Recognizing the Signs of Drug Addiction

Drug addiction is a very serious matter. But when it comes to our friends, family, and co-workers, being able to recognize the signs of addiction can actually be life saving. Drugs can destroy lives, so if you suspect someone close to you has an addiction, it’s time to suggest help. Below are signs for recognizing drug addiction.

1.       Mood swings. If your loved one is suddenly acting uncharactiscally moody or temperamental, this could be a sign of addiction.  Drugs can often change a person’s temperament.

2.       Unable to meet responsibilities. If a person is missing work, school, or not helping out at home, this is a sign of addiction. The drug takes top priority in the addict’s life.

3.       There’s legal trouble. Drugs can often get the addict into legal trouble, whether it’s buying and selling, or simply using drugs and then getting into trouble. Any sign of a person suddenly getting into legal trouble is when it’s time to take action.

4.       Ignoring dangerous symptoms. If your loved one continues to abuse drugs, even when he knows the dangers, there is a problem. This is a sure sign of addiction because the addict doesn’t care about himself or others around them when it comes to safety.

5.       Problems with relationships. Often, a drug addict will begin to withdraw from friends and family. If you’re noticing a sudden urge to be alone or to ignore friends, this is a sign of addiction.

 

If you recognize any of these signs, get help immediately! Now is not the time to be fooled into thinking there isn’t a problem.

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Best Videos on Overcoming Drug Addiction

Want to see what’s out there to help you or a loved one with their drug addiction? Do you feel that something that can be heard and seen will also be “felt” by the one in trouble?

Even if the troubled person is you, get the facts, the reasons to quit, and the opportunities to get high on life, through the instruction that only these online videos can give:

  • Watch this short but powerful video about how a father overcame his drug addiction. Find this “Drug Addiction Video” at: allaboutlifechallenges.org.
  • This three part series, “Overcoming Addiction” at YouTube.com offers expert help and gives you a sampling of what pain was caused within one family and how they turned the pain around through healing.
  • “Overcoming Drug and Alcohol Addiction” is provided by Dailymotion.com. Kristina Wandzilak talks about her struggles with drugs beginning at the age of 13. She, and her mother, Constance Curry, discuss how they got through the “nightmare.”
  • In “Overcoming the Crystal,” a former meth user discusses his choice to rehabilitate because of his quickly spiraling health. See it on: Vimeo.com.
  • This “Overcoming Addictions—the Big Sis Show—Episode 56 Part 1” video by Vimeo.com offers help through Big Sis, a woman who struggled with multiple addictions, including drug addiction.

Though overcoming drug addiction is considered by everyone to be a daunting and seemingly imporssible task, it yet can be achieved with the right help, the right direction. Peruse the above videos to get the help you or a loved one needs.

Are You An Enabler?

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So you have a loved one coming home from the hospital. They are coming back from a difficult battle with drugs and alcohol. You are happy to see them coming home but you are also worried about their progress once they get home. As an outside observer you can understand that many problems they face trying to get sober from inside there own life. You see the pitfalls and you are worried they will do something that they end up regretting. Could it be that you are part of the problem?

It’s a tough thing to think of. It’s tough to think that you could even be thought to be part of the problem but the truth of it is that there are more than a few enablers in an addicts life. Many assume that the enablers are those that will do drugs with them or go buy drugs for them. While these are certainly tell tale signs of an enabler it doesn’t make it the only kind of enabler in the world.

Any enabler is anyone who will do anything that might impede someones quest to remain free and sober. While the ultimate blame does and will always fall on the addicts themselves that doesn’t mean at all that there isn’t blame to be passed around to the rest of the family, or those that would make it easier for a loved one to do drugs.

The biggest sign of an enabler is they are too willing to listen to an addicts reasoning. They will accept the reasons why an addict has a relapse or is caught using regularly again. They mistake unconditional love and figure that undying support equals unconditional love when it is often the vehicle to enable. Watch these signs in yourself and figure out if you are part of the problem.

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What is Self Medication?

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Self medicating is a term that is passed around commonly relating to addiction and substance abuse, but many people do not completely understand what it means. Self medication is a process that many people go through where they use a substance like drugs or alcohol in order to numb the pain of a psychological disorder, stress, depression or some other issue. Many people turn to alcohol and drugs when they feel like there is nothing else that they can do. When people end up in this position, they generally end up addicted to drugs or alcohol very quickly and struggle for a great deal of their lives to get out of it again.

If you are struggling with an addiction, then you need to find a way to get help. Self medicating with drugs or alcohol is a waste of time, and a waste of your life because drugs and alcohol cannot cure your problems. Rather than turning to an addiction, you should go to therapy or counseling and get actual professional help for your problems. The first thing that you need to do is to address your addiction to drugs or alcohol so that you can detoxify your body and your mind.

Visit a website like TheCyn.com to find out about the treatment options that are available to you. When you open yourself up to these opportunities for recovery, then that is when you can truly find the help that you have been looking for all along. There are a wide variety of healing opportunities out there, but only if you are willing to overcome your addiction and truly reach out and commit yourself to the care that you need. There is no better way to start the recovery process than to admit that you have a problem and reach out to get the help that you need once and for all.

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Understanding Drug Addiction

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Drug addiction rates have gone up by about 540 percent in the past 20 years. According to reports, six million kids have at least one person at home that’s a drug addict.

Drug Addiction is a disease where a person become completely dependent on a drug, whether it’s illegal or prescription. The physical and emotional dependence gets to the point where you have to be on the drug. It would depend on the person’s body to determine whether or not a person will get addicted to drugs. Addiction can either be genetic or learned.

There are three stages of dependency when it comes to the cycle of addiction. The first is Anticipation, a thinking pattern that has a person constantly thinking about having another fix. The second is binge or intoxication. This is when the person is actually going through the effects of the drug. The final stage is withdrawal, the effects as the addict is coming down from the drug. There’s no specific time when the stages will happen, but with more drug use, the stages could last a lot longer. Eventually, the drugs will take over a person’s life.

Signs of drug use are almost always easy to spot, but it will depend on the type of drug that’s in the person’s system. Commons signs of drug use are: mood swings, high energy levels, weight loss and merciless to name a few. Other major signs would include: constant nosebleeds, even more mucous and coughing and major weight changes.

Getting treatment for someone with an addiction will depend on what’s needed and the type of drug the addict is hooked on.

Addiction isn’t just a physical problems, it’s also an emotional state of mind. The more drugs a person injects into their body, the more a person becomes addicted to the effects of the drug, known as tolerance. When you go “cold turkey” your body is unable to function normally without having the drug in his or her system. After becoming sober, there’s also a chance of relapse, even many, many years after giving up the drug.

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