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Tag: Alcoholism

Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems.

How Long Before an Alcoholic Has Liver Cirrhosis?

Cirrhosis is a complication of many liver diseases characterized by abnormal structure and function of the liver. The diseases that lead to cirrhosis do so because they injure and kill liver cells, after which the inflammation and repair that is associated with the dying liver cells cause scar tissue to form. The liver cells that do not die multiply to replace the cells that have died.

This results in clusters of newly-formed liver cells (regenerative nodules) within the scar tissue. There are many causes of cirrhosis including chemicals (such as alcohol, fat, and certain medications), viruses, toxic metals (such as iron and copper that accumulate in the liver as a result of genetic diseases), and autoimmune liver disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the liver.

How Long Before an Alcoholic Has Liver Cirrhosis?

What are the Stages of Liver Cirrhosis?

Stage 1 cirrhosis involves some scarring of the liver, but few symptoms. This stage is considered compensated cirrhosis, where there are no complications.

Stage 2 cirrhosis includes worsening portal hypertension and the development of varices.

Stage 3 cirrhosis involves the development of swelling in the abdomen and advanced liver scarring. This stage marks decompensated cirrhosis, with serious complications and possible liver failure.

Stage 4 cirrhosis can be life-threatening and people have developed the end-stage liver disease (ESLD), which is fatal without a transplant.

How Long Before an Alcoholic Has Liver Cirrhosis?

It may take 10-30 years for cirrhosis to develop. Liver cirrhosis is one of the leading causes of death in the US and chronic alcoholism is one of the main leading causes of cirrhosis. Initially, individuals suffering from chronic alcoholism are often not aware of liver damage as they are asymptomatic in the early stages. Cirrhosis is a slowly progressing disease and usually takes years to develop. The development of cirrhosis differs from person to person and depends on various factors such as genetics, individual metabolism, food habits, and other health conditions. 10-20% of patients with chronic alcoholism develop cirrhosis.

What are the Symptoms of Liver Cirrhosis?

According to NIH, you may have no signs or symptoms of cirrhosis until your liver is badly damaged. Early symptoms of cirrhosis may include feeling tired or weak, poor appetite, losing weight without trying, nausea and vomiting, and mild pain or discomfort in the upper right side of your abdomen. As liver function gets worse, you may have other symptoms, including bruising and bleeding easily, confusion, difficulties thinking, memory loss, personality changes, or sleep disorders, swelling in your lower legs, ankles, or feet, called edema, bloating from buildup of fluid in your abdomen, called ascites, severe itchy skin, darkening of the color of your urine, and a yellowish tint to the whites of your eyes and skin, called jaundice.

How can Recreate Life Counseling Help with Alcoholism?

At Recreate Life Counseling treatments are designed with respect for our client’s core values. We understand that believe in our clients and we help with the journey of recreating themselves and their lives. Here in Boynton Beach, Florida, we will create an individualized treatment program that meets the needs of each client so that the vision they have for their lives can become a reality. We are constantly updating our theories and methods to avoid ineffective methods from the past.

Our outpatient and partial hospitalization rehab will accommodate the daily responsibilities of our clients without interfering with their work, school and family obligations. Our clients will be able to discuss rehab options that best fit their needs. We walk them through the entire recovery process. We don’t just treat the addiction because we assess the person a whole. We encourage that you talk to one of our team experts in substance abuse to answer all your questions about getting help for yourself or an addicted loved one.

FAQ

  • How Long before an Alcoholic has Liver Cirrhosis?

Published on: 2020-02-04
Updated on: 2024-11-08

Do Large Doses of Imodium Get You High?

TL;DR – No, large doses of Imodium (loperamide) do not produce a “high.” Imodium is an anti-diarrheal medication and, when taken in large doses, can be dangerous and lead to serious heart problems and other adverse effects, but it does not cause euphoria like some other substances.

Loperamide also referred to by it’s over the counter brand drug name Imodium A-D is being abused by opiate addicts to counter physical withdrawal symptoms from opiate addiction. Imodium A-D is an OTC medication that helps relieve diarrhea and other abnormal gastrointestinal symptoms.

Opiate addicts are taking loperamide to lessen opioid addiction withdrawal symptoms. Although loperamide is not an opioid drug, when used in very high doses it acts on mu-opioid receptors, which are the same receptors that initiate addiction to opiates, like heroin, morphine, and fentanyl.

Loperamide has become known as the poor man’s methadone. Loperamide is taken by opiate addicts when they cannot get heroin or other opioid drugs the same way an alcoholic may drink mouthwash when they don’t have access to alcohol.

The amount of loperamide that is needed to help relieve opiate withdrawal symptoms is extremely dangerous. A normal dose of Imodium is 2 milligrams to be taken up to four times a day. A person who is attempting to take Imodium to get high is taking up to 500 milligrams a day.

What are the Effects of Imodium in High Doses?

The euphoric effects that high doses of loperamide have for an opiate addict is at best minimal. Opiate addicts have reported that taking Imodium at large doses does decrease the withdrawal symptoms but does not get them high.

At dangerous doses, loperamide crosses the blood-brain barrier, which will allow the opioid receptors to produce endorphins and other neurotransmitter reactions that cause a person to feel better. The effects of loperamide only minimize withdrawal symptoms; it does not compare to the euphoria that heroin, Fentanyl, or other opiate drugs cause.

When a person increases the dose past, what is recommended for any type of OTC drug or prescription drug, they risk enduring serious medical problems and death. The history of persons taking Imodium to get high began as early as the 1990s. The Federal Drug Administration did not class Imodium as an over the counter drug until 1988.

Do Large Doses of Imodium Get You High

Before that, it was in fact, classed as a controlled substance, not unlike cocaine or and other illegal drugs. Now that there is a greater awareness of people abusing Imodium the FDA drug safety communications announced to the public this September 2019, that they will require limits on the amounts that can be sold in the packaging of loperamide.

 9/20/2019 Update

To help address loperamide abuse and misuse, FDA approved changes to the packaging for tablet and capsule forms of the brand-name over the counter (OTC) anti-diarrheal medicines Imodium A-D, Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief, and Be Health Loperamide HCl Capsules. These changes limit each carton to no more than 48 mg of loperamide and require the tablets and capsules to be packaged in individual doses. Some individuals are taking high doses of loperamide to treat symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Loperamide acts on opioid receptors in the gut to slow the movement in the intestines and decrease the number of bowel movements. It is safe at approved doses, but when much higher than recommended doses are taken, it can lead to serious problems, including severe heart rhythm problems and death. (FDA )

What are the Imodium Abuse Side Effects?

There have been numerous reports and documentation about people damaging their hearts and bodies as a result of taking loperamide in very high doses. Numerous deaths have been documented from all over the United States from emergency rooms to poison control centers. Heart problems arise quickly for people who are taking loperamide in large doses as Loperamide affects the amount of calcium that is delivered to the heart, which regulates the functions of the heart muscle.

The greatest scare of people turning to an anti-diarrhea drug to prevent experiencing opiate addiction withdrawal symptoms is that it can kill them. They may temporarily relieve some withdrawal symptoms but will pay for it with their lives. Another tragedy of this growing trend is the misinformation about Imodium available on the internet. Websites dedicated to drug-seeking cultures are promoting Imodium, as a quick fix, but not providing all the facts that it can kill them.

Most importantly,  is that addiction is a deadly disease that causes addicts to do and take anything to get high.

The safest way to help someone with their addiction to opiates like heroin, prescription pain killers, fentanyl, and others is to have them admitted into a medically supervised detox followed by opiate addiction treatment. The programs that we offer provide very effective medications that will eliminate withdrawal symptoms and help opiate addicts recover from their addictions.

Published on: 2019-10-04
Updated on: 2024-07-08

Is Self-Reliance in Recovery Possible?

Many addicts and alcoholics have a natural instinct to survive on self-will and self- determination. However, that same strength and drive to survive only served their addictions. Recovering addicts and alcoholics remain clean and sober by accepting the fact that although they are determined, they also have a disease.

The people in recovery who make it and attain peace of mind and freedom from chemical dependency quickly realize that recovery is only possible with the help and support of others who have succeeded before them. Relying on self-will, unfortunately, does not help addicts and alcoholics let go of their substance abuse.

Self-reliance in Recovery

Overcoming Addiction will Take Strength and Mental Power

Self-reliance is what addicts and alcoholics practice to have things their ‘way.’ The addict and alcoholic ‘way’ does not point towards recovery; it only points towards using and drinking. Many individuals in early recovery often have the very best intentions and hope that they can and will remain clean and sober. Willingness is absolutely essential for anyone who desires freedom from their addiction. Having the willingness to do what others ask, even when it is difficult to accept or understand, is how the emotional and mental growth necessary for recovery occurs on the road to achieving full serenity.

You Must Understand Self-Reliance or You May Relapse

Understanding exactly what self-reliance is in terms of recovery can be confusing. Individuals who want to get sober are, in fact, initiating their recovery. However, self-reliance can take over and send a person back to the drug dealers house or bar. Let’s take two personality types and review where their self-reliance caused them to relapse. Let’s first look at a woman named Barbara.

Barbara went to a 90-day program for her alcoholism and addiction to prescription pain medication. She had been arrested three times and lost her job. She hit bottom and wanted to end her drug use. Barbara was dedicated to her recovery. After treatment, she got a sponsor and went to meetings. One day Barbara was driving home and suddenly felt compelled to drink. She went home and did not drink but decided she would take her mind off her feelings and watch a movie. Her thoughts about alcohol continued, and Barbara did not tell her sponsor, she thought her thoughts about alcohol would tell her sponsor she needed help.

After one week of these thoughts, Barbara relapsed. The point where Barbara was self-reliant and when she took matters into her own hands was when she thought she could handle her thoughts about alcohol on her own. On that very first day and moment she had thoughts about alcohol if she had not been relying on herself to fix herself, she would have, called her sponsor. Instead, she took the hard way which is the ‘I will fix it myself way.’ There is no addict or alcoholic who can get clean and sober and remain in recovery without help and reliance on others.

Examples of Relf-Reliance in Recovery

Another example of self-reliance and how it doesn’t work is about Ramon. Ramon went to outpatient rehab for six months. He had also been in recovery before but only remained clean and sober for ten months. Ramon would say it was a relationship that caused him to relapse. Ramon like Barbara, also finished his program and worked with a sponsor and went to meetings. He was also working 9 to 5 throughout the week. One day Ramon got a call from his work saying that he was under review. Ramon panicked and was very afraid that he would get fired. So, he called his sponsor and went to a meeting. However, after the meeting, Ramon could not stop thinking about what might happen.

Ramon sat awake all night in his head, playing the various situations that could happen at work over and over in his mind. His sponsor had told him if he could not stop thinking and worrying about his job to reach out and offer help to another addict. Instead, Ramon thought he could find a way to solve his dilemma at work.

The next day Ramon was so stressed out he called his job and told them that he was quitting. His job did not understand why he was quitting, and Ramon could only express that he was under a lot of stress. Fortunately, Ramon did not relapse. But he sat in his head dwelling and spinning his worries for so long he may not have acted out and relapsed, but he quit his job. Ramon’s sponsor asked him why you didn’t offer to help someone else. Ramon said that he didn’t see how that would help his situation at work.

What Ramon failed to recognize is that his self-reliance manifested in the form of mental prison. He was stuck in his mind worrying only about himself. Had Ramon stopped for one minute to help someone else, his mind would have found relief from the torment of his thoughts about his job.

The idea of self-reliance may sound powerful and invigorating. However, for recovering addicts and alcoholics, our minds and emotions often do not accurately handle situations. To begin letting go of relying on “self” to manage your recovery, all addicts and alcoholics must go to meetings, get a sponsor, work the 12 steps program or attend a drug counseling program. Most importantly, it’s crucial to follow the advice and suggestions others in recovery give. By following what other successful recovering addicts alcoholics have done, a newly recovering person is letting go of their old self-reliant persona and getting to know a new version of themselves that is sober, humble, with peace of mind, and a willingness change.

FAQ

  • Is Self-Reliance in Recovery Possible?

Published on: 2019-09-16
Updated on: 2024-04-18

“Calvin Klein” Drug Craze

The New York Post reported recently how there is a new cocktail drug killing our youth, and that it tragically took the life of a young violinist who was a musical prodigy. The drug has come to be known as the ‘Calvin Klein’ drug because it goes by the initials ‘CK,’ that reference the brand. CK is a cocktail drug that is a mixture of cocaine and ketamine. The young violinist died from an accidental overdose of the drug in London on Thursday, July 11th, 2019. It’s often used in the club scene by young adults that want to party longer and harder. Unfortunately, the consequences of mixing these two dangerous narcotics can be fatal.

Calvin Klein Drug Craze

Dangerous Calvin Klein Drug Craze

Per the New York Post , “Katya Tsukanova, 17, a leading musician in the UK, died of an apparent overdose from a cocaine and ketamine drug cocktail — just days after performing at the Royal Opera House in the city”. This news has prompted further investigation of how dangerous this drug is. Although more evidence is needed in how cocaine and ketamine combined affects a person’s brain, there is research on the two drugs separately.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA, classifies ketamine as a dissociative drug similar to hallucinogens. NIDA states that the reason people take dissociative drugs is to “enable them to enter into what they perceive as a more enlightened sense of thinking or being” (NIDA). Additionally, from NIDA, “Ketamine—also known as K, Special K, or cat Valium—is a dissociative currently used as an anesthetic for humans as well as animals. Much of the ketamine sold on the street has been diverted from veterinary offices. Although it is manufactured as an injectable liquid, ketamine is generally evaporated to form a powder that is snorted or compressed into pills for illicit use…” (NIDA).

Cocaine is considered a stimulant drug, and when added to ketamine, likely increases the effect of the Ketamine. Historically, cocaine has been mixed with many other drugs to enhance their effects. It is commonly mixed with heroin, methamphetamine, and alcohol. Tsukanova was a victim of the lethal effects of both drugs. The New York Post reported that her father, Igor Tsukanova, said his daughter was a “smart girl, and she made one bad choice.” (NY Post).

Raising Awareness About the Calvin Klein Drug

The CK drug is a popular club drug, and like other club drugs, may continue to take lives as it continues to be sold. The DEA currently does not acknowledge the drug cocktail CK as a specific drug type but does reference cocaine and ketamine in their drug schedules. The DEA schedules drugs according to how dangerous they are “Drugs, substances, and certain chemicals used to make drugs are classified into five (5) distinct categories or schedules depending upon the drug’s acceptable medical use and the drug’s abuse or dependency potential… the abuse rate is a determinate factor in the scheduling of the drug; for example, Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and physical dependence.” (DEA). Currently, Cocaine is listed with the DEA as a schedule II drug and Ketamine a schedule III.

The fact that a young violinist died accidentally from the mixture of cocaine and ketamine is tragic. Although most experiences with dangerous drugs do not end well, cases like this are very saddening and force us to examine what our younger generations are doing when they get together. Becoming involved and educated about the types of drugs that are available in clubs and on the street is a starting point. Additionally, adults must look for warning signs and behaviors that indicate drug use and abuse, as well as supporting laws that will limit the accessibility of these drugs to be bought over the web and by illegal prescription as in the case of Ketamine.

Published on: 2019-07-15
Updated on: 2024-09-13

Relapse Prevention: Tools for Preventing a Relapse

recreate life counseling

Relapse is a danger for anyone who has embarked on the journey of recovery from substance abuse. It is generally accepted that relapse is most likely to occur in the first 90 days of recovery, but the risk remains high for the first five years. Fortunately, there are ways to protect against and prevent relapse. Relapse prevention techniques include any tool that can be used to avoid a return to using and abusing drugs and alcohol.

Prevention at the Different Stages of Relapse

Relapse is a process. There are different stages of relapse and there are tools to prevent relapse at every stage. During the emotional stage, the individual may be struggling in recovery, but not actually thinking about using. During this stage, the best tools for relapse prevention are techniques that restore emotional equilibrium. During the mental stage of relapse, the individual is thinking about drinking or using again and the urges to use may be strong. A combination of techniques will be needed at this stage to prevent a relapse. The next stage is the relapse stage — all is not lost at this point. If the individual utilizes their relapse prevention techniques, a relapse can be prevented.

The following are a list of tools and techniques that can be utilized to prevent a return to drugs and alcohol. They can be used to maintain sobriety and enhance an individual’s recovery. In most cases, a combination of these tools is best:

  • 12 Step Program: The 12 Step fellowships are highly beneficial for many individuals looking to stay sober and lead a happy, healthy life in recovery. 12 Step meetings and working the steps provide addicts and alcoholics with support and new techniques for maintaining sobriety.
  • Therapy:Therapy can help the individual learn new tools and strategies for relapse prevention, while also helping to restore emotional equilibrium. Discussing one’s emotions and behaviors with a trained professional can help the individual figure out how to deal with life on life’s terms.
  • Group Therapy: Group therapy sessions are a great venue for support and problem solving. Discussing one’s triggers and desires to use can help the individual gain the necessary support to overcome their cravings.
  • Sponsorship: If an individual is a member of a 12-step fellowship, he/she can benefit greatly from having a sponsor. The newly sober person can benefit from the knowledge and experience of someone who has been in recovery for a longer period of time. A sponsor is a great resource to turn to when things are difficult and cravings start to occur.
  • Journaling: Journaling can be an incredibly useful tool in recovery. Problems often seem more manageable when they are written down and not just floating around in an individual’s head.
  • Hobbies: Hobbies are an important source of stress relief. It is essential that individuals in recovery explore new interests to fill the time they spent drinking or using.
  • Meditation: Meditation techniques can help with restoring emotional equilibrium in recovery. Meditation can come in the form of sitting practices, yoga, Tai Chi, etc.

Relapse prevention can be thought of as a toolbox full of different techniques for preventing a return to drugs and alcohol. The more tools that you utilize, the greater your chances are of maintaining your sobriety. Seeking support from those around you is one of the most important tools in your toolbox. That support can stem from therapy, group counseling, or 12-step fellowships — it doesn’t matter as long as you are reaching out for help.

Are you struggling with addiction, or just coming back from a relapse? If so, Recreate Life Counseling Services can help. We offer group and individual addiction counseling and support.

Published on: 2016-08-26
Updated on: 2024-04-18

Find Out How We Can Help You

At Recreate Life Counseling, we understand that the journey to recovery can be daunting without the proper support. We're here to listen, understand your challenges, and offer personalized guidance as you consider a life free from the grips of addiction and/or mental health conditions. Our admissions team is ready to assist you, whether you're looking for treatment, need advice, or simply want someone to talk to!

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