Category: Sober living

With all the highly-publicized cases of celebrity drug addiction and its frequent portrayals in the media, most of us think we know quite a bit about addiction. Even those who have sought drug or alcohol treatment may be guilty of believing themselves to be more informed than they really are, falling victim to the many myths about recovery. A similar misconception is that people believe that the power to stop lies within the person who is addicted, but that they just aren’t trying hard enough or don’t want to stop. Once addiction takes hold, brain chemistry can change, making it hard to control impulses or make rational decisions.

When you give yourself time to heal in an environment that’s free from triggers, you are giving yourself a better chance of maintaining your sobriety after you return home. If an intensive outpatient program is right for you, you can seek treatment without leaving home for extended periods. When someone refers to quitting drugs or alcohol “cold turkey,” they mean they plan to quit abruptly without the help of medication or assistance from experienced medical personnel.

Myth #4: It Doesn’t Count as Treatment if I Need Medication

In most cases, people don’t seek treatment because they’re ashamed. If you show someone you aren’t judging them and encourage them to get help before they hit rock bottom, they may listen. Did a person with diabetes eat sweets every day to get the disease?

• Treatment for addiction is ever-changing, especially with studies such as this highlighting the negative effects of stigmatization on addiction recovery.
• At least one American dies every 52 minutes from drunk driving.
• In some cases, people are genetically predisposed to become addicted to something — if they begin to use alcohol or drugs, they are more likely to become addicted to them.
• As the body gets used to the chemical abuse, it craves those chemicals intensely.
• First, when your body begins to experience intense withdrawal symptoms, they may be so unbearable that you could be tempted to give up and seek out drugs or alcohol to stop them.

While making a significant life change can provide temporary relief from addiction, it’s not a permanent fix. Most of the time, people turn to drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms. So, the stress from moving away from everyone you know, getting a new job, or going to college can be enough to cause a person to return to bad habits. While it’s true that you may encounter some people who don’t understand your decision, treatment provides you with an environment where you are surrounded by people who know what you’re going through. Besides the others in your program, many addiction programs rely on help and support from former patients who have turned their lives around and are now committed to giving back to their communities. If you enter our residential program, you can expect healthy meals, time to socialize with peers and comfortable surroundings designed to help you relax and focus on recovery.

Myth #2 – Addicts/Alcoholics Have to Hit Rock Bottom

Here are some myths about addiction recovery, debunked by the experts who help people with treatment every day. When addiction takes hold, these changes in the brain erode a person’s self-control and ability to make good decisions, while sending highly intense impulses to take drugs. These are the same circuits linked to survival, driving powerful urges no different from those driving the need to eat or drink water.

Substance Use for Adults Explore individualized treatment programs that help adults with drug abuse, detox, and rehab. Substance Use for Young Adults Explore individualized treatment programs that help young adults with drug abuse, detox, and rehab. Addiction is a disease that is not well understood in the medical community.

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This is simply not an accurate portrayal of someone with a substance abuse disorder. It is actually quite common for people to form cross addictions, where they simply replace their addiction with a new addiction rather than developing other coping skills. EVERY person we worked with was not only professional but caring and supportive.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that addiction to drugs or alcohol is a voluntary decision. In reality, leading authorities and medical professionals agree that addiction is a chronic disease, like heart disease or cancer. More recently, prescription opioids like pain and anxiety medications are commonly abused and lead to overdose. The people suffering from addiction to these substances are present in our daily lives. Some people believe that because alcohol is legal and many people drink, it’s not as dangerous as illegal drugs. However, alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs available.

Addiction Myth #4: Every person that uses drugs is an addict.

These are just a few of the common misconceptions around addiction. At Safe Harbor Recovery Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, we seek to educate our guests and their loved ones about the realities of addiction, treatment, and recovery. Addiction myths about addiction and recovery is a chronic health condition, which requires ongoing vigilance and treatment. Just like other chronic conditions, a relapse can happen at any time. However, the risk of relapse can be drastically reduced by making on-going healthy choices.

• When you send confidential personal information to us on our website, a secure server software which we have licensed encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us.
• We can all probably imagine the person we’ve been led to believe is an addict.
• There are two reasons why it’s dangerous to quit cold turkey.
• But finding the right treatment program takes some research.
• They may also be homeless, facing eviction, or locked into an abusive relationship.

The effects of binge drinking go beyond physical challenges and, with time, may impact your emotional health as well. Regular, heavy drinking affects how your brain functions. Therefore, after a night of binge drinking, most of them will resolve on their own. However, recurring episodes of binge drinking are likely to lead to long-term health problems, including long-term liver damage and disease. how to stop binge drinking at home Additionally, research shows that long-term problematic drinking increases one’s risk for several cancers5, including those of the mouth, colon, and liver. In the short term, a single night of binge drinking, especially in high amounts, can have several impacts on many vital body systems. Consuming more alcohol than your liver can adequately process can cause inflammation and organ irritation.

• If any of that sounds familiar, consider rethinking your relationship with alcohol.
• Diving deeper, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism describes it as a pattern of consumption that brings blood alcohol concentration to 0.08% or higher.
• Binge drinking has many well-documented effects on the brain and body.
• Because alcohol is legal, it is accepted in many different social settings, including parties, networking events, business meetings, social outings, and more.
• If drinking is linked to other issues and you use alcohol as an escape, consider support or therapy.

This is most prevalent in people with asthma and other breathing issues. Alcohol inhibits the brain’s ability to learn by shortening the attention span and disrupting neural connections. And because of alcohol’s effect on mood, there is an increased likelihood of receiving negative marks and scholastic warnings. One of the biggest immediate side effects of falling grades is hefty student loan debt that can take years to pay back. Our therapeutic approach is grounded in the most reliable clinical practices for substance abuse recovery. Binge drinking is most common among people between the ages of 18 and 25 and occurs in social situations when the individual is surrounded by peers. Alcohol is legal and widely available, especially to people over the age of 21.

How To Identify Binge Drinking

For example, you might go 3 months without drinking at all, but then have 4 beers in 1 hour at a friend’s birthday party. Discover other ways to let loose to get your mind off of drinking.

People who struggle with alcoholism are physically dependent on alcohol. They feel ongoing, intense cravings to drink all the time. In addition to that, people with an alcohol use disorder struggle to feel and function normally when they’re not drinking, which is why they tend to drink every day. You’re probably familiar with the terms binge drinking and alcoholism. People use both expressions to describe heavy drinking that may indicate alcohol-related problems. You might even hear the terms used interchangeably, but alcoholism and binge drinking are not the same.

Worried About a Loved One’s Drinking? What to Do

Replace alcohol with healthier options, such as exercise, self-care, sports, hobbies, and connecting with others. Alcohol abuse can cause or worsen symptoms of depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. You might experience adverse effects on your mood while you’re intoxicated and even after you sober up.

The percentage of people who were past-month binge alcohol users was highest among young adults ages (31.4%), compared with 22.9% of adults ages 26 or older and 4.1% of adolescents ages 12-17. Alcohol detox and rehab involve going through rehab treatment after allowing your system to completely detox from alcohol. Rehab is designed to help you overcome the chemical changes that alcohol has caused within your brain. It also https://ecosoberhouse.com/ helps you retrain your brain and psyche to overcome alcohol cravings and become more healthy. Alcohol rehab may be inpatient, which requires you to live at the facility, or outpatient, which involves regular visits for treatment. Binge drinking that is connected with AUD may seem difficult or even impossible to stop by yourself. In these cases, professional medical treatment may be necessary to help you stop drinking.

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An hour or two later, you’re more intoxicated than you wanted to be. “Excessive drinking draining the U.S. economy.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Promote good emotional connections with family members and caregivers. Several types of cancer, including liver, breast, esophageal, and colon cancers. Many alcohol treatment facilities, like The Hope House, are in place to help those who need help putting the bottle down. Be ready to stay the course and support them as they work on themselves and seek treatment.

• Binge drinking can lead to a number of social and economic consequences as well.
• However, recurring episodes of binge drinking are likely to lead to long-term health problems, including long-term liver damage and disease.
• For some, the support of friends and family is enough to keep them from surrendering to their urges.
• You might wonder why you always seem to make the same mistakes.
• She has produced a multitude of integrated campaigns and events in the behavioral health and addictions field.

In fact, research shows that young binge drinkers have about the same decision-making problems as people with a severe AUD. If you quit binge drinking, chances are those skills will begin to improve immediately. Heavy drinking is defined as having five or more episodes of binge drinking in the past month. Heavy or “risky” drinking also involves drinking more than 14 drinks a week and more than seven drinks a week . Fortunately, there are some proactive steps one can take to reduce the likelihood of overindulging in alcohol. Binge drinking is among the most common, costly, and deadly patterns ofexcessive alcoholuse in the world.

Contact us today to learn more or get started with your recovery. However, they have lost control over their drinking and can no longer regulate how much they consume the way they once could. Rather than cut back to spare themselves from serious health conditions, they drink more and more to achieve the desired effects. Another common sign of alcohol abuse is that the drinker experiences alcohol withdrawal when they go for long periods of time without drinking. On a social level, chronic alcoholism severely strains relationships.

But that doesn’t mean that it cannot be done, or that someone in recovery cannot progress towards a healthy and sober lifestyle. By continuing to attend support groups or therapy after an initial stay in a rehab or treatment program, they can keep alcohol abuse at bay and stay strong in their recovery. 5 stages of alcoholism Now, alcoholism has advanced to the middle-stage, which is when the craving for alcohol becomes extraordinarily strong. They are drinking to avoid the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal and alcohol detox. During the second stage of an alcohol use disorder, drinking becomes more frequent.

The stages of alcohol misuse explained

Effective treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) emphasizes the importance of evidence-based treatment options. It offers resources for health professionals to recommend the most suitable patient interventions. These treatments include medications, mutual support groups, and behavioral therapies tailored to individual needs. Many people with alcohol use disorder hesitate to get treatment because they don’t recognize that they have a problem.

• By Buddy T

  Buddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism.

• The symptoms can range from mild to severe, depending on the “stage” of alcoholism.
• You’re aware of the adverse effects, but no longer have control over your alcohol consumption.

They can be moderate drinkers with the occasional instance of binge drinking. A moderate drinker might pair a glass of wine with a meal, while a regular drinker uses alcohol to feel good in general. As increased drinking continues, you become more dependent on alcohol and are at risk of developing alcoholism. Some chronic alcoholics develop https://ecosoberhouse.com/boston-sober-house-roxbury/ a condition called Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which results from a thiamine (vitamin B-1) deficiency. The condition, which is sometimes called wet brain, is characterized by eye movement disorders, loss of muscle coordination, confusion and memory issues. It affects more men than women and is fatal 10 to 20 percent of the time.

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Some people decide early on that drinking alcohol is not for them. Others, however, like how alcohol makes them feel in this early stage of their alcohol use. Drinking might make a shy person feel more extroverted since their inhibitions are lowered. It can also make someone lower their perceptions about how risky various behaviors are—like driving while under the influence, trying other risky substances, or engaging in unprotected sex with multiple partners.