The Alcoholic’s Rescue
With one in every ten people at risk, addiction is gaining prominence in the medical field as emergency rooms cope with the consequences of alcohol consumption, including overdoses, car accidents, chemical withdrawal, and organ problems involving the liver and pancreas. Bridging that gap will influence the first 10% of the population while also reducing the ripple effect of alcoholism on the remainder of the people. Tips for iboga for sale.
Taking alcohol away produces a sober human, not a rehabilitated one. The concept of eliminating ethanol alcohol as a therapy appears straightforward. Liquor, to the drinker, is the solution, not the issue. “Why don’t they just stop drinking?” asks emergency department employees at all levels.
If it were that straightforward, the number of people dying from alcohol-related causes would be falling rather than increasing to a startling 88,000 in 2013, according to the National Institute of Health. Men make up 62,000 of that population, while women contribute 26,000 fatalities.
Once a genetic tendency to addiction is initiated by casual usage that grows in amount and frequency to get the desired impact, the alcoholic must totally refrain from all forms of liquor. Alcoholism is never cured. However, it does go into remission, similar to cancer. ‘Flare-ups’ develop due to the person’s mental concern with finding relief from life’s storms through drinking.
The disorder is described as “cunning, perplexing, and powerful” by participants in the Alcoholics Anonymous program. Humans convert ethanol alcohol into acetaldehyde, which is then converted into acetate. Both finally make it to the brain. Non-alcoholics gradually transform a drink into the first, then fast into the second.
A potential addict’s liver quickly converts alcohol to acetaldehyde and then slowly to acetate. This distinction may influence who develops alcoholism. The rate at which the body transforms alcohol into acetate is the most critical predictor of who may develop an addiction.
Alcoholism is a chronic disease. Total abstinence must be maintained, or the ‘kindling” process will occur. This begins with each recurrence and causes more significant organ damage. Many people postpone quitting because they are afraid of withdrawal symptoms. As use continues, indications of misuse emerge, ranging from morning hand tremors to disorganized thinking.
Poly-addictions are becoming more common and severe, clouding the issue. When alcohol is used with medicines, whether prescription or illegal, the outcomes are disastrous. A critical care nurse, Deborah Maresca, was driving into oncoming traffic and colliding head-on with another vehicle after mixing alcohol and prescription medicines.
Maresca understands she is lucky to be alive after using up to 25 Hydrocodone pills daily, along with an entire liter of rum. “I drank or used every day,” she said. “Now I don’t have to wake up every day thinking about where I’m going to get money to buy for my addiction,” Maresca explained.
“I don’t have to worry about what I did the night before,” she adds. “My conscience’s voice is louder than my addiction’s,” she says of her sober existence.
In the United States, alcoholism is handled with talk therapy, medicines such as Antabuse (which induces a violent reaction when coupled with alcohol), and groups such as AA. Other countries are experimenting with new ways, with varied results.
Formal studies are scarce, but word of mouth is causing an internet uproar about Ayahuasca in South America, Kudzu in China, and the peculiar benefits of Tabernanthe Iboga, better known as Ibogaine, a plant from West Africa.
An alkaloid in the Ibogaine plant acts as a dopamine blocker, and some addicts claim that after only one treatment, the addiction, withdrawal, and cravings are gone. However, the naturally occurring psychoactive chemical, which is used by Pygmy tribes in tribunal ceremonies for spiritual development, is outlawed in the United States and is classified as a Schedule I narcotic.
The therapeutic substance is derived from the Apocynaceae plant species by boiling the vine and roots. Treatment is costly and takes place outside of the United States. For example, one Ibogaine clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, charges $10,000 for a one-week treatment with the plant.
Ayahuasca is another herbal treatment used by Amazonian tribes in South America. The therapy, administered by a shaman (medicine man), consists of a physical and psychological purging that compels the mind and body to eliminate harmful and extra content.
Both are thought to be at the heart of addiction. During the ceremony, the addict enjoys a cathartic, clarifying spiritual experience and a bodily release likened to a “rebirth.”
Staying sober aids in the healing of the body and the removal of the effects of harmful substances such as alcohol, but it leaves the spirit afflicted with addiction. Other countries address the spiritual aspect with plant-based therapy, but treatments in the United States focus on isolating the person from alcohol. Sobriety is merely a transitional condition between addiction and recovery; it does not address the underlying illness.
Addiction has been described as a “soul sickness,” and the medical establishment is still baffled by the relapse and death rates of alcoholics. According to the NIH, new techniques, including plant-based treatments, are worth monitoring to provide hope to the 10% of the population who will acquire an addiction.
What has previously been considered a moral weakness is now on the verge of becoming an epidemic, with alcoholism and its ramifications causing more collateral damage than any world conflict.
Alcoholism, according to Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961), is “the equivalent, on a low level, of our being’s spiritual thirst for wholeness–expressed in medieval language: the union with God.” He pointed out that the Latin word for alcohol is “spirits,” The same term is used for both the “highest religious experience and the most depraving poison.” “Spiritus contra Spiritum,” which translates to “fight fire with fire,” is the path out and the way in.
“Reach out if you’re struggling,” Maresca urges. “When recovery appears impossible, it is critical to work with people who understand what you are going through and can guide you through the dark tunnel of addiction and out the other side where the light awaits.” Nobody has to accomplish anything by themselves. “Part of recovery is assisting others in finding their way to freedom,” she explained.
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