Kill Your Drug Addiction Before It Kills You

Kill Your Drug Addiction Before It Kills You

• Mandy Sandhu
• 13 Nov 2017

Addiction is a disease of the brain in which an individual develops dependency on a substance or an activity. Addict is defined as an individual who has an uncontrollable urge to repeat behaviors regardless of the negative outcomes. Today, the most common addictions we come across are that of drugs and alcohol.

While addiction can lead to different consequences, the worst consequence of addiction to drugs is death. Although personal motivation plays a vital role in the process of recovery, overcoming addiction takes more than determination. Without the right program to help you stay sober, it can become difficult to quit using drugs entirely on your own. Freedom From Addiction, a drug rehab in Canada, gives you ways to kill your drug addiction before it ends up killing you.

1. Know your reality.
   This is the part where you admit that you are an addict and develop the mindset to live without drugs. As long as you deny about your using, you won’t notice any improvement in achieving long-term sobriety.
2. Be honest.
   It takes great courage to stop making excuses. It will be difficult, but until you can honestly say that you are the only one responsible for your own addiction, you will find yourself caught in the deadly cycle of blame and addiction.
3. Seek help.
   Once you have become honest about your need for help, the next step is to seek appropriate help. Those who have a prolonged history of substance abuse should seek an intensive treatment of a drug rehab. A rehab will give you the tools you need to stay sober and help you form new habits that will help you stay clean even after you leave.
4. Be patient.
   No matter what the treatment method you may choose, it is important not to anticipate immediate results because lasting change takes time.
5. Avoid the influences.
   Although it is your choice to use or stay sober, your environment can influence your desire to use. Avoid people and places that could encourage your using to help you maintain a long-term sobriety.
6. Take care of your body.
   Drug addiction physically affects your body. It is essential to maintain a balance in your everyday lifestyle, and establish an exercise routine to promote physical and mental healing.
7. Incorporate healthy habits.
8. 
   Think of interesting things you always wanted to try out. List hobbies or activities and try to do them to keep yourself busy and motivated.

Ask Yourself These Questions to Determine if You Need Rehab.

1. How has your drug use impacted the relationships in your life?
   Oftentimes, when people indulge in addictive behaviour or substances, they don’t realize that it’s having an incredibly negative impact on every other aspect of their lives, most notably their personal and interpersonal relationships with other people. You need to pause and take the time to evaluate how your actions could negatively be impacting the lives of the people around you. If you find yourself being distanced from the people around you as a result of your substance abuse or addiction, then it’s time to consider enrolling in a drug rehab program.
2. Do you constantly find yourself in precarious situations where you have to lie to your friends and family?
   Constantly lying to your friends and family can put a serious strain on your relationships with your loved ones. Along with the added stress of always have to keep up with your own fabrications, it’s also a major sign that you’re in over your head. This type of behaviour signifies a deep-seated feeling of shame and guilt in regard to your behaviour and illicit activities.
3. Has your performance at work, school, or other aspects of your life also suffered?
   If you find yourself struggling to keep your head above water when it comes to advancing your career, completing schoolwork, attending classes, or even if you’re constantly late or a no-show to important events as a result of your substance abuse problem, then it’s time to seek professional help from an accredited drug rehabilitation center near you. One major sign of this is if you’re frequently making excuses not to go to work or complete your schoolwork. Substance abuse problems can cause a domino effect by making you falter on important work-related tasks, which can ultimately negatively impact your career trajectory.
4. Have you been fired from your job or expelled from school as a direct result of your substance abuse problem?
   Ask yourself how many days of work or school you’ve had to miss as a direct result of your substance abuse problem or addiction. These types of problems are all-encompassing and can destroy your life by draining all of your time and energy, which makes it harder to focus on anything but getting your next fix. Frequent absences from work or school, missed project deadlines, a noticeable decline in the quality of your work, chronic fatigue, and frequent illnesses, among other things, all culminate in you eventually losing out on important and potentially prestigious opportunities to improve your life.
5. Do you continue to use chemical substances despite the negative consequences they’re having on your life?
   This is one of the major signs of severe addiction or dependency. It’s important to be completely honest with yourself. If the answer is yes, then you should consider speaking to a licensed rehab counsellor who may be able to steer you in the right direction.
6. Have you ever used one substance to offset or alleviate the effects of another?
   People who are addicted to one type of substance often use other types of substances to offset the physical and mental effects of it whenever they feel it’s necessary. Some substance abusers use a combination of uppers and downers in order to alleviate the effects of either drug at any given time, which is a dangerous habit. Also, having too many opposing substances in your system simultaneously can cause lethal reactions such as overdose.
7. Have you ever undergone medical treatment as a direct result of your substance abuse problem?
   Substance abuse or addiction can take you on a dangerous downward spiral mentally, emotionally, and especially physically. The more substances you indulge in either separately or at the same time, the higher your chances are of overdosing either accidentally or on purpose. If your substance abuse problem, addiction, or dependency has ever landed you in the hospital or resulted in necessary medical treatments, you should seriously consider seeking professional counselling.
8. Have you ever manipulated or attempted to manipulate a doctor into giving you prescription drugs or medication?
   There’s no denying that addiction and substance dependency can alter your state of mind, but did you also know that it can alter your personality? The saying “desperate times call for desperate measures” is highly applicable in this type of situation. In some cases, you might act erratically if you don’t get your way. This type of inappropriate and uncharacteristic behaviour should be alarming to you as it indicates the extent to which your substance abuse problem has taken over your life.
9. Has your drug addiction become a core part of your daily routine and has it altered your behaviour or the way you treat others?
   Another significant indication that your drug addiction has taken control over your life is if you find it impossible to function without imbibing in your poison of choice. A lot of substance abusers tend to fall into specific habits or routines without realizing it. It becomes second nature. You might wake up every morning and need to take a hit of something or you might do it every night before bed as a sleep aid. If you find that a great deal or all of your activities and decisions revolve around whether or not you’ll be able to obtain your next hit, then you need to take a moment to thoroughly revaluate the direction of your life.
10. Do you spend most of your time thinking about certain substances or how you can obtain those substances?
11. 
    As mentioned, certain substances have the ability to take control of every aspect of your life to the point that even when you’re sober, all of your thoughts are consumed with conjuring up ways of obtaining those drugs and achieving a temporarily satisfactory high. Even when you’re not physically on something, just the obsession of getting your next fix can be all-consuming and problematic because it focuses your attention on a negative and harmful indulgence rather than getting and keeping your life on track. If you can relate to any of this even on a small scale, then you should seriously consider enrolling in a drug rehab program in Toronto immediately.

If you or your loved one are ready to take the road to recovery, call Freedom From Addiction now. We provide effective drug and alcohol rehab services in a peaceful and homely setting.