I Spent Christmas In Rehab

I remember one Christmas where I was so loaded that the nutcrackers started walking around during dinner and I couldn't look up from my plate. Then there was that other year that I threw a tantrum and locked myself in the bathroom through dinner. Oh, and that other year where I nodded out for most of the day on prescription drugs and later threw up in the front yard. Ah, memories. It seems like the holidays tend to bring out the beast in active addicts, for one reason or another. My addiction really put a damper on the holidays for myself, and also for my family. It became a time that we all dreaded, rather than looked forward to.

Then one Christmas, I got sent to rehab. I wasn’t too excited to spend the holidays in rehab, as you can imagine, but at the time, it ended up being the best holiday my family or I had had in years. Instead of a car, or a pony, or a new ipod, I got the gift of recovery. Thumbs down, I thought. Totally lame. I didn’t want to do the crafts, I didn’t want to go to group, and I surely didn’t want to stop using drugs and alcohol, but as time went on, I began to change despite myself. The staff’s patience and love gave me the room and tools to find the best, truest version of myself. I’ve had some really good holidays in Jackson Hole, Wyoming since then, all thanks to that one year I got to go to rehab for Christmas.

drug rehab.

Teenage Drug Treatment

Of the one-in-five young adults and teenagers who were classified as needing substance abuse treatment, 94% do not think they need help, and of the seven million young people who need help, only one in ten adolescents will actually get help. I feel fortunate to be one of few who got the opportunity to take a shot at recovery at a young age. I definitely didn't think I needed help- I thought I was a lost cause. I couldn't imagine a life without using drugs and alcohol.
In my experience, many teens meet teenage recovery and adolescent drug rehab with resistance. It sounds like a death sentence to many: go away from your family and friends to a strange place with strange people- and no drugs or alcohol! When I went to treatment, I felt like during the sixty days I was to be there, the world would move on without me. What I realized is that the world was passing me by as I was using, and that when I got clean, I could take the reins again and actually be a part of life. I realized that a lot of my using friends weren’t actually friends. We used each other. In treatment, I got to know other kids who struggled like me, and who wanted to change like me. There was a saying I heard a lot there, “Stick with the winners!”
Now that I’m back in the “real world,” I know that most of my peer group does not embrace the idea of adolescent recovery. Kids at school or at work wonder why I don’t want to smoke pot with them or drink with them. I spend my free time with the “winners”- my peers in recovery. I didn’t want recovery when I was using drugs in Portland because I had no idea that life without drugs and alcohol could actually feel better. I thought I was destined to be miserable. I hope that by staying clean and continuing on this path of recovery, I can be an example to other young people who might think they have a drug or alcohol problem, and that I can show them that
getting help actually helps!

Teen Drug Rehab

My friend recently pointed out to me that she had gone to the beach for the first time sober and that it was really weird for her. I totally understood. Part of getting sober means building new associations with people and places. In early recovery, I let people, places, and things trigger me- which means they made me want to use. I learned that I had a choice in what I let trigger me. It was all about perception and my willingness to change. Teen drug rehab helped me gain new experiences sober that helped me rebuild my perception of places. Because we were able to participate in recreational outings in, I learned that it was possible to have fun sober and I was able to go to the movies for the first time sober and with a group of other sober people. When we went to AA and NA meetings in different areas like Newport Beach, I learned to associate places with meeting locations rather than places I used to use drugs.
Treatment also helped me build new associations with my family and feelings about things. While I used to slip right into the role of the black sheep when around my family, in teen drug treatment we worked to change our dynamic and work on what was challenging us as a family. I had to take a lot of personal responsibility in how I treated my family. I also learned positive ways to deal with my feelings. Instead of letting a feeling make me use drugs or drink alcohol, I learned to write or talk about my feelings, or do something like take a walk or draw a picture. Adolescent drug treatment in Malibu gave me the opportunity to rebuild my life, and it started with rebuilding how I perceived the world. My fresh outlook on life has helped me change my life for the good. If your teen is struggling with substance abuse, Contact us today and help them find a new outlook on life.

Club Drug Use By Teens

At Visions Adolescent Treatment Center we've noticed the use of “club drugs” by teenagers has been on the rise. Teenagers involved with raves or other all night dance parties often take these extremely dangerous drugs thinking they are harmless and non-habit forming. Because they generally come in pill or liquid form, many of these drugs are easily hidden in pill bottles, candy containers, or eye drop containers or mouthwash or water bottles. Club drugs, or party drugs often refer to the following:
Ecstasy- (E, X, Beans, Adam, Lover’s Speed, Clarity, Hugs, X-T-C, MDMA, Candy, Thiz, Rolls) This drug is a hallucinogen and a stimulant. Users often feel a sense of extreme euphoria and energy. Chronic abuse damages users ability to think and regulate emotion. “Candyflipping” involves the combination of X and acid, or LSD. Overdose can lead to death, and the drug also impair the user’s ability to regulate body temperature and heart rate. User’s may suck on a pacifier or “binky” or suck on candy because the drug causes jaw clenching. Other signs of use include dilated (big) pupils, sleeplessness, and extreme irritability (crashing) on the day following use.
GHB- (Liquid Ecstasy, G, Georgia Home Boy, Goop) This drug causes the user to feel more relaxed, but increased amounts can lead to sleep, coma, and death. It comes in liquid form and can be consumed in water.
Ketamine- (Special K, K, Kay Jay, K Ways) Ketamine is an anesthetic used by veterinarians and causes the user to feel a sense of delirium. Taking too much causes the user to fall into a “k-hole” where they often cannot move or experience extreme confusion. It is often snorted.
Rohypnol- (Roofie, Roche, Rophies, Ruffies, Rope) More commonly known as the date rape drug, Rohypnol causes the user to suffer from memory loss, drowsiness, and dizziness or confusion. People actually abuse it though.
Teens abusing these drugs often combine them with other drugs like meth, acid, cocaine, and heroin. They may possess Tiger Balm for cramps, hospital masks lined with menthol ointment to get a “vapor rush,” baby pacifiers, lollipops, candy necklaces, fluorescent light sticks, and various containers for hiding pills. Club drugs are just as dangerous and harmful as street drugs, and teens abusing these drugs need help too.

If you suspect that your teen is abusing club drugs, don’t hesitate to contact us today.adolescent drug treatment in Encino.

Adolescent Drug Treatment

Teens with drug problems come from all walks of life; they aren't just the teenage runaways depicted in Lifetime movies as I'd originally thought. Teens develop drug problems for a number of reasons- my daughter's competitive nature seemed to be what initially led her down the path of drug and alcohol abuse. I was the last person to suspect that my daughter was a drug user. On the outside, she was a perfect student. She excelled in school, taking all honors classes, and was the star of the track and volleyball teams. I often wondered how she could get it all done. She never got into trouble and seemed pretty happy at school. I knew my daughter was extremely hard on herself. Her weight began to drop and she seemed increasingly edgy and irritated. I chalked it all up to the stresses of high school and teen angst and tried to talk to her more. Her withdrawing from the family seemed like something teens do- I didn't want to smother her. I tried to be more lenient with her. She was such a good student I never suspected she was up to anything dangerous.

One night I heard a crash in her room. I found her sitting on the floor sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she just cried and cried. It was a heartbreaking thing, to not be able to fix what was hurting her. I don't know what possessed her to tell me, but finally she just blurted out that she had a problem with pills and couldn't stop. I was floored. It was hard not to get angry with her, because I felt so scared, but at the same time, I didn't want to discourage her from talking to me. I guess she'd put so much pressure on herself to be the best at everything she eventually became a candidate for teen drug treatment turned to stimulants like Adderral to help her preform and downers like Xanax to take the stress away. As she opened up to me that night, I was horrified to learn what she was putting herself through. I promised we would get help, but I had no idea what to do for her. Sitting there on the floor, holding my sobbing daughter, I felt as terrified as she did.

I had heard of Visions through a coworker, but had never thought much of it, since I didn't think I'd ever need that information. They were amazingly helpful and understanding. It was hard leaving her there, but the weekly family sessions helped me work on myself so that I could help my daughter. She just blossomed there. Instead of being the rigid girl I knew who was so incredibly tough on herself, I began to see a girl who took care of herself and could respect her own limitations. As my daughter worked on herself, I learned ways to help support my daughter's new sobriety. She isn't a bad kid because she did drugs. She's a fantastic kid. She always has been. Visions Adolescent Drug Treatment Center just helped her realize that.

For more information about Visions please click here teen drug treatment

Becoming a Better Person

A medication aimed at fighting cocaine addiction failed in clinical trials recently. Things like this make me really think about my addiction and recovery. If I was offered a medical “cure” for my addiction, would I take it? Would I stop my involvement in recovery and being of service to other addicts and alcoholics and just take a pill? I don’t think so. When I think of the life I have in recovery, I know that most of the fulfillment in my life comes from the community I have built around myself. Treatment introduced me to a whole new way of life.

When I first went to adolescent Drug Treatment, all I could focus on was figuring out how to not use drugs. I couldn’t think of much else. As time went by, I began to learn that in order to stay clean, I had to change a lot of things about myself; recovery was going to take a lot more than not using drugs. I began to want to be a better person. When I was using, I damaged the relationship I had with my family. I wasn’t trustworthy. I never did what I said I was going to do. I messed up in school and brought a lot of chaos into my home. In rehab, we learned how to become better sons and daughters, siblings, and friends. When I, I got more involved in 12-step fellowships and began to give back what was given to me. I speak on panels at rehabs, sharing my experience, strength, and hope. I work with young people in treatment and in meetings. I try to set an example. One of the coolest things to me about recovery is that we are all trying to be better people. A pill treating the physical side of my addiction wouldn’t give me a reason to try and be better person, or to build the fantastic relationships I have in my life today. Rehab gave me more than a life free of drugs and their consequences; it gave me a new way to live.

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Adolescent Prescription drug abuse

Adolescent Prescription drug abuse

There are many different ways that adolescents are using to get high these days. Marijuana and alcohol are among the most common. However, more and more adolescents are turning to prescription medication abuse. 48 million or 20% of the United States population have used prescription medications for reasons other than medical in their lifetime. Since 1995 emergency room visits resulting from prescription medication abuse have gone up 163% and so are visits to adolescent drug rehabs Prescription medications are easier to obtain now more than ever. Some teens are simply stealing their parent’s prescriptions out of the medicine cabinet. More often teens are visiting online pharmacies, where they sell very addictive medications to anyone who will pay. Teens also will trade their prescriptions at school, either for other drugs or for money. Prescription medication can be classified in one of three categories that are the most commonly abused: stimulants, opioids and central nervous system depressants.

Opioids include Morphine, Vicodin and Oxycontin, to name a few. Opioids are used to treat pain. When abused these medications can be life threatening. If opioids are mixed with any substance that depressed the central nervous system, such as alcohol, Xanax, or Valium, they can cause respiratory malfunction and death. These drugs are occasionally snorted or injected, in order to amplify the high.

Central nervous system depressants, such as Xanax or Valium, are used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders. Barbiturates are also considered central nervous system depressants. These medications work by slowing down brain activity, which when abused or used with alcohol they can slow the activity down so much that it results in heart or respiratory malfunction and death.

Stimulants speed up the body causing increased attentiveness, alertness and energy. Stimulants were primarily used to treat asthma and obesity. Currently they are used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder, Depression and narcolepsy. Abusing these medications or mixing them with decongestants may result in irregular heart activity and high body temperatures.

ADHD Medications… Helpful or Harmful?

ADHD medications… Helpful or harmful?

These days there are so many teens and young people are being diagnosed with ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Thank goodness that we have a number of various medications with which to treat this disorder in teens. However, many of these medications lead to more problems than not. The two most commonly used medications for ADHD are Ritalin and Adderall and both of these medications are classified as scheduled II drugs in the amphetamine class. Although classified as amphetamines when used as directed by a medical professional these medications help those with ADHD and ADD to focus for longer periods of time and fully complete tasks.

However, these stimulants also have a high percentage of teen misuse, teen abuse and teen dependence. It has been found that many teens and school-aged children have been trading, buying and selling their prescriptions with one another. Many of them also have taken to snorting these medications thinking that because it is a prescription it is a safer alternative to cocaine. The truth is that when snorted or injected the potency of the drugs increase because it enters the bloodstream directly and if not prescribed to the user the risk is equal or more greater than cocaine. Most teens and adolescents that enter drug rehab have at one time or another abused their own or somebodyelse's prescription for Adderall, Ritalin or some other stimulant based medication.