6 Quotes to Inspire Your Addiction Recovery Journey

What is an Addiction Recovery Journey?

When it comes to addiction, every person’s addiction recovery journey is different.

Addiction is a disease, which is why people who are in a treatment facility are often said to be in recovery.

Like any disease, getting treatment is what helps people overcome an addiction.

Recovering from addiction is a life-long commitment.

It requires you to be completely dedicated to each and every part of your recovery journey.

No matter how you decide to take your recovery journey, what matters is that you are able to successfully kick your addiction.

It also requires help from a quality rehab facility, like Emerald Isle.

Understanding The Process of Getting Clean

Many people think that recovery from addiction simply means that you stop using whatever drug you were abusing.

But a recovery journey is more complicated than this. Much like asthma or diabetes, addiction is a life-long disease that cannot be cured. Addiction treatment aims to help you get off of drugs, heal your mind and body, and help you avoid drugs in the future.

As long as you continue your addiction recovery journey by following your addiction treatment plan, even after you are out of rehab, you can keep your addiction in remission.

Recovery is a long-term commitment to avoid drugs for both your health and happiness.

What is Substance Abuse?

Addiction is one of the most stigmatized diseases. Many people still believe that addiction is a choice, when it is really a chronic disease. This is because addiction changes the way that your brain works, making it very hard to stop using them. When you use drugs, they enter your brain and force it to release a large amount of dopamine. This chemical is called a “feel good” or “happy” chemical, because it helps to give you feelings of relaxation and happiness. But because drugs release above-average amounts of dopamine, it causes more intense feelings which makes you “high”. This makes it difficult for you to get dopamine from normal activities like eating or spending time with loved ones. Instead your brain craves drugs in order to release dopamine. This is what leads to a drug addiction. Long-term drug use can cause other changes in your brain as well. This can include your ability to learn, make decisions, make judgements in risky situations, manage stress, remember things, and even how you behave.

The Physical Effects of Substance Abuse

One of the biggest reasons to begin your recovery journey is the negative effects that drugs can have on your body. The longer you use drugs, the more severe these effects can become. These effects can include:

• A weakened immune system, which makes it harder for your body to keep you from getting sick
• Different types of heart conditions, including abnormal heart rates, heart attacks, clogged arteries, and even infections in your heart valves
• Damage to your nose or nasal passages from “snorting” drugs
• For people who inject drugs with a needle, collapsed veins, getting infected with HIV or hepatitis, as well as skin, muscle, or blood vessel infections
• Nausea and stomach pain, which can cause a lack of appetite and weight loss
• Problems with your liver, including liver damage, liver disease, and even liver failure or cancer
• Damage to your kidneys, which can cause kidney failure or kidney cancer
• Confusion, seizures, stroke, and brain damage
• Lung disease or lung cancer

Not all drugs carry the same physical risks. Some may cause heart issues, while others cause liver issues. But seeking addiction treatment and getting started on your recovery journey will give your body a chance to heal from the damage that drugs have caused. This can help you avoid more serious issues like cancer or permanent organ damage.

How Substance Abuse Can Impact Your Mental Health

For many people struggling with a drug addiction, mental health issues are also a big concern. Many studies have found that about 50 percent of people with an addiction also have a mental illness. Some mental health issues actually increase the chances that you can get addicted to drugs. These include attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia. Often, people with an addiction try and use drugs to treat their mental health symptoms. Because drugs initially give you a rush of dopamine, this can make people feel like it is helping their depression or anxiety issues. In fact, it only makes your brain less able to regulate your feelings. It can lead to worse depression or anxiety when you are not high.

Treatment Options

The first step in your recovery journey is to get any drugs out of your system. This often begins with detox, so that we can be sure this process happens in a safe and controlled environment. Next, we can move on to the rest of your rehab plan. Depending on what kinds of drug you were using, this can include a few different options, such as:

• Medication-Assisted Treatment, or MAT
  MAT uses both medicines and counseling to treat addiction. This approach is very effective at treating detox and withdrawal symptoms for more serious drug addictions, such as opioids and other prescription medications.
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, or CBT
  CBT works to help clients see the situations or emotions that trigger their drug use. Once a client can recognize these triggers, we give them the tools to help you avoid and cope with them in order to stay off of drugs.
• Contingency Management, or CM
  CM gives clients small rewards, such as cash, vouchers, or small gifts. You receive these rewards for things like attending and participating in your therapy sessions, for sticking with your treatment plan, and for staying clean after rehab.

6 Quotes to Inspire Your Addiction Recovery Journey

Addiction recovery is more than worth the time and effort it takes, but that does not mean it is not challenging. But sometimes what can be the most help is knowing that so many people before you have completed recovery, and gone on to live happy, sober lives. Here are six quotes that can help put you in a positive mindset for your recovery journey.

1. “Recovery is all about using our power to change our beliefs that are based on faulty data.”
   – Kevin McCormick
2. “One of the hardest things was learning that I was worth recovery.”
   – Demi Lovato
3. “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”
   – Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
   – Carl Bard
5. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
   – Robert Collier
6. “Healing does not mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.”
   – Unknown

Free Insurance Verification for Your Addiction Recovery Journey

Let Us Help You Get the Addiction Treatment You Need

At Emerald Isle Health & Recovery, we pride ourselves on our unique approach to individualized, evidence-based treatment.

Our comprehensive clinical and medical programs help our clients achieve long-term, sustainable recoveries.

Our state-of-the-art facility was built in a highly private location to ensure clients are able to get away from things that cause them stress or trigger their addiction.

We also focus on ensuring that each of our clients feels safe and comfortable so that they can approach their recovery in the most positive way possible.

We realize that many of our clients wonder about how they are going to pay for their treatment.

That is why we accept most major insurances through our free insurance verification.

Simply give us a call, and one of our addiction specialists can verify whether or not your insurance will cover your detox and rehab.

We will also communicate with your insurance provider to ensure that you receive every benefit that you are entitled to.

You can complete a simple form right from our website, or call us directly.

Taking the first step on your recovery journey is often the hardest thing to do.

At Emerald Isle, we are here to help you to take that first step to a new, sorbet life.

We work with you to design an individualized recovery plan for maximum success.

Let us help you with all of the tools that you need to get on the path to recovery.

Call us today to get started on the path to kicking your addiction once and for all.