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The Reasons for DRUG RELAPSE:

Once an addict has been through treatment there are three main reasons for relapse: 1) mental and physical cravings; 2) depression; and 3) guilt associated with the moral degradation and dishonesty that becomes part of an addict's life style. These manifestations can haunt someone for years after he or she has sobered up and more times than not, if left untreated, will trigger a relapse. These unresolved symptoms, whether physical or mental in origin, create an underlying, low-level type of stress which an addict cannot pretend to ignore. The post-treatment addict can "just say no" to drugs a thousand times, but it only takes him saying "yes" once to start the cycle of addiction again.

Barriers to Recovery:

The first barrier to successful long-term recovery from substance abuse is how to overcome the mental and physical cravings for the drug of choice. Drugs and alcohol are broken down and filtered in the body by the liver. The leftover byproducts from this detoxification process are called "metabolites." These protein-based metabolites can and do find their way into the person's body fat.

Keep in mind that each time anyone has ever used a drug or alcohol, he has a complete recorded memory of that life experience. Whether good times or bad, happy or sad, all emotions, the feelings and sensations that were present at the time the drug or alcohol was ingested are filed away in the alcohol or drug user's memory. Even if a person is in a "blackout," the experience is still recorded in the mind.

Drug Metabolites and Triggers:

There is a key relationship between "drug metabolites" and "past drug experience." Drug residual metabolites are the body's physical link to the life experience when the drugs or alcohol were consumed in the past. The body will metabolize and burn fat any time a person undergoes a life experience that causes the heart rate to speed up. Many things can cause this. "Stress" can do this, as can strenuous exercise or intense emotion. Everyone experiences such things on a fairly regular basis.

When an addict experiences such life situations and his or her heart rate speeds up, the body begins to burn fat, to "mobilize" it. The fat being mobilized may well contain stored toxins or metabolites from personal past alcohol and drug use. As the fat burns up or is used for energy, the metabolite drug toxins are released back into the person's blood stream. The metabolite is a byproduct of the drug. That metabolite is connected to the memory of the life experience in which the drug or alcohol was taken. The toxin finds its way back into the blood stream and acts as both a physical and mental reminder of the drug or alcohol consumption. It also acts as a reminder of the emotional effect the person experienced after consumption.

In short, the toxin re-enters the blood and "triggers" or stimulates an unwanted and uncontrollable physical reminder of the drug or alcohol and also triggers memory of the feelings, thoughts, attitudes, and emotions connected to the former drug-taking experience. The person consciously or more likely unconsciously remembers feeling and thinking the way he did in the past when he was under the influence. The former drug user is now prone to relapse to drug use under the new influence of these stirred up, triggered earlier drug-related memories.

This reactive, meaning not-controllable, compulsion to continue to use drugs or alcohol is, in part, caused by the drug's interaction with the body's natural chemistry. Some of the body's natural chemicals, part of the nervous system of every human being, act as a built-in reward system that encourages us to eat, exercise, and procreate. Other body's natural chemicals act as natural pain killers, activating when we physically injure ourselves. In short, these naturally existing, internal body chemicals are directly related to our physical survival and or well being.

Neurotransmitters and Addiction:

As a person's drug addiction develops, the brain and body start to identify the drug as an aid that either enhances the release of or replaces these natural nerve chemicals. As the person starts to use chemicals on a regular basis, the body must use up its own store or fails to replace its storage of natural chemicals. Gradually, it becomes depleted of key nutrients and amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks for natural nerve chemicals called "neurotransmitters." These nutritional deficiencies prevent the body from receiving the nutritional signals necessary to produce the natural chemicals. The brain gets fooled, as it starts to identify the drug or drink as an aid to releasing or replacing the natural chemicals. This is what causes the uncontrolled compulsion an addict feels to use the drug. This compulsion can become so strong within the ex-addict or current addict that the desire to use more drugs or drink overrides the fear of the negative, sometimes even life-threatening consequences drug use brings with it on a daily basis. The drug or alcohol gets misidentified as an aide to the desirable feelings associated with the production and release of natural nerve chemicals when, in truth, the drugs and alcohol are suppressing the body's ability to manufacture neurotransmitters. Every day's drug use makes it harder and harder to feel well or normal, but the urge to use drugs to achieve feeling well increases every day. And there you have the trap.

Next: What triggers addiction and what's the role of Guilt  

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