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This weeks newsletter is dedicated to YOU. The community, the recovered, those recovering, and those making a difference. By staying sober another day, we continue to break the stigma of the drug epidemic going on in the country. This week we were able to celebrate that and highlight some of the major things going on in our community.
Are you doing something awesome in the community? Email me here.
1. The "Sober-Curious" Movement Is Taking Off in New York City
From a "dry-hipster bar" to sober karaoke hangouts, these spots have caused quite a stir in metropolitan nightlife. I have a feeling we're going to start seeing a lot more of this in the near future.
Is the "Sober-Curious" movement coming to a city near you? Check it out, here.
2. Narcan Is Now In Vending Machines In Las Vegas
We've heard of buying soda and snacks out of vending machines, but now Narcan?
Last month, the Trac-b Needle Exchange program launched their impact exchange - a harm reduction program that offers free naloxone kits. While other tools like clean needles and pregnancy tests are also in the machine, this new concept has saved the lives of hundreds of Las Vegas residents.
Frank and Stephen go way back to their law enforcement days as students. What was once a dream of becoming an officer, Frank later became a drug and alcohol counselor. Even though Frank never had a problem with drugs and alcohol, everything turns out exactly as it's supposed to be as he joins us on this week's podcast episode.
Michael Herbert is a therapist, and person in long-term recovery a friend of Sober Nation. Michael has literally helped thousands of families, loved ones, and people struggling with addiction and helped them get back on their feet. In this intense interview, Michael tells us what families of those struggling NEED to hear as opposed to what they want to hear.
So as discussed in my last post one of the most consistent presentations along with alcohol abuse and dependence is malnutrition and the risk of refeeding syndrome.
There are many reasons for malnutrition associated with alcohol abuse from the very deliberate drunkorexia which I wrote about here to making choices that preferences spending money on alcohol rather than food or in the case of alcohol dependence having no choice to drink as a priority to eating. If we consume no nutrients the body will break down muscle to provide energy as seen in the top picture above creating wasted limbs.
As described here: Alcohol contains only empty calories and has no nutritional value. It can often contribute to malnutrition because the high levels of calories in most alcoholic drinks can account for a large percentage of your daily energy requirements. Even one alcoholic drink a day can contribute to malnutrition.
Your body can't store alcohol, so it must metabolize it right away. When you drink alcohol, your body makes metabolizing it a priority over all other metabolic processes. Your body sends alcohol to the liver, which produces the enzymes necessary for the oxidation and metabolism of alcohol.
Not only does alcohol not contain any nutrients of its own, but it can impair your body's ability to absorb nutrients and vitamins from the food you eat. Alcohol irritates your gastrointestinal tract, and can damage your body's ability to absorb nutrients, vitamins and minerals from the food you eat.
This becomes very serious in alcohol dependence as introducing food can create the risk of refeeding syndrome:
Refeeding syndrome has been defined as the “potentially fatal shifts in fluids and electrolytes that may occur in malnourished patients”. The most important word to note here is ‘malnourished’. The key clinical marker of this is hypophosphatemia – very low phosphorus levels in the blood. However, lowered potassium, calcium, and magnesium in the blood may also play a role. Calcium, phosphorus and magnesium are all primarily intra-cellular ions – that is, they are kept inside the cells and blood levels (which are outside of cells) tend to be quite low compared with concentrations inside cells.
Refeeding problems can happen once food is given, particularly carbohydrate-containing foods. During the refeeding period, insulin and other hormones are activated. This causes the movement of the major intracellular ions (phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium) into the cells. However, due to overall depletion of body stores, this becomes excessive and too little of these ions are left in the blood. This is what causes the major symptoms of the refeeding syndrome, some of which are rarely fatal.
Vitamin deficiencies have also been described, again mostly with prolonged malnutrition. The most important is thiamine, which is an essential coenzyme in carbohydrate metabolism. Typically, this has been described in alcoholics with the syndromes of Wernicke’s encephalopathy (ataxia, confusion, visual disturbances) and Korsakoff’s syndrome (memory loss and confabulation). Confabulation is a symptom whereby people have a complete lack of short-term memory. They therefore ‘make up’ everything when they are talking because they have no memory. There is no intent to deceive.
All our patients that we consider at risk of alcohol related malnutrition are commenced on thiamine in ED preferably intravenous which has to be given before any food particularly carbohydrate such as a sandwich. This is because a carbohydrate load in the presence of thiamine deficiency risks precipitating Wernicke's Encephalopathy. They are also assessed for evidence of refeeding syndrome and electrolyte imbalances are corrected as they occur. Then they will be on thiamine 3 times a day for 7 days during admission given before food as well as a multi-vitamin.
The latest blog articles published by SMART Recovery USA.
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Here's a look at the latest blog articles posted by SMART Recovery USA. Visit the SMART Recovery blogto read more articles aimed at helping you, your loved ones and your community overcome addiction.
Submitted by Bill Greer, SMART Recovery USA Board President Over my 42 years in Washington, DC, I have participated in numerous legislative campaigns, including the Reagan and Bush II tax reforms and a battle between the entire retail and credit card industries to eliminate swipe fees. These efforts took many years and funding well into […]
How quickly time flies by! For my first Executive Director’s Column, I want to share some early memories of when I first started with SMART Recovery. I also want to outline some of the key projects and outcomes we are excited to have completed or are currently working on, with involvement by many in our SMART […]
We hope that you are able to join us for our upcoming conference and very special celebration of our 25th Silver Anniversary!
The 2019 SMART Recovery Annual Conference will be held September 20-22 at The Westin Chicago Northwest Hotel in Itasca (a suburb of Chicago and close to O’ Hare Airport). Hotel room and conference facilities are located on the same premises. More details about the conference can be found here.
Founded in 1994, SMART Recovery uses science-based techniques that have proven to be effective in helping people recover from addiction problems involving any substance or behavior, including such things as alcohol, drugs, gambling, over-eating, shopping and internet use.
Participants use SMART to assume responsibility for their own recovery and become empowered using its 4-Point Program®: building motivation; coping with urges; managing thoughts, feelings and behaviors; and living a balanced life.
This workshop is equivalent to 6 months of weekly counseling ... all in 1 weekend!
The Living In Freedom Intensive Workshop is
coming up June 7th - 9th & October 11th - 13th.
The Living in Freedom Intensive Workshop for men is a Biblically-based, weekend-long, twenty-hour debriefing of the addictive condition. We address in great depth the family systems and core wounds that lead to compulsive vulnerabilities, as well as the neurological foundations and intimacy struggles that perpetuate compulsive or addictive behaviors.
