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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.

Inpatient Rehab versus Outpatient Rehab

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Many individuals seeking treatment for their addictions will weigh the pros and cons of inpatient treatment and outpatient treatment when making their decision. There are many differences between these two treatment options. Inpatient treatment involves around the clock care while the client lives in the facility. Outpatient treatment involves care within a specific time period, while the client lives at home, or somewhere other than the facility. Outpatient treatment can initially be attractive to those in active addiction because it seems to be less of an interruption to their daily lives. While the addict may be well aware of the fact that they need inpatient or residential treatment, the ability to continue living at home and attending work or school may sway their decision in favor of outpatient treatment. Recent studies have suggested that, depending on the circumstances of the individual and their addiction, the decision between inpatient and outpatient treatment may be more clear-cut than originally thought.

A recent study found that residential treatment had a much higher success rate than outpatient treatment with young adults with an opiate dependence. The study found that 30 percent of young adults with opiate addictions who participated in a month long inpatient treatment program were still sober one year later. The same study indicated the same demographic who attended outpatient treatment showed only 17 percent of its participants sober after one year.

Seeking help for an addiction is a monumental step in the recovery process. However, seeking the right treatment for the specific addiction you face is vital to the long-term chances of your success with sobriety and recovery. In many cases, the convenience of outpatient treatment alters the opinion of young adults with opiate addictions looking for treatment, and leads to them electing outpatient treatment due to the convenient aspects it offers. Though outpatient addiction treatment certainly has its benefits, inpatient treatment at a tried and true addiction treatment facility provides the greatest chance at a lasting recovery for young adults with an opiate dependence.

Harmony Foundation offers a specialized inpatient addiction treatment program designed for young adults. If you or a loved one would like more information about how to achieve long-term recovery from addiction, please contact us today.

Dartmouth College Takes a Hard Stance Against Hard Alcohol

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Beginning March 30th students will not be allowed to consume liquor with greater than 15% alcohol on campus or at campus sponsored events. Pledging into fraternities will also be banned.

The motivation behind the Ivy League’s new policy is to cut down on student binge drinking and alcohol related hospital visits. The college’s president, Phil Hanlon stated in a speech on Tuesday that “The Steering Committee found that high-risk drinking is far too prevalent on our campus,” and that “the vast majority of alcohol-induced medical transports, it is hard alcohol—rather than beer or wine—that lands students on a hospital gurney.”

The ban on fraternity pledges came as no surprise after an article in Dartmouth’s student newspaper reached national headlines in 2012 when a student wrote about the hazing practices that occur with fraternity pledges. As an alternative to pledging fraternities, Dartmouth promised to create new opportunities and spaces on campus for social activities. Although he didn’t ban Greek Life on campus, Hanlon warned, “If the Greek system as a whole does not engage in meaningful, lasting reform, we will revisit its continuation on campus.”

Banning hard alcohol on campus echoes similar attempts by college campus to cut down on binge drinking, like Penn State University who pays local bars upwards of 170K every year to not serve liquor on St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

Binge drinking among college students can have immediate health consequences and for a certain percentage, long term consequences. When the binge drinking episodes become more frequent they can lead to alcoholism. Many young adults who have sought treatment for alcoholism recall the start of their binge drinking while in college that persisted and quickly lead to negative consequences. Dartmouth’s new policy may deter many from drinking hard alcohol, but if a student has a problem greater than occasional alcohol abuse, they will find a way to abuse their drink of choice. For those that find themselves ignoring the ban or going off campus just to drink hard alcohol, may want to take a closer look at the precedence they give to alcohol in their lives and seek out help.

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.