Month: July 2009

 

A recent study reports that teenage girls who use drugs and alcohol are more likely to make decisions that negatively affect their lives. They are more likely to contract STD’s and have unplanned pregnancies. Drugs and alcohol go hand in hand with poor decision making, which includes having unprotected, unplanned sex. When I was drinking and using, sex was a big part of my destructive repertoire. I used people to feel better just like I used drugs. When I was drinking and using, I didn’t think through consequences and only lived for instant gratification.

In teen drug treatment, it was important for me to address all of the ways I endangered myself in my addiction. I slept with people I didn’t want to. I drove intoxicated, or rode in the car with people who were under the influence. I put myself in dangerous situations. Being loaded left me vulnerable to people that could hurt me or take advantage of me. I damaged my body and my self worth.

Part of my recovery process has been to learn to value myself. By respecting myself, I surround myself with people that respect me. When I am going to do anything, I think through the possible consequences, good and bad. I listen to other people’s experiences and advice. I think about how my actions affect myself and other people. Today, my life isn’t about trying to find things outside of myself to feel better. It’s about being a healthier person who respects herself. I have choices today. Drugs and alcohol do not govern my behaviors. When I do something today, it’s because I chose it. My life is the way it is today because I made the choice to begin the recovery process and give myself a second chance.

Give your teen a second chance!

Mischa Barton has been involuntarily hospitalized in Los Angeles, with early reports speculating that she recently felt suicidal and out of control following a cocaine binge. She was due to appear at the premier of her new movie in New York this weekend, but friends called police to her LA home after they became concerned about her behavior. Mischa has hit the tabloids a lot recently following getting kicked out of a London night club, her yo-yoing weight, and erratic behavior. She has already been arrested for DUI. Cocaine use can lead to extreme paranoia, weight loss, erratic behavior and psychosis, including suicidal ideation. I hope that Ms Barton can find some peace during this time.
When I was using, I thought that suicide was my only option. I didn’t think that it would be possible for me to get clean and have a decent life. The life I have today is beyond decent. I am free from active addiction to cocaine and I have a new life. Teen cocaine rehab gave me a chance to take a break from my toxic life and really helped me find new tools to live a better life. It was helpful for me to be removed from my using friends and to be surrounded by other recovering teens. Being in a completely recovery based environment helped me to focus solely on staying sober and getting healthy. I can’t imagine having all of my business splashed across the tabloids when I was in the pain of my addiction and early recovery. I hope that Mischa gets the help she needs and is able to find the gift of recovery that I got in teen residential drug treatment.

Last night my friend and I went to a party to celebrate our friend’s tenth anniversary in recovery. She got clean when she was fifteen in adolescent outpatient in Newport Beach and has stayed clean since. It is really inspiring to see someone get clean at the age that we did and to actually stay clean. Sometimes it is easy for me to tell myself that I was just going through a phase and that I was as an adolescent too young to be an addict or alcoholic, but I think that since I needed all of that help at such a young age, it’s not likely that my life would have gotten better if I hadn’t gotten clean.
Getting clean young can seem like a death sentence, but seeing people who have stayed clean and had their lives improve helps me maintain hope. Sometimes people in 12 step meetings or my old friends made me feel uncomfortable about how young I was when I got clean, but since I was there to save my life, it didn’t matter what they thought. Having a strong support group and recovering friends in my age group really helped me feel like I wasn’t alone and that I was doing the right thing.
Watching my friend celebrate her tenth anniversary clean and sober reminded me of my own commitment to recovery after adolescent drug treatment. I was definitely reluctant at first, but in teen outpatient treatment in Newport Beach, I was introduced to other young people trying to turn their lives around and it started to seem like a doable thing. I love my life in sobriety today, and no one can take it away from me. I feel lucky that I got clean so young, and that I didn’t have to waste half of my life in active addiction. I have a fresh start, and a chance to tackle life with some really useful tools.

If your teen is struggling with drug and alcohol abuse, they can have a fresh start too. Please contact us today.

I started to use drugs because I thought that it would help me fit in with my peers. I felt so uncomfortable with myself and drugs and alcohol initially helped to numb those uncomfortable feelings. As my using progressed, the numbing effects were less pronounced and the unmanageability of my life created a need to use more and more. When I went to Visions adolescent drug rehab, I felt like I was the only person on earth who felt the way I felt. Using drugs and alcohol had created this cosmic loneliness where it felt impossible to connect with people on anything but a superficial level. As I listened to my peers in treatment, I began to hear the same things over and over: We all felt alone, disconnected, and misunderstood. It was no longer possible for me to claim that no one understood what I was going through, because I was surrounded by a house full of other teens struggling with the same feelings.

As I began to identify with my peers and with other recovering addicts and alcoholics that I heard in AA and NA meetings and panels of recovering addicts that visited us, I began to feel safe enough to let others into my life. No longer was I a lonely, misunderstood teen addict. My peers and my treatment team heard me, and suddenly my feelings were valid. When I was using I wanted to be heard. I didn’t want someone to fix me, I just wanted them to hear me. As I began to share my life with others, I began to let them love me. They believed in me and wanted to see me get clean. To them, I wasn’t a lost cause. The treatment staff absolutely believed that I could stay clean, and for that I began to believe it myself. The love and support I found in teen drug and alcohol treatment spilled over into my life when I left. Because they believed in me and gave me the tools I needed to be successful on “the outside,” I continue to be vigilant about my recovery. I know that what I have is a gift, and I will do everything in my power to cherish it. It helps to have people on your side.

If your teen is struggling with drugs and alcohol, contact Visions today. No one has to do this alone.

Reports of Michael Jackson’s prescription drug abuse have been flooding the media. Recent articles depict a heavy addiction to painkillers and the anti-anxiety drug, Xanax. People surrounding Jackson have reported that he visited doctors in different states and had staff members fill prescriptions in their names in order to maintain his intense habit. It is a tragedy when anyone succumbs to the wrath of addiction, and the only positive thing that may come of Jackson’s death is that it has highlighted the dangers and seriousness of prescription drug abuse. What I would hope to see from the media is a more intense scrutiny of our prescription drug problem in the United States. Rather than focus on Jackson, we should focus on the problem of prescription drug abuse.
Prescription drug abuse has steadily been on the rise in the US, and it is rapidly becoming one of the most popular forms of drug abuse for teenagers as it has nearly eclipsed marijuana abuse in teens. Many studies indicate that parents are less likely to suspect that their teen is abusing pills, but more and more teens indicate that they are. Xanny-bars, bars, z bars, and white ladders are terms Visions Adolescent Drug Treatment Center commonly hears residents using to describe Xanax. Xanax is in the group of drugs called Benzodiazepines, or benzos, which are commonly prescribed to treat anxiety disorders. The scored tablets (bars) are white and the other tablets are yellow or blue. Xanax is habit forming and does cause withdrawal symptoms. Prescription drug abuse amongst teens is a very real problem. Teens often combine Xanax with other drugs to create dangerous cocktails. Teens rarely think of Xanax as a serious drug and often believe its abuse has no risks. Many people may overlook Xanax abuse but drug dependence is dangerous and harmful no matter what the substance. If you believe that your teen has a problem with Xanax or other drugs, don’t hesitate to seek help today.

— Post From My iPhone

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.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N06RmpdCzkU]

Psychological difficulties, including confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and paranoia — during and sometimes weeks after taking Ecstasy (psychotic episodes have also been reported).

Physical symptoms such as muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, rapid eye movement, faintness, and chills or sweating.

Marked increase in body temperature (hyperthermia), which may further be exacerbated by the hot and crowded conditions characteristic of the rave environment. Hyperthermia can lead to liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system failure.

Increases in heart rate and blood pressure, a special risk for people with circulatory or heart disease. Other cardiac effects include arrhythmia, heart muscle damage, and reductions in heart rate and blood pressure. (Initially, Ecstasy increases heart rate and blood pressure, but following repeated use, this effect is reversed.)

Ecstasy can affect the hormone that regulates the amount of sodium in the blood, which can also cause hyponatremia (water intoxication).

Chronic use of Ecstasy has been associated with memory impairment, which may indicate damage to the parts of the brain involved in memory processing.

Sometimes a rash that looks like acne will appear on the skin which has been linked with liver damage.

Please click here if think your teen may be using ecstasy adolescent ecstasy drug treatment.

A study published by the July 2009 journal, Pediatrics, has determined that teens with a fatalistic attitude are more likely to engage in risky behavior such as adolescent drug use and fighting. It’s not surprising; as an invincible teen, it’s hard to imagine how actions in your youth will affect your life in the future. (For example, sometimes I wish I could go back and punch my teenage self for dropping classes and messing up my GPA because now I actually care about going to college.) “Live fast, die young,” is an enticing motto for teens, and the inability or unwillingness to consider future consequences makes it really hard to even want to get clean. Since I didn’t think I would live past 25, I didn’t care much about how my actions would affect my future.
In adolescent drug rehab, it was still hard to develop a strong desire to get clean, but as I stuck around, that began to change. When I realized that I could be of use to someone else, I started to want to live. After I’d been in drug treatment a few weeks, a new resident arrived and was having a lot of problems adjusting. She was extremely resistant and plotted ways to escape. I knew that I had had similar problems when I first arrived in drug treatment, and seeing how ridiculous and desperate her ideas seemed, I had a bit of clarity. I didn’t want her to go out and use, so why would I want that for myself? That little realization helped me refocus my attitude in treatment. I reached out to her and tried to offer the little bit of experience I had gained in how to stay put. I realized that even though I didn’t have years of wisdom, I knew how to stay in treatment for three weeks, and that was more than she knew. That small spark of a friendship gave me a purpose that week. As time has gone on, I have more and more purpose. There are more and more people that I have connected with. Small “esteemable” acts have helped my self worth grow tremendously. As I learned that I was worthy to others, my life began to have meaning, and a fatalistic attitude seemed pretty impractical and not at all glamorous. The article points out that teens with fatalistic attitudes are like big walking red flags for more and more trouble down the road.

If your teen is engaging in self destructive behaviors like teenage drinking and drug abuse, help exists to help stop it before it’s too late. I’m so glad I got my second chance, and I hope others will too.

Please click here if you live in Agoura Teen drug treatment.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eONcJJWlKKo]

This weekend, as we celebrated our nation’s freedom, I chose to celebrate my own personal freedom as well- freedom from active addiction to drugs and alcohol. Adolescent Addiction continues to plague our country, and to get a second chance at life is definitely a cause to celebrate. As a teen, I struggled with drug and alcohol dependence. I didn’t think I could ever function without using drugs and alcohol. The problem was that I had ceased to function while using. My parents intervened and sent me to adolescent drug treatment. I was angry, scared, and confused, but a part of me was also hopeful. I heard from other recovering addicts and alcoholics that they had managed to find recovery from their addiction, so maybe I could too.
It has been a challenging journey, full of painful changes and growth, and wonderful achievements and successes too. If I had to describe my teen addiction in Fourth of July terms, it would be like this: My addiction was like England, taxing me without representation. I was paying a heavy price without seeing any benefits. Treatment was like the Revolutionary War. I had to fight a tough battle, but I eventually came out the victor. In order to maintain my more perfect union with myself now, I must remain vigilant and follow the same procedure that I laid out in the foundation of my recovery. I go to young peoples’s AA meetings like they taught me to do in drug treatment. I use the tools I was taught, like journaling and reaching out to my support group. This weekend, when my peer group is drinking and partying, I will have a blast with my sober friends, celebrating our Independence from a life of addiction.

If your teen is seeking freedom, let this be the beginning. Contact Visions today for adolescent drug treatment.

From Blogger Pictures

It’s beach body season at the news stands and that can be a bit of a trigger for a person recovering from a adolescent eating disorder. I have made huge strides in the last few years since I went to treatment to deal with my eating disorder, but seeing all of those magazines promising perfect bodies or critiquing those that aren’t makes feel weird. I know now that nobody can have a perfect body, and after a few graphic design classes, I’ve learned the magic of photoshop, but being bombarded by the media to get “perfect” sometimes triggers my disease.
When I feel insecure, I have to go back to my core tools. The way I feel about myself is based on my insides- who I am- not what dress size I am. It was horrifying when I had to throw away all of my pre-treatment clothes. They were all too small! I wanted to hold onto them in case I lost the weight again, but I had to realize that was a reservation to relapse. Letting go of the clothes helped signify my continued commitment to recovery. Recovery from a eating disorder is an inside job. It has taken a long time to deal with my insecurities and need for control. Even though those feelings still arise, I don’t have to act on them. I can argue with those feelings better now. So when I see “Get Your Perfect Beach Body!” screaming at me from a newsstand, I may at first feel enticed, but then I check myself and remember that no amount of dieting and exercise would ever make me perfect, or make me feel whole. When I feel triggered, I journal, or call my sponsor, or talk to friends. I tell myself affirmations in the mirror! As cheesy as it sounds, I tell myself, “I’m enough. I’m enough,” over and over. Because I am. Recovering from an adolescent eating disorder is a difficult journey, and I couldn’t have done it without the support that I found in treatment. I had no idea how to go it alone. I couldn’t have done it alone.

If your teen is struggling with an eating disorder, don’t hesitate to contact us for adolescent eating disorder treatment in Santa Monica. Beach body season doesn’t have to mean continued self abuse. It doesn’t mean anything at all. I feel good about me today, and that’s all that matters.