You and the Abused Drugs: The Negative Effects

It is not surprising to us that every country, nation, and society has individuals – young or old – who practice taking drugs without proper medical supervision. It is true that many young people take and experiment drugs because, according to them, “They are just curious.” These youngsters think that using and abusing drugs make them more powerful and authoritative.

Defining Drug Addiction

According to Murdock Ritchie of Yale University School of Medicine, drug addiction is a compulsive use of a certain drug in greater amounts than are used in ordinary therapeutic practice and is harmful to the individual, to society, or to both.

When taking drugs became a craving, a person will develop a tolerance to the drug, so that it becomes a necessity to a drug addict to increase doses in order to produce a desired effect.

If an addict withdrew himself from taking drugs, symptoms such as severe leg and abdominal cramps, muscular twitching, vomiting, and diarrhea will occur. He will become restless and irritable, not be able to relax, and sweat profusely. It is also difficult for him to rest or sleep if the drug is withdrew from his system.

Most Commonly Abused Drugs

Below are the most commonly abused drugs and some of their effects on the body, according to rehab centers in California.

• Marijuana – People who abuse this drug tends to be forgetful of the things they said, even just a few minutes ago. They are unable to concentrate on what they are doing or what they are saying.

• Cocaine – This drug, if abused, makes a person experience a temporary sense of happiness and tends to increase energy.

• Stimulants – This type of drug makes a drug user more confident and awake.

• Depressants – Continuous use of these drugs causes unconsciousness and even death.

• Hallucinogenic drugs – Users of these drugs will have ‘hallucinations’ when used continuously.

• Angel dust – It causes the users to be confused that may lead to accidents and their rage may lead to violence.

• Heroin – This is the most dangerous type of drug because it causes not only tolerance, but also physical dependence.

• Vapors – These may be consumed by inhaling. These cause violent behavior, excitement, and will lead to unconsciousness.

Drug Abuse Treatment

Treating drug abuse patients requires hard work, time, and complete effort. The best solution is to bring drug addicts to rehab centers in California to get comprehensive treatment from professional doctors and therapists. One reliable rehab center that you can consider is the Pax House. To know more about the institution and the service they provide, visit http://www.paxhouse.org/CA_Drug_Treatment.html.

How to Help a Drug Abuse Victim

Seeing someone you love destroying his or her life due to drug addiction is a painful experience. However, you can give your loved one a chance of living a positive life by knowing the ways of helping out. Dealing with substance abuse is never easy, especially when you truly care about someone. It takes a lot of patience and understanding for you to help someone regain the life he or she has lost.

Talking Sensibly

Most drug addicts will never talk about their addiction. However, this is the first step of helping out. By knowing the ways to approach your loved one, you can convince him or her to go into a treatment center in California. Remember that confrontational conversations do not work. Your loved one may be easily angered, making all things worst. Talk to your loved one calmly without any hint of judgment. If possible, talk to him or her about the reason of addiction.

Knowing the Signs and Symptoms

You will know the severity of the addiction once you see the different signs and symptoms that your loved one manifests. One of the most noticeable sign is the sudden change of behavior. He or she may be too happy or too angered only by simple things. Also, his or her behavior may change. The sleeping pattern, diet, and physical activities may change all too suddenly, as well.

Aside from behavioral and psychological signs, several symptoms can also be observed. A sudden weight gain or weight loss may be a symptom of drug abuse. He or she may have red eyes, dilated pupils, and slurred speech, and skin discolorations.

Seeking Help

There is no one-cure for drug addiction. Your loved one can be thoroughly treated by letting him or her be confined in a treatment center in California. Treatment centers have all the skills, knowledge, and tools to diagnose and treat your loved one from drug addiction. Of course, your moral support is very important. By letting your loved one know that you are with him or her every step of the way, he or she can cope up easily. For more information about helping a drug abuse victim, visit http://www.paxhouse.org/CA_Drug_Treatment.html.

Cases of Substance Abuse in Different Countries

Substance abuse is a worldwide scare. Every country has to solve issues with their citizens suffering from drug addiction. Substance abuse, or simply known as drug abuse, is defined as consuming harmful substances at an amount higher than the safety standards. It also includes being dependent on a particular substance, similar to non-medical terms. The definition actually is so broad that it takes a worldwide phenomenon – where more and more people are becoming victims. In fact, the substance abuse in California alone continues to rise despite efforts to create awareness of it.

Cases in Europe

The Telegraph news reported that Britain is now the ‘addiction capital of Europe’ as tagged by the Centre of Social Justice. The country’s cases of drug and alcohol addiction summed up to a total of £36 billion a year. In England, a total of 6,486 patients have undergone medical treatments from the year 2011 until 2012; this is 39 percent higher than the cases gathered in 2005. The mortality rate from substance abuse also increased from 29 to 52 percent in England and Wales.

Cases in the United States

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there were about 1 million Americans who have HIV/AIDS, and one-third of the patients were linked to directly or indirectly injection of drugs. In the year 2003, it was found out that more than 11,326 of the 43,171 cases of AIDS involve injection of drugs.

Drug Abuse in Asia

In a recent study published at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the estimated rates of drug abuse in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Thailand Vietnam, and Myanmar is 2 percent. This is far different from any other countries as the prevalence rate of drug abuse is less than 0.01 percent. Also, in a separate study conducted by the same agency in September 2002, Asian men drink significantly more than Asian women. Also, cigarette smoking is increasingly more prevalent among both genders.

Substance use is truly a worldwide scare. That is why the awareness should not be focused on substance abuse in California alone. To know more about drug addiction, visit http://www.paxhouse.org/.

Preventive Measures to Stop Substance Abuse

Substance abuse is a culprit to the society because it destroys the lives of millions of people. Recovering from substance abuse is hard, so it is better to practice preventive measures instead. All people are susceptible to drug abuse especially when they are exposed to social pressures and personal challenges. The healthcare professionals at different rehab centers in California recommend these practices that may help in avoiding substance addiction.

Healthy Ways to Handle Stress

Stress and tensions are inevitable. People do have different coping mechanisms with them, but there are healthy ways of handling stress. Instead of taking in alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, it may be a good idea to choose other channels to cope up. By talking to people, hanging out with friends, doing exercise, and meditation, for examples, you can handle stress in a healthier way. These will also avoid any urge to try addictive substances.

Professional Counseling

Most people think that talking to a professional means suffering from a mental or psychological condition. There is no truth behind this belief. In fact, talking to an expert may be the best step to avoid addiction. It is common for people to feel low at times, even feel depressed when something goes wrong in their life. A professional with years of knowledge and experience can help out with long-term therapy so that when the same emotions strike back, handling them will be easier than before.

Maintaining a Happy Life

Positivity is a great way to focus on the good things and avoiding the bad stuff. Maintaining a happy lifestyle promises great outlook in life. As a result, the idea of succumbing into addictive substances may be reduced. Achieving a happy life is easy. Hanging out with positive people, doing happy things and living a healthy lifestyle are just few of the ways to be happy.

Know the Consequences

It is also good to know the consequences associated with substance abuse. It is not just about reducing the quality of life. The over-all wellness of a person is also compromised as the body becomes dependent to the harmful substances.

It is true when people say that prevention is better than cure. To avoid potential problems, it is best to stay away from them. For more information about substance abuse, visit the rehab centers in California or go to http://www.paxhouse.org/CA_Drug_Treatment.html.

Overcoming Drug Addiction

Recovering from drug abuse is difficult. There are a lot of challenges to overcome and this can be your way to relapse – you do not want this from happening.

Good thing, there is always a way out. Changing yourself for the better is not an easy thing and that is what you should do to overcome drug abuse. In many Los Angeles rehabilitation center, health professionals work hand-in-hand to ensure that every drug abuse victim is completely recovered. However, it is in your willpower to make sure that you will live a life of sobriety.

Deciding to Make a Change

It is true when people say that the only permanent thing in this world is change. Change should be done for the better and this time, you need to do this for the betterment of yourself.

There are several factors that can affect your perspective of change. The way you deal with stress is a common factor, especially when your body craves for a substance, or when you need to handle personal problems. You also need to take into consideration the people you allow to change your life. These people should create a positive impact on you – like a support system you can rely all the time.

To ensure that you are getting the most out of your positive change, you need to determine what you can do during your free time. This will occupy your mind to do better things instead of wallowing yourself of using drugs. This will reflect on how you think about yourself. Being able to confidently accept who you are is a major step of change. This will determine what you can do and possibly unleash your potentials.

Appling Changes to Your Life

The first thing you should do is to observe how you were addicted. This will help you in avoiding any addiction in your life. Also, it is good to talk to someone whom you trust and see how it affects your relationship to others. Set a specific goal, remove all reminders of your addiction, and be willing and ready to face a life of sobriety.

Being able to change is an accomplishment. To know more on how to cope up with drug substance use, be sure to visit one of the most respected Los Angeles rehabilitation centers.

Understanding Why Drug Abuse Happens

A lot of people fail to see why a lot people turn to drugs and other substances to alleviate whatever they are feeling. A few people judge and deem that these ‘abusers’ just lack morals and/or the willpower to simply stop using and ‘choose’ to change their behaviors or check themselves immediately to California rehab in order to get it out of their systems.

What we need to understand is that, drug addiction is not entirely by choice, it is a very complicated disease that quitting is not as easy as it sounds. We need to understand that the drugs permit changes in the brain that do not allow easy quitting even for those who are willing. Although these days, advances in medicine allowed us the knowledge on how these drugs work within the person and we are learning that with proper care, treatment and support, an abuser can indeed be totally healed and be re-introduced to the society and live normal lives.

Addiction: the Basics

Addiction can be defined as a chronic brain disease that causes one to actively and compulsively seek and use drugs regardless of the known consequences that can harm the individual and those around him/her. Yes, initial drug use maybe voluntary for most but as the use progresses, the brains internal work up changes that the individual’s self-control is compromised and the ability to resist the ‘desire’ to use is significantly disadvantaged. When an individual continues to abuse drugs, the brain’s ‘normal’ communication system is disrupted by the drug’s ability to imitate the brain’s natural means of receiving stimulus and interpretation as well as overly stimulating the brain’s “reward circuit”.

Drugs like marijuana or heroin for example has the same chemical make up as that of the brain’s neurotransmitters and as such the brain’s receptors are triggered and nerve cells are activated to send various abnormal messages.

Cocaine and methamphetamine causes the brain to release a significant amount of dopamine or to prevent the normal in and outflow of the naturally occurring chemical within the brain functions. Dopamine is actually a neurotransmitter that allows for brain communications within the area of movement, motivation, emotions as well as feelings of happiness or pleasure. Having a significant amount of dopamine in that part of the brain creates usually a euphoric event triggered only by the intake of the drug, which sets a reinforcing pattern that makes the individual seek for the same euphoric feeling felt when the drug is taken. Now, the problem escalates when the abuser begins to require more and more drugs to get to that particular feeling since the adaptation occurs and the brain gets used to the amount of dopamine in the system thereby requiring more to give the abuser that ‘rewards benefit’.

So, they just want the high, what’s wrong with that? The thing is, as the abuse goes on, the drug changes other brain chemical systems as well as other circuits and affects it as well. So in the end, all brain activities begin to get impaired including cognitive functions, ability to make critical judgments, learning, memory and control of behavior.

Can Abuse Really Be Treated and Healed?

As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, so prevention is still the best way to go, but don’t despair for anyone who is already ‘there’ and needs help, there is indeed help and a California rehab center can indeed be the best solution just in case, a cure is now needed.

Prevention

Information dissemination and educating the youth is key to reducing the number of drug abusers. It is important for community leaders to do their part in helping the information drive to get the message across that indeed drugs can kill.

Healing and Treatment

The good news is that, it is never too late, no matter how deep you are into drugs, you can still be healed! As long as you are still breathing, you can still be helped. A good combination of behavioral therapy and addiction therapy medications is the best way to go in order to really help patients. An abuser who undergoes treatment that is customized for their particular addiction and needs allows for a sustainable means of recovery and ultimately a life outside of the rehab center without abusing drugs.

Just like any other chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease or asthma, drug addiction is a manageable disease and as with such diseases, relapse can occur and as such it is not a sign of failure but a sign that more treatment is needed or an alternative therapy be provided by a California rehab center to allow for the person to control themselves again and finally fully recover.

 

 

 

 

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California Drug Treatment Facilities Suspended for Alleged Fraudulent Activities

The California Department of Health Care Services raided around 22 California Drug Treatment and Rehab facilities following tips from various media entities and the public that these rehab centers were committing fraud and abusing patients. After the raids, a total of 16 centers were suspended and payments by the Medi-Cal to these centers has been halted until their investigation is completed.

The agency discovered that the 16 service providers were sending bills to the Medi-Cal for payment of treatments that were not actually necessary or at worst, did not happen at all. There were also reports that some of these rehab centers had on their staff people that were known to abuse their patients. The raids occurred secondary to complaints filed against the centers and consequent investigations that warrant a more decisive action.

Medi-Cal is actually an insurance plan from the state for individuals living on welfare as well as low income residents that permit them to have necessary treatment for substance abuse and addiction. The agency’s investigation led to them discovering various billing spikes, and other distinct pattern with regards to the claims being filed. The names of the California drug treatment centers for the moment has not been disclosed since the investigation is still on-going.

There are around 1,000 facilities that receives payment from the Medi-Cal but for now, the 16 suspended centers will not be receiving payments from them. It is important to note that the Health Agency is adamant about ensuring that such abuses will be immobilized since as they said that it is not about the money but for the safety of the patients and to ensure that proper delivery of care is provided for them.

The investigation is now pending with the Department of Justice. If found guilty these California drug treatment centers can get sanctions varying from temporary suspension of claims submission to getting banned from participation in the Medi-Cal system but for the moment the Justice department is mum about how they would go about this.

Substance and alcohol abuse are no laughing matter, a lethal dose can kill or maim you for life, so it is important that early intervention and treatment be administered in order to be of real help. Incidents such as these is not only sad but frightening as help may not be there when needed simply because the help was already given or provided for someone who didn’t need it.  If you know of anyone who needs intervention with substance abuse, then you might want to look into Pax House for a free and confidential assessment to help your loved one get over their addictions.

On Drugs, Abuse, and Cory Monteith’s Death

It’s been a few weeks but the world is still reeling from the death of Glee’s star Cory Monteith.

As was expected his death was a result of substance and alcohol abuse and the sad truth was that the result wasn’t a surprise for many, as Cory was very open about his life, about his use of drugs and his addiction to it. He was even open about his stint in rehab, but it seems that even though he was trying to put his life back in order, the pull of the drug was just too hard to resist that he stumbled and fell into the same old routine that finally led to his death.

Demi Lovato, another celebrity who’s had her share of problems with substance abuse said that “Cory didn’t choose to die…. It is the disease”, and perhaps she is right, truthfully, who wants to die, right? Especially when he has his life ahead of him, he had so much promise and there’s so much for him to look forward to, he may not have chosen to die but die he did.

Such a waste of a life, such a tragedy to see one die so young, just because he wasn’t able to control himself, just because maybe his last thoughts were one last hit, one last sip and he will  be okay and he will stop. You may see a lot of celebrities, even Cory check in to rehab, check in to California detox treatments, yet the death toll seems to be rising and they seem to be getting younger too.

Despite all the tragedy, one may also realize that a drug addict can indeed be rehabilitated, they can change and get over their addiction, but only with the help and loving support of the people around him and a real desire to stop.

Change may come when the person hit rock bottom and there’s nowhere else to turn and the realization comes. Getting checked into a California detox program through voluntarily check in, an intervention by a loved one or a court order can be the first step towards healing and the hope, that anyone who is suffering from this disease, this addiction that the help comes at the right time, before it’s too late, before the body becomes nothing but the mortal remains of a tattered soul who lost the battle.