Have you been diagnosed drug addict or alcoholic? You have been misdiagnosed! Many well meaning, but, ill-knowledgeable addiction treatment centers still believe that alcoholism and drug addiction is the primary disease. It is not!
Drug Addiction, Alcoholism, these are symptoms, not diagnoses. Your substance abuse issues are derived from your attempt to balance your brain's chemistry and electrical activity. You should be relieved to know that your "psychological craving" for drugs or alcohol is a biochemical craving, not a character flaw, you have found a drug that temporarily "makes you feel more normal".
When we optimize your brain chemistry and correct your hormonal and nutritional deficiencies, you will no longer experience a "trigger." Our clinical experience in treating over 5,000 addicted patients has proven that the trigger is biochemical in nature. When we normalize brain chemistry and function, the alcohol, cocaine or Oxycontin is no longer "medication." Our patients can look at a glass of Vodka or an 80 mg Oxycontin and experience no trigger.
Mary is a 42 year old woman from New Mexico. She grew up on a large ranch that had been in the family for four generations. Her family, at one time, raised thoroughbred horses. Since age 17, Mary had abused cocaine and alcohol.
Before presenting to Florida Detox, Mary had attended $900,000 worth of 28 day rehab programs, 24 total. Her parents had spent $240,000 at one specific program in Arizona. The only diagnosis they received for all their money was drug addict and alcoholic.
Much of their ranch had been sold to pay for addiction treatment by the time Mary came to Florida Detox. Mary was physically sick, she could not walk and had been using a wheel chair at her young age of 42.
Mary's mother with tears rolling down her cheeks said, as have many mothers, "Dr. Sponaugle, you are our last hope, I have spent my whole life selling pieces of our ranch, trying to get help for Mary. I am getting old, but, I'm afraid I will outlive Mary. Doctor, that's not the way it's supposed to be. My daughter is going to die if you can't help her.
We admitted Mary on Monday and while performing the Sponaugle protocol for painless alcohol detoxification, we began our "biochemical makeover" with amino acid therapy, intravenous vitamins and restoration of multiple hormonal deficiencies that were derived from years of drug and alcohol abuse. By Thursday, Mary looked younger than her mother [she had looked older than mom for years]. They were walking the hallways, laughing about the miraculous transformation that rightfully, made Mary look younger than her mother.
We diagnosed Mary with an underactive prefrontal cortex [ADHD] secondary to genetics. The ADHD gene gives patients an overactive COMT enzyme, the enzyme that deactivates dopamine. An overactive COMT enzyme creates a localized dopamine deficiency in the prefrontal cortex of the brain with resultant ADHD symptoms. Mary had severe ADHD, yet, was never diagnosed in 24 rehab programs.
She also had an overactive anterior cingulate gyrus [the brain's gear shifter], however, when overactive, the cingulate makes our brain hyperfocus on negative thoughts and gives us a "worry, worry, got to worry about everything" anxiety. Mary's overactive cingulate was derived from serotonin deficiency that typically develops from chronic alcoholism.
Candida yeast proliferate and take over the GI tract of patients who drink alcohol daily. Yeast mycotoxins and other inflammatory chemicals "shut down" the serotonin factories in the small intestine where ninety percent of our serotonin is manufactured. Most of the serotonin used by the brain is actually produced in the enterochromaffin cells located in the mucosal lining of our small intestine.
Serotonin deficiency causes two specific areas of our brain to become overactive, the cingulate and the deep limbic system, our emotional center. Alcoholic patients develop a self perpetuating downward spiral because they develop anxiety from serotonin deficiency and excessive histamine levels [derived from leaky gut syndrome]. Histamine is a brain chemical that "turns up" the electrical current causing more anxiety. The more alcoholic patients drink, the more Candida overgrowth they get, the more anxiety they experience, the more they need to drink for the relaxing GABA effect of the alcohol.
Mary also needed correction of her estradiol and progesterone deficiency. Serotonin does not activate serotonin receptors in the female brain when estradiol levels are below 60 pg/ng. Progesterone deficiency also causes anxiety because progesterone naturally converts to allopregnanolone which activates the GABA receptor, the same receptor that Xanax activates. Obviously, progesterone deficiency was causing Mary more anxiety and insomnia.
After we balanced Mary's brain chemistry and provided comprehensive restoration of hormonal and nutritional deficiencies, Mary had no craving for cocaine or Vodka. She returned for follow up/aftercare and was always amazed regarding her plane ride. "I can't believe it, I'm sitting on the plane next to this guy and he orders a Bloody Mary. I thought, Oh, Lord help me, but, when she handed him that miniature Vodka bottle, I didn't even have a trigger, I was thrilled to enjoy my water with lemon. God Bless you, Dr. Sponaugle."
Susan is the wife of a professional baseball pitcher. In the Tampa Bay area, we have spring training for several professional baseball teams. She came to us with an Oxycontin addiction of 400 mg per day.
Six months prior, Susan had completed an expensive 28 day rehab program in Utah, her second time. Her oxycontin addiction was 300 mg day when she went to Utah. She stated that she was deathly sick for three weeks getting through the Oxycontin withdrawal, but, was forced to go to the group meetings even though she could barely sit up. Susan was discharged on day 28, and relapsed to Oxycontin four days after leaving the Utah program. The only diagnosis she received was "drug addict".
We performed the Sponaugle protocol for rapid detox on Tuesday and she returned to her home on Friday, able to take care of her young daughter. We diagnosed her fairly moderate ADHD and explained that she had been chasing dopamine via the Oxycontin to satisfy her dopamine deficient prefrontal cortex. After asking the right questions, it was obvious that her father had severe ADHD as well as her sister.
Before discharge, we began titrating Adderall for Susan's ADHD, something that can't be done when patients are going through traditional detox and suffering adrenaline induced withdrawal symptoms. Susan had no Oxycontin craving for the first time in five years.
She returned for her first follow up appointment and insisted on getting all the medical staff together to thank them. She also wanted to tell a story. Susan stated, "It's a miracle, an 80 Oxy fell out of the couch cushion yesterday, I immediately picked it up and threw it in toilet. After I flushed it, I stood back and thought, WOW, why did I not hesitate, I was astonished, there was no trigger! Two weeks ago, I would have jumped in a lake full of alligators to retrieve that "gold nugget. I used to travel to three different counties to find various pain doctors for my Oxy, now I am throwing it away like a piece of dirt."
Our anti-aging wellness program will quickly enhance your ability to produce healthy levels of brain chemicals and the hormones that modulate brain chemical activity. This will stop your drug or alcohol craving. You will look and feel ten years younger within a few weeks after drug detoxification. Your brain will then, dislike your old favorite drug because it will no longer balance your brain chemistry, it will make you feel "out of balance."
Your biochemical craving has been driven by the need to either, stimulate underactive brain regions or relax overactive brain regions. We have proven this concept having treated thousands of addicted patients utilizing Dr. Daniel Amen's research with SPECT brain imaging and PET scan research from NIDA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
We have years of experience and more addiction expertise than any other rehab center regarding the utility of SPECT Brain imaging for more effectively diagnosing the abnormal brain function that causes patients to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol.
We have worked closely with the Amen Clinic for several years, referring complex addicted patients for brain imaging. This has proven extremely helpful in diagnosing these addiction patients.
We have correlated SPECT Brain imaging studies with the analysis of brain neurotransmitter and hormonal testing in our addicted patients. This scientific research in the clinical setting has elucidated the biochemical causation of craving as it relates to specific abnormalities seen on Spect Brain imaging.
Our unprecedented clinical research in addiction medicine enables us to better diagnose and treat addicted patients.
Hormones actually modulate the ability of messenger brain chemicals to activate the brain's electrical circuits. Hormonal deficiency or imbalance, often contributes to dysfunctional electrical activity in the brain. Patients choose drugs that produce increased or decreased electrical activity, depending on their individual brain circuitry.
The hormonal and brain chemistry deficiencies that drive addiction are often inherited. Sometimes they are acquired upon reaching midlife or are secondary to the chronic exposure of common neurotoxins, for example, yeast and mold mycotoxins or heavy metal toxicity. The biochemical deficiencies are readily treated if properly diagnosed, yet, the majority of addiction treatment centers fail to test for hormonal deficiencies or neurotoxic overload.
Our research indicates that more than 50 percent of females who develop addiction in their midlife, do so, as a self-medication for premenopausal hormonal imbalance. For more detailed information, read Dr. Sponaugle's article, "Female Hormones and Addiction."
It is true that patients often fall into the trap of alcohol abuse or drug abuse in their attempt to numb emotional pain, however, modern brain science, [PET SCAN and SPECT Brain Imaging], has revealed the chemical and electrical changes that occur in our brain when we experience negative events or suffer repeated emotional trauma.
These negative changes can be effectively treated with medications that do not hurt your brain verses allowing you to use drugs or alcohol, which both destroy brain cells. At Florida Detox and Wellness Institute, we began utilizing scientific research performed at NIDA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, ten years ago. We have utilized advanced brain science in the treatment of more than 5,000 addicted patients. Because we were the first addiction treatment center to respect this research and implement treatment protocols that integrate the biochemical basis for addiction with one on one, target specific, counseling, we have achieved unprecedented low relapse rates.
We have proven that emotionally traumatized patients receive much faster and more effective emotional healing from counseling and biofeedback, when they first, undergo optimization of their brain chemistry and function.
Our current six month relapse rate is only nine percent for combined drug and alcohol treatment. This compares to national six month relapse rates of 60-70 percent. Our unprecedented success validates that successful addiction treatment can be achieved by integrating science and spirituality. We give credit to research from the Amen Clinic, NIDA and Neuroscience for enhancing our ability to "connect the dots" in causation of addiction.
Historically, drug rehab has consisted of "coaching" patients into ignoring or overcoming their craving, one day at a time. At Florida Detox and Wellness, we stop your craving!
Your attempt to self-medicate what doctors have failed to correctly diagnose will end in futility. Your real diagnosis, the true cause of your biochemical craving, craving that causes addiction to food, nicotine, opioid pain pills, cocaine and various other drugs can be effectively treated much like other medical disorders.
History has proven that you cannot "talk" your way out of a biochemical imbalance that makes you "feel better" when taking a specific drug. Years of addiction treatment that has relied on coaching addiction patients through their craving, verses, eliminating their craving, have produced little more success than attempting to "talk" patients out of their diabetes, another biochemical disorder.
At Florida Detox and Wellness Institute, we have for eleven years successfully treated thousands of addicted patients by utilizing modern brain science. We have intensely studied the fascinating brain imaging research performed by Dr. Nora Volkow and her team at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA. We have also worked closely with Dr. Daniel Amen, utilizing his brilliant research with SPECT brain imaging, which many physicians would suggest has revolutionized our treatment approach in clinical psychiatric practice.
Using NIDA research, we have eliminated dopamine craving in thousands of patients, many who had spent years chasing dopamine enhancing drugs that temporarily release dopamine from brain storage units. These drugs make dopamine deficient patients feel more normal; cocaine, heroin, opiate pain pills, nicotine, alcohol and marijuana.
Marijuana temporarily releases both, dopamine and serotonin, from brain cell vesicles and therefore, it feels like a magical drug to patients who suffer, both, serotonin and dopamine deficiency. Marijuana craving stops when these brain neurotransmitters are optimized with our addiction expertise.
Many patients who suffer dopamine deficient brains have presented to Florida Detox with a history of having failed addiction treatment at more than ten rehab centers. After becoming empowered with knowledge that correlates brain science with addiction, these patients and their families leave Dr. Sponaugle's "Brain Chemistry" workshop realizing that they, in fact, had not repeatedly failed. Non scientific addiction treatment had repeatedly failed them, failed to properly diagnose and treat the cause of their craving.
The genetics for dopamine deficiency that often cause depression secondary to an underactive pleasure center and frequently cause ADHD symptoms have recently been elucidated by brain scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health.
The enzyme, Catechol O-Methyl Transferase, COMT, is responsible for inactivating dopamine in the nerve synapse once it has activated dopamine receptors on sequential brain neurons. A variant genotype [Valine substitution for Methionine] produces a supercharged COMT enzyme that metabolizes or breaks down dopamine molecules, four times faster than the normal version of COMT.
This phenomenon creates a dopamine deficiency throughout the brain, however, its effect is much more significant in the prefrontal cortex because other brain regions rely mostly on the recycling of dopamine into brain storage units, while the brain's prefrontal cortex relies more on the breakdown of dopamine by COMT for deactivation of dopamine.
In the family work shop, Dr. Sponaugle explains brain science and its biochemical causation of depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and the subsequent addiction issues.
Brilliant research performed by Dr. Daniel Amen, has opened a window into the inner workings of the brain. His research allows us to better understand brain physiology and correlate psychological symptoms with regional brain function.
Dr. Amen's research, like many pioneering efforts in medicine, was initially dismissed by the average psychiatrist. Today, Daniel Amen is considered one of the great pioneers in the neuroscience community.
The arbitrary labels, historically utilized in psychiatry, are slowly falling out of favor as more physicians prefer discussion focused on brain function as it correlates to symptoms.
The ultimate result of biochemical optimization, is that addicted patients has no more craving for the drugs or alcohol that previously were needed to make them feel normal. Our ultimate mission is to optimize our patient's brain function so they can actually get 400 horsepower verses 280 horsepower out of their 400 horsepower brain.
Our comprehensive medical model for addiction treatment has enabled Dr. Sponaugle to, as Dr. Amen has said, "connect the dots" in addiction medicine.
Our eleven years of intensive clinical research, in which more than 5,000 addicted patients have undergone extensive brain chemical, biochemical, hormonal and nutritional testing, has created a biochemical data base that better correlates the true causation of addiction and guides the most effective treatment model for individual patients.
Dr. Sponaugle presented his "Female Hormones and Addiction" scientific article at the April, 2009 American Academy of Anti-aging conference. Dr. Amen declared the article a landmark find because it revealed the biochemical connection between female hormones and their powerful effect on serotonin and dopamine activity in the female brain. This commonly ignored causation of addiction goes undetected in most women.
Common deficiencies of hormones and the brain chemicals they activate, predispose or "set up" the addicted patient's brain to "feel more normal" or "much better" on specific drugs. Some brains love the feeling of Vicodin, Percocet, Dilaudid, Actiq and Oxycontin. Others "feel weird" on opiate pain pills.
Some brains "need" Xanax or Klonopin, but, dislike the feeling of opioid medication. Many patients are addicted to Xanax, Klonopin or Ambien because doctors have prescribed these addicting mediations instead of diagnosing the underlying biochemical cause of anxiety and insomnia.
We consistently cure anxiety and insomnia disorders in patients who come for Ambien detox or are addicted to other benzodiazepine drugs like Xanax or Klonopin. These addicted patients have often been sabotaged by American "symptom based medicine."
Many of our anxiety ridden and Xanax/Klonopin addicted patients have traveled throughout America to eight or more university medical centers attempting to find the cause or etiology of their "new onset" anxiety or insomnia disorder. Unfortunately, their hormonal imbalance or their severely elevated histamine and glutamate levels [derived from "Leaky Gut Syndrome"] are repeatedly undetected leaving these patients to be dismissed as neurotic individuals who need counseling.
The majority of these patients, particularly the females, suffer from excessive production of "excitatory" brain chemicals like Glutamate and Histamine. These brain chemicals "turn up the brain voltage" and when in excess, create an "over electrified" brain. This causes anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, hyperesthesias [increased sensitivity to touch],total body pain, "brain pain" and fibromyalgia. See Chronic Pain article for explanation given by Dr. Sponaugle to NFL players.
Elevated levels of Glutamate and Histamine are becoming much more common in Americans, yet these chemical aberrations routinely go undiagnosed by main stream medicine. The symptoms are instead treated with sedating medications like Xanax or Lyrica. The causative "Leaky Gut Syndrome" is rarely diagnosed, even though, in my opinion, it is largely responsible for the dramatic, 300 percent increase of anxiety/insomnia disorders since 1980.
Some brains love the effect of alcohol which releases dopamine from brain storage units. Each additional drink gives temporary satisfaction to dopamine deficient regions of the brain. Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan and many other creative movie stars have the gift of a dopamine deficient prefrontal cortex- They are extremely creative and can think out of the box. The curse is that one or two drinks is not enough, because, the alcohol is a dopaminergic medication. They binge alcohol for the dopamine chase.
We have stopped the alcohol binging and craving in a multitude of talented and creative celebrities, corporate presidents and successful business men/women, all of whom had wasted a half million dollars at celebrity rehabs that were void of scientific addiction treatment.
A fascinating biochemical concept is that alcoholic beverages like Vodka and Bourbon are metabolized to acetaldehyde, a chemical that combines with brain dopamine to form an opiate molecule. You actually load and activate your Percocet and Oxycontin receptors when you drink alcohol!
Wow, knowledge not only makes us healthier, it can be fun. Come to one of our free family workshops and learn what your non addicted or addicted brain is all about.
At Florida Detox and Wellness Institute, we understand the brain physiology that causes you to love Xanax while detesting or potentially, becoming paranoid when using marijuana or cocaine.
If you love mixing cocaine with Oxycontin, but, dislike Xanax, we know the specific brain chemistry that you attempt to self-medicate with unhealthy drugs.
When we optimize your brain chemistry, you will become more focused, more efficient and you will have no craving for your addicting drugs, those that ultimately, damage your brain.
Your old "favorite drugs" will no longer interest you, in fact, they will most likely make you feel worse, they will throw your newly optimized brain chemistry out of balance! Like your wife/husband, you will say, " I don't really like the way I feel on Oxycontin."
Peter, like the majority of our patients, was repeatedly misdiagnosed by multiple addiction doctors at various drug rehab programs. Between ages 12 to 28, Peter attended over $500,000 worth of drug treatment centers from Arizona to New York, yet, Peter continued to have strong cravings for heroin and cocaine.
All of these very expensive [$30,000 to $50,000 per 28 days] "famous" treatment centers attempted to "talk" Peter out of his craving for Oxycontin, heroin and cocaine. Their addiction doctors believed that his addiction was the "primary disease." This well propagated myth is one that I too, was taught in medical school, one that I whole heartedly believed prior to performing extensive research and testing on my addicted patients!
As it turns out, addiction has never been the primary disease, it is in fact, always secondary to various different medical and biochemical issues, some are inherited while others are acquired. Without advanced knowledge of brain function and physiology, addiction doctors simply do not understand the multiple causes of "biochemical craving" for drugs and alcohol.
For 16 years, Peter was never drug free more than four days if not inside a rehab facility. The genetic biochemical deficiencies causing Peter's heroin addiction were finally diagnosed by Dr. Sponaugle when Peter came to Florida Detox in April 2008.
Dr. Sponaugle stopped Peter's craving for opiates and his cocaine craving within five days of drug treatment. Peter has been drug free since April 2008 and is writing a book to educate others about the perils of outdated addiction treatment in America.
As of June 2009, our six month relapse rate was down to NINE PERCENT! To understand how and why, continue exploring our site, you can obtain a wealth of knowledge, logical and practical cutting edge addiction science.
We welcome you to talk with hundreds of our patients, who like Peter, are very thankful to Dr. Sponaugle and the Florida Detox team, thankful that their brain chemistry was finally correctly diagnosed and optimized. They want you to know the truth; they no longer need Vicodin, Oxycontin, cocaine or alcohol to feel normal.
Read Peter's Story.
The holes at the top of Peter's SPECT scan are derived from genetics. We diagnosed Peter several months before we referrred him to the Amen clicic for a scan. We in fact, began optimizing his brain chemistry the first day after his Tuesday rapid detox from Heroin.
Dr. Daniel Amen, a pioneer in brain imaging, began utilizing functional scans in the early nineties to demonstrate under active brain regions like Peter has in his brain's prefrontal cortex.
SPECT studies from London have proven that overactive dopamine recycling causes dopamine to be transported back into brain storage units before it can activate dopamine receptors on the next brain neuron. Patients with this localized dopamine deficiency will "feel more normal" on any drug that causes a temporary release of dopamine from brain storage units. Dopaminergic drugs commonly abused are opiates, nicotine, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol.
We know your brain "feels more normal" on drugs or alcohol. We have the addiction expertise to diagnose the biochemical reason you feel better when drinking or taking Oxycontin.
Like Peter and thousands of other Florida Detox patients, you are using opiates, cocaine, Xanax or alcohol to medicate brain chemistry that other rehab centers have failed to properly diagnose. We can immediately help you. We will stop your craving and end your addiction cycle.
You may have inherited chemical deficiencies from mom and dad. You could have acquired them from toxins at work or undiagnosed infections.
We will diagnose and correct the biochemical cause of your craving.
This requires more work, however, it produces our exceptionally low six month relapse rate of nine percent while national six month relapse rates average 70 percent. Addiction treatment centers don't look for the biochemical causes of craving, they still wrongly believe addiction is the primary diagnosis.
Common causes of addiction that go undiagnosed are sub clinical infections that cause chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. Systemic Candidiasis [yeast] infection causes release of mycotoxins which are fatty or lipophilic and readily enter the brain which is 65 percent fat. They disrupt electrical circuits causing pituitary gland supression, hence, lack of pituitary stimulation of the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, testicles and ovaries. The multiple hormonal deficiencies cause depression, anxiety, insomnia chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.
Serotonin deficiency causes two specific areas of our brain to become overactive, this causes both, depression and anxiety. Candidiasis overgrowth in the gastrointestinal tract is caused by our historical overuse of antibiotics in America. Proliferation of Candida causes micro-perforations in the intestinal lining which allows foreign bodies to enter the blood stream.
When they are rightfully attacked by our antibodies, mast cells release excess histamine, a brain chemical as well as an inflamatory chemical, which over stimulates the brain's electrical current. The result is panic disorder, anxiety, insomnia and infrequently rage and paranoia.
Lyme's, Bartonella and other tick borne diseases produce severe inflammation of the brain. These bugs also produce potent neurotoxins that enter nerve cells and the myelin sheath [rubber on the wires] and thus cause short circuiting of brain electrical current. The subsequent electrical imbalance causes depression, anxiety and insomnia disorders all of which lead to subsequent addiction. When patients go undiagnosed, many ultimately self-medicate with alcohol, Xanax or opiate medications like Vicodin and Oxycontin.
We have documented severe brain inflammation via Brain SPECT imaging in addicted patients exposed to these environmental toxins and others like Stachybotrus which is commonly called black mold. This inflammation frequently causes severe anxiety and insomnia, in severe cases, we have seen uncontrolled rage. Undiagnosed patients abuse drugs that "cool down" their "hot brain," drugs like alcohol, Xanax and Oxycontin.
Once we properly diagnose and treat the true cause of your addiction, your brain will stop craving your "favorite" Vodka or opiate drug like Vicodin. Those drugs that once balanced your brain's electrical activity making you "feel more normal," will actually disrupt your healthy brain's balance, thus causing you to dislike the drug.
Amazingly, even though modern brain science has elucidated various biochemical mechanisms that commonly cause alcohol and drug addiction, we continue to see addicted patients who have received only a "symptom diagnosis," alcoholic or drug addict. This misdiagnosis is tragic.
The truth is that most rehab centers have not yet embraced the biochemical basis for addiction. The majority of rehab physicians are, themselves, in recovery. They often resist modern science because it invalidates much of what they believe about their personal recovery and often what they have espoused regarding "treatment" for years. They frequently teach that relapse is part of recovery, they too suffer relapse which potentially could be avoided if they were properly diagnosed and treated.
Working the 12 Steps is good for everyone- We all have someone we need to forgive. At Florida Detox, we do not discount the fact that many addicted patients medicate their emotional pain with drugs or alcohol. However, our clinical research proves that ninety percent of those patients, using alcohol or drugs to self-medicate emotional pain, also suffer inherited or acquired biochemical imbalances that make their brain more vulnerable to emotional and psychological trauma.
Our brain is both chemical and electrical. It relies on chemical messengers, neurotransmitters and hormones, to influence electrical activity. We have proven that addicted patients use drugs either to stimulate their underactive brain regions or relax their overactive brain regions. This determines their like or dislike of specific drugs. Is the physiological effect of the drug to release excitatory chemicals or dampen electrical current in the brain?
A very common brain profile seen in addicted patients feels more focused, more energetic and more normal on drugs like Vicodin and Oxycontin. This profile will frequently mix opiates with cocaine if available and they often use nicotine in the morning to "jump start" their sleepy frontal lobe. They typically dislike Xanax in the day time, but, may need to use it to "turn off" their racing thoughts at bedtime. If they drink alcohol, they tend to binge 8-10 drinks verses having one or two.
Another common brain profile seen in addicted patients at Florida Detox actually enjoys the relaxing effect of mixing benzodiazepines like Xanax with opioid pain medication like Oxycontin. These patients may also use alcohol for it's relaxing GABA effect. They normally find cocaine too stimulating and it may make them extremely anxious or paranoid.
Marijuana is a magical drug for patients who suffer deficiencies of both serotonin and dopamine as it releases both dopamine and serotonin from the brain storage vesicles. Patients temporarily feel more normal, but, consistent marijuana use ultimately depletes intracellular storage units causing even greater deficiency issues than the patient had inherited. Proper diagnosis and subsequent fine tuning of brain chemistry stops marijuana craving in the patient once considered a "pothead."
For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
