There’s certainly no shortage of options when it comes to finding an alcohol or drug treatment center that might meet your requirements. The U.S. government has a directory that lists more than 11,000 addiction treatment programs and hospital inpatient programs for drug addiction and alcoholism. And that list is updated every couple of months. So how do you go about culling through those thousands of rehab centers to find the one that fits the bill – literally and financially – for you? Shopping around for the best addiction recovery treatment you can get for the dollars you’re willing to spend is a huge undertaking. It requires a lot of homework on your part, and you need to be armed with questions to ask. The government’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, which is part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), has provided a list of a dozen questions you should ask when seeking the ideal treatment center for yourself or a loved one. Bring this list when you’re making the rounds of rehab centers, or have it handy by the telephone when you call for information. Here are the questions: Read the rest of this entry »

Big Island Recovery Bed Room

The most obvious sign is your personal appearance and your surroundings. When people have fallen into alcoholism or drug addiction, getting the drink or the drug becomes the most important thing in their lives. It’s more important than food, sleep, school, work, relationships, family members or any other number of responsibilities that go with daily life. Recognizing you need drug rehab may start with a look in the mirror. Again, it’s typically others who will recognize when you need drug rehab before you do. Alcoholism and drug addiction carry the major symptom of denial, which makes it difficult to see how much the drink or the drug is taking over your life. Loss of interest in normal activities and hobbies, falling off in school or work performance, changing your friends (lower companions), changes in appetite and appearance all indicate a personality change brought on by alcohol or drug addiction.
What to Do When You Recognize a Need for Drug Rehab
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Big Island Recovery Garden

Drug and Alcohol addictions continue to affect people from all walks of life. Many people believe that all drug and alcohol abusers are criminals or are morally weak. But, that simply is not the case. Whether one is a doctor, stay-at-home mom, lawyer, teacher, preacher, mill worker, teenager or even a child, drug and alcohol addictions respect no one.
Addiction is a physiological dependence on something, meaning it is both physical and psychological in nature. Therefore, when one is addicted one literally needs whatever it is that feeds that addiction. Education remains a key factor in fighting drug and alcohol dependencies. When Hawaii Island Recovery helps people understand drug and alcohol abuse prevention becomes visible and effective.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) notes, a tremendous opportunity exists to effectively change the ways in which the public understands drug abuse and addiction because of the wealth of scientific data NIDA has amassed. NIDA further states that overcoming misconceptions and replacing ideology with scientific knowledge is the best hope for bridging the “great disconnect” – Read the rest of this entry »

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Government spending costs in regards to substance abuse and addiction reached $467.7 billion in 2005, according to a study released last month. The report, released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), was based on three years of research, and is the first ever study to assess the costs of alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, prescription drug abuse, addiction and its consequences when it comes to all levels of governmental expenditures.
The study also found that 96 percent of the federal and state government spending was used on alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, prescription drug abuse, addiction and its consequences, in contrast to only two percent that went toward prevention and treatment. So for every dollar that is spent on prevention and treatment, $50 go towards programs addressing the effects. Of the money, governments spend the most on health care costs associated with substance abuse (58 percent) followed by the costs due to crime and homelessness (13 percent). Read the rest of this entry »

Big Island Recovery Beach

The effects of alcohol addiction range across all aspects of the individuals life. The main effect is the individual drinking alcohol in overabundance at times that they should not thereby causing damage to themselves and possibly others. Some of the potential effects of alcohol addiction include but are not limited to the following: Physical effects: cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, alcoholic dementia, heart disease, nutritional deficiencies, sexual dysfunction, and death from many sources. Social effects: Marital conflict and divorce, social alienation because of behavior. Economic Effects: loss of employment, financial problems such as loss of living quarters, poor judgment, Legal Consequences: charges for drunk driving or public disorder. There is also the possibility of domestic violence either to spouse or children. Emotional Consequences: alcohol abuse can affect the individual drinking as well as the recipients of probable abuse. For instance, an alcoholic’s children can experience delays or damage to their emotional development. Friends and family who perceive alcoholism as self inflicted may lose respect for the alcoholic further diminishing his or her social support network. Get yourself or your loved ones on the right track to recovery call Michael Larroque at 866-515-5032 @ Hawaii Island Recovery today and start a new wonderful life.

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Maintaining comprehensive bio-behavioral understanding of addiction also speaks to what needs to be provided in drug treatment programs.
At Hawaii Island Recovery we are careful not to pit biology against behavior.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently published Principles of Effective Drug Addiction Treatment provides a detailed discussion of how we must treat all aspects of the individual, not just the biological component or the behavioral component.
As with other brain diseases such as schizophrenia and depression, the data show that the best drug addiction treatment approaches attend to the entire individual, combining the use of medications, behavioral therapies, and attention to necessary social services and rehabilitation.
These include such services as family therapy to enable the patient to return to successful family life, mental health services, education and vocational training, and housing services.
That does not mean, of course, that all individuals need all components of treatment and all rehabilitation services. Another principle of effective addiction treatment is that the array of services included in an individual’s treatment plan must be matched to his or her particular set of needs. Read the rest of this entry »

Diving at Big Island Recovery

There is at least one genetic test for an allele that is associated to alcoholism and opiate addiction. Though this allele is more common in individuals with alcohol addiction, there is no conclusive evidence that the presence of this gene is necessary for alcohol addiction. Some researchers argue that the evidence for such alleles is contradictory. There is a theory that alcohol was discovered and utilized as a replacement for polluted drinking reservoirs in urban society. In this case, death from liver disease was preferred to death by waterborne disease. Over time, this resulted in a selection process of genes that were able to handle more alcohol. Essentially the population changed from being a predominately hunter-gatherer society to more urban. This theory explains why certain groups like Aborigines or Native Americans have a higher alcohol tolerance.
Alcoholism can be a lifelong struggle. Though behaviors are changed, relapse is always a possibility and often occurs. Relapse does not mean an individual is doomed to alcoholism.
Call Hawaii Island Recovery at  866-515-5032 today and talk to Michael Larroque for more information.

Sea Shells - Big Island Recovery

As of 2003, 77 alcohol treatment and drug rehabilitation centers in Hawaii served more than 3,000 patients. State-funded institutions and private centers administer various drug rehab programs such as behavioral and cognitive therapies, long-term and short-term treatments, the 12-step program, and confinement to residential facilities. However, majority of patients with drug dependence and alcoholism problems still prefer programs for an outpatient course of treatment.

The initial phase of most treatments is known as the detox program. Through alcohol or drug detox, the patient is relieved from accumulated toxins. The process usually results in physical discomfort but in due time, may help the body adjust from the withdrawal symptoms. Interventions and counseling are also recommended. The patients are normally advised to join support groups to sustain the progress. Meanwhile, after-care treatments are also available to avoid relapse.

The success of any rehabilitation program lies on active participation of the patient and his family. Although full-recovery is not an absolute guarantee, professional treatments help patients be more prepared to lead a normal life. Call Hawaii Island Recovery today for the help you deserve from people that are didicated to your health and recovery.

Common Room - Big Island Recovery

Heroin is a semi-synthetic opioid heroin. It is highly addicted drug derived from morphine. It was first processed in 1874 by C.R. Alder Wright, an English chemist can be used both for pain-killer and as recreational drug. Heroin frequently leaves its effects on addicts and and may quickly lead to other addictive behaviors. It is white to dark brown powder. It can be harmful to lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain.
There are many ways to take Heroin, it can be injected into vein, injected into a muscle, smoked in a water pipe or standard pipe, mixed in a marijuana joint or regular cigarette, inhaled as smoke through a straw, known as “chasing the dragon,” or snorted as powder via the nose. These are the symptoms of heroin: rush, pleasure, euphoria, nausea, comfort, lack of pain, happiness, drowsiness, warmth, heaviness, constipation, floating, blurriness, contentment, a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. It is considered illegal to manufacture or sell heroin in the United States. Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seedpod of Read the rest of this entry »

Sunset - Big Island Recovery

Many people do not understand why individuals become addicted to drugs or how drugs change the brain to foster compulsive drug abuse. They mistakenly view drug abuse and addiction as strictly a social problem and may characterize those who take drugs as morally weak. One very common belief is that drug abusers should be able to just stop taking drugs if they are only willing to change their behavior. What people often underestimate is the complexity of drug addiction that it is a disease that impacts the brain and because of that, stopping drug abuse is not simply a matter of willpower. Through scientific advances we now know much more about how exactly drugs work in the brain, and we also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated to help people stop abusing drugs and resume their productive lives. That is what we do here at Hawaii Island Recovery. Helping people resume productive lives is our hope and desire. Call Michael Larroque at Hawaii Island Recovery’s office at 866-515-5032 now and start your journey to health and happiness.