Hormones play a huge part in menstruation and menopause, and they also play a large part in the development of and treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. These issues alter the course of recovery and create certain issues that men will never have to deal with. Through Hormone Therapy, women learn exactly what is happening in their body, what they can expect with the hormonal shifts and changes that occur naturally, and how it will affect their drug addiction and recovery. Knowledge is power, and knowing how to handle stumbling blocks before they arise can keep them from becoming a problem that throws your recovery off track.

Menstruation and Menopause as a Cause of Drug Addiction

Whether you are experiencing monthly hormonal shifts due to menstruation or are entering into peri-menopause, menopause or post-menopause, the feelings and physical symptoms associated with these shifts can create emotional and physiological chaos. Not feeling well is always an issue that can cause drug addiction – many self-medicate to feel better mentally and physically. Hormones increase the emotional response, making small events that much more difficult to deal with and difficult events even more overwhelming. The problems that result are often another reason to get high or drink, either to escape the situation or numb the pain associated with it.

Hormonal Therapy: What it is and How it Can Help

Hormone Therapy does not stop the function of hormones in the system or in any way change the symptoms that you experience. It does, however, prepare women for what to expect in terms of hormonal changes as they grow older and what those changes will mean in terms of temptation to relapse during recovery. Specific tactics that do not include addictive drugs and alcohol that can help mitigate the symptoms associated with hormonal shifts are discussed and women develop preparedness plans to successfully handle menstruation and menopausal changes. Women are encouraged to share their personal experience and come up with individualized plans that address their unique symptoms.

Hormonal Therapy at The Orchid

At The Orchid, our entire focus is on women in recovery. From the initial phase of detox through extensive addiction treatment that addresses multiple aspects of experience with drugs, addiction and recovery, our staff professionals are trained to assist with the specific needs of each individual. Each woman experiences a unique treatment plan that addresses her own drug history, history of trauma, co-occurring disorders and other issues. Our Hormone Therapy Program is completely unique in that it was developed by professionals at The Orchid and is implemented at no other drug rehab in the country. Call now to learn more about how we can help you or a woman you love to break free from addiction.

Rumor has it that Whitney Houston might be staging an intervention for her daughter with ex-husband Bobby Brown, Bobbi Kristina. The 17-year-old girl has had a few happy snaps taken of her partying hard and the word is that these pics have Houston a little concerned that her little girl might be following in her own footsteps. Some are saying that Houston has hired a drug counselor to talk to Bobbi Kristina, but Houston and her representatives are denying these reports.

Houston reps told E! Online: “There is no truth to the reports about Bobby and Whitney staging an intervention with their daughter.”

If Houston does have an intervention for her daughter, it wouldn’t be the first in the family. It has been reported that Houston only managed to kick her own crack addiction and marijuana addiction when her own mother set up an intervention.

If your loved one is living with heroin addiction, alcoholism, prescription drug addiction or addiction to multiple drugs, Orchid Recovery Center can help. We offer drug addiction treatment for women here in Palm Springs, Florida. Call now.

Staging an Intervention for Your Loved One

Staging an intervention is an excellent way to reach out to the woman you care about who is living with drug and alcohol addiction. Gathering together interested family members and close friends, all with stories about how her addiction has hurt them, will help your loved one to see just how serious her addiction has grown. The key is to immediately follow these anecdotes with an offer of immediate drug and alcohol rehab. Letting your loved one know that her continued addiction will not be tolerated but that help is available can be the push that she needs to make the right decision and follow through.

Intervention Tips

When you care about an addict or alcoholic, you feel heavily invested in whether or not he or she chooses to accept treatment at the end of an intervention. Though there are no guarantees, here are a few tips to help you create the most effective intervention possible:

• · Consider hiring a professional interventionist. A professional interventionist can take the pressure off you and provide an objective party to an otherwise emotional event – and keep everything under control as much as possible.

• · Plan what you’ll say ahead of time. Practice if you like. Before the actual intervention, you and the others who will be participating in the intervention should meet to discuss who will say what and when.

• · Pack a bag for treatment in case your loved one agrees to accept help. It’s important that she leave immediately for treatment. Taking time to pack only opens the door to a change of heart.

· Secure a spot for your loved one in treatment well before the intervention. If you like, the drug rehab you choose can provide you with a professional interventionist to assist you.

Orchid Recovery Center can provide you with a professional interventionist to assist you in staging an intervention for your loved one and give your loved one the drug addiction treatment she needs. Contact us today to find out more.

There are thousands if not millions of women right now in the United States alone who need drug rehab to become well.  Already, only a small percentage of women who need treatment actually get it.  What if those few never went to drug rehab?  Let’s think about that. 

Addiction causes a lot of problems for women.  It especially brings chaos and health hazards to many young children.  Even though men are expected and accustomed to being more involved with parenting, women still do the majority of hands-on child care in their families.  Women are also a strong factor in the workforce and the harmony of their communities.

Problems Women Have Because of Addiction

Addiction takes over judgment and reasoning, which is one reason why women resist addiction treatment.  They don’t really need it.  They aren’t a “loser” - they have their use under control.  It’s hopeless - drug rehab wouldn’t fix what’s happened in their life.  Also, drug addiction robs people of finances, making treatment seem like something they could never do. 

Miraculously, some women do go to drug rehab and become like new women.  They still have their feelings and drug temptations, but they are in the driver’s seat of their life.  They have new skills to rebuild relationships.  They have clarity of mind and improved judgment, making them valuable to potential employers.  What would happen if these women never went to drug rehab to reshape their lives? 

Continued financial problems - You think drug rehab costs money?  How about continuing to get drugs and alcohol with stolen money, credit cards, borrowed money from family and friends, or (the worse) trading sexual acts for for drugs?  What about the medical bills for the liver disease or heart problems attributed to long years of drug use? 

More and greater health problems - Most of the harder drugs are associated with women trading sexual favors - heroin, crack cocaine, meth.  This kind of sex is often risky, exposing a woman to all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases and the risk of unplanned pregnancy.  Also, continued use of drugs and alcohol can damage the whole body - skin, liver, lungs, heart, just to name a few.  Also, drug use in pregnancy puts unborn babies at risk for birth defects and being born addicted to the mother’s drug of choice. 

Family dysfunction - Mothers log a lot of hours interacting with their children, often more than fathers.  This certainly isn’t true of every family, but even working mothers often do the direct personal care tasks and take their kids on errands.  For addicted women (especially single mothers), their interactions are strongly affected by their addiction. 

Addicted mothers are often more neglectful, forgetful, not using their best judgment, may leave their kids unattended more often, and will certainly expose their kids directly to their addiction lifestyle.  Children growing up in this environment are undoubtedly more at risk for developing addictions themselves, having behavior problems, and having many difficulties with relationships and stability as an adult. 

Can You Afford To Skip Drug Rehab

Do you know a woman like this, someone who needs the supportive community of a specialized drug rehab for women?  Are you this woman?  What will your life (or your loved one’s life) be like if you let your drug addiction continue without drug treatment? 

The Orchid Recovery Center for Women provides the ultimate drug rehab for women.  This facility and the entire treatment program is custom designed for the needs of women with addiction.  If that voice inside you is saying that it’s time, then answer that voice now.  What will happen if you don’t go to rehab?

Cocaine is a truly dangerous drug.  So dangerous that many people consider it just a street drug, or sometime a drug that is used by daredevil celebrities.  However, women are using cocaine more, and for some surprising reasons.  A certain amount of addictions may begin because of genetic predisposition and family history, regardless of a person’s current socio-economic status.  Money, social connections, or a good job doesn’t necessarily prevent family problems, nor would it protect someone from an addiction if the right conditions appeared.  What else could cause a woman to choose such a risky drug?

Cocaine as Method for Weight Loss

Some women are bound and determined to lose weight no matter what the cost.  When weight loss takes on unhealthy importance, a woman may turn to whatever they think will do the job.  Unbelievably, more and more women seem to be trying cocaine as a method of weight loss.  Clearly someone who would go to such great lengths to acheive some kind of unreasonable weight goal also has some serious emotional pain and problems with their body image. 

If women are willing to risk their health and very life to appear thinner, then cocaine is not such a surprising choice after all.  A casual dieter trying to lose ten pounds isn’t going to try a scary dieting tactic like this.  A woman who is desperate for acceptance, or engulfed in self-loathing, or trying to please an unpleasable person in her life.  For them, dieting-at-all-costs may feel like the only solution.

Stress Contributor to Cocaine Addiction

It looks like stress has been revealed as a risk factor for cocaine addiction as well.  When it is chronic, intense stress can sometimes make people turn to unhealthy methods for relief.  People can become desperate for a moment of peace, a chance to forget about what is happening.  Or sometimes they collapse under the pressure and dip into a depression.  But most people don’t think of a hard-core drug like cocaine as their first choice for stress relief.  So how could this happen? 

Middle Class Women Using Cocaine

A study about middle class women using cocaine showed that these women were introduced to cocaine as something “just for fun” by a friend.  But once the friend-related recreational use turned to addiction, the women developed more of an addictive lifestyle.  They found their own drug connections and hid their use, saying they had a “controlled habit.”  This seems to highlight the dishonesty and disconnection from reality that forms when a person becomes addicted.  The study rightfully concluded there was a greater need to explore connections between cocaine use and power and control. 

Yes, this is just one study, and it seemed to produce more questions than answers.  But as Dr Karen Dodge has concluded, it seems that emotional pathways are affirmed as the inroad of an addiction for women.  A strong desire for power and control (reflecting an apparent lack in other emotional needs being met), perhaps an already underlying predisposition to addiction, other traumatic experiences in her life, tendency for risk taking and escapism, and a “friendly” introduction to the drug - all of this adds up to an unexpected profile of an woman addicted to cocaine.

Cocaine Rehab for Women

If you know a woman like this, or if you are this woman, now is the time to go to cocaine rehab.  Living the charade, the double life - this will only keep your addiction alive, not you.  The Orchid Recovery Center for Women is a place of hope and  a unique therapeutic approach to help women with addictions.

Can you imagine craving something so strong that you’d skip your job, steal money, leave your kids alone at home, even meet with dangerous people just to get it over and over?  This is what a heroin addict might do to keep up their supply.  Heroin is so dangerous because it can be quickly addictive and have permanent effect on a person’s mind and body.  Drug rehabs often use medication such as buprenorphine to help with the heroin detox process. 

How Buprenorphine Helps With Heroin Addiction

Opioids are drugs that act much like the neurotransmitters in our bodies.  These chemicals include endorphins, adrenaline, and dopamine, all of which control many different behavioral and emotional responses.  The neurotransmitters travel back and forth between neuron receptors, fitting together like locks with keys. 

Opioids can lock into these same receptors, only the effect they have is enormous and overwhelming compared to what the body can normally produce.  When opioids are carefully used as painkillers, they can be effective.  However, heroin use is never regulated and the risk of overdose is high. 

Buprenorphine is an opioid that is enough like heroin and other potent drugs, but it’s chemical fit to receptors isn’t perfect.  It can make cravings more tolerable and the body more comfortable while the heroin use has been stopped.  However, it generally doesn’t fit well enough to give an addictive rush or high.  This can also help with psychological addiction, giving the person a chance to develop healthy coping skills with fewer effects from the physical withdrawal process.

Subutex for Pregnant Heroin Users

Apparently, mono buprenorphine (also called Subutex) has been deemed as safe and effective as methadone for pregnant heroin users.  Currently, methadone and buprenorphine are Category C drugs.  These drugs have only been through animal trials, no solid human trials, and have caused known problems for animals fetuses.  However, there can be enough benefit to the mother to warrent use in spite of these risks. 

In other words, methadone and buprenorphine have enough risk to be strongly avoided in nearly all cases.  However, if it will ensure that the mother stays safe and healthy to take the baby to full term, some risk to the fetus may be the lesser of two problems to deal with. 

Buprenorphine Not The Perfect Solution

At this summit, experts from the National Institute of Drug Abuse reported findings about the usefulness of Buprenorphine.  They stated that it was actually more helpful with painkiller addiction than heroin addiction.

Buprenorphine is a legal prescribed drug.  However, some people abuse buprenorphine by crushing and injecting it.  The very drug that is supposed to help them with their heroin addiction becomes the replacement drug.  This method of crushing and injection the drug is very hazardous because shared or dirty needles can spread disease among users.  This is a true testament to the psychological and psychological power of opiate addictions.  Even drugs meant to be helpful can get turned around and abused.

Heroin Rehab at The Orchid

The professionals at the Orchid Recovery Center for Women do everything possible to assist women with the sometimes difficult process of drug detox.  But detox is just the first of many steps of growth in drug treatment.  The supportive community of women, the holistic therapies, and research-based treatment methods combine to provide an environment of healing at the Orchid.