It is the way the brain responds to alcohol and drug use that determines the Biological Risk Factors. In High Risk Patients the brain responds differently as compared to the brain of Low Risk Patients. High Risk Reactions of the brain make the person feel good and not using it makes them feel bad. Mainly, there are five biological risk factors that make a person feel good when he or she consumes alcohol or takes drugs. They are:- 1. Euphoric Recall 2. Positive Personality Change 3. High Tolerance 4. Hangover Resistance 5. Brain Damage Sensitivity Now, let us look at each one of them in a bit of detail. Biological Risk Factor # 1: Euphoric Response: The first Biological Risk Factor involves the euphoric brain response to the use of alcohol and drugs. If alcohol and drugs make you feel “really good” then you are really at risk for developing alcoholism and addiction. When high risk people use any mood altering substance they have an addictive brain response. In other words, alcohol or drugs cause their brains to be flooded by pleasure chemicals and to be deprived of warning chemicals. The flooding of the brain by pleasure chemicals makes the person feel good by creating
Drugs, everyone knows from day one, are bad news, even though marijuana is becoming legal in many countries now for medicinal as well as recreational use and even the social stigma in the younger generation is waning, but alcohol has always had a different connotation. Everybody drinks-it’s good for you, Right? But believe it or not, alcohol too is harmful and kills countless people in the world. It kills by two ways: by damaging the body, as we have detailed in the earlier blogs and by causing accidents, violence, suicides etc. The medicinal benefits of alcohol are virtually nonexistent. A little research has of course shown that alcohol, red wine in particular can be good for the health of your heart. It is ”supposed” to increase the good cholesterol and increase the antioxidant activity, BUT-and it is a big BUT-the benefits seen in that research might have been due to other factors, such as being physically active and eating a diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats. Besides you can get the same benefits by drinking red grape juice-without any risk. If you want a healthy heart, there are many other things you can do: control your blood pressure, cholesterol and weight; eat a healthy diet and exercise. There is really no need to drink alcohol to get health benefits. When friends and loved ones say that you have a drinking or drug problem and are after you to quit, it can be quite bothersome. Sometimes you think they might be right but most of the time you think that if they are wrong you will be giving up this stuff for nothing. Maybe you have a problem, maybe you don’t. Even if you DO have a problem, chances are that you will not be able to see it clearly. Self-deception is rampant in alcoholism and drug addiction. It is so, because it helps you escape a very unpleasant reality and you do not have to do any thing about it. It may not be easy to answer the question whether you ARE an alcoholic or a drug addict or not. One exercise you can do is write your life story listing all the problems in your life and your drinking and drug use. Be totally honest – even though that is a very tall order. List all the problems and how alcohol and drugs were responsible for those problems and how your life was affected by your use. Note opportunities missed, money spent or wasted, the impact on your family, job, friendships and other aspects of your life. Denial often keeps alcoholics and addicts from seeing the problems alcohol and drugs are causing, so rigorous honesty is required in doing this exercise. If your drinking or drug use is causing problems in your life, or if someone who cares about you believes it is, it could be time to entertain the idea that you might be an alcoholic or an addict. Some people with certain illnesses – for example, cancer, alcoholism and addiction – practice denial. It is not because they are stupid or bad or just plain pigheaded. They are genuinely unable to see the truth for what it is, and they deny the fact that they are ill to protect themselves from facing a fearsome and unpleasant reality. The cancer patient does not want to know about his or her illness out of fear of the unpleasant treatments that might be needed and even a greater fear of the consequences should the treatment fail. Similarly, the alcoholic or addict does not want to know about his condition because of the stigma attached to the conclusion and even a greater fear of having to give up their most trusted chemical support. Denial is a defense mechanism and as long as a person has denial he or she will be able to drink alcohol or use drugs till his or her dying days. It is a primitive mechanism – a self deception that is useful in the short time period but is extremely dangerous and destructive over the long term. This self-deception is common in alcoholism and addiction; your psyche knows that the behavior you are indulging in is self-destructive and not in your own best interest and is unacceptable at many levels coupled with a strong desire to continue using alcohol and other drugs. Learning about alcoholism and addiction and the hope and happiness that treatment at Sahyog Detox and De addiction Center can help overcome denial and open the door to Recovery and that is why Sahyog is the Best De addiction Center in Delhi.
The main problem of any alcoholic or addict is stated very nicely by the phrase, “self-will run riot”. It is the self-will of the alcoholic or addict which lands him or her in trouble every time. The main question before the alcoholic or addict is quite simple. What is his/her will? We shall deal with it in a simple fashion to avoid the many complexities we would otherwise encounter. The truth is that their will is to drink and use drugs when and where they choose, resigned to the consequences of their drinking and using drugs. The fact that they have lost the power of choice narrows down the purpose of their to will to one choice, namely – to drink or use drugs. This flat statement of an alcoholic’s or addict’s will relates to his or her unpredictable drinking or using behavior and is open to argument. Few of them drank or used drugs all of the time. Some served their communities. Others held responsible positions contributing to the welfare of their families. But only by bluff, lies, imposition and the co-operative support of friends and families did they manage to conduct much important business. Therein lies the rub, for when the urge to drink or use drugs came, families, religion and business were neglected and disregarded in favor of alcohol or drugs. Medicine and psychiatry seek scientific reasons for their drinking or drug use. But not Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. They admit the results, surmounting them with their spiritual way of life. For this reason new members to A.A. and N.A. are advised to remain laymen. They tend to not remain clean and sober when they try to become able doctors or clergymen overnight. Knowing that members will try it, the stress is on avoiding it. The will of the drinking alcoholic or using addict seems to point in one direction – towards the bottle or drugs of their choice. Perhaps one should briefly consider their drinking or drugging attitude. There is no identical pattern of behavior to which alcoholics or addicts conform. There is fixed ratio of binges, however, for those who swear off for certain periods of time. The new binges are always in proportion to the resolution to stop drinking or using drugs. That is how the will of the alcoholic or addict functions. Even while drinking or using drugs they are not sure for how long they’d be using it. They know exactly the number of days they have been clean or sober, but have no idea of when they might take that first drink or drug. They claim that they want to quit drinking or using drugs. They think they mean it. But the truth is they only wished that they wanted to. What they actually want is to be able to control the amount they consume, at least enough to keep them out of trouble. The word trouble has a wide range of meaning for the drinking alcoholic or using addict. Physically, it can refer to anything from an upset stomach to an alcoholic death. Between these two extremes they are subject to many other infirmities, all because of their unconscious will to drink and use drugs without restraint. For example, there may be anemia, mineral and vitamin deficiency, wet brain. jitters, cold sweats, pneumonia, liver and heart conditions, alcoholic neuritis, low blood sugar, chronic alcoholic poisoning and kindred ailments. The greater the affliction, more the alcoholic will leans toward the bottle or drugs. Any one, or a combination of these maladies, can mean trouble for the alcoholic or addict. Blackouts, D.T.’s, insanity and other sickness adds to their difficulties. They all resulted in mental and bodily discomfort and loss of valuable time. Because of them they may even require hospitalization. At times, they sweat them out at home, but not without someone’s aid and tolerance or without loss to their business interests. Drunkenness begets drunkenness. It dulls their judgement and finer sensibilities. Financial difficulties appear. Creditors become bothersome. Sometimes they brawl, landing in jail or institutions. At times they are arrested for intoxication, drunken driving or other legal infringements. Divorces and sex problems mess up their lives. On most occasions their will to drink or use drugs amounted to an obsession and always ended in trouble. All this is explained at Sahyog Detox and De addiction Clinic in therapy sessions and that is why it is the Best Rehabilitation Center in Delhi.
Since one blog is insufficient to list all the harmful effects of alcohol this is in continuation of the previous blog. In the previous blog I had listed all the harmful effects of alcohol on the Central Nervous System. But since alcohol is drunk the most harmful effects are on the gastrointestinal tract. However, I have seen one patient who used to inject alcohol when he was unable to drink it because of vomiting, but that was an exception. Mostly alcohol is drunk, In the esophagus or food pipe it causes heartburn, which has got nothing to do with the heart but a burning sensation in the chest because of acid reflux from the stomach. Because of alcohol the cardiac sphincter of the stomach becomes loose and the acid present in the stomach is able to come into the mouth also. The lining of stomach is used to this concentrated Hydrochloric acid but the lining of the food pipe is not and it literally gets burnt as a result of the acid reflux causing pain in the chest called heartburn. There may be sour eructations also present. Because of vomiting alcohol can also cause Mallory Weiss Syndrome which is nothing but a tear in the mucosa of the food pipe and is a medical emergency. In the stomach, it causes an increase in the secretion of Hydrochloric acid. In fact to diagnose acholorydia – a condition in which there is a congenital absence of the secretion of Hydrochloric acid, a little alcohol is given through the nasogastric tube to ascertain the diagnosis. The increased acid may cause gastritis. Small quantities of alcohol increase the appetite but large quantities can suppress it totally. Some alcoholics only drink and I frequently see patients who have not eaten for days. The next main organ to suffer from the harmful effects of alcohol is the pancreas. Pancreas are an important organ of digestion and glucose metabolism. It has an endocrine part which secrete insulin and glucagon and an exocrine part which secretes digestive juices to digest proteins and fats. Acute pancreatitis is a very painful condition and one of the main causes is alcohol intake. It is not dose dependent,i.e., if a person is a heavy drinker it is not that it is more likely to occur. It can occur even in moderate drinkers. Repeated attacks of acute pancreatitis can lead to chronic pancreatitis which can lead to diabetes due to the scarring of the pancreas. There is a condition called acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis in which the pancreas burst and all the secretions go into the abdomen. It is the most painful condition known to medical science. The digestive juices of the pancreas start digesting the lining of the abdomen from inside. It is as if a piece of metal is being eaten by acid corrosion. It is a medical emergency in which the pain is the most important feature. On a scale of 1-10, if the pain of a lady giving birth for the first time is 9 then the pain of acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis is 10. The pain is so severe that the person goes into shock because of the pain itself. Alcohol can cause or aggravate IBS, i.e., irritable bowel syndrome. IBS is a chronic and debilitating disease which can be quite uncomfortable. But the organ most affected by alcohol intake is the liver. Liver is a very important organ doing a lot of functions which are essential for good health. It is a well known fact that the liver of alcoholics gets affected in a bad way. You don’t have to be a doctor to know that. But liver has tremendous capacity to heal itself also. If in a healthy person you cut off the entire liver and leave a matchbox size portion, it will grow back, provided you don’t insult it on a daily basis by drinking alcohol. The condition which occurs in liver because of drinking is called cirrhosis. There are many causes of cirrhosis but alcoholic liver disease is chief cause of cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a morphological diagnosis, that is to say, the diagnosis is made by observing the liver. In olden days dead bodies were dissected to know about the anatomy of the body and its parts. They found that the liver of alcoholics was gnarled and lumpy and in many cases shrunk. These days we make the diagnosis ultrasonically. All this is done in detailed medical inputs at Sahyog and that is why it is the Best Rehabilitation Center in Delhi.
Alcohol has so many Harmful Effects that 1 blog is not sufficient for it. Alcohol is a legal drug that has been causing so much grief for so many people around the world. Everybody who drinks is not an alcoholic, in fact if 100 people drink, on average only 12 are alcoholics; rest are social drinkers. An alcoholic is a person who is not able to guarantee how much he is going to drink or who cannot guarantee his behavior after drinking. People generally know how much they are going to drink but an alcoholic has no brakes and is not able to stop. They do not get into trouble every time they drink but every time they get into trouble they have been drinking. Whether it is fights, brawls, disagreements at home, legal trouble, the list is endless. The behavior of every person changes a little bit after drinking alcohol but in an alcoholic the change is quite stark. Most people become garrulous, jovial or in some case even maudlin but the alcoholics can become antisocial too. Now let us discuss what deleterious effects alcohol has on the human body. Let us start by the harmful effects on the Central Nervous System. The Central Nervous System consists of the brain and spinal cord. The first and most apparent effect is loosening of inhibitions. There is sort of brake in our prefrontal cortex part of the brain which stops us from doing stupid things like using abusive language in front of elders, looking left and right before crossing a road etc. Even with small quantities of alcohol this brake is removed. Because of this a person may seem more excited than usual, whereas it is a known fact that alcohol is a depressant and slows down the neuronal activity. A person under the influence looses his inhibitions and may end up doing things he would not even imagine doing in a sober state. The next harmful effect of alcohol is seen on the memory. Both short term and long term memory is affected. Some times the alcoholic comes out of a black out without any remembrance of the previous night. He may not even remember how and when he got home and what all he said at the party. Alcohol directly effects the nerve cells by killing them but memory is not a function of the number of neurons, in fact it is a function of the connections between the nerve cells. Due to this fact the memory deficit can be overcome by doing mental and memory exercises, but the loss of neurons may lead to cerebral atrophy, which is a common finding in alcoholics who are growing old. Next harmful effect of alcohol is very interesting, the damage is caused by drinking but the effect is not seen until the person stops drinking. Till the time he is drinking he is fine but on stopping alcohol he may develop Wernicke’s Encephalopathy or Korsakoff’s Psychosis. These two conditions are named after the people who first described it. Earlier they were thought to be different diseases but now they are considered to be two ends of the same spectrum. The main cause is Thiamine deficiency and in Wernicke’s Encephalopathy the persons brain becomes soft and is also called ‘wet brain’. In Korsakoff’s Psychosis the person has visual and auditory hallucinations and may be delirious. Luckily the effects are reversible with medication, otherwise they may even be fatal. The next harmful effect of alcohol on the CNS is the effect it has on reflexes of the person. The reflexes become slow. That is why the old adage that don’t drink and drive. One can devise an experiment on a simulator where a person slams on the brake after seeing a child on the screen in front. After drinking even legally permissible quantities of alcohol the time is greatly increased. The next harmful effect of alcohol is on the secretion of anti diuretic hormone. It suppresses its secretion. Anti diuretic hormone is secreted by posterior pituitary gland. As a result, the person urinates more after drinking alcohol. All this is explained at Sahyog and that is why it is the Best Rehabilitation Center in Delhi.
Sahyog Detox and De addiction Clinic is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi for many reasons. At Sahyog a thorough understanding of addiction and recovery is given. As part of therapy the patients have to realize that addiction and alcoholism is a disease and it is a disease of relationships. The root word of relationship is ‘relate’. Addicts and alcoholics cannot relate to things forget about people. The beauty of recovery if found in relationships. Recovery is all about having a good relationship with self, family, others and the God of your understanding. It is through forming good and healthy relationships that addicts and alcoholics are able to overcome their disease. Here we can state the definition of addiction as a pathological love and trust relationship with an object or event. Every person has a void inside and if we try to fill it with drugs and alcohol it will become our disease. Recovering addicts and alcoholics must try to learn how to get their love, trust and emotional needs met through healthy relationships with other people and their God. They must learn to fill the void with relationships. Many recovering people form their first relationships in the meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. They are based on the 12 Step Program. The first word in the Steps is “we”. This is an important word. By using this word the addicts and alcoholics are able to connect with other people and break their relationship with their addictive self. They realize their emotional needs can be met by other people. If this is not done the addict or alcoholic can replace one addiction with another or revert to their old addiction. Addicts and alcoholics need to develop healthy relationships with other recovering addicts and alcoholics, their own spiritual side, family and friends and eventually the community they live in. All this is explained to patients in Sahyog and that is why it is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi.
Sahyog Detox and De addiction Clinic is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi for a variety of reasons. The primary reason is that at Sahyog we offer complete and proper treatment of alcoholism and addiction. Alcohol and drugs are not the problem, in fact they are a symptom of an underlying emotional problem. It is just as if somebody if on fire and to escape that he jumps into a river. The fire gets put out but now the person is drowning. Similarly, alcoholics and addicts are emotionally challenged people who cannot handle or process their emotions properly. They use alcohol and drugs to numb their feelings but start drowning by becoming alcoholics and drug addicts. For complete and proper treatment not only alcohol and drugs need to be stopped but emotional problems also need to be dealt with. Alcoholics and addicts need to see their unrealistic expectations and learn to be not carried away in their feelings when the expectations are not fulfilled. They need to take responsibility for their emotions. My feelings – my responsibility. Sobriety is the first frontier but the ultimate aim is emotional sobriety.
Sahyog Detox and De addiction Clinic is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi if not the entire country. Sahyog offers PROPER AND HOLISTIC TREATMENT FOR ADDICTION AND ALCOHOLISM. The big reason for that is that it is run by a doctor who has had problems with alcohol and drugs himself and is clean today because of the 12 Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Clean and sober for more than 18 years. At Sahyog the disease of alcoholism and addiction is dealt with on all levels. All manifestations of the disease are taken care of. The physical craving is treated with giving medication for the detox. This phase lasts for 7-10 days and the patients are free to do as they wish. After that the patients are required to attend sessions in which we try to make them understand that the way they were drinking alcohol or using drugs is wrong and it is in their own best interest to give up alcohol and drugs. Then it is not difficult to stop but extremely difficult to stay stopped. Here we use the 12 Step Program and inculcate it in the patients so that they can stay away from alcohol and drugs one day at a time for a long period. The very nature of the disease is that it is chronic and relapsing. That means that it is incurable but it is treatable and a person can start again after a period of abstinence. The mental part of the disease, the obsession to use alcohol and drugs even when there is bodily demand takes a long time to go away. It can only be done by a Higher Power because it is not humanly possible to remove the obsession from our mind. The emotional aspect is taken care of by counselling and sessions with the psychologist. The spiritual aspect is taken care of by helping the patient improve relationships with oneself, family and Higher Power. All in all Sahyog offers complete and proper treatment of alcoholism and addiction and is the BEST NASHA MUKTI KENDRA IN DELHI.
Sahyog Detox and De addiction Clinic is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi if not the entire country. It is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi simply because it is the only Nasha Mukti Kendra which is run by doctor who himself had problems with alcohol and drugs and is clean and sober today for more than 18 years thanks to the 12 Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. That is the program which we follow in Sahyog. Either you have detoxes and psychiatric facilities run by doctors or rehabs which are run by ex alcoholics and ex addicts. The combination of a doctor and an ex alcoholic and ex addict is to be found nowhere else. It is our USP and that means that we treat patients not only with our knowledge but also our experience. This combined with our excellent therapy is why we have such a good success rate which is better than other similar facilities. After the detox phase in which medication is given to counteract the withdrawal symptoms is over the patients are expected to attend sessions which happen from morning to night. The day starts with yoga and meditation and breakfast is followed by reading session. After that we have a writing session. This is followed by a lecture which we call Input which is information put forward. Information regarding the 12 Step Program is given. After lunch and rest time there is a session called Group Discussion in which whatever topic was taught in the Input the patients relate to their own lives and share about themselves. Three times in a week the patients write their thoughts and feelings and share them in the group with the counselor. This is followed by a in house AA/NA meeting. There is meditation again at night. The aim of all the sessions is to make the patient realize that the way they are drinking alcohol or using drugs is wrong and it is in their own best interest to give it up. Then it is not difficult to stop but extremely difficult to stay stopped. This is where the 12 Step Program helps – to stay stopped. All in all Sahyog is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi.
Sahyog Detox and De addiction Clinic is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi, NCR. It may also be the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in India. It is good primarily because it is run by a doctor who himself had problems with alcohol and drugs and is clean and sober today thanks to the 12 Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. This is a unique thing. Either you have doctors running detoxes and psychiatric facilities or ex alcoholics and ex addicts running rehabs. The combination of a doctor and a recovering alcoholic and addict is to be found no where else. This means that we treat patients not only with our knowledge but also our experience. The combination of knowledge and experience is beyond parallel. We treat patients in a holistic fashion, i.e., we look after the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of the disease of alcoholism and addiction. The physical part is the craving which is taken care of in the initial week or ten days by giving medication to counteract the withdrawals. The mental obsession is what takes the alcoholic or addict back to alcohol and drugs even when the body is not experiencing withdrawals. That is why we have a saying that it is not difficult to stop but very difficult to stay stopped. The obsession takes time to go away, maybe even months. And it is only a Higher Power that removes the obsession to drink or use drugs as it is not humanly possible to get rid of the obsession. For this we concentrate on prayer and meditation and encourage the patients to improve their conscious contact with their Higher Power. The emotional pain is at root of all addiction and the psychologist and psychiatrist deal with the emotional pain of the alcoholic or addict. The program which we follow is a very spiritual program that teaches the patient to have a good relationship with self, family, others and God of his understanding. All in all, Sahyog is the Best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Delhi.
