Drug addiction recovery is going to bring with it a lot of incredible new opportunities and changes – but it’s also going to bring disappointments and setbacks that you will be painfully sober for. Both good times and bad times are to be expected. No matter how cheerful or positive you are, no one has a perfect day every day. The important thing is to give yourself permission to have bad days and to have a plan for how to deal with upsets so that you don’t relapse – and if you do relapse, to keep it as short and insignificant as possible.

Drug Addiction Recovery: Celebrate the Little Things

The little victories in recovery can be simple things like just barely catching the bus, coming into a movie just after the previews but before the first scene, an unexpected phone call from an old friend or a word of encouragement from someone you respect or admire. They can also be huge – every day you don’t drink or get loaded, especially the days when you’re stressed out, depressed, or angry. Avoiding relapse when you want to get high is something worth celebrating. There’s something to be said for celebrating sober “birthdays” and giving yourself something you’ve been wanting: a nice dinner out, a massage, a day off from work, a morning to sleep-in. Treating yourself will give you a little boost that will keep you going until the next time you could use a little celebration of you.

Drug Addiction Recovery: What to Do With the Other Stuff

Celebrating the good stuff, that’s easy. But what do you do with those less than stellar days when you feel like getting loaded – or worse, actually do slip? You get through them. Just like the “pink cloud” days when you feel like nothing will ever knock you off your happy pedestal pass, so too will the ones that you feel will never end. It’s an important concept: “this, too, shall pass.” And it’s a good one to remember when you’re at the bottom of a bad day and considering relapse.

Drug Addiction Recovery: Have a Plan

While the power of positive thinking is a great place to start, the best way to handle the rough spots in treatment is to have a plan. Because bad days will happen, knowing in advance how you will handle it will let you avoid that lost and angry feeling that precedes drug relapse. First, have phone numbers for three people you can call. If you’re feeling stressed out and on the verge of a slip, calling someone who is willing to talk you through it is your best option. If you can meet them, even better. Getting a cup of coffee or meeting at your favorite restaurant or park will give you something to do as you wait until the negative feelings pass.

Your Drug Addiction Recovery

If you have not yet enrolled in drug addiction treatment, contact us at the Orchid Recovery Center today. We help women create a new life in recovery. Call now.

Losing a friend for any reason is not easy, but when you lose someone you care about to a drug overdose, it can be devastating. Trying to make sense of the loss is overwhelming, and if you are using drugs and alcohol as well, the death of a close friend often precipitates a drug and alcohol binge. You risk overdosing as well or sinking further into drug and alcohol addiction. Processing the loss of a friend with a therapist, family members and others who care about you is one of the best ways you can get through this difficult time without making the situation worse.

If you are in need of drug and alcohol addiction, we can help at Orchid Recovery Center. Our woman-centered drug rehab program can provide you with a safe and effective treatment unlike any other in the country. Call now for more information.

Losing a Friend to Drug Overdose

When your friend passes due to drug overdose, the sadness and depression can be overwhelming. It’s impossible not to experience a myriad of emotions: guilt that you couldn’t help or save your friend, sadness that his or her life was cut short, and depression at the prospect of having to live without them every day. If you have to notify their family or take part in planning the funeral, the toll can be even larger. Taking care of yourself may the farthest thing from your mind, but it’s important that you prioritize your mental health as you go through this difficult period. Seeking psychological care and potentially short-term pharmaceutical assistance in the form of anti-depressants can help you get through the hard parts until you feel ready to handle the changes in your life.

Help Others Avoid Drug Overdose

If you have other friends who are using dangerous amounts of cocaine, heroin, alcohol, prescription drugs and other substances, you can allow your friend’s passing to spur you on to help others. If you have other friends who are risking their lives in drug and alcohol addiction, don’t wait until it’s too late to get help. An intervention is a great way to confront someone you care about and help them to understand that they need help. Encouraging them to get help now can mean the difference between life and death for them – and it starts with you taking an interest.

Are You Using? Choose Drug Addiction Treatment Now

If you were using drugs and alcohol with your friend who overdosed, don’t let sadness push you to continue to get loaded. Instead, let something positive come from the loss of your friend: get the help you need to avoid drug overdose yourself. If you are looking for a gender-specific drug rehab program that offers cutting edge treatment and luxury amenities, you have found it Orchid Recovery Center. Let us help you save yourself from drug and alcohol addiction. Call now to find out more about our addiction treatment programs.

Painkiller addiction is a problem that swept the nation over the past decade and continues to rise in significance every year. For men and women, teenagers and the elderly, prescription drug addiction is a huge problem, resulting in thousands of deaths due to overdose or related accident every year. Women, however, are one of the groups at highest risk to develop prescription painkiller addiction. Why is this the case and how can we treat this issue?

Why Women are at High Risk for Prescription Drug Addiction

Statistically, women are twice as likely to develop an addiction to prescription drugs like sedatives and painkillers because they are two to three times more likely to be prescribed these drugs than are men. Why are women prescribed highly addictive drugs like Valium, Xanax and Klonopin more often than men? Because they are more likely to seek medical help for emotional issues than are men.

Acute emotional issues related to a specific, traumatic event (i.e., death of a family member, loss of a relationship, loss of a job, sexual abuse) commonly result in an addictive prescription and women are more likely than men to seek that out. Chronic emotional issues that result in depression are another problem that results in addictive prescriptions and an issue that women seek help for more often than do men.

Prescription Drug Addiction is Deadly

For women and men, prescription drug addiction is a deadly disease. If you or someone you love is physically and psychologically dependent upon a prescription painkiller or sedative, it is imperative that you seek a doctor’s assistance. Attempting to quit “cold turkey” without stepping down slowly over time without medical supervision can be just as deadly as continuing to take the drug.

Overdose is a constant concern for those taking prescription medications, even if they have been addicted for years. Accidents related to overuse and abuse of prescription sedatives and painkillers is one of the most common reasons for emergency room visits. More deadly than any other single addictive drug, addiction to prescription painkillers and sedatives requires immediate and full service treatment at a prescription drug rehab.

Women and Prescription Drug Rehab

Even though women are more likely to go to the doctor when they are struggling with emotional issues, they are less likely than men to seek drug rehab or treatment once they realize that they are dangerously dependent on a drug of addiction. This means that though the numbers of men and women seeking medical treatment at a drug rehab facility for prescription drug addiction are about the same, there are a large number of women out in the world trying desperately to function with a painkiller or sedative addiction unnecessarily.

If you or a someone you love is living with OxyContin addiction, Percocet addiction, hydrocodone addiction, oxycodone addiction or addiction to sedatives or a combination of drugs, get help today. Call The Orchid to find a prescription drug rehab designed specifically to assist women living with addiction.

Crystal methamphetamine is one of the most difficult drugs to fight with drug rehab treatment. The psychological withdrawal symptoms are too easily forgotten a few months after drug addiction treatment and when the urge to get high crops up again, many believe they can use “just once” without fully falling back into addiction. Unfortunately, it seldom works out that way and most who relapse end up living with crystal meth addiction within a relatively short time.

So how do you make crystal meth addiction treatment last after you return home? How can you help yourself to remain clean and sober when the “itch” to relapse hits a few months after your drug rehab graduation?

Surviving After Crystal Meth Rehab: Don’t Follow Your Emotions

The first few weeks and months after crystal meth rehab, many women feel really good. The future looks bright and they are hopeful about rekindling positive relationships in their lives. The feeling of happiness is enough to sustain them and they may or may not have anything more than this and the recent memories of methamphetamine rehab to sustain them from day to day.

Soon, however, feelings change, as feelings are wont to do. A stumbling block will arise, someone will say something inconsiderate, something you were counting on won’t quite pan out the way you had hoped and feelings turn bleak, angry or sad.

Reminding yourself that feelings are by nature a changing force and nothing to base your continued health and recovery on is essential. Reminding yourself to base your decisions on practical matters and goals and making the next right choice you can to get yourself closer to those goals is the only way to move forward.

Surviving After Crystal Meth Rehab: Building a Support System

For many, support in recovery after drug addiction treatment starts with a 12 Step program. Here you will find recovering addicts with months and years of experience in living without drugs and alcohol. You’ll find other newcomers in their first few days without their drug of choice. You will find mentors ready and willing to provide you with one on one guidance and support as you navigate your way through the pitfalls of early recovery. Many find everything they need in the meetings, the sponsorship and the literature that accompanies a 12 step program.

Others may add to this by incorporating strong friendships and family relationships. Though it is not advocated that you embark on a new romance right after rehab-many even suggest that you don’t focus on an old romance unless that person has always been clean and sober while you were using-relationships with young children, support parents or siblings, and extended family can help keep you grounded when the going gets rough. New friendships will certainly form as you continue to attend meetings, find a new job, take classes, get involved in new hobbies and little by little you’ll build a world for yourself that doesn’t include drug use.

If you’d like to get started building a life for yourself that doesn’t include crystal meth addiction, contact The Orchid today for more information about our crystal meth rehab program for women.

One of the most damaging myths about drug addiction treatment and its efficacy is the idea that one must want to go to rehab in order to be successful. The truth is that even women who would like to live a life without heroin addiction, alcoholism, painkiller addiction and addiction to other drugs, few really sign up for drug rehab with a happy, gung-ho attitude. Almost everyone is scared: scared of “failing” through relapse and scared of succeeding and living with the intimidating task of figuring out how to get through each day without drugs and alcohol.

There is no magical way to overcome these fears and the general reluctance of even the most willing, but if there were it can be summed up in a single phrase: “Act as if.”

What “Act As If” Means to Women Entering Drug Treatment

“Acting as if” means walking through the doors of a drug rehab like you want to be there, even if you don’t. Rather than beginning each day with overwhelming thoughts like “I can never get high again” or “I’m done with drinking forever,” you start the day thinking, “What do I want for breakfast?” You act as if living without drugs and alcohol were the most perfectly natural thing in the world and whenever nagging doubts start to creep in, immediately rearrange your thoughts to focus on the next thing someone without a drug and alcohol addiction would think about.

Is “Acting As If” Dishonest?

One of the primary tenets of any successful drug rehab program is honesty and some are concerned  that “acting as if” is just another form of lying. If you honestly feel like you want to get loaded, is it dishonest to ignore it and pretend that you feel anything different? It’s an interesting question, but when your goal is to strive toward stability and a solid foundation based on positive thinking that sets you up to make the next best choice in any given situation, then “acting as if” is the best way to get there on the days when this seems like the most difficult thing in the world.

When Does “Acting As If” Turn Into a Real Desire to Live Without Drugs and Alcohol?

This will vary from person to person. But desires, and feelings, come and go in early recovery, and they’re difficult to pinpoint and hold onto, much less use as a foundation for a new life. Even those who have been clean and sober for decades have days when they don’t feel like doing it anymore. But the whole point of “acting as if” is to let goal of sobriety rule your decisions as opposed to how you feel. Actions based on feelings are usually compulsive and rarely the best choice for you. Actions based on well-thought out goals and healthful positive directions for your life are always going to serve you better in the long run.

If you’d like to learn more about drug addiction treatment for women, contact The Orchid today.