Addiction Science

How to Support a Loved One in Addiction Recovery

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Alcohol, Recovery

Staying drug- and alcohol-free is a life-long journey. If you have a friend or family member going through addiction recovery and are looking for ideas on how to show your support, consider the following: Learn About Addiction An important first step in supporting a friend or family member going through addiction recovery is to understand addiction. Read about addiction recovery from trusted authorities. Those who become familiar with the problems of addiction gain a better understanding of their loved ones. You can follow our Dream Journal blog for biweekly articles on addiction treatment.   Encourage Addiction Recovery Treatment Treatment for …

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Do Genes Increase Your Risk for Developing an Addiction?

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Alcohol, Research/Trends/Statistics

The genetics of addiction is a complex topic that researchers are just beginning to unravel. There is little doubt that substance use disorders are at least partially heritable and that certain genes increase the risk for individuals initiating drug use and continuing drug use, as well as use of other drugs and alcohol. However, researchers’ understanding of this topic is in its infancy; only a few genes have been linked to substance use disorders. At Two Dreams we often find that our patients have at least one relative with a history of addiction, though of course that is not always …

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Tips to Having an Intervention

April 7, 2020 / Addiction Science, Intervention

Getting a loved one into treatment can be a difficult task, especially if the individual struggling with addiction is in denial about their disease. Treatment is most effective when the addicted person has an inner desire to change and enter into recovery, but sometimes this internal shift only comes about with a push in the right direction. In some cases, staging an intervention may be the push that your loved one needs. Our expert staff understands how difficult it can be to have a loved one with an addiction and we are here to help. We would be more than …

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12 Reasons Exercise Aids Addiction Recovery

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Alcohol, Healthy Living

Exercise is an important part of living a healthy life for everyone, but it is especially important for individuals in recovery. In a study examining the exercise behaviors of individuals in an outpatient addiction treatment program, however, only 29% were actually working out. The most common reasons cited for this low number were lack of time, difficulties with transportation, and lack of money. Most of the patients were interested in exercising but noted that they lacked the motivation to work through their perceived barriers. We’ve provided a list of motivational reasons to exercise below, and we hope it helps to …

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Opioids: Who Is Using Them and Why?

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Heroin and Opioids, Hydrocodone, Oxycodone

Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States; 44 people die every day from prescription drug overdose. Recently, it came to light that a large portion of these drug-related deaths (6 out of every 10 cases) were caused by one family of drugs: opioids. Public health officials say that this opioid problem has been growing over the past 15 years, and it can no longer be ignored. Opioid Drug Use Is on the Rise Painkiller prescription availability and drug use has been on the rise for years. In 1991, 76 million doses of oxycodone (OxyContin) …

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Neurostimulation for Drug Addiction: Therapy of the Future

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Drugs and the Brain, Mental Health

Neurostimulation is being investigated as a tool used to treat many neurological disorders, like depression, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and addiction. For most of these conditions, neurostimulation is considered an investigational treatment not yet proved as a viable therapy or covered by health insurance.   Approved Neurostimulation Therapies There is substantial evidence that the neurostimulation technique called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is effective in treating major depression, although no health insurance plans currently cover it. However, research institutions such as John Hopkins are using it to help with treatment-resistant depression, and The Royal Australian and New …

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Cannabis-based Drug, Sativex, Treats Cannabis Withdrawal

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Marijuana, Research/Trends/Statistics

Cannabis is one of the most commonly used recreational drugs, with about 22.2 million users in the United States. Although a seemingly small percentage (7%-9%) of users develop a dependency, the total number of people needing treatment is significant at between 1.5 and 2 million people. Marijuana is designated a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has no potential medical benefits, so medical research on the substance has been extremely difficult. The difficulty in experimenting with cannabis-based products has stagnated the development of pharmacotherapy for cannabis dependence worldwide. Fortunately, the development of the UK drug Sativex, a cannabis-based drug approved …

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Can Neurostimulation Prevent Nicotine Cravings?

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Drugs and the Brain, Research/Trends/Statistics, Tobacco/Nicotine

Only 6% of the 1 billion individuals who try to quit smoking are successful for longer than one month. For this reason, it can be argued that the current tobacco secession tools are inadequate and that there is a need to develop better products/methods to facilitate secession. One of the challenges with quitting any drug is battling cravings. When a person is exposed to certain environmental cues, for instance seeing others smoke or being in a place where the person used to smoke, the urge may return. In response to this issue, researchers are developing neurostimulation techniques that may help …

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Is My Urine Drug Test Positive?

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Drug Testing, Marijuana

Urine drug screening tests are often performed in clinical settings to determine whether or not an individual has taken drugs recently and still has them in their system. These tests use specific antibodies to capture and detect drug breakdown products that are secreted out of the body during urination. A different type of urine screening process is required for each different drug, so positive results have different numerical values and mean different things. For instance, the drugs marijuana and cocaine contain two different chemicals, and they are broken down in the body at different rates into different byproducts. Because they …

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