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Treating alcohol withdrawal with benzodiazepines – Safe if mindful
Contributing co-author: Andrew Chen Alcohol withdrawal can be extremely unpleasant (see here for an overview). Symptoms vary from person to person, but most people will experience some negative symptoms of alcohol withdrawal if they try to stop drinking after long term use. Mild to moderate symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, rapid heart rate, abnormal…
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Negative self-talk and addiction recovery
Everyone has internal beliefs about what they are, or aren’t, good at. For many these have become an implicit reality – facts about life that are rarely examined and never questioned. The “gravity” of our lives. When I review these internal beliefs with clients, especially those in early recovery but also others who don’t have…
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The Creative Theory of Addiction Recovery
This is a guest post from Patrick Meninga of the Spiritual River website. Since I first got clean and sober over 8 years ago, I have been creating a new life for myself. Talking about creation makes sense when I frame my recovery and how I have grown through the years, because it was always…
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Addiction recovery help by replacement
It’s difficult, if not impossible, for addicts to eliminate the tendencies that drive them towards addiction. While at times destructive, is it possible to rechannel those urges to more constructive, healthy, and helpful behaviors and activities? We think so. Read on to find out how
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Saving lives made easy – Treating opiate overdose with intranasal naloxone
Contributing co-author: Andrew Chen Imagine that you and your friend have been using heroin (or another opiate). A few hours go by and you notice your friend is progressively becoming more and more unresponsive. You check on him and find that his breathing is shallow, his skin is cold, and his pupils are constricted. You…
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Alcohol, sleep, and school work: College drinking and GPA
Co-authored by: Jamie Felzer We all know that college students often party and sleep more than they actually study. But do heavy alcohol use and poor sleep patterns cause poor grades? A recently published study found that just altering bed times by 2 hours can throw off your sleepiness during the day. Most students in…
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Will you get addicted? Signs of drug abuse
Everyone wants to know if they, or someone they love will get addicted to alcohol or drugs. • Parents want to know if their children are likely to become addicts, especially if there is a family history of addiction. • Teens wonder if trying a drug will lead to a life of crime and shame.…
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420, smoking weed, and drug problems : Marijuana facts
Co-authored by: Jamie Felzer It’s April 20th, or 4-20, and anyone who smokes marijuana knows what that means – It’s time to smoke weed- a lot of weed! In honor of this “stoner” holiday, or perhaps in reverence of its implications, I wanted to put together a post that explored some recent findings having to…
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Sometimes it just takes blind faith – Depression and drug use
I don’t normally like sharing this kind of stuff, but I think that if the point of the blog is be truthful, I need to cover all bases. When it comes to depression and drug use, I have personal experience with the connection. When depression hits – Drug use and self-medication I don’t always wake…