Alcohol might be legal in some places across the globe but it does not mean that it is good for your health. Sometimes, people are not even aware of how much alcohol can affect their health and proceed to deteriorate it. Regular use of alcohol keeps on hurting the body from the inside and damages the vital organs. The effects may not be visible right away but as time goes on, the body starts to become weaker. It is like gradually killing your body from the inside. Alcohol does not only stop at hurting the user physically but also affects his mental health by hindering the normal functioning of the brain. A large number of people die from alcohol poisoning every year. The list of its negative effects ranges from liver damage, increased heart rate, muscle weakness, and even cancer.
Source: lakeviewhealth.com
Drugs, too, can have extremely harmful effects on your body. Drug addiction is a chronic illness and must be treated as soon as possible. Physical health is no doubt affected considerably by these addictions but the drugs also affect the mental health of the patient. Various parts of the brain can stop work properly and exhibit abnormal behavior and this has been proved through experimentation and comparison by scientists on people who abuse drugs and those who do not. When drugs are used for a very long time, the brain starts to develop tolerance to it. First of all, it develops tolerance to small amounts, so the patient increases his dosage over time and keeps admitting harmful substances into his body. Drug addiction does not only happen with illegal substances like crystal meth or marijuana, etc. but it can also happen with prescription drugs like pain killers. If someone has had some kind of injury or some other medical condition and his physician has prescribed pain killers, he might start taking them in a larger dose than the doctor suggested and may even take it for a longer time than is prescribed. Moreover, these addictions in addition to worsening the mental and physical health of the patient, also have significant effects on the lives of the patient’s family and friends. Since a drug user is not in his sound mind when he is under the influence, he may hurt someone accidentally like his children. There are various examples when people were driving under the influence of alcohol and ended up being the cause of horrifying accidents with the loss of lives of innocent people.
Reasons for drug and alcohol abuse
Source: staffskillstraining.co.uk
There are various factors that can lead to drug or alcohol addiction. One of the most common reasons today is mental health issues. A patient suffering from anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may turn to drugs to cope with his issue because these mental health issues make the patient feel like they have no control over his body. Peer pressure is another main reason for this phenomenon and this is why our parents always tell us to keep good company and stay away from bad people. People who are used to having drugs and alcohol may pressurize their simple friends into using these things and if the situation gets out of hand, they may end up becoming addicted to these vile substances and set on the road to ruining their lives.
Overcoming drug and alcohol addiction by detoxification
Source: veteranslawblog.org
Detoxification or detox is the method through which excessive alcohol or harmful drugs are removed from the body of the patient. It is a very good process that helps a person overcome drug or alcohol addiction. However, it needs struggle and patience on the part of the user. The reason that this method takes some time is that he had been using harmful drugs or drinking alcohol for quite a long time and his body had become used to it and even dependent on these substances. From using these substances in high amounts to suddenly stop taking them, the body can’t cope up with the loss and goes into withdrawal. This process is about seven days long in which the patient’s body reacts when it is not getting the drugs that it is used to. When the body is in withdrawal, the patient becomes very sick and has to be helped by medications and therapy. This is why he has to be monitored by the professionals continuously during withdrawal.
Rehabilitation centers can successfully help patients by detoxification and help them get rid of their addiction. They make sure that their centers have highly skilled professional people that take exceptional care in helping the patients in every possible way so that they may not feel like they have been trapped and instead, they receive a caring and helpful treatment. They hope that their treatment will be better than even their imagination and expectations. These facilities also have psychologists or psychotherapists along with doctors because the mental health of these patients is just as important as their physical health and in their therapy sessions, the patients can talk about their issues, especially those that led them to abuse alcohol or drugs in the first place. The psychologist can help them cope with their issues and this is extremely helpful because if these root causes are not dealt with then the patient can be in danger of relapsing after his treatment.
Rehabilitation centers facilitate their patients by providing peaceful and serene living conditions where their sole focus is on their recovery. They can watch television, read books or play board games to pass their free time. Further activities can include yoga or group therapies. As different patients have varying degrees of problems, their treatments also vary. When a patient is admitted, he is thoroughly checked by doctors and then they devise a proper treatment plan according to his symptoms and issues, and then his treatment is started. This dedication is what helps the patients in recovering successfully and makes them able to live their lives normally again. More info here.
