Struggling to control how much you drink can seem like you are on an uphill climb. You can start the day intending to stick to one glass or wine or a bottle of beer, but before you know it you’ve downed the whole bottle or finished a six-pack.
Or perhaps you promise yourself that you’ll stay off the booze altogether for a while only to find that you’re heading for the nearest off-licence because of an argument with your spouse or a problem at work.
I’ve been there so many times myself in my drinking day...
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Do you drink to take away the pain of living? Drowning the past? Drinking to avoid the future?
Using alcohol as a form of self medication may work in the short term, but in the long term it could lead you into the downward spiral of addiction. Numbing myself from the pain of the past was my main motivation for drinking. For a while it seemed that alcohol was the answer to dealing with all the memories and bad feelings. If I started to hurt, I took a drink. And the pain went away.
But using any substance in this w...
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My children hate Drugs
My children are very strong willed
My children are not exposed to such behaviors
My children just know better
My girls learnt the hard way what drugs can do to you by their father
Thank goodness I have years before my children are of age to be thinking about drugs and alcohol
I ensured my children attend schools not susceptible to these behaviours
I keep my children too busy with healthy and constructive extra school activities
It is so obvious when I know a friend is that type of child...
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If you think you have a problem with alcohol use there are 2 questions you need to ask yourself. Can I stop? Do I want to stop?
I abused alcohol for nearly 20 years but quite frankly for most of the time I simply didn’t want to stop. I knew I drank too much both for my health and for my general well being but because I was relatively young, it didn’t seem to matter. I thought I’d naturally get a better hold on my drinking when my life settled down.
Besides, most of my friends also drank excessively and it...
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Everyone and anyone can tell you to cut back or stop drinking or drug taking. But are you ready to quit?
It doesn’t matter how often a family member tells you that they want you to stop, or how many friends suggest you cut back on the amount, or whether your boss has expressed concerns about your poor functioning at work – unless you are ready to quit for yourself, it’s not going to happen.
If you know that you are becoming dependent on alcohol or drugs or even realize that you are already addicted, you m...
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Pride means different things to different people. For me there is such a thing as positive pride, and I take pride in my home, my appearance (sort of), my children, and my work. I am sure that there are many things that others can add to the list. But for a long time my pride was my worst enemy. In fact I don’t think it too strong to say that it was pride that perpetuated my own alcoholism, and pride that nearly killed me.
For me, that first drink was a switch that would change my life. I couldn’t understand w...
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I often hear people talk about hitting their ‘Rock Bottom’, the point at which someone is so low that the only way they can go is up. But what really is a Rock Bottom, and when do you hit it? It is certainly something that varies amongst people. At the recent UKESAD 2012 conference in London, I attended a talk by Dr Rodger Meyer of Cape Town. Part of this was about hitting Rock Bottom, and whether that really is the end point for most people in their addiction cycle. The point being made in the presentation was t...
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Struggling to control your drinking? Regularly relapsing? Perhaps you need to look at whether you are using the right key? Because finding the best way to get sober and stay sober can be like finding the key to a door. Once its open you know you are in the right place, but if it isn’t the proper key you just end up frustrated that nothing is happening and are likely to give up trying.
It took me 20 years of battling the booze to find the key, but when I did it was so worth it and 13 years on I enjoy a sober and ...
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NO.
The actual chances of getting hooked to just taking a drug once is extremely unlikely, especially if it's an hallucinogenic drug.
People who do get addiction to a drug usually; have taken the drug for a long period of time, continue to need regular supply of it, have been unable to cut down or stop taking the drug and will do things they normally would not do for example running up debts, buying medicines from different chemists and even committing crimes.
People who are addicted or ...
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I was talking to my layman pharmacologist/insanely intelligent best friend, Kate, last night about the NyQuil debacle on the phone. We talked about the alcohol content in NyQuil, which in relativity, is quite small, at 10%. The other active and inactive ingredients in the drug are dextromethorphan HBr and doxylamine succinate, a cough suppresant and an antihistamine respectively. This does not negate the fact that I consumed alcohol; rather, it reinforces the fact that when I mixed the NyQuil with Zoloft, Lomotil, Pr...
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Speaking of anniversaries, well, folks, we have a new one to "celebrate." The 4-year sobriety anniversary is not to be anymore. The new sobriety date is February 13, 2012. Clean slate. New beginning.
All thanks to me taking some NyQuil nighttime cough/cold medication when I had pneumonia and continuing to take it after I was better. NyQuil is comprised of 10% alcohol per bottle. That's what? The equivalent of being about 70 proof?
Or 35? I'm so bad at math and the equivalents of proofs of alcohol per bottle.
I...
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For Many Recovering Addicts, The Earth Is Flat!
In ancient times, the church leaders of the day believed the earth was flat. Most people accepted the church’s views without question and it was common belief that if anyone were foolhardy enough to sail too close to the edge of the world, they would surely fall off into the great abyss and perish. (sounds a little like hell, doesn’t it?)
To make a long Inquisition short, a scientist named Galileo invented the telescope, which proved that planets are actually ...
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Confused by the title? It’s simple, really. A sneeze is a cold symptom, but not the source of the cold. A sneeze, cough, or runny nose simply tells you (and everyone around you) that you’re suffering from a cold virus. The cold virus is the hidden culprit.
Addiction works the same way. Addictive behavior is a symptom of deeper issues for the vast majority of alcoholics and drug addicts. Drinking and drug abuse are signs that something went horribly wrong in the addict’s past. The issues I’m referring to in...
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Most people have heard the term “monkey on my back” used as a way to describe addiction. Personally, I find the word “addiction” too soft a word to describe the monster every addict or alcoholic battles in daily life. It’s too clinical, too sterile, and just doesn’t pack the same punch as the monkey analogy.
As a hardcore alcoholic for more than half my life, I learned a few things about the monkey. First, he never knows when to keep his mouth shut. It’s not that he’s loud. In fact, it’s quite th...
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After completing 4 years at the University of Northern Colorado for my Bachelor of Science, 1 year at Johns Hopkins University for my Masters in Health Science, and 2 ½ years into my Ph.D. in respiratory medicine at the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University, I thought I had complete control of my life. Specifically, my career in aerosol respiratory medicine. I had published my first paper in a respectable peer reviewed medical journal (Chest) when I was 27. Several months after that, I present...
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By turning to drugs and alcohol are these routes of escape the answers to your problems? They might make you feel better for a while but sooner or later you will have to face your fears and anxieties. In the meantime, here are some reasons why drugs and alcohol are not the answers to your problems.
They are dangerous to your health, this is the obvious one however many people still do not understand the risks of drugs and alcohol. People die from using drugs and abusing alcohol. They do nothing for your short term...
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With the benefit of hindsite, there is one thing of which I am very certain. That I drank alcoholically from the very first time that I poured alcohol down my throat at the tender age of thirteen. There was never enough booze for me. In those days most pubs had an off license, a little window, usually at the side of the pub, that you had to knock on to attract the attention of the bar person. This is where I got my first drink, with a friend. Nervously knocking on the window in the hope that we could get a bottle of ...
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I don't smoke pot or take illicit street drugs.
Have I ever tried smoking pot? Yes. It's been a few years, and the end result of me trying pot is always the same: I get crazy paranoid and throw up a whole lot. Dabbled a bit with it in college, and it didn't do much for me except make me cough (this was before I was habitually smoking cigarettes). I can't honestly say I've ever been pleasantly high from smoking marijuana. But I know a lot of people who smoke pot and enjoy it and that's alright for them, I suppose. ...
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When you think of Tenerife, what images spring to mind ? Sun, sand, sea, semi-naked bodies and .... Booze-lots and lots of lovely booze.
For many holidaymakers visiting the island, an average day may comprise of a visit to the beach, back to the apartment hotel for a shower, then off to dinner (with alcoholic accompaniment) followed by a visit to a bar to watch a spot of cabaret and a few more bevvies. The younger ones on holiday are likely to take this further by visiting Veronicas afterwards and getting totally ...
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People tend to forget that addictions is one of the broadest topics in the world at the moment. Majority of people think an addiction is drug related for example; smoking, drinking plus the use of heroin and cocaine to name a few. We want to make it so addictions is more generic you don't have to be a drug user to have an addiction and that's something we need to address. We want people to share their past stories of addictions which are non drug related for example:
Eating
Exercise
Gambling
OCD
Sho...
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Drug abuse in teens is serious. This is a video that shows the effects and makes you question why you are doing it.
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Lets be honest, it starts off slow and gradually creeps up on you, you enjoy the company of it and it becomes your friend. You think about it during work, through the day and as you lay in bed on a night. It's always waiting for you, its your chance of escape from the reality of life its waiting there to help you cope. The pattern of substance abuse often takes little consideration for the effects that it will have on the family. But taking the time to look at the effects it’s having on the rest of the...
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