Caffeine Addiction Recovery Month on October, 2024: How to relieve stress?

October, 2024 is Caffeine Addiction Recovery Month 2024. Volunteer at IUPUI: Be Aware This Month...Of What Caffeine Addiction Recovery

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How to relieve stress?

By cleaning the house!

First, you need to find someone to talk to about it who will listen to you. Keeping it inside only makes it worse. If you don't have anyone, ask the school if there is a counselor you can speak with about your stress issues.

There are SO many things you can do to help reduce it...

Don't drink caffeine. When you want a soda, get sprite or root beer or something without caffeine. When you order starbux, get decaf.

Make sure you get plenty of sleep each night. Don't go to bed too late.

Exercise! Exercise releases endorphins, your body's natural "happy" hormones, and they make you feel better.

Don't watch scary movies, or the news. I know it's fun sometimes...but at least right now while you are under lots of stress, try to watch and read things that are very light and easy.

Do new things...try making things, keep your hands and mind busy.

Once again...talk to someone! It's very good to get it out, and don't be afraid of crying. If that's what you need at the time, then it will help. Keep your chin up, things will get better and you will do great. I suffer from high stress levels myself - and it's something you constantly have to work at to keep under control. But you're strong, you can do this.

And also have a look of this website

It’s a very understanding and supportive website that deals with many problems including self-harm, depression, eating disorders (including overeating), addictions (such as drug and alcohol) anxiety (&& panic attacks, including anxiety disorders like OCD), suicide attempts, feelings and thoughts, bullying and abuse (including sexual and emotional abuse), trauma, family and friends problems, relationship issues and general mental health problems such as personality disorders, bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, general thoughts and feelings, ect.

You can post about your problems and gain advice and support, it’s full of caring people who are going through the same things as you are in a complete non-judgemental atmosphere, you feel a lot less alone and you don’t get stupid answers or the old ’snap out of it’, ’stop being stupid’ comments you get on Yahoo Answers. You can also reply to other people and give them support, advice and share your stories and makes tons of new friends that you can open up to and trust. Already there are over 34,000 registered members.

They have an ‘Introductions’ forum where you can tell everyone a bit about yourself when you first sign up, you get very warm-welcoming messages to help you settle in and find your way around the site and answer any questions you may have.

They also have ‘General Chat’ forum where you can talk about things that aren’t related to mental health, such as polls, humour and chit-chat. Also, News & debates forum where you can catch up on all the news, and give your opinions.

The website also includes ‘Fun and Distractions’ Share jokes, funny sites, quizzes or useful distractions to help you relax and distract yourself with.

Also they have separate forums for certain things, such as Eating Disorder Support, Self-Injury Support, Mental Health Discussions, Ranting && Venting, Serious Discussion (such as suicide), Moving Forward (recovery based), and much more.

They even have a ‘Shop’ where you can buy bracelets that represent recovery with Self-Harm and Eating Disorders. Also, they have a ‘Games Arcade’ where you can play games to keep yourself distracted such as Pac-Man and Super Mario.

The website also contains lots of information, how to get help, beating urges, articles to read, advice, first aid, chat (like msn with others who are suffering), Live Help (one-2-one counselling - these people are not trained counsellors, but people who are normal members of the site but go that little bit further to help others), Supporters who can e-mail anytime, day or night to gain emotional support (again not trained professionals).

The site is free, but to in order to have access to everything available on the website you have to sign up, which only takes a few minutes. You don’t have to be a certain age to join (even if you’re 40, you can still sign up, they have a ’veterans corner’ for older members, including advice on topics more relevant to adult life such as university, long term relationships, child-care and employment) The site is open 24/7, all year round.

A lot of people have said that Recover Your Life (or RYL for short) is a community where they feel they belong to, they are able to open up and be themselves and don’t have to hide. They come on RYL everyday as a means of escaping their problems to have a break and be able to breathe knowing it’s full of people who care and who want to help - without the worry of them telling their friends or family.

So please have a look, I think it could really help you - especially if you can’t talk to anyone in ‘real life’ or have no one to turn to.

Best/Easiest way to get off of Oxycontin?

Best/Easiest way to get off of Oxycontin?

Congratulations on realizing and admitting your problem and asking for help - you have taken the most important steps on a difficult but achievable journey to get your life back. There is no magic supplement or formula that will take it away and restore normal health and sanity overnight - and oxycontin one of the most addictive of all drugs, street or legal. It absolutely can be done, but it will take dedication and perserverence. As Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson of years-ago Dallas Cowboy fame said, "The first time a person uses, shame on them - but from then on, pity on them" because of the way that drugs can take over your willpower and self control.

Frequent baths will help wash off the night sweats one may experience and give a better sense of cleanliness and well being.

A good diet and lifestyle that gets rid of junk food, processed food, sugar and caffeine to the greatest extent possible will help the body heal faster and help reduce cravings. In particular, exercise can be extremely helpful. A high protein, nutrient rich diet that emphasizes raw foods is best. Make sure there are plenty of omega 3's and essential fatty acids. Dark green leafy vegetables, such as baby spinach, are great. I would also add some good supergreen food protein drinks containing such items as spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass, barley grass and more.

Exercise not only helps eliminate drugs from your system and increases your energy and overall health, it also releases endorphins - which are feel good chemicals that will decrease stress and give one a higher sense of being happy and satisfied.

Sugar must absolutely be avoided to the greatest degree possible, as should bleached white flour, processed foods and junk foods - all of which feed addiction and retard recovery.

Now, here is an absolute must: take every step you can to avoid all of the people, places and things that have been associated with past oxycontin or other drug use, because any one of them can and will trigger cravings that often lead to relapses. If you go around people who use, you will end up using. If you go to places where people use, or where you used to go when you used, you will end up using again. If you listen to the same kind of music you listened to when you used you may use again. The old saying is oh so true: If a person hangs around a barber shop long enough, one of these days they are going to get another hair cut.

Here is another absolute must: You must avoid all alcohol, marijuana or any other substance that gets you high and/or alters your mood. Most addicts make the mistake of thinking that they can have just one or two drinks, or perhaps smoke a little pot, without going back to their drug of choice. It doesn't work that way. Not ever. All it does is lower inhibitions and lead ultimately back to the drug of choice again and again and again. The user always thinks that they are the exception, but they are always wrong. There is no exception!

Most medications and the more potent herbs I know about often lead to either dependence on those substances or else to impaired cognitive thinking and physical well being. I am of the very strong opinion that mainstream medicine usually just trades a dependency on the illegal drug for a dependency on prescribed drugs, replacing the street vendor with the pharmaceutical companies, My advice is to stay away from mainstream drugs and also avoid the more powerful herbs. One example is the herb Kratom. It has been used by many to overcome addiction to some drugs, but it also often becomes addictive itself.

Most people are aware that drug overdoses can kill you, but many are not aware of the other ways those poisons can kill or damage your body. All drugs weaken the immune system. Opiates can cause life threatening damage to the heart muscle. For that reason, CoQ10 and Magnesium are both good supplements. Some others Some other essential nutrients which may help reduce cravings and restore brain function are: Vitamin B complex, Essential fatty acids, Calcium and Magnesium, L-glutamine, GABA, Glutathione, L-phenylalanine, S-Adenosylmethionine (SAMe) - caution: Do not use if there is a manic-depressive disorder OR if taking prescription antidepressants, Vitamin C with bioflavonoids, Zinc not to exceed 100 mg daily from all supplement sources, and Iodine (take with selenium for maximum effectiveness).

I also recommend an all around natural food derived nutritional supplement to insure that no vital vitamin, mineral, trace mineral of other nutrient is missing and help speed recovery, and I think some Dr, Christopher's Hawthorne Berry Syrup would be a good idea too.

It may take a full year or longer to completely recover and eliminate all of your cravings. Now, as daunting as that may sound, also realize that you can recover significantly in as little as two months and you will continue to recover, and the road become easier, with each added month. Take it one day at a time and realize that the road may be rocky at times, with some pitfalls along the way.

Never excuse a slip, but also do not condemn it because they are the rule and not the exception - which is not in any way giving an excuse to your son to have a slip. And believe me, addicts are looking for excuses to use again. In most instances, they have even mentally planned out and justified what is going to cause a relapse in advance. That thinking must be eliminated and he must be determined not to use again, period! BUT, if he does slip after weeks or more of avoiding drugs, that does not mean that all of their hard work and recovery time has gone down the tubes IF they immediately realizes their error and ges back on track. It's kind of like riding a bicycle - if you ride for miles and take a spill, it does not take away the miles you have traveled if you get back on that bike and keep riding.

Another thing you must do is learn how to have fun and enjoy life without using drugs. To do this, one must remember the things they enjoyed before they began using. Maybe it was fishing, hiking or camping. Maybe biking, working out, practicing martial arts. Or perhaps reading, writing, coin or stamp collecting or some other hobby. Or playing with your dog. And then there is a whole world of new things to try that might be enjoyable besides the things that were once enjoyable. I dare say that every addict out there once had things they enjoyed doing before they began using, and no telling how many things they never tried that they might have enjoyed. The more you use, the more the things you used to do are discarded and the more things you do that are associated with drug use - just like the more you use, the more you discard the people who once were close to you who do not use - or else get discarded by them due to your drug use.

Now, this may come as a surprise to many people: but I am not very favorable towards recovery groups, rehab centers or halfway houses. As someone who has worked as a volunteer in an alcohol and drug rehab program for young men, I know that the greatest downfall of those groups is that they inevitably bring you into contact with people who use drugs and often still want to use drugs. There is an old joke that is really not a joke about it being easier to find and score drugs at NA meetings than practically anywhere.

Instead of being in regular contact with present and past users who will tell war stories that actually trigger you to use again or else will talk you into another episode of using, find people and groups that are not about drug use.

Instead of the traditional 12-step programs, I favor the approach of the Jude Thaddeus recovery program - and there is an excellent book that can be used for a home recovery program by both the drug user and their family that I highly recommend: The Jude Thaddeus Home Recovery Program, which is widely available at bookstores such as Barnes and Noble and online at Amazon.

The road to recovery is not easy, and the first few days and weeks may be difficult ones - but it can be done and millions of people have done it. Consider that you were not placed on this earth to live a miserable and likely short life of drugs and misery. Life is meant to be enjoyed. But you must choose life and reject misery. It should be an easy choice, no matter how hard it may be in the beginning to achieve it. And it gets easier and more enjoyable as time goes by.

Finally, here is a tool that I developed to make sure successful recovery is "in the cards" for those who have a substance abuse problem:

Get a notepad and pen. On one page, write down all of the positive things you can think of about being drug free -- such as getting and holding a job, better self image, keeping the love and respect of family members and friends, being healthier, longer life, more active lifestyle, etc. Try to come up with the top ten reasons. On another page, write down all of the negative things you can think of about using drugs, including your own worst experiences: Losing friends and families, losing jobs, losing your home, auto and other possessions, having no money, feeling miserable, low self esteem, poor health, association with criminals and prostitutes, run-ins with the law, stealing to support your habit, etc.

Next, get yourself a few wallet sized index cards, or even make some up on your computer. On the front of each card write the negative things about using drugs and on the back write the positive things. Put one in your wallet and wherever else you may keep money and perhaps also tape one to the back of items like TVs, computers and stereos that you may have hocked, sold or traded to get drugs in the past. And PROMISE yourself that anytime you are thinking about using drugs again, you first pull out that card and read it carefully and completely. It may be the hole card you need to win

How do you quit heroin cold turkey?

How do you quit heroin cold turkey?

Realizing that he has an addiction problem and wanting to get over it are important first steps.

It may be that some kind of prescription drugs are needed for a very short term to prevent what is often an agonizing and sometimes precarious withdrawal process when one attempts to go "cold turkey", but the emphasis here should be on "short term" instead of prolonged prescription drug use. Even then, withdrawal will not be pleasant but it IS absolutely achievable and the rewards of having one's life back in order are beyond measure.

Cleanses on a regular basis, as well as periodic fasting, are important to get not only the heroin, but ultimately the prescription drugs too, out of the system. Otherwise, minute amounts may remain and trigger continued cravings for quite some time. A weekly fasting day where nothing but one of the following items is consumed (as much as you want, but nothing else) will help: watermelon, dark grapes (seeds and all), juiced vegetables, water.

Frequent baths will help wash off the night sweats one may experience and give a better sense of cleanliness and well being.

Sugar must absolutely be avoided to the greatest degree possible, as should bleached white flour, processed foods and junk foods - all of which feed addiction and retard recovery.

A good diet and lifestyle that gets rid of junk food, processed food, sugar and caffeine to the greatest extent possible will help the body heal faster and help reduce cravings, as will the other suggestions in my post to the group. In particular, exercise can be extremely helpful. A high protein, nutrient rich diet that emphasizes raw foods is best. Make sure there are plenty of omega 3's and essential fatty acids. Dark green leafy vegetables, such as baby spinach, are great. I would also add some good supergreen food protein drinks containing such items as spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass, barley grass and more.

Exercise not only helps eliminate drugs from your system and increases your energy and overall health, it also releases endorphins - which are feel good chemicals that will decrease stress and give one a higher sense of being happy and satisfied.

Most people are aware that drug overdoses can kill you, but many are not aware of the other ways those poisons can kill or damage your body. All drugs weaken the immune system. Heroin can cause life threatening damage to the heart muscle. For that reason, CoQ10 and Magnesium are both good supplements and I would say some Dr, Christopher's Hawthorne Berry Syrup would be a good idea too.

Some other essential nutrients to consider are:

Vitamin B complex (100 mg of each major B vitamin) plus extra pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5 500 mg three times daily) and Vitamin B3 in the form of Niacinamide (500 mg 3 times daily and do not substitute niacin for the niacinamide). Those will help reduce stress and help with proper brain function (and the way drugs work is primarily through tricking the brain and neurotransmitter interference).

Essential fatty acids, as directed on the label, are good for reversing the effects of malnourishment, which is common in heroin addiction as well as other substance abuse victims.

Calcium and magnesium (use 15oo mg along with 1000 mg of magnesium at bedtime). These two essentials nourish the central nervous system and help calm the body to control tremors that often accompany heroin addiction.

L-glutamine (500 mg 3 times daily) passes the blood-brain barrier to promote healthy mental function and increases the level of gamma-aminobutryic acid (GABA), which has a calming effect.

GABA, as directed on label.

Glutathione, as directed on label. Aids in detoxing and reduces cravings for drugs and alcohol.

L-phenylalanine (1500 mg daily upon awakening). Necessary as a brain food and helps with withdrawal symptoms. Caution: Not to be taken when someone is pregnant (unlikely in his case - lol), nursing (ditto), or suffer from panic attack, diabetes or high blood pressure.

S-Adenosylmethionine (SAMe), as directed on label. Aids in stress relief and depression, eases pain, and has an antioxidant effect that can improve liver health. Caution: Do not use if there is a manic-depressive disorder OR if taking prescription antidepressants.

Vitamin C with bioflavonoids (up to 2000 mg every 3 hours). Detoxes the system and lessens drug cravings. Use a buffered form such as sodium ascorbate and cut back on the dosage if diarrhea occurs.

Zinc, as directed on label but not to exceed 100 mg daily from all supplement sources. Promotes a healthy immune system and protects the liver.

Iodine (up to 100 mg daily). Helps restore thyroid function, which is often affected by heroin users. Take with selenium (as directed on label) for maximum effectiveness.

I would also personally recommend an all around natural food derived nutritional supplement such as the outstanding IntraMAX product, which contains 415 essential nutrients (and adjust the other supplements accordingly). This will insure that no vital vitamin, mineral, trace mineral of other nutrient is missing and help speed recovery.

Now, here is an absolute must: he must take every step he can to avoid all of the people, places and things that have been associated with his past crack cocaine use, because any one of them can and will trigger cravings that often lead to relapses. If you go around people who use, you will end up using. If you go to places where people use, or where you used to go when you used, you will end up using again. If you listen to the same kind of music you listened to when you used (more often than not, that kind of music is Rap and/or Hip Hop for crack cocaine users), you will use again.

Here is another absolute must: Avoid all alcohol, marijuana or any other substance that gets you high and/or alters your mood. Most addicts make the mistake of thinking that they can have just one or two drinks, or perhaps smoke a little pot, without going back to their drug of choice. It doesn't work that way. Not ever. All it does is lower inhibitions and lead ultimately back to the drug of choice again and again and again. The user always thinks that they are the exception, but they are always wrong. There is no exception!

Never excuse a slip, but also do not condemn it because they are the rule and not the exception - which is not in any way giving an excuse to your son to have a slip. And believe me, addicts are looking for excuses to use again. In most instances, they have even mentally planned out and justified what is going to cause a relapse in advance. That thinking must be eliminated and he must be determined not to use again, period! BUT, if he does slip after weeks or more of avoiding crack cocaine, that does not mean that all of his hard work and recovery time has gone down the tubes IF he immediately realizes his error and gets back on track. It's kind of like riding a bicycle - if you ride for miles and take a spill, it does not take away the miles you have traveled if you get back on that bike and keep riding.

Another thing a drug addict must do is learn how to have fun and enjoy life without using drugs. To do this, one must remember the things they enjoyed before they began using. Maybe it was fishing, hiking or camping. Maybe biking, working out, practicing martial arts. Or perhaps reading, writing, coin or stamp collecting or some other hobby. Or playing with your dog. And then there is a whole world of new things to try that might be enjoyable besides the things that were once enjoyable. I dare say that every addict out there once had things they enjoyed doing before they began using, and no telling how many things they never tried that they might have enjoyed.

Now, this may come as a surprise to many people: but I am not very favorable towards recovery groups, rehab centers or halfway houses. As someone who has worked as a volunteer in an alcohol and drug rehab program for young men, I know that the greatest downfall of those groups is that they inevitably bring you into contact with people who use drugs and often still want to use drugs. There is an old joke that is really not a joke about it being easier to find and score drugs at NA meetings than practically anywhere.

Instead of being in regular contact with present and past users who will tell war stories that actually trigger you to use again or else will talk you into another episode of using, find people and groups that are not about drug use.

Finally, here is a tool that may help insure that successful recovery is "in the cards" for those who have a substance abuse problem:

Get a notepad and pen. On one page, write down all of the positive things you can think of about being drug free -- such as getting and holding a job, better self image, keeping the love and respect of family members and friends, being healthier, longer life, more active lifestyle, etc. Try to come up with the top ten reasons. On another page, write down all of the negative things you can think of about using drugs, including your own worst experiences: Losing friends and families, losing jobs, losing your home, auto and other possessions, having no money, feeling miserable, low self esteem, poor health, association with criminals and prostitutes, run-ins with the law, stealing to support your habit, etc.

Next, get yourself a few wallet sized index cards, or make some up on your computer. On the front of each card write the negative things about using drugs and on the back write the positive things. Put one in your wallet and one wherever else you may keep money and perhaps also tape one to the back of items like TVs, computers and stereos you may have hocked, sold or traded to get drugs. PROMISE yourself that anytime you are thinking about using drugs again, you first pull out that card and read it carefully and completely.

Also on this date Tuesday, October 1, 2024...