Post by Sarah Wilde

Forget swine flu!   Dr. Joseph Mercola is calling for the CDC to raise a Pandemic Level 6 warning for Prescription Drug abuse, as it is becoming a growing killer in our country.   As posted on today’s Mercola.com, there is a largely unrecognized new epidemic in our country — prescription painkiller addiction that is leading to more fatalities by overdose than the prior top killers cocaine and heroin.

Leonard Paulozzi of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that prescription drugs cause most of the more than 26,000 fatal overdoses each year.

The number of overdose deaths from opioid painkillers more than tripled from 1999 to 2006, to 13,800 deaths that year, according to recently released CDC statistics.

Something needs to be done.   With more and more Americans turning to drugs for every ache and pain, and doctors prescribing a plethora of pills, the population is at risk for developing dependencies that can lead to chronic addiction.  According to Robert DuPont, a former White House drug czar and former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “The biggest and fastest-growing part of America’s drug problem is prescription drug abuse.  The statistics are unmistakable.”

Dr. Mercola offers a number of alternatives to prescription painkillers for finding relief from pain.  These are key components of recovery programs at LSA and include simple changes such as taking a high-quality, animal-based omega-3, reducing grains and sugars from your diet, and restructuring your diet based on your body’s unique nutritional type.

A holistic program is key for individuals in recovery – as it is now more than ever crucial to be aware of what you are putting in your body.

Post by Michael Plahn

When is the most difficult time in the process of addiction treatment? This is a very subjective question and depending on whom you ask and their personal or clinical experience, you may find different answers.  Certainly, if a person never gets to a treatment facility that is properly geared to treat their disease, then the chances for successful recovery from addiction are likely very poor.

However, if an addicted individual is placed at a proper chemical dependency treatment program there are many factors that affect their abstinence rates, and the quality of their lives, one year after entering the treatment facility.  There are a lot of people and companies in the treatment profession that represent success rates, but the key questions to ask are: Who determined their success rates?  Were they independently validated?  Find out if this was an actual scientific study or did the numbers just get massaged to help in marketing efforts.

While there is much debate about the aforementioned question, there is little debate about the positive correlation between longer treatment and more efficacious recovery results.  Lengthy treatment stays, however, do not always translate to healthy coping skills.  Witnessing this firsthand for years, I have seen individuals thrive in the treatment setting – even if it is for 90 days or more – but when they return home disaster strikes.   Difficulties may stem from re-acclimation to home, work, or social life, finding ways to fill free time, embracing a new healthy lifestyle, applying the treatment principles in the “real world,” or any number of individualized challenges.  A unique complement (not an alternative) to combating these difficulties that may arise in today’s typical treatment protocol can be found with a long-term recovery coaching model.

To smooth such pitfalls, I developed a comprehensive program for my clients to establish a coaching relationship throughout and beyond the first year of recovery.  Often that relationship starts prior to an intervention, and includes contact with the coach during treatment (with the coach present for the critical transition of discharge from treatment), and adhering to a holistic recovery coaching protocol for a minimum of 52 weeks post-discharge.  This creates a lifestyle change in the addicted person to help them embrace and succeed in a recovery that goes well beyond abstinence.   A change that encompasses mind, body and spirit is necessary, and importantly, one that makes sense for that individual’s lifestyle is critical for the effects to last.  For example, at LifeSkills Authorities we have programs specifically geared toward executives and attorneys that take the nuances of their high-stress corporate lifestyles into consideration.    This unique approach is developing a national following in a short period of time because of the thoroughness of working with clients to manage all touchpoints of early recovery.

If you have fallen prey to the difficulties of recovery and want help for yourself or if a loved one is struggling in recovery, I encourage you to consider a new approach.  Visit our website (http://www.lifeskillsauthorities.com/) and really spend the time to find out what the LSA philosophy and programs are all about.

This article was recently featured in the Treatment Solutions Network newsletter, please click here to access their articles.