Integrative Medicine methods can prove to be a powerful healing force to people in recovery from addictions to Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs.
Integrative medicine has advanced recently but very few of the powerful and healing integrative medicine methods have been made available to those in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions.
Recovery of the whole person – mind, body and spirit is crucial to recovery. This also describes precisely the Integrative Medicine approach to any physical or mental disorder provided by NIHA (National Integrated Health Associates) .
Addictions may be the cause of 90% of prison incarcerations, 50% of psychiatric admissions and 25% of admissions to general medical hospitals, as well as a major factor in the incidence of suicides, murders, vehicular homicides, spouse battering, divorce and other kinds of social and occupational upheaval. When a loved one is suffering from an addiction, the stress of that relationship (codependency) can be at the root of any medical or psychiatric disorder, and this cause of illness is often overlooked by both conventional and non-conventional health care providers.
Generally speaking, when a recovering person or their loved one looks for help, they will find assistance for a recovery of mind and spirit – but not the body. You may even find “energy” treatments like acupuncture, but few resources are available to assist you in the natural regeneration of neurotransmitters like serotonin, or to assist in detoxifying your body from the residual poisons left over from the use of drugs and alcohol.
NIHA offers this missing link in recovery- a recovery of the body. For instance, they offer amino acid precursor therapies to help restore the imbalanced neurotransmitters that may have caused substance abuse in the first place. These amino acid and nutritional therapies can be delivered through nutritional supplements, intravenously and trans-dermally (through the skin).
The addictive substance in cigarettes, nicotine, is one of the most powerful poisons on earth.
Nicotine is so toxic that as few as two or three drops of pure nicotine applied directly to the skin of an average person will kill him or her within minutes. In lower doses, it can cause high blood pressure, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, heart palpitations and irregular heartbeat, tremors, convulsions, and central nervous system over-stimulation. There is no known antidote for nicotine poisoning.
How is it that so many people habitually use such a powerful and potentially deadly toxic substance on a daily basis?
How is it that smokers who are addicted to nicotine are given prescriptions to the very substance they’re hooked on in order to stop smoking? Doesn’t this seem strange?
The answer to both questions lies in the way our brains work. And by the way, so does the answer to the question, “How can I quit smoking without resorting to using nicotine (and other stop-smoking drugs) and without risking further negative health consequences?”
Past research has shown that omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) are very helpful in recovery of mental disorders.
Recent research published in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry discovered that people at extremely high risk of developing a psychosis were found to be less likely to develop psychotic disorders after just 12 weeks of taking an omega-3 supplement.
Below is a summary of the study:
Objective: To determine whether omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) reduce the rate of progression to first-episode psychotic disorder in adolescents and young adults aged 13 to 25 years with subthreshold psychosis.
Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between 2004 and 2007.
Setting: Psychosis detection unit of a large public hospital in Vienna, Austria.
Participants: Eighty-one individuals at ultra-high risk of psychotic disorder.
Interventions: A 12-week intervention period of omega-3 PUFA or placebo was followed by a 40-week monitoring period; the total study period was 12 months.
Results: The difference between the groups in the cumulative risk of progression to full-threshold psychosis was 22.6% . Polyunsaturated fatty acids also significantly reduced positive symptoms, negative symptoms, general symptoms and improved functioning compared with a placebo. There were no negative side effects.
Conclusions: omega-3 PUFAs reduce the risk of progression to psychotic disorder and may offer a safe and efficacious strategy for indicated prevention in young people with subthreshold psychotic states.
I take an Omega 3 supplement daily. Click on the image below to find out more about a high quality Omega 3 Fish Oil product - (Carlson affiliate link)
The American Psychiatric Association is proposing major changes to its diagnostic “bible”, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition. This is the manual that doctors, insurers and scientists use in deciding what’s officially a mental disorder and what symptoms to treat. The current manual is referred to as DSM IV.
The manual covers a wide spectrum of mental disorders, including drug abuse, ADHD, Autism, mood, eating, anxiety, dementia, etc.
The draft manual is posted at www.DSM5.org and is up for public debate through April 20, 2010. Visit the site and leave your comments. Who knows, you might make an impact.
I watched the first two episodes of the VH1 show, Celebrity Rehab 3 (Thursdays at 10pm), that advertises that it will follow Mackenzie Phillips, Heidi Fleiss, Dennis Rodman, Mindy McCready, Lisa D’Amato, Mike Starr, Kari Ann Peniche, Joey Kovar, and Tom Sizemore (Tom has not showed up yet) in an intensive 21-day drug rehab program.
This program is being supervised by Dr. Drew Pinsky, Medical Director of the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Southern California’s Las Encinas Hospital.
The show takes place inside one of Southern California’s private addiction and recovery treatment facilities, the Pasadena Recovery Center. The center states that they believe in addressing mind, body, and spirituality in the treatment of addiction and offer several different “holistic treatments” which include yoga, meditation, acupuncture and fitness. (At least these 4 activities are a start to providing a complete program for true healing and recovery).
Celebrity Rehab Drug Program Failure
It was heart wrenching to watch the celebrities going through detox in episode two. Maybe it was good for some people to see it as a deterrent, but this is one of the areas where the rehab program completely fails! And this is where almost all conventional treatment programs fail. They are not treating and healing the brain first and using other holistic methods for quick recovery.
One of the first things they should be doing is using an IV to get the nutrients into the body as quickly as possible to detox and heal the brain neurotransmitters. This procedure also greatly reduces withdrawal symptoms and helps reduce relapses.
It is very unfortunate that Dr. Drew and the Pasadena Recovery Center is still using old outdated methods that have a high failure rate. The public should know that there are alternatives that are very successful.
Watch the video below to learn the truth about current conventional drug addiction treatment, why it has such a low success rate and what really needs to be done to recover from addiction.
This is a video with Dr. CE Gant that I recently shot and edited. It is very important that you “get it” (understand it) if you truly want to solve your drug abuse situation.
Sign up below and receive a special edited version of our eBook on Overcoming Drug Addictions. Check your email to verify and obtain access to the report.
Research shows that these specially formulated supplements are very effective in helping you overcome your addiction. Click on the link for more info: Formulated Supplements
NOTE: Additional formulations available.
Integrative medicine has advanced recently but very few of the powerful and healing integrative medicine methods have been made available to those in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions.
The addictive substance in cigarettes, nicotine, is one of the most powerful poisons on earth. 
I watched the first two episodes of the VH1 show, Celebrity Rehab 3 (Thursdays at 10pm), that advertises that it will follow Mackenzie Phillips, Heidi Fleiss, Dennis Rodman, Mindy McCready, Lisa D’Amato, Mike Starr, Kari Ann Peniche, Joey Kovar, and Tom Sizemore (Tom has not showed up yet) in an intensive 21-day drug rehab program. 
