Mamas Need Love

Addiction - Signs and Symptoms in Friends and Loved Ones

March 05, 2021 Shannon Earley Season 2
Mamas Need Love
Addiction - Signs and Symptoms in Friends and Loved Ones
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode, Shannon talks all about the signs and symptoms of addiction, whether to a substance or behavioral.
 
Oh!  And if you'd like to
donate to the podcasting arts (aka help me and my podcasting quest) check out my Patreon account here https://www.patreon.com/nestingwiththeearleybirds

The SAMSHA National Helpline (for confidential help and referrals for you or a loved one) can be reached at 1-800-662- HELP  (4357)
or their website at samhsa.gov

English and Spanish trained intake personnel are available 24/7, 365 days a year!

Music Credit : Happy Ukulele - Scott Holmes
Artwork - "Addiction" - Evan Earley

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Shannon Earley:

Hello friends, this is Shannon Earley, the hostess of the nesting with the early birds podcast. And I'm so glad that you're back. For all of you that have returned listeners, thank you so much. And if you're brand new, thank you so much for coming. This podcast is really just a time for me to encourage women. If you're a man, that's fine to check it out. Listen, I just wanted to remind everybody, you're not alone. And whatever experience you're going through, somebody out there is going through the same thing. And maybe listening to these stories or listening to these words of encouragement can just help you get through those things a little bit easier. I'm a Christian homeschooling mom of four children, two of which are on the autism spectrum, one of which has a rare genetic disorder. I'm also a hairstylist, guys, things are crazy over here, that I mentioned homeschooling, I don't even know because my mind is in 75 places at all times. But I've gotten a lot of tips from doing a lot of life. And I've actually even survived things like abuse, what in the world. So thank you so much for coming and checking it out. I really appreciate it. And remember to share this with other people that might be interested and helped me to have this podcast grow. Thank you so much, guys. And remember, God totally loves you all the time. By the way, before we get into this super wonderful episode. Have you guys ever considered being a patron of the arts, such as the podcasting arts, whether you're in luck, because I happen to have an account or you can literally donate money to help support me in this podcasting, adventure? All of the things cost money, you know, equipment, internet, computer, all that jazz. Not to mention, it's really exciting when people do decide to say, hey, Shannon, you know what I like what you have to say I'm gonna help you out. If you are interested, please check out HTTPS. colon, is that what it is backslash backslash, www.patreon.com slash nesting with the early birds. And Patreon is PS and Paul a T as in Tom, R e. N as in Nancy, and early birds. Remember, it's EA r l e Why? Thank you so much. Now sit back, relax and enjoy our episode. And today I'm going to share with you an episode that was created for my UK partnership with the district dubs radio show. There is basically a radio show in the UK. And I have been asked to be a presenter on that show twice a month. So without further ado, here is my episode from the Listen up segment of the show all about addiction. Thank you so much for coming back. Hello, friends. Welcome back to district dubs presents. Listen up with your hostess Shannon Earley, which, that's me. Welcome back, everybody. This is March something, I don't know, March 3, fourth, fifth, whatever it is, and I'm so excited to come with you guys on your journey of exploring life. I basically for those of you that are new listeners or new friends, I just like to bring up topics that are really important to people to maybe open up your mind a little bit, let you see what's going on around the world. And maybe even let you feel like Oh, wait a minute, I'm not alone. Or, oh, I think I've heard of this before, basically giving you some good Table Talk conversations for your friends and your family. So today, we are actually going to talk about addiction, addictions, signs, symptoms, what to look for that kind of thing. And addiction is a super big deal, guys. When I first even say the word addiction, I'm sure so many of you might automatically think of something like drugs. and substance abuse is a form of addiction. That's 100% true. However, there's also behavioral addictions that can really really affect our lives. And I wanted to just give you guys a little rundown on the signs and symptoms that you can look for that maybe you can, you know, keep an eye out for anyways, just to make sure that your loved one or your friend is doing all right. Especially after 2020 I know so many of us had so many really difficult things happen. And we're trying to deal with all of these really difficult things. And that is the perfect time for diction to strike. So keep your eyes open, or I guess your ears open. In this case, since it's a radio show, Shannon gee whiz. So okay, I wanted to just go over with you guys some of the things, most of the information that I will be sharing with you comes from the American Society of Addiction Medicine, they actually define addiction as a chronic disease that affects the brain's reward, motivation and memory functions. Someone with an addiction will crave a substance or other behavioral habits, even though they will often ignore other areas of their lives in order to support their desires. So that's a pretty big deal. It's basically saying, if you have an addiction, a loved one has an addiction, everything else, they just forego everything else. They've got eyes just for this thing just for this behavior. And addiction can affect an entire family. I know firsthand from some of the people in my family that suffered through substance abuse, substance abuse disorders, behavioral addictions, it can be a pretty big deal, guys, it can. It's a very insidious destroyer of family life, friend life, whichever. So the general signs of addiction are a lack of control, or an inability to stay away from the substance or behavior, decreased socialization, so they might abandon commitments or ignore relationships. Also, they might ignore risk factors. So for instance, you've heard that with heroin needle users a big problem, you know, can be aids or hepatitis, things like that, from sharing needles, that would be ignoring a risk factor, physical effects, like withdrawal symptoms, or needing higher dosage for the same effect. And also, even though these are all separate, different signs, they're oftentimes linked, you know, so if they have one, oftentimes, they're going to have the other. So the degree or intensity of each sign, though, it's going to depend on how long the addiction has gone on, and basically how severe it is. So a healthy person, okay, let's pretend that you are a mentally healthy person, I'm going to pretend I'm mentally healthy. And a mentally healthy person can usually identify a negative behavior and get rid of it, oh, when I spend too much money, it really, you know, affects my life and my family's upset and blah, blah, blah, okay, I will not shop at the store today, to buy new shoes. That's a mentally healthy person, somebody that has an addiction problem, however, it's just not the case. So rather than admitting that the problem even exists, though, they're gonna find ways to justify and continue their behavior. The first step to getting help obvious learn, is being able to even recognize the physical, mental, emotional, all of those different signs, okay, you need to be able to identify that it's either happening to you or to a loved one, in order to even get help, you know, that old saying about, like, you can't help someone till they want to help themselves, or basically, they need to admit there's a problem. I mean, yeah, it's an old saying, or whatever, because it's a true thing. And that can be really frustrating. Just as a side note, this is not on the information that I've gotten from the website. But on a side note, as a family member, that does have loved ones with addiction behaviors, it can be very frustrating, when like, you really want them to get help, because you love them so darn much. And they're just not having any of it, you know, they're justifying it or blaming or ignoring, or it can be really hard, and then trying to, you know, continue to love them through, it's like, there's this party that wants to stay safe. So you might even start closing off little walls to your heart, you know, and, and that can be damaging to the relationship too, because they don't get you anymore, you know, and you're not it's just addictions. So, there's different types of addiction. But before I get into that, I did want to share with you guys just how common or how frequent people with addiction and abuse, like substance abuse disorders, I want you to know how common it is. So in the year 2020, which just happened, this particular helpline actually received A 27% increase in phone calls that we're asking for help a 27% increase that's major. So in 2019, they received a total of 656 953 phone calls. But last year 2020, they received 833,598. What's neat about it too, guys, you can look for your local state service that they can give you assistance, you can call your health insurance. If you don't have health insurance, you can look at your Medicaid, Medicare, all these different things that will help find a place for you to receive help or get help for a loved one. They also even have places that offer sliding scale situations where Okay, you make x, we will charge you why kind of thing. So this particular helpline, if you ever are looking to get you know, referral surfaces, or if you're trying to see like, is this addiction, you know, you can always call, they have trained information specialists, okay. And they basically will transfer the calls to any appropriate intake center that it needs to go to and that way you can be connected with local assistance for support because you know, your particular area, you probably rather drive 10 minutes to get to the place than four hours. Okay, let's be real. So, the phone number for the substance abuse and treatment hotline, good gravy, I had it right in my face, whatever this is what happens when you do like a live thing. Things happen. Okay. So the national helpline for the USA America is one 800 662 help, which is 1-800-662-4357. It's free, confidential, 20 473 165 day a year treatment referral, and Information Service. They also have an English E and espanol, for you Spanish speakers, for individuals or families that are facing mental or substance use disorders. Okay, so let's get back into more of the signs symptoms abuse Lalalalalala. We talked about how there's general signs and basically, a person can have more than one and oftentimes they are co morbidities. I don't know, they go together, okay, oftentimes. So now we're going to talk and we also said how the stronger or longer the addictions gone on the more intensive signs or symptoms are going to be. Now I wanted to go through some types of addiction. Okay, so, addiction is commonly associated, like I said, with drugs, like substance abuse, alcohol, but behavioral addiction, gambling that, you know, for instance, it's just as serious, it's just as destructive. So, addiction, again, is when a person is consistently unable to abstain from a behavior or substance. And this is at the cost of their physical or mental health, their family health, it's terrible. So substance addiction is generally a dependence on one or more of the following. Okay, nicotine or tobacco, alcohol, inhalants, like oven cleaners, spray paints or other aerosol products, drugs, illicit or non illicit medication. Okay, now behavioral addictions, these are more like gambling, working sex and pornography, shopping, video games using the internet or media. Okay, so you might be thinking like why working in addiction working super good, not if it's not if you're unable to abstain from it for your mental and physical health guys, so put that in the back your put that in your pipe and smoke it. Maybe that's like the worst thing to say. Hi, Shannon, for the addiction thing. Okay. So initial signs of a addiction that you can identify. So early stages don't necessarily have the same full blown effects as a longer addiction. But some of the initial signs might be experimentation, family history of addiction, being particularly drawn to an activity or substance, seeking out situations where the substance or activity is present. You want to smoke meth, you'll hang out with methods. Episodes of binge eating are loss of control with little to no feelings or remorse afterwards. So when it comes to social behaviors, like drinking or smoking, it can be really difficult To identify when there's actually an addiction present. And also, when you have an addiction to drinking or smoking something, those are the people that you want to hang out with. Those are who you're gravitated, you know, you gravitate towards kind of like, oh, watch out who you hang out with. That's the, you know, when you get sober, you don't really want to go hang out with people that are doing that activity anymore. Also, some people, it might look like an addiction at first, you know, glance, but really, it might be a form of stress management management for them, you know, they might have gone through something really big recently. And so they're smoking cigarettes for some time to get over it. Maybe they just got sober. Give them those cigarettes, guys, you know. So just remember, use your judgement, when you're checking these things out, don't be like addiction addiction, you know, you never know what's really going on. Also, my my advice is get to know the person really well, like ask them questions about themselves, and don't just judge them from the go look for changes in their personality. So when a person moves past the experimenting things, and or even past the early phase of the addiction, they're gonna exhibit major personality or behavior changes. So they might be infrequent at first. But some of the telltale signs are going to include things like just kidding, I already went through that, look at that I don't even have I wrote page numbers on my pages, and then I put them in reverse order. Anyways, so the personality and behavior changes, like I was talking about would be like a lack of interest in hobbies or activities that used to be important. They could neglect relationships, or they might react negatively to those closest to them, they might miss important obligations, like deadlines for work, risk taking tendencies, especially to get drugs or certain behaviors, you know, maybe they're gonna have performed sexual favors, in order to get money to buy drugs, that kind of thing. Ignoring negative consequences of their actions, a distinct change in sleeping patterns that result in chronic fatigue, increase secrecy, like lying about the amount of substance used, or time spent, you may notice an increase in alienation over time as well. And like I said, they try to South surround themselves with others to encourage their habits, okay, so I've been hanging out with you a lot and they've got a new crowd, generally, that crowd is going to be engaged in the same situation, okay. Another way to recognize addiction is to pay attention to your friend or family members, mental and physical health. So if the addiction is to a drug or behavior, their health is almost always going to decline. Alright, so signs that point towards their health failing or changing declining would be things like bloodshot or glazed eyes, constant illness, unexplained injuries, abrupt changes in weight, bad skin, hair, teeth and nails, especially if the substance abuse involves illicit drugs like methamphetamine or cocaine, increased tolerance to drugs, physical withdrawal symptoms like sweating, trembling, vomiting, memory loss or problems with recall. And then change in speech, like slurred words, or rapid rambling. All right. And then the following mental, or emotional changes are also signs of an addiction problem. Also, let's put on the back burner, you need to understand the person enough to know are they actually going through like bipolar disorder? Are they having depression anxiety, because that's how these things these signs are going to stick out differently. Okay. Anyways, so they might have a sudden change in mood like aggressive behavior, irritability, depression, apathy, suicidal thoughts. And again, you want to eliminate any potential medical reasons for someone's health decline, okay. So keep in mind that someone with an addiction is almost always going to understate the seriousness of their condition. Okay. So, if there's no other explanation for their condition, then there's an increased chance that there's an underlying addiction problem. Now, long term consequences of addiction, guys, this is the Bad News Bears. So in the middle or later stages of addiction, the negative effects are generally going to be more permanent. And that's really, really tough news. Okay. It also is going to have long term consequences. So someone with a serious addiction problem they might allow, ignore or trivialize these outcomes just in favor of continuing their habit. So potential long term consequences include things like getting an infectious disease, especially through shared needles, dropping out of school, getting poor grades, damaged relationships with friends and family, loss of Good Standing or tarnished reputation, arrests, jail time, eviction from the home failed mortgage payments, loss of job loss of parental rights. So and again, similar things can happen in the lives of people without an addiction problem. But these become more common when an addiction is present. So remember to determine if the problem is the result of like a single incident, or a growing problem with addiction. Okay. So and here are some ways that you can support a friend or family member. Learn more about the substance or behavior dependency, okay? Learn more about the effects let's pretend of heroin on the body, why would the person seek it out? What is the brain's reward system with it? also learn more about the dependency on it? How does it physically affect that person? What is it like to withdraw and learn more about the treatment as well, and it's not their job to tell you about it. This is for you to do on your own, you research it, okay? stay involved, okay, like, offered to go to meetings with them. If somebody were to come out and say they were addicted to something admitting to a problem like that is hugely brave of them. And then actually seeking treatment on top of that is courageous to an extent I can't even explain. And imagine feeling all those withdrawal symptoms, we're talking about all that feeling of not being able to stop it, and then they're actively seeking help and going to treatment. loving them, while would be things like go to a meeting with them, offer to drive them. And not because you've got some undertones of I want to make sure that I'm watching them and controlling them, but because you love them, you care about them and you want to show them that you support them. Okay? also provide a sober and trigger free setting if you normally have a glass of wine after dinner, but your friend is a recovering alcoholic. Don't you dare open that wine and think that's okay. Okay, don't speak up. Okay? Speak the truth out of love. If it seems like they're experiencing a relapse, it's up to you to say, Hey, I think that there's a problem happening again, I would like to help you. So even though you can treat addiction, in most cases, someone with an addiction, they're going to, they have to want to change for recovery to be successful. Okay. So again, it's important to have quick access to treatment. So if you or someone you know has an addiction, call 1-800-622-4357 for free and confidential treatment, referral, and information. You can also seek help from your doctor local support group treatment center, and remember that they can affect many areas of a person's life. Okay? The most effective treatments for addiction are comprehensive, which means they have several steps, and they vary from person to person. So they might include things like detoxification, you know, detox, behavioral counseling, and long term follow up. Thank you so much for listening to listen up with your hosts, Shannon Earley. And if you wanted to ever listen to more of what I got to talk about, check out my podcast at nesting with the early birds.com. And early is EA r L. E y.

Unknown:

I'm a homeschooling mom of four.

Shannon Earley:

And I talk a lot about life. Alright guys, thank you so much. And I will be thinking about all of you. Thank you so much for listening today. And remember, you can find my entire catalogue of podcast episodes at WWW dot nesting with the early birds.com. Or find me on Facebook, Instagram, you know all that jazz. Thank you so much for coming. And also share this episode with somebody that you think might need to hear all about addiction. Thank you so much for coming. And remember God loves you all the time.