Getting fit while in addiction recovery is no easy task.  However, there are measures one can take to fully reclaim their bodies, their minds, and overall well-being.

An addict’s body has developed a reliance on a specific substance.  This substance, over a period of time, through repetitive use has built up within the body a dependence.  With this dependence comes a chemical change in the addict’s system.  The circulatory, digestive, endocrine, immune, lymphatic, and especially muscular systems will all be severely impacted by the continuous use of an addictive substance.  Therefore, when entering the stage where the addict has fully committed to recovery, and has accepted the terms of this, then it is time to consider the healthiest way to rejuvenate the body.

One, if not the best, way to fully recover from an addiction is to get in shape and get rid of that double chin.  Joining a gym is ideal.  A gym will provide for it’s members a multitude of ways to get in shape, which for the recovering addict, will bring their systems back to a healthy level of living.

The human body should undergo at least a half-hour of physical exercise every day.  Here are ten reasons why joining a gym will help fulfill the best recovery from an addict.

1.  Fitness in itself can become an addiction, however, unlike substance addiction this one is healthy.

2.  A gym will provide the accompaniments for a half-hour work out everyday of the week, and most are now open for 24 hours a day, an ideal way to work around any schedule.

3.  A gym provides an atmosphere of camaraderie.  Everyone in a gym is there for the same reason.  Unlike trying to work out on your own, which can be boring, everyone at the gym is there precisely to get fitter.

4.  There are personal coaches available at most gyms that can make a specific work-out schedule to fit your needs.  While starting addiction recovery, this is a very important consideration, because the body can be severely depleted of necessary muscle tissue and susceptible to injury.  A personal trainer would be able to help avoid this, while also providing quality exercise.

5.  There is a wide array of machines to work out on at a gym, making it more comfortable for whatever level of exercise you may want.

6.  Gyms, and their staff, will always be willing to help with other aspects involved in living healthily.  Since diet is a necessary condition of the effect of exercise, gyms will always have suggestions for the patrons best needs.

7.  Every season Gyms update their methods, equipment, and staff for whatever activity corresponds with that season.

8.  Once you find the work-out routine that best suits your needs, you will know exactly what exercises are right for you, and a Gym will always be able to provide for your work-out.

9.  A Gym is a great place to meet people.  An important part of addiction recovery is forming new relationships with healthy people.  At the Gym, there is a wide range of healthy individuals to form lasting bonds.

10.  Going to the Gym will make you feel great again.  Joining a Gym is the perfect way to achieve the goal of getting fit, while also recovering from an addiction, and will also lift your spirits simultaneously.

Learning how to overcome vicodin addiction is simpler said than done. Drug addiction has rapidly been growing over the passed few years and it certainly has been causing a lot of problems for more than just the user. One of the most highly abused substances is a little pill called Vicodin. Vicodin is a medication prescribed for moderate to severe pain. Vicodin is well known to lead to vicodin addiction if the medication is abused or not taken as prescribed.

Vicodin is in the opiate family. Opiates are often used for their pain relieving effects. But opiates, like Vicodin, is also use recreationally and can be abused very easily. At first it will only take a few pills to catch a “buzz.” Soon, your tolerance to the medication will grow with you usage and abuse of Vicodin. Not only is this bad for your body but it could possibly lead to further addictions to harder drugs. But once you do not have those little pills in your possession, withdrawal symptoms will hit you hard and fast. You will start feeling ill. This can lead to having cold sweats and severe pains from your usage and abuse of the medication. These feelings are not pleasant and can be hazardous to your health even.

Getting Help For Vicodin Addiction

For those who desired to get off the Vicodin, there is help out there for any addict with the desire to stop using and readily available and you can beat vicodin addiction. Going into a rehabilitation facility is a very wise idea. There are doctors and medical professionals that can help you when you are detoxing from the Vicodin being in your system. There are several programs that can help you with your withdrawal symptoms. Most commonly is the Methadone and Suboxone programs. These medications help alleviate your sickness that you get from ending your Vicodin usage.

There is a lot of problems in the world, do not let drugs like Vicodin become another problem for your self. If you or someone you know is sufferring from an addiction to Vicodin, seek help immediately. Though, Vicodin is prescribed to relieve pain, they can also cause a lot more pain. Get help and learn how to be serene and clean once again!

There are a couple of different ways you might go through heroin detox.  Some of them are better than others.  Of course, the cost varies quite a bit too.

Let’s take a look:

1) Cold turkey - this is lots of fun, and can be even better than a sharp stick in the eye if you do it right.  Seriously though, this is your least desirable option, as any heroin addict already knows.  If you do it, try to sleep through it (duh) but that will be near impossible.  Take Benadryl every 4 hours and see if that helps.

2) Drug rehab – expensive, but if you can get funding for it (try Medicaid!) then you can usually have a halfway decent time getting through heroin detox.  If you can’t get funding then you might be out of luck though.

3) Ultra rapid detox – not covered by insurance, this is a new and expensive procedure where you can almost completely avoid withdrawal.  There is some risk of death, though.  Proceed with caution.

There are many different types of homemade drugs that you can create yourself or buy on the streets. These drugs, created from either organic matter or pharmaceuticals, come in many different types. Hallucinogenics, stimulants, relaxers and other banned drugs can be crafted from many legal plants and mushrooms. More dangerous narcotics, such as speed, can be created from easily obtained components purchased at the drug store.

If you are deciding whether or not to create homemade drugs, you should be aware of the dangers involved. As there are not many areas that permit drugs, there are legal risks that you take when you make use of this skill. Even the taking of homemade drugs for disease treatment is looked down upon unless the drugs fall into very specialized classes or are so low quality they fall below the standards to be regulated.

There are several different types of homemade drugs. Hallucinogenics and psychedelics, such as LSD, are common choices among a few takers. These narcotics fall into a special class that are carefully regulated, as episodes can occur a long time after the drugs were taken.

Opiates are drugs that are usually rendered from specific types of poppies. They come from the compound opium. This is a classic type of homemade drug, as poppy is fairly easy to come across and fairly unregulated. Opiates are commonly screened for by the authorities and work that requires testing.

Stimulants are frequently sought after, as these are the class of drugs that give the sensation frequently known as the high. Meth, also known as glass, crystal, crank, speed and ice, is the most common stimulant. Homemade drugs in this class are frequently responsible for many narcotic overdoses.

Marijuana is a psychoactive narcotic that is the most common recreational homegrown drug. It can thrive in many climates, indoors with good equipment, and has a variety of medicinal values. There are some countries, such as Canada, that allow prescriptions for this drug and also allow limited quantities to be owned.

Homegrown drugs tend to be of higher quality and potency than commercially grown medicinal drugs. Marijuana, where legal, is of a lesser grade when not homegrown, and lacks many of the effects desired by users.

If you plan on crafting your own homemade drugs, you will need to invest in equipment that can be pricey. This is what makes marijuana so desirable, as there is little gear required to harvest and tend to the drug. A home hydroponics kit tend to be the only requirements to make use of marijuana.

The use of narcotics should be at the user’s own risk, including all forms of homemade drugs.

Addiction help comes in 2 forms: elimination and creation.

Most people think that beating an addiction is an act of elimination. It’s not. Overcoming a drug or alcohol addiction is about creating something.

When we strip away the drugs and the alcohol from the life of the addict, there is a huge void left over. This void is more than just spiritual. In traditional recovery, 12 step programs attempt to diagnose addiction as a spiritual malady and then fix the problem with a spiritual solution.

This helps, but it is not ideal. The reason is because addiction is not just a spiritual problem. Instead, addiction affects the whole entire person – physically, mentally, emotionally, and so on.

It therefore follows that any solution needs to be holistic in nature. Addiction affects us physically – so why would we ignore the physical component? Of course we should address the physical side of addiction, looking into things such as medications to help with cravings and also exercise as a means to sobriety.

Likewise, addiction affects us emotionally, so why should we not address our emotional health and balance in our lives? This only makes sense to treat the whole person in recovery, not just the spiritual side of things.

Many people like to simplify things in order to wrap their minds around the solution but overcoming addiction is more complicated than that. The solution is more than just spiritual; it is holistic, and therefore you must grow in many different areas of your life in order to succeed in recovery.

This is the whole point of the matter and if you really want some help for addiction then you need to take a creative approach to recovery.

Recovery is not spiritual. It is holistic. This includes spiritual growth and transcends it with a comprehensive holistic approach. Get more addiction tips here.

Here is a good post here about recovering drug addicts and how they can use a small number of core strategies in order to guide them in their recovery.

These are long term strategies that make as much sense to use in early recovery as they do in long term sobriety.

The first idea is to focus on personal growth.  This includes a wide range of categories, such as our fitness, our emotional health, and our spirituality.

But the focus on personal growth differs from most recovery programs because it is a holistic approach, taking the whole person into account, including the physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects.

Obviously, just this area alone (personal growth) can have a tremendous amount of detail for finding new ways to grow and develop.

The second area is in building a network of support.  Presumably, this would be comprised mostly of recovering addicts and alcoholics.  I’m convinced that there are some people out there who stay sober through this technique alone.  But combining a support network with the other two strategies is much more empowering.

The third strategy listed is to simply care for yourself.  The suggestion is to ask yourself, with each decision, “Is this really the healthiest choice for me?”  This is a simple but empowering strategy for recovering addicts who often times have a history of self-sabotage and destructive behaviors, many of which continue in a variety of ways even in recovery.

Take a look at these 3 strategies for recovering drug addicts and see if you can’t apply them to your life.

How can you stop drinking and create a new life for yourself?

To the alcoholic who is trapped in a cycle of addiction, this question can seem baffling, even preposterous.  But there is hope for a better life and overcoming alcohol addiction if an alcoholic is willing to follow a few simple steps:

(Note that there are a million ways to get sober, this is just one suggested path.  But it’s one that worked for me):

1) Go to a treatment center for detox – This is especially important if you are alcoholic, as alcohol withdrawal can be extremely dangerous and even fatal.  Yes, it can kill you not to drink in some cases, so best to get yourself under professional care if you are going to be going through detox.

There are other benefits to detoxing in a drug rehab as well….for example, you will usually have access to a residential treatment program as well, and a proper detox facility can potentially assist you with medications to help with withdrawal symptoms and sometimes even with drug cravings as well.

2) Stay for residential treatment as well – this is what used to be a 28 day program, nowadays it usually only lasts about 2 weeks or so.  Still highly recommended for the sheer value of giving you a moment’s peace from drug addiction and alcoholism, as well as to give you a chance to learn about recovery and some coping skills for when you get out.

3) Follow their recommendation for aftercare – If the treatment center recommends long term treatment, then go to long term treatment.  Pretty much everyone who goes against these types of recommendations usually regrets it.

4) Focus on staying clean and building a recovery network in early recovery - This is early recovery.  Stay clean and network with other recovering addicts and alcoholics.  For most people this will mean heavy AA or NA meetings and/or sponsorship.  This is the foundation of your life in recovery.  The trip to rehab was just a small blip on the map; now you have to live the rest of your life.

5) Transition to a purposeful and creative life - Start branching out and doing new things, as well as revisiting old dreams.  For example, my sponsor in early recovery pushed me to go back to college in my second year of sobriety, and I’m so glad he did.  This is about living life, not just hitting meetings.  Diversify and explore.

6) Embrace the creative life in recovery – Once you see the power of the creative life in recovery, you should embrace it as your long term solution.  Find creative ways to help others….bonus points if they happen to be recovering addicts and alcoholics, although this is not necessary.  Seek spiritual growth, but also tend to other areas of your life, such as nutrition, mental health, physical fitness, and so on.  This is about empowering yourself to succeed in multiple areas of your life, not just limiting yourself to “spirituality” or “recovery.”

7) Approach long term sobriety holistically - Now you have completely transitioned out of “early recovery” and you are creating a new and exciting life with passion and purpose.  Seek health and balance in all areas of your life with a holistic approach.

Go here for more info on how to stop drinking.

Treating addiction is expensive. Period.

Actually staying in a drug rehab costs a lot of money, simply because it is essentially a health care facility similar to hospital. If the rehab offers detoxification services (and most do) then these will be medically supervised by nurses and possibly even doctors which will only add to the higher cost.

But the high cost of treating addiction goes further than this. It’s expensive to treat because addiction is so complicated.

For example, many addicts and alcoholics have co-occurring disorders–a mental illness diagnosis of some sort along side of their chemical addiction. Helping this type of person to recover from addiction will usually involve treating their mental illness as well. This drives the cost of treatment up even further, as psychiatric counseling and any necessary medications are not going to come cheap.

Not only is it expensive, but the financial implications with treating addiction and alcoholism are getting worse in the following ways:

1) Treatment services are becoming more expensive – as the cost of health care in general continues to rise.

2) Insurance companies become less and less willing each year to pay the cost of treatment.

3) Insurance companies are only willing to fund shorter treatment stays, which are proving less effective, requiring more visits in the future and ultimately costing more.

4) State funding for treatment is gradually being reduced over time.

You have to give credit to AA and 12 step fellowships. While they may not have the medical facilities necessary to safely detox an alcoholic, many people have skipped going to formal treatment centers entirely and made their way to a successful sobriety through the use of AA alone. Given that it is essentially “free” (self supporting through their own contributions), a person could feasible stay clean and sober without ever spending a single dime on their recovery, simply through the use of meetings.

What makes this even more maddening is that the success rates are very close when comparing treatment centers to AA. When looking at the success and failures in recovery, it almost seems like the initial stay in rehab was inconsequential. Long term sobriety rates point to the fact that it really doesn’t matter how you got clean, it matters how you stay clean. Rehab is short term, but sobriety has to last for a lifetime.

What are the best reasons to quit drinking?

First, if you happen to be an alcoholic, then you don’t need a list of reasons to quit.  Your whole life is dominated and basically ruined because of alcohol, and the decision no longer hinges on “why” you should quit…it only hinges on the struggle to do so.

But what about the so called “problem drinker,” someone who is not yet a full blown alcoholic, but certainly might be headed down that path?  Is there a strong chance that they will become alcoholic?  Should they quit altogether?  Will they give up too much by swearing off booze forever?  Let’s take a look.

Many of those asking this question will undoubtedly be younger people, and this represents a huge opportunity.  You have a chance to make an awesome, life-altering decision here: the decision to quit drinking.

Maybe you are predisposed to alcoholism.  Maybe you’re not.  It doesn’t matter.  What happens down the road is not important, because you can avoid all the “what ifs” by simply quitting alcohol altogether.  There are a number of benefits to doing so:

1) Health reasons – heavy drinkers suffer major health problems and live an average of 10 to 15 years less (give or take a few) than non-drinkers.

2) Avoid addiction – if you don’t put the substance into your body then you can’t fall into the trap of addiction.  Avoid this potential problem completely.

3) Social acceptance – which is more socially acceptable: the person that doesn’t drink at all, or the one who gets belligerently drunk at the family reunion?  There is very little problem with politely saying “no” to alcohol.

4) Long term costs – Alcohol has no nutritional value, yet a regular drinker might spend several hundred or even thousands of dollars each year on booze.  Don’t drink = money saved.

Realize that there are some benefits to drinking (social value, possible benefit to the heart in having a small amount of wine each day, etc.) but those benefits are fairly negligible when weighed against the potential hazards of continuing to drink.  Like I mentioned earlier, it is not that big of a deal to turn down a drink when you are offered, or to simply have water or soda instead.

If you choose to quit now, you can avoid a lifetime problems.

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A lot of people are hesitant to go to a drug rehab, because they’re not sure what to expect there. It can feel like a pretty big step to check in to a place, or even to make that first call and set up an appointment to try and get help. Here’s what you need to know.

Relax: There’s no reason to be afraid

The thing about drug rehab facilities is that they are controlled environments, thus making them a relatively safe environment for recovering addicts. Not only do they take extra measures to keep drugs and alcohol off their grounds, they also do everything that they can to maintain a safe environment beyond the scope of substances. This means that most facilities do not tolerate violence or threatening behavior, and most have trained staff that know how to handle those types of situations.

Some people are nervous that they might be looked down upon or belittled by the staff at a treatment center…..this is extremely unlikely, as virtually all facilities employ a mix of recovering and non-recovering staff, so many of them have been in your shoes before. They know exactly what you’re going through and how scary it can be to get clean and sober, so they will only be kind and supportive–never demeaning.

Detox

Most drug rehabs have a detox area that is medically supervised. This is another big part of what makes treatment a safe place to be. Some withdrawal symptoms are potentially dangerous and can lead to seizures or even death, so being in a detox unit is really the best place you can be if you’re quitting drugs and alcohol. In most treatment centers, the only thing you have to do while you’re in detox is sleep, and the staff will do what they can to keep you as comfortable as possible. This will sometimes include certain medications, the majority of which will not be addictive or habit/forming pills. Under rare circumstances, a stronger medication might be needed if someone has become seriously unstable from withdrawal, but most patients will not experience this. Detox usually lasts about 3 to 5 days, depending on the drug or drugs that a person is coming off of.

Residential Treatment

Most drug rehabs have a residential unit that normally houses patients for short term stays. These might range anywhere from a few days to possibly 28 days. This is where the real recovery program takes place.

There are different philosophies at different rehabs, but a large percentage of all rehabs are 12-step based. This means that the foundation of their program is based on the 12 step programs of either Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. There are alternatives out there, but they are relatively scarce compared to 12 step treatment centers. Chances are good that if you are going to detox and short term treatment, it is probably 12 step based.

If you are put off or nervous about attending meetings, I would encourage you to “feel the fear and do it anyway.” Going to meetings gets easier after you go a few times and realize that the people there genuinely just want to help each other. I was terrified of meetings (and of treatment) but I eventually got desperate enough to give it a try anyway. I’m glad I did.

Residential treatment will also consist of therapy groups and maybe some informative lectures. Most rehabs will also connect you with a therapist or counselor that can work with you on a one-on-one basis. In other words, you don’t necessarily have to spill your guts or share your whole story with everyone. It is possible to connect with an individual and get a lot of relief by simple talking to them on a one-on-one basis.

Confidentiality

Some people are afraid to go to treatment because they think everyone will know and they will somehow be ostracized for their condition. This is almost never the case and drug rehabs are bound by law to protect your identity while you are there. It is unfortunate what has happened in the media when a celebrity checks into rehab and it gets plastered all over the news. Obviously, this doesn’t happen with regular people, so don’t let the negative exposure that has happened in the media deter you from getting clean and sober.

It takes guts

It takes guts to go to treatment. There are 2 major fears that you have to overcome: One is the fear of treatment and everything that it entails: is it like jail? Is it like a hospital ward? Will they strap me down? and so on. The other major fear is that of facing life without self-medicating. The fear of being clean and sober, period. The fear of facing life and actually feeling your emotions and not medicating them.

Treatment centers are set up to try to alleviate both of these fears. They do the best they can to welcome you and make you comfortable and teach you how to enjoy a sober life. There really is no reason to be afraid of checking in some where! Just gather up enough courage to give it a try, and you will be amazed at where recovery will take you, if you let it.

Good luck to everyone out there and God bless. Try recovery today…..what have you got to lose?

What role does spirituality play in overcoming addiction?

Photo by HaPe_Gera

Regardless of how you manage to find recovery, you do so via spiritual means. This doesn’t necessarily indicate a religious conversion.

A more accurate description would be a personality conversion. Some addicts might get clean through a 12 step program, others might find help in counseling, therapy, religion, or through long term programs. The means and methods by which addicts get clean and stay clean over the long run might vary, but they all share a common thread: they change an addict from the inside out.

As mentioned previously on Reading Addiction, the terms “spiritual” and “spirituality” are vague and fairly useless by themselves. They might bring to mind images of prayer, meditation, nature, and so on. But in terms of overcoming addiction, the spiritual experience is defined by a complete change in personality.

Defining the spiritual experience

A drug addict or alcoholic who is still using has a strong tendency towards self-centeredness. Their goal is to self-medicate, and they continue to justify and rationalize their need to do so. It is all about them.

In recovery, if an addict is to find long term sobriety, a shift will be made. They go from this self-centered, obsessive thinking, to genuine concern for other people. Relationships become meaningful again.

It is not so much that “spirituality plays a role in overcoming addiction.” Instead, overcoming addiction leads to a spiritual life. Another way of saying this is “bring your body and your mind will follow.” A similar saying heard in 12 step meetings is: “You can’t think your way into good living, you have to live your way into good thinking.”

So the question “What role does spirituality play in overcoming addiction?” is somewhat flawed to begin with. The real question is: how does one go from being a self-centered drug addict or alcoholic to living a spiritual life in recovery? You might also want to ask yourself:

1) Can an addict choose to have a spiritual experience?

2) How can an addict transform their life?

3) How can I live a more spiritual life?

4) How can I manage my life?