Warning- Deadly Fentanyl Being Passed Off As Heroin

A press release was put out last week that directly impacts our community and the suffering addicts that are still out there.  There is a deadly combination of mostly fentanyl being sold and passed off as heroin.

Heroin is usually stamped with a name on the bag.  This particular mix of poison is stamped and being called “Egg Nog”.  Numerous people have overdosed and died over the last ten days as a direct result of using this particular batch.  It has been found mostly in New Jersey, but has now spread to the surrounding states of Pennsylvania and New York.

If you want to stop gambling with your life call us right now.  We offer heroin detox and inpatient heroin treatment to help change your life.

Merry Christmas From Clearbrook

The Alumni Party and staff Christmas parties went great.  From all of us at Clearbrook, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Staying Sober On Christmas

For the newly sober, Christmas and celebrating the New Year can be the hardest times throughout our first years of this new life.  There are so many memories that flood our minds and hearts from previous years.  Many of us have utterly ruined some of the holidays in the past with our drinking. Guilt can plague us every step of the way during the holiday season.  That is addiction folks.  That is the disease sinking its teeth into us and saying "come back".  There are ways of turning that stuff around.

First of all there is one premise that we have seen people live by that can take guilt and shame and cast them out.  Gratitude. That word is one of the best defenses to anything that is negative in our lives.  Especially during the holidays.  Just being grateful for being sober and living a different way can be a good start.

Here are some other ways to ensure you not only make it through the holidays sober but you enjoy them as well.

• The premise of Christmas is the birth of Christ.  You have also had a birth in your life.  Sobriety and the birth of a new life.
• Go to meetings
• Talk to other people in recovery
• Stay completely away from "People, Places, and Things"
• Go help someone else that is struggling
• Remember that this is just one day, anyone can stay sober for just one day

These points if lived every day work.  They especially work over the holidays.

A Christmas Video

Addiction Is A Family Disease

Addiction is a family disease.  Many people don't realize just how debiulitating it is on the entire structure of a family.  Most families have no idea what to do when a loved one is suffering from addiction.  Coupled with that, many families don't understand that even when the sufferer gets clean and sober there is still sickness in the family.

At Clearbrook we have a program specifically designed for family members of our patients.  The quality of our patients recoveries goes up exponencially when their family members participate.  Please visit our "Families Helping Families" page on our website for more information.

Addiction Affects The Entire Family

Babies Born Into Addiction

The information contained in this article is gut wrenching.  It can be painful to read.  What we are talking about today are babies, obviously through no fault of their own, who are born into addiction.   In this country, every 19 minutes a life is brought into this world addicted to opiates.  Over the last ten years, if you averaged it out, 13,000 children are born dependent on drugs.  The staggering fact is that number is just an average.  It is getting worse year after year.  In 2013 there were 28,000 born with an addiction to chemicals.  This can be equated to the explosion of opiate pain medications and its cheap counter part of heroin.

Watching a child detox after birth is among the saddest things to ever witness.  It is worse than watching an adult detox "cold turkey".  Watching an innocent child shake uncontrollably, tremble, and twitch is such a sad fact of the overall problem, ADDICTION.


Thankfully laws have been put into place to protect these children after they are sent home from the hospital.  Please realize that these laws don't protect against the horrible effects a child goes through while in the womb and the weeks after birth.  The "Keeping Children & Families Safe Act" keeps the states responsible to take the steps and install the safeguards for children born into addiction.  Here's the problem though.  There are many times that the hospitals don't tell the agencies responsible, like protective services that they have an addicted child.  The child is then sent home with the mother.  There have been hundreds of children who have died as a result of this.  Many of these children need to be taken away.

Another problem out there is for the mothers who are addicted and carrying a baby.  There is just not enough treatment options out there for them.  It is estimated that three out of four people in this country who want help never get that help.  This is no different for addicted, expectant mothers.

Clearbrook has treated dozens of pregnant women.  If you need a drug rehab during pregnancy, please call us.  There has to be a different and tailor made program for someone who is pregnant.  How much someone is using, what they are using, and how long they are pregnant all factor into the program for that mother.  If you are pregnant and want help, please know that it is never too late.

Clearbrook Manor

1-800-582-6241

Offering Help, Promising Hope

www.clearbrookinc.com

Please Visit Our Youtube Channel

Videos on Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey drug and alcohol treatement

Suboxone Detox & Suboxone Rehab in Pennsylvania

Suboxone- America's New Addiction

There is an explosion that is taking place on the streets of our country, it's early and we haven't seen anything yet.  Just like the drug companies over the last two decades came out with generic forms of opiate pain medications, the same thing is ringing true with drugs that are comparable to Suboxone.

Suboxone, which is a combination of two drugs, buprenorphine and naloxone, is being prescribed to heroin and opioid users at an alarming rate. In 2014 over nine million scripts were written for the drug.  It equates to being a $1.5 billion industry in our country alone.  Reckitt-Benckiser is the pharmaceutical company that came up with the formula for Suboxone.  It was introduced to the U.S. in 2002 and it took off from day one.  The patent for the combination of drugs that make up Suboxone expired in 2012 and opened the doors to all of Reckitt's competition to come up with a generic form. Today dozens of companies out there are testing various versions of the drug in studies.  One company has even come up with a plan to devise a way to have buprenorphine to be implanted under the skin.  

It seems as if Suboxone and its equivalents are the new wonder drug.  Many people rave about the effects it has had on their opiate addiction.  What seems to not be reported is some of the devastating effects it has when it is prescribed in the wrong way, usually that being using the drug over a long period of time as a maintenance drug.  The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMSHA) has reported a 100% increase in emergency room visits due to the abuse of Suboxone.  Over half were for non-medical use of buprenorphine.  What we've seen with the over prescribing of the drug that it has now become a "street drug".  The dealers are now not only carrying heroin and opiate pain medications but they also offer Suboxone.  The addict will keep a supply of it so that when he/she runs out of heroin their detox isn't bad.  They are using it in between highs to manage withdrawals.  

Percy Menzias, President of Assisted Recovery Centers of America says, "“Suboxone is a fantastic detox agent.  But you have to use it with great caution as a long term maintenance medication. In my clinic we use a lot of Suboxone, but only for detox.  The Suboxone doctors, many of them have been very irresponsible, because they have no training in addiction.  It is shocking in this day and age that physicians are so incredibly ignorant about the pharmacology of buprenorphine preparations.”

Clearbrook is a believer in the complete abstinence model. Suboxone can and is utilized in a our detox model on a case by case basis.  Long term maintenance programs are not offered here.  In short, treating an opioid addiction with another opioid does not work.  Freedom from all mind and mood altering chemicals offers the best chance at recovery.  We have had hundreds of patients come to us now that were offered long term Suboxone and Methadone programs.  They didn't work and these people now tell us that getting off the drug that was prescribed to treat the initial addiction is even harder.  Please call Clearbrook for help with any addiction.  We are on call 24/7.You can also read more about prescription drug abuse treatment and suboxone rehab here.

Clearbrook Treatment Centers

1.800.582.6241

www.clearbrookinc.com

Thank you to National Pain Report for the information we found in writing this article.  You can read their full article HERE

Heroin Abuse Treatment In PA, NY, NJ

At Clearbrook we will continually push the information the public needs for help with substance abuse.  We have lost the "war on drugs" a long time ago.  Thankfully the local, state, and federal governments are beginning to change the course of action, which is usually incarceration, to actually getting people who are struggling and suffering from the addiction to heroin.  It is estimated that three out of four people in our country that want help with addiction never get it.  Jail sentences, lack of funding, and the shortage of beds in treatment facilities all contribute to why.  People die out there from this debilitating disease and were never offered the chance and the right way to get better.  Please share our video below, you never know who it is going to reach.

                                                                Clearbrook Manor

1-800-582-6241

Offering Help, Promising Hope

www.clearbrookinc.com

Heroin Rehab in PA, NY, NJ

Heroin Rehab Pennsylvania | New York | New Jersey

Heroin Drug Rehab in Long Island

As we have reported in the past year, the heroin problem is wreaking havoc across our country and the towns in Long Island are not exempt.  Heroin, which used to be segregated to mostly the inner cities and people who were below the poverty line, now knows no boundries.  We have read numerous stories in the newspapers in towns in Nassau and Suffolk Counties about people overdosing and dying.  The reports don't lie about this epidemic.  Since 2012, heroin overdoses in Nassau County have doubled while it's neighbor to the east, Suffolk County has tripled.  The police have begun to crack down on the problem with the help of both DA's offices.  Whether it is the father-son team who was busted in Suffolk for distribution or it was the Hofstra University student who is facing 15 years in prison for injecting his girlfriend with a fatal dose, it shows that the governments are starting to do something about it.  In 2008. Natalie's Law was put on the books in Nassau but not Suffolk County.  The law requires the police to report to the school district superintendents when an arrest has been made in their school district.  A map below shows an example:

This is all good news BUT this is all still talking about the problem and not the solution.  The solution is getting people help.  The solution requires people to get into a drug rehab in Long Island to start the healing process.  Many people on heroin try to quit themselves in varying different ways.  Nine out of ten times they fail.  Then many of them overdose and die.  Clearbrook which is located only a 2 hour drive from Nassau County and 3 hour drive from Suffolk County can serve as a Long Island heroin rehab and detox.  We have had thousands of patients from the Long Island area over the last 40 years, many of them living happy lives today free of the addiction to heroin.  Please call us for help.  Our admissions line is staffed 24/7/365.  

Clearbrook Manor

1-800-582-6241

Offering Help, Promising Hope

www.clearbrookinc.com

I'm Newly Sober & I Have Insomnia!!!!

One of the most common problems we see from people new to recovery is the inability to or lack of sleep.  You would think that after you stop drinking and using the mind and body would catch up and you'd sleep better.  To a degree that is true but like everything else in early sobriety, it takes time.

With years of substance abuse, chemical imbalances are created in the brain.  Many times the mind and the brain take longer to cooperate and get into what we deem "normal".  We are beaten up three ways by active addiction.  Spiritually, mentally, and physically.  The physical piece like weight issues, muscle soreness, and how our bodies feel over all a lot of times get much better after the detox phase.  Then as we move through the program of a drug rehab over 28 days we begin to feel mentally better.  The biggest issue most people face from a mental standpoint is the racing thoughts that occur when our heads hit the pillow at night.  We think about everything that is wrong in our life.  Guilt and shame begin to flood every thought.  When our brains are "going 100mph" at night, many times sleep doesn't happen.

Just remember, this is going to stop in time.  Don't use any over the counter drugs or sleep medications.  We are trying to get all chemicals out of our life and this only hurts that process.  This is a great time to start practicing what 12 step models teach.  If you don't believe in a higher power this can be your acid test.  Sometimes saying a little prayer helps.  Try and see, you have nothing to lose.

"(Higher Power,)
Please take away all the thoughts in my head right now.  I can't stop thinking about horrible things in my life.  Please let me believe that everything is going to be ok.  Let me see any good that has come into my life. "

Clearbrook Manor

1-800-582-6241

Offering Help, Promising Hope

www.clearbrookinc.com

Heroin Addiction Treatment In Pennsylvania (Article Library)

We have posted a few links that talk about the heroin addiction problem facing our state and America.  Clearbrook serves as a Pennsylvania heroin rehab and heroin detox.  We wish to point out in the articles that we've posted just how bad this problem has begun.  Whether its what the signs and symptoms of abuse are, the doctor who was convicted of murder for over prescribing opiates, the 75 overdose deaths, or the explosion of heroin in the Poconos; this has become an epidemic.  If we are not aware of it we can't do anything about it.  Clearbrook can help.  Call us anytime for treatment for the addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Heroin deaths spike in the Poconos and Monroe County PA

Doctor Convicted of Murder For Over Prescribing Opiates

Signs and Symptoms Of Heroin Use

Personal Story- "I Never Wanted To Be A Heroin Addict"

75 Overdoses In Three Days

Clearbrook- Remains An Option For New Jersey Drug Rehab

In today's world of the ever growing drug and alcohol problem, finding a New Jersey drug rehab can sometimes be an exhausting experience.  There are so many factors that go into making the decision on where to go.  Health insurance, location, and finding a treatment center that has an open bed most of the time top that list.

The large New Jersey cities such as Newark, Paterson, Trenton, and Atlantic City have too many people that are looking to get treatment but never do.  It is estimated that three out of four people in the state that seek treatment never get it.  Just last week The John Brooks Recovery Center in Atlantic City said they will close their doors in the spring.  This equates to the loss of over 100 beds in the state of New Jersey.  Losing this many beds for treatment has a huge impact on the people and their loved ones.  With a 100 bed facility that means that over 4000 admissions in a year will be lost.

This is where we would like to extend our hand to our neighbor.  Cleabrook Manor is a Pennsylvania drug and alcohol rehab that has been treating addiction for over 40 years.  Our campus is comprised of all brand new, state of the art facilities.  The program of abstinence from mind and mood altering substances is the model we follow.  Along with the accredited program Clearbrook has, one of our distinct advantages is our location.  Please click HERE if you are from New Jersey and are looking for treatment.  This will direct you to our page designed specifically for NJ residents.  We are within 3 hours of any city in NJ.  Clearbrook accepts all major insurances and funding sources.  Please call our admissions department at 800.582.6241 twenty four hours a day.

Cigna Pulls Out Of Florida Healthcare Exchange

There is a new trend that many Florida treatment centers are practicing that are disrupting the insurance process of covering treatment.  Last week, Cigna, one of the largest insurance companies participating in the Florida healthcare exchange pulled out and will no longer be offering individual plans.  That equates to 30,000 people tasked with finding a new insurance company for 2016. 

What is happening is some treatment centers are using urine analysis screens to line their pockets.  What happens is someone goes to treatment or a sober living house and the facilities themselves are having their clients submit to drug testing.  Sometimes they require three drug tests per week.  They submit those screens to laboratories and in turn bill the insurance company. 

Why would this be wrong?  Patients of treatment centers and sober living environments should have clean drug screens.  There are a few problems with this practice.  First off, there is no need to drug test people three times per week.  The majority of the narcotics that are tested stay in the body for at least three days.  The second problem is the cost associated with what these labs charge.  When you go into any drug store these days you can buy a urine analysis test for $50 roughly.  Cigna has said that some of the labs that they are paying are billing upwards of $5000 per test.   In particular there was one sober living facility that was billing $36 thousand per month for one patient.  That totals over $400 thousand a year per person and if you have six people in the facility the final reimbursement is over $2 million.  

Drug Rehab/Heroin Rehab Harrisburg

Everyday we read the horrific news about the heroin epidemic in the capital city of Harrisburg.  People as young as 12 years old are now experimenting with this lethal poison being sold on our streets.  The amount of overdose deaths continues to rise week after week. On October 20th of this year, a man was arrested and charged with delivering the lethal dose of heroin that killed a woman.  Harrisburg is a large city, which is what accounts for the amount of heroin being sold on our streets. Harrisburg is experiencing over 15 deaths per month as a result of the use of heroin.  If you or someone you know is suffering from the addiction immediate help is needed.  Where should someone go?  What are the options out there for treatment?

With the options for treatment very limited most people have no idea where to turn.  Some people in the addiction treatment world like to prescribe Suboxone and Methadone for very long periods of time.  There have been many studies done on MAT (medically assisted treatment).  Many of these studies are telling us that people that go on maintenance programs for opiate and heroin use go back to their drug of choice.  For a myriad of reasons they do not stay clean.  Many people begin to sell their Suboxone or methadone.  Many people can't afford to stay on these very expensive programs.  The other option out there for someone who wants help is complete abstinence.  Those programs utilize detox, inpatient treatment, aftercare or outpatient services, and 12 step fellowships as a program.  These programs have been working for decades.  They still work.  Harrisburg offers some of the best AA/NA meetings in the entire state.  Even the suburbs of Mechanicsburg, Hershey, Cumberland, and Elizabethtown have dozens of meetings.

This is where Clearbrook would also like to help the people of Dauphin County  PA.  We have treated and continue to treat scores of people from the Harrisburg area.  There are not a lot of options in the city itself when it comes to inpatient drug rehabs in Harrisburg.  Clearbrook Manor which is located in Wilkes Barre is only a 1.5 hour drive straight up Interstate 81.  When a resident from Harrisburg comes to Clearbrook for 28 days of treatment, we immediately start setting up their aftercare plan.  We partner with a variety of intensive outpatient programs in the city and the outskirts so that our patients have some structure coming out of treatment.  We also set up all of our patients with someone in their local community that has some time and experience in the 12 step fellowships.  When someone is suffering from the disease of addiction it is imperative that we get them help, NOW.  Please call our admissions staff who are on call 247//365.

CLEARBROOK MANOR 

1-800-582-6241

Offering Help, Promising Hope
www.clearbrookinc.com

Spice & Bath Salt Detox/Rehab in Pennsylvania

Spice Abuse/ Bath Salt Abuse:

Spice, also known as synthetic marijuana has had exponential growth over the last five years.  When this drug was first introduced it was used for a variety of reasons apart from getting high.  The drug was not detectable on urine and blood screens.  That is why we have seen so many teenagers and young adults using it.  It even went and hit our military.  In the last two years the military has dismissed more than 2000 soldiers for the abuse of spice and bath salts.  Marijuana is a drug, it can and is harmful in the physical and mental sense.  The issue with the designer drugs is that no one really knows what chemical compound makes up the drug and its side effects are devastating.  There have been numerous accounts of people commiting suicide and homicide.  In Arizona a husband and wife we using bath salts.   The husband became so paranoid that he killed his child and wife and then himself.  The delusions and mental state of someone on these drugs is multiplied 10 times what their counter part drugs of pot and crystal meth do.  Poison control centers reported over 4000 cases last year for overdoses.  Below are some of the signs and symptoms of bath salt abuse and spice abuse.

• Seizures and Tremors
• Vomiting
• Very High Blood Pressure
• Severe Panic Attacks
• Threatning Behavior

Although these are signs of most drug use, the one symtom that is almost magnified is the paranoia and hostile behavior.  If someone is exhibiting these signs you are going to need to find help. Clearbrook serves as a Pennsylvania drug rehab, New Jersey drug rehab, and New York drug rehab. Please call us at 1-800-582-6241 anytime.

Heroin Treatment In Pennsylvania

The heroin epidemic has reached levels that we have never seen in the state of Pennsylvania. In the 1970s, heroin was also a major problem. To a degree it was confined to our big cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburg. People that used heroin then were mostly of the lower income bracket because if offered such a cheap avenue to get high. Our soldiers that were returning from Vietnam got addicted while they were in Asia and they came home having no idea how to fight it. There were not many heroin rehabs in Pennsylvania then. Many of the people who got addicted to heroin then were put on methadone programs. Those programs didn't work. We saw people who sold their methadone or just relapse back into heroin addiction. Today the heroin problem in PA is all over the place. It knows no difference between income levels, race, religion, or geography. Every day we are reading about overdoses. This is happening in the smallest towns to the largest cities. What we offer at Clearbrook is a way out of the life of addiction. We serve as a Pennsylvania heroin detox and rehab. We believe in the abstinance model of recovery. We will help you through the detox phase of recovery to make you as comfortable as possible. When you leave us, you will be completely chemical free and on the road to a life you could have never imagined in active addiction.

Heroin Abuse on Rise

Heroin abuse in the Northeast US is on the rise. At Clearbrook, we see many patients, both young and old, whose lives are being torn apart by this drug.  Heroin is one of the most addicting substances on our streets today.  People who use heroin just once, can become addicted almost immediately!

The New York Post reported today that: "NY is Now Heroin Central".

With so much of this highly addictive drug entering our area, being able to get treatment from this addiction has never been more important.




Clearbrook can help and treat those who are addicted to heroin. Our Heroin detox protocol combined with a 28-day inpatient treatment program can help our patients overcome their addiction. We teach our patients how to walk through the ups and downs of life without needing to use heroin to cope.  Clearbrook offers help, hope, and a way out.

Please visit www.clearbrookinc.com or call 1-800-582-6241 for more information.