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Monday, May 7, 2012

Someone You Know is an Addict


Someone You Know is an Addict
It’s estimated that approximately one in five people are born with an addictive personality - meaning they are vulnerable to becoming addicted to a substance or behavior.  This means that there is an excellent chance that someone you know - a friend or family member - is suffering, perhaps secretly, with an addiction problem.
The most serious cases end with the death or suicide or the victim.

This article is part of a campaign by Addictions UK to help addicts, all around the world. Read on to find out how you can offer your support. 

Understanding Addiction
The rapid growth of the Internet in recent years has seen the rise of new addiction problems, including Facebook addiction, online pornography addiction, online gambling addiction, and even Internet addiction.  
Although the word “addiction” is used to mean many different things, what we’re talking about here is more accurately described as “pathological dependence” - a flaw in the brain chemistry that creates an overwhelming and escalating urge to engage in a certain kind of behavior, even if the person knows that their actions are hurting them and they’re desperate to stop.
The condition of addiction can be easier to understand when compared to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  An OCD sufferer may be aware that, logically, there is no need to repeatedly wash their hands until they’re raw and bleeding, but the compulsion is so strong that they’re powerless to stop.  
Similarly, an online gambling addict may be racked with guilt because, once again, they’ve spent the grocery money on online poker, but no matter what they try, they cannot gain control of their behavior.
Worse still, when an addict’s compulsive behavior is of a type that is considered socially unacceptable, it’s common to hide the problem and try to tackle it privately.  This usually only results in the problem becoming more deeply entrenched.
Treatment is Available
The first step to successfully tacking addiction is education.  The addict may have come to the conclusion that they are a wicked person who is beyond redemption, but learning that their troubling actions are symptoms of an illness that afflicts millions of other people, many of whom have been successfully treated, can rekindle their hope and create a burning desire to obtain treatment.
Talking to a doctor can help; they may be able to recommend a local addiction treatment program.  Alternatively, private treatment can be obtained (see below). The most important thing is for the addict to recognize that they have a dependency problem and that they cannot enter recovery without professional help.

How You Can Help
At the beginning of this article, we said that there is a strong chance that a friend of family member is suffering, maybe in silence, but that there is a way you can help.
There’s little point in trying to guess who may or not be affected. Addiction afflicts all different kinds of people, and often the person you least expect.

What you can do is help to put this article in front of as many different people as possible.  The more people that see this message, the more likely it is that it will reach someone who really needs it.
To show your support for this campaign, please do one or more of the following:

Share this article on Twitter and Facebook.

Go to  AddictonSuk and “Like” this page.

Place a link to  AddictionSuk:
"http://www.addictionsuk.com" 
www.addictionsuk.com or  
"http://www.facebook.com/addictionsuk" 
www.facebook.com/addictionsuk on your website.

Post a comment below this blog post.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

"The Four Pillars of Recovery"

Does Addiction Rehab and Therapy Work?

From what I see with the friends and celebrities going in and out of it on a regular basis, apparently not. My close friend has seen it all and nothing has helped until now. She found a Dr with a program that actually works. Dr. John Vigil is caring for my friend now, and there are great strides of recovery for her like I've seen never before.

He has written the best explanation about Alcohol and Drug addiction I've ever read. His honesty and totally frank story about a lifetime struggle with addiction doesn't sugar coat any of the disasters that out of control addiction has in one's life including those closest to him. What turned my thinking around is  medical description about what happens with alcohol and substance abuse. He explained with great compassion and easy to understand medical terms, why people don't get better with conventional treatment. Reading his book, gave my search for answers answers to that question from someone who has seen both sides. 

I learned a greater compassion for addicts after reading his book. The clear cut path of "FOUR PILLARS OF RECOVERY" just might hold the key to anyone with an substance addiction gaining freedom from this disease. I am sharing his website, his information with you the readers, so you have a link to someone who knows what he's doing and lays a clear path for recovery.

Dr John Vigil of Albuquerque, NM authored a book on addiction and recovery titled "The Four Pillars of Recovery." It explains his comprehensive state-of-the art and evidence based care for drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse disorders, including buprenorphine (Suboxone) office-based treatment for opiate addiction. Doctor on Call is an Albuquerque mental health clinic is run by a medical doctor specializing in addiction medicine.Dr. Vigil is a member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

CONTACT INFORMATION:Main WEBSITE: Doctor on Call Dr Vigil's Blog: HEALTH CARE REFORM BLOGDownload free brochure: Counseling Services and Behavioral Health



Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Whitney Houston, another Big Pharma victim?




Celebrities Lost
America’s most famous people have been dying from prescription drugs for decades. Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe quickly come to mind. But just as the epidemic has exploded on main street America, so too has it taken its toll among the nation’s most celebrated people. Here is just a brief list, from the past and the present, and the prescription drugs that killed them.
Below from PharmacyTechs.net and Wikipedia.comMarilyn Monroe (1962) – Pentobarbital, chloral hydrate
Dorothy Dandridge (1965) – Imipramine/Tofranil
Jimi Hendrix (1970) – Secobarbital/Seconal
Bruce Lee (1973) – Equagesic
Freddie Prinze (1977) – Methaqualone/Quaaludes
Elvis Presley (1977) - 14 drugs, including codeine, methaqualone/Quaaludes
Keith Moon (The Who) (1978) – Clomethiazole/Heminevrin
Abbie Hoffman (1989) – Phenobarbital
Steve Clark (Def Leppard) (1991) - Unspecified antidepressant and painkiller
Margaux Hemingway (1996) – Phenobarbital
Rob Pilatus (Milli Vanilli) (1998) – methadone
Dana Plato (1999) – Carisoprodol/Soma, Vicodin
Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Wu-Tang Clan) (2004) – Tramadol
Chris Penn (2006) – Promethazine, codeine
Gerald Levert (2006) – 6 drugs including Vicodin, Percocet, Dextropropoxyphene/Darvocet
Anna Nicole Smith (2007) - 11 drugs including chloral hydrate, clonazepam/Klonopin, lorazepam/Ativan, oxazepam/Serax, diazepam/Valium
Pimp C (Underground Kingz) (2007) – Promethazine, codeine
Heath Ledger (2008) - 6 drugs including oxycodone, hydrocodone, temazepam, diazepam/Valium, alprazolam/Xanax and doxylamine
Michael Jackson (2009) – propofol, benzodiazepine
Brittany Murphy (2009) – multiple drugs including hydrocodone, L-methamphetamine, chlorpheniramine
Leslie Carter (Nick/Aaron) (2012) – pending toxicology results
Whitney Houston (2012) – pending toxicology results
With all due love and affection for the above, it’s a shame it takes the death of a superstar to shine an always brief spotlight on the devastating effects of prescription drugs and their over-supply in this country. More than 40 regular Americans die from the same prescription drugs everyday.
NOTE: The clip above is from WHITEOUT PRESS Independent News at its Best! - If it's blacked-out, covered-up or censored, you can find it here.
Read the entire article here: Whitney Houston, another Big Pharma victim?




OTHER ADDICTSHUN POSTS ON CELEBRITIES:


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Monday, February 6, 2012

AddictShuns: Two paths of choice

TWO PATHS:
There are two paths of choice given to each soul. Good or evil, blessings or curse, life abundant or life just barely making it. Fulfillment or insatiable addictions. The ancient call from Moses in Mt. Sinai's desert lands squarely in our face in modern times:
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: Deuteronomy 30:18-20
Potential... Do you know yours? Do unfulfilled desires, spark against the mindful frozen places in life - when we are stuck? Sometimes we are filled with hope and promise, only to be squelched by fears, static doubt and slothfulness. There is a destiny for each of us, a plan for productive lives, blossoming gardens and time to prove life's bearing of goodness or destruction. A garden bearing fruit or one filled with rocks and briers. Often we have lived in both circumstance.

Some find their way becoming exactly what they want with all things falling in place. The devote their entire being with a single focus on their art, music, talents, skills and careers, despite obstacles they always aim towards their goals. Noticed or not, the pursuit of skillful productivity and honorable craft remain the heartbeat of their existence. Nothing pulls them away from that purpose. They master their profession rather than waste or divide time to useless, self-destructive activities.

Others fall in to the sludge of nothingness, held captive to past wounds and hurts, filled with anger, bitterness and self-pity that things didn't go "my way." They become lost in self-incriminating talk, mashing all the pain with fraudulent lifestyles filled with parties, self-indulgence no matter what the cost to those around them. They learn the art of deceit using words and looking good on the outside to connive people into their intentions. They numb their pain with superficial remedies in the form of addiction from drugs, to sex, to work, to food to whatever comforts them for the time being. It's really greed in the ugliest form. It all begins so easy with just one drink, one pill or glimpse. When hooked it's the exact path of the goodness only on the dark side. Every focus is to fill the bodies need for relief.  The path of addiction is actually the art of self deception leading to destruction. The substance of need becomes a wicked, relentless god.

Women Food and God
I read this book Women Food and God. It plowed through my own issues and pains, which doesn't happen very often. I understand that she writes about things that underlie any one's addictions and avoidance in overcoming obstacles in life. It's too bad it's title states Women and Food. I believe it is written for everyone.  The word 'Food' can be replaced by drugs, pills, smoking, pornography or whatever other vice one faces. It's worth the read. Getting to the root of any illness or disease is the first step towards healing.

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Women Food and God

more from her journal: Chapter 7



Chapter Seven & Eight available now! 


Click on the page tab called Lovin' an Addict,
you can read these chapters and the entire story!


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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Addictshuns....
Occasionally I find articles in Christian circles regarding addiction. It's a topic well guarded and kept in classes called Celebrate Recovery. The main difference being that you recover rather than always calling yourself an addict, I would assume. I attended one Celebrate class for al-anon. Perhaps I should have tried it more than once, however the format never gave me pause to actually come back. If you ask me I'll tell why; but only in personal email. I would never discredit a place that helps so many others get well, it did not help me.

So today I found this article written by Steve and Kellie Swisher from Kenneth Copeland Ministries.. They give 6 great daily tips for those challenged with addictions. Worth a quick read!

 Here's a clip from the end of the article:

This attitude is described wonderfully in these words from Fred Bauer:
FOR QUIET--I LIKE UNSPEAKING TREES,
FOR CARES--A SPIRITED MOUNTAIN WALK,
FOR FULFILLMENT--SOMEONE TO PLEASE,
FOR LAUGHTER--HEARING CHILDREN TALK,
FOR REASSURANCE--A HAND TO HOLD
FOR STRENGTH--THE PERSEVERING SEA,
FOR UNDERSTANDING--A FRIENDSHIP OLD,
FOR HOPE, LORD, I TURN TO THEE.
Get Addicted to Something positive today and really live!
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, I am getting addicted to you, good thoughts are flooding my memory system, changes are being made, I can catch a glimpse of my fantastic future and it’s just over the rainbow.  Help me reach it.  In Jesus’ Name.          
Amen