Getting clean and sober – Addiction recovery is easy to find.
For a chemically dependent person, the first step toward recovery is recognizing that there’s a problem. The second step is to quit using the chemical, whether it’s alcohol or another drug. Unless the chemicals are gotten out of the way, the chemically dependent person never can know which problems in life are drug-related and which are not. Getting sober involves the body and the mind. Learning about the process can help make it easier to start and maintain.
Your body heals by getting sober first.
Getting sober starts with the body. If you’ve been dependent on alcohol or drugs, your body has gotten used to that substance, and will take some time to adjust to being drug-free. It’s best to have professional help—either from a treatment center or a doctor experienced in chemical dependency issues.
You can help your body adjust to sobriety by exercising, eating nutritious foods and getting plenty of rest. Exercise is generally healthful, and also produces endorphins, a natural body chemical that helps relieve anxiety and increase positive feelings. It’s best to build up a regular exercise program, starting small, and gradually increasing the amount you do. Be moderate. It’s possible to become obsessive about exercise or injure yourself by exercising too much.
Good nutrition for sobriety requires lots of fresh vegetables, fruits and complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains. Processed foods, additives, refined sugar, caffeine and high-fat foods should be avoided. Caffeine and sugar, in particular, may tend to increase cravings for drugs or alcohol.
Getting plenty of rest is also important, as sleep helps you adjust psychologically to living a sober life. You may have trouble sleeping at first. If so, try getting more exercise.
What happens after addiction treatment to you?
- Most people completing addiction treatment are fragilely balanced between sustained recovery and resumption of alcohol and drug use: more than half will consume alcohol or other drugs in the year following discharge from treatment.
- The window of greatest vulnerability for relapse after treatment is the first 30-90 days following discharge.
- Between 25-35% of people who complete addiction treatment will be readmitted to treatment within one year, and 50% will be readmitted within five years.
- Recovery is not fully stabilized (point at which future risk of future lifetime relapse drops below 15%) until four to five years of sustained recovery.
- Sustained addiction can be lethal: relapses following addiction treatment produce high death rates from accidental poisoning/overdose, liver disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, AIDS, suicide and homicide.
Positive effects after treatment and into your new life of recovery.
- The positive effects of addiction treatment are substantial, as measured by sustained sobriety (about one-third of those treated) and decreases in substance use and substance-related problems.
- Active participation in treatment aftercare meetings and recovery support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous can significantly improve your chance of permanent recovery, improve your quality of life and prolong your life expectancy.
- Combining professional treatment and attending recovery support meetings improve your chances of recovery better than either activity alone.
- Lifetime recovery rates of people with a substance use disorder approach or exceed 50%. There are millions of individuals and their families in long-term recovery from the effects of severe substance use problems.
- There are multiple pathways and styles (secular, spiritual, religious) of long-term addiction recovery.
- Recovering people can go on to lead lives of significant achievement and community service.
How do I afford an addiction treatment program to get sober?
There are a number of ways of financing addiction treatment, depending on the type of program entered and the particular clinic or hospital being used. Many organizations have specialty programs, and must be funded in particular ways. Many specialty care locations are small outpatient clinics. These are normally found within a larger health care facility.
These locations have an organizational structure, specific staff members and patterns of work days and work weeks, and other resources available to patients that are not overseen by physicians. Minimal medical oversight may be used in the medical system’s outpatient facility, since patients come for treatment and leave after a short time.
Finding help for substance abuse.
We here at Recovery Found Easy is a service helping alcoholics, addicts, those dependent on prescription drugs, and their families find an effective drug rehab and intervention for alcoholism and drug addiction of the highest quality. Medically administered detoxification from alcohol, prescription medications, heroin, cocaine and crystal meth are also available.
If you or someone you know needs help, there are many options available. Inpatient residential, outpatient, 12-Step based programs and alternative treatment programs exist with options available for every individual in any age group. We encourage you to investigate what treatment options are available and appropriate specific to the situation.
There are thousands of drug rehabilitation and alcohol rehabilitation organizations in this country, and knowing which one to send your loved one to is a daunting task. Therefore we have simplified the process, hence our name Recovery Found Easy.