by S A Dalton

Created on: May 13, 2009

Cancer is a chronic disease for which there is no cure. With proper treatments, however, it can go into remission. Being in remission doesn't mean the cancer is gone; it just means it isn't active at the time. This is the same with addiction. Once addicted, one is always addicted. The disease may be in remission due to treatment but it is by no means cured.

Many people view addiction as a choice. A bad choice made by bad people. This could not be further from the truth. To understand addiction, one must be educated about the disease. According to the National Institutes of Health, addiction is a multi-factorial biogenetic disorder that affects approximately 14 % of the U.S. population. This disease is as involuntary as other medical conditions. Recent studies have proved addiction to be a progressive chronic disease that affects over 22 million people.

Like diabetes and some heart diseases, addiction has what is called a genetic sub-structure. This means that by using certain chemicals, the disease has a higher chance of being activated. Just like sugar or carbs bring on the onset of diabetes, substances or certain behaviors bring on the addiction. The only difference is a diabetic or heart patient can be diagnosed before the disease becomes a big problem. By the time an addict can be properly diagnosed, the disease is in control.

Much like all chronic diseases, the type of treatment required depends on the severity of the addiction. It's the substance addicted to that measures the severity. With the initial treatment complete, the body is returned to a healthy state. A daily regimen is created to remain healthy. Just like insulin is to the diabetic, and chemotherapy is to the cancer patient, a twelve-step program is the daily prescription for the addict. As long as the program is followed daily, the chance of recovery is great.

NA and AA meetings are the support groups for addicts. It is in these groups they learn to live without the use of any mood or mind altering substance. Any substance can mean death to the addict or alcoholic. Abstaining is the only way of survival. Of course this completely goes against the main obsession of all who suffer from the disease of addiction. When an addict goes into recovery, he or she long for the day they can return to controlled using. By surrounding themselves with others like them, they soon learn that using any substance will trigger the disease and could mean death. The Big Book of AA states that once we are alcoholics, we are always alcoholics. The same is true for the addict. We cannot differentiate ourselves from the alcoholic because, after all, alcohol is a drug. In order to recover, we must accept we can never use again. Any substance that alters our mind or mood will take us back.

In recovery, we learn to listen to our disease. It's the addicts first symptom of relapse. For those who are not affected by the disease of addiction, believing an addict can be anything but, is an opinion. For those of us who suffer from the disease, believing we are no longer addicted is a symptom of our disease reactivating. Beliefs like this have cost many addicts their lives. Knowing that once addicted, always addicted is true is what keeps us alive through recovery.

Learn more about this author, S A Dalton.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.