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Celebrity Rehab and Prescription Drug Addiction Month
2008-12-01 15:16:00
There is most definitely a morbid fascination among Americans with our celebrities. We want to know everything from the mundane like what they ate for dinner to who they?re dating and what they?re wearing to the salacious. And what?s more salacious than a good painkiller addiction, right? Plus, with our favorite little exhibitionist rehab show, ...
More About: Celebrity , Rehab , Addiction , Drug , Month

Celebrity Drug Rehab Profile: Amber Smith
2008-11-11 15:13:00
Amber Smith is one of the favorites of this season's reality rehab dwellers on VH1's Celebrity Drug Rehab . The 36-year-old model-slash-actress has a problem with prescription painkillers that many of us can identify with and her sad journey through opiate withdrawal is no fun to watch. But, in keeping with the tradition we've started with Steven Adler's celebrity drug rehab profile, let's continue with one Ms. Amber Smith.
More About: Drug Rehab , Profile

Heroin Addiction and Cat Killing
2008-11-09 15:10:00
Yes. It?s not just a salacious headline. There has actually been an incident recently that has manage to combine the phrases ?heroin addiction? and ?cat killing? in the same story. And even blame the latter on the former.
More About: Addiction , Heroin , Killing

Elephant Junkies and Heroin Rehab for Everyone
2008-11-05 15:07:00
I?m not sure what boggles the mind more about this story: the fact that poachers got an elephant strung out on dope or that the elephant was subsequently put through a three-year opiate detox so that he could get better.
More About: Rehab , Elephant , Heroin , Junkies

Celebrity Drug Rehab Profile: Steven Adler
2008-11-01 15:12:00
Steven Adler is a particularly vibrant participant in this season?s Celebrity Drug Rehab . The original drummer for Guns N? Roses, he was kicked out of the band for his drug and alcohol abuse or, more specifically, for his behavior due to his addiction. You know you?re in a bad way when you get kicked out of Guns N? Roses for being irresponsible.
More About: Drug Rehab , Profile

Falling Asleep Without Opiate Painkillers
2008-10-31 15:13:00
There?s been a lot of talk on this blog about how to fix what ails us when we can no longer take our opiate prescription drugs. We had to stop taking the painkillers because the addiction was ruining our lives, and as great a decision as that is, that now means that we?re back to square one as far as dealing with our original ailment, except now we have addiction issues as well, which makes it all the more difficult.
More About: Painkillers

Marijuana Abuse Can Increase the Risk for Opioid Addiction
2008-09-29 16:37:00
As most parents and teenagers have undoubtedly heard, tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana are usually cited as ?gateway drugs? that encourage long-term use of illicit drugs like cocaine or heroin. While this isn?t always the case, researchers in Sweden have found new evidence that marijuana use by teenagers creates a fondness for all opiate-derived drugs later in life.
More About: Abuse , Addiction , Risk , Marijuana

Maybe Heroin is the Gateway Drug
2008-09-27 15:31:00
Marijuana is always catching a lot of flack over being the gateway drug that turns young experimenting youths from sneaking a beer here and there into a drooling, desperate dope fiend. But maybe we?ve got it all wrong. Maybe heroin is actually the gateway drug and marijuana is the really scary drug.
More About: Gateway , Drug , Heroin

Pain Management Physician Facing Federal Murder Charges Related to Prescrip
2008-09-25 16:24:00
A doctor in Georgia looked the other way as addicts filled the waiting room to get more drugs. Thirteen patients have died so far, and Dr. Green, along with his assistant and a pharmacist, face 118 federal charges that include administering and prescribing drugs "not for a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice."
More About: Murder , Management , Pain management , Pain , Related

Opioid Painkillers Sometimes Make Pain Worse
2008-09-23 15:57:00
We?ve talked a lot here about the problem of chronic pain and the issue of treating it in light of the issue of painkiller addiction, and here?s a bit of news that may add to that conversation: it seems that there is new evidence that opiate treatment for chronic pain may actually make the pain worse for some people. This condition has a name: Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia or OIH.
More About: Pain , Make , Painkillers

GPS Tracking Device Saves Drug Addict?s Life
2008-09-21 16:09:00
A Colorado man by the name of Gene put technology to work when he needed help intervening on behalf of his girlfriend?s drug addiction. He purchased a live Rover tracking device from www.RMTracking .com and installed it on her car to monitor where she was going to buy drugs. Usually used for tracking fleets of company vehicles, recovering stolen cars, and locating missing persons, this might be the first time a GPS device has been used in conjunction with drug addiction.
More About: Life , Device , Drug , Addict

A&E?s Recovery Project Shows Addicts How to Find Their Way Back
2008-09-17 16:01:00
Did you know that September is National Recovery Month? In honor of the 19th celebration of recovery awareness, I thought I’d do a post on The Recovery Project sponsored by A&E television networks, since it just might be the largest initiative ever to reach out to addicts and families in need of specialized guidance and support.  The ...
More About: Find , Back

California?s Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act
2008-09-11 16:15:00
It?s hard to believe that a proposal to shorten jail time for nonviolent offenders in exchange for much-needed drug addiction treatment would be met with criticism. Yet, that?s exactly what has happened with Proposition 5, slated to be on California ?s November 4th voting ballot.
More About: Drug Rehab , Offender

Tough Love Drug Addiction Intervention Methods
2008-09-01 16:26:00
As much as we would all love to do things amicably, there are times when showing that you love someone means you have to get tough with them. The Encarta North American Dictionary defines tough love as ?a caring [and] strict attitude adopted toward a friend or loved one with a problem, as distinct from an attitude of indulgence.? If you feel like you?re talking ?till your blue in the face, the words just aren?t getting through, and the chaos is escalating, then it might be time to take a different approach with your efforts at intervening.
More About: Love , Addiction , Drug , Methods , Tough

Drug Addiction in Prison
2008-08-30 15:23:00
It?s not uncommon for those who are locked up to get married just for ?boneyard? visits but even more common is the prison marriage that allows for drug smuggling. Actual emotion may or may not be involved but it?s for this reason that visitors to any maximum security facility will undergo a serious search before they will be admitted onto the grounds. This is not something you want to mess around with. Get caught with anything that they wouldn?t allow a prisoner to have and you?ll find yourself smacked down with charges yourself. Case in point: an Australian woman recently got caught trying to smuggle drugs into a Brisbane prison? in her baby?s diaper. Know what they think the drug was? Subutex! She was smuggling a treatment for drug addiction into a prison and ended up catching a case herself.
More About: Addiction , Prison , Drug

Taking Prescription Painkillers During Outpatient Rehabilitation
2008-08-16 15:36:00
A couple weeks ago I had an accident that ended with me sustaining some fairly serious injuries, and since then I?ve been on prescription painkillers. Needless to say, this is not good. Physical pain definitely isn?t fun but it?s the painkillers that are really messing with me. I?m not happy. When I?m on them and I feel any sedative effects, I feel guilty. When I?m not on them and I?m in pain, obviously, that?s not a happy time, either. Either way, I?m not getting a whole lot done.
More About: Taking , Painkillers , Prescription

Suboxone Treatment is Trading One Addiction for Another
2008-08-14 15:43:00
At least, that?s what a lot of people say, right? Stop shooting dope or taking prescription painkillers and start taking methadone or Suboxone as a form of maintenance and people still shake their heads at you like you?re doing something wrong. We talked the other day about stereotypes of opiate addicts. It comes from those in the medical profession, people in government who make laws regulating opiate prescriptions and opiate addiction treatment, the average guy on the street.
More About: Trading , Addiction , Treatment , Methadone

Opiate Addiction Stereotypes and Racism: A Troubled History
2008-08-06 15:27:00
We?ve been talking the past couple posts about the misconceptions that people hold concerning opiate addiction and opiate addicts and how those misconceptions work to prevent those who need it from receiving the treatment they need. Today, it?s racism I want to talk about, racism and its early connections with prejudice against those struggling with drug addiction, and opiate addiction specifically.
More About: History , Stereotypes , Addiction , Racism , Troubled

Opiate Addiction: A Disease Like Any Other
2008-08-04 15:59:00
The other day we started this discussion about the misconceptions that people hold about drug addiction and especially opiate addiction as well as the people who are struggling with the disease. Today, I want to talk about the concept of addiction as a medical disease: one that is legitimate. One that can be treated.
More About: Addiction , Disease

Misunderstanding Opiate Addicts: The Withdrawal Symptoms
2008-08-02 16:02:00
Opiate addicts are misunderstood in many ways, but one of the most profound comes with the idea that addicts should simply be able to ?walk away? from their addictions. I wish. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. The addiction symptoms that we suffer from often aren?t really about the pleasurable effects of the drugs, but more about the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms that comes when we run out. In fact, in many cases, it is these withdrawal symptoms that cause us to continue taking drugs, even if we wish to stop.
More About: Addiction , Symptoms , Withdrawal

Avoiding Opiate Detox Relapse Triggers
2008-05-05 21:02:00
There are as many triggers to relapse during opiate detox as there are people undergoing opiate withdrawal treatment. It can be as simple as the mention of a certain drug or the description of using it or what it?s like under the influence. For others visual triggers like seeing someone use in a movie is enough where others only find themselves fade under pressure when someone is using in front of them. Being offered something to drink can trigger the desire to use, even if alcoholism isn?t a problem. That?s why so many find that abstinence from all mind altering substances is the best way to stay off their addictive drug of choice. So how do you avoid relapse when you?re faced with a trigger?
More About: Detox , Triggers

Friendships That Fail During Opiate Detox
2008-05-03 16:48:00
Because opiate addiction is so all-encompassing, the relationships that stick through the ordeal tend to be enabling relationships, that is, friends and family members who either help us to continue addictive behavior or those people who we use with. This can be a problem when we try to quit using essentially on our own.
More About: Friendships , Detox

Happy Half-Birthday to Me!
2008-05-02 20:38:00
Well! It’s been a while since I’ve made a post here, and I have missed y’all something terrible, but I can’t think of a better reason to break my writer’s block than this: This week marks the six-month anniversaryof me beginning Suboxone treatment! Woot! I can hardly believe that a half of a year has already passed, ...
More About: Addiction , Happy , Birthday , Detox , Half

Interview With a Methadone Addict Part II
2008-05-01 19:42:00
A few weeks ago, I posted an interview here with a man who was on methadone maintenance. It garnered quite a few responses, and so he asked me to follow up and let you know what?s happening with him. To preserve his anonymity, I?ll call him Smith.
More About: Interview , Part , Methadone , Addict

How to Know When You?re Ready for Opiate Withdrawal
2008-04-29 21:24:00
Some people say that you can?t be successful in recovery if you?re not ready. Others say it goes deeper than that, that you have to lose everything before you can fully understand how vital it is to get clean. Personally, I don?t agree.
More About: Ready , Suboxone , Withdrawal

5 Ways to Spot an Addict
2008-04-23 14:14:00
If you suspect a friend, colleague or loved-one is addicted, you might be afraid of approaching the person, how can you tell if someone might be addicted? Confronting someone based purely on a gut instinct could lead to a big mistake and a real mess if you are wrong, but if you care about this person ...
More About: Spot , Addict

Rap Music Glorifies Drug Use and Abuse
2008-04-04 15:47:00
Big freakin? surprise, right? Science Daily reported recently that there?s a new study out that the ?glamorization of drugs in rap music jumped dramatically over 2 decades.?
More About: Music , Abuse , Drug , Rap Music , Drug Use

Interview with a Buprenorphine Study Participant
2008-04-03 05:09:00
So the Interview with a Methadone Addict garnered such a huge response that I felt that a sequel was in order. Today, we speak with a 30-year-old guy who stumbled into a really incredible opportunity, a buprenorphine study. Here?s what he had to say:
More About: Study , Subutex , Suboxone

Blog ? Get The Most Current Pharmacology Information Here
2008-03-19 13:57:00
Now, I have a Master?s degree and a graduate certification in the physiology of addiction, but I?m no pharmacology expert. To answer your questions or inform my writing, I do my research like anybody else, by reading textbooks, medical journals and bookmarking educational sites online. However, the world of pharma is one that is constantly evolving?new research, new theories, new theorists, new uses for old drugs?and it?s difficult to keep up with everything. One way to do it is to subscribe to news feeds, of course, but there?s nothing like a college student, medical student or grad student to bring a certain sarcasm and skepticism to the business of drug-making, buying and prescribing.
More About: Information , Current , Blog , Pharmacology

Taking the Plunge
2008-03-11 02:53:00
When the folks here at Suboxone Blog asked me to write a few guest posts, I was flattered and really excited. I also thought the writing would be easy. It's easy enough for me to bang out posts over at Diary of a Quitter, after all.
More About: Addiction , Taking , Opiates , Painkillers