Stomach trouble, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are common during withdrawal. These may be especially severe for opioid withdrawal, which is often described as “the worst flu you’ve ever had.” Opioids slow down digestion and cause constipation. In fact, poppy seed tea is a traditional remedy for diarrhea. The problem is that your body adjusts…
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Most people are familiar with 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, but fewer people know about SMART Recovery. SMART stands for Self-Management And Recovery Training and was founded in 1994. SMART is a non-profit created to help people struggling with addiction by teaching them strategies shown by research to help control addictive…
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Sober living homes are transitional places where people live after inpatient treatment but before living on their own. The idea is to give people a little more autonomy than they would have in inpatient treatment but still provide some peer support during a tricky time. If you are just leaving inpatient treatment, a sober living…
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They say there are two kinds of people: those with back and those who will have back pain. Most people will have some degree of back pain at some point in their lives. As if back pain isn’t bad enough, some people become addicted to opioid painkillers either because of the pain itself or because…
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Right now, most people think of addiction as a disease. This idea has largely been popularized by AA. The idea is that people who struggle with addiction are physiologically unable to resist whatever they are addicted to. Fighting addiction isn’t a matter of willpower, according to the disease model, because addicts have a disease that…
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Music therapy may be an effective complementary treatment for people recovering from addiction. It is led by a someone trained in music therapy and is meant to be part of a comprehensive treatment program. Music therapy has been shown to be most effective for people who don’t respond well to other forms of treatment. It…
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You hear about opioids a lot in the news lately, specifically how the opioid crisis is killing thousands of Americans every month. However, many people also use the word “opiate.” What’s the difference between an opiate and an opioid? There is a difference between opiate and opioid, sort of. An opiate is technically a drug…
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There’s a common misconception that people addicted to drugs and alcohol simply lack the willpower to quit. A recent poll found that more than 40 percent of Americans believe addiction indicates a lack of willpower or discipline and more than 30 percent see addiction as a character flaw. In reality, addiction has little to do…
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Addiction rarely happens right away. You might hear stories about someone who tried cocaine or heroin once and became addicted immediately. If those stories are true, they are rare exceptions. Usually, addiction develops gradually and by the time someone realizes she’s addicted, she’s already stuck. No two people have the exact same experience of addiction,…
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Relapse is a common part of recovery. Various studies put the relapse rate at somewhere around 50 percent, with the chances of relapse being greatest early on. Although relapse is common, it is not inevitable. Here are some common misconceptions about addiction relapse. A relapse means you’ve failed. Some people feel like a relapse is…
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