Guest Portal
If you, or someone you know, needs help
with addiction or substance abuse call
or toll free .
Welcome to Luna Living.
It is our pleasure to introduce Wendy Komac, the founder of Luna Living, who will answer questions about Addiction and the lifestyle she created to move from alcoholism to being a highly successful and happy person.
Q: Wendy, please tell us more about your life.
A. It’s been more than 29 years since I woke up downtown in an unfamiliar basement and decided the way I was living wasn’t working for me anymore. After ten painful years of addiction, my life and my body were in shambles. I had allowed the drinking and cocaine to steamroll me, I was a perpetual pile of mush. I wasn’t in control of anything – my emotions, my actions or my reactions. I had worn out every alibi known to man and mastered finding blame in everyone else.
-
Q: How does a soccer mom become an addict?
A: She might have innocently taken prescription drugs to deal with pain. If her brain chemistry was out of balance she suddenly found herself dependent. Without a legal prescription she turned to the next best thing - a no-prescription needed generic brand – street oxycodone or heroin. Both are indistinguishable to the brain.
-
Q: How do I know if I have an addiction?
A: Begin by asking yourself these questions.
- Am I planning my life around a drug or activity?
- Have I lost track of how much I am using?
- Do I use even when I know it’s hurting me?
- Have I abandoned activities that I normally would enjoy – family, hobbies, friends, social outings?
- Am I ignoring my responsibilities at home or at work?
- Do I experience physical mental discomfort after use?
If you answered yes to any of these questions it is a good indication that you should seek help. Addiction is a brain disease not a personal weakness. The earlier the disease is detected, and treated, the better the results.
-
Q: What are some of the myths about drug abuse and addiction?
A:
- Addicts must hit rock bottom first before they can get better.
- Overcoming addiction is a matter of willpower.
- Addiction is a moral nosedive.
- Addiction is a condition you can do nothing about.
- You can’t force someone into treatment; first they have to want help.
- Treatment didn’t work before so there is no use in trying again.
Recovery can begin at any point in the addiction process. If you think you have a problem, you probably do. Don’t wait! Seek our help immediately. We are a licensed and nationally accredited mental health facility. Call to speak with a counselor. 440-703-0940
-
Q: I’ve heard that Addiction has escalated from a drug problem to a health problem? What does this mean?
A: There is much controversy surrounding Addiction - outdated thinking, moral prejudice, ineffective treatment and more. Addiction today is called an “upper class” problem. The press is using this term because the stereotype for a drug addict has changed dramatically. It is no longer a homeless person lying under a bridge. Addiction, like other diseases, doesn’t discriminate by age, race, gender, social class, marital status or zip code.
According to an editorial “Targeting a Serial Killer” in The Plain Dealer, Sunday, January 3, 2016, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner, Dr. Tom Gilson said “We’re seeing more women – white, suburban, affluent”. In the same article, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge, Joan Synenberg stated, “people have gone from soccer moms to working the streets”.
Studies show that most opioid users started with legally prescribed pain medications. Once the DEA clamped down on pain clinics, and prescriptions were unavailable, the addicted turned to the street for their supply. Today’s drug dealers often make home deliveries.
-
Q: Why are so many teens impacted by drug and alcohol abuse?
A: While teenage experimentation doesn’t automatically turn a teenager into an addict, it increases the risk of them developing a more serious habit later. The brain is a very sensitive organ. I was 14 when I started drinking. I found the ups and downs of being a teenager overwhelming.
Teenagers are not called adults for a reason. If you suspect your son or daughter is on drugs or abusing alcohol, get help. Call Luna Living. 440-703-0940. Teenagers often rebel against their parents, but can be willing to hear the same information from a therapist. Early treatment gives them the best opportunity to get the proper emotional support for addiction and address the underlying issues.
-
Q: How important is family for someone in recovery?
A: Family support is important. If your family is part of the problem, then engaging Luna Living as your recovery partner becomes even more critical. When you are drugged you can’t make good decisions, your brain has been hijacked. The earlier you detect a problem the better. Even the most resistant addict will admit they wanted to change but couldn’t.
-
Q: Is relapse a major challenge for addicts?
A: Before neuroscientists understood that Addiction was a chronic brain disease, the relapse rate was 95%. Now that we know Addiction is a brain disease we look at it differently and can treat accordingly. We can now increase your odds of success, and make it easier for you to abstain, by correcting nutritional deficiencies and teaching you a remission lifestyle.
-
Q: What are some brain diseases¹ that behave in ways like Addiction?
A: Parkinson's disease: Nerves in a central area of the brain degenerate slowly, causing problems with movement and coordination. Early signs are hand tremors, stiffness of the limbs and trunk, slowness of movement, and unstable posture.
Dementia: A decline in cognitive function, due to death or malfunction of nerve cells in the brain; conditions in which nerves in the brain degenerate. Alcohol abuse can cause dementia.
Alzheimer's disease: For unclear reasons, nerves in certain brain areas degenerate, causing progressive loss of memory and mental function, and changes in behavior and personality. The buildup of abnormal tissue in brain areas -- often called tangles and plaques -- is believed to contribute to the disease. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia.
¹ Definitions were reprinted from WebMD.
-
Q: Briefly, what are the main elements of Luna Living alcohol and drug treatment program?
A:
- You
- Quantum Brain Cleanse™
- Relationship Agility Training™ (Get ReAL)
- Nutritional Supplementation and Education
- Social and Lifestyle Training and Support
All aspects of our treatments help you face life challenges and stay flexible when adversity strikes. Stress is a constant. Luna Living teaches you how to transform toxic events into tools for health.
We do not subscribe to a one-size-fits-all solution. Our recovery treatment is customized to your condition.
-
Q. What is Relationship Agility Learning (Get ReAL)?
Through study and practice you can learn to identify your strengths in order to be agile in your response to daily living. Power, autonomy, reciprocity, and intimacy are the cornerstones. Through them you learn how to control your response to life. People with the disease of addiction have the habit of giving their power away. Get ReAL allows you get in touch with your own authority so you can stop enduring life and get on with living. Remembering you have personal power and knowing how to leverage it is an essential step to your recovery.
Get ReAL begins on Day 4 of the 10-day Quantum Brain Cleanse detox program. When your mental clarity returns, we start personal, family and group therapy.
-
Q: What is the first visit to Luna Living look like?
Luna Living is staffed by licensed integrative medical professionals ready to address both your physical and mental health. A typical intake includes:
- A complete physical exam and medical history.
- Measurement of weight and body mass index.
- Comprehensive laboratory screenings, including, but not limited to, complete metabolic panels, blood counts, thyroid function tests, nutritional state checks, screenings for infectious and autoimmune diseases, pregnancy testing, blood tests for illicit substances, and monitoring of adherence with certain medications.
- Urinalysis, and hair analysis including tests for illicit substances and possible infections is used to determine vitamin and amino acid deficiencies, as well as food allergies.
- Preventive services such as genetic counseling and management of chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
-
Q: How does the classification of Addiction as a chronic brain disease improve one’s odds of recovery?
A: All addicts live at risk of relapse, or as I prefer to say, reoccurrence. Knowing that addiction is a brain disease opens the door for more effective ways to address symptoms like cravings. This, in my opinion, is a game-changer.
-
Q: What is NAD?
A: NAD is the abbreviation for Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide. It’s a coenzyme, made from niacin (B3), that is that is found in all living cells. In our body, NAD upregulates energy production, increasing the levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin, GABA and dopamine. Repeated drug and alcohol abuse affects these vital processes.
-
Q: What is the 10-day Quantum Brain Cleanse experience like?
Disclaimer: The experience as outlined on this website is meant to be an example, but results, withdrawal symptoms, and experience will vary by patient, severity of addiction, and other factors.
The 10-day Experience
Days-1-2 the Quantum Brain Cleanse drip is administered for approximately 8 – 12 hours. Most sleep a significant amount of the time.
Day-3 Withdrawal symptoms and cravings are less than on Day-1.
Days-4-5 Depending on your progress, you will begin Relationship Agility Learning (Get ReAL), and cooking classes. Other therapeutic services such as Hypnotherapy, Reiki, Massage, and Art Therapy can be added.
Days 5 -10 Continued administration of the nutritionally-balanced drip for 4 – 8 hours, depending on your medical diagnosis. Other appropriate therapies are added.
Day-10 your detox program is complete.
After the Quantum Brain Cleanse Detox or Rejuvenation protocol you will be transitioned to oral nutritional therapy; scheduled for Get ReAL individual, group, and family therapy; and Neurofeedback. Should you currently be working with a therapist, the Luna Living team will coordinate your remission lifestyle plan.
Luna Living is an acute and long-term remission lifestyle covering the medical, mental, and social strategies needed to live a healthy and happy life in remission (sobriety). We ask to become your remission partner.
-
Q: After Luna Living what does your life look like?
A: Everywhere I go people tell me how my presence in their recovery has changed their life. I do this work because I’ve been where you are. I know the extraordinary power that Luna Living has given me – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Once I fell in love with me again my world changed.
I'm at the top of my game today enjoying a higher quality of life than I ever dreamed. I have tremendous resiliency and enjoy living without depression or anxiety. What is truly wonderful about my story is that it can be yours too.
The Luna Living remission lifestyle is more fun than I imagined. I enjoy freedom from cravings, a clearer mind, a brighter attitude; I feel the difference in every aspect of my day. For 29 years I have lived a remission lifestyle, and I now have a name for it, Luna Living. It has given me the tools and resources to experience me at my best. This is what I believe everyone wants. I hope you will join me!
Luna Living lifestyle plan, detox and rejuvenation protocols, and other therapies may be used in combination with 12-Step Programs, 12-step Meetings, Addiction Counselors, Psychotherapists, Family Therapists, Spiritual Programs, Integrative Physicians, Nutritionists, and Executive Coaches.
Luna Living is CARF accredited, treatment facility for substance use disorders and intensive outpatient mental health care, located in Chagrin Falls, a suburb of Cleveland, OH. We are staffed by experienced medical personnel. We are open from 7:30a to 7:30p, seven days a week. Same day appointments are available. Our programs are partial hospitalization, medical detox, outpatient and behavioral health.