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Most people in Carmel Valley, Del Mar, La Jolla, San Diego and Scripps Ranch at least try drinking alcohol sometime during their life. Many others have been given a prescription for pain medication due to an injury, dental or surgical procedure. For many people, the substance makes them feel so good, that they look forward to the drink or pain pill, like a reward for having done a good job at work or school. Unfortunately, some people are genetically wired to like the drug or alcohol so much that they become physically dependent on the substance and physically have to drink more alcohol or take more pills to just feel normal. The amount of time it takes for this to happen varies with the person, gender and the substance. It can take from 6 months to a 2 years for prescription pain medication to become physically dependent and alcohol can take from 2-10 plus years for a person to become dependent. The pattern of symptoms though are similar:
-- drinking or using drugs to calm your nerves
-- occasional memory lapses after heavy drinking or drugging
-- thinking a lot about the next time you will have a drink or use drugs
-- hiding your drugs or alcohol
-- sneaking while you are drinking or doing drugs so you won't be found out
-- feeling guilty about drinking or using the drugs
-- difficulty in your relationships - angry or aggressive over small events
-- deep inside there is a feeling of helplessness; you are drinking or doing the drugs and can't even stop yourself, no how hard you try
-- beginning of depression with the frequent thoughts of feeling hopeless, futile.
If you feel you or a family member is suffering from the use of alcohol or prescription drugs, you may be suffering from a substance use disorder that is causing the problem. Seek help before the symptoms and consequences get more severe. We can help. Professional. Confidential.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug-Abuse, Drug-Addiction, Prescription-Drug-Addiction
Prescription drug addiction continues to be a growing problem that many people don't take as seriously as they should. Join Together, reported today that according to research from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) about 70 percent of 12-17 year olds see great risk in smoking a pack of cigarettes or more daily compared to 40 percent who saw great risk in binge drinking and about 34 percent who perceived great risk in smoking marijuana monthly.
Back in July of 09, after years of focusing primarily on marijuana use, there was news from CBS News that the more urgent growing problem is prescription-drug misuse antidrug campaigns from both the private and public sector have turned their attention to what's seen as a more urgent problem: prescription-drug misuse.
Authorities say marijuana by comparison to prescription drug use, is 'benign'.
Prescription drugs that create physical dependency and addiction belong in two classes of pills; opiates and benzodiazepines. opiates include drug such as codeine, vicodin, norco, oxycodone and benzodiazepines/tranquillizer drugs including xanax, valium, ambian and others.
Many people feel that since the medications were originally prescribed by a doctor that their prescription drug abuse is different. Getting high on an FDA approved drug, traps people into the illusion that they are safely manufactured and will not become a problem.
Yet in October 2009, a local website in San Diego reported on the growing problems of teens and prescription drug abuse: the county medical examiner when discussing teen deaths from drugs reported 54 oxycodone-related deaths between 2008 and 2009, up from 17 deaths between 2004 and 2006, He also stated that adding the death rate from alcohol and heroin brings death rate for 16 - 25 year old alcohol and drug users, even higher.
The Signs of Addiction to Prescription Drugs:
--A preoccupation with symptoms of pain or sleeplessness in order to justify the request for more medication.
--Lack of interest in doing other activities unrelated to the drug using experience.
--Good, drug induced feelings preoccupy the mind.
--Mood swings.
--Borrowing from friends and/or purchasing from drug dealers.
--Purchasing drugs on the internet or from pharmacies in Mexico.
--Past history of drug addiction.
--On and off relief from anxiety.
--Using more than the recommended amount of the medication.
--Taking medications from family, friends or strangers medicine cabinets.
--Hiding medications or lying about taking them.
Medication changes the brain chemistry,making it less effective at producing chemicals like dopamine or endorphin. Since the brain has stopped producing these chemicals itself, they must be introduced through another source. At this point, the prescription drug addict has become physically dependent on the medication.
Effects of Excessive Use of Prescription Pills:
A person who is addicted to prescription drugs may experience the following:
--Anxiety
--Depression
--Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
--Loss of interest in relationships with friends or family members
--Withdrawal symptoms when they try to stop using the medications on their own
Important: Consumption with or without alcohol can effect the central nervous system causing respiratory distress, failure or even death.
Lasting Recovery provides Detoxification Services and Intensive Outpatient Treatment for Prescription medication addiction. Recovery is possible --- we can help.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS
Co-Founder and Clinical Director
Labels: Drug-Abuse, Drug-Addiction, Prescription-Drug-Addiction, young-opiate-addicts
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
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
How can you tell if you have a problem with alcohol? After all, it seems as if alcohol is served everywhere in La Jolla, Del Mar, Carmel Valley, Rancho Santa Fe, and Mission Hills, even at the spa and beauty salons. Alcohol is served at parties to celebrate your local soccor, basketball, football, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Indian Princess activities. Co-workers and business associates in Sorrento Valley, La Jolla and Downtown San Diego, attorneys throughout San Diego County, get together for dinner and drinks, create events such as wine clubs and wine tasting parties for fundraising or social events. Opportunities to drink alcohol are scattered throughout communities in San Diego.
If you are questioning your drinking and if you work or do not work, are a parent or not, here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself:
- Do I want to go to the activity because alcohol is going to be served, or because it usually becomes a big drinking event for me?
- Do I have a rule for myself about drinking and driving with my children or their friends in the car? Have I ever broken that rule, or thought about breaking it, just one time?
- Am I isolating with my alcohol or prescription drugs in my room, while my family is being together and doing homework, talking or watching TV?
- Am I isolating with my alcohol or drugs and not returning phone calls, avoiding friends and family because I would rather come home from work, get comfortable and drink my alcohol, alone, with no one bothering me, except the cat?
- Do I wonder if my alcohol and drugs are really more important to me than my partner/spouse/chidren, even though I hate to think like this?
- Do I hide bottles in trash cans that belong to my neighbor or drop them off in different neighborhoods so I will not be discovered?
- Do I go to different liquor stores so the clerks will not ask me why I was just here buying alcohol yesterday, or earlier today?
- Do I usually defend my alcohol purchase by saying that I am getting ready for a big party - usually with myself, however I do not say that.
- Do I think I might have some physical pain this weekend, so I call the doctor and lie about my current level of pain so I can get a refill from the pharmacy for my favorite prescription medication?
- Have I ever gone to see doctors including than my primary or family physician, trying to get a prescription for tranquillizers or opiate pain medication, knowing I would drink alcohol with the pills?
- Have I ever thouight maybe I was addicted to alcohol or to the prescription drugs?
If you would like to do an online assessment, go to our home page and find alcohol and drug assessments. Or call our office at 858-453-4315.
Only you can decide if your drinking or drug use has moved from social use, to early or middle stage addiction.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS Labels: Alcoholism, Choose, Drug-Abuse, Drug-Addiction, Prescription-Drug-Addiction
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
I have noted the increase in prescription drug dependence among young adults ages 17-25 who are addicted to prescription drugs. For residents in San Diego County, the problem of abusive distribution of prescription drugs is further compounded by our close proximity to Tijuana. Teenagers stream across the border to Tijuana and come back with any narcotic prescription drug they want. The story I hear when treating these young people, is that if you are tall enough to put your money on the counter, the clerk will sell you the prescription drugs. Here's information on another side of the problem, an article from Join Together.org.
California Targets Top Abusers of State Prescription Drug System
The California attorney general's office has announced a crackdown on prescription drug fraud that will start by targeting 50 individuals with the most extensive track record of visiting multiple doctors and pharmacies to get drugs, the Imperial Valley News recently.
California Attorney General Edumnd Brown Jr. reported that prescription drug addicts are abusing the system, draining time and money from hundreds of doctors and pharmacies who are there to help real sick people. He noted the dangerous cycles of fraud and abuse.
A statewide campaign was launched in June to address prescription drug abuse and make it easier for doctors to keep track of prescription drug records. The plan includes a proposal to ensure health professionals access to computers with real-time updated information describing patient prescription drug histories. The initiative has led to dozens of arrests of individuals suspected of gaming the system to fraudulently obtain large quantities of controlled prescription drugs.
Commentary - Prescription Drug Dependence
Prescription Drug Dependency is a growing problem in our communities. Media advertising and the ease physicians have in prescribing opiate pain medication and tranquillizers, from teenagers to the elderly, has contributed to the excessive number of prescription pill addicts.
The addiction generally begins because a patient is experiencing a physically or emotionally painful condition for which they either receive an opiate to reduce the symptoms of physical pain or a tranquillizer or sedative medication to reduce anxiety and promote sleep. After the initial symptoms have decreased, the dependency upon them may be developing. Who is prone to become addicted to these meds? - Men and women who have a prior history of not being able to easily stop their drinking, who drink in excess of 1-2 drinks at a sitting.
- Men and women who have a family history of alcoholism or drug addiction.
Taking a look at our addiction history, whether to alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, or prescription drugs will help us determine if we have the potential to abuse or become dependent on prescription drugs. There are healthier methods of pain reduction and relaxation. Turning to a drug only increases the problem. Labels: Commentary, Prescription-Drug-Addiction
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