Detoxification and other addiction treatment modalities in a rehab environment are major adjustments for people in early recovery. Body and mind are suddenly challenged in ways that can cause stress and anxiety. A patient in detoxification may experience a whole range of unpleasant symptoms and sensations such as headaches, insomnia, fatigue, irritability, heart palpitations, shallow…
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” wrote Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanack in the 18th century. “It’s important to get enough sleep. Sleep helps keep your mind and body healthy,” reads more recent advice from the US Department of Health and Human Services. Getting enough sleep…
America’s addiction crisis continues unabated. Last year, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, setting another tragic record in the nation’s escalating overdose epidemic, according to an estimate published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in May. The provisional 2021 data translates to roughly one US overdose death every 5 minutes…
One of the eleven criteria of a substance use disorder listed in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), is the recurrent use of the substance in situations in which it is physically hazardous. All too often these situations involve operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Every day, about…
“More than 900 Coloradans died of fentanyl last year — more than the number killed in homicides or traffic crashes,” reported the Denver Post in April. This month, the state reacted to the crisis by approving HB22-1326 but it took a conference committee appointed by the House and Senate to come up with compromise language…
Drug and alcohol problems can be a tricky issue for human resource managers. Many Americans who misuse illegal drugs and alcohol are employed. For many decades, employers have been trying to detect job seekers and workers who misuse substances by requiring drug tests. Last year, the percentage of US employees testing positive for a drug…
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) still defines addiction as “a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite adverse consequences.” Although Harvard Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Addiction Medicine John Kelly et al. were skeptical of the “chronic, relapsing” characterization of addiction in their 2019 study, they still…
Some people with a substance use disorder (SUD) who consider medical detoxification for the first time tend to focus on the short term: control the physical withdrawal symptoms for a short period of time after which they think they will be fine. They erroneously believe that purging the addictive substance(s) from their body is the…
For many people with addiction, the recovery journey begins with detoxification. However, after completing this important first step, there are sometimes questions as to what to do next. A detox may be an essential part of the recovery process, but it’s not a cure. It’s only the start of a potentially much longer process that…