Thursday, January 23, 2014

There are times when the curve balls of life are a little more than we can handle on our own. The good news is, you are not alone and healing and treatment opportunities are readily at your disposal. Drug and alcohol addiction can creep up on the best of us, and the slavery that follows can be a period of time where darkness just seems to envelope everything around us. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Addiction treatment can be successful when paired with love, education, diligence, community, motivation and recovery. There are a plethora of counseling agencies, therapeutic communities, specialized drug treatment programs and drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers available that offer hope, freedom and resurgence. Determination and support amongst family members is a vital component of helping addicted youths overcome dependence.

Seeking out educational, reliable information is a good first step. Gaining a better understanding of addiction and the symptoms it brings can help parents and other family members communicate more effectively and convey their love, concern and support. The first step is to get professional help; help that can offer trustworthy, unswerving guidance and therapy, both to teens and their families.

There are many options available for families who have a teen that is involved with substance and or alcohol abuse. Residential facility care is one such option which involves edification, medical care and localized treatment methods. Most programs are founded on the twelve step model, and group meetings are a central component of treatment. Many residential programs are substantially controlled in order to give residents the best possible opportunity for success and triumph over their specific addiction.

Infiltrating free time with structured events, activities, therapy sessions and group meetings allows little opportunity for addictive stumbling blocks. Teens can receive encouraging support and will have time to express themselves freely to trained, licensed professionals. In many cases, these sessions open doors of communication between youths and their family members bridging the painful gap that addiction can cause in meaningful, loving relationships.

Outpatient programs can offer success to those whose schedules and addiction may not require in-house rehabilitation, or who have already completed a more stringent residential program. Outpatient treatment offers a variety of key tools that can help families and those suffering from addiction find confidence, hope and autonomy through sober living. Outpatient services can include drug and alcohol assessments, both group and individual therapy sessions, and specialized counseling for family members. Enlightening and instructive courses on drug and alcohol addiction and methods are used to combat and treat addictions, including drug screening, and medical treatments, if necessary.

The ability to combat and find freedom against addiction and enjoy the wonder and beauty of a sober life is within reach for anyone who desires to make a change. Family members and their teens are not alone and there are facilities, professionals and treatment options that can and will bring additional support and encouragement and create a foundation of healing, not only for the addict, but to the relationships that have been damaged by the dependence. Liberty from addiction is one phone call away and the choice to restore sobriety and renew life is available to everyone. The choice and the opportunity are yours! Success awaits you!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Cold laser therapy, also known as low level laser therapy or LLLT, is an alternative, non-surgical method of treatment that has existed since the late 1960s. Cold laser therapy was being utilized in Europe and Asia for decades before the FDA finally cleared the first cold laser in the United States in 2001. Since that time there have been hundreds of clinical studies that support the efficacy of cold laser therapy for knee pain relief. It is a great option for those searching for alternatives to conventional methods that might have failed them in the past.
Which Types of Knee Conditions Does Cold Laser Therapy Help Relieve?
A cold laser is a non-surgical treatment tool used by a licensed physician to help relieve knee pain caused from a knee injury, degeneration, arthritis knee pain, baker's cysts, meniscus tears, bursitis of the knee, tendonitis of the knee, chondromalacia patella, and failed knee surgery. Individuals who suffer from chronic knee pain can benefit tremendously from treatments. The therapy is unique in that it enables patients to experience knee pain relief without knee surgery, medications or knee injections. Unlike pain medications and knee injections cold laser therapy treatments are considered non-invasive,do not cause any harmful side effects, and are completely painless.
What Other Conditions Are Treated With Laser Therapy?
In addition to relieving knee pain and inflammation the treatment can be used by physicians for treating a myriad of other musculoskeletal conditions. The treatments have also proven to be effective for neck pain, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain and arthritis pain. Researchers are also investigating the possibilities of cold lasers being used to heal broken bones more quickly, to help regenerate the nerves in injured spinal cords and to help regenerate new skin in burn victims.
How Does The Treatment Work?
Cold laser therapy treatments work by using highly focused, specific wavelengths of light to target the area of injury. The light penetrates deeply into the tissue in the form of non-thermal light photons. This light helps stimulate and excite damaged and injured cells' mitochondria. The mitochondria is considered the 'powerhouse' of the cell. By exciting the mitochondria the metabolic rate of the cell improves thereby healing and repairing the tissue at a faster rate. In addition, to relieving knee pain, treatments have also been shown to improve tissue growth, cell communication, and cell nutrition. As a result of cellular excitation, lasers also accelerate lymphatic activity which ultimately helps reduce edema or swelling in and around the knee joint. Additionally, the therapy aids in achieving an increase in blood flow and in the formation of new capillaries in and around the knee joint.
How Many Knee Treatments Does it Take to Experience Relief?
The exact number of treatments depends on the duration and severity of the pain. In addition, an examination, an x-ray or MRI evaluation of the knee joint must be performed and taken into account in order to help determine an accurate treatment plan. The good news is that the effects are cumulative and improve with each treatment. It usually takes a series of 10 to 30 treatments for knee pain sufferers to get the most beneficial results; however, in many acute cases the relief can be immediate. Moreover, it is important to continue the treatments until the doctor has indicated that the therapy is complete.
Contraindications to Therapy...
While the FDA has classified cold lasers as "non-significant risk" devices, the treatments are not appropriate for individuals who are pregnant, or who observe the presence of potentially cancerous skin lesions near the site of the knee injury. This knee treatment is also contraindicated for individuals who take medications that result in photosensitivity.
The Most Important Step...Choosing The Right Knee Pain Relief Doctor...
Finally, choosing the right doctor that specializes in cold laser therapy for knee pain is as important as the treatment itself. Any health care professional with a license can own a cold laser, but in order to get the best results find a doctor who only treats the knee joint and who has devoted their practice to using this type of therapy. If you choose wisely, you will have a greater chance of achieving knee pain relief and ultimately avoiding knee surgery.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The sad truth is that most people who try to recover from addiction to alcohol or drugs do not stay in recovery. Relapse is commonplace. Rarely does a relapse occur without warning; there are usually significant warning signs that can signal that the recovering person is at high risk for relapse. It is critical for anyone in recovery to understand these warning signs.

First it is important to understand triggers. Triggers are things that tend to lead addicts back to their drug of choice. A trigger can be a person, a place, certain types of events, or strong feelings such as depression or anxiety. When a person undergoes addiction treatment, their therapist will help them understand those things that could trigger them to relapse. The most common triggers are old friends who still abuse substances and significant stress, such as job or relationship problems. For alcoholics, a trigger might be a bar they used to drink at. Some people in recovery will try to revisit their old haunts without the conscious intention of drinking or using drugs; they will claim they just miss their old friends. This is rarely a good idea in recovery.

Here are seven warning signs that you might be heading toward a relapse.

1. You Stop Doing What You Need to Do to Stay Abstinent

The most common thing is for the recovering addict or alcoholic to stop going to 12-step meetings. They will make excuses: they don't like the fact people pray or everyone talks too much about their past substance abuse. Most people who stay in recovery maintain some sort of connection to the 12-step programs, even if it's only a weekly meeting. This allows them to continually be reminded of who they are and what is at stake.

The recovering addict might stop therapy because they find it too uncomfortable. They might stop exercising or doing any other positive behavior that has helped them stay comfortable in sobriety.

2. You Start Romanticizing the Days When You Were Abusing Substances

This might take the form of remembering only the good times when you were drinking or experimenting with drugs. Most addicts had a time during which they had few consequences for substance abuse. They may even have had fun. However, those times were long gone by the time you got clean. At some point they became dependent on the drug and consequences piled up. If you find yourself smiling about the "good times," and conveniently forgetting the misery of your later drug or alcohol use, this is a strong warning sign.

3. You Start Acting the Way You Did When Using: Selfish and Moody

Sometimes this is called a "dry drunk." You act like you did when drinking, even without the drink. In recovery, addicts attempt to change their attitudes. They learn that they have a tendency to personalize things and overreact. They discover that they have a low tolerance for frustration, and can get rather ornery if they don't get what they want, when they want it. They are the focus of everything. If someone doesn't smile at them, they take it personally. If someone else gets a promotion, it says something bad about their work.

If you have been working on this behavior then start to see it reappear, this is a warning sign.

4. You Start Thinking that Maybe Just a One Drink Won't Hurt

It you find you are talking yourself into "just one," this is one of the most obvious signs of an impending relapse. Those in recovery know full well the consequences of substance use, so the first step in using again is to somehow convince themselves that it wasn't that bad, or that they have "changed" and won't have the same issues this time around. The rule of thumb is that those who relapse pick up right where they left off. It might take a few days or weeks, but you will rapidly be in the same place you were when you last quit drinking or using drugs.

5. You Seek Out Old Friends from Your Substance-Abusing Days

You might excuse this as just trying to find out how old friends are doing, but if you start seeking out old drinking buddies or people who shared your interest in using drugs, you are heading into dangerous territory.

6. You Slowly but Surely Remove all Elements from Your Life that Keep You Anchored and Balanced

Maybe you stop keeping your journal, stop calling healthy friends, and quit that daily walk that always helped you clear your head. You probably already stopped doing the things that are important for sobriety, but now you are removing things that keep you calm and centered. You might say you are getting lazy, and your life is likely getting more chaotic and stressful. You are not taking care of your emotional, spiritual, and physical health.

7. You Are Extremely Defensive If Anyone Mentions Your Changes in Behavior

This feeling will be familiar: it's the same feeling you had when you first were encouraged to get sober and wanted everyone to mind their own business. It is denial crossed with an unhealthy self-righteous attitude. It's very uncomfortable when others begin to notice our movement back toward a way of living that made us and most people around us miserable. Why? Because you are now in the place of moving with purpose back toward drinking and using, and the addict in you is determined to get that drink or drug. For some, this can be the ultimate point of no return: you either wake up and change direction, or end up taking that inevitable first drink or drug.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

When you get stressed out, what is one of the first things that you typically do? How do you deal with unexpected things that happen in your life such as loss of work, deaths in the family or fights with loved ones? For some people, the answer is temporarily found in drugs and/or alcohol. But is this always the right answer?

There are many who would speculate that drugs and alcohol is most often (if not always) the result of some sort of trauma or stress-related incident. The truth of the matter is that drugs and alcohol seldom solve anything. In fact, drug and alcohol abuse does more to break up families, and cause all sorts of problems on top of whatever stress you may be feeling. The next time you are feeling stressed out, try to get to the root of what is bothering you. Figure out possible solutions to your problem on your own. The same money that you would spend on alcohol or drugs, take it and use it towards seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist. These people are skilled in being able to help those who are struggling with internal issues. Additionally, it is important to remember not to isolate yourself. Do you have any friends that you can call on for help?

Often times, when we are struggling or stressed out- or if we have drug problems, it can often be difficult to reach out to others who are there to help us. Little do we know that there are plenty of people out there who care about us and want to see us do well. It takes a lot of courage and honesty to admit that you have a problem- especially when the admittance is to a close friend or a family member. We are often afraid that we will be judged or somehow rejected. Therefore, as a result, many people keep their problems to themselves. There are also those who struggle with denial. They don't want to (and haven't) admit to themselves that there is a serious problem going on. Therefore, why would they need the help if there's nothing wrong.

It is so incredibly important that we don't isolate ourselves from other people- especially those that we love. In a lot of cases, you need to stop and remind yourself that no matter how bad your situation is, there is ALWAYS someone out there who is worse off than you. This isn't meant to be a selfish thing, but rather, it is meant to teach you to appreciate all that you have and to always think of others. In fact, many therapists would suggest that those who are easily stressed get volunteer jobs because when you're volunteering to help someone else, you are too busy to worry about things. You will ultimately feel better about your overall situation if you can find other more creative ways to give back to others who are worse off than you. This isn't to say that your problems aren't important. You still need to deal with your problems without the use of drugs and alcohol. It's just that by helping others, you will help yourself.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

An alcohol addiction treatment programme consists of 3 general alcoholism treatment option steps. These three steps are intervention, detoxification and re-habitation. Many persons with a drinking problem do not see or acknowledge that they have got an issue with alcohol abuse.

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Some familiar symptoms of alcoholism include continuous itching for alcohol, physical dependence on others, loss of memory, loss of appetite and numbness in body parts. This is an accepted fact about alcohol that if once you get into the grip of alcoholism, then in spite of strong urge to keep yourself away from it, it is tricky to do it.Most of the people who use alcohol have more than they can manage. This is seen in alcohol drinkers who lose control over their senses when they have one drink too many. Such an overstepping of boundaries is named as booze abuse. Folks who abuse alcohol are having more alcohol than their body allows them, but they haven't yet come absolutely under the control over their alcohol habit.

Alcoholism is also qualified by some other expressions. They include use, misuse, heavy use, abuse and dependence. Use is a term which simply refers to someone who drinks any alcoholic products. Misuse and heavy use do not have any standard definitions.

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Another key side of recovery is a healthy body. Proper diet and routine exercising is essential to a recovering alcoholic's well being. After a number of years of stupendously unhealthy habits and brutal treatment of their bodies, an alcoholic will feel great enhancements in mood and overall well being.Although piss alcohol testing will indicate the presence of alcohol of an individual it won't indicate the present condition of the individual person. Once consumed, alcohol enters the blood through the stomach inside 15 mins, causing fast impairment. It is then metabolized by the body and, after 1 to 2 hours, will begin to turn up in the pee.

Alcoholism and alcohol abuse can become life threatening if not dealt with. It is never too far gone to begin the process of intervention, detoxification and rehabilitation to help a problem drinker retake control of their health and their lives.Perhaps the key in all this is the following: most, or even all instances of alcohol addiction gets their start from booze abuse. Stated an alternate way, it is highly unlikely a non-drinker will become alcohol dependent simply by having one drink or that a non-drinker will become an alcoholic by getting drunk once. Indeed, alcoholism doesn't result from infrequent and infrequent drinking but instead from continuous, unwarranted, and repeated drinking.

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Like other illnesses, alcoholism can be overcome with correct treatment, prevention, and more research. Educating the general public about the disease of alcoholism is the 1st line of defense. Acute awareness and understanding of the early indications of problem drinking is essential. Spotting that alcohol is a drug and it use or abuse includes certain hazards are crucial to private prevention.

For family and friends of drug and/or alcohol addicted individuals, addressing addiction is one of the most difficult aspects of seeking substance abuse treatment. Often, drug and alcohol addiction has built a destructive cycle over a time to the point where daily family involvement actually enables the addicted individual. Family members frequently do not know how to bring up the issue of addiction therapy, and opt to ignore the problem for fear of pushing their loved one away during a confrontation or intervention. These are legitimate concerns, and while families should understand that approaching their loved one should be a gentle and supportive process, they also need to understand that most patients seek substance abuse treatment because of positive family involvement and intervention.
Prior to Substance Abuse Treatment/Intervention
Each family is different, and the way you should approach family involvement with addiction therapy will differ with every person. There are counselors in your area who are trained to work with drug and alcohol addicted patients and their families, and while they can be useful to mediate the intervention process, your family may decide to have a private, non-confrontational and honest talk with a family member or friend to implore them to seek substance abuse treatment. Whichever approach you take, it is important to understand that the family dynamic in drug and alcohol addiction is incredibly powerful, and that addressing an unhealthy imbalance in communication is your first step in moving your loved one toward inpatient / outpatient addiction therapy. This type of positive family involvement can also help lead the rest of your family toward a journey of recovery and self-discovery.
During a Patient's Substance Abuse Treatment Program
After an intervention, the best case scenario is that the individual suffering from drug or alcohol addiction will be compelled to enter either an inpatient or outpatient substance abuse treatment program. Each patient's needs and means are different, and outpatient and inpatient programs have varying benefits for patients and family. Involvement in an outpatient addiction therapy program means that patients are not separated from their families, they are able to attend classes in a facility close to their home, and patients can continue substance abuse treatment for an extended amount of time. In a residential (inpatient) program, patients travel to a facility where they undergo an intensive 28-30 day detoxification and recovery program. They are immersed in the recovery process and do not have the ability to leave the substance abuse treatment campus. However, family involvement is important, and inpatient addiction therapy programs often encourage frequent interaction with visiting family and friends.
As previously mentioned, patients' needs vary, but inpatient substance abuse treatment has an obvious benefit of removing the drug and/or alcohol addicted individual from the toxic atmosphere that was enabling their addiction, and helping them through addiction therapy without distraction. This same benefit is transferred to the patient's friends and family, who are often able to gain a new perspective about their loved one's addiction and their own behaviors. Family involvement, once the patient is in an off-site substance abuse treatment facility, is periodic and helps families step back and recognize patterns of negative behavior. For example, well-meaning family and friends often become trapped into a cycle of enabling and codependency with the patient prior to addiction therapy. Often, family members pretend like nothing is wrong, and unintentionally assist the patient's addiction by ignoring the problem. Conversely, family members might become distant, angry, and resentful by feeling that they cannot address the issue for fear of angering the patient or exacerbating their loved one's addiction. When the family members are able to take a break and assess their behaviors and environment while their loved one is undergoing addiction therapy, they often identify behaviors and traits that they adjust to break the cycle.
This is not to say that residential substance abuse treatment programs isolate the patient from their friends and family - quite the opposite. In a quality residential substance abuse treatment program, the focus is equally upon the patient's physical recovery from drug and alcohol addiction as much as it is on a mental recovery from the addictive disease. Addiction therapy is supported heavily by positive and frequent family involvement. The support that a family provides to a patient recovering from addiction is essential to that patient's success, and residential centers will often have not only visitation throughout the week or on weekends, but will also engage family into an educational substance abuse treatment program of their own, such as supportive and dynamic recovery workshops and sessions for family involvement.
Outside of the residential substance abuse treatment facility, family and friends of patients are highly encouraged to attend Al Anon or Nar Anon meetings. These free programs are held around the nation and are dedicated to providing group support to family and friends of drug and alcohol addicted individuals. The meetings address things such as: helping an addict seek assistance for his or her own problem, addressing a loved one's drug or alcohol addiction, building family through the addiction therapy process, supporting yourself and your loved one through the recovery process, etc. These programs are essential for family involvement, as they support friends and family during and after the substance abuse treatment program.
After a Substance Abuse Treatment Program
With drug and alcohol addiction, there is truly no clear-cut "end" to the addiction therapy process. Families struggling with the effects of their loved one's drug and alcohol addiction should continually attend Al Anon or Nar Anon meetings (perhaps both) on a regular basis to continue a constructive program of support and ongoing education. Alcohol and drug addiction are both considered "family diseases", and family involvement with people combating drug and alcohol addiction requires continual attendance of these meetings during and after the formal inpatient or outpatient addiction therapy session. Additionally, while these meetings help individuals to understand the disease of drug and alcohol addiction to help and support someone they care about, they also assist friends and family with their own emotional support during what is most often an incredibly trying and stressful time. By continuing to attend Al Anon and Nar Anon meetings, friends and family of an addicted individual can continue to stay out of the destructive cycle of enabling and codependency and fully realize the benefits of addiction therapy.
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