Addiction Recovery Miracles Aplenty

People in addiction recovery are granted the opportunity to realize their dreams. Those who seek help and set out on the path of sobriety are able to accomplish just about anything. Even people with significant amounts of wreckage from their past can find a way to overcome obstacles and lead a fulfilling, productive life.

At Celebrate Hope, we have had the good fortune of seeing many men and women turn their life around with the help of God and a program of addiction recovery. Our clients come from all walks of life; while their stories are unique, they each share the common bond of mental illness, spiritual sickness, and desire to heal. With a yearning to get sober, and to embrace honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness, the cycle of addiction can be broken.

Of course, the decisions made while under the influence of mind-altering substances can significantly impact the course of one’s life. Some poor choices made in service to the disease can result in having to serve time in a penal institution and potentially leave a seemingly permanent mark on one’s record. For such people, deciding to lead a life in recovery doesn’t mean that a criminal record will not stand in the way of one’s dreams. But, as with all things in life, if a person chooses to continue to do the next right thing, good things can happen. At least, one man’s story makes that abundantly clear!

From Manufacturing Meth to Life In Recovery

Some 13 years ago, former meth user Derek Rygh was literally feeling the heat of his addiction. At the time, Rygh was allowing people to cook methamphetamine in his home in Minnesota, which, subsequently went up in flames, according to The Twin Cities Pioneer Press. Mr. Rygh did not deny to the police what was going on and he went on to be convicted for manufacturing meth. It turns out that this conviction may have been the best thing that ever happened to Rygh.

While in jail for his felony sentence, Rygh was accepted into a faith-based, inpatient addiction treatment program, the article reports. He was in the program for more than a year and never encountered a relapse.

“The program was not easy, but it was my only hope when I felt so completely hopeless,” he said.

After completing the faith-based addiction treatment program, Derek worked for two years to earn an associate degree in Christian leadership. He used the degree by working for the very treatment center that helped him turn his life around. The recovering meth addict got married and now has two children. The next chapter of Derek’s story indeed shows the miracles that recovery can provide.

“I want to become a nurse, but you can’t if you are a felon,” Rygh said. “I have had a lot of hardships in my life that I have survived and a lot of that had to do with nurses and doctors who I am grateful for.” 

The young man went before the Minnesota Department of Corrections’ Board of Pardons and requested a pardon extraordinary, which would clear his criminal record, according to the article. With 13 years sober, Rygh was granted his pardon in the twelfth hour of 2018.

Faith-Based Addiction Treatment

We invite men and women battling substance abuse disorder and other addictions to contact Celebrate Hope. Our supportive Christian rehab can help you find freedom from addiction and assist you in reconnecting with God. Our team of addiction professionals shows clients how to put Biblical principles to work as they journey toward long-term recovery.

Motherhood and Meth In Fresno

After years of apparent decline in methamphetamine use – following the significant government intervention in the early aughts – meth is back with a vengeance. In past articles we have discussed how the powerful stimulant people are using today is even more potent than the stuff Americans smoked, snorted, or injected once upon a time. Gone are the days of clandestine trailer-park labs or making meth in the trunk of a car, no today’s meth or “Ice,” as some people refer to it, is made in super laboratories south of the border. The crystalline substance used today is significantly stronger, purer, and deadlier than anything found at the height of this country’s last drug-related public health crisis.

Between 2000 and 2016, there was more than a five-fold increase in the amount of methamphetamine confiscated by California law enforcement, according to a new documentary that is part of The Atlantic Selects, an online showcase of short documentaries from independent creators. “Motherhood and Meth,” directed by Mary Newman, provides an up close and personal look at meth use in Fresno as experienced by law enforcement, addiction treatment professionals, and mothers addicted to methamphetamine. In the U.S., an estimated 19,000 methamphetamine users are pregnant women.

“The power methamphetamine has on a person’s life was the most surprising part of [reporting] this story,” Mary Newman, a journalist at the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley, tells The Atlantic. “I would speak with people struggling with addiction and they would have a certain self-awareness that their decisions were derailing their life, but they would also describe a feeling of complete helplessness.” 

Motherhood and Meth

In many of the more rural areas of the country, meth use surpasses that of heroin. In Fresno, California, (Population: 522,053 [2016]), almost 273 miles to the northeast of San Juan Capistrano, Ice is taking a severe toll. The drug isn’t just affecting people with stimulant use disorder; it is impacting children and the entire community. Being a border state, it’s not surprising that California sees a massive influx of meth trafficking and use. After medical marijuana was legalized in 1996, drug cartels began making pure liquid meth, according to the article. Once the liquid is transported across the border, it is then crystallized in conversion labs.

William Ruzzamenti, who appears in the documentary, is a 30-year Drug Enforcement Administration veteran; he says that there is more methamphetamine than ever, and it is significantly less expensive to buy. Ruzzamenti points out that an ounce of meth fell from nearly $968 in 2013 to around $250 in 2016. The drug is cheaper, purer, and there is a plentiful supply; all of which is fueling a new crisis in California.

“I think a lot of people associate meth with the 1990s, and this comeback has gone largely unnoticed in the shadow of the heroin and opioid epidemics,” said Newman. 

You can watch the short documentary below, but please be advised that there are some graphic content and some footage of people using meth. If you are relatively new to the program, you may want to skip the film or talk to someone in your support network about watching it beforehand.

If you are having trouble watching, please click here.

 

Stimulant Use Disorder

Please contact Celebrate Hope if you are struggling with methamphetamine or prescription stimulants. We can assist you in breaking the cycle of addiction and teach you how to navigate life in recovery. Start celebrating hope today!

Methamphetamine Induced Stroke Among Young People

Verily, there isn’t a narcotic without inherent risks. Each of us knows this to be true. Even if you have never been touched by addiction, you know someone whose life was turned upside down by substance misuse. Untreated substance abuse will ultimately end with institutions and premature death. That does not need to be the case though. There is treatment available to those who would seek it, but most will never get the chance. However, if you are reading this it means that you still can find recovery.

These days we seem to give almost exclusive attention to prescription opioids, heroin and synthetics like fentanyl or carfentanil. And for good reason, the epidemic we have been confronting for nearly two decades is like nothing we have ever faced before. Over a hundred Americans lose their lives every day from overdose. The government has declared a state of emergency, with lawmakers and health experts being confounded over what to do about it. But, the essential solution (which has been under-utilized) is providing greater access to treatment. Better educating doctors and patients about the dangers of opioids to prevent future use disorders and potential overdoses. Because at the end of the day, ours is a problem of addiction. Preventing it, and treating the disease will save lives.

When focusing on the opioid addiction epidemic we must not take our eye off some of the other narcotics both ruining and taking lives. In many ways, like the somnolence typified by opioid use, the epidemic has put us in a state of sleepiness regarding other substances. You know, not too long ago all the talk was about methamphetamine. Once called the most deadly and pernicious substance being abused by Americans. But a combination of numerous factors caused many Americans to think that the tide of the meth epidemic had been stemmed. Which makes sense, after all everyone was talking about meth — then they weren’t. So, meth must not be a problem anymore, right?

 

Meth Hasn’t Gone Anywhere, We Stopped Talking About It

Not for nothing, addiction has been around forever. But when it takes people’s lives in overwhelming numbers at young ages, people seem to give it more credence. Such was the case with opioids. As the death toll continued to mount with each year that passed, we were all forced to confront the opioid epidemic. Especially when people from nearly every demographic are dying every day. Unfortunately, while we were all focusing on opioids, cocaine and methamphetamine use continued and increased with few taking notice. Perhaps some new research will cause people to divert their attention from opioids for a moment.

A review of research, published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, indicates a heightened risk of stroke among young people who use meth, BMJ reports. This is concerning considering that methamphetamine use is on the rise, especially in North America. Methamphetamine can be swallowed, inhaled, or injected. Swallowing and injecting meth was associated with Haemorrhagic strokes (bleed into the brain) risks. Whereas, inhalation was linked to ischaemic stroke (caused by a clot).

“With the use of methamphetamine increasing, particularly more potent forms, there is a growing burden of methamphetamine related disease and harms, particularly among young people, in whom the majority of methamphetamine use occurs,” the researchers wrote. “Indeed, it is likely that methamphetamine abuse is making a disproportionate contribution to the increased incidence of stroke among young people observed over recent years.”

 

Methamphetamine Treatment

Meth addiction, as you can see, can lead to premature death. It may not be as common as opioid overdose, but worth everyone's focus. This is not just a drug that makes people “hyper” and rots out one’s teeth. The caustic effect it has on the human body can be fatal. If you are addicted to methamphetamine, please contact Celebrate Hope at Hope by The Sea to discuss treatment options. Recovery will save your life.

Exercise Creates New Dopamine Receptors

Addiction recovery requires a lot of hard work; years of living in the grips of the disease can be a hard break. It is often said that the easiest part of recovery is putting down the drink or drug, the hard part is not picking them back up. Eternal vigilance is needed if long term recovery is to be achieved. Drugs and alcohol take a heavy toll on the brain; in a sense they change the wiring - one’s neurochemical receptors can diminish over time. The effect that drugs have on the brain from greater and prolonged use can affect one’s ability to abstain from use in recovery.

Fortunately, the human brain has an extraordinary ability to repair the damage done by substance use, and there are things that can be done to speed up the process. Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) found that exercise can help those in recovery from methamphetamine addiction, UPI reports. The UCLA team’s research indicates that exercise aids the brain in adding new dopamine receptors, diminishing one’s cravings for meth. The findings were published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

"We know that deficits in the striatal dopamine system are hallmark features of substance-use disorders and are caused by molecular adaptations to repeated drug exposure and, likely, also reflect a genetic predisposition," said Dr. Edythe London, professor of psychiatry and molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA, in a press release. 

The study involved 19 people; the researchers asked 10 of the participants to exercise three times a week for an hour and to do resistance training for eight weeks, according to the article. The other nine members of the study were asked to not exercise, but were given health education training. PET scans were performed to find how many dopamine receptors were present in the reward system part of the brain - known as the striatum. After eight weeks, the exercising group had a 15 percent increase in dopamine receptors, compared to just 4 percent in the non-exercising group.

"Although this is a small study, it's a very encouraging finding," said London. "The results demonstrate that methamphetamine-associated damages to the dopamine system of the brain are reversible in human subjects, and that recovery of the dopamine system after chronic drug use can be facilitated with exercise training." 

At Celebrate Hope clients are encouraged to exercise and/or do yoga, as we believe that recovery requires healing both mind and body. Please contact us to begin the journey of recovery.