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Romancing Recovery

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Many suffering from the disease of addiction, whether they’re in recovery or still out there, have formed their own ideas about recovery. These ideas about recovery are formed from cherry picking the experiences of others in recovery they have met or heard about. They hear a fellow addict in a meeting describe how recovery has led to their career taking off, how their relationships are better than ever, and all the fun outings they were part of. Impressionable addicts in early recovery may latch onto these positive experiences but not hear the less attractive aspects of the stories, regarding the difficult work needed to achieve the attractive aspects of recovery. This can lead to those early in recovery forming somewhat unrealistic expectations about what recovery will, or should, be like. They begin to expect the “pink cloud” in their lives.

Having high expectations about recovery isn’t a bad thing, as long as they are properly managed. Recovery can certainly lead to achieving nearly any goal you want, as long as the work is put in. These expectations can become harmful if all the good aspects of other’s recovery experiences are highlighted, while the work needed to achieve these things is not. This can lead to someone in early recovery thinking that everything should improve by default. It can leave them wondering why aspects of their life haven’t improved as much as others.

Those in early recovery have a tendency to romanticize their addictions. This, coupled with thinking their personal recovery isn’t as “fun” as others, may lead them to think about going back to their drug of choice. They feel the fun aspects of life they are not achieving in recovery were achieved when they were under the influence of their drug of choice. This is a dangerous thought process, which can lead to relapse. If an individual does relapse, they typically find that addiction wasn’t as they remembered it. Many times, things are much worse the second time around.

Managing expectations for recovery is very important for those new to sobriety. It is crucial for the newcomer to understand that recovery can offer many things, but all these things require work to achieve them. Harmony Foundation’s addiction treatment programs incorporate teachings that help our clients understand the work needed to achieve their individual goals in recovery. If you have recently relapsed, Harmony offers a program to help you in your recommitment to recovery. We help you incorporate the tools and mindset necessary to achieve all of your life goals in recovery.

Opiate Addiction & Recalibrating the Brain’s Reward System

Posted on by Christy Weeks

The reward system of a person’s brain while they are in active opiate addiction is similar to an intense roller coaster ride. When the user takes opiates, they peak during the high and fall after the effects wear off. After prolonged use, the peak isn’t as high, and the low spots seem to go lower than before. This leads the user to increase the dose and/or frequency with which they take opiates.

This heightened dependence on opiates leads to the individual losing the ability to stimulate the brain’s reward system with other life activities. Eating a good meal, watching a good movie, and even hanging out with friends or loved ones doesn’t provide the same level of happiness for an individual who is abusing opiates as it does for a substance free healthy person. All aspects of life, outside of drugs, start to lose value as the addiction progresses.

This impact on the activity of the brain’s reward system lingers into sobriety. Studies have found those those who are still detoxing and those who have been clean for 1-2 weeks from opiates still show a heightened reaction within the brain’s reward system to images that relate to opiate abuse (such as pills). These individuals also showed a declined response from the brains reward system in such things that would typically stimulate happiness like tasty food or people having fun. The same studies found that individuals who were 2-3 months removed from active opiate addiction showed a lesser response from the brain’s reward system when showed drug related images and a near normal response to images that people typically associate with happiness.

This further strengthens the case for residential treatment as the route to long-term sobriety. Detoxing from the substance only removes the drug safely from your body. For the first month or two, the brain still performs similar to the way it did in active addiction. The time to fully heal, and fully enjoy life again, requires a timeframe of sobriety that is much easier to attain with residential treatment than it is by simply detoxing.

Harmony Foundation offers both men’s residential treatment and women’s residential treatment, as well as an Aftercare Program for those who complete our Residential or Family Programs. Both programs offer premier addiction treatment services that will help ensure that your recovery, and outlook on life, are successful.

How Addiction Impacts The Family

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Addiction unravels the life of the individual in its grasp. As circumstances in the individual’s life began to spiral downward, those around the addict begin to suffer as well. Addiction is a family disease. This includes not only immediate family members, but also coworkers and friends that are involved in the addict’s life. As addiction takes a toll on the quality of life of the addict, negative consequences of their disease begin to creep into the lives of those around them.

The addiction and its consequences instill an atmosphere of negativity around the addict. Whenever anyone is around them they are often surrounded by an aura of negative emotions. These emotions can include anger, sadness, confusion, and anxiety.

These emotions are related to common situations that impact families during addiction. First, money will often be a factor that impedes upon the family dynamic during the addiction process. As the addiction grows the addict needs more of the substance to achieve the same result. When they can no longer afford to support their addiction, they must lie, cheat, borrow, or manipulate their way to gaining the funds necessary to get the substance they need. Those closest to the addict will typically suffer first, and the hardest. The addict will try to borrow money from friends and family. They may manipulate those close to them to get money from them. This can include concocting untrue and elaborate stories or circumstances that explain why they need money. Those involved in the addict’s life will feel used and hurt when they find out the truth, and may chose to stay away from the addict altogether.

Another common way addiction impacts family and work relations is when the addict starts not showing up – emotionally or physically. The addicted individual will likely not pull his or her own weight at work or in the family. They may show up late or not at all. Even when they do show up their work, be it helping around the home, with the kids or on the job, is sub par. This leaves family members and coworkers resentful because they have to compensate for the addict’s lack of involvement or production.

Being in addiction can also cause inconsistent boundaries at home. The addict may seem to get away with a lot of negative behaviors because they are chalked up to their disease. Meanwhile, other family members are not granted the same leniency, leading them to resent the addict. Or the parents or spouse of the addict may develop a problem with co-dependency. This essentially means they place such a high priority on taking care of the addict that they stop sufficiently taking care of themselves. Those close to the addict may go another route by denying the fact that there is a problem or even enabling their behavior by turning a blind eye or supporting them financially or emotionally.

Because there are many situations that can arise from addiction that will cause negative emotions and circumstances for those involved in the addict’s life, these feelings don’t go away when the addict gets sober  or enters addiction treatment. That is why Harmony Foundation places the utmost importance on the recovery of the family alongside the addict. We believe through education and communication the family can recover. For more information about our family program, click here.

Alcohol Impacts Women Differently

Posted on by Christy Weeks

The gap between the number of male alcoholics and female alcoholics is closing quickly. Of the estimated 15 million Americans that abuse alcohol, around 1/3 of these individuals are women and this number is quickly rising.

Alcohol affects women differently than their male counterparts. Alcohol is more soluble in water than it is in fat. A woman’s body contains more fatty tissue than a male of the same size. Women also tend to have less muscle than men. Muscle contains more water than fat, and therefore men tend to have more water in their bodies than a woman of the same size. Finally, women produce less of the liver enzyme that breaks down alcohol than men.

All of these aspects of the biological makeup of women contribute to alcohol being more potent to woman than it is to men. Since less of the alcohol is absorbed or broken down in a woman’s body, more of that alcohol reaches the brain. If a man and woman of the same size drink the same amount, the woman will feel stronger effects than the man. This can lead to women developing dependence to alcohol faster than men. It also can result in negative physical, mental, and emotional consequences being experienced at a quicker rate in women than in men.

Adding to this is the fact that women have death rates 50-100% higher than men, with many women dying from alcohol related suicides, accidents, and circulatory disorders. And studies have revealed that even when women don’t drink as much or for as long as men, they have the same amount of damage.

Overall, alcohol abuse can be much different experiences for women and men and often the path leading to addiction is different. Therefore, treatment for women should be different. Unfortunately, there are few women’s programs that are geared towards recovery for women. Being a gender specific program is typically not sufficient.

That is why Harmony Foundation’s Colorado alcohol rehab offers an individualized treatment program for women. The program is not only gender specific, but specific to each woman. We believe that treating addiction in men and women requires a very different approach in each case. Learn more about our individualized addiction treatment program for women here.

Staying Sober During the Holidays – For the Newly Sober

Posted on by Christy Weeks

In our previous blog post we wrote about how the holiday season can be stressful for those in active addiction who may isolate from family or, alternatively, may regret their actions during family get togethers while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

This time of year can also bring extra stresses for those in early recovery. Examples of this stress include being emotionally triggered from unresolved family issues or from the presence of alcohol at holiday parties. Family members and closed loved ones elicit deep emotions, which are likely to come out during the holidays because of the frequency or duration of family time. These emotions can become further complicated when experienced in the presence of alcohol. Holidays often provide the first big test to those in recovery- testing their resolve to stay sober while experiencing strong emotions. This becomes an even bigger test when access to alcohol is thrown into the mix.

Another stress faced by those in early recovery are the expectations that abound, beginning with self-imposed expectations. Some may experience negative emotions and may get into their character defects when with family. This may be a departure from their normal sense of elation and being on the “pink cloud” of early recovery, so they may feel they have failed somewhat in their recovery process.

There are also the expectations of close family members and friends. Those newly sober feel that their parents or spouses expect them to be healed after addiction treatment and they grow worrisome at any sign of imperfection, like being in a bad mood. Their auto response is often concern that the recovering addict may be using again. Others may expect those in early recovery to apologize for their past actions because they have seen on TV, for example, that amends is part of recovery, even if the person is not ready to do the 9th step.

These are all variations on the same theme, that holidays provide challenges for those in early recovery in many forms. The positive element is that they are healthy challenges and getting through them sober strengthens one’s recovery and faith in the recovery process.

This is where true recovery begins, and the newly sober need to harness the tools they learned in treatment, including relapse prevention techniques and 12 step principals and fellowship to face their emotions and situations in stride with grace – realizing that is it progress, not perfection.

Addiction During the Holiday Season

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Happy Holidays?

The Holidays are a joyful time for most people. It means time off work and time spent with loved ones. For those struggling with addiction, the holidays can be a very stressful time.

Those in active addiction face many obstacles during the holidays. Holidays bring family members together to see each other and check in on how everyone’s life is going. If addiction has taken a toll on an individual in recent months, the holidays make it clear that something is going on. The addict in active addiction may have lost weight or appear more isolative and withdrawn compared to the year before. This can be stressful as family members may worry and ask what exactly is going on with them.

The holidays can also be stressful for those in active addiction because drinking is a central theme at many holiday get-togethers. When an addict or alcoholic takes a drink, they seldom stop at one or two and never know where the drink will take them. More often than not drinking results in some form of drama from being too drunk, such as being emotional, insulting others, physically assaulting others or other regrettable behaviors. Many addicts can recall a painful memory of the holidays, either with family or purposefully isolated from family.

Another stress can be the financial stress that is brought on by the holidays. No matter what holiday you celebrate, the vast majority of them involve buying things for others. Many in addiction have no money at all. Any funds they do have usually go directly to fueling their habit. To avoid the discomfort of not bearing gifts they may make up excuses or not show up at all.

It is because of these stresses that many addicts have sobriety dates around this time of year. Many hit their bottoms during the holiday season because of what their addiction represented during this iconic time of year. Instead of being grateful they felt hopeless. Instead of feeling joyful they felt ashamed. Instead of feeling full of love they self loathed. After entering treatment and being in recovery they began to appreciate these stresses because the unbearable weight of holiday stress ultimately lead them to seek treatment.

If this holiday season you or a loved one is struggling with an addiction too big to endure, our addiction treatment program can help. We are open on Christmas, Chanukah, New Years Eve, New Years Day and every day to help those who need our detox and drug and alcohol rehab services.

 

The Thankful Addict

Posted on by Christy Weeks

To those who have been in the trenches of addiction, recovery frequently provides opportunities to be thankful. Recovery gave them their life back. Though it was certainly earned, the work and efforts put forth in the recovery process, resulting in an improved quality of life, is something to be grateful for. Many recovering addicts are even feel thankful for the addiction they endured, as it made them stronger and gave them a better life than they ever had before they ever took the first drink or drug.

Recovery requires work and personal insight. The gift of recovery, and the personal traits it equips its receivers with, is something very few people ever get to experience. Those in recovery strive for constant improvement in knowledge of themselves, improvement in relationships, and strive to find a meaning and purpose to life. They take pride in helping others, and try to improve the lives of everyone they meet. This is certainly something to be thankful for. Many float through life without ever taking a good look in the mirror. The continued self-awareness, desire for self-improvement and perseverance those in recovery have is a trait that’s shared by few.

Although they may not be aware of this, those in active addiction have much to be thankful for as well. They are actively involved with a very deadly disease, and remain alive. They are also blessed with the reality that, if they wish, they never have to use again. The qualities of those in recovery mentioned above are attainable starting right now. It isn’t easy to achieve, but a life of recovery is worth it.

Though recovery is obtainable, it can’t be done alone. Getting help at a reputable addiction treatment facility like ours is the first step to a better life. If a better life, a sober life and all that comes with it, is something you are interested in, Harmony Foundation can help you achieve it. Recovery is just a phone call away.

The Importance of Exercise in Addiction Recovery

Posted on by Christy Weeks

When a person exercises they experience positive physical, mental, and emotional results. Exercising is a key component to a healthy lifestyle. For this reason, exercising in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction is generally encouraged. The simple things like a well balanced diet and exercise can go a long way in helping one stay sober. It helps in early recovery by speeding up the process of getting healthy. It also helps with long term recovery by maintaining one’s overall health and establishing healthy relationships and routines through exercising or going to the gym.

A recent study has found that exercise reduces the risk of relapse during early recovery. Interestingly, there was correlation between exercise and relapse rate or urges, but no correlation between the actual length of the workout and relapse rates. Simply put, being involved in physical fitness, on any level, was enough to reduce the cravings and help prevent relapse. Even a 20-minute workout can go a long way. The study also found that even during active addiction, exercising resulted in the addicts not needing as much of their drug of choice to be satisfied.

Exercise, like drugs and alcohol, activate the brain’s reward system. Runners have often referred to the rewarding feeling they obtain while running as “runner’s high”. The “feel good” chemicals that exercise brings on can show a person that there are other ways of becoming elated besides using drugs. 

It may seem like a simple task, but exercising can ripple into other aspects of recovery as well. Many who start exercising, even in small amounts, will start to incorporate other healthy aspects into their lives naturally. They may be more inclined to eat healthy to hold onto feeling well or dress nicer because their overall confidence has improved. Exercising can start small, and snowball into a very healthy lifestyle.

Exercise is a key component to our men’s residential treatment program, women’s rehab and our young adult addiction treatment program. This, coupled with our nutritional program, helps clients get physically healthy along with the spiritual and mental health that comes with getting sober.

A Click Away: Drugs on The Deep Web

Posted on by Christy Weeks
buying drugs on the deep web

The Internet is involved in nearly every aspect of American’s lives these days. Banking, communication, research, and navigation are all done primarily on the Internet. With the popularity of the World Wide Web growing, it was only a matter of time before it started to leak into the world of drug addiction.

Buying prescription drugs on the Internet is hardly a new thing. Individuals have bought painkillers and other drugs from shady pharmacies online for years. After several crackdowns on online pharmacies, dealers have needed to find new means of getting substances to addicts online.

The vast majority of the illegal drug trading online today is done on what is known as the Deep Web. This is the portion of the Internet that is not discoverable by search engines. The Surface web refers to  the Internet that the majority of people use. Search engines index the Surface web, and these websites are discoverable using search engines like Google or Bing. The Deep Web has been estimated to be 4,000-5,000 times larger than the Surface Web. It is here where addicts meet a dealer and order their drug of choice. Chinese criminals seem to be at the forefront, or at least heavily involved with the illegal Internet drug trade, using bit coins as currency to facilitate the trading, and operate from both Mainland China and Hong Kong.

While in active addiction, addicts became masterminds in the art of procuring their drugs of choice. It used to be that the best way to get someone clean was to keep them contained – in a lockdown facility to prevent them from drug seeking behavior. Addicts are told to stay away from people, places and things related to their addiction.

Since drugs are accessible everywhere now, including the web, recovery has to be all encompassing. It may have been an addict’s thought that changing locations and “starting fresh” would be sufficient to beat addiction. Running away from addiction is no longer an option. Availability and therefore temptation is stronger than ever, and addicts need to have the tools necessary to face these temptations.

The recovery program at Harmony Foundation provides the tools to combat these inevitable temptations – including group and individual counseling, 12 step support meetings, aftercare, alumni support and highly credentialed addiction therapists to help addicts sobriety have staying power, even when faced with explicit opportunities to fall prey to temptations.

The Addiction Carousel: Substituting Addictions

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Many people in early recovery are warned about substituting addictions. Substituting an addiction is defined as replacing an old addiction with a new addiction that the individual didn’t have previously. However, a case where someone has a co-occurring disorder, and one of those disorders or addictions grows after another is eliminated, wouldn’t be labeled as a substitution.

Substituting addictions in recovery is a common occurrence, and most people battling addictions have seen this take place within themselves or someone else. Someone who had a heroin addiction gets sober and starts drinking more. An alcoholic who quits drinking and starts binge eating. Substitutions of this nature are common.

So how many categories of addictions are there? According to Dr. Steven Sussman, there are 11. Dr. Sussman co-authored a paper in which he categorizes 11 “relatively common behaviors” as addictions. These common behaviors are: tobacco use, alcohol use, illicit drug use, binge eating, gambling, internet use, love, sex, exercise, work, and shopping. Any of these behaviors can count as addictions. If any are incorporated into a person’s life after giving up an addiction, and they culminate into a new addiction, that constitutes an addiction substitution.

Addiction substitutions are dangerous for those in recovery. Even if the substitution is a “safer” addiction, like going from heroin addiction to a work addiction, having an addiction at all is obviously negative. Any of the above mentioned addictions pose a threat to a person’s quality of life. A recovering addict should be mindful of other potential addictions, and make sure they stay off of the addiction carousel.