Posts Tagged ‘methamphetamine’
New Breakthrough in Addiction Treatment Focuses on Disease's Effect on Brain
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
Who would have guessed some of the newest options for treating the brain in one’s addiction would be medications already in use for things like narcolepsy or antidepressants? An article published by the Associated Press explains how drugs already in use might affect the brain’s addiction to certain substances, from cocaine to methamphetamines.
Through the use of drugs already in use for things like depression, alcoholism (did you know there’s already a shot out there that eases the difficulty in overcoming this addiction?) can block the effects of other drugs on the brain, effectively cutting out the need to use. Although these are trial tests to see if it really works, this step forward offers hope for millions struggling with addictions, the families caught in the crossfire and the economy stuck helping those whose use takes a toll on their health.
The article made an interesting analogy for the new discovery and addiction, saying “Think of it as if the brain were an orchestra, its circuits the violins and the piano and the brass section, all smoothly starting and stopping their parts on cue.”
The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Dr. Nora Volkow went on to explain: “That orchestration is disrupted in psychiatric illness,”. “There’s not a psychiatric disease that owns one particular circuit.” This is one of the most promising breakthroughs in the search for what has been thought of as a mythical goal: a cure for addiction.
This being said, most will have to wait for these drugs to be prescribed in addiction treatment. Until this clinical trial becomes active in the public, the best we can do is to work the steps, use the help available and seek aftercare to help in the motivation and direction of managing recovery on one’s own.
Tags: addiction, addiction recovery, addiction treatment, cocaine addiction, methamphetamine
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Michael Douglas and the Addiction of a Child
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
Like father, like son?
Michael Douglas’ 31 year old son Cameron was sentenced to five years behind bars this week for heroin possession and intent to deal methamphetamines and cocaine in New York.
After his son’s sentencing, the world-famous actor commented on both his son’s incarceration and his addiction, saying on the Today Show “”I think the court recognized his drug addiction as well as the crime that he committed. It’s an adequate amount of time…to spend in jail, and the best part of it is he will be able to start his life afresh.”
Cameron has been an addict since age 13, and after failed attempts at recovery, remains slave to this disease. Cameron’s addiction is not the first among those in his family, as E! Online reports, “I was in rehab 20 years ago…” Michael Douglas explained, saying part of Cameron’s addiction lies in a genetic predisposition, “I lost a brother with an overdose four years ago. I have another brother who has been on the program for years. My ex-wife’s family has alcoholism running in it.” Genetic or not, decades’ long addictions aren’t lost causes, and though it often acts as a catalyst, jail is not the only option for lasting recovery.
In Cameron’s case, it appears the whole family would benefit from addiction education regarding how to support recovery while refusing to enable the addiction. Five years in jail should certainly help in the process by taking him out of the situation, but upon release, serious thought to initiating formal recovery in a lasting way could possibly lead to not only sobriety, but also improved family relations.
Aftercare programs like RAP offer families and people like Cameron the structure necessary to truly commit to sobriety. With this help, everyone involved learns to adequately react to and deal with the problems addiction brings and, in this case, has brought for nearly two decades. For people who have not dealt with accountability for actions done in the name of addiction, aftercare offers a continuing call to realization – with programs like this, addicts understand the whole spectrum of the effects of their disease on the wider community and how to overcome.
Having a child addicted to anything is never easy; having a child addicted in the public spotlight and feeling partially at fault can overwhelm. Recovery for the whole family is necessary to truly heal this pain and reunite what, from the outside, appears to be a fractured family.
Tags: addiction recovery, cocaine, drug addiction, heroin addiction, methamphetamine, teen addiction
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A new year, a new start.
Friday, January 8th, 2010
With a new year (and a new decade as well, depending on who you ask) upon us, we in the addiction world often see many people come to us with New Years resolutions, things such as:
“2010 will be the year I get sober.”
“Maybe I should cut down on my drinking.”
“This is the year I talk to my son about his drug use.”
“This is the year of big changes in my family.”
We at AiR encourage these resolutions- they can be a big catalyst for change, and help people get on the path to recovery. However, what’s important to remember here is how many times one has made these said resolutions. If you find yourself saying for the fifth year in a row that it’s time to quit drinking, it’s probably time to seek outside help. If you’re a family member and you’re hearing the same resolution year after year- we can help with that too.
Since the holiday season seems so volatile (as we’ve covered here), now is the time to act. A new year can bring about new changes. If you’re a family member and your loved one is hurting from a compulsive behavior, reach out. Ask for help. If you can’t make the phone call yet, then check out our book, It’s Not Okay To Be A Cannibal (available here); some good advice is available there, but be sure to get outside assistance when you decide to move forward.
If you or a loved one are in crisis, please call us at 877-320-0247 for immediate assistance, or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drugs, eating disorders, gentetics of addiction, heroin addiction, intervention, mental health, methamphetamine, pain addiction, pain medication, prescription drug abuse, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
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Addiction at Home and in the Workplace
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Dr. A. Thomas McLellan, one of the leading researchers on addiction and a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, recently shared his story with the New York Times. Dr. McLellan recently accepted a position with the U.S. government, at the invitation of Vice President Joe Biden, to be the nation’s number two drug control officer. This gave him an interesting choice- to stay a professor, or to go work for the new administration. However, some experiences in his home life led him to move to work with the administration.
Last year, Dr. McLellan’s 30-year-old son passed away from an overdose of anti-anxiety medication and alcohol, at the same time as his other, older son was in residential treatment working on his own addiction issues. This, McLellan said, is what led directly to him making the post. With the help of Gil Kerlikowski, the nation’s drug czar, he hopes to turn addiction from a punitive crime into one where we can see more people get help instead of jail time. From the article: “Dr. McLellan said that of the 25 million substance abusers he estimated were in this country, only about 2 million were receiving treatment. He and Mr. Kerlikowske want to triple that number, partly by spending more money and partly through other tactics, like integrating addiction treatment into the primary health care system.”
An interesting quote from Dr. McLellan: “If it has to happen, better it happens to me, I’m an expert, right? I didn’t know what to do and none of my buddies knew what to do, and let me tell you they were experts. So I said, “˜What the hell are we doing?’ ”
So what happens when the experts don’t know what to do? Well, that’s why we’re here. At Assistance in Recovery, we’re available to coach you through all those difficult questions, whether you’ve been researching addiction for 30 years or you know absolutely nothing about it, and everywhere in between. In the struggle with chemical dependency, it can happen to ANYONE- and is always better having an outside perspective on what to do.We can assist on all of those difficult questions and help put a solution in place.
Call us at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.
Tags: addiction, addiction genes, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, anti-anxiety, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drug deaths, methamphetamine, overdose, pain addiction, pain killers, pain medication, prescription drug abuse, substance abuse, Treatment
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Addiction in the news
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
A few of newsworthy items came across our desks over the last couple of weeks. First and foremost, Andre Agassi, a former professional tennis player ranked number one in the world for a few years, admitted in his new autobiography “Open” that during 1997, one of his worst professional seasons, he was using crystal meth. A shocking revelation, as Agassi did test positive for drugs during that season, but was cleared based on his denial and “accidental dosage.” Rick Reilly of ESPN wrote an interesting piece about this revelation, talking specifically about how unhappy Agassi had been until that point, eventually leading him into drugs. He did pull himself out of the addiction- and more about that will be revealed- in 1998, and continued to have one of the most successful careers in professional tennis. As Reilly puts it, “They call Agassi the greatest returner in history. They aren’t kidding.”
In other news, Sioux Falls, SD recently put together a program with local businesses to bring recovery and education around addiction into the workplace. The group behind the initiative, Face It! Sioux Falls, is an advocacy group hoping to remove barriers to recovery. A group of 13 local businesses have agreed to do work with Face It. “We commend these employers for showing remarkable leadership in their commitment to actively encourage and support the journey of recovery for their employees and their families,” said Matt Walz, CEO of Face It! Sioux Falls. This is a huge step in the right direction from a community organization standpoint, putting recovery resources directly in the hands of people who need it.
In some local news, a man in Proctor, MN, was recently arrested for a DWI- at the helm of a motorized La-Z-Boy. The man arrested blew a 0.29, nearly FOUR TIMES the legal limit in Minnesota. The man proceeded to crash his La-Z-Boy into a Dodge Intrepid parked outside. The officers on the scene reported that the man’s driver’s license had been revoked because of a previous drunken-driving conviction. We can only hope he is getting the help that he needs.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please call us 24/7 at 877-320-0247.
Tags: addiction, addiction genes, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcoholism, andre agassi, Face It! Sioux Falls, lawnchair DUI, methamphetam, methamphetamine, pain addiction, recovery assistance, substance abuse
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Addiction in the Sports World
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Recently, we’ve seen an uprising in addiction in the news, what with Michael Jackson and others making headlines. Recently, a couple of things caught our eyes- Josh Hamilton, a Texas Rangers outfielder with a story of recovery, caught in an embarrassing series of photos during a relapse, and Jeremy Mayfield, a NASCAR driver, being suspended for a repeated drug policy violation for using methamphetamine.
The Hamilton story hit some chords. Our friends over at the Addiction Tomorrow blog touched on this yesterday- that Hamilton had been saying he was sober since 2005, and yet photos emerged during a bout of drinking in Januray during spring training. Relapse is a very real part of the addiction world- although we think we should be very careful with saying that relapse is a PART of recovery. Richard Justice, a columnist for the Houston Chronicle, wrote a great piece about Hamilton’s relapse in this morning’s paper. Relapse isn’t a part of recovery- if someone is actively in the recovery process, relapse shouldn’t happen. Accountability and a rigorous 12-step program immediately allow individuals a significantly higher chance of success. Our Recovery Assistance Program can provide this– and if Hamilton were monitored, would he have had this slip? No one knows. We wonder why the sporting world hasn’t used this type of solution to their drug problem- why not monitor athletes who have had drug problems instead of simply drug testing them? This would allow for a much greater chance of success and a lower rate of relapse- thus keeping their best players on the field. A smart business AND personal decision, if you ask us.
As far as Jeremy Mayfield goes, just a troubling story. Mayfield told press and reporters at the time that he “didn’t need to go to rehab.” Collateral information from his step-mother soon emerged, with her accusing him of using and manufacturing methamphetamines over the past seven years. She signed an affidavit, saying, “I was concerned about his heavy use and talked to his father about it. I saw Jeremy use methamphetamine by snorting it up his nose at least 30 times during the 7 years I was around him. Jeremy used methamphetamine not only in my presence, but also when we were both in the presence of others.” Mayfield then responded with some strong comments against his stepmother, who then sued him for slander. So our question is, in all of this hullabaloo, why didn’t anyone step forward and question Mayfield about his meth use? Obviously it was well known in the family; why were people continuing to enable his using? Did no one know of an intervention or treatment? These are the things that trouble us– a history of 7 years of KNOWN using, and no action by a family to create change. These are the things we can’t push strongly enough– that a family can only create change if they choose to do so.
Make sure you make the right choice.
Tags: addiction, jeremy mayfield meth, josh hamilton relapse, methamphetamine, recovery assistance, relapse and recovery
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