Addiction Recovery Australia: brain chemistry

Showing posts with label brain chemistry. Show all posts

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

How You Can Prevent Going Back to Your Old Ways of Drinking and Drugging.

Relapse is a cardinal feature of addiction, and one of the most painful.

Most people who struggle with addiction will have one or more relapses - the return to drug use after a drug-free period - during their ongoing attempts to recover. This can be extremely frustrating for patients and for families, as they have already experienced great pain.

What leads to relapse?

Multiple - and often interactive - factors can increase the likelihood of relapse. These are some of the commonly cited precursors:

* drug-related "reminder" cues (sights, sounds, smells, drug thoughts or drug dreams) tightly linked

to use of the preferred drug(s) can trigger craving and drug seeking

* negative mood states or stress

* positive mood states or celebrations

* sampling the drug itself, even in very small amounts

The motivation to seek a drug, once triggered, can feel overwhelming and sometimes leads to very poor decision making: the user will pursue the drug, despite potentially disastrous future negative consequences (and many past negative consequences).

Individuals have different brain circuitry

Brain-imaging is helping us to understand the paradox of the decision to pursue a drug reward despite such consequences. For example, very recent imaging research shows that visual drug cues as short as 33 milliseconds can activate the ancient reward ("go") circuitry, and that this process does not require conscious processing - it can begin outside awareness.

By the time the motivation does reach awareness, and is recognized and labeled, the reward circuit has a strong head start. This head start means the frontal brain regions may be less effective. This area of the brain is responsible for weighing the consequences of a decision and for helping to "stop" or inhibit the impulses toward drug reward.

Imaging research also shows that some individuals have less effective "stop" circuitry. For these people, the job of managing the powerful impulses toward drug reward may be even more difficult.

When it comes to the vulnerability to relapse, and to addiction itself, we are not all created equal. We differ both in our brain response to drug rewards and in our ability to manage the powerful impulses toward drug reward.

Hope through research

Relapse is a long-term vulnerability, but intensive ongoing research is targeting the problem. The tools of brain imaging and genetics promise to help us understand our vulnerabilities - and our strengths - to help us realize more effective relapse prevention.

Relapse prevent is a major feature of our program so if you or someone you love is in the grips of ANY addiction, call us for immediate HELP and begin the admission process into the your recovery.

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS IN THE GRIPS OF AN ADDICTION CALL US TODAY FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE, PHONE 07 560 66315

Web: www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

ABOUT COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (WINNER Best Not-for-Profit 2014)

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand. Call us on 07 5606 6315 if you want to speak to an Addiction Specialist.

Our Founder, Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. She is currently completing her PhD on Recovery Coaching and is the first registered Recovery Coach in Australia.

We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Taoist Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

Friday, 24 April 2015

Binge Drinking and the Effects on Your Immune System

At Loyola University Health System study has found another reason to not binge drink alcohol.

Binge drinking, researchers found, could change the body’s immune system response to orthopaedic injury. “This tremendously complicates the trauma care of these patients,” said bone biologist John Callaci, PhD, senior author of the study.

The study, which was based on a rodent model, is being published in the April 20, 2011 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, now available online.

An earlier study in the American Journal of Orthopedics found that 41 percent of patients with fractures and dislocations had alcohol in their blood and 30 percent were legally drunk.

Other studies have found that alcohol in trauma patients is associated with longer hospital stays, higher infection rates, higher injury severity scores and an increased mortality rate. Researchers have attributed these findings, in part, to changes alcohol causes in the immune response.

Following an injury, such as a broken bone, the immune system revs up, producing an inflammatory response. This is a normal response to injury. But in cases of severe injury or multiple traumatic injuries, the inflammatory response can overwhelm the body and cause life-threatening conditions such as multiple organ failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome, said orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Benjamin William Sears, first author of the Loyola study. (Sears was a Loyola resident when the study was conducted, and today is a fellow at Thomas Jefferson University.

In emergency cases involving severe injuries or multiple traumas, orthopaedic surgery can boost the inflammatory response. One of the factors surgeons consider when determining the best time to perform surgery is the inflammatory response — if the response is too great, the surgery can be delayed. A measure of the inflammatory response is chemical markers in the blood, such as interleukin-6 (Il-6).

Findings from the Loyola study, however, indicate that measuring such blood markers may be misleading when alcohol is involved.

In the study, one group of rats underwent the equivalent of a weekend bender. For three days in a row, they were injected with alcohol that raised their blood alcohol content to the equivalent of 2.5 times the legal limit for driving. In some of the rats, the femur bones of their hind legs were broken. (The rats were put under anesthesia and later given pain medication, and pins were placed in their legs to enable them to walk and feed.)

Binge alcohol exposure had a contradictory effect on the immune system of the rats with broken legs. When researchers looked at chemical markers in the blood, it appeared that alcohol suppressed the inflammatory response. But when researchers looked in the lungs, they found the opposite effect — alcohol boosted the inflammatory response.

It’s thus possible that measuring markers in the blood of intoxicated patients could give doctors a false sense of security, Sears said.

Callaci added: “It may look like it’s safe to do surgery based on markers in the blood, even when you have a raging inflammatory response in the lungs.”

Of course, the timing and magnitude of the inflammatory response following injury may be different in rats than it is in humans. The study’s findings “will provide a platform to design clinical-based studies to further understand this important phenomenon in critically injured patients,” researchers wrote.

Callaci is an assistant professor and director of the Molecular and Cellular Bone Biology Laboratory at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Other co-authors are orthopaedic surgeons Dr. Michael Stover and Dr. Dustin Volkmer, pathologist Dr. Sherri Yong, research assistant Ryan Himes and graduate student Kristen Lauing.

The study was supported in part by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. It is among the studies conducted by Loyola’s Alcohol Research Program, which includes about 50 faculty members, technicians, postdoctoral fellows and students. The program, funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and other sources, centers on research, education and prevention.

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS IN THE GRIPS OF AN ADDICTION CALL US TODAY FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. PHONE 07 560 66315

Web: www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

Monday, 20 April 2015

Addiction Seeps Into The Destruction of Communities

Most people, when they think of addicts tend to conjure up the quintessential image of a dirty, unkempt junkie wallowing in the gutter. But in reality that is usually not the case. ADDICTION affects people from all social strata. There are many types of addiction. Substance addictions, drugs and alcohol are the most widely recognised, yet there are Process Addictions e.g., gambling, eating, sex, shopping and many others. Let us define the parameters of what constitutes addiction. We could describe it as any activity, lifestyle or manner of conduct that becomes so overwhelming in a person’s life that it evolves into an

obsessive compulsive behaviour (as well as a thinking process) which corrupts the very core of a person’s character. And off course there is a strong neurological component.

Despite a measure of compulsiveness’, people suffering from addiction can and often do, function in society with relative anonymity. It is only when they seek help that their “cover” (so to speak) is blown. In many cases we interact daily with people suffering with serious addiction issues and never realise it. They are our family members, our co-workers, friends, clergy, and yes even our teachers, policemen, firemen, doctors, lawyers and even politicians. The people that we look up to and admire the most have just as much of a chance at becoming addicts as the poor, uneducated from broken homes.

Addiction seeps into every facet of virtually every person’s life. Even if you do not have an addiction, and no-one in your family or circle of friends (that you know of) have any addictions, you are still affected daily on some level. Consider the drunk driver on the roads putting you and your loved ones at risk or to the warehouse worker who loses your package because he/she is too busy being wrapped up in the drug culture to pay attention to their job. Negatively and positively, we all affect each other every day. There is a theory in science by Edward Lorenz called the Butterfly Effect. Essentially a small change at one place in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.

Addiction and recovery affect more than just our social interactions. There is an economic toll to be paid as well. According to some estimates a combined $30 billion was spent or lost in 2010 on health care, lost productivity, premature death, crime and auto accidents related just to alcohol and drug abuse alone. Roughly 75 percent of all that money was paid for by public sources, which means Austalian taxpayers are footing three quarters of the bill.

With some 12 million taxpayers in Australia this means that the average sum paid by each individual taxpayer amounted to approximately $2,500. Interestingly, a study in the USA recently suggested that this could be reduced to under 1/10th of the cost when a comprehensive in-patient treatment is provided. Currently it is conservatively estimated that 10% of the population suffers from Addiction. This amounts to approx 2 million people. Sadly less than 8% of these people actually receive proper treatment. Clearly this leaves a huge GAP.

It is very clear that this is an issue that needs or attention at every level of our community. Addicts are not "THOSE" people they are OUR people. For years (locally and federally) addiction has been looked upon as an abhorrent behavior by law enforcement and as a disease with in the medical community. There is reason to lend credibility to both points of view. The police see the addictive behavior day in and day out in a person or persons who may seem erratic, violent and at times certainly unreasonable. While the medical community, on the other hand sees a person that is suffering from a compulsion to ingest a chemical or behave in a way that is clearly detrimental to their health. In some cases this behavior persists even to the point of death. There would seem to be an obvious pathology at work here.

There have been many ways we have tried to fight the issue of drugs in our community. Most notably through the self help organizations of AA and NA. So far comprehensive treatment in a facility or out-patient program offering a wide range of modalities has shown to be the most successful method of helping addicts return to a more productive and healthy lifestyle. It is widely known in the treatment services industry that the majority of those with addiction issues also suffer from some form of mental illness. This may require expanded medication or psychological treatment to go hand in hand with education and support services.

As previously noted; even small changes in complex systems can have dramatic affects. Rather than scorn, shame and ridicule as motivators for addicts to improve their lives, and the lives of those who love them, and indeed the lives of us all; perhaps to be treated as a person with a disease who deserves dignity and respect could be one small change (on all of our parts) that could improve one life, as well as all of our lives dramatically.

It is time for all of us to take a different approach to addiction, and most importantly our leaders could start the ball rolling by taking a more serious approach to this public health problem.

You can start TODAY if there is someone you love out there who is in the grips of addiction by educating yourself on how to intervene on their addiction.

PHONE 07 560 66315

Web: www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

The Addictive Brain

Summary

* Addiction can develop despite a person's best intentions and in spite of their strength of character.

* Repeated drug use disrupts complex but well balanced systems in the human brain.

* Many people are addicted to more than one substance, complicating their efforts to recover.

The human brain is an extraordinarily complex and fine-tuned communications network containing billions of specialized cells (neurons) that give origin to our thoughts, emotions, perceptions and drives. Often, a drug is taken the first time by choice to feel pleasure or to relieve depression or stress. But this notion of choice is short-lived. Why? Because repeated drug use disrupts well-balanced systems in the human brain in ways that persist, eventually replacing a person's normal needs and desires with a one-track mission to seek and use drugs. At this point, normal desires and motives will have a hard time competing with the desire to take a drug.

How Does the Brain Become Addicted? Typically it happens like this:

* A person takes a drug of abuse, be it marijuana or cocaine or even alcohol, activating the same brain circuits as do behaviors linked to survival, such as eating, bonding and sex. The drug causes a surge in levels of a brain chemical called dopamine, which results in feelings of pleasure. The brain remembers this pleasure and wants it repeated.

* Just as food is linked to survival in day-to-day living, drugs begin to take on the same significance for the addict. The need to obtain and take drugs becomes more important than any other need, including truly vital behaviors like eating. The addict no longer seeks the drug for pleasure, but for relieving distress.

* Eventually, the drive to seek and use the drug is all that matters, despite devastating consequences.

* Finally, control and choice and everything that once held value in a person's life, such as family, job and community, are lost to the disease of addiction.

What brain changes are responsible for such a dramatic shift?

Research on addiction is helping us find out just how drugs change the way the brain works. These changes include the following:

* Reduced dopamine activity. We depend on our brain's ability to release dopamine in order to

experience pleasure and to motivate our responses to the natural rewards of everyday life, such as the sight or smell of food. Drugs produce very large and rapid dopamine surges and the brain responds by reducing normal dopamine activity. Eventually, the disrupted dopamine system renders the addict incapable of feeling any pleasure even from the drugs they seek to feed their addiction.

* Altered brain regions that control decisionmaking and judgment. Drugs of abuse affect the regions of the brain that help us control our desires and emotions. The resulting lack of control leads addicted people to compulsively pursue drugs, even when the drugs have lost their power to reward.

The disease of addiction can develop in people despite their best intentions or strength of character. Drug addiction is insidious because it affects the very brain areas that people need to "think straight," apply good judgment and make good decisions for their lives. No one wants to grow up to be a drug addict, after all.

Co-occurring Addictions: Compounding Complexities

It is not unusual for an addicted person to be addicted to alcohol, nicotine and illicit drugs at the same time. Addiction to multiple substances raises the level of individual suffering and magnifies the associated costs to society. No matter what the addictive substance, they all have at least one thing in common - they disrupt the brain's reward pathway, the route to pleasure.

What is the best way to treat people who are addicted to more than one drug?

* Medications. In some cases, medications developed for one addiction have proven useful for another. For example, naltrexone, which can help former heroin users remain abstinent by blocking the "high" associated with heroin, has been found to be effective in treating alcoholism.

* Cognitive Behavioral therapy or other psychotherapy. Behavioral therapies do not need to be specific to one drug and can be adapted to address use of multiple or different drugs. It is the disease of addiction that the therapy addresses.

* Recovery Coaching works great because you are focusing on the person's wellness as opposed to their disease. A new alternative that we specialise in here at Coaching With Substance.

* Combined medications and behavioral therapy. Research shows that this combination, when available, works best.

* Multi-pronged approach. Treatment for multiple addictions should be delivered at the same time. This is especially true because there are always triggers, such as trauma, depression, or exposure to one drug or another, that can put the recovering addict at risk for relapse. In addition, treatment must consider all aspects of a person - their age, gender, life experiences - in order to best treat their drug addiction. Although the type of treatment may differ, it should always strive to address the entire person through a multi-pronged approach that tackles all co-occurring conditions at once.

Relapse: Part of Addiction as a Chronic Disease

Despite the availability of many forms of effective treatment for addiction, the problem of relapse remains the major challenge to achieving sustained recovery. People trying to recover from drug abuse and addiction are often doing so with altered brains, strong drug-related memories and diminished impulse control. Accompanied by intense drug cravings, these brain changes can leave people vulnerable to relapse even after years of being abstinent. Relapse happens at rates similar to the relapse rates for other well-known chronic medical illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and asthma. At COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE we recognise this and so we provide ongoing outpatient programs to combat relapse. This also includes family coaching services and ongoing stragegies for healing.

How is relapse to drug abuse similar to what happens with other chronic diseases?

* Just as an asthma attack can be triggered by smoke, or a person with diabetes can have a reaction if they eat too much sugar, a drug addict can be triggered to return to drug abuse.

* With other chronic diseases, relapse serves as a signal for returning to treatment. The same response is just as necessary with drug addiction.

* As a chronic, recurring illness, addiction may require repeated treatments until abstinence is achieved. Like other diseases, drug addiction can be effectively treated and managed, leading to a healthy and productive life.

To achieve long-term recovery, treatment must address specific, individual patient needs and must take the whole person into account. For it is not enough simply to get a person off drugs; rather, the many changes that have occurred - physical, social, psychological - must also be addressed to help people stay off drugs, for good.

Repeated drug exposure changes brain function. Positron emission tomography (PET) images are illustrated showing similar brain changes in dopamine receptors resulting from addiction to different substances - cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol, or heroin. The striatum (which contains the reward and motor circuitry) shows up as bright red and yellow in the controls (in the left column), indicating numerous dopamine D2 receptors. Conversely, the brains of addicted individuals (in the right column) show a less intense signal, indicating lower levels of dopamine D2 receptors.

If you or someone you love is in the grips of addiction call us today for immediate help. Coaching With Substance is Australia's No. 1 provider of Recovery Coaching Services and WINNER of the 2014 Best Not-For-Profit in ALL Addictions.
Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

Call us 07 56 066 315 (7days) Confidentiality assured.

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand.

Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all.

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.