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5 Tips to Help Your Child Deal With Opiate Addiction
2008-05-29 16:12:00
For parents, there are few things worse than discovering that their child is addicted to opiates. But there?s one thing that few parents realize: there are few things worse for your child to discover about him or herself as well. As the anti-drug commercials put it, ?No one ever said, ?When I grow up, I want to be a junkie,?? and for your child, finding themselves in the tortuous position of physical addiction can be terrifying. As the parent, you may be the only person who can really help him or her to get through this experience and come out on the other side a happier, more well-adjusted person. Here are some 5 tips to help you along the way.
More About: Tips , Addiction , Deal , Child , Painkillers

Washington DC Needle Exchange Program Update
2008-05-27 14:32:00
At the beginning of the year, we talked about George W. lifting the ban on funding for needle exchange programs in Washington DC and later discussed how the programs would receive $650,000 in federal funding. Well, just to keep you posted, I thought I?d update you on what?s happening in our nation?s capital in the area of harm reduction and opiate addiction treatment.
More About: Addiction , Exchange , Update , Program

Naloxone Distribution Among Opiate Addicts
2008-05-19 18:37:00
Yale University decided to stage a study to prove or disprove whether the assertions of drug counselors, doctors and other public health officials have been saying for years: that addicts can be trained to recognize an opiate overdose and treat as successfully as any paramedic or medical professional. The result? According to Medical News Today, it is a true statement, and one that backs up the idea that naloxone should be made available to the public along with training sessions at clinics, needle exchange programs and by outreach counselors.
More About: Distribution , Addiction

Painkiller Addiction Versus Chronic Pain Management
2008-05-17 20:59:00
It?s an ongoing debate in the medical community and among those who suffer from chronic pain: is it worse to suffer from pain or deal with addiction to the opiate painkillers prescribed to alleviate that pain? According to Medical News Today, the debate continues and neither side of the argument shows signs of giving way.
More About: Management , Addiction , Pain management , Pain , Versus

Top 10 Signs of Cocaine Addiction
2008-05-15 16:00:00
Cocaine is a highly addictive drug of choice for many jet-setters and entertainers because it enables them to party all night long. Many students get hooked on cocaine or ?coke? because it?s a stimulant and allows them to stay up and cram for finals or write a term paper for days on end. Think you can?t ...
More About: Addiction , Signs , Cocaine

How Chaos Contributes to Opiate Detox
2008-05-13 14:15:00
You?ve gotten through the roughest parts of opiate detox. You?re at home and you continue on your maintenance schedule according to the treatment plan that you?ve created with your doctor. You get up every morning and take your medication, be it Suboxone or methadone. If you have a job, then you head there and if you have small children, then you spend time with them. If not, maybe a meeting, out for coffee, take care of the house?. What are you supposed to do all day?
More About: Detox , Chaos

Books That Empower Opiate Addiction Recovery
2008-05-11 16:37:00
If you?re running your own opiate detox through an outpatient program like Suboxone or methadone, you are left to your own devices when it comes to the psychological aspect of your drug use and addiction. Reading is a great way to pass the time, and it can help you learn more about your addiction and yourself in the process. Check out some of the books below.
More About: Books , Recovery , Addiction

Drug Addiction Recovery Online at SoberCircle.com
2008-05-09 19:45:00
So in addition to SecondRoad.com and Narcotics Anonymous meetings blogging about your recovery like the fabulous bottlecappie does, there is yet another online resource for those who are looking for support during the often-isolating Suboxone detox: SoberCircle.com.
More About: Recovery , Addiction , Online , Drug

Frequently Asked Questions About Suboxone Treatment
2008-05-07 19:19:00
So lots of questions have popped up on this blog about different aspects of Suboxone and its effects that haven?t been touched upon in different posts. In an effort to answer those questions, I?ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions below.
More About: Questions , Treatment

Find Support at The Second Road During Suboxone Detox
2008-04-27 14:59:00
My last post discussed ways to get through an NA meeting when you?d rather be anywhere but sitting in a metal folding chair listening to other addicts. This was based on another post about finding support wherever you can when you?re on a Suboxone detox. However, Erin of What Winners Do commented that as an organization, Narcotics Anonymous isn?t known for embracing those who are on any kind of medical maintenance (like methadone) or medical detox (like Suboxone), and she?s right. In an effort to come up with new ways to help people find the support they need, I turned to my own support system, the online world of bloggers who share their day-to-day struggles in recovery and The Junky?s Wife provided a valuable resource: The Second Road .
More About: Find , Support , Detox

3 Ways to Save a Narcotics Anonymous Meeting
2008-04-25 20:13:00
When you?re undergoing an outpatient treatment using Suboxone or methadone, it?s important that you find your resources for support wherever you can. One of the most common ways people choose to do that is to take advantage of the many 12-step support groups like Narcotics Anonymous . Free of charge with meetings every day of the week and, in many towns, many times a day, there really isn?t a more convenient or cheaper way to get the help you need.
More About: Save , Meeting , Methadone

How to Get Support in Drug Addiction Recovery
2008-04-23 14:18:00
When you?re running your own outpatient recovery like a Suboxone treatment, it?s crucial that you put some effort into creating a strong support network. You need peers who are going through the same thing you are to commiserate with and mentors who have been there and done that who can give you advice. You also need a little impartial guidance. So how do you get the support you need during outpatient Suboxone detox? Just ask.
More About: Recovery , Addiction , Support , Drug

Shaking Things Up ? Staying Safe Until Safe Becomes Dangerous
2008-04-21 14:49:00
Drug addiction?especially opiate addiction?is isolating in nature. When we?re using, we want to hide the severity of our addiction from everyone around us, we don?t want to be bothered when we?re high, and we don?t want to have to deal with anyone else?s problems because we have enough of our own. Choosing to face that addiction head-on and go into treatment is a huge step, but those of us who choose an outpatient treatment like the Suboxone withdrawal offered by Meditox often choose to go through recovery just like we went through addiction: alone.
More About: Things , Safe , Dangerous

Tools for Successful Opiate Drug Addiction Treatment
2008-04-19 22:16:00
When you?re using Suboxone as an outpatient treatment to break an opiate addiction, you?re going it alone. It?s the nature of the treatment and it has many perks?you are free to continue working, taking care of kids or elder family members, keep your addiction issues private?but there are a few drawbacks as well. If you do your outpatient treatment through Meditox, you get 24-hour access to their support desk which provides you with medical advice and referrals to local support groups, doctors who understand your predicament and any other resources you need to stay clean and sober. Here are a few recovery tools that you can implement on your own in addition to Suboxone treatment to increase your chances of a successful, lasting recovery.
More About: Tools , Addiction , Treatment , Drug

Drug Rehab on a Budget
2008-04-19 04:48:00
A lot of people have commented here on The Suboxone Blog about their need for opiate addiction treatment and a problem with being able to pay for it. It makes sense. Drug addiction may destroy relationships, careers, and your health but it attacks the bank account first. I mean, prescription painkillers aren?t cheap, whether you buy them on the street, off your cousin or get them legitimately from the drugstore. And while insurance may cover part of your prescription, many don?t have insurance and covering the cost of the dose that seems to grow exponentially along with your addiction is enough to send you to the brink.
More About: Rehab , Drug Rehab , Budget

Getting Painkillers to Those Who Need It and Away From Those Who Don?t
2008-04-14 20:04:00
ScienceDaily recently did an article called Doctor's Offices Can Help Stem Abuse Of Oxycontin , Other Narcotic Painkillers , summarized as, ?a new study shows how doctor's offices and clinics can identify patients who may be diverting or misusing narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin, and steer them to help, while preserving access to the drugs for patients who truly need them to control their pain.?

Interview With a Methadone Mommy
2008-04-12 02:59:00
Part three in our interview series checks in with a mother who?s on methadone. A heroin-free addict, our methadone mama went through pregnancy on the juice. She talks about what it was like and gives some advice to other methadone mamas.
More About: Interview , Mommy , Suboxone , Methadone

How To Fight Drug Cravings With Video Games
2008-04-09 20:51:00
ABC News has published an article extolling the virtues of virtual reality in helping addicts deal with the issue of fighting off drug cravings as they go through recovery. This is great for those who are treating their opiate addiction at home using Suboxone, since the support provided by NA meetings and measures like this one can help take the edge off on the days when it?s harder than others to stick to the treatment.
More About: Video , Video Games , Games , Fight , Drug

New York Times Examines Prosecutions Of Drug Use Among Pregnant Women In Al
2008-03-28 06:29:00
The New York Times recently examined what they describe as an "unusual burst" of prosecutions of women who indulged in drug use while they were pregnant. The setting for this spate of arrests and convictions? Covington County, Alabama.
More About: Women , Pregnant , Addiction

Handling a Percocet Withdrawal
2008-03-22 03:59:00
Percocet is the brand name for a drug that combines oxycodone and acetaminophen. This same combination but in different strengths can also be found in the brand name drugs, Roxicet, Tylox and Endocet, but Percocet is by far the most popular prescription painkiller.
More About: Addiction , Subutex , Suboxone , Opiates , Painkillers

Are Generic Drugs as Addictive as Brand Name Drugs?
2008-03-18 20:30:00
Chances are that about half of you who have prescriptions for Vicodin or Lorcet or Norco don?t receive a little bottle from the pharmacy with the brand name on it. Most likely it will use the generic name: Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen. Is there any difference between brand name and generic prescription painkillers? And more importantly, is either more or less addictive than the other?
More About: Drugs , Addiction , Brand , Generic , Suboxone

VH1 Celebrity Rehab Reunion Recap
2008-03-14 22:42:00
So who stayed clean and who didn?t? That was the big question for everyone as they tuned in last night for the reunion show of VH1?s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew Pinsky. The show wrapped production in August, 2007, and since the show has aired, the public has been sitting with their eyes peeled, barely blinking, staring down the participants and waiting for them to relapse. So?did they or didn?t they?
More About: Drug Rehab , Addiction , Recap

An Interview With a Methadone Addict
2008-03-12 22:56:00
Personal stories are really important when it comes to drug withdrawal and addiction treatment. Each individual?s circumstance is affected by and affects his or her drug use and recovery. Here?s an interview with someone who started experimenting with heroin in his teens and became an addict in his early 20s. He?s now 40 years old, a heroin-free junky on methadone. Here?s what he has to say:
More About: Addiction , Interview , Detox , Heroin , Suboxone

Things to Consider in Lortab Withdrawal
2008-03-12 01:43:00
Lortab, a combo of hydrocodone and acetaminophen like Lorcet, Norco and Vicodin, seems to be a supplemental drug of choice for those addicted to OxyContin and other oxycodone derivatives. Note: I have met a handful or two that somehow stumbled onto Lortab without realizing the addictive effects and ended up ?strung out,? but more often I hear people say that they are addicted to other drugs and then couldn?t keep up with their body?s tolerance and so supplemented with Lortab.
More About: Addiction , Things , Detox , Subutex , Suboxone

When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Fight Back
2008-03-09 04:11:00
I was reading the Diary of a Quitter the other day and I was struck by her honesty. Now a great many of her posts pass along the inspiration that she has come across in her reading, through other blogs, from therapy, friends and other sources of support and these are great and helpful in her own way. But when she admits as she does in her posts “Hard to Fight It� and “The Honeymoon is Over� that recovery is not all pink clouds and happy reclamations of life, love and happiness.
More About: Back , Tough

Amy Winehouse Loves an Idiot
2008-03-03 13:29:00
Okay, so I heard about this first from The Junky?s Wife but I had to talk about it here because, well, I heart Amy Winehouse and let?s just say that there?s a lot about her life?as far as the media describes her?that I can identify with. And this latest little bit, just makes me shake my head.
More About: Drug Rehab , Addiction , Idiot

Loving an Addict And Loving Yourself
2008-02-29 21:43:00
There are a number of blogs out there written by women who are married to addicts, mothers of  junkies or otherwise connected (and deeply scarred by) someone else?s addiction. Among my favorites are The Junky?s Wife, Married to an Addict, Married to My Ex, and Mother to an Addict. Whether or not the writer is ...
More About: Addiction , Loving , Detox , Suboxone , Oxycontin

What Winners on Suboxone Do is Blog
2008-02-29 04:12:00
There are two excellent blogs out there run by a rad lady in recovery named Erin. One is What Winners Do and the other is her latest addition to the recovery blogging family, The Suboxone Help Spot.
More About: Addiction , Blog , Detox

The Difference Between Naltrexone and Naloxone
2008-02-25 13:42:00
There seems to be a little confusion about the difference between the two ?nal-xone? drugs, naltrexone and naloxone. Two very different drugs, the similar names are confusing but what makes it worse is the fact that both are related to the treatment of drug and alcohol abuse. Hopefully this will clear up the misconceptions.
More About: Difference , Heroin , Morphine , Suboxone , Opiates

Protect Yourself From a Methadone Overdose
2008-02-19 20:57:00
Now, I really mean it this time: this is the last I?m going to say about overdoses for awhile. I thought I?d pretty much gotten it out of my system with the urban myths about overdoses and the tips on how to avoid an overdose and how to know one when you see it. But yesterday, someone I know quite well overdosed unintentionally. They have had a lifetime methadone maintenance slot for years now, and if ever there was a success story to support methadone maintenance, he was it: after a lifetime of being a street junkie addicted to heroin and doing crimes to pay for his habit, he?s managed to hold onto the same job (even move up in the company), married a great gal and had a baby with her. Then yesterday, he had a migraine, happened to run into an associate from the old days who offered him a pill to wipe out the headache. He went home, had a couple of beers and woke up two days later in a hospital.
More About: Addiction , Detox , Suboxone , Methadone , Overdose