Recovery Resources

Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting

2008-09-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

How to Find Meetings
Official AA website guide to find meetings in your area.

Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting: by State

Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting: Europe

Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, UK

Meth Effects

2008-09-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

Speed, meth, chalk. In its smoked form, it is often referred to as ice, crystal, crank, or glass. Those are all street names for methamphetamine (mAMP). Call it what you may, but meth use and its symptoms are one in the same. If it's taken in large doses, methamphetamine's frequent effects are irritability, aggressive behavior, anxiety, excitement, auditory hallucinations, and paranoia along with delusions and psychosis. Meth abusers tend to be violent. Mood changes are also common, and the abuser can rapidly change from friendly to hostile. The paranoia produced by methamphetamine abuse results in suspiciousness, hyperactive behavior, and dramatic mood swings.

Meth appeals to drug abusers because it increases the body's metabolism and produces euphoria, increases alertness, and gives the abuser a sense of increased energy. High doses or chronic use of meth, however, increases nervousness, irritability, and paranoia. The extreme paranoia that meth abusers can experience is often associated with a distorted tendency toward violence. Adverse consequences of meth abuse include the risk of stroke, heart failure, and prolonged psychosis.

Methamphetamine use has three patterns: low intensity, binge, and high intensity.

Low-intensity abuse describes a user who is not psychologically addicted to the drug and who administers the drug by swallowing or snorting it. Binge and high-intensity abusers are psychologically addicted and prefer to smoke or inject meth to achieve a faster and stronger high. The binge and high-intensity patterns of abuse differ in the frequency in which the drug is abused. While the binge pattern of abuse has seven stages within its cycle: rush, high, binge, tweaking, crash, normal, and withdrawal-the high-intensity abuse pattern usually does not include a state of normalcy or withdrawal.

"Tweakers", which are referred to those who are at the most dangerous state of meth abuse, is a meth user who is tweaking. This meth abuser probably has not slept in 3-15 days and, consequently, the symptoms would be irritability and paranoia. A tweaker does not need provocation to behave or react violently, but confrontation increases the chances of a violent reaction. If the tweaker is using alcohol, his negative feelings and associated dangers intensify.

Several hours after the last meth use, the individual experiences a drastic drop in mood and energy levels. Sleep begins and may last for a long period and, upon awakening, severe depression exists that may last for days. While users are in this depressed state, suicide is a major concern. These meth abuse symptoms occur after meth use and may be reversed by taking another dose of methamphetamine, thereby fitting the definition for a withdrawal syndrome.

Now, get out your pen and paper and take notes if you see these short term effects in your teenager or loved one. Short term meth abuse symptoms are increased alertness, sense of well-being, paranoia, intense high, hallucinations, aggressive behavior, increased heart rate, convulsions, extreme rise in body temperature (as high as 108 degrees which can cause brain damage and death), uncontrollable movements (twitching, jerking, etc...), violent behavior, insomnia, impaired speech, dry and itchy skin, premature aging, rotting teeth, loss of appetite, acne, sores and numbness.

Some of the effects that meth abuse has on the mind are also symptoms of meth use. These meth use symptoms are disturbed sleep, excessive excitation, excessive talking, panic, anxiousness, nervousness, moodiness and irritability, false sense of confidence and power, delusions of grandeur leading to aggressive behavior, uninterested in friends, sex, or food, aggressive and violent behavior, and severe depression.

After excessive meth abuse, there are long term effects as well, such as fatal kidney and lung disorders, possible brain damage, depression, hallucinations, disorganized lifestyle, permanent psychological problems, violent and aggressive behavior, weight loss, insomnia, behavior resembling paranoid schizophrenia, decreased social life, malnutrition, poor coping abilities, disturbance of personality development, lowered resistance to illnesses, liver damage, stroke and the inevitable, death.

There are also withdrawal symptoms that a meth abuser will partake in when coming off of meth or "crashing". If you see the symptoms of severe cravings, insomnia, restlessness,mental confusion or depression, chances are that the meth is exiting their system.

If you have been watching your teenager or loved one and your suspicians are pointing into the direction of meth abuse and you are seeing the symptoms of meth abuse, don't ignore them. Go with your instincts and in a loving and caring manner, let your teen or loved one know that you will help them seek the counseling they need to rid themselves of meth or any other drug abuse.. If you continue to see the signs and symptoms of meth use, you may either want to take your teen or loved one to his/her doctor or other medical professional and ask them to screen for the use of illegal substances. If you're not comfortable with revealing your suspcians to an outsider, it is also possible to screen your teenager or loved one in the privacy of your own home with home urine drug testing kits, saliva drug testing kits and hair drug testing kits.

Some information about this article is taken from these resources Methamphetamine Abuse & Urine Drug Testing

Meth Use and Symptoms

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christy_Berger

Body Detox - Laws of Attraction 6

2008-06-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Make Things Right

What does making things right mean?

It means confronting your fear of others and saying you're sorry to them.

If you can you should apologize in person. If you cant apologize in person do it over the phone or write a letter. If you cant write them a letter write it down anyway and make things right by asking for forgiveness and ask the Universe what you can do to make things right.

The Universe operates in strange and wonderful ways. Even if you just write the letter to someone who will never get it you will have the opportunity to make things right in the Universe in some other way.

Not only will you set the tone for making things right but you will put forth the energy that may actually reach hem any way that is unknown to you.

Don't have fear. Make things right!

Inpatient Alcohol Treatment Centers

2008-06-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Multitudes of alcohol treatment centers exist today. For the effective treatment of alcoholism, such treatment centers employ a variety of procedures. Inpatient or residential alcohol treatment is one of the treatment procedures used to wipe out alcoholism from the lives of people. Usually the treatment centers are spread all over the country with a view to help and cater to the needs of people living in different places. Research shows that to treat inpatient patients, either detoxification or proper medication is resorted to by professionals. Treatment may occur in residential or medical or hospital settings.

Residential or inpatient alcohol treatment helps a patient to reside in a different environment where they are kept under vigilance and extreme care at all times. Apart from the medications, such patients are also taught new means to adapt to new situations and prevent the relapse of alcoholism as well. Their medications and lifestyles are strictly supervised by trained medical professionals.

Recovery First, Inc; Narconon Stone Hawk; Drug and Alcohol Rehab Services; Keystone Treatment Center; Narconon Southern California; St Joseph's Rehabilitation Center, Inc.; Hazelden; Brookside Institute; Able to Change Recovery; Burning Tree Recovery Ranch; CMR Recovery Residence; Newport Coast Recovery; Sober Living by the Sea; Life Matters; Echo Malibu; and many others are all examples of alcohol treatment centers dedicated to eradicating the evil of alcohol addiction from people?s lives.

Able to Change Recovery offers a 30 to 90 day residential program for alcoholics. Highly recommended is the 90 day program which is often charged at the price of a 30 day program. Brookside Institute also offers intensive care and includes both medical and psychological supervision and assessment by trained and internationally credited professionals.

Drug and Alcohol Rehab Services and Narconon Southern California provide after-care treatment in case of any relapse within six months of treatment without any further charge.

Before trying out any medication, Hazelden conducts an accurate and detailed diagnosis of individuals and only thereafter, prescribes and uses a proper treatment procedure for its patients.

Alcohol Treatment Centers provides detailed information on Alcohol Treatment Centers, Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers, Inpatient Alcohol Treatment Centers, History Of Alcohol Treatment Centers and more. Alcohol Treatment Centers is affiliated with Alcohol Treatment Centers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Max_Bellamy

Body Detox - Laws of Attraction 5

2008-05-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

5.) Give Yourself Permission

You need permission to feel.

We don't allow ourselves to feel and rely on others to think and feel for us. We don't need their permission or even their opinion for that matter.

If we are offered advice take it as a blessing that someone is thinking of you. You don't have to take the opinion to heart. Just consider it.

When you are open to receiving opinions from others you will soon realize who you want to receive opinions from and will be around and seek out those people.

When you are open to consider advice you practice and raise your standard deciding what advice is actually useful.

Give your self permission to think on your own.

You also need to give yourself permission to uncover and cultivate your hidden desires.

In order to do that you also need to give yourself permission to not feel guilt, sorrow , loneliness, self pity, etc. If you discover those traits in yourself deal with them with Discover Faulty Thinking let them surface, feel them and the move on.

Now give yourself permission to acquire that in which you want. Be open to receiving and you will be showered with ore than you ever dreamed of.

Give yourself permission. No one else will!

Body Detox - Laws of Attraction 4

2008-05-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

4.) Discover Faulty Thinking

Faulty thinking is not your thinking. You don't own it. It owns you!

Faulty thinking comes from how you THINK you are.

There is a great quote from Alexander Hamilton:

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."

Who do you think you are?

You are not your past events or your future worries.

By taking stock of your faulty thinking and searching for the ways faulty thinking sabotages you and those around you, again brings faulty thought to the surface to manage and deal with.

How does faulty thinking affect someone you interact with?

List those events in which faulty thinking made a negative impact on someone including yourself. Bring it to the surface and deal with it in the moment.

If the occasion resurfaces use your How You Are affirmations to get rid of the faulty thought.

Again if the past fault resurfaces often it hasn't been dealt with.

How do you deal with it?

Get angry, sad or show your true feelings about the faulty thought. Do you feel guilt or fear? Confusion? Feel it and move on.

Use your How You Are affirmations until the faulty thought is not an issue for you.

Do not dwell on the thought or try to change it. Don't ask why things are the way they are or how you should fix them. That will lead to rumination which is the repeated process of hanging onto faulty thinking and perpetuating and not solving anything.

You don't need to solve anything. All you need to do is acknowledge, move on and grow.

Body Detox - Laws of Attraction 3

2008-05-23T11:48:00.001-07:00

3) Review Your Relationships with People

This task is not a peek back to the past. It is what runs through your mind at this moment.

Present negative thinking is comprised of past hurts.

Wrangle those past hurts that are present in the moment. Dig up old hurts, they are there. When you bring up the surface hurts, the buried hurts follow suit.

Bringing up those events that lie dormant to the surface offer us the ability to deal with them in the now.

Using your affirmations of HOW YOU ARE will squelch any past hurts that have floated to the top.

In other words, you wont be stuffing your feelings like you have been doing all along. Instead you will face those past hurts and fears and face them directly and deal with them.

Take stock on the past hurts you carry around. Let them rise to the surface. Cry, get angry, talk about how come it hurts you and how it affects you now.

If the thought come up again, remind yourself HOW YOU ARE to get rid of the thoughts and live in the moment. The past hurt has been dealt with.

If the past hurt continues to occur let it rise, deal with it and move on.

Eventually that hurt will not be stuffed away but will go away and not interfere with your moment to moment activities and thought process.

Body Detox - Laws of Attraction 2

2008-05-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

How You Are

2.) There is Only this Moment

There is no tomorrow and this is no yesterday. There is only this moment.

When the ego takes a hold of your mind, your thoughts, feelings and emotions can spiral out of control.

Do you find yourself running circles in your head about the past and or future?

Ask yourself how com you never run circles about the now?

Affirmations on HOW YOU ARE work wonders on living in the now.

When a future trip or past thought comes up, especially negative past thoughts and worry some future thoughts all you have to do is remind yourself who you are and HOW YOU ARE.

Affirmations are a wonderful tool you can use to redirect your thinking away from past or future events in your head.

Go to your arsenal of affirmations and declarations and when ever your mind starts to wander you will have a way to bring it back to the present moment.

3.) Review Your Relationships with Others

Body Detox - Laws of Attraction

2008-05-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

How You Are

1.) Something Bigger Than Us

Its not about you.

We are here to serve each other.

The subconscious is the soul and inner spirit.

The ego floats thinly on the surface.

Depending on how hard one has worked on the ego depends on how strong this thin layer is able to be penetrated or stripped away if it all.

To find your true calling in the world everyday ask yourself "What do I want?"

This is not a selfish questions. If asked by the ego it can be. Asked with your inner self, the true self and you will conjure and manifest your true desire.

You may be surprised to find that your true intentions and desires have nothing to do with how you conduct your life today. Past thinking if it is positive gives you what you've got right now. So does negative thinking.

Start dreaming, thinking and operating with your inner self.

The inner self has no habits because it is infinite.

The ego is a bad habit and is where all negative habits manifest. Get rid of the ego, habits disappear.

Turn your will over to your inner self.

2.) There is Only this Moment

Drunk Driving Accidents

2008-05-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

What Everyone Needs to Know to Avoid Drunk Driving Accidents
(& the Worst States for Drunk Driving)

Reprinted with Permission from the SixWise.com Security & Wellness e-Newsletter.

by www.SixWise.com

Drunk driving is surprisingly common in the United States, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Campaigns against drunk driving -- like this one -- are helping to spread the word about the consequences of driving while under the influence.

About 15 percent of U.S. adults have driven while under the influence of alcohol in the past year. And in some states, that percentage is as high as 26. Meanwhile, another 4.7 percent of adults drove while under the influence of drugs.

"This report highlights the enormous public health risk posed by this problem -- one threatening the lives of many Americans every day," SAMHSA administrator Terry Cline said.

Over 30 Million Drunk Drivers Every Year: Which States are the Worst?

In 2006 alone, the report found that 30.5 million people aged 12 and older had driven while under the influence of alcohol. Another 10.2 million drove while under the influence of drugs including marijuana, cocaine, crack, inhalants, hallucinogens, heroin, or prescription drugs used recreationally.

Traffic accidents involving alcohol can often be deadly. Of the nearly 42,000 people who die in vehicle crashes each year, over 16,000 of them are related to alcohol, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Of course, drunk-driving accidents can happen anywhere, anytime, but SAMHSA's report revealed that certain states are especially dangerous.

All alcohol-related vehicle accidents are 100 percent avoidable by not drinking and driving.

The worst states for drunk driving are:

Wisconsin (over 26 percent of residents drove drunk in the past year)
North Dakota (25 percent)
Minnesota (24 percent)
Nebraska (23 percent)
South Dakota (22 percent)

Utah had the fewest drunk drivers, with 9.5 percent of residents acknowledging such behavior.

In terms of driving under the influence of illicit drugs, the worst states were:

The District of Columbia (7 percent)
Rhode Island (7 percent)
Massachusetts (6 percent)
Montana (6 percent)
Wyoming (6 percent)

What Can You Do to Protect Yourself?

Three in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lives, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). And, on average, someone is killed by a drunk driver in the United States every 39 minutes.

You can help to reduce these odds, first and foremost, by not driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you know you will be drinking, NHTSA offers these three simple steps that could save your (and someone else's) life:

Designate a sober driver
Take a taxi or call a safe ride program
Make arrangements to spend the night where you are

Parents can help too by talking to their teens about driving drunk. Even kids under the age of 21 need to know the consequences of drunk driving, as over 10 percent of alcohol-impaired driving trips are made by 18 to 20-year-olds.

MADD has an excellent Web site for kids under 21 that can help you to initiate this crucial conversation with your children.

Recommended Reading

The 6 Most Common Causes of Automobile Crashes

Alcohol and Alcoholism in the U.S. -- The Shockingly High Numbers Revealed

Homemade Drugs

2008-05-02T15:14:00.001-07:00

Narcotics Anonymous

2008-05-02T15:13:00.004-07:00

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

2008-05-02T15:13:00.003-07:00

Facts About Alcohol

2008-05-02T15:13:00.001-07:00

Faces of Meth

2008-05-02T15:12:00.003-07:00

Meth effects

2008-05-02T15:12:00.001-07:00

Crystal Meth Treatment

Crystal meth is a central nervous system stimulant. It is the toxic form of methamphetamine that has been used for the treatment of attention deficit disorder, obesity and for other ailments that require the treatment for amphetamine. This drug, has proven to be very addictive, has been giving much needed research over the past decade. Scientists are concern about the effects that this drug has on the central nervous systems and has been seeking alternatives drugs and means of treatment for its addiction.

Many crystal meth addicts know the long term effects of the drug but like other addicts do not realize that they are ill and would require treatment. Family and friends tend to support love ones with addiction by making excuse for their behavior and covering up the consequences of their love ones actions. With this type of support it is least likely for an addict to seek help for their addiction. It is important that they realize that their actions would not be rewarded, and that the need for treatment is important for their survival. Many crystal meth addicts seek treatment due to their realization of the adverse effects of the drug, whether it is getting them in trouble with the law, loss of family and friends or waking up in a dirty ally one day. There are numerous cases of crystal meth addicts seeking treatment after they had a glimpse of death, due to the adverse effects of either an overdose of methamphetamine of a long term usage.

Like many other addictions, crystal meth treatment includes rehab, education, counseling and group therapy. Addicts many times enter into a rehab program where they go through a six month strenuous exercise where their bodies are rid of this toxic substance. Counseling and other means of support are given to these patients to help with the withdrawal symptoms that accompany the process of detoxification.

Crystal meth treatment is an ongoing process. Addicts who have been through the rehabilitation process still need to get involve in counseling and group monitoring sessions to help them remain sober. Research has shown that only about ten percent of crystal meth addicts remain sober. Crystal meth is easily produce and is sold at a very affordable cost on the market. Moreover it is always in supply thus it is easily available to recovering addicts.

Law enforcement has been clamping down on illegal supplier and users of these drugs. Crystal meth is no longer a group B illegal drug, it has been upgraded due to its demand to a group A drug and the punishment for those who are caught with illegal supply of meth is about seven years imprisonment.

Steve Hill is a webmaster from Birmingham, he has interests in a number of websites including: stuttering information, Crystal Meth treatment, stuttering

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Hill