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Entries from April 2007

Anabolic Steroids Facts

April 20th, 2007 · No Comments

Anabolic Steriods are:

  • Synthetic substances related to the male sex hormones (androgens). They promote growth of skeletal muscle (anabolic effect) and the development of male sexual characteristics (androgenic effects), and also have other effects.
  • Used by doctors to treat conditions that occur when the body produces abnormally low amounts of testosterone, such as delayed puberty and some types of impotence, and also to treat body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases.
  • Legally available in the United States only by prescription. Anabolic steroid abusers obtain drugs that have been made in clandestine laboratories (sometimes with poor quality control standards), smuggled from other countries, or diverted illegally from U.S. pharmacies.
  • Distinct from steroidal supplements. In the United States, supplements such as dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione (street name Andro) can be purchased legally without a prescription through many commercial sources including health food stores. They are often taken because the user believes they have anabolic effects.

Anabolic steroid abuse is:

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction · Street Drugs

How to Know if Someone Has a Drinking Problem

April 19th, 2007 · No Comments

There are two patterns of drinking: early and late onset.

Some people have been heavy drinkers for many years. But, as with great Uncle George for instance, over time the same amount of liquor packs a more powerful punch. Other people, like Grandma Betty, develop a drinking problem later in life. Sometimes this is due to major life changes like shifts in employment, failing health, or the death of friends or loved ones. Often these life changes can bring loneliness, boredom, anxiety, and depression. In fact, depression in older adults often goes along with alcohol misuse.

At first, a drink seems to bring relief from stressful situations. Later on, drinking can start to cause trouble.

Not everyone who drinks regularly has a drinking problem, and not all problem drinkers drink every day. You might want to get help if you or a loved one:

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Tags: Alcohol Addiction

What are the highest risk periods for drug abuse among youth?

April 18th, 2007 · No Comments

Research has shown that the key risk periods for drug abuse are during major transitions in childrens lives. The first big transition for children is when they leave the security of the family and enter school. Later, when they advance from elementary school to middle school, they often experience new academic and social situations, such as learning to get along with a wider group of peers. It is at this stage early adolescence that children are likely to encounter drugs for the first time.

When they enter high school, adolescents face additional social, emotional, and educational challenges. At the same time, they may be exposed to greater availability of drugs, drug abusers, and social activities involving street drugs. These challenges can increase the risk that they will abuse alcohol, tobacco, and other substances.

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Tags: Drug Abuse

What are the early signs of risk that may predict later drug abuse?

April 17th, 2007 · No Comments

Some signs of risk can be seen as early as infancy or early childhood, such as aggressive behavior, lack of self-control, or difficult temperament. As the child gets older, interactions with family, at school, and within the community can affect that child risk for later drug abuse.

Childrens earliest interactions occur in the family; sometimes family situations heighten a childs risk for later drug abuse, for example, when there is:

  • a lack of attachment and nurturing by parents or caregivers;
  • ineffective parenting; and
  • a caregiver who abuses drugs.

But families can provide protection from later drug abuse when there is:

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Tags: Street Drugs

Club Drugs – What Are They?

April 16th, 2007 · No Comments

“Club drugs” are often used by young adults at all-night dance parties, such as “raves” or “trances,” dance clubs, and bars. But in the past few years, these drugs have been found increasingly in more mainstream settings.

Club drug is a vague term that refers to a wide variety of drugs (see below). Uncertainties about the drug sources, pharmacological agents, chemicals used to manufacture them, and possible contaminants make it difficult to determine toxicity, consequences, and symptoms.

Research has shown that use of these street drugs can cause serious health problems and, in some cases, even death. Used in combination with alcohol, these drugs can be even more dangerous. In recent years, there has been an increase in reports of club drugs used to commit sexual assaults.

Common Club Drugs are listed below:

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Tags: Street Drugs

Unintentional Poisoning Deaths

April 15th, 2007 · No Comments

Poisoning is second only to motor-vehicle crashes as a cause of death from unintentional injury in the United States. Nearly all poisoning deaths in the United States are attributed to drugs, and most drug poisonings result from the abuse of prescription and illegal drugs.

Previous studies, using multiple cause-of-death data, have indicated that the trend described in this report can be attributed primarily to increasing numbers of deaths associated with prescription opioid analgesics (e.g., oxycodone) and secondarily to increasing numbers of overdoses of cocaine and prescription psychotherapeutic drugs (e.g., sedatives), and cannot be attributed to heroin, methamphetamines, or other illegal drugs.

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction

Smoking Health Hazards

April 14th, 2007 · No Comments

Since 1964, 28 Surgeon General’s reports on smoking and health have concluded that tobacco use is the single most avoidable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. In 1988, the Surgeon General concluded that cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, such as cigars, pipe tobacco, and chewing tobacco, are addictive and that nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction. Nicotine provides an almost immediate “kick” because it causes a discharge of epinephrine from the adrenal cortex. This stimulates the central nervous system and endocrine glands, which causes a sudden release of glucose. Stimulation is then followed by depression and fatigue, leading the user to seek more nicotine.

Nicotine is absorbed readily from tobacco smoke in the lungs, and it does not matter whether the tobacco smoke is from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Nicotine also is absorbed readily when tobacco is chewed. With regular use of tobacco, levels of nicotine accumulate in the body during the day and persist overnight. Thus, daily smokers or chewers are exposed to the effects of nicotine for 24 hours each day. Adolescents who chew tobacco are more likely than nonusers to eventually become cigarette smokers.

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Tags: Smoking - Nicotine Addiction

Why Do People Take Drugs?

April 13th, 2007 · No Comments

In general, people begin taking drugs for a variety of reasons.

Reasons to take drugs

To feel good

Most abused drugs produce intense feelings of pleasure. This initial sensation of euphoria is followed by other effects, which differ with the type of drug used. For example, with stimulants such as cocaine, the “high” is followed by feelings of power, self-confidence, and increased energy. In contrast, the euphoria caused by opiates such as heroin is followed by feelings of relaxation and satisfaction.

To reduce stress

Some people who suffer from social anxiety, stress-related disorders, and depression begin abusing drugs in an attempt to lessen feelings of distress. Stress can play a major role in beginning drug use, continuing drug abuse, or relapse in patients recovering from addiction.
 

To perform better

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The increasing pressure that some individuals feel to chemically enhance or improve their athletic or cognitive performance can similarly play a role in initial experimentation and continued drug abuse.
 

Curiosity and “because others are doing it.”

In this respect adolescents are particularly vulnerable because of the strong influence of peer pressure; they are more likely, for example, to engage in “thrilling” and “daring” behaviors and try prescription drugs or street drugs.

If taking drugs makes people feel good or better, what’s the problem?

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Tags: Street Drugs

Sugar Addict’s Recovery Solution

April 12th, 2007 · No Comments

Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D., author of The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program, has a 7 Step plan as an addiction treatment solution. The main focus is on eating "slow" carbs that contain whole grains and a lot of fiber along with protein in 3 regular meals a day.

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Tags: Drug Addiction Alternative Treatment · Sugar Addiction

Using HighTech Tools to Assess Alcoholic Brain Damage

April 11th, 2007 · No Comments

Researchers studying the effects of alcohol use on the brain are aided by advanced technology such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), positron emission tomography (PET), and electrophysiological brain mapping. These tools are providing valuable insight into how alcohol affects the brains structure and function.

Long term heavy drinking may lead to shrinking of the brain and deficiencies in the fibers (white matter) that carry information between brain cells (gray matter). MRI and DTI are being used together to assess the brains of patients when they first stop chronic heavy drinking and again after long periods of sobriety, to monitor for possible relapse to drinking.

Memory formation and retrieval are highly influenced by factors such as attention and motivation. Studies using MRI are helping scientists to determine how memory and attention improve with long-time abstinence from alcohol, as well as what changes take place when a patient begins drinking again. The goal of these studies is to determine which alcohol induced effects on the brain are permanent and which ones can be reversed with abstinence.

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Tags: Alcohol Addiction · Drugs and Brain Disorders