It has been a busy few days at Florida Springs Wellness and Recovery Center. Bay County marked International Overdose Awareness Day, and local officials showed up here at Florida...

Good news doesn’t come around often when discussing overdose numbers, so when it does, it’s worth actually looking at instead of just repeating the headline. Bay County’s overdose numbers...

Ask most people what the Good Samaritan law protects them from, and they’ll say something about drugs. That’s if they are familiar with it at all. Fentanyl, pills, and...

If you give or sell someone drugs in Florida right now, that could be enough to charge you with murder. It doesn’t matter if you’re a stranger who sold...

Meeting People At Their Worst Moment You don’t always get a second chance handed to you in a hospital bed. Most people who survive an overdose and get discharged...

You might have heard someone say that handing out Narcan gives people an excuse to keep using drugs. Maybe you have seen people who are just a little bit...

Many people go into withdrawal expecting it to feel like it did in the past. You may have detoxed off of pain pills or heroin before and remember a...

Family members often struggle to distinguish between actions that help a loved one recover and actions that improperly shield them from the natural consequences of addiction. Enabling behaviors usually...

Addiction affects both the brain and daily behavior, we talk about those things all the time here. Treatment that relies on a single intervention often fails to address the...

First-time attendance at a recovery support group can be scary. This is a very serious topic, as there are absolutely many people who have never attended a support group,...

Completion of residential treatment marks the first step in a much longer process. We talk about this all the time here, because it’s so important. When you leave a...

(Or Managing New Stress Once You Get a Job) In some respects, returning to a job after drug and alcohol treatment is a luxury many don’t have. Drug and...

Returning to familiar settings or spending time with old acquaintances can create immediate physical and mental stress during early recovery. In support groups they have called this pattern “people,...

During early withdrawal some patients struggle to focus, remember details, or follow conversations. Tasks that usually take little thought, like filling out paperwork or keeping track of schedules, might...

During early drug and alcohol recovery, everyday annoyances can trigger irritation or angry outbursts. Waiting in line or listening to a noisy room can feel more frustrating than it...

During the early withdrawal and detox from drugs and alcohol, physical pain often spreads to the entire body. Muscles feel bruised and joints grow stiff. This makes it difficult...

Severe abdominal cramping along with persistent nausea represents one of the most distressing physical challenges encountered during early withdrawal. A total loss of appetite also develops, causing patients to...

Waking up during early withdrawal often involves a distinct pounding in the chest. Your pulse rate increases and your breathing shifts to shallow patterns while physical anxiety develops. This...

If you have gone through detox more than once, you might expect the second time to be easier. You know what is coming, and you know you can survive...

One minute you shiver under blankets. The next, you sweat through your clothes. Your skin feels cold and you get goosebumps, then you are hot a few minutes later....

After drug and alcohol rehabilitation, walking into a house where everyone is tip-toeing around you can feel strange. It could make for a weird homecoming. In their effort to...

Substance use masks underlying physical pain. For years, prescription opioids, alcohol, or other substances dull the nervous system. When you clear these chemicals from your body, the old injuries...

Overcoming Second-Time Shame Checking back into a treatment facility for a second time carries a heavy weight of guilt. Patients feel they failed their families, their employers, and the...

The first week of treatment is about physical survival. The addicted body is fighting to clear out the substances. Medical staff are helping manage withdrawal symptoms. The focus is...

Living or recovering along the Emerald Coast comes with a beautiful landscape, but it also carries a unique trap. For most of the country, the Florida Panhandle is a...

Completing a residential treatment program for drugs or alcohol is a major milestone, but the day of discharge often brings a vulnerability. Moving directly from a structured environment where...

Returning home with invisible wounds from military service can make the transition to civilian life unstable. Service-related trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injuries frequently drive substance use...

Medical Maintenance vs. The Pressure to Taper When you start Medication-Assisted Treatment, which we commonly call MAT, it often feels like a huge weight has been lifted. For the...

The day you pack your bags and leave a residential treatment facility is a mix of genuine excitement and quiet panic. You have spent weeks inside a protected bubble...

When a family is in the middle of a substance abuse crisis, the emotional weight is already heavy enough. Trying to navigate the confusing financial systems of healthcare at...