Addiction Solution Source

Once you start smoking it is hard to stop because the nicotine contained in tobacco products is so quickly addictive and is even considered to be as addictive as heroin or cocaine.

Why?

When a cigarette is smoked, nicotine-rich blood passes from the lungs to the brain within 7 – 10 seconds and immediately stimulates the release of many neurotransmitters including dopamine (pleasurable feeling).

It is important to note that nicotine is very powerful and poisonous for the nervous system. There is enough (50 mg) in four cigarettes to kill a person within just minutes if it were injected directly into the bloodstream.

The problem is the effects from smoking are short-lived, lasting only a few minutes to a couple of hours. This leads people to smoke throughout the day to dose themselves with this deadly chemical because they want to continue to have whatever positive effects they think they are receiving. Add to this the fact that you can become tolerant to nicotine’s effects — you need to use more and more of it to reach the same degree of stimulation or relaxation — and you can see how people would quickly move from smoking one cigarette to a pack a day habit.

A typical smoker will take 10 draws on a cigarette over a period of 5 minutes. Therefore, a person who smokes about 1-½ packs (30 cigarettes) daily, is getting 300 “hits” of nicotine to the brain each day.

The goal of a detoxification program should be to rid the body of all toxins that may be causing the biochemical imbalances in the body. This includes any drugs, as well as dietary and environmental toxins.

Withdrawal symptoms will vary depending on the toxins in the body and your overall health condition. If the detox is done correctly, the withdrawal symptoms will be minimized.

In some cases you should not attempt to detox on your own. For instance, in cases of severe alcoholism, withdrawal can be life-threatening. You could experience the DTs (delirium tremens) and should be under the care of a professional addiction treatment facility.

Also, if you have been taking any benzodiazapenes, such as Valium or Xanax, seizures could occur so they should be under professional care.

A drug treatment program should offer various detox options. Two of these possibilities are listed below.

Dr. Elson M. Haas, author of The New Detox Diet, lists some of his top steps for drug detox.

In addition to detox from alcohol addiction, additional information is also available in Dr. Elson Haas book about detoxing for sugar, nicotine, caffeine and drugs.

After years of research, Joan Mathews Larson, Ph.D., author of Seven Weeks To Sobriety – The Proven Program To Fight Alcoholism Through Nutrition, set up an addiction treatment clinic in Minneapolis, MN that has over a 70% success rate. The Health Recovery Center was a pioneer in a holistic way of treating patients.

Dr. Larson states that “talk therapy” can help with coping skills and serious emotional issues but it cannot repair your alcohol altered brain and nervous system or banish the depression, unstable moods, and cravings that stem from the biochemical changes alcohol brings about. The program focuses on biochemical repair and restoration.

The recovery program is built around two premises:

Delirium Tremens (also called the "DTs" or "the shakes") is a dramatic and dangerous complication of alcoholism which can occur during a period of alcohol withdrawal especially when the person does not eat enough food.