So, it’s 3-6 months after your last drink/drug. You have embraced the newness and excitement of recovery with both arms and feet. You have been attending meetings, various support groups, looking after your health, and training at ARC Fitness regularly (see what I did there?). You have also started to rebuild the relationships that were subsequently fractured during the hurricane of your drug / alcohol use. Things have been pretty busy.
Repeat Prescription? Exercise in Recovery
Eventually, addiction takes a real toll on the human body.
There are indirect physical effects that result as consequences from reckless and risk taking behaviours. I personally experienced; broken bones; dislocated joints; amputated digits; snapped vertebrae.
Also, drugs and alcohol weaken the immune system, damage internal organs and strip the body of the ability to heal itself. I too had to deal with; ongoing stomach problems, endless colds and flu’s as well as damage to my liver and heart.
Exercise can help those on the road to recovery start the process of healing by providing them with physical, emotional even spiritual help enabling them to move forward in their new positive approach to life.
Addressing the Bigger picture.
Recovery vs Detox
I have learnt many things on the road to recovery and one of the most important is this:
“Sobriety is very different to Recovery”
Sobriety is like the starting blocks in an 100m race. Once it is secure, it gives the runner the best possible start. If this wasn’t the case, the runner would slip and fall flat on their face. It’s the same in recovery.
While achieving freedom from drug/ alcohol use starts with cleansing the body through a period of detox, it’s important to realise that detoxification is not treatment or a cure. Anyone can get clean in the right environment if you remove the ‘means’ - staying there is the difficult part.
Enabling – When help becomes unhelpful.
The Road to Recovery - Gaz's Story
It’s funny, I got unexpectedly nervous about writing this despite having done it countless times. Most people who know me now have met me at a time of my life where the following story can be hard to marry up. That’s a good thing, it’s shows that people CAN change; they CAN succeed and they CAN beat something that feels unbeatable to them.
Before things got out of control I used to have a really great life. I had a good marriage, great kids and I ran my own business. Everything was good. A few years ago I started using cocaine recreationally now and again, however this quickly escalated to the point where I was taking it every day.
I couldn’t see it then, but during that time I was hurting everyone around me, I had this “I don’t care” attitude towards my life. But underneath all this I was hurting emotionally, and had been for a long time, so I tried blocking these out with more cocaine.
The Road to Recovery - Louise’s Story
Abuse Vs Addiction
Post-natal depression & Addiction
Now, you might have guessed by now that I’m not a woman! So before I delve into this blogpost let me highlight that; I am not an expert on childbirth; I haven’t given birth; had a C-Section; nor a vacuum or forcep delivery.
I am however a dad, and my desire to write about this stemmed from my own adjustment to fatherhood.
International Overdose Awareness Day - August 31st.
Naloxone & Opiate Overdose
There has been a sharp increase in the amount of deaths attributed to drug misuse since 2012. In 2016 there were 2593 deaths in England and Wales alone. Deaths due to opiate abuse account for a third (32%) of all deaths related to drug poisoning (NHS 2018).
