Immune System May Determine How Alcohol Affects Behavior



An Austrialian researcher has uncovered new evidence that immune cells in the brain may affect how people behave when under the influence of alcohol. This would include changes in motor function, such as difficulty in controlling the muscles that regulate walking and talking. Researchers found that there was a correlation between the immune responses in the brain and behavioral responses to alcohol.

Certain receptors in the brain activate the immune system when they encounter foreign substances that have breached certain barriers to and inside the body, such as the skin and the gut wall. The brain receptors that do the activating are called TLR4 or "toll-like" receptor 4.

By using drugs to inhibit TLR4 signaling in the brain (or actually block this part of the immune system), the behavioral effects of alcohol were reduced. This means that alcohol causes both an immunological and neuronal response.

According to Dr. Mark Hutchinson of the Australia Research Council:

"Such a shift in mindset has significant implications for identifying individuals who may have bad outcomes after consuming alcohol, and it could lead to a way of detecting people who are at greater risk of developing brain damage after long-term drinking," he said, explaining that drugs targeting TLR4 could help treat alcohol addiction and overdoses."

How Physical Fitness and Exercise Can Benefit Mental Health

Please Click on the Attached Link:

http://www.helium.com/items/2244816-mental-health-physical-fitness-exercise

Meth Kills



Methamphetamine (or Meth) is a powerful, addicting drug that stimulates the central nervous system and delivers an intense euphoria that lasts anywhere from an hour or two to 24 hours at a time.  Withdrawal from methamphetamine, though, is no easy endeavor.

What are Meth’s Withdrawal Symptoms? 

Withdrawal from methamphetamine causes long and short-term symptoms which may include:

 •Anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure)

 •Drug cravings

 •Irregular heartbeat

 •Extreme irritability

 •Depression

 •Sweating

 •Hyperventilation

 •Convulsions

 •Confusion

 •Nausea

 •Insomnia or excessive sleeping

 •Loss of energy

 •Tremors of the hands

Loss of Control:

When an addict gets to the point where he goes into treatment, it is usually because he has reached the end -- or his “bottom.”  He has nowhere else to go, and may even enter drug rehabilitation because he has been mandated there by the court system.

Why Enter Treatment?

The best way for a meth addict to withdraw from his drug is to enter drug treatment.  A medical-model facility is best because the withdrawing addict is monitored at all stages of his withdrawal.  Often a medical-model detox facility will provide a withdrawing addict with “step-down” drugs to make the withdrawal less painful.

After Detox, What Happens?

After withdrawal, the recovering meth addict should go directly to treatment, where he will learn strategies to help him cope with life as a thinking, feeling person without the use of methamphetamine to make it more tolerable.  This is the most difficult part of recovery from meth because many life skills must be re-learned, and this can be painstakingly difficult.

In rehab, the recovering addict continues to recover physically, as he learns more about the destructiveness and danger of his drug and assimilates into his life the new coping strategies he is being taught.

A Relapse Plan:

Before leaving treatment, the recovering meth addict will learn how to prevent relapse and develop a relapse plan where he contracts with his counselor to utilize his relapse plan, if he ever has a strong urge to resume using methamphetamines.

12-Step Program:

After treatment, every addict should enter a 12-step program, like Narcotics Anonymous, where he will find empathy and understanding from other recovering addicts.  Because it is one addict helping another, the 12-step support system is very effective in preventing drug relapse.  

Addiction is a Disease:

Both the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association classify addiction as a disease because it is chronic, progressive, and fatal, if not arrested.  But because of the behaviors associated with the Disease of Addiction, such as stealing and lying, along with the burden it places on families, it is difficult for an addict’s family to look at addiction as a disease.  This is understandable because they end up experiencing, sometimes, more pain than the addict.  Hence, the family of an addict needs to heal also.  Most treatment programs offer help for families of addicts.

How Do I Begin?

If you are an addict in the throes of methamphetamine withdrawal, take heart, because, as they say in Narcotics Anonymous, "This, too, shall pass."  You only have to stay off meth one day at a time.

If you are looking for help with a methamphetamine addiction, I have listed places and resources that will put you on the path of recovery.

Don’t let methamphetamine ruin your life.  Free yourself today.

Resources:

Help Finding Treatment:    http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/tx.htm

Narcotics Anonymous:  http://www.na.org/

Alcoholics Anonymous:  http://www.aa.org/?Media=PlayFlash

Al-Anon and Alateen:  (Organizations for Family Members of Addicts and Alcoholics):  http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/meetings/international.html

I'll Quit Tomorrow by Vernon E. Johnson.  Available at bookstores and on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Quit-Tomorrow-Practical-Alcoholism/dp/0062504339

** The author, Jenna Pope, is a Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor and has spent the last seven years writing about addiction and helping addicts to break free from meth and recover.

Changing Our View of Addiction

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2009, 50.7 percent of the inmates in United States federal prisons were there for drug offenses. This percentage represents an increase of 28.2 percent from 2000 to 2009. Just in case  you’re not convinced that these figures are problematic, let me give you some more.

Drug Incarcerations on the Rise:

With drug incarcerations rising so consistently, the decrease in releases from prison and re-incarceration for technical parole violations, there is a gargantuan  problem of overcrowding in state and federal prisons. In 40 out of 50 states, the prisons are at 90 percent or more over capacity. Twenty-three of those states are operating at over 100 percent capacity. How cou any addict become rehabilitated in an environment like that? It could, therefore, be surmised that nonviolent drug offenders enter prison with a drug problem and are paroled from prison with a drug problem. Only now, violence may have become part of the equation because of repeated exposure to violence while in prison.  

The Disease Concept:

The American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association use the disease-model approach to addiction. This is because addiction is chronic, progressive and fatal, if not put into remission. This is like cancer, but if you entered prison with cancer, you would receive chemotherapy, radiation and other aggressive cancer treatment. Even one the Manson Family murderers, Susan Atkins, received cancer treatment while in prison.

Drug Program Failure:

In California, the SAP (Substance Abuse Program) was an abysmal failure. While not going into the reasons for this failure, it must be said that though it didn’t work, there are other models of treatment that should be implemented until a successful one is found. Otherwise, we are going to waste more taxpayer money incarcerating drug offenders, releasing them and then re-incarcerating them for similar drug or drug-related offenses. To even a totally uninformed citizen, this revolving-door approach to drug addiction must seem entirely counter-productive.

Look at this quote from the Justice Policy Institute:

"Substance-involved people have come to compose a large portion of the prison population. Substance use may play a role in the commission of certain crimes: approximately 16 percent of people in state prison and 18 percent of people in federal prison reported committing their crimes to obtain money for drugs. 21. Treatment delivered in the community is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent such crimes and costs approximately $20,000 less than incarceration per person per year.22 A study by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy found that every dollar spent on drug treatment in the community yields over $18 in cost savings related to crime.23 In comparison, prisons only yield $.37 in public safety benefit per dollar spent. Releasing people to supervision and making treatment accessible is an effective way of reducing problematic drug use, reducing crime associated with drug use and reducing the number of people in prison." 

It is time to stop sending addicts to prison. Lowering recidivism will cut down on prison costs, elevate the status of addicts to people suffering from a disease, and it will cut down on crime.

Re-educate Society:

Why can’t society be re-educated in the disease-concept of addiction when it must be obvious to most people that the “Lock-‘em-up-and-throw-away-the-key” approach isn’t working and is a colossal waste of money that could be directed into solutions that do work.

Addiction is not a criminal problem or a failure of will. Rather, it is about biology and resultant behavior – a disease that society is treating like a crime.

Sources:

1.  Justice Policy Institute, "How to safely reduce prison populations and support people returning to their communities,"(Washington, DC: June 2010), p. 8. /www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/10-6_FAC_ForImmediateRelease...

2.  American Psychological Association, “What does it mean that addiction is a brain disease ,” Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D.; June 2001 http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun01/sp.aspx

3.  Get the Facts: Prisons & Drug Offenders; 2011 http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/63

Food Addiction

Compulsion is what fuels addiction cravings. So when you are trying to stop an addiction, the compulsion or obsession is what must be dealt with first. The most effective method of addressing this persistent desire to eat is through a 12-step group. There you will receive support and a plan for overcoming your addiction by working through the 12-Steps of Recovery.

There are as many 12-step groups as there are maladies. For food addiction, Overeaters Anonymous is a good place to start. They have online and in-person meetings all over.

Here is their link:
http://www.oa.org/

The 12-step groups are based on the principle that, if your compulsion has gotten out of control and is negatively affecting other areas of your life, i.e., your self-esteem, your relationships, your career, your marriage, your level of motivation, and/or your ability to engage in leisure activities, then they can help you to overcome it.

An obsession or compulsion is never voluntary. For most people, it is a thorn in the flesh. Being powerless over how to stop the compulsion is frightening and a source of great frustration.

There are things that many food addicts have in common. Though some food addicts report that they were "born" with the compulsion to eat, there may have been a triggering event that caused the compulsion to "light up." A younger sibling with a chronic medical problem can spark a food obsession in the older sibling. Food becomes a source of comfort and a substitute for the disproportionate amount of attention that the younger sibling is receiving from the parents . Food is used as a mood changer, just like any other drug.

In food addiction, brain chemicals are triggered when certain foods are eaten. Carbohydrates and sugars are two foods that, for many food addicts, stimulate the brain to release dopamine, a brain chemical that gives a feeling of happiness and wellbeing. Peanut butter is another common binge food for food addicts, and so is chocolate.

When taking on your food addiction, it is important for you to be committed to changing. See your medical provider  to investigate the possibility of underlying depression as the root cause of your addiction. This can be treated with counseling/therapy and, sometimes, medications. Attend your 12-step group as often as possible, and in those meetings, share your struggle with other people going through the same experience. There, you will find a sponsor to guide you through the process and provide moral support.

Food addiction does not have to ruin your life. With medical help and 12-step-group participation, you can overcome the obsession to eat and break free from the chains of addiction.

Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS)

Jeremy has been clean and sober for seven months. This is a miracle because it's the longest period of abstinence that Jeremy has managed to put together since he began using drugs 12 years ago.

Everybody is happy with him. His boss pats him on the back regularly, and his wife has stopped nagging him. His kids want him to play catch and take them to the park. Jeremy's parents are ecstatic and consider him the "poster child" for recovering addicts.

But there's a fly in the ointment: Jeremy feels miserable. He's depressed all the time and can't seem to find enjoyment in anything he does. His family irritates him. Even simple tasks overwhelm him, and he can't remember things from one day to the next. He puts on a "happy faade" for his family and friends, but inside he is dying. Jeremy feels condemned to a life sentence of being half the person he was before he started using drugs.

Jeremy is experiencing Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome.

* What is Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome? *

Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) is an adjustment the brain makes while in the process of returning to life without chemicals. It is the time period when neurotransmitters start acting again. During periods of addiction to drugs, alcohol and/or other substances of abuse there is artificial stimulation and disruption of normal brain function. Your brain gets used to the drug. Altered brain cells and their functioning take 6 to 36 months to return to normal. Symptoms of PAWS can be mild to moderate to severe. PAWS is the cause of most relapses.

* Symptoms of Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome *

1.  Difficulty thinking clearly

2.  Difficulty managing feelings and emotions

3.  Becoming accident prone

4.  Difficulty managing stress

5.  Denial

6.  Becoming forgetful

7.  Sleep difficulties

8.  Self-pity

9.  Defensiveness

10. Compulsive behavior

11. Over-reacting or just feeling "numb"

* You are Normal *

The most important thing to know about PAWS is that all of the above symptoms are normal and, in fact, should be expected. Though it takes time for the symptoms to go away, there are things you can do to help yourself.

* These Things will Help *

1.  Keep expectations reasonable.

2.  Attend 12-Step Groups. (AA, NA, CA, etc.)

3.  Eat three regular meals a day.

4.  Take vitamins.

5.  Meditate and learn relaxation techniques.

6.  Limit work to 40 hours per week.
 
7.  Maintain family relationships.

8.  Continue a spiritual connection.

9.  Journal feelings.

10. Don't isolate.

11. Call sober friends.

12. See a counselor.

* So whatever happened to our guy, Jeremy? *

Jeremy decided to try some of our suggestions. He started drinking orange juice as soon as he woke up, instead of coffee. He began feeling less irritable. Then he started eating breakfast, and this helped too. At work Jeremy took his breaks every day and developed the habit out of going for a walk during the first 30 minutes of his lunch hour. He also reconnected with his 12-step group and dropped his facade of "wellness."
At his 12-step meetings Jeremy opened up about his bad feelings and began making friends. The support of his 12-step group made a big difference in his life.

One day during his lunchtime walk, Jeremy reflected on how much happier he was. His life was back on track, and even though he thought that it was never going to happen, the PAWS had lifted.

Jeremy had received a pardon from a life sentence of misery. At last -- Jeremy was free.

Helpful Links on PAWS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ynAgvHTy5k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXZZXIzbnTQ

Overcome Addictive Behaviors

I cannot THINK my way into acting better, but I can ACT my way into thinking better. In other words, I must fake it till I make it.

A Battle in the Mind:

Addictive behavior is all about thinking the wrong things. I think that I am not addicted. I think that I'm cured. I think that I can handle my addiction all on my own. This is the beginning of "relapse mode." I convince myself that I was never really addicted at all, and can, therefore, use alcohol and drugs the way that normal people do.

Addictive Behavior Can Center Around Almost Anything:

Addictive behavior does not have to center around drugs or alcohol. Addiction is a disease of the body (meaning that the addict or alcoholic is "wired" differently than people who are not addicted) and an obsession of the mind. Some people can drink socially and take painkillers or tranquilizers as directed. They have no cravings or desire to continue with the substance once it is gone. The addict or alcoholic is different. They will look at a half-empty glass of Cabernet sitting on someone else's table in a restaurant and think, "Why doesn't somebody drink that?" There is no "take it or leave it" mentality in the world of addiction - ever.

Substituting Addictions:

The obsession of addiction can hop from one thing to another. The alcoholic can quit drinking and take up pain pills. The drug addict can stop a pill habit and switch to alcohol. Shopping can be an addiction. So can eating. I have seen addicts in recovery stop using drugs and then balloon into a 100-pound-heavier replica of their former selves. (It is common for a recovering addict to undergo bariatric surgery to eliminate weight gain after getting of drugs.) Sex can be an addiction. So can housework, control, and gambling. The addict must be very careful not to resume addictive behavior and end up just switching addictions.

Ways to Stop Addictive Behaviors:

1. Attend 12-step meetings regularly;

2. Get a sponsor (another recovering addict who will give you moral support);

3. Work the 12-Steps of Recovery at your sponsor's direction;

4. Know your triggers. A "trigger" is a person, place, or thing that can cause an addict to crave drugs. The force of a trigger can be so strong that it can actually cause your brain chemicals to release dopamine - the neurotransmitter released when using certain drugs, giving a feeling of harmony and wellbeing. Addicts refer to this as a "free high," because they feel the effects of the drug without even taking it!

5. Avoid your triggers. Even if you have to get a new job or drive a different way to work in the morning or move to a different neighborhood, the recovering addict must remain vigilant in his recovery. Sometimes this involves drastic measures.

6. Be accountable to someone. Accountability for addictive behavior is a deterrent to lighting up an addiction. Talking over your triggers and feelings with another person - usually your sponsor - is a good deterrent against relapse.

7. Learn to live life on life's terms. Addicts and alcoholics seem to have more difficulty than other people accepting life as it is. In 12-step groups, addicts and alcoholics learn and practice the concept of acceptance - a necessary component for living in the real world.

Nip It In the Bud:

Addictive behaviors indicate the beginning of a relapse on drugs, alcohol, or other addictions like shopping, dieting, and gambling. They are a forewarning of things to come. With 12-step meeting attendance, a sponsor, learning to be accountable, and accepting life on life's terms, addictive behavior can be quickly identified and eradicated before an actual relapse is set in motion.

What is Addiction?

There are five things that characterize addiction:

1. It is a disease (an involuntary disability).

2. It is often progressive and fatal. (It gets worse with time and you can die from it.)

3. There are adverse consequences. (These can be psychological, physical, occupational, legal, interpersonal, and spiritual.)

4. There is impaired control. (An addict can no longer predict what will occur when he uses.)

5. There is denial. (A delusional system that prevents the user from recognizing reality.)

Addiction Always Plays Itself Out in Four Phases:

PHASE ONE is the first use and can only occur once. It moves the person's feelings in a welcome direction, towards the euphoria, and it feels good for most people. They learn how much to take to feel good (the dosage). Because it's pleasant, they move on to Phase Two.

Seeking Out the Mood Swing:

PHASE TWO is where the person seeks out the mood swing. He will seek out situations where he can use drugs and experience the mood swing and enjoy it. However, if he is in Phase Two, he will do this within the norms of society. In other words, he will still function in his normal everyday life, and no one will notice any contradictions. Once in awhile he may use drugs to excess, but there is no emotional cost, no remorse over it. He will say things like, "I blew it. It won't happen again." However, for those that have the disease, something occurs that moves them to Phase Three (harmful dependence). At this next stage the person exhibits a loss of control.

Loss of Control:

PHASE THREE is an impairment or a loss of control. The person can no longer predict the outcome of his behavior. It violates his values and causes remorse or emotional pain about what occurred. There are negative feelings that trigger denial (rationalize, minimize, blame), which leads to unresolved emotional pain. A person in denial is literally incapable of realizing that he is addicted. As the disease progresses, Phase Three will occur over and over again. The unresolved emotional pain builds and builds and builds. But the pain is still connected to some wrong done while using drugs. Eventually, the emotional pain becomes chronic. It is there all the time, even when the person is not using drugs. He is angry, resentful, and his self esteem has fallen through the bottom. He says things like, "I'm no damn good" and is sometimes even suicidal.

Covering Up the Chronic Emotional Pain:

PHASE FOUR is using drugs to feel normal. The negative feelings are present all of the time. The person must use his drug to escape from his pain and try and feel normal. It works, and it can trigger another sequence of more trouble and more loss of control. This is the point where an addict will reach his "bottom," where we can get him into treatment, if we haven't intervened before this time.

Throw the "Willpower" Concept Out the Window:

Addiction is not a willpower issue. It is a chemical dependence and should be treated medically, initially, and later psychologically. Once an addict has been medically weaned off his drug, he must undergo both individual and group therapy to build the necessary ego strength to live life without drugs.

If Your Loved One is Struggling with Addiction:

If you have a loved one who is struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol, there is a book that I would recommend. It's called "I'll Quit Tomorrow" by Vernon Johnson. It goes into what I have written, but in more detail, and will assist you in getting your loved one into treatment.

The good news about addiction is that it is a treatable disease. With the correct information and family support, an addict can enter recovery and remain abstinent from drugs for the rest of his life.