I need to stop this

What If My Child Isn’t Motivated to Get Treatment for Addiction?

Suggesting Treatment to a Loved One

Intervention – a Starting Point

Drug Use, Stigma, and the Proactive Contagions to Reduce Both

Details: Published: 17 January 2024; Hits: 1219

Behind every alcoholic parent, there is a child of an alcoholic and, with over 7.5 million people in the UK showing signs of alcohol dependence, that’s an awful lot of children who will be affected by their parents drinking (one in five children, to be exact.)

When you grow up in the house of an addict, forced to take on the role of adult as you ‘parent the parent’, your childhood is characterised by chaos, unpredictability, and (lack of) control.

When you know that what is happening at home is wrong, that a child should not be in that environment (when your mother herself has told you so, yet continues to do it anyway), somewhere along the way you have to pretend that you don’t care, pushing the emotions away as far down as they will go. Because, as hard as home life is, you’re told that being in care will be harder, ‘and if social services get involved, that’s exactly what will happen…’, as she would remind you every time you’d shout, in between cries, that ‘it’s not fair.’

Having essentially been forced to remain silent for 18 years, left with no choice but to make numbness my default so as not to ‘slip up’, and the years after that forgetting that there was an alternative, it is only now, aged 22, that I am, slowly, opening myself up to emotion and it is interesting, in a word.

To be able to feel things that I have spent a lifetime not feeling.
To be able to feel something other than…nothing.

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Details: Published: 12 December 2023; Hits: 917

What is one of the key drivers of addiction? Engagement with substances and permission to do so. Now we have some bad actors in the political space promoting greater and greater permission models to engage in and promote drug use - Thus, adding to the burden of this non-communicable disease by increasing suicide risk. In what #publichealth metric is this good practice? #addiction is just one Unnecessary Harm, and promoting drug use is culpable. #preventiondontpromote

(for complete article WebMD Health Services)

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Details: Published: 11 December 2023; Hits: 1141

‘Let me try it,’ I said. A friend was smoking it in the bathroom of a Berlin club. My cares and denials were too heavy. My friend looked at me, and I will never forget those eyes. They were begging. ‘You don’t want this. You really don’t. This is not what you need.’

I am the sheep, and the smack is the shepherd. I’ve been following the shepherd for fifteen years…. I made a choice, and the consequence of that choice was relinquishing control.

It is a miracle potion, a magical compound that makes the world disappear. Troubles evaporate. Failures are forever hidden.

It was heaven. A false paradise. I was riding the wave of peace that I had always desired. I inhaled, and I laughed. I laughed at the absurdity of the situation I was in. I was smoking heroin in the toilet of a Berlin club, and it was the best feeling I have ever had. It coursed through my body, replacing every toxin with a new one.

There is a romanticisation of heroin, a mythology. The tale omits the truth. They don’t tell you about the exit, only the entrance.

The world will come back with a vengeance. This miracle compound was not efficacious in every case. I was, and to a degree, still am currently in a state of acute denial. I can handle this.

This is costing me my world, but more, it’s costing me my very existence. Weight is falling off me. I am becoming a ghost. My skin feels waxy. I am becoming a finished candle. My eyes are heavy. I am blind to the truth.

There is little more to do than accept that I need help.

For complete article

Details: Published: 11 December 2023; Hits: 924

The length of stay in intensive care varies greatly, from a few days up to a month. When taken home, for several months these babies may still experience signs of withdrawal.

This baby had tense and clenched muscles. She could not organise a suck pattern to feed effectively and required a feeding tube, and she would tremor and jerk so much she rubbed her chin raw on her blankets.

The nurses would take turns swaying and rocking with her for hours. This baby was medicated with morphine and gas drops, and was tried on multiple different formulas to help try to soothe her and settle her reflux.

Often it is the case that mothers with drug dependence really want to get off drugs and care for their baby. They love their children, but the truth is that their addiction has a strong hold on them. (for complete article https://newsweekly.com.au/newsweekly/addictions-littlest-victims/)

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Details: Published: 21 November 2023; Hits: 1004

Key Points

Question: Which pharmacotherapies are associated with improved outcomes for people with alcohol use disorder?

Findings: In this systematic review and meta-analysis that included 118 clinical trials and 20 976 participants, 50 mg/d of oral naltrexone and acamprosate were each associated with significantly improved alcohol consumption-related outcomes compared with placebo.

Meaning: These findings support oral naltrexone at 50 mg/d and acamprosate as first-line therapies for alcohol use disorder.

Abstract

Objective: To compare efficacy and comparative efficacy of therapies for alcohol use disorder.

Study Selection: For efficacy outcomes, randomized clinical trials of at least 12 weeks’ duration were included. For adverse effects, randomized clinical trials and prospective cohort studies that compared drug therapies and reported health outcomes or harms were included.

Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was alcohol consumption. Secondary outcomes were motor vehicle crashes, injuries, quality of life, function, mortality, and harms.

Conclusions and Relevance: In conjunction with psychosocial interventions, these findings support the use of oral naltrexone at 50 mg/d and acamprosate as first-line pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder.

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