Importance Of Testing Your Teen For Alcohol or Substance Abuse
Parents generally don’t suspect alcohol or substance abuse in their teens until they find something suspicious about their behavior or until their kid is involved in some issue like getting arrested, accident, an overdose, or some trouble in school/college. This kind of delayed realization of their teens’ bad habits is not wise on part of the parents.
Continuous monitoring and timely intervention to detect alcohol or substance abuse in kids using drug or alcohol tests is very important to save them from future negative consequences. This article provides you with reasons for testing your teen for alcohol or substance abuse.
Teens are more prone to risk-taking: Every person goes through the crucial period of adolescence. It is a transition period where teens experience emotional and mental conflicts. Physical and mental changes occur during this age and make them feel insecure. Many teens get addicted to these harmful substances because of the peer pressure. To match with their drug or alcohol abusing friends, they take up drugs or alcohol.
They are influenced by many other things like ads, films and other media which showcase this behavior of abusing drugs as glamorous and relaxing. This raises the desire in them to experiment and experience new things which can lead to dangerous consequences.
Alcohol or drugs are generally introduced in this period: Many studies have shown that significant number of people first try alcohol or other substances like marijuana during their teenage. Reasons include peer pressure, child abuse, lack of parental supervision, family problems, and so on. Teens are not matured enough to visualize the consequences they are going to face in the future due to these habits and hence they tend to experiment with dangerous substances for the sake of temporary pleasures.
Initiation of substance abuse in teenage develops dependence: Substance abuse during teenage leads to dependence, which continues in their later stages of life. Substance or alcohol abuse during teenage encourages them to move on to more dangerous drugs in future, which can cause significant harm. As the body is still in the developing stage, the toxins present in the drugs effect their growth and also cause severe health problems in the later stages.
Impacts their health, career and social respect: Drinking alcohol or abusing drugs during teenage results in both health and behavioral complications. Depending on the amount of substance they abuse, they become inactive and fall ill quite often. They perform poorly in academics too. Moreover, today many employers are conducting drug tests on the job applicants and employees – drug abusing teens have high chances of losing the job and destroying their career. They also fail to get respect both from their family and the society due to their violent and aggressive behavior.
Involvement in crime and accidents: Besides health complications, drug and alcohol users have an increased tendency towards risky and violent behaviors because of impaired judgment. In situations when they don’t have money to finance their drugs they don’t hesitate to do thefts, shoplifting and commit crimes. This may land them in legal troubles. Moreover, driving under the drug influence is proved to be the major reason in teen motor vehicle crashes and deaths due to accidents.
It is the duty of the parents to protect their child from any kind of mishaps. It is necessary for them to be aware of the drug testing methods or kits, which can be used for early detection of these unhealthy habits.
How To Stop Drinking
There is not an alcoholic anywhere that does not want to stop drinking. Alcoholism is destructive. It is a constant battle. Each day the alcoholic rises, is a day that temptations take over and their will is lost. There are many different reasons why people drink.
One of the greatest tools that an alcoholic can arm themselves with is the knowledge to know how to quit drinking. This is not saying that each day will not be a battle. It will be, especially in the beginning. But, alcoholism is something that can be conquered and thousands of Americans are winning the battle of alcoholism daily.
The first step in the process is to get determined. Decide that you are going to quit. Use positive reinforcement each day when you get up and throughout the day. Remind yourself of the positive effect you are doing for yourself, your health and your loved ones. Be your own best friend. Tell yourself that you are doing something wonderful for yourself. Treat yourself. You must believe that you can quit. By reassuring yourself, are empowering yourself with the ability to quit.
Each alcoholic is different. Each drinks for various reasons. Get to know yourself. Consider why you drink to begin. Are you a drinker that drinks after work? Do you drink alone? Why do you drink and where you drink should both be addressed. Once you see your pattern, you can then work on breaking the habit.
List the benefits of what you are doing for yourself by putting the bottle down. This is an essential step in the process as you begin to lift your spirit and see the quality that you are achieving. Know that each day you don’t drink is a day that you feel better.
Always include positive reminders throughout your day. This is just as valuable as negative reminders. Remind yourself when you reach for that bottle that you are upsetting your life. You are falling backwards. You will not be gaining on your life’s journey.
Start to introduce some new routines into your life. Get involved in what you enjoy. Meet new people. Enhance your life and its surrounding by finding a new focus.
Alcoholism leads to both mental and physical problems. It is vital to stop the addiction and get the help that is needed. Millions of people have overcome alcohol addiction. Finding the support, the hand holding, the walking through the steps of the process to stop drinking is crucial. Breaking the addiction is starting a new life. One which you will begin to see just how much you lost. You will begin to eat regularly, feel good, change your priorities and begin to feel like a new person. With the proper help,you can succeed. The future is in your hands. Help is available and quitting the addiction starts with the belief that you can do it. It is a vicious cycle but one that can be broken. Begin to take the time to practice the steps to stop drinking.
The Dangers of Painkiller Addiction
All of us would have used pain killers at some time or the other in our lives. In fact, pain killers are among the most commonly used medication all over the world. Generally the choice will be between an aspirin or Paracetamol or one of the NSAIDs. Occasionally, for those of us with very severe pain or for those suffering from a terminal illness and the associated pain, narcotics may be prescribed.
Narcotics act directly at the pain processing parts of the body and modify our response to pain. So we may feel the sensation but we will not be affected by it. This class of drugs is very potent in this respect. Consequently, a few patients become used to the apparent disconnect produced by these drugs and start using them even when the pain is not there. This becomes the painkiller addiction – an unfortunate outcome of using this particular class of medicines.
As time passes, such an addicted person becomes dependant on that particular drug and without it, becomes irritable and unsociable. This consequently leads to errors in judgment, issues with social skills, work place problems and finally social mal-adjustment. The severity of these changes in behavior will depend on the specific drug. Some drugs in the class, like morphine and meperidine are quite powerful, but others like buprenorphine or tramadol do not cause as much dependence. In fact, drugs having properties similar to the latter two are helpful in the process of de-addiction.
Fortunately, while a pain killer addiction can have serious long term consequences, there are several effective ways to get free of the habit. Common treatment stages include counseling, certain drugs, support groups, and behavioral therapy techniques. Using such therapeutic methods in a balanced way increases the chance of successful rehabilitation.
Like any addiction, the best possible time for getting de-addicted is before forming the habit – in other words, never get addicted at all! Hence the narcotics, as a class is restricted for use only by doctors duly licensed to prescribe them. Furthermore, measures to educate people, including patients and their relatives about the nature of the drugs and the unfavorable effects if taken without proper guidance and indication, will go a long way in decreasing the personal burden and stigma at the individual level and the healthcare costs at the national level.