“Life gets better and more beautiful”: The 3 Stages of Recovery from Addiction
Here’s a closer look at what each stage of recovery feels like, from the perspective of Ideal Option patients.
Redefining “Relapse”: 4 Strategies for Rebounding from Opioid Setbacks
Virtually everyone in recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD) has relapse stories. That’s because OUD is a disease of brain chemistry: Over time, opioid addiction rewires the brain in a way that will override good intentions, determination, and gains made in recovery.
11 Signs Your Drinking May Be Out of Control
Alcohol is such a big part of our culture that it can be tough to determine whether your drinking has become a problem. After all,… Read More »11 Signs Your Drinking May Be Out of Control
7 Tips to Guard Your Recovery This Holiday Season
Every year on Thanksgiving, Laney would drive through neighborhoods, glancing into windows to see families gather. Homeless, addicted to heroin, and estranged from her own… Read More »7 Tips to Guard Your Recovery This Holiday Season
Inpatient or Outpatient Treatment? For Opioid Addiction, It’s the Medication That Matters
Without medication such as Suboxone, almost everyone with opioid use disorder (OUD) will relapse. Suboxone cuts the relapse rate in half by suppressing the agonizing withdrawal symptoms — nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anxiety, body aches, insomnia — and the intense cravings that fuel opioid addiction. Over the long run, Suboxone rewires brain chemistry, paring down the overabundance of opioid receptors until the brain returns to its normal state.
National Recovery Month: Plenty to Celebrate, Even in a Pandemic
Here at Ideal Option, we have plenty to celebrate this year, despite all the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the consequences.
Struggling with Alcohol Addiction? Now You Can Withdraw at Home
Isolation, boredom, financial stress, and endless jokes about “quarantinis”— for anyone struggling with alcohol use disorder, the coronavirus pandemic has only made matters worse. But there’s a silver lining: Thanks to new treatment guidelines, most patients can safely undergo alcohol withdrawal without checking into an inpatient facility. In other words, you can now safely “detox” at home.
“I’m not willing to lose everything”: Recovery in the Time of Coronavirus
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, anxiety is sky high among folks in treatment for addiction. If you’re feeling vulnerable, here are 7 actions you can take, during these strange and uncertain times, to maintain your hard-earned recovery.
“A Model of What a Jail Should Be”: Pioneering Program Offers Medication for Opioid Addiction
Benton County Jail now offers medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to inmates who test positive for opioid use.
Fentanyl Comes Crashing: Surviving the Third Wave of the Opioid Epidemic
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, has created a large population of what Jo calls “zombies” — folks who did not even know, at first, they were taking the drug yet quickly became addicted to the point of incapacitation. Or death.