Colorado

The Long Term Effects of Young Adult Alcohol Abuse

Posted on by Christy Weeks
young adult alcohol rehab colorado

A recent study has shown that adolescents that engage in binge drinking are more likely to develop anxiety disorders and alcohol addictions in adulthood. The study found that engaging in binge drinking while still an adolescent resulted in changes in genes needed for normal brain development. These changes were found to be long lasting in some individuals, and permanent in others. The damage was done after binge drinking while young, even with long periods of abstinence from alcohol.

This study further illustrates the dangers of drinking and addiction in adolescents and young adults. While binge drinking during adolescence, the brain doesn’t develop as it should. The same occurrence is thought to happen when young people abuse drugs. The development of the brain is hindered, and the consequences of that affect the individual the rest of their life.

Navigating through one’s adolescence years is difficult enough as it is. Once addiction comes into play, a young person’s life can quickly unravel. These years are crucial for the development of all aspects of a person, and participating in drinking alcohol or using drugs will hinder growth in all aspects.

It can sometimes be difficult to determine whether or not a young adult is addicted, or simply experimenting. A parent or loved one may be hesitant to address the issue because they associate the young person drinking or using drugs as a normal aspect of growing up. Drinking or using drugs in adolescence is detrimental to development, and if there is any suspicion that the young person may be addicted action should be taken immediately.

Our Young Adult Recovery Track focuses on the specific needs of young people. We offer the highest level of age specific care. A family program is available to assist the family through the most difficult of times, educate them on the disease of addiction, and help the family unit recover. If you would like more information on what Harmony Foundation can offer you, please contact us today.

Grieving for Addiction

Posted on by Christy Weeks
grieving for addiction

Those in early recovery have taken a monumental step towards a better way of life. Leaving a life of addiction behind is one of the best decisions an individual can make, and their lives are certainly better in recovery. However, a strange phenomenon can occur in recovery that causes a person to miss, or grieve over, their prior addictions.

It is understandable that a person very early in recovery might feel this way. They are newly sober, and have yet to truly experience a life of recovery. This line of thinking can also be present to those further along the recovery path. Why would a person that has experienced a better way of life grieve over an inferior way of life?

The primary reason is that recovery is real. The life of addiction is many times romanticized, and the good parts of the old life are highlighted while the bad parts are forgotten. “Freedom” is replaced by responsibility, and old memories are skewed and thought of as better than they really were. Using buddies are remembered as loyal friends, drug seeking as adventures, and day-to-day life as carefree.

Individuals, deep down, are aware these thoughts weren’t the reality in addiction. If they were brutally honest, they’d say the “freedom” was the exact opposite, using buddies took advantage of them, drug seeking stole time from their lives, and life was anything but carefree. Addicts are aware of the realities of their addictions, but chose to entertain a false truth from time to time.

Allowing the thought process to go down this road can be deadly or beneficial, depending on the type of support system the individual has in their lives. If the correct support is there, this line of thinking can be analyzed to discover why it’s entertained in the first place. This can be an extremely beneficial exercise, and reveal much about a person’s makeup. Without the correct support system, the person may never be pulled back to a healthy way of thinking. They may venture so far into the fantasy that they chose to pursue the old way of life and relapse.

Having a proper support system is of the utmost importance in all stages of recovery. These fantasy thoughts are typical, and having others around you to talk truth is vital. A residential treatment center is appropriate for those brand new to recovery. These thoughts can occur more frequently in early recovery, and a greater level of support is needed. The appropriate level of support never tapers off, it simply changes. Outpatient or Aftercare services are appropriate after treatment, and a presence in the recovery community will be appropriate the rest of your life. The further you go down the recovery path, the more you are able to provide the support you need for yourself. You will become able to bring yourself back to reality, and know to seek help when you can’t. Eventually the script will be flipped, and you will help teach others of the realities of their addictions.

Harmony Foundation provides the recovery support needed during treatment, and for the rest of your life. The road to recovery begins here.

Decrease in Oxycontin Use Leads to Spike in Heroin Use

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Heroin vs Oxycontin Addiction

Around 2010 the Oxycontin epidemic was growing out of control. The strength and availability of the drug led to many people becoming addicted to the famous painkiller. The days of having to visit a dark alley to achieve a strong opiate high were over. Individuals misusing the prescription drug were on the rise.

In 2010 a misuse deterrent was introduced. This changed the formulation of the drug to make it more difficult to crush or dissolve. The idea was to lower the ease with which a person could snort or inject the drug. The plan achieved what it set out to achieve, as the number of individuals checking into addiction treatment centers who had used Oxycontin in the last 30 days dropped from 45 percent before the formula change to 26 percent in 2014. Addicts entering rehab who had used Oxycontin in he last 30 days has nearly halved in 4 years.

However, of the 19 percent of users who stopped taking Oxycontin during this time, it’s estimated that 70 percent of them switched to heroin. The secondary effects of the formula change had devastating results in the addiction world. Making it more difficult to abuse Oxycontin didn’t make addicts stop using drugs, it just made them switch drugs. Concurrently with this trend, heroin overdoses have skyrocketed in the last 4 years.

Changing the drugs formula, in the big picture, didn’t work. They changed some things, and addicts found a way around it. This is true of many scenarios that arise in addiction. Attempting anything, outside of relentlessly pursuing recovery, is typically useless. Many addicts will need professional help to get clean and stay clean.

Harmony Foundation provides the professional care necessary to help you or a loved one achieve a lasting recovery. If you would like to learn more about what our program has to offer, contact us for more information.

Overcoming Addiction

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Recovering Addicts less likely to develop new addictions

A recent study has shown that individuals who are able to overcome a substance abuse addiction are less likely to develop an addiction to another substance. The study found that 27 percent of those that had never developed addictions, or never recovered, and 13 percent of those who had recovered from their addictions had developed an addiction to a different substance after three years. The study shows that those who have recovered from their addictions are less than half as likely to develop a new addiction to a substance other than their original drug of choice.

Recovering from an addiction to drugs or alcohol requires drastic changes to one’s life. The addict has to change their life to stay sober long term. To ensure lasting recovery, new groups of friends are acquired and relationships with families are mended. Many times, the individual in recovery is a totally different person than they were in active addiction. They have left more than the addiction behind; they’ve left their old way of thinking and living behind. It makes sense that individuals such as this would be less likely to revisit addiction.

The study highlights the need to get proper, individualized treatment, and recover fully. Those who work to recover at full capacity are less likely to develop another addiction to a different drug. Those who give it half effort end up with the same likelihood of developing another addiction as those who never attempted to recover at all. Getting sober cannot be achieved by exerting anything short of a full effort.

If you or a loved one want to recover from a substance abuse addiction, and are ready to take the steps necessary to achieve it, contact Harmony Foundation to learn more about what our program can offer you.

Addiction and the Downward Spiral

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Actress June Fairchild, know for her roles in “Up in Smoke” and “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”, died Tuesday in Los Angeles from complications related to liver cancer. Fairchild appeared in several films in the 1970’s, and it appeared she had the ability to become a star before addiction came into her life. Fairchild’s drug and alcohol addiction led to her living in a cardboard box on skid row in Los Angeles.

Stories such as this highlight the destructive nature of substance abuse addiction. Going from appearing in films alongside Clint Eastwood to living in a cardboard box shows addiction affects everyone, and is detrimental to everyone.

Stories like this often don’t get as much notoriety as other celebrity drug stories. A well-known celebrity getting in trouble with the law or overdosing, while in the prime of their career, provides a juicier storyline. However, stories such as this probably show the nature of addiction in its truest form. There is a good chance addiction will lead to overdose or getting arrested, but it is a certainty that addiction will negatively affect the trajectory of your life. For every rock star that dies from a drug overdose, there are probably dozens of individuals who had promising careers that drifted into obscurity before their careers took off due to addiction. Many tragic Hollywood addiction stories happen when the camera is no longer around.

All addicts, regardless of their place in life, suffer from a gravitation pull towards rock bottom. This downward life trajectory may be “televised”, it may not. Many times, only recovery can reverse the downward trend. If you have an addiction, and would like to learn how to our program can help, contact us for more information.

Insomnia in Early Recovery

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Insomnia in Sobriety

Early recovery offers an array of challenges. In addition to being newly sober, those in early recovery are forced to face life and its problems without the use of substances. This is usually a monumental challenge, and anything from showering to going to the grocery store seems totally different in the early stages of recovery. Addiction likely leaked into every aspect of the individual’s life. Towards the end, every activity was completed with a buzz. Being under the influence became a prerequisite for all things. A common activity that is hindered by addiction is sleeping.

Sleeping is also hard to attain in early recovery. Mental and physical changes, coupled with having to process a drastically different life, lead to many hours lying awake in bed. Recent studies have indicated that individuals in early recovery are 5 times more likely than the general population to experience insomnia. These studies also typically indicate that insomnia in early recovery raises the risk of relapse.

Insomnia and addiction are closely linked across the board. Individuals who experience insomnia are more likely to develop addictions, and individuals with addictions are more likely to experience insomnia.

Sleep, like all other activities, was easier to achieve in addiction if a certain ritual was upheld. Many times, if any step in the ritual was excluded, the activity became difficult or impossible to complete. One aspect of the ritual will almost always include using the drug of choice, but many times the ritual goes deeper than that. The dose, method of consumption, time, and location must all be orchestrated perfectly to accomplish the task. Sleep is almost always one of these tasks.

With the ritualistic mindset so engrained in those with addictions, it can be hard to accomplish sleep or other tasks sober. The motivational engine behind the machine has been removed. Sleeping, and other day-to-day activities, will have to be completely re-learned.

The importance of recovering in a safe, supportive environment cannot be stressed enough. Trouble sleeping will lead to trouble doing everything awake. Without adequate sleep, those in early recovery face a difficult challenge with dulled senses and slower thinking. A residential treatment program, with a recovery curriculum that fills the addict’s day, leaves the body and mind tired and at peace at the end of the day. Facing early recovery with a fresh body and mind, coupled with profession care designed to help learn how to accomplish life’s challenges sober, provide the best chance for long term recovery.

If you are interested in learning more about our program, contact us for additional information about how to achieve long-term recovery.

The Consequences of Addiction

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Addiction Consequences

Individuals in active addiction frequently have an impaired ability to fully realize the damage their substance abuse is causing to their lives. They also typically can’t fully realize the toll their addiction is taking on the lives of others around them. More often than not, any consequences stemming from their addiction are given a pass. Losing a job, relationship, or financial security while in addiction is contributed to anyone and anything besides the substance abuse. A common opinion on this occurrence is that addicts contribute problems in their everyday lives to things other than their addictions in order to justify continued use.

A recent study suggests the misdirection of fault addicts place on the source of their problems may not be entirely voluntary. The study measured the brain activity of cocaine users and sober individuals while playing a simple gambling game. The results showed that the cocaine using subjects had significantly impaired loss prediction signaling, a signal a nerve sends the brain to regulate dopamine. This signaling occurs to alert the individual that the act produced an unfavorable outcome, and should be avoided in the future.

The study further proves that the disease of addiction physically, mentally, and emotionally affects addicts in forms that are deeper than they appear to the outside world. While those around the addict, who don’t suffer from addiction, see the addict’s decision making as poor judgment, the study indicates what is occurring is a loss of ability to make sound choices. While in the grips of addiction, an addict has a severely dulled sense of the harm they are causing to their lives.

To improve this dulled sense of consequences takes time. An inpatient addiction treatment program, incorporating the 12 Steps, provides the time, setting, and teachings necessary to help addicts fully realize the damage their addictions have caused. This not only allows the individual to stop the damage being done, but also teaches them the steps necessary to repair some of the damage.

If you or a loved one have an addiction that is causing negative consequences to lives, Harmony Foundation provides treatment programs that teach the methods necessary to stop these consequences. If you suffer from addiction, and are interested in reversing the trajectory of your life, contact us to learn more about the solution.

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.

The Dangers of Molly (MDMA)

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Molly Abuse and Overdoses on the Rise at Music Festivals

 

Drugs have developed a reputation in modern society. Alcohol use is thought of as normal, while heroin is generally associated with an addict on the street. While there is some truth to stereotypes surrounding specific drugs, many are false. Molly, or MDMA, has developed a reputation among young adults as a “fun” drug. It is generally typecast as a drug young people do when at a club or music festival. It’s reputation as “fun” is dangerous.

Two young individuals overdosed on Molly earlier this year at the Electric Zoo concert in New York and earlier this month a 21 year old died after ingesting a lethal dose of Molly at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Molly or MDMA related deaths are becoming a regular occurrence, with young adults overdosing at several festivals over the last few years. These tragedies are, in part, attributable to the general reputation of the drug – thought of as fun, and by association, safe. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Anything from gasoline to baby powder has been found to be an ingredient in Molly.

When drugs have reputations as being fun or safe it is dangerous for everyone, but especially threatening for recovering addicts. The idea that a drug, any drug, is ok in sobriety can be devastating. Some in recovery may feel that if a drug wasn’t their drug of choice, they can take it and not endure the same wrath as they did in active addiction. The age old tale of the addict who thought alcohol was ok to consume after becoming clean off of drugs is an example of this. A positive reputation being associated with a drug is menacing, especially when that drug is killing people. It’s of monumental importance is sobriety to remember, a drug is a drug is a drug – no matter its reputation.

DHA May Combat “Wet Brain”

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid or DHA has grown in popularity as a supplement that supports brain health. Several studies have shown that that omega-3s help combat cancer, depression, asthma, cardiovascular disease, ADHD, and autoimmune diseases. DHA is beneficial for a magnitude of conditions because it targets inflammation, the root of many diseases. And just last week a study revealed that DHA can mitigate the side effects of alcohol abuse – namely, inflammation in the brain.

Long-term alcohol abuse can cause what is known as “wet brain” or alcoholic brain damage and dementia. To determine if DHA could help these negative effects of alcohol, scientists from Loyola University gave rats large quantities of alcohol for several days. They then gave some of the rats fish oil containing DHA and found that they had 90% lower brain cell death and inflammation of the brain than those not given DHA.

According to the study lead, Michael Collins, “Fish oil has the potential of helping preserve brain integrity in chronic alcohol abusers.” Obviously further research is needed to see if the same outcomes will persist in human trials. But at the very least, alcoholics in recovery have nothing to lose consuming DHA because of the many aforementioned benefits. Our Colorado addiction treatment center encourages healthy eating in early recovery to restore lost nutrients during active addiction. Several supplements, such as B complex vitamins, can support brain function and mood, and this study may motivate adding fish oil to a vitamin or diet regimen for all recovering addicts – not just those suffering the consequences of long term alcohol abuse.