Alcoholic Energy drinks may be banned in South Carolina

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Energy drinks containing alcohol are likely to get "canned" literally off of the shelves in South Carolina. After a unanimous vote to ban the alcoholic energy drinks by a South Carolina House subcommittee Thursday, many convenience stores will be pulling the drinks off of the shelves soon.

Testimony by law enforcement at the Thursday meeting said that the energy drinks were especially harmful to those that are underage due to the "fruity" flavor of the drinks offering a buzz and a boost of energy. Coupled with the inexpensive price per can of around $3.00, many young people were finding this an affordable beverage.
Studies conducted by the University of Florida found that those that drank the alcoholic energy drink were four times more likely to operate a vehicle while drinking the beverage as opposed to those that just drank only alcoholic beverages.

College students are collectively against the ban stating that the government has no right to place a ban on beverages they have a right to drink. However, law enforcers say that there are high school aged students that are drinking them as well. The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department has discovered the alcoholic energy drinks at 75 percent to 80 percent of recent teen parties they’ve raided, said Steve Collins, a detective with the Sheriff’s Department.

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Avoiding relapse in your recovery from addiction

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Many addicts and their family often encounter huge odds when it comes to addiction. However, many addicts do go on to do well without relapsing at all. There may be those that will relapse and knowing what can contribute to relapse is winning half of the battle. When we fall off the proverbial horse we must commit to get back on again, else we go nowhere.

There are many things we can do to avoid having a relapse or at least improve the odds of a relapse. Here is a list of things a recovering addict needs to know to make relapse less likely.

1. Avoid triggers- Triggers, are people, situations and , places where your addiction was allowed to flourish. These people are likely fellow users still using, or dealers still dealing or friends of those who are still addicted. Situations that are triggers are any that are stressful, or were stressful prior to your recovery.
2. Remember what you were taught- If you were lucky enough to get into a good treatment program, chances are you were taught a lot of life coping skills. Refer to their message, write them down and make them a part of your new credo.
3. Continue outpatient therapy- Many times an addict falls back into addiction from simply not having the proper support after the fact.
4. Consider moving- Many times old places, people and things are just too powerful as triggers to make continuing to stay in the same area a successful part of recovery. If you find that the temptations are too strong or beyond what you feel you can safely control, consider moving to a different area. You may also consider a stint at sober living as well.
5. Make new friends- You may have to establish a new network of friends, and the best places to do this is in drug and alcohol free environments.
6. Stay busy- This may sound over simplified, but steady employment, and even volunteering to help others is a great way to find new strength from within. It is important for a recovering addict to find their place in society among the giving and the productive. It does a world of good for their self esteem and their ego which may have been a big part of their downward spiral into addiction. Do not rule out going to school as another additional option. The bottom line is, in the world of sobriety lies a world of new opportunities and that is the new life, every recovering addict needs for true lifelong happiness.

Addicted to eating hair

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Are you addicted to eating hair?

Trichophagia  is the compulsive eating of hair. Most often, long hair is chewed while still attached to the head and then swallowed.[citation needed] The hair eventually collects in the gastrointestinal tract causing symptoms such as indigestion and stomach pain. A purgative can be given to induce the elimination of the resulting trichobezoar.

Trichophagia is characterized by the person eating hair, usually their own. Sometimes they may even eat the hair of others (such as that found in brushes). In the psychiatric field it is considered a compulsive psychological disorder.In some cases, surgery may be required to remove the mass. In 2007, an article in

The New England Journal of Medicine reported the removal of a hairball weighing ten pounds from the stomach of an eighteen year-old Chicago woman suffering from trichophagia.

Like many of those who are addicted to eating non food items and suffering from some form of Pica, this particular disorder is much more dangerous than the person may be aware of. Because most things ingested have the ability to affect our digestive system, human hair ingested can cause serious side effects, including death.See : Girl died from eating her hair

For additional information on Trichophagia, see:Psychosomatics

Trichophagia and Trichotillomania

Trichophagia is related to another compulsive disorder, trichotillomania. Both trichophagia and trichotillomania involve compulsions surrounding an individual’s hair. Trichotillomania sufferers will just pull out their hair and will not eat it. Trichophagia sufferers will not always pull out their hair, but will consume it when it is still attached to their head. Many sufferers of trichophagia start out with trichotillomania

Treatment for Trichophagia

Treating the disorder of trichophagia is similar to treatment of other impulse control disorders. The disorder is believed to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and can be treated with a combination of anti-depressant drugs and psychotherapy. Trichophagia must also be treated medically if the excess hair is causing problems within the digestive tract via medications or surgery. Occasionally the accumulation of hair in the digestive tract can cause a trichobezoar or hairball. This can cause many medical problems and have even caused a few deaths. Trichophagia can be seen as a more dangerous disorder than trichotillomania because of the formation of potentially deadly trichobezoars. This requires individuals who are suffering from trichophagia to seek treatment as soon as possible to decrease the potential risk of trichobezoars.

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Treatment and Interventions do work!

Image via WikipediaYou may hear a lot of addicts and even addict friends and family say that treatments and interventions don’t work. Bull. It does work, just because the addict failed, doesn’t mean the treatment was a failure. No matter what type of issue we may have in this world, whether its drugs, food, or some other problem we must overcome, the day we say the help didn’t work is the day we gave ourselves the crutch. Treatment and interventions are tools to get you where you need to go, addicts entering treatment that leave early, relapse or even avoid

going  to an intervention  must face their failure to take advantage of a tool that is intended to help them, help themselves.  Here’s an example, if you were dying of an illness and all you had to do was change your  lifestyle and do the suggestions your doctor said to do and you will live, and you fail to do them, who’s fault is it if you die?  If all it took was taking a pill everyday for the rest of your life to stay alive and you refused to do it, is it the pill that stopped working? No. The pill can only work if you take it. Interventions and  in patient treatment centers are exactly the same way. They can help, if the addict takes them to task, and uses what they have to offer.

All addicts will say that treatment doesn’t work, or that interventions won’t do any good. Of course they will say this.  They may go to great lengths to prove it to you as well.  Many will refuse treatment or avoid going to an intervention.  What they want you to believe is that those ideas won’t work, so you will let them continue on their path of self destruction.

So what does the family and friends to when interventions were avoided  and their addict refused treatment, or their addicted loved one relapses? Get them back into treatment, each and every time, that is until you come to a realization that you have done all you can do. Once you reach this conclusion, then the addict  may have to find their own way with or with out you. Find your own help, and attend meetings yourself. Learning how to break free from co-dependency and how to cope with your life so that you can be happy is important whether the addict fails at treatment or not. An addicts failure doesn’t have to be yours. Get healthy, stay happy, and  always, walk in the truth.