If you expect that going into recovery means you’ll have a perfect record of sobriety, you have a lot more to learn about recovery.  The reality is that “relapse happens”, even to people with several years of sobriety and drug rehab under their belt.  The circumstance of life change as time goes on, new triggers arise, upsetting events happen out of nowhere, the list goes on.  Here’s a breakdown of some common relapse risk factors that can cause you to backtrack on your sobriety. 

High Risk Situations With Old Crowd

You know you shouldn’t take your walk down by the bar a few blocks from your house.  You also know that calling your old high school friend Julie (current drug user) would be a mistake.  You’ve been there before and know exactly what will happen.  There is hardly two ways about it for this choice.  Being in the presence of people who are not going to uphold your sobriety and who won’t have a safe environment for you don’t have a place in your.  Run into them in the grocery store and say “Hi”?  Maybe, but don’t go home with them.

Prolonged States of Negative Emotion

There are some things in life you cannot change or sometimes expect.  Death, tragedy, illness, economic problems, all of these can be a part of your life without a lot of warning.  The after-effects can also last quite a while.  If you find that you are having long stretches of continuous anxiety, depression, or irritability, you may be ripe for a relapse.  You may or may not be able to change the circumstances causing your upset feelings, but you can probably get some help dealing with your emotions in a better way. 

After a long time trying to fight off symptoms, you might find it easier to drown it in alcohol or cloud it over with drugs.  A counselor, AA sponsor, or a close friend that’s aware of your addiction can help you through your rough time and help you stay in check with your recovery.

Thinking You Are Better And Skipping Meetings Or Drug Treatment

Well, you may sometimes do better with your recovery than other times.  But you are never really “better”, like you are cured.  It’s an ongoing process, not a final destination.  You should consider yourself at risk in some way throughout your whole life to best prevent relapse.

Keeping Drug Relapse A Secret

You have already had a relapse moment (or two) and you never told anyone.  It might seem like you are keeping your image together, that you just “took care of it”, or it won’t hurt anybody not to know.  But think about this - remember the feeling of shame you had when you were realizing you needed alcohol treatment?  When you knew that things were completely out of control?  Well, you probably just wanted to hide from everyone then, make it all go away. 

Hiding things about your recovery process reintroduces shame into the process.  Shame makes you want to hide.  So what about those two times you got drunk with your old friend from high school who doesn’t know you are an alcoholic?  If they don’t know you shouldn’t be drinking, they may put you in danger in the future without realizing it.  Being honest upfront can help you avoid this pitfall.

Drug Treatment Can Help After Relapse

You may have already had a drug or alcohol relapse by now.  If you have, what’s done is done.  The most important thing is to step back onto the path of recovery with baby steps.  Talk to your AA sponsor, your counselor, a trusted family member, someone.  Be honest with them and yourself to take the shame out of it.  If you cannot maintain your sobriety right now, get started in alcohol or drug treatment. 

You may or may not need a lengthy drug rehab stay depending on how severe your relapse was.  However, it’s most important to understand what was involved with your relapse, the risk factors.  That can help you stay on the recovery path longer next time.

When you are the only one doing something, it can feel like you are wrong.  Alcoholism is full of shame and self doubt, making it something not many people want to admit.  But what if you are the lone sober person in a family of alcoholics?  You aren’t wrong, but the people around you act like it.  Alcohol treatment has helped you out of a living hell, but you are worried you might fall back in.  It’s a sad truth for some people forging their path of sobriety.

Holidays and Gatherings With Alcoholics In Denial

How about receiving a gift of wine and wine glasses in the family gift exchange at Christmas.  Or, better yet, how about having a gift exchange entirely of alcohol?  When you are in the alcoholic mode, this sounds like a great idea with built-in fun.  For you as a person maintaining sobriety, it’s appalling.  What are you to do? 

You can simply go and opt out of the gift exhange.  Or, you could bring a nice neutral small gift that anyone might enjoy to show a different example (or if there is one person who is a minor or doesn’t drink).  Perhaps there is a special person you always enjoy seeing, and you can focus your attention on them that day. 

If family interactions are truly detrimental to you, or the presence of so much alcohol would be too tempting, then you need to decline altogether.  There is nothing to gain from putting yourself in harm’s way.  Whatever “points” you might lose by not being there would pale in comparison to a relapse or emotional abuse.

Family Interactions With Alcoholics In Denial

Now that you’re sober, you don’t feel so great about interactions with other family members who still drink a lot.  Plus, they finger-point because you got a DUI or probation or something like that.  Is it fair?  No.  In their minds, the only thing you did wrong was get caught.  You are the one with the problem because you have legal and financial consequences.  Not them, not ever them.

Finger pointing may make you feel like you are under a microscope.  However, blaming and scapegoating are classic forms of denial.  You are the bad person because you embody what they are bothered by the most.  Who wants to believe they are doing something pretty bad to themselves, anyway?  You are simply a lightening rod for the attention, which allows them to keep the focus off themselves and their own life difficulties.

Head For Alcohol Treatment Instead of Relapse

All this can make it seem like your sobriety is something kind of extreme.  Like maybe it really would be OK to drink sometimes, if it would make family gatherings easier or make them leave you alone.  If you are thinking this about your sobriety, consider attending more AA meetings and maybe even alcohol treatment.  It is no shame to voluntarily seek alcohol treatment, even if you haven’t relapsed yet. 

If you think your resolve is crumbling and your sobriety plans feel weak, alcohol rehab would be a better option than finding yourself in relapse again.  Relapse is for learning, learning about the blind spots in your life.  If you can sense you are nearing relapse, head it off at the pass by getting alcohol treatment now.  Don’t let any off-track thing your family says or does shame you out of your sobriety either.  You have been on the right path, and you still are.

Drew Barrymore is one of the most well known and busy actors of the last twenty five years.  Acting has truly been a lifelong career; nearly fifty films since she was five years old.  She inherited two important legacies from her family - acting talent and drug addiction.  She endured years of painful addiction during her tender years, including several visits to a drug rehab and suicide attempts.

Drews Early Start Abusing Drugs In Childhood

Accounts seem to vary, but Drew was reportedly smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol as young as nine years old.  She was then smoking pot at age ten and doing cocaine at age twelve.  Let’s just stop for a second and soak that up.  Nine.  Ten.  Twelve.  Those are unbelievably young ages to be using illegal and mind altering drugs.

To put a little context with this, Drew’s dad never apparently lived with her and her mother.  Drew’s mother also worked evenings as a waitress.  With the odd schedule, an absent father (with a history of drug addiction), a strong family history of drug and alcohol addiction, and the other-wordly atmosphere of Hollywood, it’s not as hard to see how this situation could lead to trouble. 

Drew Barrymore Goes To Drug Rehab Several Times In Search of Sobriety

An interview she had with People magazine almost twenty years ago reveals that Drew went to one particular drug treatment center several times as a teen.  She spent a lot of time in denial that she had a problem.  And after she had gone to drug rehab a few times, she still experienced relapses.  She indicated that she was taking her sobriety one day at a time and was very proud of her accomplishment.  Another source says she never relapsed after her mid-teen years were over.

Like many drug addicts, Drew has some relationship issues with her mother and father.  Her father died in 2004, and she was fortunately able to spend some good time with him.  Her relationship with her mother also went through a transformation.  At one time, Drew’s mom became her manager, which seemed to cloud things even more.

Drew Fights For Sobriety And Keeps It

Though Drew certainly went through some very rough years, she seems to have kept her sobriety for a long time.  Though she has done some quirky and questionable things as a celebrity, there have been no reports of her relapsing into drug use.  She seems to have found good work that matches her talents, service and charity efforts she believes in, and good people around her. 

It’s easy to say that since she’s a celebrity, of course she’d find good work, charity groups, and friends.  But remember that her celebrity was part of the formula that got her into drug addiction.  If you take away her famous name, the plan is still solid for preventing relapse - good work, generous acts, and a solid healthy social network.  Does she go to support groups and see a counselor now and then?  Who knows?  Her celebrity status may allow her to do those types of things privately.  But you can’t argue with the general plan she has going.

Inspiration For Gaining Your Sobriety At Drug Rehab

Drew Barrymore is certainly a celebrity, but she was once a young person with a lot of pain.  Many drug addicts can relate to this.  She went to drug rehab several times and finally found a life path that worked for her.  If her attitude towards recovery and success staying sober is inspiring to you, find out more about drug rehab.  You can find sobriety and keep it too when you give drug rehab a chance.

Alcoholism has some fairly clear health risks - intoxicating the liver beyond its abilities, stomach problems, brain functioning, and doing anything dangerous while impaired like driving.  However, not as many people think of Type 2 Diabetes as a potential side effect.  How could diabetes and alcoholism be connected? 

Watch For The Extra Calories in Alcohol

Nearly everything you eat and drink has calories, unless it’s water or something sugar and fat free.  If you drink a small amount of alcohol now and then, these extra calories are not hard to balance in a moderately healthy diet.  It would be like making sure you didn’t have too many desserts each week.  Alcoholic drinks are all distilled from ingredients like grain, berries, grapes, and some are even sweetened and flavored. 

Here’s a breakdown of the calories in some common alcoholic drinks per serving.  Remember that a serving size of beer is 12 ounces, distilled liquor is only 1 ounce shot, and other drinks are somewhere in between.  Did you realize you were adding this many calories to your diet? 

Regular beer  149
Light beer 110
Red Wine 80
Dry White Wine 75
Sweet White Wine 105
Cocktails (manhattan, margarita, whiskey sour, etc) - between 122 and 168
Distilled liquor (whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, tequila) - 60

Imagine that you are an alcoholic, drinking a 12 pack a day.  One 12 pack of beer has 1788 calories in it.  1788 extra calories in one day, 12516 extra calories per week.  If you are still eating some regular meals in there, 1788 extra calories a day could make a straight path to a beer belly or an extra 25 pounds somewhere else on your body.

Type Two Diabetes and Being Overweight

Type 2 Diabetes is a disease where your pancreas can not balance out you blood sugar properly.  Two risk factors for Type 2 Diabetes are directly related to an alcoholic lifestyle - a lack of exercise and being overweight. 

Here’s the nuts and bolts of how being overweight puts a person at risk for Type 2 Diabetes.  Fat cells don’t have as many insulin receptors as muscle cells.  Also, fatty acids (released by fat cells) interfere with the body’s ability to process blood sugars.  So when insulin gets pumped through the body, it can’t get into the cells as easily to control the effects of the sugar.  Also, the fatty acids make it tough to process all the extra blood sugars.  The extra sugar is stored as more fat, and the cycle goes on and on. 

By definition, an alcoholic spends a great deal of time and energy acquiring and consuming their alcohol.  It’s highly unlikely that an actively drinking alcoholic is getting the proper amount of exercise.  The high caloric count of excessive drinking can clearly make a person overweight.  If a person has a hereditary risk for diabetes, is older than 65, high blood pressure, or a bad cholesterol profile, the risk is higher.

Alcohol Rehab Can Help Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 Diabates is less severe than Type 1 Diabetes and can often be treated with exercise and diet.  This is certainly good news for an alcoholic who realizes their health is on a decline.  Another solid bet is going to alcohol rehab.  A quality alcohol rehab center can provide not only alcohol treatment with trained counselors, but also nutritional services and exercise programs. 

When you stop drinking alcohol, begin eating a healthy diet, and establish a simple exercise habit, you can leave alcohol rehab ready to manage your Type 2 Diabetes risk.  You can’t change some risk factors like age, race, and heredity.  But alcohol rehab will help you better understand how alcohol contributes to diabetes and other heath problems.

Alcoholism can put a person at risk for many life-threatening diseases including those affecting the liver, heart, and pancreas.  But what about the common cold, a sinus infection, or strep throat.  What’s that like for someone with alcoholism?  I have a cold today, and I got curious.  Here’s what I found out.

Fluids Flush Out Toxins and Alcohol Dehydrates

Doctors always push fluids, fluids, and more fluids when your body is dealing with an infection.  Fluids help flush out the germs, keep your mucus flowing to prevent congestion, and generally support the germ-fighting activity of your white blood cells. 

Well, what if you are drinking all kinds of hard alcohol or a 12-pack of beer every day?  Alcohol dehydrates you, so medical professionals often recommend that you avoid alcohol when you have a cold or the flu.  If you are already drinking an excessive amount, your body is “in the hole” when it comes to fluid balance. 

Alcohol Limits White Blood Cells Abilities

Alcohol in large amounts also limits the ability of white blood cells to fully fight an infection.  Also, drinking lots of alcohol takes the place of nutritious food.  This decreases a person’s nutritional intake over time, depriving the body of vitamins and minerals needed to build a healthy functional immune system.  Nothing, not even the best vitamin supplements, can replace the nutritional value of healthy food.  With all this, the alcoholic’s body is always a few steps behind when a germ invades.

When your body spends a lot of resources and energy flushing all the alcohol out of your body, it has little left to deal with germs waiting to get in.  Like a castle left with just a few guards at the main entrance, infection can easily get established.

Brown Bottle Flu And The Common Cold Bad Combination

You know how awful you feel when you have a bad cold or the flu - headache, fever or chills, achy muscles, stuffy head, raw throat, fatigue.  Now think about a hangover - headache, achy muscles, upset stomach, fatigue.  Hmm….no wonder a hangover is often called the “brown bottle flu”.  Can you even imagine how it feels to have both of these going on at the same time?

Some people may try using the excuse that drinking helps prevent colds and illness.  Well, having a small amount of alcohol helps the body to relax.  Stress and chronic muscle tension can weaken a person’s immune system  But in this case, more is not better.  The damage from excessive alcohol completely overshadows any benefits from increased relaxation.

Alcohol Rehab For a Healthy Immune System

A person with alcoholism needs alcohol rehab for many reasons.  Obviously, stopping the consumption of large amounts of alcohol is the first step.  When all the problems have persist and gotten worse, keeping the toxins out of the system will have the greatest first impact. 

Alcohol rehab is also a place for people to regain and nourish their physical health.  No doubt they have experienced more infections and illnesses than most other people.  They need time to learn healthy eating habits, exercise routines, and to strengthen their immune system.  Going to alcohol rehab is the best way for an alcoholic to get a strong immune system.