Am I Addicted to Drugs

July 3, 2014

Am I Addicted to Drugs-Drug Addiction

Its never fun being addicted to drugs. Drug addiction is costly economically and health wise

This is a question of value to anyone looking for good health and freedom from all manner of addictions and any addiction related elements and I want to put it to you my dear reader that are you addicted to drugs? You may be tempted to give a straight answer as anyone else will but wait a minute and get the facts to help you take your own evaluation and share your answer informatively. To start us off we need to define addiction. If you have been on this link you probably have an idea but all the same an addiction is a dependence on a substance or behavior which affects the physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing of an individual. It is therefore in order to say that addiction is a kind of behavior in which both compulsive and habit forming. Being in a state of addiction can also mean that the individual is being controlled by their desired substance to satisfy craving and prevent withdrawal symptoms. All that is important in determining addiction is purely based on the effect of the substance one uses and not the quantity or quality of the drug in question.

Dependency vs. an addiction

This may look a bit confusing because of the nature of their applications. It is easy to say that they are the same due to the fact that they are substitutable in application, therefore let us bring clarity of the two as follows: addiction will only be experienced when something you use occasionally allover sudden becomes a habit and you are finding it difficult to forego like if you prefer smoking occasionally during the night and this graduates to each night and eventually during the day as well consistently every day then we can make conclusion that you are developing an addiction. Whereas dependency occurs in the event that you are unable to cope without access to a substance or suffer from withdrawal symptoms if you do. Normally this state is experience when the addiction has been in existence for a very long period of time.

Up to this point I hope these definitions are not confusing you but all the same let me further reveal more for your understanding. For instance dependency can also be experienced with other activities other than the drugs like internet, sex, food, chocolate, gambling, shopping and many more. Nevertheless if these activities are reversed or withdrawn and victim does not experience any physical withdrawal symptoms then the individual is said to be dependence to the activity that is to say that the absence of these activities will not have any effect on the individuals health.

However, an addiction will be different as it causes both physical and psychological changes in the body and removing the source of this or going without results in withdrawal symptoms such as ‘the shakes’, nausea, insomnia, irritability and paranoia. Examples of this include cigarettes, drugs and alcohol.

Another aspect is that many people consider an ‘addiction’ to be more severe than ‘dependency’. Many people have a mental image of a ‘drug addict’ as someone who leads a sordid lifestyle, injecting themselves with drugs and generally, at rock bottom. They are often seen as a hopeless case and less worthy of help than someone with a dependency.

Now you take a stand between these two

Just in case after the discussion above you are still uncertain of your addiction position then consider the following:

Do you need that substance to relieve pain due to a chronic illness or injury, e.g. painkillers, prescription drugs etc. This will enable you to function as normal but without any changes in mood or behavior.
Do you experience physical and mental cravings for that substance which you know will give you a ‘buzz?’ This substance will gratify your cravings and give you that emotion of excitement that you cannot do without.

If you answered ‘1’ then you could be said to have a dependency. But if you answered ‘2’ then you may have an addiction.

This is the very basic way of making this decision and I would recommend that you seek professional help from known expert and while considering this take a moment and look at some of the possible signs of an addiction to help you in an endeavor to seeking for help.

Reduced or loss of appetite
Weight loss
Headaches
Dry mouth
Nausea or vomiting
Tiredness
Insomnia
Mood swings
Anger
Irritability and frustration
Lack of tolerance with one’s self and others
Lack of concentration
Paranoia
Neglecting your appearance or poor personal hygiene

These are physical and mental signs of an addiction but there are social changes also to consider such as;

Retreating from other people
Lack of interest in what they do
Luck of willingness to socialize or associate with people to whom you might have considered to be undesirable before now.
If you find that you are spending vast amounts of money on your addiction or other people consider you to have become unreliable and dishonest then this could be a pointer a problem.
Have you had your colleagues at work station noticed a difference in you?
Is timekeeping a problem?
Do you find that you have trouble concentrating at work or are bad tempered or moody?
Finally, do you feel you are losing control?

All these are powerful indicators in the social aspect. Normally the addicts may not be the one noticing these changes in their lives but would be noticed by friends and relatives and ones this is done then it is important that the victim acknowledges that they have a problem and desire to give it up. I am not promising that this will be easy but the starting point for addiction treatment is the acceptance that you are an addict, it may not matter what kind or stage of addiction you are in this acknowledgement is the most important step for commencement of treatment.

As we conclude this discussion I believe by now you can positively identify your precise addiction position and give the correct answer to our title question. If your answer is positive (you are an addict) then help is on the way at with doctor Dalal Akoury who is an expert in addiction treatment for the past decades. She is also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center where together with her experience team of experts administer addiction treatment while focusing on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE.

Am I Addicted to Drugs-Drug Addiction

When the brain is addicted

July 2, 2014

When the brain is Addicted-How Drugs Affect the whole system

No matter what you do you need your brain free from addiction to live a life to the fullest

Generally drug addiction and all kind of addiction for that matter have been consistent problems for a long time. It is so because of its lasting effect in the brain functions which are not easy to correct. Take for example in the US where the scourge is prevalent how many brains are addicted to drugs, statistics has it that about 2 million are heroin and cocaine addicts, 15 million alcoholics and several millions are cigarette smokers. Several decades ago this was a disaster because little was known about addiction but today a lot has been established and that knowledge is beginning to influence addiction treatment and prevention. This therefore brings us to the question why opium?

When the brain is addicted-Why does the brain prefer opium to broccoli

This is very interesting and the answer involves the nucleus accumbens a group of nerve cells located under the cerebral hemispheres. When one execute an action which satisfactorily fulfills ones desire the neurotransmitter dopamine is released into the nucleus accumbens and produces pleasure. This communicates that the action facilitates survival or reproduction, directly or indirectly. This system is refferd to us the reward pathway. Undertaking an activity which provides this reward enables the brain to register the experience and we are likely to repeat the same thing again. The damage to the nucleus accumbens and drugs that block dopamine release in the region make everything less rewarding.

Naturally rewards usually come only with an effort and after some interruptions and addictive drugs normally provide a shortcut each in its own way sets in motion a biological process which result in flooding the nucleus accumbens with dopamine. The pleasure is not helping the existence or reproduction and evolution has not provided our brains with an easy way to withstand the onslaught. If one becomes addicted through consistent use of a given drug, then the overwhelmed receptor cells will call for a shutdown reducing the natural capacity to produce dopamine in the reward system. This will make the brain to lose its access to other less immediate powerful sources of rewards. This may require the addicts to constantly use higher doses and quicker passage into the brain. This is seen as though the machinery of motivation is not functioning anymore and so they want to use the drug even when it has ceased giving pleasure to them.

When the brain is addicted-Compelling memories

The change in the reward system alone does not necessarily denote the persistence of addiction as many addiction victims may admit that stopping may be easy because they have probably done it often. They (the addicts) go through long periods without taking the drug, but they risk relapse even after years of abstinence, when the dopamine reward circuit has had plenty of time to recuperate. They are victims of conditioned learning, which creates habitual responses.

Drug-induced changes in the links between brain cells establish associations between the drug experience and the circumstances in which it occurred. These implied memories can be recovered when addicts are subjected to any reminder of those circumstances like moods, situations, people, places, or the substance itself. For example heroin addict may be in danger of relapse when they see a hypodermic needle, an alcoholic when they walk pass a bar where they used to drink or when they meet a former drinking companion. Most addicts may restart the habit on falling into a mood in which they used to turn to the drug. It must be noted that a single small dose of the drug itself can be one of the most powerful reminders.

When the brain is addicted-Stress

Internal or external stress is another cause of relapse. The nucleus accumbens will direct signals to the amygdala and hippocampus, which record and amalgamate memories that evoke strong feelings. When you asked the addicts why they relapse they are likely to make references as “my job was not going well,” or even, “The traffic was frustratingly so heavy that day.” These responses can only suggest that they are hypersensitive to stress, either congenitally or as a result of past addiction. Stages of corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH), the brain chemical that regulates the stress hormone system, often rise in addicts just before a relapse, while the amygdala becomes more active.

Findings from the resent research established that addiction involves many of the same brain pathways that govern learning and memory. Addictions can changer the strength of connections at the synapses (junctions) of nerve cells, especially those that use the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. Underlying these changes are drug-induced activation and suppression of genes within nerve cells, another process scientists are beginning to explore.

When the brain is addicted-Why we are not all addicted

The reward system may be more vulnerable, responses to stress more intense, or the formation of addictive habits quicker in some people, especially those suffering from depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia, and those with disorders like antisocial and borderline personality. It has been established that almost 50% of individual disparities in susceptibility to addiction is hereditary and according to a recent report, one gene variant diminishes the quantity of dopamine release caused by cocaine in human beings a genetic defense against at least one type of addiction.

Individuals also differ in their ability to workout judgment and inhibit impulses. The brain’s prefrontal cortex aids to establish the adaptive value of pleasure recorded by the nucleus accumbens and checks the urge to take the drug when it would be unwise. If the prefrontal cortex is not working correctly, an addictive drug has more power to dominate the reward circuit. Research shows that the prefrontal cortex is not completely established in adolescence, which could elucidate why we often develop addictions at that stage of life. In other words if one does not indulge in smoking before age 21that person is likely not to become addicted to nicotine

When the brain is addicted –Implications for prevention and treatment

Although findings on the addicted brain are suggesting new approaches to treatment, progress has been limited so far. Researchers have tested dopamine receptor antagonists, drugs that bind to receptors for dopamine and prevent addictive drugs from acting. But these substances usually have too many side effects because they also interfere with the motivation for natural and adaptive rewards. One way to avoid side effects is to disrupt the mechanisms by which individual drugs start the process that culminates in dopamine release; for example, the opiate antagonist naltrexone is now used to treat both heroin addicts and alcoholics.

The biggest problem is preventing relapse. Neutralizing the pleasurable effect of the drug is not enough because reminders of the drug experience perpetuate the longing and cause addicts to stop taking the counteracting medication. Glutamate has been the main target of research on relapse prevention. In one experiment, formerly addicted rats returned to using cocaine when their hippocampi the brain region where memories of the drug experience are likely stored were electrically stimulated. A drug that blocked glutamate activity prevented this re-addiction.

An all-out assault on glutamate is impossible. Half the neurons in the cerebral cortex use this transmitter, and a major reduction in its activity would be toxic. Instead, researchers are trying to target specific types of glutamate nerve receptors in specific parts of the brain. Acamprosate used in the treatment of alcoholism, acts at the NMDA receptor, a type of glutamate receptor. The anticonvulsant topiramate (Topamax), another proposed medication for alcoholics, may also act at that receptor. Memantine a relatively new drug that blocks NMDA receptors has proved promising in one small study of heroin addicts.

Researchers are working on other approaches to medication for addictive disorders. Some are looking into the possibility of preventing stress-induced relapse by blocking the activity of CRH. Others are experimenting with immunization for cocaine and nicotine training the immune system to recognize the drug by injecting a molecule that simulates its effect, creating antibodies with the capacity to break the drug down before it reaches the brain.

When the brain is addicted-The old and the new

Finding new things is a continuous process and as scientists dig into addiction it is being revealed that chemical solutions may not be found anytime soon. Therefore in future treatments will only help to psychosocial treatment. This can only mean that we will still embrace 12-step self-help groups, behavioral therapies, and exploration of traumatic and everyday proficiencies which are likely to have distressed the balance of the reward and inhibition system.

Behavior therapy offers the bases of reward and punishment that contest with the drug, such as payment for clean urine in the form of vouchers, or contingency contracts (in which addicts consent to forgo their cherished item if they go back to drug consumption).

Motivation or will can be regarded as a brain function that is damaged by addiction, just as language or movement can be damaged by a stroke. In successful treatment of a stroke, other parts of the brain assume the functions of the injured region. In the same way, treatment for addiction may be able to make use of the remaining healthy parts of the motivation system to repair the damage. Twelve-step groups and motivational enhancement therapy could be seen as ways of accomplishing that.

Administering treatment is often subject to the type of addiction and the addict. Novelty seekers and risk takers with inadequate reserve and conclusion may not respond to the same methods applicable to persons aggrieved by traumatic stress or hypersensitivity to daily stress. The great lesson we can get from this is that addictions are treatable chronic conditions but stretch longer to cures.

When we know the nerve receptors targeted by the addictive drugs we get to learn more about their separate and common effects. However there is still a lot to be achieved about:

How changes in reward circuits results to addiction
How the brain creates the unconscious memories that make addicts susceptible to relapse
Why some people are especially vulnerable to addiction
How to translate the knowledge we have into more effective treatments.

New brain research proposes that addiction is not just a property of certain drugs but a characteristic of certain human activities and relationships. Experts have established that there are similarities between the brain scan images of compulsive gamblers and drug addicts. The impression of addiction to television, video games, overeating, or sexual behavior may be more than a comparison. Discovering the biology of addiction could lead to a profound understanding of the sources of all human motivation and habit formation and this can only be done by the involvement of experts like doctor Dalal Akoury who has been of great help to many people the world over for over two decades now.

When the brain is addicted-How Drugs Affect the whole system

Internet Addiction and Its Treatment

June 30, 2014

Internet addiction is an impulse control disorder that does not usually require use of intoxicating drugs. It’s also very similar to drug addiction and even gambling. These addicts of the net may at times build up emotional affection to friends they meet online. Some of these friends that they have never met physically before in their lives. Some will even create activities online to keep them going back to the net. These platforms like social networking websites, chat rooms are just some of the aspects that these internet addicts use.

Blogging has also been known to keep internet lovers for many, many hours on screen while searching for internet topics and even end up trying to imagine themselves in the topic or discussion. What is blogging? It’s a web blog where a person can post their comments or ideas while keeping ordinary journal of events.

Just like other addictions, internet addicts usually have the desire of connecting to the real people or at least who they think are real through the net. They find it as an alternative to connecting to people who they would have not achieved by and large. This addiction is growing so much and very fast rate among the youth. The fact that gadgets like mobile phones are easily attainable has also widely contributed. There is also very little restrictions as to who and what age one should handle a phone. The world has gone very digital that a day without internet can be a very long day for these addicts.

Effects of internet addiction

Just like any other addictions, internet addiction will most of the time end in academic, , personal, financial, occupational and even family problems that are more often characterized by other addictions. Most real life affairs like marriage, friendship and even social life are always affected because of too much use of the internet because these addicts spend too much of their time in seclusion. They don’t spend enough time with the real people around them. They become so anti social that people will start finding them awkward because of the time they spend on the internet.

Have you even seen the people who surf the net and when they see someone approaching they hide whatever it is they were doing in the net? Well these are just some of the characteristics of internet addiction. They always don’t like people knowing that they spend too much of their time on the net. These kind of actions will also lead to the detriment of a quality relationship that was once very stable.

Some will even go as far as creating multiple online identities or profiles where they will pretend to be someone other people and even engage people in conversation using all those identities. They even go as far believing that all those identities are real. People who are susceptible to this kind of addictions are mostly people with very low self esteem of themselves. The ones who feel unwanted and inadequate in the society or among their peers

internet addiction

Addiction is addiction and people facing internet addiction are bound to face severe withdrawal symptoms that will include mood swings, fear, anxiety, loneliness, sadness, anger and even depression. Others will even be bored and have stomach upsets. Too much dependency on the net will also make someone develop medical problems that will most of the time include backaches, dry eyes and carpal tunnel syndrome. Some are even known to have eating irregularities, difficulty in sleeping and even poor personal hygiene.

Signs and symptoms of internet addiction

When one stays on the net for more hours than he had expected and is still not satisfied. When your thoughts are constantly on what you had encountered or watched on the net earlier even when you are not online and is anxious about the next episode or series or program. When you find yourself gradually remaining alone without friends, job or even an important relationship that there once was then know that you are headed to the problem of getting addicted to the net. Some even go as far as lying to close friends, bosses, family members and even therapists that they don’t have such problems in an attempt to hide the extent of the addiction.

Help and treatment of internet addiction

Agreeing and accepting that one has a problem with internet is the first step to getting help. There are usually trained addiction therapist who will more often execute assessment to find out the level of addiction and give an appropriate care. Counseling and abstinence can help resolve internet addiction. One needs to get help as soon as possible as this addiction has led to serious problems such as infant deaths or malnutrition due to neglect by their parents or caretakers who spend more time on net instead of tending to them due to internet addiction.

Internet Addiction and Its Treatment

Neuroendocrine Restoration Will Lead You Out Of Addiction

June 28, 2014

The process of developing an addiction usually follows a pattern, regardless of the activity you become addicted to. There is a common misconception that has likely reified the concept into a simplistic definition; one that is inclined towards substance. Addiction does not necessarily have to deal with a substance. You can develop an addiction to eating, talking, masturbating, just the same way you get addicted to cigarette or bhang smoking.

At early stages the process is usually subtle and mostly subconscious. For the case of drugs, almost all addicts will have succinct picture of how they started; usually a few hurried gulps of the father’s favorite ‘long neck’ caring not to be seen; a bottle of Smirnoff which got them really high and chattering through the party; a stick of marijuana from a willing friend or a cigarette that appeared irresistible given the way a certain fatherly figure seemed to have felt heavenly while smoking it.

This would be followed by a series of like behavior occasioned by similar chances. The person usually repeats the action a number of times over a given period of time and cannot clearly tell the point when they could no longer back off this act.

Why can a person not simply stop the act as soon as they realize it has blown out of proportion? Why do they continue the act against their own will? Why does the process of rehabilitation from drug addiction so delicate that it can be fatal if not properly monitored?

Understanding the mechanism of addiction

The start of addiction is always a voluntary step. Your father smokes, you notice and become curious. You steal and smoke it.

You attend a party, people are all drinking and you are invited to have a taste; it tastes sweet (because it is Namaqua). You drain a glass, and wish it was a few inches deeper, just before you begin speaking louder and more than the music system.

You are just about to make the final turn to the hostel washrooms, when your nose picks a familiar smell. You decide to give a hand shake to the group of comrades involved in a hushed discussion a few meters away; they offer you a stick of bhang, which you accept ‘because you are a man’

You like the experience. So you get bored and feel like doing something different; you want a little adventure so you go for the drug you just tasted a few days back. Remember in each of these cases you could opt to refuse, but you just decided; why not?

Soon you decide to repeat the practice, because you are stressed and a friend said this usually work for them, or merely because you are tuned to it after having liked the experience. You do not notice it, but at this juncture your brain is releasing the happiness hormones like endorphins that stimulate the excitement.

This act becomes the triggering activity for the release of the hormones. Your body starts to relate the triggering activity to the sensation that it will cause as a cause-effect relationship. This begins to condition your body to an addiction.

You are welcoming a new habit; the condition now triggers a biochemical process in your body whose subsequent repetition soon gets your system conditioned to releasing the hormones.

Recovery from Addiction

addiction recovery You completely destroy a plant only when you dig its roots. Repetition of an activity gets entrenched as a condition in your system; a system controlled by a central engine in your body called neuroendocrine system.

The neuroendocrine system is the combination of interaction and interplay of the endocrine and the nervous system; the central nervous system.

Our bodies are made up of cells. And cells are components of the network of glands known as the neuroendocrine system that controls the internal state of balance in the body.

Therefore, when the body has been conditioned to react in a certain way, the neuroendocrine system becomes programmed to direct that certain response as a way of life. Getting out of an addiction therefore means deprogramming your body; which simply is reconditioning your hormonal responses.

Every hormonal response is controlled by the neuroendocrine system. For one to fully recover from an addiction therefore, their neuroendocrine system must be reconditioned to direct the normal response.

Dr. Dalal Akoury

Medical Doctor Dalal A Akoury is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist based in South Carolina, Myrtle Beach. She has a vast experience in medicine having served as a medical practitioner for thirty six years after receiving her medical degree from the University of Alexandria, Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Dalal Akoury currently runs a medical facility Awaremed Health and Wellness Resource Centre located in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. This medical facility is the brainchild of the doctor.

Neuroendocrine Restoration Will Lead You Out Of Addiction

Stress and Addiction: Where’s the connection?

June 28, 2014

Relationship between Stress and Addiction

Did you know that excessive stress could lead one to addiction? What is stress and what is addiction and how are they related to each other? Well, I will come to that later in my next paragraph. First and foremost, let’s talk about stress. In everyone’s life, one undergoes or experiences some stress of some kind. With the fast moving life of today one tends to find him or herself always trying to cope up especially since everything and everyone has evolved really fast for the past ten years or so. All this added up together can lead to one easily falling into what we call stress. Did you know that stress can also come from family, friends and peer pressure? These three elements especially the latter has caused lots of pressure in the world today that has been dubbed ‘digital’.

Now let us talk about what stress and addictions are. Well, for starters, stress is some kind of strain or tension felt when one is experiencing environmental, work or even family challenge. This could be as a result of death of a child, a lover and even of a close friend or relative, divorce, peer pressure and financial matters. To mention but a few. Addiction on the other hand is when one is devoted to something that could either be drug related or just devotion to something of some kind. Someone with an addiction problem always have the strong urge and need to always have that thing that they are addicted to. It’s almost if not a disease of some sort and can be treated if one seeks treatment in time.

We all know that a little push is good for everybody thus a little bit of pressure is not harmful. It’s dangerous only when it goes overboard. As the saying goes, too much of something is dangerous, so it stress and pressure. If you push yourself too much you will always get into stress, trying so hard to cope in your job, family or amongst your friends and feeling that you are not meeting their standard could also push one into stress because they will always be trying to fit in. well, trying is not bad but not to an extent that it affects you or drives you into stress and depression. It’s your life we are talking about here.

So how does stress result into addiction?

It’s actually not rocket science to relate the two. Though not all stress will always catapult into addiction, most of them usually do. Infect stress and addiction are almost synonymous. Synonymous in the fact that you can rarely get one without the other. Most or all individuals have their own ways of dealing with different kinds of stress in different ways. Some people will just need to take a few hours or days off from work or whatever stress is it that they are going through and it all goes away but there are some people who will turn to stronger things like alcohol, cigarettes or drugs like cocaine or heroin to relax them from the stress they are undergoing. In most countries, cigarettes and alcohol are legal so they are usually the most sort after as stress relievers. They are equally cheap, affordable and readily available.

One can start by just joining friends or relatives for a social drink over the weekend to put away or forget the stress he or she is went through during the week. It could just be an innocent get together that could start with one weekend then when you go home or is on your own, you will feel like the stress is has gone away or subsided. This trend may go on from weekends to daily because you will always seem to feel tensed during the week and after a few drinks later in the day or even on weekends you will feel better. By this time, you will have found or would thing you have a solution of getting rid of your stress. Is it me or does cigarette make a good companion of alcohol? These two go together very well just like stress and addiction. In fact, it’s almost impossible to separate the two. Most often your drink will be generously escorted with a cigarette. Some will also start with the hard stuff like heroin and cocaine.

Addiction

Well, remember we had mentioned earlier that addiction is too much devotion to something regardless of what it is? Now when one starts depending too much on something it becomes addiction. Please don’t get it twisted and start looking for comfort somewhere else as any form of dependency may lead to addiction. However there are many ways to know if you are addicted or headed there especially for the ones using drugs. We all know our body and can tell if there any weird changes. If you start losing weight, getting tremors then start getting worried. Honestly though, do we need to wait to experience all these and is it really worth it?

Prevention is better than cure

First avoid stress by always keeping away from whatever drives you into stress. It’s given that some stresses are inevitable like death or even family matters like divorce but it will help to know that we are not the only ones going through such calamities. Issues like peer pressure are avoidable. How? Simple. Keep away from anyone expecting too much from you at the expense of your health. All said and done, alcohol, cigarettes or any form of addiction will never be cure for stress.

If you fall victim of addiction from stress related causes, or suffering any form of addiction, we at New Frontier Medicine Academy.

Stress and Addiction: Where’s the connection?

Tag Archives: Substance dependence