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Tips to remain sober after addiction recovery

Taking steps to enter for addiction recovery is a big step and maintaining your sobriety is another workload entirely. Sobriety involves not being under the influence of a behavioral or substance addiction.  

Staying sober after recovering from addiction is an extreme sport especially if you don’t know what to do. However, with these steps, your sobriety can be lifelong after addiction recovery.

  • Know your triggers

What triggers another individual might not affect you. This is why your addiction recovery journey should be as personal as possible. In addiction recovery, you will be assisted to identify your triggers and develop coping strategies to manage them.

  • Don’t repeat old and unhealthy habits

You need to be careful when engaging in some habits you used to do before entering addiction recovery. Some of these habits are associated with triggers; they can subtly draw you back into addiction.

Therefore, you need to take deliberate steps to only engage in activities that ascertain your sobriety, and not habits that will make you addicted again.

  • Seek to build healthy relationships

The relationships you keep matter a lot after addiction recovery. When you were in treatment, you will be guided on how to choose the right set of friends that will keep your sobriety intact. Therefore, when you realize that the habits of some of your old friends don’t encourage your sobriety, it is best to keep your distance. 

  • Find support

If it is quite challenging to make new friends, you can join a support group. With a support group, you will spend more time with like-minds, and encourage one another to keep remaining sober.

Along the line, you will make friends from the support group who will become agelong pals.

To wrap up, it is essential to always seek help and advice from a counselor on some of the challenges you might be facing in remaining sober.

They will help you develop fresh thinking patterns and treat any mental health conditions that is making sobriety look impossible.

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How Long Does A Hangover Last? What to Know About Two-Day Hangovers

Alcohol can irritate the lining of your stomach, which can make any hangover-induced nausea, abdominal pain, or vomiting worse, says Boris. Lots of people have sensitivities to certain food or chemicals they don’t even know about. Believe it or not, how many drinks you have doesn’t appear have a significant impact on how long a hangover lasts, according to a 2017 study.

Hangovers are the result of too much drinking, which is a form of alcohol abuse. When hangovers become more frequent, or if you notice you are unable to control how much you drink, you may be suffering from alcohol use disorder (AUD). AUD is a physical and psychological disorder that causes alcohol dependence. The best way to prevent AUD, and frequent hangovers, is to limit the amount of alcohol you consume. Some hangovers, known as a two-day hangover, last anywhere from 48 to 72 hours. These hangovers are usually the result of heavy drinking and can have lasting effects.

Signs You’re Suffering from Bad Hangovers

“Rather, it may have been due to the water you drank, the food you ate before drinking or even the type of alcohol you had,” Beaver says. Time is our most valuable resource, and our goal at Toast! Whether that’s sticking around with friends for one more drink, getting a good night’s sleep the night before a big meeting, or just helping your body feel its best day to day, remember to Toast! A single alcoholic drink is enough to trigger a hangover for some people, while others may drink heavily and escape a hangover entirely.

Also, make sure you have at least one glass of water for each alcoholic beverage consumed. The relationship with a patient and their primary care doctor can be extremely valuable, and that’s what you get with UPMC Primary Care. When you work with a primary care physician (PCP), you develop a lasting relationship. Your doctor will get to know you and your history and can plan your treatments accordingly.

Things to avoid

And yet, when you’re feeling your worst the morning after, there’s nothing you want more than to make that hangover headache (and the rest of the issues alcohol causes) to disappear. Electrolyte-packed beverages, nourishing foods, hydration, and time are all key factors when determining when a hangover will let up. Like so many other answers to science questions, “it depends.” Body weight and gender are very important factors. While five to eight drinks https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-long-does-a-hangover-last-how-to-ease-a-hangover-tips/ for the average man, and three to five drinks for the average woman, are enough to cause some degree of hangover, specific effects will vary greatly between individuals. Certain ethnic groups (Japanese, for example) have a genetically reduced ability to break down acetaldehyde, the main byproduct of alcohol, as it is first processed in the liver. This results in more reddening of the skin (““Asian flush”) and hangovers at lower amounts of alcohol.

how long does a hangover last

This substance can cause a fast pulse, sweating and nausea. In most people, the body breaks down acetaldehyde before it causes problems. But it can cause inflammation in organs, leading to uncomfortable symptoms. You’re also more likely to have memory, concentration and coordination problems when you have a hangover. In general, the severity of your symptoms depends on how much you drank and for how long.

Nutrition and Healthy Living

How severe hangover symptoms are and how long a hangover lasts can depend on various factors, including your age, weight, and tolerance to alcohol. However, a typical hangover can last around 24 hours from when you stopped drinking alcohol. A hangover is a group of unpleasant symptoms that develop after drinking too much alcohol. Hangovers typically occur the morning after you drink alcohol, although symptoms can start to develop shortly after drinking. As a general rule of thumb, the more alcohol you drink, the more likely you are to have a hangover the next day. This is also true for the severity and length of the hangover, although many factors can change this.

  • As a result, you’re more likely to throw up and have your hangover linger for a longer period.
  • Early research shows that probiotics may help in some way, and private companies hope to make products — that you’d take after drinking or before — to ease symptoms.
  • There’s no quick fix when it comes to hangovers, but there are several things you can do to make things more manageable as you wait it out.

We have a luxury selection of hangover remedies that can be delivered to you in the privacy of your home, office, or hotel room through intravenous fluid therapy. At The I.V. Doc, we are familiar with the discomfort that can be caused by hangovers, which is why we crafted this guide on how long a hangover lasts and traced some of our most effective hangover remedies. Your liver is often an unsung hero, fulfilling over 500 jobs without complaint — follow these five tips to avoid liver disease and keep yours running at maximum efficiency. Your body’s already under a little bit of strain during your period, and since alcohol can dehydrate you, it can deplete your energy even more on your period, says Dr. Cox.

Hangover Headache

Any designations or references to therapies are for marketing purposes only and do not represent actual products. Even the best of us forget to hydrate sometimes, and when alcohol is in the mix, you can end up with a cluster of uncomfortable symptoms and feelings of regret the next day. At Heroes’ Mile, located in DeLand, Florida, we specialize in helping veterans overcome their alcohol addiction and mental health issues. Our treatment facility was built for veterans, by veterans, and offers our patients the world-class care they deserve. “If you get a beer, it’s often a pint, which is four ounces more than the recommended size.

Motor pathways become overactive, and blood sugar is processed less efficiently in the brain. As more and more ethanol molecules enter the membranes of the nerve cells, sedating effects develop. The effects of alcohol intoxication are relatively predictable based on measured blood alcohol content. Doctors aren’t sure why, but hangover symptoms are most intense when your blood alcohol returns to about zero. For most people, that’s when you wake up the next morning after a night of drinking.

It’s all uphill from here, even though it feels like a slow burn during your day of recovery. A hangover is unpleasant, but symptoms tend to go away within a day or so. If you drank too much alcohol and feel sick, try at-home hangover remedies such as drinking plenty of water, eating some carbs and sleeping. You need to let your body rid itself of the alcohol and heal. If excessive drinking and hangover symptoms are interfering with your life, talk to your healthcare provider. There is some evidence that vitamin B6 taken before drinking can be mildly helpful.

  • Everybody processes alcohol differently, so a few drinks for you might impact someone else completely different.
  • And when you don’t feel well, your job performance suffers.
  • Hangovers usually begin several hours after you stop drinking.
  • The stomach lining may become irritated, increasing nausea and the chance of bleeding.
  • Articles published on this site go through several rounds of review before publishing, including a clinical review conducted by UPMC medical experts.

That explains why a nasty hangover can continue to relentlessly lurk even after you’ve loaded up on water, painkillers, and a decent breakfast. Alcohol suppresses the release of vasopressin, a hormone produced by the brain that sends signals to the kidneys causing them to retain fluid. This lack of vasopressin makes you pee more and you lose more fluids. The services provided have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

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AFTERCARE TREATMENT POST ADDICTION

When addiction has been treated and the individual is certified to be rid of addiction, one important phase that should not be skipped is aftercare treatment.

It would interest you to know that, it is very risky for an individual to skip the aftercare treatment phase. The reason for this is, there is always a tendency for an individual to relapse even if he or she has fully recovered from addiction.

This is why rehabs are always advised to have a structure for aftercare treatment in place. The fact is, when people go back to their normal lives, there is a tendency for them to come in contact with possible cravings that could trigger their addiction.

In other cases, they might begin to encounter some incidences that can make them relapse.

For people who do not go for aftercare treatment, they would possibly get addicted again. An aftercare treatment is normally structured in line with the schedule of recovering individuals.

They are aware of the fact that they are about to return to their normal lives, so there is a need for treatments to go on so that they can cope with the emotional, mental and physical challenges that come with life.

Aftercare treatment comes with effective monitoring and during this stage, it is easy to know if an individual would relapse or not. So, from time to time, series of assessments would be conducted to know the state of health of the individual.

It is important to know that finishing a rehab program is not equivalent to total freedom from addiction. Total freedom is only attainable when there is an aftercare treatment is in place.

During this time, the individual would be exposed to all sorts of temptation and his or her performance would determine how they would fare in the long run.

To wrap it up, it is safe to say that an aftercare treatment is your best bet. It reduces the chance of you having a relapse and it is one of the integral features of a rehab that ensures you have a better life.

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GETTING BACK ON TRACK AFTER ADDICTION RECOVERY

One of the most difficult things for individuals who recover from addiction is to get their lives back in order.

Usually, one of the mistakes they make is to rush things oblivious of the fact that there are adverse effects attached to this. The best thing a recovering individual can do, is to take one step at a time.

One thing these individuals need to realize is, the world was not the same way they left it. Some changes must have occurred, both major and minor.

So, it is important to monitor these changes and see how you can fit into them. Giving life a huge kick-off after recovery does not allow you to foresee the unexpected. Hence, there is a danger of being affected by them.

When intending to get back on track after recovering from addiction, you need to realize that your friends are an integral part of all these.

You need to do away with friends who would contribute to your addiction. The time spent in rehab would have taught you a lot about this. By the time you are out, you will know those who are quintessential to your wellbeing.

In addition to this, there is a need for you to make amends. During the course of your addiction, there is a tendency that you would have offended some people with your mouth and actions.

So, it is necessary for you to make amends with these set of people. Sit and discuss with them and know what you have done wrong.

Furthermore, you must also be prepared to stick to a nutritious diet. One fact you must have learnt during addiction recovery is, your diet is a major contributing factor to you getting addicted or not.

To wrap it up, for you to chase your career and life dreams after recovering from addiction, it is essential to take things gradually. This is the phase where you act smartly. Draw out plans and make strategies towards achieving them, and you would be glad that they will roll out as planned.

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RECOVERY FROM ADDICTION BY PURPOSEFUL LIVING

Recovering from addiction can be difficult especially when it gets to the complex stage but leading a life of purpose and passion is a great way of pulling through the hold of addiction.

Purpose allows a person to be engaged and focused and provides a reason to live a fulfilling life. It makes living have direction and essence, and knowing what is needed to be achieved spurs one to have a genuine lifestyle.

A life of purpose comes with motivation, enthusiasm and drive to maintain a moderate lifestyle. It involves engaging in activities and interests in other to discover what actually brings happiness and joy and after discovery, trying sustain the new found passion. It sometimes means taking risks and also finding the needed confidence to fulfil the dreams of a better life.

Addiction is a stronghold that must be fought with in order to recover. There are certain things to consider in other to start living a purposeful life.

  • Recovery usually comes with fear of what it is like without the use of substances. An addict that is recovering would have a feeling of distress on what is or her life would actually become when it is no longer dependent on the use of the substance. Letting go of fear is crucial in living a purposeful life. This involves having confidence on the essence of recovery and ensuring to sustain it.

Also, eliminating fear encourages addicts to keep inspiring themselves to be open to the positive things life has to give them. Maintaining an optimistic mental attitude would help them live a life of passion without fear.

  • In recovery, there is a need to learn how to transform the agony of addiction into passion and zeal to be better. It is necessary for addicts to understand what makes them susceptible to the bonds of addiction and channel the feelings attached to it into a motivation.
  • A life of purpose involves living a life one loves and doing what makes one feel fulfilled. Before an addict can have a purpose oriented life, he or she must be able to attain a level of self-esteem and self-love. This gives them the ability to create a positive live of purpose and also to ponder on what life has to offer them and make the right choices.

Having a life of purpose and passion means there is a chance of getting rid of an addictive lifestyle and if difficulties arise there is an option for a better life. be a drug ����l

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Replacing Addiction with Good Works

end addiction with purposeEnding addiction is one of the most challenging things a person can put themselves through. Addiction can have a tight hold on a person that seems unbreakable. However, anyone who believes in their own ability to conquer addiction can take control of their lives and beat their addiction problems. You can end your addiction by focusing on positive, meaningful things to do with your time, such as focusing on a vocation, taking up a hobby, following a personal dream or offering a service.

When you take up a hobby, you restore joy to your life. It could be a brand new hobby or one that your addiction got in the way of. Many people have activities they enjoyed immensely until they became addicted, then the activity goes by the wayside. Now is your opportunity to bring your hobbies and passions back into your life. This may include travel, puzzles, gardening, art or a variety of other enjoyable activities.

Offering a service can be a very meaningful way of spending your time. Many people who have battled addiction claim that being of service to someone or something was what saved them from addiction. They felt it was a type of atonement for the selfish state they lived in during their addiction and are happy for the opportunity to reverse their selfishness. Some services a person may want to lend themselves to are feeding the homeless, helping people with disabilities, volunteering with children or animals and helping with disaster relief.

Addiction has a way of preventing a person from following through with their personal dreams and goals. Everyone has a bucket list of items they want to do in their lives before they die, and these things are of great meaning to them. With the addiction monkey off of your back, you are free to pursue these dreams with the energy and fervor of a person who has been given a second chance at life.

And lastly, focusing on a vocation, such as schooling or a career path, is very rewarding for many recovering addicts. The careers and vocations we pursue are a reflection of our truest purposes. Though an addict is distracted from their truest purposes, a recovering addict knows how important it is to take one’s purpose seriously and occupy your time with something truly meaningful.

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No to Substance Abuse, Yes to Purpose

no substance abuseThe key to ending substance abuse is replacing it with purpose in your life. Habitual substance abuse gets you into an unhealthy frame of mind. Unconsciously, you begin to focus your life on your substance abuse and you begin to neglect everything else going on around you. You neglect purposeful activities, good money management, personal relationships and your own health because of your desire to lose yourself in your substance abuse. If you begin to take back your life and refocus it on what is purposeful, one step at a time you will overcome your substance abuse.

Firstly, find ways of filling the time that you formerly spent on substance abuse with things that are purposeful, such as career aspirations, meaningful hobbies and personal vocations. Perhaps your substance abuse distracted you from a career path and you want to reclaim your ambition. Perhaps you have always intended to learn a musical instrument or a foreign language and substance abuse kept you from your goals. Or maybe you desire to travel and maintain a travel blog now that you have your sobriety back. Whatever your goals may be, they can serve as a way of defeating your substance abuse.

Your finances always suffer due to substance abuse. Recreational substances, such as alcohol, marijuana and elicit drugs are expensive. If you have been using any of these things enough to qualify as a substance abuser, you have probably damaged your finances. Now that you are motivated to take back your sobriety, take your new money management seriously and follow a careful budget.

It is important that you rekindle relationships that were lost during substance abuse. Substance abusers do not realize how they affect their loved ones being in a perpetually intoxicated state. It is likely that some of your relationships fell away from you as a result of your substance abuse, and now is the time to care for them again.

And lastly, substance abuse messes up your body chemistry and deteriorates your physical health. No doubt your body is very thankful that you are quitting your substance abuse, though it may come with some withdrawal symptoms. Take this time to focus on your health and heal the damage that was done during your substance abuse.

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Receiving Help With Addiction

addiction helpThe idea of filling up your life with meaningful activities and purpose is sometimes easier said than done. When you are caught up in the throws of addiction and can barely manage the life you have, the thought of seeking out more meaning in your life is nearly impossible. Those who are ready to take their lives back from addiction but do not know where to start should seek professional addiction treatment for guidance. Through addiction treatment, you will receive the support you need to move past your addiction and avoid relapsing in the future.

The reason that addiction treatment, typically rehabilitation, works is because of how intensive it is. Residential inpatient addiction treatment houses you to physically keep you from your addiction, allowing you to recover in peace and in safety. While you are there, not only is your physical health restored to you, but your mental health is, too. Through counseling, therapy and other psychological exercises, you will come to understand the underlying reasons you are addicted and how to rewire your thinking and behavior to model healthier patterns. In addition, you will receive ongoing support even after the treatment is done, in the form of continued counseling, support groups, sponsorship and other addiction network services.

Do not let yourself believe that you should fight addiction alone. Many people are afraid to admit to weakness, even to themselves, so they try to manage their addiction tendencies in private. This regularly fails because an addict is the last person capable of holding themselves accountable for their addiction. Treatment is the only method that consistently proves successful because it is managed by mental health professionals and addiction specialists who have already helped treat many addiction cases. If you or someone in your life has fallen into the clutches of addiction, it is highly recommended that you reach out for help. Recovery is possible for those who are willing to work at it.

Things to Do Other than Abuse Substances

meaning in place of substance abuseFor people who have become addicted to a substance or who are perpetually abusing a substance, thinking of things to do other than use the substance can be difficult. After all, addiction, by definition, is something that consumes your thoughts and desires. When you are addicted, your world revolves around indulging in your addiction. A majority of your thoughts, time, money and energy are devoted to your addiction. For this reason, it is not surprising that you cannot get your mind off of it long enough to imagine how else you could be spending your time. Below are some ideas of how to reconnect to more purposeful activities and pursuits that will be challenging enough to keep you occupied but that will be therapeutic enough to keep you happy.

  • Become involved in the arts. Addicts frequently have abilities that lend themselves to the arts. Not always, but often, the same personal qualities that lead a person to experiment with an addictive substance or activity are the same qualities that lead them to be experimental with their creativity and imagination, making them gifted in the arts.
  • Take up an enjoyable hobby. Finding the recreational activity you enjoy the most can be a very important tool to your addiction recovery. A rewarding hobby has numerous benefits for your mental health, and can even turn into a vocation or career.
  • Find a way of helping people. For those who love to connect with others, it can be very rewarding and meaningful to reach out to those in need, perhaps even to those who are not as far along in their own addiction recovery.
  • Return to school. Continuing in ongoing education or pursuing an education in a new field is very mentally invigorating and stimulating for many people. In addition, it creates many opportunities for the student.
  • Undergo a career change. Not everyone chooses the career that is most sustainable to them on the first go. If your work is leaving you unsatisfied, start over in a new field to keep life from becoming stagnant and to keep addiction at bay.
  • Exercise and do physical activities. Exercise will restore your health from the ravages of addiction and challenge you to meet fitness goals.

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Purpose as the Cornerstone of Sobriety

purpose and sobrietyMost stories of substance abuse begin in the same way: boredom and lack of direction. Even when someone abuses a prescription medication, there is much more beneath the surface of the substance abuse than meets the eye. And those who arrive at a full recovery from substance abuse often say the same thing: that they have regained the meaning in their life. Substance abuse is prompted by more than chemical addiction alone, although chemistry does play a part. All instances of substance abuse signify a piece of a person that is missing, and sobriety is the turning point for this trend.

When people begin abusing a substance, even if it is unconscious, it is because they do not feel complete. This may be in a deeply grievous way – someone is depressed because of a loss in their life and they abuse a substance in order to escape the pain. Or perhaps someone simply feels that their life is void of excitement so they turn to substance abuse to entertain themselves. In either instance, the person feels that there is something missing and attempts to fill the void with a substance.

Addiction counseling is more than simply a way of ending addiction. It is a way of treating the entire broken person and coaching them back to a purpose driven life. Many recovering substance abusers have claimed that they feel they were given a second chance at life through sobriety. This does not indicate that they stayed the same as a person but simply quit their substance abuse. This indicates an awakening in their life of purpose – the most sustainable reason for sobriety. When someone discovers their passion, whether it is for writing or chess or gardening, they are inspired to stay sober in order to pursue excellence in what they are passionate about.

If you or someone you love is a substance abuser, do not hesitate to reach out to a substance abuse counselor or mental health professional today. There is no shame in needing help in getting your life back on track, and there is no point in struggling and failing through it alone when there are professionals who know how to guide a person through the entire life process of reconnecting with their purpose.