{"id":31107,"date":"2018-12-07T03:57:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T11:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=31107"},"modified":"2018-12-04T16:34:28","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T00:34:28","slug":"dealing-with-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/12\/07\/dealing-with-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Jenny Melamed (photo from Jenny Melamed)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in addiction medicine for at least 15 to 20 years now. I spend my time with people in addiction and recovery; that is all the work that I do. I believe in recovery and I believe in remission for the disease of addiction,\u201d Dr. Jenny Melamed told the Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Melamed, who now lives in Vancouver, was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. She moved to Canada with her husband in 1987 \u2013 first to rural Saskatchewan, then to Vancouver. Her work with addiction began with a friend\u2019s suggestion to try some work at a methadone clinic. She immediately was drawn to help people in this way and became certified in addiction medicine in the United States, then in Canada and internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got lots of initials behind my name,\u201d said Melamed. \u201cI\u2019ve spent most of my time in addiction talking, doing person-to-person counseling. I don\u2019t wear a stethoscope.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Melamed, physicians were among the first abusers of prescription drugs. \u201cIt was thought that treating pain with opioids would not be addictive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpioids are narcotics that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects, so we were prescribing it and, now, there are so many opioids out there. And we\u2019re having these pill parties, where kids are taking pills from their parents\u2019 cupboards \u2013 going to these parties where they\u2019re putting them into these big bowls and they don\u2019t even know what they are taking out. We\u2019re looking at 13- or 14-year-olds that are trying these drugs. They\u2019re finding it young.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not that much OxyContin available anymore,\u201d she added, \u201cas people are now scared of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melamed said there is no way to know for sure if a person will become addicted or not. Kids often take more than one possible addictive drug at these kinds of parties, she said, so they will likely not even know which one(s) affected them and what the specific effects were.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some people who take their first drink or take their first opioid, they will say that \u2018the minute I used X, I felt calm for the first time,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cFor some, it starts immediately. For others, it starts as weekend use at parties. Then, they start to use a little more during the week, and then they start realizing that, when they try to stop, they can\u2019t. They\u2019re actually dependent on this drug and are going through withdrawal. They can\u2019t move away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melamed said, \u201cAddiction is a disease of escape. They\u2019re using it to help them cope. I said to a young girl yesterday, \u2018Why do you use?\u2019 She said, \u2018Sometimes, I just don\u2019t want to feel.\u2019 And that\u2019s what it is. They learn from an early age, and the addiction part of the brain takes over and says, \u2018I will help you through this.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all live in a society where there\u2019s a lot of stress and many of us, especially young people that have not developed coping mechanisms, turn to different modes of escape, as they are the easiest thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important thing to remember is that, when you come down from whatever high you used, you still have the stress, if not even worse, as now you\u2019ve got to pay for your drugs. You may have blacked out or overdosed \u2026 but, in the spur of the moment, addiction is such an instant gratification that you don\u2019t even think of it. You just think about self-medicating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recovering addicts learn that there is no such thing as a cure from addiction. Addiction may go into remission in the same way that type 2 diabetes can go into remission, said Melamed. If one changes their diet and loses weight, etc., they may not have to use insulin anymore, but, if they gain weight back, change their diet or lifestyle, the diabetes will flare up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you get the person who is out with buddies and somebody says, \u2018You want to try this heroin?\u2019 not knowing there\u2019s fentanyl in there,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they die, because the brain tells them that they can try it just once. And they actually believe that they can go back to being a social user, or a social drinker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t understand that this is a chronic disease that is with them for the rest of their life. And, you know, when you say to a 15-year-old, \u2018you\u2019re not going to be able to use or drink for the rest of your life,\u2019 it\u2019s a very difficult concept and very scary … and that\u2019s why the AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] concept of one day at a time is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

While only about eight to 11% of people who use a substance become addicted to it, no one knows which substance will entrap them. But, one thing is for certain \u2013 it can affect any of us and the problem affects us all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the first thing we have to understand is that it doesn\u2019t matter what religion we are, what our economic status is \u2013 everybody has a risk of addiction,\u201d said Melamed. \u201cWe have some very wealthy families in the city who have lost kids to addiction. We have to move it out of the stigma.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the concept of, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s a functional alcoholic, just drinks at lunchtime.\u2019 And, we accept that. But, we shouldn\u2019t accept that in any form. And, we also shouldn\u2019t stigmatize it in any form. We need to talk to our children about it and be on top of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some ways, as a Jewish population, we feel like we\u2019re a little different and protected,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe\u2019re not. The conversation has to happen at home. When I gave a talk here, at the Schara Tzedek, about addiction, the room was empty. We believe our kids would never do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are things you can do at home, in addition to talking with your kids about addiction. Any prescription drugs that are not being used should be returned to a pharmacy for proper disposal, and any medications that are being used on a regular basis should be locked up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou also should take a look at why you are using these medications,\u201d she said. \u201cEven as adults, our drug use is inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melamed said one of the best ways to keep an eye on your kids is by making your home a welcoming space where they and their friends are happy to hang out. That way, they are comfortable being around you and you see what is going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to know where your children are, who their friends are and what they are doing,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd, you cannot assume that, just because they are from the same socioeconomic status, that everybody\u2019s good. It\u2019s really important to know parents, their friends and to know what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melamed is open to hearing from educators, schools, community groups and others who would like her to come and speak on addiction and its treatment.<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa <\/strong>is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Jenny Melamed (photo from Jenny Melamed) \u201cI\u2019ve been in addiction medicine for at least 15 to 20 years now. I spend my time with people in addiction and recovery; that is all the work that I do. I believe in recovery and I believe in remission for the disease of addiction,\u201d Dr. Jenny Melamed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2551,4436,6977,8564,8563,6819],"class_list":["post-31107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-addiction","tag-alcoholism","tag-healthcare","tag-jenny-melamed","tag-prescription-drugs","tag-substance-abuse"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}