It’s Okay to Reach Out for Help
Shame is one of the foundations that addiction continue to build on once it’s taken root. It can make you feel as if you couldn’t possibly deserve anyone’s help, or even your own effort. It’s one of the biggest reasons people delay or never seek help for their addiction to drugs or alcohol. The thought of asking for help can [...]
How Does Heroin Affect the Brain?
Heroin affects the people who are addicted to it in a wide variety of ways, but one of the biggest problems is how the drug affects your brain, including its function and chemical systems. Heroin is an opioid, which works as a type of depressant for the central nervous system. The core of that system is the brain. Heroin binds [...]
Ways Crack Affects your Brain
“Crack is whack”, but exactly how does this crystallized form of cocaine that’s often mixed with baking soda affect our brain? The hardened form of cocaine, named ‘crack’ for the sound it makes when smoking it, is far more potent that powdered forms, and since it’s smoked, it’s rushed to the brain through the bloodstream almost immediately, which results in [...]
How Can I Overcome Embarrassment About my Addiction?
People who have struggled with addiction in the past often say that the embarrassment they felt over it, either when they were taking the first steps to sobriety or long after they cleaned up their life, is one of the hardest things they’ve had to overcome. When you’re taking the step of asking for help overcoming your addiction for the [...]
Top 10 Ways to Keep your Sobriety on Track
There’s no better feeling than sobriety. After battling addiction to drugs or alcohol, sobriety can feel like you’re seeing life for the first time, especially if you’ve been struggling for a long time. It’s a breath of fresh air that allows you to begin to rebuild your life, but because of the way drugs and alcohol impact the body’s chemical [...]
Signs of Prescription Drug Addiction
With so many prescription drugs available that can have huge impacts on the human body, it can be heard to keep track of them all and their potential dangers. The signs and symptoms of abuse can vary depending on the drug in question, but the most commonly abused drugs are any opioids, like oxycontin or vicodin, a sedative, like valium, [...]
How Can I Forgive Myself for Past Mistakes?
One of the hardest things about living in sobriety can be learning to live with the choices and mistakes you’ve made in the past. The things you once did may haunt you, and even if you’re going through the motions for sobriety and working to keep with your treatment program, if you’re hanging onto those things, you’re not really letting [...]
Six Ways a Heroin Addiction will Ruin Your Life
Heroin has been an ongoing addiction problem in the United States for decades. Heroin comes from morphine, which is naturally found in the opium poppy. It can be injected, smoked or ingested through snorting. Injection is the most dangerous of the methods, as it’s far easier to inject yourself with far more heroin than your body can handle than it [...]
Can I Enjoy Holiday Activities Without Drugs?
One way that drug dealers and other users get people to try drugs for the first time is telling them how great some activity is while they’re under the influence. Surprisingly, this is especially true around the holidays. “Oh, you should try going sledding after smoking some weed” or “try baking cookies while you’re on meth, it’ll go so fast.” [...]
Avoiding Alcoholism Relapse During the Holidays
Everyday life when you’re trying to stay sober after alcoholism can already be hard, but when it’s the holidays, everything seems to compound, especially stress. The holidays are one of the hardest times for alcoholics in recovery because a large majority of holiday gatherings and parties involve alcohol, even simple family get togethers. All of the holiday stress on top [...]