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5,000 people die every day ten minutes from this disease either directly or indirectly.  Let's do something!!!!!!

TYPICAL WITHDRAW SYMPTOMS

Withdrawal occurs because your brain works like a spring when it comes to addiction. Drugs and alcohol are brain depressants that push down the spring. They suppress your brain's production of neurotransmitters like noradrenaline. When you stop using drugs or alcohol it's like taking the weight off the spring, and your brain rebounds by producing a surge of adrenaline that causes withdrawal symptoms.

Every drug is different. Some drugs produce significant physical withdrawal (alcohol, opiates, and tranquilizers). Some drugs produce little physical withdrawal, but more emotional withdrawal (cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy). Every person's physical withdrawal pattern is also different. You may experience little physical withdrawal. But that doesn't mean that you're not addicted, instead you may experience more emotional withdrawal.

Below are two lists of withdrawal symptoms. The first list is the emotional withdrawal symptoms produced by all drugs. You can experience them whether you have physical withdrawal symptoms or not. The second list is the physical withdrawal symptoms that usually occur with alcohol, opiates, and tranquilizers.

Emotional Withdrawal Symptoms

• Anxiety
• Restlessness
• Irritability
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Poor concentration
• Depression
• Social isolation
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Physical Withdrawal Symptoms

• Sweating
• Racing heart
• Palpitations
• Muscle tension
• Tightness in the chest
• Difficulty breathing
• Tremor
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
  
  

Cocaine

No drug takes you down faster or harder than crack. There are two forms of cocaine, the powdered form that you snort, and crack that you smoke.

Cocaine is so addictive that if you give a mouse a hit of cocaine every time it presses a lever, it will do nothing else but press that lever. It won't stop for a minute to take a sip of water or a bite to eat, and eventually it will die from a cocaine overdose. The only thing that prevents people from overdosing on crack is their bank account. Once people are addicted to crack, they will sell their soul for another hit.

The Consequences of Cocaine Use

Cocaine is a stimulant, therefore it causes your heart to beat faster and your blood vessels to constrict, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. Heart attacks in young patients without a history of heart disease are so frequently due to cocaine that emergency room doctors are taught to consider it as one of the first diagnoses.

Cocaine is an important cause of cardiac arrest. Cocaine causes your heart to speed up, and in some cases go so fast that it actually stops. What is especially deadly about cocaine is that there is no correlation between how many times you've used cocaine or how much you used, and when you will suffer a cardiac arrest. Some people die after their first use. Other people have used cocaine hundreds of times, and then drop dead on the very next time. Some university athletes who suddenly drop dead are discovered to have died from a cocaine induced cardiac arrest.

As with all drugs, the most important consequences of cocaine addiction are psychological, social, and emotional. But with cocaine they happen faster and harder than with other drugs. If you are a cocaine addict, you don't have to wonder if you've hurt your friends and family. You can be sure that you have.

Withdrawal Symptoms

The withdrawal symptoms of cocaine are emotional.There are no physical withdraw symptoms from cocaine, which is why people sometimes trick themselves into thinking they aren't addicted to it. "I'm not physically addicted to cocaine." But there's no physical addiction and non-physical addiction – there's just addiction. All addiction occurs in the brain.

Even though there are no physical withdrawal symptoms, cocaine still satisfies the criteria of addiction. People have difficulty controlling how much they use, and they continue to use even though it has negative consequences to their life.

The emotional withdrawal symptoms of cocaine are:

• Tiredness
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Moodiness

Post-acute withdrawal. The post-acute withdrawal symptoms for cocaine are similar to those of other drugs:

• Mood swings
• Variable energy
• Low enthusiasm
• Poor concentration
• Sleep disturbances

Cross Addiction

Most cocaine addicts struggle with the idea of total abstinence. If you're addicted to cocaine, you know you never want to use cocaine again. Cocaine has ruined your life, it has cost you a lot of money, but you're not sure about stopping alcohol. Maybe alcohol has never been a problem. But because of cross addiction, if you want to stop using cocaine you must also stop all addictive drugs including alcohol and marijuana.

Alcohol is a common trigger for cocaine use. You'll start with just a few drinks a week. Maybe you'll drink moderately for weeks or even months without using cocaine. But then one week, you'll have a bad week. Bad things happen. During that week, everything will go wrong. You'll be stressed out at work. You'll have an argument at home. And by the end of the week, you'll really want a drink. But instead of just a few drinks, you'll want maybe three or four drinks to take the edge off. After the first one or two drinks, your inhibitions will be lower. After two or three drinks, you'll reach a magic number, and your brain will suddenly say "Bingo. I remember this feeling, and I remember something that feels even better." And you'll be off using again.

Dangerous Withdrawal Symptoms

Alcohol and tranquilizers produce the most dangerous physical withdrawal. Suddenly stopping alcohol or tranquilizers can lead to seizures, strokes, or heart attacks in high risk patients. A medically supervised detox can minimize your withdrawal symptoms and reduce the risk of dangerous complications. Some of the dangerous symptoms of alcohol and tranquillizer withdrawal are:

• Grand mal seizures
• Heart attacks
• Strokes
• Hallucinations
• Delirium tremens (DTs)

Withdrawal from opiates like heroin and oxycontin is extremely uncomfortable, but not dangerous unless they are mixed with other drugs. Heroin withdrawal on its own does not produce seizures, heart attacks, strokes, or delirium tremens.

Post-Acute Withdrawal

The first stage of withdrawal is the acute stage, which usually lasts for a few weeks. The second stage of withdrawal is the post-acute stage.

Opiates (Narcotics): Addiction, Withdrawal and Recovery

A List of Common Opiates in Increasing Strength

These are some of the common opiates and their generic names. They are listed in order of increasing strength.

• Codeine
• Vicodin, Hycodan (hydrocodone)
• MS Contin Kadian (morphine)
• Oxycontin, Percoset (oxycodone)
• Dilaudid (hydromorphone)
• Duragesic (fentanyl)

What are Opiates?

Opiates are a group of drugs that are used for treating pain. They are derived from opium which comes from the poppy plant. Opiates go by a variety of names including opiates, opioids, and narcotics. The term opiates is sometimes used for close relatives of opium such as codeine, morphine and heroin, while the term opioids is used for the entire class of drugs including synthetic opiates such as Oxycontin. But the most commonly used term is opiates.

Opiate Addiction

Opiates produce a sense of well being or euphoria that can be addictive to some people. Opiates are legitimately used for treating pain. When used for pain relief, many people develop tolerance, meaning they need more and more to get the same effect. Some people go on to develop an addiction to opiates. They begin to obsessively think about getting more opiates and in some cases engage in illegal activities such as double doctoring.

A high dose of opiates can cause death from cardiac or respiratory arrest. Tolerance to the euphoric effect of opiates develops faster than tolerance to the dangerous effects. Therefore people often overdose by mistake because they are trying to get a higher high and take too much.

Opiate overdose can be reversed in hospital with intravenous naltrexone. Please contact emergency services if you feel you are in danger of an overdose.

Opiate Withdrawal

Opiate withdrawal can be extremely uncomfortable. The important thing to remember is that opiate withdrawal is not life threatening if you are withdrawing only from opiates and not a combination of drugs.

Opiate withdrawal symptoms include:

• Low energy, Irritability, Anxiety, Agitation, Insomnia
• Runny nose, Teary eyes
• Hot and cold sweats, Goose bumps
• Yawning
• Muscle aches and pains
• Abdominal cramping, Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea

Opiate withdrawal symptoms can last anywhere from one week to one month. Especially the emotional symptoms such as low energy, anxiety and insomnia can last for a few months after stopping high doses of opiates.

Once the early stage withdrawal symptoms are over, you will still experience post-acute withdraw symptoms. These are less severe but last longer.

Benzodiazepines, Tranquilizers, and Sleeping Pills

Here are some of the common tranquilizers and sleeping pills, and their generic names.

• Valium (diazepam)
• Ativan (lorazepam)
• Xanax (alprazolam)
• Klonopin or Rivotril (clonazepam)
• Restoril (temazepam)
• Rohypnol (flunitrazepam)
• Dalmane (flurazepam)
• Imovane (zopiclone)
• Ambien (zoldipem)
• Lunesta (eszopiclone)

A Benzo Story

It's easy to become dependant on tranquilizers. People sometimes become dependent on tranquilizers inadvertently. You can become dependent on them if you take tranquilizers for more than a few months. For example, if you followed your doctor's orders and never abused your prescription, you could still experience significant withdrawal symptoms if you stop them suddenly.

This is a true story about dependence to prescription tranquilizers (sometimes called benzos). Unfortunately it is a story that happens almost every day. Cheryl (not her real name) came went to a doctor for treatment after ten years of being prescribed Ativan. Although the story is about Ativan, I have heard similar stories about all tranquilizers.

Cheryl was a happy young lady at twenty years old. She rarely took Tylenol for a headache. Life was good, except for her stressful job.

Then one day Cheryl felt a tightness in her chest and had difficulty breathing. Her heart began to race. Her palms were sweaty and her hands were shaking. She was overcome with worry, but didn't know what she was worried about.

Cheryl went to her doctor who listened to her story and told her that she was experiencing an anxiety attack. The visit lasted less than 15 minutes and at the end of the visit he handed her a prescription for Ativan.

The tranquilizer worked exactly as expected initially. Within a few days Cheryl was more relaxed, and she was sleeping better. Sometimes she slept so soundly that she woke up feeling groggy the next morning. But that passed. Even the stress of work was easier to handle. Both Cheryl and her doctor were relieved.

For the next two years Cheryl continued to use Ativan on and off as needed. She never abused it, and never used more than her prescription. For two years her doctor kept on prescribing Ativan with little reassessment. As time went on Cheryl started using it a little more often. Eventually she was taking a tranquilizer almost every day. Sometimes her family doctor would simply renew the prescription over the phone. Cheryl was just happy that the anxiety attacks had gone.

By the end of the third year Cheryl was concerned, and approached her doctor. Was Ativan addictive she wondered? He assured her it was not. But Cheryl had her doubts and she persuaded her doctor to take her off the drug. One week later, Cheryl was hit with series of anxiety attacks. She felt a little guilty that she questioned her doctor, and he immediately restarted her on Ativan.

What Cheryl didn't know was that the anxiety attacks may have been avoided if she had been tapered off the drug correctly. In fact suddenly stopping tranquilizers can be dangerous.

There is a significant risk of seizure, strokes, heart attacks, or hallucinations if you stop tranquilizers suddenly.

Two years later, still not convinced that this was the harmless drug her doctor said it was, Cheryl took herself off the tranquilizers. The withdrawal was rough. Cheryl experienced all kinds of symptoms, including anxiety, mood swings, and poor concentration.

Her husband started to lose patience. But she persisted. Then one day, her boss told her that she had to take on more responsibilities at work. Cheryl tried to explain that she was going through a difficult time and that she wasn't sure she could take on more stress right now. But her boss said that the company was restructuring and Cheryl's job might be on the line.

Despite all that stress, Cheryl managed to remain off the pills and get through the withdrawal. But during that time she didn't dare see her doctor once, because she was afraid that if he made the slightest suggestion she would lose her resolve and go back on Ativan.

Cheryl managed to stay off tranquilizers for a whole year, and was feeling stronger all the time. Given enough time we know she would have done well. It takes about 2 years for patients fully recover from the effects of tranquilizers. But Cheryl's mother fell ill and Cheryl took on the responsibility of her medical care.

One night, Cheryl suddenly woke up with her heart pounding in her chest. She had difficulty breathing, and she thought she was going to die. She went to the emergency room, and after a full examination was told that there was nothing wrong with her. She had experienced another anxiety attack.

The emergency room sent a follow up letter to her family doctor who booked an appointment to see Cheryl. He said he wanted to refer Cheryl to a psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist explained that Cheryl had a chemical imbalance, and that this was the cause of her anxiety. He said that it was not uncommon, and there was an effective treatment for it. He assured her that it was not addictive, and his very words were, "You can take this medication for the rest of your life." Then the psychiatrist did something that set Cheryl back another five years. He wrote her a prescription for Ativan.

Now events started to happen a little more quickly. The Ativan wasn't as effective as it had been in the past, and there were days when Cheryl needed more than her usual dose. The psychiatrist agreed that on bad days Cheryl could take 1 or 2 more pills to deal with her anxiety. By the end, Cheryl was being prescribed 4 times her initial dose. But at each visit her psychiatrist reassured her that she was doing well. Gradually, he spent less and less time with her since the Ativan was working. Some visits consisted of him just writing a prescription.

Cheryl had become dependent on tranquilizers. The more she took them, the more her brain adapted to them, and the more she needed. Whenever she tried to slow down, her withdrawal symptoms forced her to start up again.

The irony of tranquilizers is that they're prescribed for anxiety and sleep. But the longer you take them the more they increase your anxiety and disturb your sleep.

The doctors had said that Cheryl could take these pills for the rest of her life. And sure enough it was coming true. Tranquilizers are the perfect addictive drug. The longer you take them — the more you need them.

After a while Cheryl began to experience new symptoms. She started feeling depressed. Initially she had a hard time describing it. She was less interested in things. She didn't have as much energy as she normally did, and she wasn't as happy. She complained to her psychiatrist who eventually decided to start Cheryl on an antidepressant. But he continued to prescribe the tranquilizer.

Most addictive drugs if taken long enough can cause depression. It is quite common with tranquilizers. Cheryl had been given a tranquilizer that caused depression, and now she was taking an antidepressant to counteract the tranquilizer.

Ten years had passed in one person's life. What started out as anxiety, probably brought on by work stress, had gradually escalated into dependence and depression.

Finally, it was Cheryl herself who took the initiative and sought help to come off her drugs. She was gradually tapered off her Ativan, and counseled on post-acute withdrawal. Her withdrawal was uncomfortable, but with support she managed to get through it.

Cheryl completed her taper, went through withdrawal, and is now living a better life. Her symptoms disappeared after about two years. She will now happily tell you that she feels better than she's felt in years, and that it's good to no longer be dependent on tranquilizers.

Why are benzodiazepines still prescribed? If they're that awful why do doctors still use them? Because they can be helpful if taken for a short time. Some people need them to deal with unusually stressful situations. But if you take them for longer than a few weeks or months, your body will adapt to them, your anxiety level will rise, and you will need more of them over time.

Potential Symptoms of Long-term Use

The longer you use tranquilizers and sleeping pills the more anxious you become. In the beginning the help you relax and fall asleep. But after a few months they have the opposite effect.

One of the most disturbing symptoms of long-term benzodiazepine use is depersonalization. It means not feeling quite real. It's impossible to describe unless you've experienced it, but tranquilizer patients often say things like "I don't feel quite real," or "my arms don't feel connected to my body," or "when I'm in a group of people I somehow feel outside of myself." All bizarre descriptions that mean the person is experiencing depersonalization.

Post-Acute Withdrawal Symptoms

Some of the symptoms of tranquilizer post-acute withdrawal

• Anxiety
• Mood swings
• Depersonalization
• Poor concentration
• Social isolation
• Low energy
• Disturbed sleep

Post-acute withdrawal gradually gets better over two years. Your symptoms should show gradual improvement. Measure your progress month to month. If you measure your progress day to day, or week to week, you'll often have one week that will be worse than the week before. But if you measure your progress month to month you should see steady improvement. If you take care of yourself, and you're patient, you can get through this.

Alcohol Addiction and Recovery

• Approximately 60% of drinkers drink less than 4 drinks on the days when they drink.
• 20% of drinkers drink 5 or more less than 10% of the time.
• 9% of drinkers drink 5 or more at least half the time.

The Consequences of Alcohol Abuse

The four most common medical consequences of alcohol abuse are:

• High blood pressure
• Liver damage
• Red blood cell damage
• Depression

There is a simple blood test that can check for liver damage. Your doctor can check for liver damage by testing three liver enzymes (AST, ALT, GGT). These enzymes normally occur inside your liver cells. When your liver is damaged, the enzymes are released into your blood stream and show up on a blood test. Therefore the higher the enzyme count the greater the liver damage. The most accurate of these test for alcohol liver damage is GGT.

Even if you have liver damage, your liver can repair itself. Your liver is designed to filter toxins from your blood, therefore it's designed to take care of itself. All you have to do is stop drinking and it will gradually go back to normal.

Repeated liver damage can cause cirrhosis. Your liver is a remarkable organ, but it can only repair itself so many times. If you continue to damage it with alcohol abuse, after a while your liver won't be able to repair itself and it will turn into scar tissue. Cirrhosis is just the medical term that means part of your liver has turned into scar tissue.

But there's good news. Cirrhosis is not a progressive disease. If you stop drinking, any cirrhosis you have will not get worse as long as you don't have advanced cirrhosis. There's even more good news. Your liver is a big organ and you have more liver than you need. People can lose 30% of their liver in a car accident and still lead normal lives. So if you have less than 30% cirrhosis and you stop drinking, you can lead a normal life. Your doctor can do an ultrasound to see if you have cirrhosis, and estimate what percent cirrhosis you may have.

Alcohol abuse can damage your red blood cells. When your red blood cells are damaged by alcohol they swell up and increase in volume. Your doctor can do a simple blood test to check for that. It's called MCV (mean corpuscular volume). If your red blood cells are enlarged, they're usually repairable since they get recycled by your body every 3-4 months. Stop drinking and they'll quickly return to normal.

Depression is one of the most common, serious consequences of alcohol abuse. One study looked at 2,945 alcoholics. 15% were depressed before they began abusing alcohol. 26% were depressed while they were using alcohol, and 15% remained depressed once they had stopped drinking for an extended period. In other words alcohol abuse almost doubles the risk of depression.

Some less common but serious consequences of alcohol abuse are:

• Cardiac arrhythmias
• Impaired immune system
• Decreased bone density
• Peripheral nerve damage
• Gastrointestinal bleeding
• Heart attacks and cardiomyopathy
• Strokes

Recovery and Relapse Prevention Strategies for Alcoholism

If you have decided that you are addicted to alcohol, this is your opportunity to change your life. Learn more about recovery skills and relapse prevention stragities you can recover from alcoholism and be happier.

Marijuana

Marijuana is as addictive as alcohol. Approximately 10% of people who smoke marijuana will get addicted to it. That means 90% of people can use it recreationally. But for the other 10%, marijuana is not a harmless herb. They will have difficulty controlling their use, and they will continue to use even though it has negative consequences to their life. Every day people enter rehab programs or go to a 12 step group to deal with their marijuana addiction.

One study looked at 2,446 young adults between the ages of 14-24, and followed them for a period of 4 years. Approximately 10% met the criteria for marijuana addiction. 17% experienced withdrawal when they stopped using, 14% had difficulty controlling their use, and 13% continued to use even though they had health problems due to their marijuana use.

Cross Addiction

Marijuana is one of the most difficult drugs to give up. Not because it's more addictive than other drugs, but because addicts are more reluctant to let it go. They see it as their final vice.

If you want to recover from addiction, you also have to stop using marijuana. If you continue to use marijuana, you're saying that you don't want to change your life and you don't want to learn new ways to relax, escape, and reward yourself, which means nothing will have changed.

The Consequences of Marijuana Use

Marijuana users are 4 times more likely to develop depression. One study looked at 1,920 people, and followed them for 16 years. It discovered that people who smoked marijuana were 4 times more likely to develop depression.

Another study looked at 1601 students aged 14-15 and followed them for seven years. Approximately 60% of the students had used marijuana by the age of 20, and 7% had become daily users. The young women of the group who were daily users had a five time greater chance of developing depression.

Marijuana almost triples the chance of developing psychotic symptoms. A 3-year study followed 4,045 psychosis-free people. It came to the conclusion that marijuana smokers are three times more likely to develop psychotic symptoms (including manic-depression) than non-smokers.

Marijuana and Pain Control

Marijuana is no more effective in controlling pain than codeine. One study reviewed 9 clinical trials that compared marijuana with other pain medication in a total of 222 patients. The study looked at 5 cancer pain trials, 2 chronic non-malignant pain trials, and 2 acute postoperative pain trials. The review showed that marijuana was no more effective in controlling pain than 60-120 mg codeine. But it also showed that marijuana had more side effects than codeine including the fact that it caused more depression.

IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE IS SUFFERING FROM ADDICTION PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME AT LynnNelson6489@hotmail.com

THERE IS A BETTER LIFE WAITING FOR YOU.

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