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Summer Sky Recovery Center Rings in the New Year with New Era of Leadership

2012-03-30T14:04:08Z

Stephenville, TX - February 14, 2012 - Long-time and respected leader, Scott Kelley, LCDC, has been named President of Summer Sky Treatment Center--a Texas- based drug and alcohol addiction recovery center established in 1985.

With nearly two decades of experience in the addiction treatment and recovery field--and 15 years at Summer Sky--Kelley brings a wealth of knowledge, clinical expertise, business acumen and compassion for the valued clients Summer Sky serves. Coupled with the respect he had engendered externally and internally, along with the relationships he has cultivated during the course of his steller career, Kelley's team approach makes him uniquely suited to help lead Summer Sky into a new area of delivering cutting-edge, results-driven, quality care for patients and their families.

"It's been a privilege to serve with Summer Sky to improve the lives of those effected by addiction. Building on the organization's accomplishments over the past 30 years, I'm eager to help usher in a new era of excellence moving forward.”

Kelley began his career at Summer Sky in 1998 as a Recovery Advocate.

A rising star, he quickly worked his way up the ladder, most recently serving as the organization's Chief Business Development Officer.

Kelley is a member of the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals; serves as President of the TAAP WACO Chapter; served on the Texas State TAAP Board and is currently Vice President of the Texas Addiction Peer Assistance Network--a non-profit organization dedicated to helping professionals with substance abuse issues. He is also a member of the Employee Assistance Professional Association; serves on the Texas Association of Addition Professionals State Conference Committee; and is actively involved in addiction and recovery advocacy at the national and state levels.

Scott Kelley is married to his wife, Allison, and has two daughters, Grace and Caroline.

Contact: Stacey Wells Admissions Director for more information at 1-888-857-8857 or email at swells@summersky.us more information at http://www.summersky.us/Press_Release.html

Summer Sky's Run For Recovery 5K Run/Walk

2011-09-15T14:54:27Z

Summer Sky’s Run for Recovery is set for September, 17^th 2011. The excitement is rising among our staff and the recovering community. Every September is National Recovery Month and for the last 22 years the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) has been on the front line educating the public that treatment works and recovery is possible.

Please join us for our 2^nd Annual Summer Sky’s Run for Recovery 5K benefit run/walk to heighten awareness that treatment works and recovery is possible. The proceeds will all go to the local Star Council on Substance Abuse to help reach more people with Substance Use Disorders in the counties of Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cottle, Erath, Foard, Hardeman, Hood, Jack, Johnson, Montague, Palo, Pinto, Parker, Somervell, Wichita, Wilbarger, Wise and Young county residents.

Together we can make a difference and help more people find and access chemical dependency treatment services. Hope to see you at the Run!

Sincerely,

Scott Kelley, LCDC

Chief Business Development Officer

Summer Sky Dallas Aftercare

2011-09-07T04:54:08Z

Aftercare

Congratulations and welcome to the journey of “Recovery”

At Summer Sky, your success in remaining sober while learning to deal with life on life’s terms is important to us. We encourage you to take advantage of your FREE AFTERCARE service and make it part of your self-care plan. For more information call

Lydia Clemmons, LCDC

Community Support Specialist

Summer Sky, Inc

972-322-3833

When: Wednesday – 6:00pm to 7:30pm

Location: The Paradigm Executive Suites

2340 E. Trinity Mills #300

Carrollton, Texas 75006

Finding a Drug Treatment Center

2011-03-02T15:12:00Z

Treatment saves lives! Everyday across the United States individuals and families call different treatment programs to see if they are eligible for drug and alcohol treatment. Families spend time researching treatment centers in search of a quality drug rehab program. The search can be very frustrating, especially when a family member is in crisis. Reaching out and attaining guidance is not as easy as people might believe, however it is necessary that an individual or family do not give up when you begin to feel frustration. I was on the phone this week with a mother discussing her adolescent daughter’s addiction and all the problems associated with adolescents using drugs. We were in the process of exploring the option of an intervention. When she made a statement that caught my attention. She said “You know your treatment center was the 8^th drug rehab I have called in the last two days. Your admission department is the only treatment program that listened to my situation and did not immediately ask me for my insurance information or if I had the ability to pay privately.” This statement reminded me of how important it is that families be heard with a compassionate voice on the other end of the phone.

It is great hearing from a family member that she felt supported from our staff and she felt our drug treatment program cared about her situation. When you call Summer Sky you will experience a different kind of drug treatment program that cares about you and your family. This is one of the many great things that make Summer Sky the best Texas drug and alcohol rehab around.

Scott Kelley LCDC

Officials fear bath salts becoming the next big drug menace

2011-01-24T14:49:00Z

By Sheila Byrd

FULTON, MISS. - When Neil Brown got high on bath salts, he took his skinning knife and slit his face and stomach repeatedly. Brown survived, but authorities say others haven't been so lucky after snorting, injecting or smoking powders with such innocuous-sounding names asIvory Snow, Red Dove and Vanilla Sky.

Law enforcement agents and poison control centers say the bath salts, with their complex chemical names, are an emerging menace in several U.S. states where authorities talk of banning their sale. Some say their effects can be as powerful as those of methamphetamine.

From the Deep South to California, emergency calls are being reported over exposure to the stimulants the powders often contain: mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, also known as MDPV.

Sold under such names as Ivory Wave, Bliss, White Lightning and Hurricane Charlie, the chemicals can cause hallucinations, paranoia, a rapid heart rate and suicidal thoughts, authorities say. In addition to bath salts, the chemicals can be found in plant foods that are sold legally at convenience stores and on the Internet. However, they aren't necessarily being used for the purposes on the label.

Mississippi lawmakers this week began considering a proposal to ban the sale of the powders, and a similar measure is being sought in Kentucky. In Louisiana, the bath salts were outlawed by an emergency order after the state's poison center received more than 125 calls in the last three months of 2010 involving exposure to the chemicals.

In Brown's case, he said he had tried every drug from heroin to crack and was so shaken by terrifying hallucinations that he wrote to one Mississippi paper urging people to stay away from the bath salts.

"I couldn't tell you why I did it," Brown said, pointing to his scars. "The psychological effects are still there."

While Brown survived, sheriff's authorities in one Mississippi county say they believe one woman overdosed on bath salts there. In southern Louisiana, the family of a 21-year-old man says he cut his throat and ended his life with a gunshot. Authorities are investigating whether a man charged with capital murder in the December death of a Tippah County, Miss., sheriff's deputy was under the influence of the bath salts.

The stimulants are not regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, but are facing federal scrutiny. Law officers say some of the substances are being shipped from Europe, but origins are still unclear.

Gary Boggs, an executive assistant at the DEA, said there is a lengthy process to restrict these types of designer chemicals, including reviewing the abuse data. But it's a process that can take years.

Mark Ryan, director of Louisiana's poison control center, said he thinks state bans on the chemicals can be effective. He said calls about the salts have dropped sharply since Louisiana banned their sale in January.

Ryan said cathinone, the parent substance of the drugs, comes from a plant grown in Africa and is regulated. He said that MDPV and mephedrone are made in a lab and that they are not regulated because they are not marketed for human consumption. The stimulants affect neurotransmitters in the brain, he said.

The drugs cause "intense cravings," he said. "They'll binge on it three or four days before they show up in an ER. Even though it's a horrible trip, they want to do it again and again."

Ryan said at least 25 states have received calls about exposure, including Nevada and California. He said Louisiana leads with the greatest number of cases at 165, or 48 percent of the U.S. total, followed by Florida with at least 38 calls to its poison center.

Rick Gellar, medical director for the California Poison Control System, said the first call about the substances came in Oct. 5, and a handful of calls have followed since. But he warned: "The only way this won't become a problem in California is if federal regulatory agencies get ahead of the curve. This is a brand-new thing."

In the Midwest, the Missouri Poison Center at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis received at least 12 calls in the first two weeks of January about teenagers and young adults abusing such chemicals, said Julie Weber, the center's director. The center received eight calls about the powders all of last year.

Richard Sanders, a general practitioner working in Covington, La., said his son, Dickie, snorted some of the bath salts and endured three days of intermittent delirium. Dickie Sanders cut his throat but missed major arteries. As he continued to have visions, his physician father tried to calm him. But the elder Sanders said that as he slept, his son went into another room and shot himself.

"If you could see the contortions on his face. It just made him crazy," Sanders said. He added that the coroner's office confirmed that the chemicals were detected in his son's blood and urine.

Sanders warns that the bath salts are far more dangerous than some of their names imply.

"I think everybody is taking this extremely lightly. As much as we outlawed it in Louisiana, all these kids cross over to Mississippi and buy whatever they want," he said.

A small packet of the chemicals typically costs as little as $20.

In northern Mississippi's Itawamba County, Sheriff Chris Dickinson said his office has handled about 30 encounters with bath-salts users in the past two months alone. He said the problem grew last year in his rural area after a Mississippi law began restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making methamphetamine.

Dickinson said most of the bath-salts users there have been meth addicts and can be dangerous when using them.

"We had a deputy injured a week ago. They were fighting with a guy who thought they were two devils. That's what makes this drug so dangerous," he said.

But Dickinson said the chemicals are legal, leaving him no choice but to slap users just with a charge of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Kentucky state lawmaker John Tilley said he's moving to block the drug's sale there, preparing a bill for consideration when his legislature convenes shortly. Angry that the powders can be bought legally, he said: "If my 12-year-old can go in a store and buy it, that concerns me."

- Associated Press

To get help for problems with drugs contact Summer Sky Treatment Center at 1-888-857-8857

Addiction Treatment Centers in Texas

2011-01-11T17:48:00Z

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Addiction Treatment Centers are located around the State of Texas. Many great treatment programs exist. Each program is unique and offers different types of approaches to the treatment of addiction. Programs offer different levels of care. Some of the types of facilities that are present in Texas include inpatient, residential, short-term, long-term, and intensive out-patient programs. Some programs have detox programs attached to the treatment programs and some do not provide this level of care.

Effective Addiction Treatment

Addiction treatment centers offer a variety of modalities that are effective for individuals that need treatment. Some of the available treatment modalities that are most common are medication and behavioral therapy and when used together this can increase the likely hood of someone getting free from an addiction. Detoxification is normally the first approach to addiction treatment and then is usually, followed by treatment. Some programs offer extensive relapse prevention therapies; others are brief in this area of treatment. It is recommended that individuals that are experiencing withdrawal symptoms, seek a program that has a medical detoxification program attached to the facility, or enter into a detox program, before entering into other types of treatment programs. Most effective addiction treatment programs, offer a continuum of care that includes a customized treatment regimen. The focus of the care should be in the area of life, medical and mental health. Programs that offer individual or group drug counseling are very helpful to individuals. Cognitive behavioral therapy, Multidimensional family therapy, Motivational interviewing, and programs that offer strong 12-step focuses are effective at the treatment of addiction. Overall the approach of the addiction treatment program should utilize many different approaches and modalities to be effective.

Access to addiction treatment in Texas is not equal to all individuals in the State of Texas. Texas has some very great programs and some are even nationally recognized treatment programs. However, not everyone can get access to treatment in the programs in Texas. The sad reality is that unless you carry a health insurance plan or have the ability to pay for treatment out of your pocket, then finding treatment in Texas can be very difficult. Texas does have State funded treatment programs for those that do not have insurance or the ability to pay for treatment privately. The State funded treatment programs have limited beds and often require a long waiting list that an individual has to be on, before a treatment bed becomes available.

Study: Newer Antipsychotic Drugs Are Overused

2011-01-11T17:42:00Z

Researchers Say Many Doctors Prescribe Drugs Despite Lack of Evidence of Effectiveness

By Brenda Goodman
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Jan. 7, 2011 -- Many people taking powerful psychiatric medicationsthat increase their risk of weight gain and diabetes are prescribed those drugs when there’s little evidence that they will get any benefit from them, a new study shows.

What’s more, experts say that even when these drugs, which are known as atypical antipsychotics, are prescribed as recommended, they may not be safer or more effective than the less expensive, older medications that they’ve apparently replaced.

“Atypical agents were once thought to be safer and possibly more effective,” says study researcher G. Caleb Alexander, MD, an assistant professor in the department of medicine at the University of Chicago Hospitals. “And what we’ve learned over time is that they are not safer, and in the settings where there’s the best scientific evidence, they are no more effective.”

How Drugs Developed for Schizophrenia Became Used as Antidepressants

The first generation of drugs to treat serious mental illnesses like schizophreniawere introduced in the late 1950s and 1960s, but those drugs often had disfiguring and painful neurologic side effects like muscle spasms and tremors and caused involuntary movements like facial grimacing.

In 1989, the first of a newer generation of atypical antipsychotic drugs, Clozaril, was introduced with the promise of being more effective than its predecessors, with fewer side effects. Other medications in the class soon followed, including Abilify, Geodon, Invega, Risperdal, Saphris, Seroquel, and Zyprexa.

“Since there were all these new drugs, and it costs 700 to 800 million to bring a drug to market, drug companies needed to make that money back,” says Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, chairman of the department of psychiatry at Columbia University, who was not involved in the study. “These drugs were marketed aggressively.”

The study, which was published online in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, documents what Lieberman and others believe were the effects of that marketing.

Researchers found that the number of office visits in which a doctor documented a patient’s use of atypical antipsychotics more than doubled since the mid-1990s -- climbing from 6.2 million in 1995 to 14.3 million by 2008, making them the top-selling pharmaceutical drug class.

Over time, the way doctors prescribed those drugs changed, too, with doctors becoming more likely to prescribe these powerful medications for conditions in which they had not been rigorously studied or FDA approved, such as anxiety,depression, attention deficit disorder, and for aggression and agitation in dementia patients.

In adults, for example, the use of any antipsychotic medication -- old or new -- remained relatively stable from 1995 to 2001. But from 2001 to 2006 use of the medications doubled, the study showed, indicating that doctors were becoming quicker to turn to these powerful drugs.

In children, the use of the drugs skyrocketed, increasing 800% from 1995 to 2005.

“Time and time again what we see is medications that are prematurely adopted in populations that have little or nothing to gain, and this study is yet another example of how both doctors and patients may overenthusiastically or prematurely adopt medicines beyond the evidence base,” Alexander says.

Atypical Antipsychotics Become a Target of Lawsuits

In many cases, government regulators felt that pharmaceutical companies promoting these drugs broke the law by encouraging doctors to prescribe them “off-label.” Off-label drugs are those prescribed by doctors for purposes not approved by the FDA.

According to a report released in December 2010 by the consumer watchdog Public Citizen, some of the largest drug company settlements with the federal government in the last two decades were for the unlawful promotion of atypical antipsychotic drugs.

In 2010, for example, the drug company AstraZeneca paid $520 million to settle allegations by the federal government that it engaged in unlawful promotion of its drug Seroquel, which is the top-selling atypical antipsychotic.

AstraZeneca Responds

AstraZeneca offered the following written response to the findings of the new study:

“AstraZeneca believes that Seroquel is a safe and effective medication when used as recommended in the prescribing information and offers clinicians, patients and their loved ones an important treatment option.

Doctors need a range of options as they seek an appropriate treatment for individual patients, because they recognize a one-size-fits-all approach to treating all people with mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia is not possible. Doctors consider the needs of individual patients and the array of treatments that are available, including prescription medicines. Doctors are trained to carefully make these choices.

The company has worked diligently with the FDA to ensure that the safety profile of Seroquel is reflected appropriately in the prescribing information so that health care professionals can weigh the risk and benefit of Seroquel when making treatment decisions.

It is AstraZeneca’s policy to promote our medicines and to conduct interactions with healthcare professionals in compliance with the laws and regulations that govern the healthcare community in the United States. We train AstraZeneca employees to follow our compliance policies.”

Putting the Brakes on Inappropriate Use

Experts feel the overuse of these medications will need to be addressed on several fronts.

“There are several strategies that can be used to achieve more rational use of these and other psychotropic medicines, including patient and physician education, FDA empowerment, and denial of payments by public and private payers for uses that lack sufficient scientific evidence,” Alexander says.

Lieberman said more comparative effectiveness studies would help doctors better understand when drugs in the atypical antipsychotic class were superior to each other or to older drugs, and that would better inform prescribing practices.

“It’s a bit like going to the supermarket and trying to buy laundry detergent: This one has enzymes; this one has brighteners.” he says. “But we don’t really know how the drugs compare to each other.”

Many felt that the solution should not include preventing doctors from being able to prescribe drugs off-label.

“Off-label prescribing is an important component of practice,” Lieberman says. “The reason is that it really takes a lot of money for a drug company to jump through all the hoops to get an FDA indication. There may be good evidence that a drug is effective in a given condition, but the company doesn’t see enough of a market there to get it approved.”

But he admits that many doctors may be using too free a hand with the prescription pad.

“On the other hand, you don’t want to be promiscuous and abuse that privilege,” he says.

Popping a Pill Can Help Some Alcoholics Curb Drinking

2011-01-11T17:11:00Z

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ScienceDaily (Dec. 17, 2010) — A little-used medication can help treat alcoholism, an updated review of studies confirms. At any given time, about 5 percent of the population suffers from an addiction to alcohol, often with devastating consequences to work, family, friends and health. Twelve-step programs have been the mainstay for helping alcoholics to quit drinking, but a significant number of people who try these programs do not find them helpful or suffer relapses.

The Cochrane review finds that the medication naltrexone -- brand names are Depade and ReVia -- when combined with counseling or interventions like Alcoholics Anonymous, can help cut the risk of heavy drinking in patients who are dependent on alcohol.

Naltrexone works by blocking the pleasurable feelings, or "high," a person gets from drinking alcohol, thereby reducing motivation to drink. Naltrexone can be taken daily as a pill and is available as a long-acting injection.

The review was published by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

"Hundreds of drugs have been tried for relapse prevention [in alcoholism] and basically all others have failed," said Michael Soyka, M.D., senior author of the review. "From a clinical point of view, there are few pharmacologic options for the treatment of alcohol dependence, so it is important to study those options that look promising." Soyka and lead review author Suanne Roesner are associated with the psychiatric hospital at the University of Munich.

Alcohol dependence is different from alcohol abuse or misuse. The symptoms of alcohol dependence include craving for alcohol, an inability to control drinking, the presence of withdrawal symptoms if one tries to quit and tolerance -- the need to increase alcohol amounts to feel the same effect. People who only abuse alcohol and are not dependent on it have no trouble controlling their drinking, once they decide to do so.

Soyka and colleagues examined the results of 50 previously published high-quality studies on naltrexone and alcohol dependence. Overall, the studies enrolled nearly 7,800 patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence. Of these, about 4,200 patients took naltrexone or a similar drug called nalmefene. The rest of the patients took a placebo or had some other type of treatment. Treatment with naltrexone ranged from four weeks to a year, with most patients receiving about 12 weeks of treatment. Most patients also received counseling.

Researchers found that patients who received naltrexone were 17 percent less likely to return to heavy drinking than were patients who received a placebo treatment. "That would mean that naltrexone can be expected to prevent heavy drinking in one out of eight patients who would otherwise have returned to a heavy drinking pattern," Soyka said.

Naltrexone also increased the number of people who were able to stay abstinent by 4 percent.

While at first glance that might not seem like a miracle cure for alcoholism, Soyka said that the effectiveness of naltrexone is on par with medications used for other psychiatric conditions.

"Naltrexone is moderately effective in reducing alcohol intake. It's about as effective as antidepressants in depressive disorders," he said. "From a safety point of view, there are few safety concerns. Nausea is the most frequent side effect."

Carlton Erickson, Ph.D., director of the Addiction Science Research and Education Center at the University of Texas in Austin, says naltrexone can help a person with alcohol dependence move toward the goal of abstinence.

"Anytime you reduce the severity of drinking, the individual is more open to treatment for abstinence," he said. "It's almost like putting them through a series of steps if you can get them to cut down; once they start to cut down they are more likely to become abstinent with continued treatment and continued exposure to 12-step programs." Erickson is not associated with the review or any of its authors.

Despite its possible benefits in treating alcohol dependency, naltrexone is not widely used in the United States or elsewhere, Erickson said. Some addiction specialists fear that the widespread use of naltrexone or other medications will result in patients not receiving the counseling or psychological interventions they need.

There is also a lingering attitude that the treatment of alcohol dependency must rely solely on psychological or spiritual methods.

"People in 12-step programs typically don't believe in medications for the treatment of alcoholism," Erickson said. "Therefore they are unlikely to accept anyone into their 12-step meetings who is on a medication like naltrexone. Secondly, they would not want to accept it for themselves, unless a physician talked them into it as part of their treatment plan."

In addition, most large alcohol treatment centers, with the exception of Hazelden, do not advocate for the use of medications in the management of addiction, he said.

However, Erickson said that naltrexone is FDA-approved only as an adjunct to abstinence-based therapies, like Alcoholics Anonymous. "Naltrexone is not something you give to someone who says 'I want to stop drinking, give me a pill.' Naltrexone is only a helper to that process. The medication itself is not a magic bullet."

The review discloses that two authors received speaker/consultancy/advisory board honoraria from pharmaceutical companies.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Health Behavior News Service, part of the Center for Advancing Health. The original article was written by Katherine Kahn.

Novel Vaccine That Produces Strong Immunity Against Cocaine High Poised To Move Quickly Into Human Trials

2011-01-11T16:58:00Z

Novel Vaccine That Produces Strong Immunity Against Cocaine High Poised To Move Quickly Into Human Trials

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Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Cornell University have produced a long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice by giving them a unique vaccine that combines bits of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics cocaine.

In their study, published January 4, 2011, in the advanced online edition ofMolecular Therapy, the researchers say this novel strategy might be the first to offer cocaine addicts a fairly simple way to break and reverse their habit. The approach could also be useful in treating other addictions, such as to nicotine, heroin, and methamphetamine.

"Our very dramatic data shows that we can protect mice against the effects of cocaine, and we think this approach could be very promising in fighting addiction in humans," says the study's lead investigator, Ronald G. Crystal, chairman and professor of genetic medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

"The vaccine suppresses the stimulant effects of the drug," said Scripps Research Professor Kim Janda, a co-author of the paper and a pioneer in the field of developing vaccines against addictive drugs such as cocaine. "Unlike other types of treatment, a vaccine such as this one does not interfere with the neurological targets of the drug, but instead blocks cocaine from ever reaching the brain in the first place."

In the new study, the vaccine effect lasted for at least 13 weeks, the longest time point evaluated in such an approach. Since the vaccine likely will not require multiple expensive infusions, the researchers hope that it can move quickly into human trials.

Clinically, this sort of therapy could be given to people in treatment programs to aid in their recovery. And, like most other types of treatment, it will only be useful for those who want the help.

"This vaccine would be most applicable for addicts who are who are interested in getting off the drug," said Janda, the Eli R. Callaway Jr. Chair in Chemistry and a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at Scripps Research. "In essence we view such vaccines as 'immuno-helpers' for treating substance abuse, and, in the case at hand, it might prove to be extremely useful for crack addicts whose relapse rate is exceedingly high."

The Drug

According to the latest statistics available from National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in 2008 5.3 million Americans age 12 and older had abused cocaine in any form and 1.1 million had abused crack at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.

Cocaine, derived from the leaf of the Erythroxylaceae coca plant, is a highly potent drug that, as a salt, is either snorted or dissolved in water and injected directly into the bloodstream. The salt is also often neutralized to make an insoluble "free-base" form that is smoked.

Once ingested in the bloodstream, the drug crosses the blood - brain barrier and accumulates rapidly in the brain. "The brain levels rise very rapidly once cocaine is taken into the system," said Janda.

Cocaine Drug Rehab www.summersky.us

Addiction

2011-01-11T16:44:00Z

Addiction

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Addiction is a chronic disorder proposed to be precipitated by a combination of genetic, biological/pharmacological and social factors.

Addiction is a compulsion to repeat a behaviour regardless of its consequences.

A person who is addicted is sometimes called an addict.

Addiction is often characterized by a craving for more of the drug or behavior, increased physiological tolerance to exposure, and withdrawal symptoms in the absence of the stimulus.

Many drugs and behaviours that provide either pleasure or relief from pain pose a risk of addiction or dependency.

For more information about the topic Addiction, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Substance abuse — Substance abuse refers to the overindulgence in and dependence on a stimulant, depressant, chemical substance, herb (plant) or fungus leading to ... > read more

Drug addiction — Drug addiction, or substance dependence is the compulsive use of psychoactive drugs, to the point where the user has no effective choice but to ... > read more

Narcotic — A narcotic is an addictive drug that reduces pain, induces sleep and may alter mood or behaviour. In US legal context, narcotic refers to opium, ... > read more

Detox — Detox, short for detoxification, in general is the removal of toxic substances from the body. It is one of the functions of the liver and kidneys, ... > read more

Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Addiction at Wikipedia.org. See theWikipedia copyright page for more details.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Summer Sky Treatment Center a place to heal from your addiction

Eating Disorders Male Anorexia

2011-01-11T16:03:00Z

It is seldom discussed and rarely screened for, by most medical professionals. Could the person beside you have a eating disorder? Would you know what to look for in and individual? Typically, we think of eating disorders in the modeling community or actors in Hollywood. What about in a male boy? Please read the story below and then view the signs and symptoms of Eating Disorders.

Male Anorexia: One Boy's Story

by Julie Z. Rosenberg (Subscribe to Julie Z. Rosenberg's posts)
Dec 30th 2010 1:00PM

Every day, for the first four months of his sophomore year in high school, Eric Ostendorf ate an apple for lunch.

That's it. One apple. And sometimes he didn't even make it to the core.

The summer before, Ostendorf's pediatrician discovered an alarmingly low heart rate during a routine physical and sent the Kentucky teen straight to the hospital. At 15, he was at serious risk for a heart attack.

Ostendorf, now a 17-year-old high school senior, had been starving himself for months while engaging in obsessive-compulsive exercise regimens, he tells ParentDish in a phone interview.

After spending a week in the hospital with feeding tubes down his throat, Ostendorf was released on doctor's orders that his parents closely monitor his eating and with a strict embargo on exercise. However, as many anorexics have proved, there are ways around such restrictions.

"I would wake up a few minutes early, run the shower and then pump out about a hundred push-ups, do some crunches and then get in the shower, get dressed, come downstairs, hide the food (by tossing it down the back of his big sweatshirt when no one was looking), then flush it (down the toilet) when I was going up to brush my teeth," Ostendorf tells ParentDish. "And then I'd pump out some more push-ups."

Unlike anorexic girls his age who focus on whittling their waists to unattainably small sizes, Ostendorf says his focus was on building muscle mass.

"You rarely hear from guys about clothes size. The majority of guys I've treated with anorexia say to me, with a straight face, 'I will gain as much weight as you want me to gain, as long as it's muscle,' " Dr. Ted Weltzein, medical director of eating disorder services at Rogers Memorial Hospital in Wisconsin (where Ostendorf would eventually spend 100 days for inpatient treatment), tells ParentDish in a phone interview.

When he got to school, Ostendorf says, he would ask his teacher if he could use the restroom and then he would "crank out 45 chin-ups on the bar of the bathroom stalls."

He did that every class period, every day, for four months straight. He'd often miss his ride home at the end of the day because he was busy walking laps around the halls with his heavy backpack and doing chin-ups in the boys' bathroom. When he got home and found his mother helping his younger brother with homework, he'd sneak off to do push-ups, crunches, squats and calf raises. Ostendorf wanted biceps that bulged and abs he could bounce quarters off.

His mother, Becky Ostendorf, arranged to have the vice principal casually walk by his table in the cafeteria and discreetly peer into his lunch bag, which he was required to leave open on the table.

It was always empty, save for the remainder of his apple. Yet, his mother packed him a full lunch and neither she nor the principal knew he never ate it.

"I would stop at my locker to get my lunch like I was supposed to, and then I would make a beeline for the bathroom and, if no one was in there, I'd flush (the food) down the toilet. ... All I would have left is an apple because you can't flush an apple down the toilet," he tells ParentDish.

Ostendorf's parents decided to appear on a "Dr. Phil" episode titled "Body Obsessed Boys," which aired Jan. 8, 2009. Becky Ostendorf tells ParentDish in a phone interview that their health insurance had run out, "so I very selfishly said, 'We're doing this show because maybe we'll get some help that's paid for.' I hate to admit that, but that was the point I was at."

"Dr. Phil called me an enabler on national TV," she says. "(Eric's eating disorder) totally consumed our lives day in and day out. It was like nothing else mattered."

Weltzein also appeared on the show and offered Ostendorf a full evaluation and treatment at the eating disorder facility at Rogers, known for its rare all-male unit.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), about 10 percent of people with eating disorders are male. However, they are less likely to seek treatment because of the perception that they are "women's diseases."

"Our uniqueness," Weltzein says, "is that the males are with the males, not with the females. The staff is used to working with the males, which is different. (There's) a lot more 'Guitar Hero' on the male floor."

Ostendorf's birthday was on the 70th day of his 100 days in treatment at Rogers. He shared this journal entry, which was part of the treatment process, from that day:

March 9, 2009

Today's my 16th birthday. I'm not home, I'm not at school; I'm at a mental hospital. I'm not going to get my temporary driving license today. I'm going to group therapy. To me it's just a normal day in the fight against my eating disorder. This is a great reason to get pissed at my eating disorder. MY ED (Eating Disorder) took my 16th birthday away from me.

Because of him, I'm seven hours away from home right now, away from my family and friends. All of this is motivation. I'm going to kick his butt. I'm going to get my life back. He is no longer going to control me. Starting today, he will no longer make me feel like a piece of crap. No longer will he suppress my personality. No longer will he hinder my confidence. No longer will he make me lie.

I neither want nor need him. As far as I'm concerned he can go #%@& himself. Eric is back and here to stay.

Ostendorf is now in full recovery. He hopes to study pre-med at college next year so he can help kids with eating disorders.

BE AWARE: A sufferer DOES NOT need to appear underweight or even "average" to suffer ANY of these signs and symptoms. Many men and women with Eating Disorders appear NOT to be underweight... it does not mean they suffer less or are in any less danger.

Anorexia/Bulimia

Dramatic weight loss in a relatively short period of time.

Wearing big or baggy clothes or dressing in layers to hide body shape and/or weight loss.

Obsession with weight and complaining of weight problems (even if "average" weight or thin).

Obsession with calories and fat content of foods.

Obsession with continuous exercise.

Frequent trips to the bathroom immediately following meals (sometimes accompanied with water running in the bathroom for a long period of time to hide the sound of vomiting).

Visible food restriction and self-starvation.

Visible bingeing and/or purging.

Use or hiding use of diet pills, laxatives, ipecac syrup (can cause immediate death!) or enemas.

Isolation. Fear of eating around and with others.

Unusual Food rituals such as shifting the food around on the plate to look eaten; cutting food into tiny pieces; making sure the fork avoids contact with the lips (using teeth to scrap food off the fork or spoon); chewing food and spitting it out, but not swallowing; dropping food into napkin on lap to later throw away.

Hiding food in strange places (closets, cabinets, suitcases, under the bed) to avoid eating (Anorexia) or to eat at a later time (Bulimia).

Flushing uneaten food down the toilet (can cause sewage problems).

Vague or secretive eating patterns.

Keeping a "food diary" or lists that consists of food and/or behaviors (ie., purging, restricting, calories consumed, exercise, etc.)

Pre-occupied thoughts of food, weight and cooking.

Visiting websites that promote unhealthy ways to lose weight.

Reading books about weight loss and eating disorders.

Self-defeating statements after food consumption.

Hair loss. Pale or "grey" appearance to the skin.

Dizziness and headaches.

Frequent soar throats and/or swollen glands.

Low self-esteem. Feeling worthless. Often putting themselves down and complaining of being "too stupid" or "too fat" and saying they don't matter. Need for acceptance and approval from others.

Complaints of often feeling cold.

Low blood pressure.

Loss of menstrual cycle.

Constipation or incontinence.

Bruised or calluses knuckles; bloodshot or bleeding in the eyes; light bruising under the eyes and on the cheeks.

Perfectionistic personality.

Loss of sexual desire or promiscuous relations.

Mood swings. Depression. Fatigue.

Insomnia. Poor sleeping habits

Compulsive Overeating/Binge Eating Disorder

Fear of not being able to control eating, and while eating, not being able to stop.
Isolation. Fear of eating around and with others.
Chronic dieting on a variety of popular diet plans.
Holding the belief that life will be better if they can lose weight.
Hiding food in strange places (closets, cabinets, suitcases, under the bed) to eat at a later time.
Vague or secretive eating patterns.
Self-defeating statements after food consumption.
Blames failure in social and professional community on weight.
Holding the belief that food is their only friend.
Frequently out of breath after relatively light activities.
Excessive sweating and shortness of breath.
High blood pressure and/or cholesterol.
Leg and joint pain.
Weight gain.
Decreased mobility due to weight gain.
Loss of sexual desire or promiscuous relations.
Mood swings. Depression. Fatigue.
Insomnia. Poor Sleeping Habits.

Family files claim over teen's death after a rave

2011-01-11T16:00:00Z

By Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times

January 3, 2011

The parents of 15-year-old Sasha Rodriguez, who died of an ecstasy overdose after attending a rave, have filed a claim against the management of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The parents are seeking $5 million in damages from the Coliseum Commission.

The claim, filed Dec. 23 with both the city and county of Los Angeles, is a necessary step before suing in court. The claim says the commission, a joint state, city and county board, did not fulfill its "duties and was negligent in creating and/or allowing others to create a dangerous condition of public property" during the two-day Electric Daisy Carnival rave at the Coliseum in June.

Sasha Rodriguez, a high school student and drill team member from Atwater Village, was able to get into the event despite the 16-and-over age requirement advertised by Los Angeles-based Insomniac Events, the producer of the rave. Those under 16 needed a parent or guardian to attend, according to the event's website. Sasha attended with friends; her parents have said they did not know she was going to a rave.

She died days after falling into a coma after attending the rave.

The Coliseum "knew, or should have known, that the rave would attract, promote, encourage, facilitate and enable widespread illegal and illicit activity, including but not limited to the possession, sale and consumption of illicit drugs," the claim says.

The Coliseum Commission also "knew, or should have known, that the rave would attract minors under the age of majority … yet it failed to enforce such minimum age requirement," the claim said.

Patrick Lynch, general manager of the Coliseum, said in an e-mail Thursday that he was out of the office and unaware of the claim, and so was unable to comment.

In November, in a controversial vote, the commission lifted its moratorium on raves — all-night dance parties featuring electronic music. A month later, it voted to require rave promoters to come before the panel at least 60 days in advance of an event for approval.

"We're going to limit whatever abuses take place," Commissioner David Israel said at the December meeting.

The Electric Daisy Carnival rave, which drew 185,000 people over two days, resulted in 120 people being taken to local hospitals, mostly for drug intoxication. Coliseum managers said there were no major problems at subsequent raves Aug. 21 and Oct. 23, which attracted 6,000 and 22,000 people, respectively. A New Year's Eve rave, Together as One, at the Sports Arena resulted in 25 arrests and 17 hospitalizations.

All three raves that took place after the June event had been scheduled before the rave moratorium enacted after the teen's death.

The L.A. Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena relies on raves for 28% of its revenue, according to a consultant report filed to the commission in July.

Commissioners said they were not driven by the bottom line when they voted to continue holding raves at the public facility. Some expressed worry that raves would be forced into unregulated "back alleys" if no longer allowed at the Coliseum or Sports Arena.

Israel said commissioners weighed both public safety and free-speech concerns, and said recommendations from the county Department of Public Health would be enacted to ensure safety and reduce risk at future events. Among the recommendations: strictly enforcing an 18-and-over age limit, adding security and drug searches, and hiring medical staff to work at the raves.

Another publicly owned facility took a different approach. The state-run Cow Palace in Daly City, south of San Francisco, banned raves in November, citing numerous drug and alcohol overdoses at recent events, including two deaths following a rave in May.

On Dec. 22, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill to ban raves at publicly owned venues. Ma cited a study that found many teenagers attending raves use "club drugs" such as ecstasy, GHB, methamphetamine and LSD.

Rave promoters denounced the legislation as heavy-handed.

Steven Archer, a lawyer representing Sasha's parents, Grace Rodriguez and Leonard Contreras, said the claim does not seek any injunction that would ask a judge to stop raves at the facility.

"However, one of the collateral results of a successful lawsuit may be a change in policy of the Coliseum Commission to further control or limit raves," Archer said. "It's not our goal to limit them … but when the Coliseum Commission is called upon to pay monetary damages to this family for what happened to their daughter, maybe by hitting them in the pocketbook, the Coliseum Commission will have its eyes opened."

ron.lin@latimes.com

Texas Adolescent Drug Rehab in Texas is changing lives and restoring adolescent male and females back to health. If you are looking for a solid Adolescent treatment program, then look no further than Summer Sky Treatment Center. This Texas based drug and alcohol treatment program is conveniently located in the Middle of Texas. It is close enough to major cities like Dallas,Ft. Worth,Abilene,Austin,San Antonio,Houston, but far enough from the negative influence that your teen may need to get away from to get clean and sober. Give Summer Sky a chance and your adolescent will thank you latter for helping them help themselves.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Shaun King charged with DUI in Florida

2011-01-11T15:55:00Z

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Former Tampa Bay Buccaneersquarterback Shaun King has been charged with driving under the influence in Florida.

Hillsborough County jail records show that King refused to take a blood alcohol test when sheriff's deputies stopped him at 2:12 a.m. Sunday.

He posted $500 bond and was released.

King played seven NFL seasons with the Buccaneers andArizona Cardinals. He recently was hired as a football analyst for Bright House Sports Network.

The 33-year-old lives in St. Petersburg. A message left at a phone number listed for his address was not immediately returned.

A spokesman for Bright House Networks would not comment on the arrest but said King was a part-time employee, not full time.

Do you suffer from a Alcohol Problem? Call Summer Sky Treatment Center a place that has restored more than 10,000 patients to sane sober lifestyle. Many Texas Drug Rehabs exist, but one facility stands out over the rest and that is Summer Sky.

Texas Considers Ignition Interlock Laws

2011-01-11T15:51:00Z

Several DWI laws are being proposed in this year's Texas Legislative Session.

Image via Wikipedia

One law would require first-time offenders to use an Ignition Interlock System.

It comes with a breathalyzer that won't allow the driver start up if he or she blows over the limit.

Texas Mothers Against Drunk Drivers are fighting for ignition interlock laws.

They're hoping the law will be used as punishment under the deffered ajudication bill, which gives first time DWI offenders probation instead of jail time.

MADD is also proposing sobriety checkpoints in Texas. The road blocks are already being used in 41 other states to check for drunk drivers.

Need Addiction Treatment? Visit Summer Sky Treatment Center for a compressive Texas Drug Rehab that has helped over 10,000 patients find freedom from addiction.

Children of Alcoholics Likely to become Obese!

2011-01-11T15:48:00Z

Washington (SmartAboutHealth) – According to a new study, children of alcoholics are more likely to face and suffer from obesity than kids who are not born into a family with a history of alcoholism.

The study was carried out by researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and focused on seeing if there was a link between having a family history of alcohol abuse or alcoholism, and obesity.

Researchers analyzed data that came from two different surveys that involves alcoholism.

The surveys were conducted through the 1990s as well as through the 2000s and involved over 75,000 people in total.

Researchers found that those who had a family history of alcoholism were far more likely to be obese than those who did not.

The belief is that this is due to the fact that the addiction may be passed odwn in the family.

The only difference is that the new entrants into these families are becoming addicted to junk food more than they are addicted to alcohol.

As the years went by in the study, they found that the more recent adults with a family history of alcoholism were more likely to suffer from obesity than those from the early 1990s.

The family history of alcoholism and obesity are more directly linked now because the food that is available today has more calories and more fat than the food some years ago.

Still, the addictive nature between these foods and the brain is similar to the addiction that is seen from alcohol.

The study has been published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

Via http://sobersky.typepad.com/blog/

A New Way of Thinking

2010-10-11T23:13:00Z

A New Way of Thinking

When the word addiction is mentioned, we immediately think of drugs and alcohol. Actually, a person can become addicted to any behavior, including behavior that is legal, moral, socially acceptable, popular, or almost any activity that one can imagine. They all have two things in common: 1) they are done to excess and 2) they cause problems in the lives of the people addicted to them. It's very important to understand that thoughts and feelings themselves are a part of the addictive routine. Eventually the thoughts are performed in an automatic, unconscious way. Addiction thrives on deception. Addicts are most vulnerable when they don't see or accept the truth. Their refusal to face reality may lead them to lose everything they value, especially themselves. As an addict, changing the way I thought after so many years seemed almost impossible. I had only known that lifestyle and couldn't imagine any other way, even though I was miserable more than happy. I lived in self will, meaning that I ran things in my life. Of course, I completely messed things up. When I finally decided to seek help, I was able to let go of the past. The reality is that until an addict decides to have a change of heart and new way of thinking they will continue to live with addiction.

By CH

Summer Sky Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Center
A Texas Substance Abuse Treatment Facility

Recovery Coast to Coast Featuring Summer Sky and Eagle Force Academy (part 1)

2010-09-04T16:50:00Z

Recovery Coast to Coast Featuring Summer Sky and Eagle Force Academy

2010-09-04T16:41:00Z

Summer Sky and Eagle Force Academy Featured on Recovery Coast to Coast

2010-09-04T16:27:45Z

Summer Sky's First Annual Run For Recovery

2010-08-26T18:50:00Z

Summer Sky’s 1^st Annual

Run For Recovery

The Run For Recovery 5K is a benefit run/walk to heighten community awareness about those recovering from alcohol and drug addiction and to raise funds to support the local STAR Council. The STAR Council (Solution Towards Addiction Recovery) has been quietly providing needed services to those families suffering from substance abuse challenges. STAR Council is a 501c3 charitable organization, primarily funded by contracts form Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and matching funds from United Ways of the supported counties.

Run or walk this scenic 3 mile loop around Tarleton State University; see the growth and progress of this beautiful campus. September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Recovery Month celebrates the positive impact of treatment for addiction in communities throughout the nation. September is set aside to recognize the strides made in treatment and to educate the public that addiction is a treatable public health problem that affects us all. This vital observance lets people know that addiction can be managed effectively when the entire community supports those who suffer from this treatable disease.

Saturday September 25th, 2010 at 9:00 am

Entry Fees

Pre-Register $25.00

Race Day Registration $25.00

Race Day Registration starts at 8:00 am

Packet Pick up starts at 8:30 am

Motivational Speaker starts at 9:30 am

Register now at