What is addiction?

PHYSICAL DEPENDENCE

Physical dependence occurs when the body is physiologically changed by the drug and a person experiences withdrawal symptoms when the drug is not taken or the dosage is dramatically reduced.

If you are a long-time coffee drinker or consumer of sodas which have caffeine and suddenly stop drinking coffee or the sodas, you will almost certainly have become physically dependent on the caffeine and experience withdrawal symptoms. The caffeine withdrawal symptoms can include headaches, insomnia, nervousness and erratic behavior, and having a difficult time “getting awake” in the morning.

All of us know that taking sleeping pills for too long can make us physically dependent on them to go to sleep. If the sleeping pills are not taken, insomnia can result. Others have found that taking laxatives for too long has resulted in a physical dependence on them and experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking them—constipation and often headaches.

ADDICTION

A person who is physically dependent on a drug is not necessarily addicted.

Addiction is the continued use of a drug because of the way that one feels after taking the drug—often described as a type of euphoria feeling or a “mellow” feeling or sometimes, in the case of many drugs, to not feel a certain way.

The more one is addicted, the more one’s use of the drug becomes compulsive despite negative consequences which can be severe. Addicted people will often lie, doctor shop, sell and buy drugs on the street, deny drug use if asked and, in short, do things that they would never do otherwise.

If the addicted person stops or reduces their use of a drug, in almost every case the addicted person will experience withdrawal symptoms associated with the drug.

TOLERANCE

Tolerance to a drug generally means that it takes a larger amount of the drug/alcohol to obtain the same feeling/effect that was created by the drug/alcohol when first taken.

Tolerance is dependent largely on a person’s DNA but manifests itself in three main ways. One is that our body adjusts to the addition of the drug/alcohol and actually turns off some of the receptors that were being activated or affected.

Another way that the body can adjust to drugs/alcohol is by the receptor becoming less sensitive and requiring more of the drug/alcohol to produce the same effect on the receptor. (This effect is similar to the doorbell that must be pushed harder and harder to get it to ring.)

A third way is for the body to reduce the natural production of the substance that the drug/alcohol is replacing or enhancing. This means that it takes more of the chemical to produce the same effect.

It can take the body anywhere from minutes to weeks to re-adjust back to normal once use of the drug/alcohol ceases. It is during this re-adjustment period that most people feel the worst withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking drugs or drinking alcohol.

-

So - After reading all of this and now that I have said what it is... If you are addicted or know someone that is then they should come to the facility that i work at and its called Novus
and we WILL get you or the person that you know off drugs.
Anyhoo - I just thought that people should know about addiction as it is very important to know in this day and age.

Later - Monty