Introduction to Physical Illness | Addiction and Mental Health Recovery Activities

Hey there everybody, and welcome back to the Addiction and Co occurring disorders treatment manual. Today we're discussing unit one, part eight, an introduction to physical illness. I'm your host, Dr. Donnellice Snipes. In this part we're going to explore how physical illnesses may cause or be caused by mood or addiction issues. Foreign I've worked with people with mood and addiction issues for the better part of 25 years and I can tell you that again, the majority of them have some level of co occurring physical disorder or physical issue. Whether it's an autoimmune issue like Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Those issues, autoimmune issues, are often triggered and or worsened by stress. And we know that addiction, depression, anger, anxiety, guilt and grief all cause stress in the individual. So these dysphoric emotions and these unhealthy behaviors actually trigger the autoimmune issue. Likewise, the autoimmune issue, the inflammation and the fatigue and all the problems that go along with it and the pain may trigger anxiety, depression, guilt, grief, etc. Now, not all pain is caused by autoimmune issues. Some people will struggle with osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia, neither one of which is a autoimmune issue. But it causes pain nonetheless and it can be ever present nonetheless. And this chronic pain again can trigger addiction or mood issues and be worsened by addiction or mood issues, especially fibromyalgia. Sleep disorders is another area that we don't pay near enough attention to. Even if the person doesn't have depression or anxiety, which in general, if they have a sleep issue, they probably have depression, anxiety or trauma in addition to the sleep issue. But even if they don't, sleep disorders make recovery a lot harder. It makes it harder for your body to rebalance your neurotransmitters. And they've done research recently that, that has found that people who aren't getting adequate quantities quality sleep actually have a much more difficult time suppressing unwanted thoughts. So those negative thoughts that you have, those critical thoughts that you have, those flashbacks that you have are more difficult to control when you're sleep deprived. Those cravings that you have are a lot more difficult to control when you're sleep deprived. So it's important, it's vital to the recovery process for people to be getting adequate quality sleep. Probably more than any other physical intervention that we're going to talk about in this book is getting that adequate quality sleep that can do so much for helping you get over post acute Withdrawal syndrome if you're struggling with addiction or help you rebalance your neurochemicals and focus more effectively if you're dealing with a mood issue. Now, apnea is just one sleep disorder. Some people have difficulty falling asleep, some have difficulty staying asleep, and some people have sleep apnea. And sleep apnea is associated with, with an increased risk for dementia. So if you don't have any other reason to get that treated than you know, reducing your risk of dementia and improving your recovery outlook and enhancing your recovery trajectory can be really strong motivators for addressing sleep disorders. And finally, pause. And I mentioned this a little bit already. Pause stick stands for post acute withdrawal syndrome. When people are in early recovery from addiction, whether it's chemical or behavioral, their neurotransmitters are out of balance. And I'm not going to go into all the nitty gritty of the neurochemistry of it all, but suffice it to say that during the addiction, the brain actually altered the levels of certain neurotransmitters and actually changed its structure. Some changed the wiring. Certain areas in the brain shrunk while other areas got bigger. It can go back to something that is much more functional, much healthier. It can rewire itself, if you will, but it takes time. And that during that time, the time between when you quit using the addictive behavior and when you feel like your normal, quote, unquote energetic, enthusiastic self can be a year, 18 months, sometimes even up to two years, depending on what you were using, how intensely you were using it. So during that period, we call that post acute withdrawal syndrome. And it gets better with time. But people have reduced energy, they have periodic cravings. They may go through periods where they're asymptomatic and then all of a sudden have a flareup, if you will, of cravings and stinking thinking and behaviors that they thought they were past that they need to get through again. And that's the brain rewiring itself. However, it is a physical disorder. It is representative of, of alterations in the structure and functioning of the brain. So it will require time to recover. When people have pause, they often also periodically, like I said, they may not feel as energetic. They may feel depressed, they may feel anxious, they may have difficulty concentrating. All of this is the result of, of those brain changes. And, and again, the body is fabulous. It's amazing how it will heal itself when it's allowed to do so. Spend some time thinking about how each physical health issue you have could trigger addictive behavior. For example, pause. When people start having those cravings or those un unpleasant emotions again, it may be a huge relapse trigger for them. So how could each one of these things potentially trigger addictive behavior, depression, anxiety, anger, guilt, grief or jealousy? And although it's not on this slide, what are three healthy ways you can deal with any of your physical health symptoms? Whatever symptoms you have, what are three healthy ways you can deal with those? Addictive behaviors are creative solutions to problems, including mental health or physical illness, which unfortunately often cause more problems with mental and physical health relationships, finances, employment, and more. Mental and physical health issues can be caused by or worsened by addictive behaviors. Recovery involves developing an awareness of what triggers your mental or physical health problems or addiction, addictive or unhelpful behaviors you use to cope with distress and develop alternate skills to help you start dealing with life on life's terms. The activities in each part so far have encouraged you to look not at the overarching concept like depression or anxiety, but to really look at what are your symptoms of those particular issues, how do those particular issues potentially trigger other issues, and what are ways that have worked for you or that you're at least willing to try in order to cope with those symptoms in order to move toward that recovery goal.