When it comes to the development of drug addiction and abuse, it’s common knowledge that genetic connections can play a part. If an immediate family member – mother, father, or sibling – struggled with drug and alcohol dependence, it is more likely that another family member will fight the same problem if they opt to experiment with illicit substances.

The issue may be more than just genetic. There is an identifiable cycle of abuse and addiction that occurs among families where drug addiction is rampant. The bad news is that it won’t be broken without effort. The good news is that drug addiction treatment can help.

The Cycle of Drug Abuse and Addiction

Let’s consider the passing of an addiction from generation to generation. A teen who is addicted to drugs or alcohol may be more likely to engage in unprotected sex, and have a child before they are ready. Still struggling with drugs and alcohol, they may be unready to undergo drug addiction treatment and continue to abuse illicit substances as the child grows up.

When addiction is a part of family life, the child is neglected. He or she is exposed to the dangers and ugliness that come with daily life lived in the grips of drug dependence. Trauma can result and many children are witness to – if not victims of – terrible events as a result of a parents’ addiction. Domestic violence, sexual abuse, criminal acts – all of these are common.

As a result, many children of addicts will turn to drugs and alcohol in order to numb the feelings of fear, instability, and sadness that result. Access is easy due to the parents ongoing addiction, and due to the young age of first use and the malleability of the brain during this crucial period of development, the onset of addiction is relatively rapid.

What happens next? The increased chance of unprotected sex, which means another cycle of a young parent with a drug addiction tasked with a raising child….

The cycle can be never ending.

Breaking the Cycle

Breaking the cycle starts when the addicted parent gets the help he or she needs to break free from their own addiction. Once in recovery and beginning the process of building a solid life for themselves, their children will benefit from a better role model, less chance of trauma, and more stability. If this happens early enough, it can lower the chances of the child ultimately developing an addiction as well.

If you are a mother and fighting off a drug and alcohol addiction, contact us at The Orchid today for information about how you can help yourself, your child, and your family to beat drug dependence – now and in the future.

Until recently, it was commonly believed that addiction was an issue of willpower: those who were morally strong could stop drinking and abusing drugs and those who weren’t were shunned. Over the years, however, more and more research has demonstrated the changes that occur in the brain and how addiction has the characteristics of a chronic disorder rather than a moral failing. Very few – especially those in the medical and psychotherapeutic fields – view addiction as anything other than a physical health issue with psychological components.

The Argument Against Addiction as a Disease

There is, however, an ongoing argument against drug addiction as a disease. Many refuse to believe the scientific evidence that more is at work than an inability to control oneself. They point out that:

• Drug addiction is not contagious. You don’t “catch it” accidentally.

• There’s no known way to develop drug addiction or alcoholism other than to drink or abuse drugs, which is clearly a choice, at least initially.

• Once it’s clear that drug and alcohol abuse has negative consequences, the patient still continues to drink and abuse drugs.

Most argue that those diagnosed with other diseases would stop the causative behavior if that were the way to treat the issue. Why can’t those addicted to drugs and alcohol do the same?

The Argument for Addiction as a Disease

Yes, it’s true that you can stand next to an addict or alcohol and not “catch” the disease. The same is true for the ability to “catch” HIV or cancer, and those are definitely both diseases, too. And yes, it is a choice to initially pick up a beer or smoke a joint or try any drug and that this action can ultimately lead to an addiction. But so too can it be said that skin cancer starts with choosing to be out in the sun without sunscreen – but few would say that those who are living with skin cancer have a moral issue or a problem with will power.

Additionally, there are a number of studies that track the marked changes in brain chemicals and structure that occur when drugs are abused for a long period of time. Clearly, a patient undergoes physical and psychological changes as a result of drug abuse and addiction. These changes make it even more difficult to control the impulses related to the problem.

What Do You Think?

Is drug and alcohol addiction a disease or a choice? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Opiate painkillers are opioid-based medications prescribed to treat moderate to severe pain. When taken as directed with a monitored exit plan that allows you to stop taking the medication when you no longer need it, they are safe. However, some who begin a legitimate prescription will end up with an addiction that can ruin their life – and in some cases, end it.

Some of the most common opiate painkiller medication that end up causing an addiction include OxyContin, hydrocodone, morphine, codeine, hydromorphone, and others.

How Opiate Painkillers are Abused

Most who abuse opiate painkillers do so by using their prescription in a non-medical fashion. This can mean taking more than the prescribed dose or increasing the number of doses per day. It can also mean taking the pills not as prescribed (e.g., crushing them first, snorting the crushed pills, or dissolving in water and injecting the pills after they’ve been crushed). In some cases, patients abuse their prescription by mixing them with alcohol and other illicit substances. The more rapid release of the medication through alternate forms of ingestion and/ or the combination of prescription painkillers with other drugs of abuse can mean a more intense high and an increased risk of overdose and addiction.

How Opiates Affect the Brain

Opiates attach to the opioid receptors in the brain, kicking your pleasure response into high gear and blocking your experience of pain. The high that results can be addictive and, if chronic pain is an issue, it can decrease your ability to fight pain naturally thus increasing your experience of pain when not under the influence. When chronic opiate painkiller abuse becomes an issue, it’s easy for both a psychological and physical dependence to develop – an addiction that is difficult to break away from without chronic relapse.

Opiate Addiction Treatment

Opiate detox is the first step in opiate addiction treatment and focuses on the physical dependence part of opiate addiction. Medical treatment – even medication – may be a part of this process that will last as long as dictated by the patient’s experience of withdrawal symptoms. When those symptoms are under control, work on the psychological part of addiction can begin. For some, this can mean a focus on traumatic events or underlying mental health issues that were a problem prior to the use of prescription painkillers. For others, the focus is on learning how to cope with life and upsets without turning to drugs and alcohol.

If you or someone you love is looking for a drug rehab for women, contact us at The Orchid today. Learn how you can begin the healing process after prescription drug addiction.

People do desperate things when they are living with an active drug addiction, and one mother in Florida did the unthinkable in order to get $2000, potentially to feed her prescription drug addiction: sell the parental rights to her 5-year-old son.

According to reports, Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies arrested Jessica Marie Beers for allegedly attempting to sell her 5 year old child for $2000 to a couple who had been helping her with childcare and giving her money. It was the couple who tipped off police, telling them that the woman had offered them the money in return for parental rights of her child. The couple said that they had been helping Beers with childcare and money for months and had noticed that she had a prescription drug addiction. Over time, they said they watched her child more and more often. When Beers made them the offer, they were concerned that she would spend the money on drugs and contacted police.

The arrest happened when Beers met with the couple in order to make the exchange: the boy for the money. Beers was arrested and charged with sale of parental rights and violation of probation for grand theft, and her son was taken into custody by child protection services.

Desperation and Drug Addiction

It’s a story that flew across the country when it first broke and while many were shocked by the nature of the crime, others see it as more proof of how desperate an addiction to drugs can make anyone. Children are often the first victims when a parent is living with drug abuse. Though the incidence is more often neglect, it’s not uncommon for kids to be hurt when their parents are addicted to drugs. The only benefit of this story is the fact that it brought to light the addiction that the boy’s mother was living with and provided him with an exit to safer home while also putting her in a position to recognize the need for and to accept treatment. Many mothers live for years covering up their drug addiction to the detriment of their child. In this case, at least there is hope for the future.

Drug Addiction Treatment for Mothers

Many mothers avoid enrolling in drug rehab because their children need their care. The fact is that childcare provided from someone under the influence of drugs is not acceptable. The child will always be much better off staying with a relative until the mother is well again, then coming home to a place that is truly home where the child can feel safe and learn to respect their parents because their parents are behaving in a manner worthy of that respect.

If you would like to learn more about our drug addiction treatment program here at The Orchid, contact us today. We can help you determine the best place for your child while you get the help you need to be the mother you want to be.

Blackouts occur when someone intoxicated engages in conversations, dancing, cooking and frighteningly driving a car, but later on has no memory of the events. These periods of blackout may encompass a couple of minutes or many hours of time. Scientists have never understood the biological process behind alcohol-induced blackouts. However, in one of the latest volumes of The Journal of Neuroscience, the physiology that triggers amnesia from alcohol is uncovered.

Findings Challenge The Concept of Brain Cell Death From Binge Drinking

Neuroscientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered evidence that challenges previous held beliefs about alcohol’s affects on the brain. These researchers exposed brain cells of rats to both moderate and excessive amounts of alcohol. In the group with moderate exposure to alcohol there was no memory loss. However, in the group of cells with excessive alcohol, the process of memory formation was disrupted.

The research demonstrated that, in direct opposition to previously held scientific thought, excessive drinking does not automatically kill brain cells. Instead an extreme amount of alcohol competes with receptors in the brain that then produce steroids which stop the formation of new memories.

These neural receptors when exposed to alcohol have seemingly erratic behavior, with some becoming blocked while others are activated. Instead of cell death, alcohol causes a scrambling of neural activity that temporarily disables the complicated system of memory formation. This idea that alcohol is not damaging brain cells, just temporarily changing how they function, is cutting edge information.

What About Blackout From Other Substances?

Any stress on cells in the hippocampus of the brain can stop the ability to create memories. This is why drugs also have the possibility of causing blackouts. The combination of drugs and alcohol put an individual at a much higher risk to have a blackout than either substance taken on its own.

In addition, the researcher found that if steroids were blocked from being produced then the ability to form memory was protected. They found that 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors, which are used for enlarged prostate glands, were able to keep memory production functioning in the presence of excess alcohol. Now the scientists are looking towards studying these prescription medications to safeguard the formation of memory in the brain.

If you or someone you know has blackouts frequently or is having other consistent problems from either alcohol or drugs, help is a phone call away. We can answer any questions you may have related to treatment at The Orchid. Don’t spend one more day wondering what to do. Pick up the phone and let someone with experience show you the way.