Online Alcoholism & Addiction Counselling

Oh dear, the BBC reported today that UK police crime figures have shown a 50% increase in arrests of women for being drunk and disorderly over the past five years.

In certain areas of the country this rate was even higher – a 1200% increase in the West Midlands, and a 700% increase in South Wales.

Some people are blaming this on cheap alco-pops, while others suggest the opened up licensing laws. It seems to be more to do with our culture, women drink as much as men do now.

Where is this trend going, and what effect is it having on the health of the women in this generation?

Liv.52 is a herbal medicine specifically formulated to help strengthen the liver. It assists in the elimination of acetaldehyde (the toxic by-product of alcohol) – which means you don’t get so much of a hangover. It encourages regrowth of new liver cells and protects against alcohol induced liver damage.

This is one of the few herbal medicines that has actually been researched extensively, and shown to be highly effective. Look at some of the research if you don’t believe it.

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Taking this medicine won’t solve all your problems with alcohol, of course not. But it might just help your liver to cope with the effects of your drinking.

If you’re interested in herbal medicine to help reduce your alcohol consumption, read this about Kudzu…

A new report from the United Nations finds that prescription drug abuse is now more prevalent than illicit drug abuse. With the only exception of cannabis, there is now more trafficking and consumption of pharmaceuticals (particularly stimulants, painkillers and tranquillisers) than street drugs. This is causing a huge increase in the level of fake prescription drugs too (which contributes to 10% of the overall amount). And far worse, a huge increase in the number of overdose deaths as a result.

The International Narcotics Control Board estimates that the illicit market will double to $79bn (£40bn) over the next four years.

This poses the question – if the politicians are trying to reduce the harm caused by drugs use, perhaps some of their funds should be diverted towards encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to take some responsibility for the problem – if 90% of these illicitly used drugs are coming from licensed factories, why aren’t the big pharmaceutical corporations being asked to take more control of their supply lines? They are one of the most profitable industries in the world after all.

The drug company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) deliberately covered up the link between the use of it’s antidepressant drug Seroxat and an increased risk of suicide in adolescents.

They would have us believe that the drugs they produce for us are risk free, a modern-day panacea to cure all our emotional ills.

Consequently the medical profession hand them out like sweets. But we the public are the ones who take the risk with our health, or in this case our lives. The side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, particularly the SSRI antidepressants are manifold.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they should never be used – of course they can be very useful and effective in certain circumstances. But all too often they are not matched to individuals sufficiently carefully. And clearly, financial rewards are causing companies to rush unsuitable drugs through into release before they have even been made safe.

The American writer Robert Whitaker suggests that psychiatric drugs peddled by the hugely profitable pharmaceutical industry are indeed causing more ill-health than they are curing.

Where does that leave you? If you’re needing medication to help you deal with depression or anxiety for example, then of course you tend to depend on what the doctor prescribes. Maybe it’s time to start looking at the alternatives to conventional western medicine in that case…

It’s probably no surprise to some, but here in the UK, we have the biggest cocaine use in Europe.

The consequences of this to the nation’s health (and therefore our National Health Service), are far reaching – depression, anxiety, heart disease, strokes etc.

However, there are many other tragic consequences which you might not be aware of next time you put a rolled banknote up to your nose -

• Colombian manufacturers of cocaine routinely protect their crops with landmines – these account for roughly 1000 maimed or killed locals every year.
• the same manufacturers spray carcinogenic pesticides on their crops, further threatening the lives of the local population.
• 2.7 million people in Colombia have been illegally displaced from their land in the last ten years in order for the drugs cartels to grow coca (the crop used to make cocaine).
• huge areas of tropical rainforest are cut down every year (so producers can keep evading the authorities) throughout the Andean region to make way for coca plants, producing massive soil erosion and flooding.
• vast quantities of chemicals used in the refining process are being dumped illegally – such as Sulphuric Acid, Kerosene, Hydrochloric Acid, Ammonia, Acetone and Ether – all find their way into the local water supply.
• Colombia’s biodiversity accounts for a massive 10% of the world’s species, these are all massively threatened.
• Colombia has become one of the most violent nations in the world.
• the USA is spending roughly $45 billion per year on it’s ‘war against drugs’, surely funds which could be better spent elsewhere, especially when they are now spraying chemical herbicide from the air over massive areas to try and eradicate the coca – affecting local farmland, animals and of course the people.

The charity Turning Point have released a report suggesting that 50% of all alcoholics and drug addicts suffer from mental illness, in the UK at least.

Unfortunately many people still associate the term ‘mental illness’ with considerable stigma – as it may conjure up images of psychosis. However the illnesses referred to here are primarily depression and anxiety.

The main point to consider from this is that alcoholics or drug addicts are struggling with addiction as a way to deal with their mental health. Alcohol or drug use often arises as a means of dealing with emotional problems, then from there they develop into additional problems in their own right.

Many alcoholics wonder why they have such a difficult time with alcohol, when others around them seem to cope with it more easily. The answer is often that they have other mental health problems which are not being dealt with.

The only way to beat alcoholism or addiction then is usually to find other ways to deal with depression or anxiety. Once those are having less of an impact on your emotional life, then the purely ‘habit’ element can be addressed.

For most people with some sort of alcoholism, their over use of alcohol has arisen from too many unpleasant emotions in their lives.

As such, understandably they yearn for the good feelings usually associated with positive life experiences. These feelings are immediately available through alcohol, so excessive use can take hold. As many an alcoholic has said -

“I just wanted to feel normal…”

The important thing here is that most of the time alcoholics do not feel normal, they feel like something is wrong. Sometimes it’s because a part of their personality is not being expressed fully, they are suppressing a part of themselves which may have been buried for years, for so long they have probably forgotten it was a part of them.

What often happens though is that when drunk, these suppressed or forgotten parts of us come out to play – sometimes this is enjoyable, and sometimes not. But the way people behave when they are intoxicated can be very informative. It can tell us a lot about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the addiction.

These two aspects of an addict’s personality – ‘the straight’ and ‘the addictive’ are very often in conflict with each other. They don’t like the other part, they don’t trust them and they fear each other.

To move forward, there has to be a truce. An acceptance and understanding of both parts of the self. You need to recognise what the positive qualities are about both. Then maybe some of the guilt and self-blame can subside…

» Read this related article on Addiction and Mental Health.

Cocaine use is on the increase apparently – nearly 350 000 people use cocaine every month in the UK alone. This is due to a number of factors – reduced cost, increased supply and a certain tolerance in society towards drug use, especially cocaine with its ‘celebrity’ status.

Unfortunately of course, with increased cocaine use generally there comes an increase in the number of people becoming addicted, especially to crack. Health and support services are doing their best to respond to this, but there are as yet no commonly used pharmaceutical substitutes to aid withdrawal (unlike heroin, which has a whole range).

Having said that, research suggests that a new anti-epilepsy drug (Vigabatrin) has shown effectiveness in blocking cocaine cravings.

Contrary to popular opinion, cocaine is also far more damaging than heroin. The range of physical complications is huge – from gastrointestinal perforation (ouch) or haemorrhage to heart attacks, lung damage (especially from smoking crack) or respiratory failure, strokes and seizures. It’s not a pretty picture. BBC NEWS – Cocaine stomach problem warning.

Then there’s the psychological side-effects like paranoia, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, auditory hallucinations, sleep disturbance, sexual dysfunction and irritability or aggression.

On top of the problems associated with cocaine on its own, whilst high users will also tend to smoke and drink alcohol far more than they would normally. The combination of cocaine and alcohol produces Cocaethylene, which causes more cardiovascular damage than either drug alone. Alcohol also increases the toxicity of cocaine on the liver.

Recovery from cocaine addiction is no easy task, due mainly to the enduring physiological nature of cravings. However, natural herbal supplements have been found to reduce such cravings.

Cognitive behavioural therapy or counselling is also particularly effective in breaking those associations which produce cravings and hence relapse. So don’t give up hope if you are already using too much cocaine, dramatic changes are not impossible, but they do take some hard work.

There’s been a few articles around lately in which various people have suggested that Heroin should be made available on the NHS (that’s the free UK health service for non-UK readers). One of these is Dr Richard Simpson, the former Scottish drugs minister, BBC NEWS – Call to trial heroin on the NHS.

Cleveland Police Det Supt Tom Stoddart supports the idea, suggesting that it would help to get those most addicted off the drug without them engaging in crime to fund it. BBC NEWS – call to offer heroin on NHS.

Now what these people don’t seem to realise (maybe they should do a little research), is that heroin is already supplied on prescription through the NHS, and has been for many years. It’s rare for anyone to get it, and they usually have to demonstrate that the normal Methadone prescription isn’t helping them. But I myself have worked with a number of people being supplied pharmaceutical heroin on prescription. Its nothing new.

Does it actually help people get off the drug though? That’s arguable, for some people, yes. But for others, it just allows them to get on with their lives without having to raise vast sums of money (usually illegally) to fund an addiction which is seemingly beyond their control. Here’s one woman who’s been on a prescription for over two years – “I get my heroin on the NHS“

Neuro-Electric Therapy is a new method for easing the withdrawal from heroin or other opiates. The addict is required to apply electrodes behind the ear, which are then electrically stimulated daily for six to ten days using a control pack which the addict carries with them.

The electrical currents are said to stimulate nerve pathways (much like acupuncture), thus reducing any cravings for opiates and lessening the painful withdrawal symptoms. However the researchers are keen to point out that this treatment is not an alternative to counselling or rehabilitation, merely an effective method for dealing with the physicalities.

A trial of neuro electric therapy in Scotland has produced very promising results. This is expected to lead to much bigger trials of the treatment in the near future.