile up every memory of things that went wrong, like for instance how you were hurt or how you hurt others, the losses you made whether emotionally, physically, financially, socially, legally and so on, the significance of that is practically equivalent to wearing several pieces of pajamas in the night and expect to have a comfortable sleep. It can’t just work at some point, you’ll be overwhelmed by the weight and the excess worth generated by the many clothes and definitely you will be unable to carry the burden. In the same way bad memories are like that they’re just too much weight and discomfort to bear. When they are left to accumulate and their root course not addressed, they will certainly remain in your consciousness until such a time when you will chose to deal with such memories the right way but before that, this will be a serious problem to you and your loved ones beyond your imaginations.

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects : Physical consequences

Stress can be a constant reminder of those experiences that have made you to suffer in the cruel hands of addiction. From the expert’s point of view, any stress related physical conditions are often the most immediate effects of clinging to your addictive habits. Stress is normal but when it causes you lose focus and all you do is to keep wondering about such stressful moments like being overworked and not having time for yourself, or wondering on how to deal with the financial implications arising from caring for addicted loved ones and so on, with that trend, you will certainly find that you can’t sleep through the night and add to other complications like loss of appetite and not feeding well thereby being malnourished, losing weight at an unhealthy rate, you lose your beauty by developing wrinkles besides having migraine and other headaches, physical aches and pains which are prone to coughs, colds, and infections.

Doctor Akoury expresses concern that individuals who do not deal with such bad thoughts in their minds will most likely develop serious or chronic diseases as well. It is important to note that other than what is already stated, complications like hypertension, heart attack and stroke, and some types of cancer can also be caused by continuous and unresolved stress. Muscle tension in the form of stiff neck, shoulders and lower back pain can often be traced to stress. Ulcers and rheumatoid arthritis are two more physical conditions that can result from unresolved stress or not dealing with your troubling thoughts. You can however a void all these by seeking for medication promptly with the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury who is a veteran addiction experts and has offered real time addiction solutions to millions of victims globally in more than two decades of her professional practice.

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects: Emotional consequences

Our emotions can be another great threat when it comes to addiction recovery in many ways. Like for instance; if you always live a life of insecurity and this is causing you to constantly run negative situations through your mind, you’re certainly going to be stressed up. Worrying about things like losing your wealth, not being able to settle bills, unfaithfulness among spouses, sibling rivalry, the fear of facing people because you feel embarrassed over a situation and many such experiences are seriously rich in causing emotional turmoil and can be very devastating if not addressed in good time. Such feelings erodes trust and by the way it may not matter the type or nature of addiction you are involve in all of them including alcohol, prescription drugs, illicit street drugs, compulsive sexual activity, spending or gambling, it will not matter the moment your emotional roller-coaster gets moving, it will not be so easy to stop. One thing is certain: if you keep up the pace, you’ll either wind up in a wreck or fly off the rails, figuratively speaking.

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects: Recovery is possible with the right treatment

 

 

 

 

 

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