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Essay on overcoming addiction
Essay on overcoming addiction
The challenges of an addiction
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“Fuck my life!” I scream off the rooftop and into the city. No one seems to hear though. They all just keep going about their business. That’s the thing about New York City—it stops for no one. That’s what I liked about it. The city didn’t care if you ran a gang, or if you consumed a thousand kinds of drugs each day—life went on.
Warm tears stream down my face. The wind blows my hair in all directions. It hurts. My brain hurts, my heart hurts, my lungs hurt—everything hurt. I used to revel in pain—bathed in it—but this pain is too much. I can’t handle it. How am I supposed to? It’s just easier to numb the pain with alcohol.
Sweet, sweet alcohol. My only true friend. It makes me feel better; makes the pain go away. The only difference between
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I’ve always had someone there—someone guiding me. I can’t do it on my own! And with no family left, what am I supposed to do? I just want to join the only person that’s ever cared for me, the person who had to raise me like a daughter, even though we both ended up fucked anyway.
I don't remember when we both got hooked on drugs, but I remember how. We were staying at one of Daniel's friend's apartment while we searched for a new place. Rachel was really generous to take us in in our time of need. Her boyfriend Ricky was real nice too. He's who got me hooked.
Ricky came home one day with a small bag of cocaine. We all snorted a few lines, and thought nothing of it. It was fun, y’know? A nice high after a stressful day. Really took the edge off. Then he kept coming home with drugs to share. Cocaine, dope, molly, robo—you name it, he could have gotten it. Daniel kept telling me to stop, but I didn't listen. I needed something to get away from it all, y’know? Life was just so hard back then. My soon-to-be drug addiction drove Daniel to get us a place faster. We moved into a crappy one-bedroom apartment. Danny slept on the ratty couch. I was doing okay without the drugs. Danny made me swear not to go over Rachel's, but I didn't have
One day when Ricky is on his way to a village in Mexico that is near the Cartel mansion, he buys a burrito on the street and some boys see how much money he has. He runs away from them for awhile but ends up being cornered. They beat the living crap out of him and take all his money and his shoes. After Ricky wakes up from the beatings, there is a girl sitting across the alley from him. She tells him where the Cartel mansion is located, and she takes him to a restaurant and they eat food out of garbage cans.
Colson Whitehead explores this grand and complex city in his collection of essays The Colossus of New York. Whitehead writes about essential elements to New York life. His essays depict the city limits and everyday moments such as the morning and the subway, where “it is hard to escape the suspicion that your train just left... and if you had acted differently everything would be better” (“Subway” 49). Other essays are about more once in a while moments such as going to Central Park or the Port Authority. These divisions are subjective to each person. Some people come to New York and “after the long ride and the tiny brutalities... they enter the Port Authority,” but for others the Port Authority is a stop in their daily commute (“The Port Authority” 22).Nonetheless, each moment is a part of everyone’s life at some point. Many people live these moments together, experiencing similar situations. We have all been in the middle of that “where ...
Drugs is one of the themes in this story that shows the impact of both the user and their loved ones. There is no doubt that heroin destroys lives and families, but it offers a momentary escape from the characters ' oppressive environment and serves as a coping mechanism to help deal with the human suffering that is all around him. Suffering is seen as a contributing factor of his drug addiction and the suffering is linked to the narrator’s daughter loss of Grace. The story opens with the narrator feeling ice in his veins when he read about Sonny’s arrest for possession of heroin. The two brothers are able to patch things up and knowing that his younger brother has an addiction. He still buys him an alcoholic drink at the end of the story because, he has accepted his brother for who he really is.
Alcohol is the most commonly consumed harmful toxin. It is to be assumed that by the time the average person reaches the legal drinking age of twenty-one, they have heard most of the warnings and horror stories that go along with this notorious party favor. People frequently have a drink after a hard day or just a couple rounds with friends at a social gathering; yet it is when alcohol consumption goes beyond moderate drinking that real health problems can arise. Health problems are not the sole concern individuals should consider before taking their next sip. This is because alcoholism does not just affect the alcoholic; it can involve those who love and support them as well. Scott Sanders describes his father in his essay, “Under the Influence” like a stranger and as fearful as any graveyard lunatic when drunk (Sanders 235). In reality, this form of alcohol abuse has an increased
The geriatric population is rapidly growing as individuals continue to benefit from medical advances and pharmaceutical treatments. A large number of this population will need to take some form of medication to maintain a functional lifestyle. Multiple medications can affect the elderly population differently than younger generations. This paper will discuss how polypharmacy impacts geriatrics and the will focus specifically on analgesics and antihistamines. It will also examine demographic factors, changes within the aging body, prescription and nonprescriptive medications, and the role of the nurse practitioner when caring for these patients.
A common recreational drug that is illegally dealt is Heroin. To many this drug is known by a few slang/street names, some being; smack, brown stone and junk (Tracy, 2012). Heroin is a highly addictive opiate that caused many different issues regarding physical and mental health. It can be consumed in 3 different ways: snorting, injecting and smoking. The original purpose of heroin is far different then the purpose that it is used for today in society. In 1874, heroin was first produced from morphine and 24 years later began its journey in the field of medicine to help morphine addicted patients (Scott, 1998). After use of the medicine it became present that the drug was just as addictive as morphine and was in turn creating patients to become addicted to the new drug. In 1902, doctors ceased the use of heroin in the medical field and a few years following, 8 years later, the first case of a heroin addict was admitted to a hospital for treatment (Scott, 1998). The drug is no longer used for a medical purposes but is still present in the legal drug selling market. Many countries have stiff penalties if caught in possession of or are selling heroin, because this drug is listed as a Class A drug (“Opium, Morphine, Heroin”, n.d.).
Opium, the first opioid, is derived from the sap of opium poppies, whose growth and cultivation dates back to the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia around 3400 BC. Egyptians and Persians initially used opium. Eventually spreading to various parts of Europe, India, China, and the Middle East. During the 18th century, physicians in the U.S. used opium as a therapeutic agent for multiple purposes, including relieving pain in cancer, spasms from tetanus, and pain attendant to menstruation and childbirth. It was merely towards the end of the 18th century that some physicians came to recognize the addictive quality of opium.
Based upon the intent of the individual drug use can be instrumental and recreational. Instrumental use occurs when a person is taking a drug, not with the intention of getting high, but with a specific socially approved goal in mind like staying alert or falling asleep. Instrumental drug use does not interfere with the duties and responsibilities. Society justifies instrumental drug use as legitimate in spite of the fact that they are available by prescription and over the counter (Levinthal, 2011)
Prescription drugs do not always cause addiction, but a specific group of prescription narcotics can increase dependency on the medication and cause a severe addiction. For many people that become addicted to prescribed medicines, it changes their life forever. Prescription drugs are equally as dangerous as street drugs, if not more so. High powered pain relievers are safe if taken properly, but some people pop multiples a day which can cause coma and even death.
Webster’s dictionary defines polypharmacy as the practice of administering or using multiple medications. Polypharmacy is seen often in older adults, because they often have multiple doctors that may not communicate resulting in the over medication of the patient. Then the doctors begin to treat the adverse effects of medications they did not know the patient was even prescribed for example if a patient is prescribed a medication to lower their blood pressure from a cardiac doctor the patient may return to their family care doctor with a blood pressure that is too low. The family care doctor may prescribe a medication that will raise their blood pressure, now the patient will be taking two medications that have opposing affects. Another effect
Gladwell discusses how by changing or fixing little issues existing in society, the authorities of New York City fixed bigger problems. First the authority realizes the problems, as Gladwell writes that “Like graffiti, fare-beating could be a signal, a small expression of disorder that invited much more serious crimes” (Gladwell 152). Gladwell presents a solution to regain insight as a community through being aware of the small issues in the community. When community became over involved with violence, they ignored the little issues such as graffiti andfare beating. Likewise, Nelson claims that when individuals pay too much attention and become too involved in violence they become unaffected by the violence. Nelson writes that “In light of the heightened state of perception conjured by Cage’s piece-its profound capacity to “return us to our sense” via an emptying out of input rather than an overload” (Nelson 306). To realize the problems in the New York Subway system, authorities needed to “empty out” their over-attentiveness towards the violence and “return” to their sense, which enables them to see the issues that are actually causing the
...pamine release, or pleasure from things they once did. The drug user is only able to experience pleasure if the drug is in their system. This is how a drug addict or drug dependents brain works. This lack of pleasure does not last forever. Through a detox period the person will regain those normal feelings of pleasure. However many can not last long enough to realize the sensations do come back on their own after a time.
Drugs are never right! According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 570,000 people die annually due to drug addiction. That breaks down to about 440,000 from disease related to tobacco, 85,000 due to alcohol, 20,000 due to illegal drugs, and 20,000 due to prescription drug use. Drug abuse is most common among young adults who are 18-25 years old. Abusing drugs is not only affecting peoples life, it also has a huge impact on United States economy. According to NIDA estimated economic cost due to substance abuse and addiction is about $559 billion/year, that breaks down to $181 billion from illegal drugs, $185 billion from alcohol and $193 billion from tobacco. These costs are due to health care, crime and lost productivity. If we don’t solve this problem the death rate is going to be increase and the economy will go down gradually.
Deep down inside everyone has the same desire – to do what one wants whenever he or she chooses to and to not have to worry about anyone or anything else. Along with this desire to be able to do what ever it is that one wishes to at any given time, a person wants to be successful at what they do. The type of success that a person wants may be measured in money, property, fame, or even the entourage that follows him or her. This kind of lifestyle is only truly lived by a certain kind of people – gangsters and mobsters. For the rest it is just a dream to be able to live such a life, but for gangsters and mobsters this lifestyle is reality. But these gangsters can go around doing anything they want without the fear of consequences, which would, for most people, lead to long-term prison sentences. We are commonly shown in many movies and television shows that gangsters can just walk into an alley and beat up whoever they wish and be able to leave as if nothing ever happened. In “The Gangster as Tragic Hero” by Robert Warshow and “Our Mobsters, Ourselves: Why The Sopranos Is Therapeutic TV” written by Ellen Willis the gangster’s middleclass part of his or her lifestyle is brought out along with this “dream” reality at the same time.
People are trapped in drug addiction due to various reasons. Some will try to take drugs because of curiosity. Some have many people and friends take drugs, and some want to have the experience. Athletes take drugs with the aim of improving their performance as well as to reduce certain problems. i.e. depression, stress, or anxiety. The use of drugs does not lead to drug addiction automatically. It is not possible to measure the level at which the use of drugs may be regarded as casual or even problematic. It depends on the individual. Drug addiction is not determined by the amount of drugs consumed or the many times they are consumed, but the consequences brought about by the drug addiction. This means that irrespective of the small amount one consumes, as long as the use of drugs leads to problems in life, there is a high chance of drug addiction (Sinha 351). Although many unfortunate factors cause one to fall into drug addiction, many treatments exist to save an individual from the horrible consequences. This paper discusses some of them, for instance, family history of addiction, social environment, heredity, mental addiction, peer pressure, and escapism. The paper will also highlight the symptoms, physical addiction, and withdrawal. Finally, the paper aims at highlighting methods used to ensure an individual is able to recover from drug addiction. The family history of the drug or alcohol addict is likely to place an individual in a high risk position of becoming addicted to drugs. Genetics, however, do no guarantee that an individual with a family history of drug addiction will become an addict. This is because there is no single gene, which has been identified to be responsible for passing the addictive trai...