Addiction Archives

Tolerance to Alcohol, Addiction, Alcohol Blackouts, and Potential Deadly Withdrawal: The Dangers of Alcohol Abuse

There are downsides to regular alcohol use and this post will go into detail about the certain drawbacks and dangers of alcohol abuse: addiction, tolerance to alcohol, alcohol blackouts, and dangerous withdrawal. These consequences can happen at various levels of alcohol intake for different people. Learn more about what to look for with regular drinking.

Read my previous post that includes 15 interesting facts about alcohol to help understand how alcohol works in the body.

Tolerance to alcohol:

With regular use, people become tolerant to alcohol and can drink more before feeling its effects. read more

How Does Antabuse Work? Everything You Need to Know to Decide if Disulfiram Antabuse Treatment is Right For You

Antabuse (Disulfiram is the generic name) is a medication given to people who are struggling with alcohol addiction and need medication to support their efforts to abstain. Breaking the cycle of addiction is extremely difficult and sometimes a person needs to medically remove alcohol as an option in order to begin to recover. Disulfiram Antabuse treatment is not a cure for addiction. It discourages drinking due to the extremely unpleasant consequences (the disulfiram reaction) that happen when Antabuse and alcohol are combined. How does Antabuse work? In order to understand this, we need to take a look at how alcohol is metabolized. Antabuse interferes with this pathway and this is why you get sick if you drink alcohol while taking Antabuse. read more

Need help quitting Juul? Learn more about treating Juul addiction.

The quit-smoking techniques available for traditional cigarettes also work for people treating Juul addiction. A Juul e-cig is unique, but not so special that it needs separate therapies to treat Juul addiction. Nicotine addiction is the same, regardless of the delivery mechanism. Quitting Juul is hard but not impossible.

Read the first post in this series to learn all about Juul e-cig and what makes it different from other e-cigarettes. read more

There is a drug called Lean in school. Have you heard of it?

Truth be told, I read my daughters texts. I don’t feel great about it but 7th-graders aren’t “oversharers” (with their parents) and I want to have an idea of what is going on. Her texts were my source of learning about the drug called Lean. It wasn’t at a conference or in one of my 4,000 medical magazines that seem to come daily; it was embedded in a text to a friend about what their respective schools were like. She mentioned there were lots of kids who use Juul and some who use the Lean drug. What? Huh? Am I the last to know this is a thing? What is the drug Lean??!! read more

7 Alternatives to AA in Recovery from Addiction

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has helped countless people in their recovery from addiction but one size does not fit all with healing. The messages of AA don’t resonate with everyone and it’s important to know alternatives to AA exist. Healing and recovery are lost on some that become distracted by what they interpret as religious aspects of AA. This post is about the other options for a self-help addiction recovery program.

The more alternatives to choose from, the greater the chance that people will find a program they identify with. Recovery will still be hard but may be easier to start when it’s the right fit. read more

We Can Help Prevent Prescription Medication Abuse and Drug Diversion

Prescription medications stolen from friends and family are a major source of abused medication and are often the initial way middle and high schoolers first get access. To find your prescriptions, all it usually takes is a quick trip into the bathroom by friends, family, or workers struggling with addiction. Don’t be the source for their prescription abuse and drug diversion! Follow these 2 easy ways to prevent medication diversion and cut down on prescription medication abuse.