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Seek help before it's too late. Before the next crisis. If you or some you love is having a problem drinking too much and recognize you have a problem, it is almost a sure thing that there will be even more problems in the future related to your chemical use. Medical problems, family problems and possibly legal problems.
It's a fact: In San Diego Count, on average 2 of our neighbors are killed in alcohol related traffic accidents each week, according to Mothers against Drunk Driving, MADD. San Diego County has the second highest DUI arrests and convictions according to the DUI Arrest Management Systems, in 2005. If you have had one or more DUI arrests, getting effective treatment will be the answer for you.
New and improved research based treatment improves the outcomes of those seeking help. Research shows:
--women stay sober longer if they receive treatment in women only groups
-- medications given for alcohol craving significantly reduce relapses
--motivational and caring treatment approaches with the therapist increases recovery rates
--12 step recovery and an intensive outpatient treatment program doubles the chance of recovery
--cognitive behavioral therapy increases the management of anxiety and depression
--family education is essential to the long term recovery of the entire family
--complete detoxification is essential to effective treatment
Lasting recovery's intensive outpatient treatment is one of many programs in the country that provide these types of services, and one of only a few in San Diego County. If you or your family is seeking treatment, ask about these research based treatment methods. If you are in San Diego county, call us at 858-453-4315. We are here to help you.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS
Labels: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Detox, Recover, Recovery, Recovery Women's Treatment; Co-dependency, Treatment
Throughout San Diego County, in areas of La Jolla, Mission Valley, Pacific Beach, and Coronado, people are struggling with trying to stop drinking, and others have given up, thinking to themselves that they are hopeless and why bother, they are unable to stop and stay stopped. Other men, women and young people continue drinking by telling themselves that their problems with alcohol are not that bad.
In denial, these folks may minimize the consequences of using and blame the family or friends for complaining. Denial of addiction is based on the mistaken belief that the person does not have a problem because they still have a job, a family and do not drink every morning.
Some are still working, others have quit or lost their jobs. Some are homeless, but most are at home through San Diego county, being cared for or enabled (actually leading to more severe progression of the disease), by family or friends who wish the person would stop drinking, and yet do not know how to get them to stop.
Living in Late Stage alcoholism is the image of what most people think of when the words alcoholism is mentioned - drinking from early morning, lost job, abandoned by family, multiple legal offenses and treatment programs without gaining substantial periods of recovery.
There are hundreds of people getting sober each day in San Diego. In the Middle and Late Stages of alcoholism and addictions, they call treatment centers and ask for help. They ask for Outpatient or Inpatient detoxification ; ask their doctors for help, or go online and check out the alcohol treatment programs or alcohol rehabs in their area. They show up at AA meetings.
These folks even tell us they are relieved when they get a DUI, knowing that this will be a chance for them to get help to stop drinking.
Identification of the Lat State of Alcoholism:
---the person drinking thinks that responsibilities interfere with drinking.
---loss of job
---radical deterioration of family relationships
---unreasonable resentments
---loss of will power
---onset of lenthy drunks
---moral deterioration
---urgent need for morning drink
---geographic escape attempted (I won't drink in this new town)
---urgent need for morning drink
---impaired thinking
---loss of family
---successive and lengthy drunks
---unable to initiate action
---obsession with drinking
---all alibis exhausted
If you are reaching out for help give us a call here at Lasting Recovery. If we are unable to help yo and your family with our outpatient detoxification, intensive outpatient alcohol and drug program we will refer you to a program that will work for you. If you are a family member and are unable to encourage your family or friend into treatment, we can recommend an Interventionist that will be of help to your family.
Call us at 858-453-4315.
Do not wait any longer. The stakes are too high.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Alcohol, Alcohol-Abuse, Alcoholism, Detox, Recover
In addressing this Middle Stage of the disease of addiction here in San Diego County, you may be asking the question: Given the already negative effect of drinking alcohol, as outlined in the Early Stage, why do I keep on drinking?
The answer:
There is a growing illusion in this disease, that alcohol is continuing to have the same effects as it once had. We refer to this as Euphoric Recall.
People keep using alcohol for the effect they remember - the drug's action is pleasant or useful, including social or medical uses, and it allows people to temporarily feel more pleasure, less pain or discomfort or both. People recall how alcohol used to help them feel more at ease in social situations. Only now, in the Middle Stage of the addiction, the effects of the drugs have changed.
This Middle Stage is often called the Loss of Control Phase. During this phase drinking has different effects. Occasionally we can drink socially and do not crave the alcohol once we have been exposed to it. Other times we are confused as to why, drinking the same amount, it seemed to take us over. As rationalization begins to dominate the individual, i.e., we make up excuses to ourselves and others as to why we drank more, or ended up in an embarrassing situation. Rationalization are the lies we tell ourselves and how we learn to avoid others because we are thoroughly confused at our behavior. For many of us, we are able to control a lot of things in our life and think that if we just tried a bit harder, we could consistently control our alcohol use as well. So we firmly tell ourselves that we will not drink more than two drinks at the next party, or that we will not drink at all.
We this stage progresses without help, we are unable to keep our commitments to not drink, so we begin making excuses or lying about drinking. We may drink in bars or restaurants to hide the evidence of bottles if we drink at home. Many of us then decide that going out socially to drink alcohol becomes such a disaster that we would rather stay at home and drink.
Our anxiety is actually increasing as the alcohol does progressively more damage to the brain and body. Nutrition is negatively affected, and important vitamins and minerals are depleted. At the same time, we ironically keep remembering that alcohol once reduced fear, anxiety and even anger. It used to help us feel more confident, helped us sleep and reduced physical discomfort.
Instead, what alcohol actually does is cause drowsiness, disorientation and blackouts. Alcohol may impair our motor coordination and cause impaired judgment. Some people will receive a DUI, have an extra marital affair, or make poor financial decisions while under the influence. We may experience nausea or vomiting after drinking - a minor overdose. In this Middle Stage there are increased memory blackouts and the beginning of early morning tremors. Toward the end of this stage, many people begin to break their rules about not drinking before 5, or noon and start earlier and earlier in the day and eventually drink alcohol in the morning. The compulsion to drink overrides commitments we have make to ourselves, to our families, friends and employers.
We then avoid family and friends, and experience a loss of other interests. The efforts to control the drinking fail repeatedly. We are unable to discuss problems as the alcohol has taken over our days and nights. At the end of this stage, we find ourselves drinking alone. If this sounds like a portrait of your life right now, reach out and ask for help.
If we reach out for help now, we will avoid the Late Stage of alcoholism. Our Staff at Lasting Recovery can answer any questions for you or your family member about getting help with detoxification or intensive outpatient treatment. If we are unable to meet your needs for detoxification and outpatient care, we will refer you to a program that can. Give us a call at 858-453-4315.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcohol-Abuse, Alcoholism, Detox, Recovery
I have something to celebrate this month - 32 years free from an opiate addiction.
Given opiates for a pain problem that became chronic, I was hooked for 10 years on codeine. As I write this, I recall how grateful I am to be free of the destructive power opiates had over my thoughts, emotions and quality of life.
Drug addiction to opiates in San Diego County continues to be a growing problem. The first time users are usually young men and women, who like myself, are emotionally sensitive and who find reducing emotional and physical pain with opiates quite intoxicating. The euphoria and increased sense of well-being by using the drugs, draw the user back into the illusion that all their emotional and relationship problems related to fear, anxiety and anger, will magically disappear...forever. We are chemically lulled into sleep, thinking that life is, indeed, very good.
However, young women and men, living in all areas of San Diego, including La Jolla, Del Mar or Encinitas, who use opiates begin to realize after a short time that they want more of the drug (the craving has begun, and it is hoped that taking more will make the drug experience better, just like the first use) only this time the drugs do not bring the same positive effects. Instead they feel drowsiness, disorientation and dulled senses. The motor coordination in these young users is effected, and they may prefer to just lay around. Life starts to become depressing. It is not unusual that people begin to use different drugs and perhaps alcohol to try and get the chemical high through mixing substances.
Judgment about important decisions related to work, school money, relationships or family are impaired. People lose jobs, relationships, money and family. By this time, which could be 3-4 months or a couple of years, the positive effects of the drug are no long present, the negative effects of the opiates are dominating the person's life and living revolves around obtaining the drug to avoid the physical withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms include feeling sick, vomiting diarrhea, poor appetite, stomach cramps, dry mouth, restlessness, headache, fainting attacks, stiffness, muscles twitching, fatigue, or tiredness, muscular tension, aches and pains, weakness and insomnia.
Feeling these same withdrawal symptoms for about 6 months, I'm glad I chose to withdraw from the opiates anyway, breaking my dependency on this drug. For 10 years I carried those little white pills in the brown plastic bottle, day and night. I couldn't remember what it felt like without them, and I was willing to give it a try. It had to be better than what I was feeling and the way I was living.
Today, 32 years later, I still know it was the best decision I ever made. I feel great most days and have the opportunity to help others who suffer from addictions.
Our medical director, Michael Markopoulos, MD can help you detox from the opiate/withdrawal wheel with the use of Suboxone. It isn't a long term answer, and it will help you reduce the early symptoms. You don't need to suffer withdrawal for 6 months. After a detox from the opiates you will benefit from entering an outpatient treatment program where you will learn how to stay clean and discover healthy way to meet life's opportunities.
Get the help you need today. Call us at 858-453-4315.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Detox, Drug-Abuse, Drug-Addiction, drug-use, Prescription-Drug-Addiction, Recover, suboxone, Treatment, young-opiate-addicts
Looking for alcohol in Del Mar or Carmel Valley? You can find large amounts of it for purchase in the grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, bars, gas stations, mini marts and liquor stores, throughout the north coastal areas.
Some people can ignore the multimillion dollar advertising campaign to get you to either order or pick up the alcohol for consumption, while other are seduced into purchasing alcohol regularly and enjoy evening drinks with their friends and family.
Still others will purchase alcohol daily to keep themselves from needing to enter a detoxification and treatment program, in full alcohol withdrawal with shakes and the possibility of a life threatening seizure. Which one are you? Are you safe from the risks of becoming the daily drinker, or the alcoholic?
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has examined the scientific literature to determine what constitutes not-at-risk drinking. The staff at NIAAA examined the physical, mental, social and legal risks associated with drinking and identified the amount men and women can drink without increased risk. Based on their analyses, the NIAAA recommends that:
--Men should consume no more than 4 standard drinks per day and no more than 14 standard drinks per week.
--Women, who process alcohol differently than men, should consume no more than 3 standard drinks per day and no more than 7 standard drinks per week.
--People 65 years of age and older should not drink more than one drink per day.
A standard drink equals a 12 oz. beer or cooler, 8-9 oz malt liquor, 5 oz of talble wine, or 1.5 oz of 80 proof spirits. Depending on the type of spirits and recipe, one mixed drink can equal from one to three or more standard drinks.
People who exceed the recommended daily limit have engaged in binge drinking.
Of the people who HAVE NOT exceeded the recommended daily and weekly limits in the past year (72% of the U.S. population over age 18), less than 1 in 100 will eventually meet the diagnostic criteria for either alcohol abuse or dependence.
People who HAVE engaged in binge drinking at least once in the previous 12 months (16% of the U.S. Population over the age of 18), 1 in 5, or 20% will eventually meet the diagnostic criteria for either alcohol abuse or dependence.
People who exceed both the limits recommended for daily and weekly use, which is 10% of the U.S. population over the age of 18, 50% or 1 out of 2 people will eventually meet the diagnostic criteria for either alcohol abuse or dependence.
Finally, people who exceed the recommended weekly limit but never binge drink (2% of the U.S. population over the age of 18) about 1 in 12 or 8% , will eventually meet the diagnostic criteria for either alcohol abuse or dependence.
If you want to be safe and reduce your risks for becoming alcohol dependence, don't exceed the daily (a binge) or weekly limit. This is no guarantee, however that trying to reduce the consumption will work, as there are genetic as well as environmental risks factors that lead to continued use despite consequences. If you have tried to reduce your consumption and been unsuccessful, you are not alone. Alcoholism is often described as having an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind. The overconsumption, fueled by the obsession to continue drinking, can lead to blackouts, personality changes,a loss of self esteem, physical problems, and problems with family, friends, employers and the law.
If you or someone you love is unable to consistently control the amount of alcohol they are drinking, seek help now by using the assessments on our website, www.lastingrecovery.com, to to determine if you have a problem. There are solutions. If you would like more information, give us a call at 858-453-4315.
Judy Saalinger, Ph., D., MFT, CAS Labels: Alcohol, Alcohol-Abuse, Alcoholism, binge-drinking, Detox, Research
Do you ever feel sick of drinking alcohol and want to stop. Are the symptoms of withdrawal so uncomfortable that in the past you gave up and went back to drinking and hating yourself for it?
Be motivated to go through the detox and achieve recovery! You are worth it. And you can do it.
Adequate detoxification is important to beginning the longer process of complete physical and psychological withdrawal from alcohol. The proper management of this first stage will maximize your chances of lasting rehabilitation, by providing a net of safety and reduction of harm during alcohol or drug withdrawal. You deserve to have a new beginning.
How do you know if you are already in withdrawal from alcohol or just suffering a bad hangover? The onset of alcohol withdrawal usually occurs between 6 and 24 hours after the last drink, and an uncomplicated withdrawal usually lasts between 1-4 days.
The first thing to do is decide if you or your loved one will need an outpatient or an inpatient detoxification. The greater the amount of alcohol consumed in a day and the longer the period of time of drinking or ingesting drugs in the body, the greater the chances of a complicated withdrawal, which means an inpatient detox would be safest.
To determine if you or someone you love is suitable for an outpatient detoxification which usually lasts from 1-4 days, look at the following list:
1. Not severely dependent
2. No previous complicated withdrawal (no seizures, disorientation, confusion or hallucinations)
3. No concurrent illness, injury or recent surgery
4. No significant use of other psychotropic drugs that could aggravate withdrawal
5. You are motivated to achieve abstinence
6. A reliable caretaker is available.
Daily drinking by men of more than 6 standard drinks (1.5 ozs) a day, and women more than 4 a day, places a person at high risk for a complicated withdrawal. Weekly drinking of 42 standard drinks of alcohol for men and more than 28 for women places a person high risk. Other individual, drug and factors in the environment can effect the level of risk for alcohol related problems.
A simple withdrawal, manageable in an outpatient detoxification can begin by seeming like a hangover or a case of the flu, and usually occurs between 6 and 24 hours after the last drink. Some symptoms include:
--tremulousness
--perspiration
--increased pulse
--increased temperature
--nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
--restlessness, agitation
--anxiety
--insomnia, sleeping disturbance
--fears
--depression
--headaches
If you would like more information on our detoxification program for alcohol, drugs or prescription drugs, including Suboxon, give us a call. We can help you 7 days a week.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Alcohol, Alcohol-Abuse, Detox, Drug-Addiction, Prescription-Drug-Addiction, suboxone, Treatment
More and more people who suffer from anxiety or sleeplessness are prescribed medications from their doctors. Some pople find that using these drugs to get high is a dangerous game. Young people are overdosing from using xanax along with opiate medications. We see young people whose have stalled their lives, from Carmel Valley, Del Mar, La Jolla and Encinitas due to the fact that they are suffering from having become dependent on drugs.
These medications are often obtained by young people from drug dealers and older people who tend to go to their physicians. Being unaware that the increasing physical dependence is taking over, these people will take the prescribed 30 days of medications in 2-3 days, leaving them desperate to get more medications. I have spoken with men and women of all ages who were surprised when they found they had taken the entire prescription in a few days, as if they could not get enough. Just like the person who finds that they now cannot stop at just two drinks, the compulsion to drink more or to use more of the drugs overpowers them and their physiological addiction is beginning to take control of their life. Whether it is alcohol or prescription drugs, people are confused and feeling guilty, and desperate, some people will begin to shop for more alcohol or doctors who will fill the prescriptions for the narcotics. Others will go on the internet and order a large supply of drugs which are then delivered within a day or two. Some people who are not addicted will go to Mexico to purchase the drugs from the pharmacies who sell to them without a prescription.
If you find that you are physically dependent on these medications, do not try to detox yourself. Withdrawal from alcohol, valium, librium, xanax and ambien,can cause severe anxiety symptoms, including seizures.
Lasting recovery Outpatient Detoxification offers confidential medically supervised detoxification from alcohol and prescription drugs. Our Medical Director, Michael Markopoulos, MD can help you with early recovery cravings for alcohol including Naltrexone, and Suboxon for opioid dependence.
You do not have to recover alone. Call Lasting Recovery for help with your chemical dependency treatment needs.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Addiction, Detox, Drug-Abuse, Drug-Addiction, Prescription-Drug-Addiction, Recover
Men and women of all ages, from San Diego County, including Coronado, La Jolla, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach and Carmel Valley contact us for information on what to do when they are afraid of stopping the use of these prescription drugs, including opiates and tranquillizer medications. Some attempts to stop use of the drugs, fail because of the severity of the withdrawal symptom. They report being extremely sick from opiates or experiencing severe anxiety from the tranquillizer or sedative medications including Xanax and Ambian. We often see people taking the opiates and tranquillizers or sedatives in a dangerous combination.
What is considered prescription drug abuse? Although most people take prescription medications responsibly, Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse stated recently that the nonmedical use or abuse of prescription drugs is a serious and growing public health problem in the country.
OPIATE ABUSE/DEPENDENCE
Research by the National Institute on Drug Abuse monitoring survey of grades 8 through 12, found that 9.3 percent of 12 graders reported using Vicodin without a prescription in the past year and 5.0 percent reported using OxyContin - making these medications among the most commonly abused prescription drugs by adolescents.
We have seen young adults who were introduced to opiates by being prescribed Vicodin or even OxyContin for sports injuries in high school, then abusing the drugs for recreation. They like the high they get and want increased doses as they gradually become addicted to the opiates and begin to buy them from local drug dealers. We see many young people from 18-26 whose lives have never gotten started on a solid drug free foundation and others whose work and academic careers are failing because of the physical, emotional, social and financial problems crated by addiction.
OxyContin is classified as a synthetic opiate and will give these young abusers a feeling similar to high grade heroin, but the physical withdrawal symptoms last longer. Symptoms of withdrawal include: perpetually being tired, hot/cold sweats, vomiting, nausea, heart palpitations, joints and muscles in constant pain, uncontrollable coughing, diarrhea, insomnia, restlessness, involuntary leg movements, watery eyes, excessive yawning, depression and cold flashes with goose bumps, hence the name cold turkey.
Symptoms can be reduced by using buprenorphine, sold as Suboxone. This medication is prescribed by certified physicians and through some treatment centers on a short term basis to help those with opioid addiction to recover from their dependence. At Lasting Recovery, the Director of Medical Services, Michael Markopoulos, MD is able to help those suffering from opioid addiction to detox with Suboxone.
If you or a family member is abusing these highly addicting opioid medications, reach out and get help. No one thinks it will happen to them. There is no shame in being addicted. The switch from pharmaceutical grade drugs to smoking, snorting or injecting heroin is the next step and sometimes a fatal one.
Lasting Recovery Outpatient Alcohol and Drug Addiction, located in San Diego, just north of Miramar Marine base, and University Town Center, in the Sorrento Mesa area, offers outpatient detoxification services for freedom from opioid, tranquillizer, sedative or alcohol dependence.
Don't put your life on hold any longer.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Detox, Drug-Abuse, Drug-Addiction, drug-use, Prescription-Drug-Addiction, young-opiate-addicts
Detoxification from alcohol and drugs can be a mixed experience. You are saying no more, ever again, to the destructiveness of addictive substances, and yes to your life in the hopes of a better future. Many people are surprised when they realize they are addicted and unable to stop using the alcohol, prescribed opiate medication,e.g. Hydrocodone, Norco, Percocet, Ultram, OxyContin; or tranquilizer medications, e.g. benzodiazepines such as Valium, Xanax, Alprazolam, Ambian and others.
Some people attempt to detoxify at home, or see their physicians for a brief office visit, or seek inpatient detoxification for dangerous symptoms of withdrawal. Outpatient Detoxification through an outpatient alcohol and drug treatment center over 3 or more days, provides the confidentiality of an office detox, and a physical and psychological assessment to provide you with information to help you make choices to stay clean and sober.
Alcohol withdrawal can cause seizures, and you may need 24 hour care if you have a co-occuring medical condition such as diabetes. Withdrawal can be experienced as a severe hangover with symptoms rated mild to severe and lasts for several days.
Withdrawal symptoms from alcohol may include:
-Upset stomach, nausea
-Headaches
-Shaking (tremors in hands and body)
-Fearful (panic attack)
-Difficulty sleeping (insomnia, nightmares)
-Increased body temperature
-Increased breathing and heart rate
Call your physician, a friend, family member or Lasting Recovery if you think you might be in trouble detoxing from an addictive substance on your own. There will be discomfort, and there is the promise of a new beginning in sobriety.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Detox, Drug-Addiction, Prescription-Drug-Addiction
January is a time when New Year Resolutions are made...and...broken.
Many people in San Diego County, from El Cajon to Coronado to Carlsbad, make a commitment to start off the year sober and clean from alcohol and drugs. And by the time the Super Bowl game has ended, many will have broken their promises to themselves and their loved ones to live a clean and sober 2009.
Why can't you just STOP using alcohol and drugs, even prescription drugs when you say you are through...had enough? If you have tried to stop drinking or using drugs before now and were unable to quit, consider Detoxification.
Your body may have become addicted to the chemical substances. Remember, Addiction doesn't mean you are a bad person, it merely means your body has made a chemical change as a result of prolonged use and that it now needs this chemical to feel the altered, 'normal'. Recovery is a return to your real self!
A majority of people who have been drinking alcohol or doing drugs and decide to stop (often for health, relationship and legal related reasons) are able to do so without much trouble. Alcohol, heroin, opiate pain medication and tranquilizers medications typically become difficult only when you attempt to quit.
People who need Alcohol detoxification and detoxification from tranquilizer medications sometimes require medical intervention by a physician or a detoxification center.
What are the symptoms of alcohol and tranquillizer withdrawal? A person typically has a mild to severe hangover that lasts several days. Symptoms may include upset stomach, headache, shakes or jitters, feelings of generalized anxiety, extreme fear or panic attacks; and insomnia or difficulty sleeping that may be accompanied by bad dreams or nightmares. Withdrawal from alcohol and other drugs increases in the person's heart rate, breathing rate and body temperature. In a small proportion of people addicted to alcohol or tranquillizer medications, withdrawal may result in severe symptoms, such as hallucinations, delirium tremens (DT's), or seizures which can be deadly. To be on the safe side, it is best to contact a detoxification center and speak with the medical staff about your symptoms.
How is withdrawal treated? Treatments in detoxification centers may begin with an injection of Vitamin B-1, in cases that involve malnutrition. The conventional treatment is to ensure rest and adequate nutrition (especially fluid intake and multiple B Vitamins, including thiamine). In cases of severe withdrawal symptoms from alcohol, a nervous system depressant, such as benzodiazepine is prescribed with a dosage that is tapered down over three to five days. For those addicted to tranquillizers, tapering is a method of choice. The amount of time tapering is based on the daily dosage and length of time using the drugs.
A successful detoxification is best followed up by immediately enrolling in an Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Program, either an Intensive Outpatient Program such as Lasting Recovery in San Diego, or an Inpatient Program.
We can help you with the next step...Reach Out...you don't need to struggle with quitting by yourself any longer!
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Detox
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