Friends and Family That Don’t Give Up

You may think they are pestering you, getting in your business, and being jerks.  Why won’t they just leave you alone to do your thing?  Because they care and they don’t like how your life has gone down the tubes, that’s why.  A drug addict usually doesn’t want to hear the truth about their addiction.  Persistent family and friends are thankful when they break through and get the person to a drug treatment center. 

Difficult Loss That Changed Your Attitude

It could be a family friend, a close relative, or someone you didn’t even know that well.  Often times a death makes you step back and take another look at your own life.  You might be thinking…..

Have I really been this selfish for so long?  Could I die just as quickly if I keep drinking every day?  I want to honor my friend/relative by living my life better than I have been. 

For one woman I know, the death of a family friend helped her snap out of a relapse and get more involved in her community in less than a week. 

The Car Accident That Exposed Your Addiction To The Right People

It’s awful hard to hide an addiction when you get a BAC that’s over twice the legal limit.  Then there’s the totaled car, the suspended license, the lawyer’s fee, the embarassment in the newspaper, the court ordered alcohol counseling.  This type of accident can be life altering for a long time if not just for the inconvenience and expense.  And sometimes, it really does help a person get the alcohol treatment they have needed for years.  A tough pill to swallow, but well worth a positive outcome.

Drug Rehabs With Knowledgable Caring Staff

Drug addicts sometimes have a million reasons why they don’t want to go to drug rehab.  Trust and embarassment can be a huge issue.  Why would you want to tell anyone details about the worst moments of your life?  However, when you get into drug treatment and become overwhelmed with pain at some moment, those caring well-trained professionals are really there for you.  They understand the difficulties, they know about the shame, they’ve helped many others before, and they help restore a drug addict’s dignity.  When you need someone the most, they are ready to help. 

People Who Come Forward And Tell Their Story To The Public

It takes a certain amount of courage to live through difficult situations like depression, drug addiction, dual diagnosis, and so on.  It takes another level of courage to willingly expose your story to the public.  For these folks, they often feel like their journey has been part of a message they needed to tell.  Not that they asked for the experience, but they sense a need to give others hope by coming forward. 

What Are You Thankful For If You Have A Drug Addiction

Do you have a drug or alcohol addiction crippling your life?  If you do, what can you see to be thanful for?  Family and friends?  Something bad turned good to get you clean?  A second chance at drug rehab?  No matter what your drug addiction situation, take a look at drug rehab and think about it could change your life forever.

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.

Every person with a drug or alcohol addiction has a unique experience.  Even so, there are many different signs and symptoms that can help you tell the difference between occasional use and drug addiction.  It helps to understand the behaviors and words of a drug addict.  Look especially for ways they accommodate their drug use, the effect on their body, and how their priorities seem to change.

Watch For Signs of Addiction and Get All The Facts

If think someone has an addiction, it’s good to have a clear idea of the problem before you approach them about getting drug treatment.  They are likely to be in denial, minimize the problem, and say you are attacking them.  You’re confused and caught off guard, they walk away with the last word.  Game over. 

You might have better luck taking note of the different ways their life has change specifically related to their drug use.  You probably already know what’s wrong, but a calm organized approach with solid evidence will be a more compelling argument than random acts of nagging.  Here are two important symptoms to look for.

Physical Withdrawal Symptoms

Along with a higher tolerance comes withdrawal symptoms.  When the body gets so used to having a high amount of drugs or alcohol going through the system, it can show some pretty strong reactions when it leaves the body. 

This is essentially what a hangover is - a reaction to the alcohol leaving the body.  Just having a hangover isn’t a sign of addiction.  Some people’s bodies have strong reactions to even one or two drinks (which doesn’t indicate addiction).  But if you almost always have hangovers and ”brown bottle flu” days after heavy drinking or drugging, you are certainly on your way to a problem. 

Easily addictive drugs like methamphetamine or opioids like herion can produce serious withdrawal symptoms.  Addicts can feel indigestion, nerve-wracking pain, severe headaches, and tremors.  Anyone with a drug or alcohol problem and these withdrawal symptoms needs to be evaluated at a drug treatment center.

Increased Tolerance For Higher Amounts of Drugs and Alcohol

When you drink occasionally and moderately, it doesn’t take much for your body to get a “buzz” or tipsy feeling.  As long as you don’t drink frequently, your tolerance will generally stay fairly low.  Weight and gender can affect it, but not nearly as much as how frequently and how much you use.  The same is true for drugs like cocaine, marijuana, heroin, prescription medication, etc. 

Once you start using more and using more frequently, your body needs more to give you the same sensation.  When someone drinks a 12 pack of beer or has several hits of heroin and says they don’t feel much, they have an enormous tolerance.  That is definitely not normal.

Serious Addiction Symptoms Signal Time For Drug Treatment

Drug addiction is not always easy to identify, especially if the addict is very secretive or isolates a lot.  However, anyone with physical withdrawal symptoms and increased tolerance is likely to have a drug addiction.  They need drug treatment of some kind right away.  Drug rehab centers can help address not only the physical symptoms but also the mental aspects of drug addiction.  Look for more posts describing other signs and symptoms of drug addiction.

No one likes to think they’re doing the wrong thing, even when they know they are.  People protect themselves by making excuses and telling lies in their mind - so true of drug and alcohol addiction.  If you find yourself saying one of these lines or something like it, you might need drug treatment.

1 - I only had a few (hits, drinks, joints, etc).

Any you hear someone say they had “just a few”, be suspicious.  A few to one person might be two or three.  A few to you could actually be around twelve or twenty, whatever number is technically less than the most you’ve ever had.  It’s just a way to downplay how much you really did, and large volumes of alcohol or drugs indicate a real problem.  So does minimizing it.  What was that number again, really?

2 - I really didn’t mean to get drunk, high, stoned, wasted, etc.  It just happened.

Someone held you prisoner until you drank twenty-five beers, or did that 8 ball?  That rarely happens.  You are in control of your actions unless you are addicted.  In that case, your addiction is in charge of your life.  If you cannot resist using drugs and alcohol when you are around them, you have lost your ability to be in in control of your use (symptom of drug addiction).

3 - I’ve quit drugs, like, ten times already.  I can quit anytime - so I don’t have a problem. 

In order to quit that many times, you need to have started again that many times.  Why did you start again?  What happened when you quit before?  What do you mean by “quit” - just take a break for a few days, or really try to change your life?  Perhaps you wanted to just give an answer (”Look, I quit already - leave me alone!”) to someone accusing you of having a drug problem.  

4 - I can drive drunk just fine.   

Wow - what do you even say to this one?  Tell that one to MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving.  Just take a look at the headlines of people killed by drunk drivers every year.  Even sleepiness can impair a driver - how could it not be that much worse for drinking and drug use?  To drive drunk or on drugs is to ignore your own body’s signals and highly publicized facts.  This would be the time to err on the side of caution rather than your own pride.

5 - I wouldn’t drink so much if you were a better….wife, husband, kid, boyfriend, etc.

Putting the blame on someone else for your actions is a sure sign of a problem.  Again, you weren’t likely held prisoner and forced to drink or use drugs.  It’s most likely something you chose as a way of coping with something very uncomfortable.  Marriage?  Parenthood?  Job responsibility?  Emotional intimacy?  Drowning your problems in drugs and alcohol will only make your problems worse.  And they’ll still be there when you sober up later.

Excuses and Denial Are Connected  

As long as you don’t realize you have a problem, you’re home free.  You can do what you like.  The lies protect your addiction, they don’t protect you.  If you find that your excuses don’t match up with what you know is really going on, you are probably ready for a drug treatment center.  Cutting through your denial can be tough, but you will be able to see how drug treatment can make your life better.