Category Archives: Addiction Courses

PAIN AND ADDICTION: COMMON THREADS

July 22, 2014

Pain is a complex disease whose treatment needs to be keenly addressed. There are variety of medication options which treat pain and from which the patient can choose from. When the pain being experienced by the patient results to be chronic, this becomes a concern which is common with chronic pain patients

Is there any relation between pain and addiction?

pain and addictionWe can actually argue that there is a relationship between pain and addiction. Where does this relationship originate? The relationship of addiction and pain result from the choice that the chronic pain patient chooses when trying to treat this pain. While some methods are proven to cure pain without leaving behind addiction to the patient, some of the medications for pain (Especially prescription drugs like opioids) are known to cause addiction especially when abused. The addiction of such drugs results from their ability to cure pain. These drugs are administered to the patient and initially they tend to treat pain. Over time the body tends to be resistant to these drugs and hence they must be taken with higher frequency and sometimes in higher quantity. If such a drug continues to be taken, it eventually reaches a point when the patient cannot do without it, since the pain temporarily stops when the drug is taken and returns after a short while. This forces the person to be a regular taker of the drug, not necessarily willing but forced by pain experienced. This is the point at which we consider the person to be an addict of the pain killing drug.

Addiction and pain related terminologies

There are terminologies which are related to pain and addiction which results from pain medication. These terms are described below:-

  • Dependence – this refers the situation which results when the patient is exposed to a given medication for an extended period of time. If the medication for example was indented to treat pain, at this stage the person will be living by the medication, which means the pain will only stop when the person takes the medication. This patient is considered to be dependent on the medication and without which the patient will suffer pains. This condition may look like addiction but actually it isn’t.
  • Tolerance – this is yet another term related to pain and addiction. This condition develops over time, and necessitates having to use more of the medication to receive the same effect. This condition is reached when the patient’s body has gotten used to the pain killing medication and the small medication which used to kill the pain no longer has that ability over the body to treat the pain and thus the dose has to be increased to achieve the desired effect (treatment). This condition also should not be seen as addiction because actually it isn’t.
  • Withdrawal – this refers to the symptoms that occur if the medication is suddenly stopped. This is because the cell receptors throughout the body that are used to medication are without it. This is normally the case when the patient is taking significant amounts of opioids and suddenly stops taking them. These symptoms may be severe and even make the patient feel sicker than before. This sometimes may make the patient want to keep on taking them since it is better when taking them than when withdrawn. Some of these symptoms may come in the form of:- tremor, diarrhea, sweating, nausea, vomiting, gastric upset, stress, depression etc. This condition if not given a close look may seem to look like addiction to a given substance, but in the actual sense it isn’t. Withdrawal is though closely related to addiction and sometimes it may be very difficult to differentiate between them. This makes the withdrawal effects to be termed as addiction in most cases.
  • Addiction – this is a situation of psychological need to have a drug or behavior. Some of the common addiction types are the addiction from drugs, internet, eating, shopping, gambling etc. this is the biggest of all the others we have mentioned above (Tolerance, withdrawal and dependence). When a person is addicted by a pain killing drug like opioids, the patient may develop dependence and tolerance to the drug and incase he/she tries to stop taking the drug suddenly, there may be withdrawal which you must go through. This is a both psychological and emotional effect of not having the pain killing drug, which in this case is very difficult for the addict to stop.

pain and addiction

it is very advisable that, if you feel you are being addicted to the pain killing drug that you have been using in the past, be honest to your doctor and speak with your doctor about it. This will ensure that the doctor evaluates your condition in time and consequently help you out by changing the medication while it is not too late.

What causes opioid addiction?

Opioids are prescription medication which is used to treat pain. Sometimes the patient may not use the medication as directed by the physician. This is one of the leading causes of addiction since opioids aree highly addictive. When it becomes an habit for the patient to use opioids, this definitely results into addiction.

Is there any relation between pain and addiction?

Related articles

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

Fear And Denial In Addiction Hinders Recovery

July 22, 2014

FEAR AND DENIAL IN ADDICTION RECOVERY

What is fear?

Fear is a state of a distressing emotion which is aroused by impending pain or perception of danger. The causes of this fear may be real or imaginary. Normally, when someone has fear he or she may go into a panic mode. Fear in most cases, is viewed as negative but in some cases it can be beneficial.

Fear and addiction

When people who are addicted have fear, they may remain trapped in addiction. The problem here may be caused by the perception that such people will have, for instance one may fear to leave drugs taking due to the fear of withdrawal effects. It is also likely that some people will fear to seek assistance on how they can recover from drug addiction of fear that they will be known as addicts of the drug. The people who have fear may imagine life without drugs is miserable and hence fear leaving the drugs.

fear and denial

Which are the common fear areas in the recovery?

The following are the common fear areas for people in the recovery process:-

  • The person may have fear that life will never be the same again- This in most cases refers to the early days of the recovery period when the person will have to withdraw from the drugs. The person may fear that life won’t be easy without taking the drug. This may make the person fail to commit to the recovery process.
  • The fear of failure – the process of recovery is always challenging. It will involve difficult times and one may find him/herself in relapse. The issue is not falling but do you accept to learn from your failure and build on it and target success? Many addicts will fear to fail. This makes even to try the recovery to give up in the process. This leads to relapse. It is advisable that you should not fear to fail, since it is through failing we learn how to succeed.
  • Fear to success – this is the flipside of fear to fail. This may not be a common scenario, but some people have a feeling that they don’t deserve success. This will hinder them from making efforts in the recovery process. The process of recovery requires is normally demanding and challenging. It therefore requires a lot of determination for one to succeed. If you have fear to success, definitely you cannot show determination.
  • Fear of rejection – some people fear to disclose that they are addicted with a given drug. The fear is that they may be judged by others or abandoned. This makes them not to admit that they have drug problem or reach out the others for support. With this fear, there can be no recovery. To overcome this problem you need to push yourself to work out a recovery program even when you don’t want. Try also to attend sober gatherings since they will help you in building confidence in your recovery program.
  • The fear that you may lose identity – many people fear that if they disclose they are addicts they may lose their identity by being seen as failures or outcasts. This actually should not be the case. You should not fear what people may say, since the important thing is not who you used to be but who you will be today and tomorrow. Actually the identity that you should be thinking about is who you used to be before you started taking the drugs and therefore try to regain the status.

fear and denial

  • The fear of lasting misery – the main fear that people have here is the fear of, “suppose I go through all this hard work and remain miserable?” here the patient needs to remain positive to the recovery process and not fear the possibility of misery not going.
  • The fear of sobriety – the patient becomes worried about the change in life from misery to sobriety. The person fears how the new life will look like, since getting sober means replacing mechanism e.g. drugs and alcohol with new ones. The person asks the questions like; will the sober life be boring? Will all the hard work that I will do be worthy it?

The person should be ready to face the challenges if any, even though there will be challenges. Challenges are part of life. If you stay stuck in this fear, you will remain in addiction.

DENIAL AND ADDICTION

What is denial?

Denial refers to the refusal of a person to admit the truth or reality.

How is denial related to addiction?

Denial and addiction could be said to be brothers since they move hand in hand. If a person doesn’t believe that substance abuse is a problem, there will be no likelihood of behavior change. This will be the case even if the destructive nature of the substance is obvious to everyone. Such people will not be able to quite the substance taking, and if they do it will be to please the other people it cannot last for long. For anybody to be able to succeed in the process of recovery, he/she must try first to do away with denial and learn to accept the facts about addiction.

FEAR AND DENIAL IN ADDICTION RECOVERY

Related articles
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

DRUG INDUCED LIVER DISEASE

July 21, 2014

The cases of liver diseases have recently recorded an acute rise. A recent study in
London found that hospital admission for liver disease as a result of
drinking has risen an alarming 112 percent in the past decade among
women under thirty. The question is, “why is it on a rise for women especially?” one of the possible reason and what the researchers have pointed out is the denial
about their drinking habits.

What Is Drug Induced Liver Disease?

This refers to the diseases of the liver, which unlike the naturally occurring ones, they are caused by drugs. These drugs can be prescribed medication, over the counter medication, vitamins, hormones, herbs, illicit drugs or environmental toxins.

Why is denial being associated with the increase in drug induced liver diseases in women?

Drug Induced Liver DiseaseBefore we answer this question, we need to understand the meaning of denial first. What is denial in relation to drugs/ addiction? Denial is a defense mechanism in which a person doesn’t want to admit to a problem. In this case for example, admitting to the problem of drug taking would force an individual to handle his/her drug addiction and this would have to make significant changes and admit wrongdoing.

Addiction to alcohol and related drug substances has been on a rise. Women have also been involved in drug taking (especially alcohol) in the recent past. Alcohol which is among the highly addictive drug substances is known to cause liver diseases. This addiction poses one to high chances of getting these diseases since the rates of consumption of alcohol rises. Admitting to addiction can be too difficult especially to women and hence seeking recovery assistance becomes paralyzed. In this respect, women will deny the fact that they are taking drugs which are usually followed by effects, one of which is drug-induced liver disease. This means the chances of women who are addicts of alcohol remaining in the situation are higher above those of men. This could be a good explanation of why many women are now reported to be admitted of liver drug induced diseases.

Which are the symptoms of liver disease?

Liver diseases will rarely have symptoms which are observable immediately after one has a liver disease. For patients with mild liver disease may have a few or no symptoms at all. For the case of patients with severe liver disease, symptoms develop which may or not be specific.

  • Non-specific symptoms – there are symptoms that even after seeing them depicted on a given person we cannot conclude that the person has a liver disease. These are the symptoms we term as non-specific symptoms since they can be seen in many other disorder or diseases. These non-specific symptoms may include:- Abdominal pains, loss of appetite, fatigue and weakness of the body.
  • Specific symptoms – this refers to symptoms which will specifically indicate that a person is a victim of liver disease. These symptoms may include;
    • Yellowing of the skin – this is normally as a result of the accumulation of bilirubin in the blood.
    • Itching associated with liver disease may be evident
    • Easy bruising may occur due to the decreased production of the blood clotting agents by the diseased liver.
    • Others may include:- fever, joint pains, sore muscles, nausea, vomiting etc.

Note that in severe case such as in advanced liver disease with cirrhosis can depict symptoms that are related to cirrhosis such as:-

  • Accumulation of fluid in the legs and abdomen. This is due to the increased pressure in the blood vessels that goes to the liver.
  • Another symptom that may occur is mental confusion or coma. This is from hepatic encephalopathy due to the increase in ammonia.
  • The patient of liver disease will be highly vulnerable to bacterial infections and gastrointestinal bleeding.

How is drug-induced liver disease diagnosed?

Drug Induced Liver DiseaseThe process of diagnosis of drug induced liver disease will always begin with examination of the complete history and physical wellbeing. On top of that examination, other diagnostic procedures will follow. These procedures inclue;

  • Specific blood testing in the lab such as:-

o   Study of liver functioning

o   Cellular blood count

o   Determination of bleeding times

o   Electrolyte tests

o   Chemical substances presence in the body tests

o   And finally drug screening tests.

  • Liver biopsy – this refers to the procedure in which blood samples are removed from the liver from the body for examination.
  • Ultrasound diagnostic methods – this involves use of a diagnostic imaging technique which uses high frequency sound waves to create images of internal organs in the body.

Is there treatment for liver disease?

Yes, liver disease is curable. The procedure of treatment will differ from one person to the other. The specific treatment for the patient of drug induced liver disease will be determined by the physician based on the following:-

  • The physician will enquire about your age, overall health and medical history.
  • Another concern will be your tolerance on specific medications
  • Expectations for the course of the disease will also be another factor to be considered.
  • Your opinion or preference may sometimes form part of things to be considered by the physician but this will in most cases be a rare case.

What Is Drug Induced Liver Disease?

Related articles
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

A Molecular Switch for Memory and Addiction?

July 20, 2014

Is This Real-Molecular Switch For Memory And Addiction?

Research has pointed out that learning and memory formations are based on the creation of new connections between neurons in all the brain. While examining the effects of some drugs, it has been found that behaviors such as nicotine addiction manifest themselves in long-term changes of neural connectivity. In this respect, can we think about what causes addiction? Since we are saying learning involves connections between neurons in the brain, and this is the same thing that addiction will do, then addiction can be viewed as a form of learning.

How does memory switch occur?

One of the fundamental explanations of how this occurs is by the fact that it involves joining of neurons in the brain. Scientists have discovered a molecular switch that plays a key role in the establishment of addictive behaviors and addiction. The success of their ideas may lead to new technologies in the control of loss of memory and probably treatment of addictive behaviors.

The process involves neural cells being sent from one cell to the next one in the form of chemical compounds known as neurotransmitters. This is usually the first step in the learning process in the brain. This prompts sequence of events which result in the changes in the neural connectivity and hence the memory consolidation. It is important to note that nicotine can equivalently have a similar behavior by triggering the rearrangement of the brain connections.

RyR2 and Calcium

How does the process flow?

Usually the first step is the introduction of neural plasticity, which is the formation of new connections in the brain. It involves calcium. Consequently as a response to neurotransmitters, cocaine or nicotine, calcium will increase the site of neuronal connection, known as the synapse.

The second step will be that the calcium will induce gene expression. Due the synthesis of proteins, it will lead to new and reinforced synaptic connectivity. It has been explained scientifically that this increase in calcium is only part of the first step in this process and thus does not depend on the gene expression.

Contrary to the argument above, some scientists have challenged it and tried to experiment the facts using mice. They realized that nicotine administration to mice induced the expression of a gene called type 2 ryanodine receptor (RyR2).

Is RyR2 involved in calcium release?

The RyR2 protein has been found to be involved in the release of calcium from a cell internal calcium store, the endoplasmic reticulum, thus leading to a sustained long-term signaling manner. This sustenance of calcium increase consequently leads to neuronal plasticity.

To be more specific, RyR2 is expressed in a number of critical brain areas associated with cognition and addiction as the cortex and ventral midbrain, suggesting that RyR2 induction plays a pivotal role in these given processes.

More and more researches were consequently done to confirm the idea. These experiments indicated that reduction in the RyR2 activation in animals were able to abolish behaviors associated with learning, memory and also addiction. This was absolutely a confirmation that RyR2 was required to develop long-term changes in the brain that could lead to addiction.

RyR2 and Calcium Release

What is the future of Molecular Switch for Memory and Addiction?

The results of those experiments were actually a milestone towards the understanding of the molecular processes which underlie our memory and addiction. This is an area that has not been exploited up to date though, and scientists are working tirelessly hoping they will soon come up with therapies based on these discoveries which will help in the treatment of addictions and also give counter measures to memory losses.

All we can hope is for this to happen soon than sooner, since the damage of addiction if already a concern all over the world and any success in this area will be a breakthrough for everyone in the world.

Is This Real-Molecular Switch For Memory And Addiction?

Related articles
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

Potent Pot: Is Marijuana Getting Stronger?

July 20, 2014

Is Marijuana Getting Stronger?

The debate on the potency level of marijuana is all over the world. Researches have also been conducted to try and answer the question of potency of marijuana of these days with reference to how it used to be 40years below the line. The U.S. federal government has been among those interested in getting the truth about the matter, and they said that the levels of potency have risen anywhere from 10 to 25 times since the 1960s. Whether this is a myth of reality remains debatable. Researches from elsewhere have seemed to concur with this argument and put it across that the potency levels of marijuana are on a rise.

marijuana

These researches have bee criticized especially by those people who are advocates of marijuana legalization. They argue that the data that formed the sample group was skewed and biased since the geographical area that it covered was not reliable. They argue that marijuana from different places is different from others from elsewhere in terms of their potency. Nevertheless, one thing is outstanding from the findings of different independent researches in that they all indicate potency of marijuana is on a rise.

Is legalizing Marijuana the answer?

This is also another motion which has attracted debate. There are proponents for legalization of marijuana and at the same time those against the idea. One thing that is outstanding is that the acceptance to the legalization of the “weed” is gaining grounds. In some areas in the world the usage of marijuana has already been legalized. Could this be the solution? Let’s look at some facts about legalization of marijuana:-

  • Marijuana is by far safer than most of already legal drugs

Researches done on the effects of marijuana when compared to some of the already legalized drugs are amazing. A person will look at drugs such as Cigarettes and alcohol and assess their known effects when consumed, then comparing with marijuana will leave one wondering which of them should be legal. From the study published by the U.K pointed out that the harm that is posed by drug such as alcohol and cigarettes is by far worse than what marijuana can. About the negative stigma, it pointed out that this is in most cases a matter of perception since the drug has been illegal and only those ready to break the law have been using it, hence people have had a culture of negative view to the drug.

  • Very low risk of abuse – unlike many other drug substances, marijuana has a very low risk of abuse. This is contrary to the belief; marijuana is not as addicting as one may think. Researches done by some doctors like Dr. Sanjay Gupta, “Why I changed my mind About Weed” show that chances of addiction to the marijuana users lies at 9-10%, while amazingly other already legal drugs like cigarette poses addiction dangers at 30-35% of its users becoming addicted.
  • Medicinal value – marihuana has been proven to have medicinal values. For instance, it has been extremely successful in relieving nausea which comes as good news to the patients of cancer and HIV/AIDS. It also has ability to relax muscles of tension and spasm and chronic pains.
  • Useful as sleep aid – as a matter of fact, sleep is essential to every human being. It is recommended that every person should get enough sleep which is prescribed to be, at least 6 hours in 24 hours. This has not been the case for many people due to a number of reasons. In this case, there is really a great need for the sleep of such persons to be facilitated so as to get them out of dangers of not getting enough sleep. Marijuana is known to be a substance which can help in the facilitation of sleep and relaxation. This would actually a good substance to a person missing sleeps. But how does the person get help from and illegal substance? Actually the weed should be legalized to ensure that people can purchase it from stores any enjoy its benefits.

marijuana

 

  • Even successful people smoke marijuana – even though marijuana has been illegal, its user have been many. The important thing to note is that there are many known successful users of marijuana all over the world. This includes prominent people in governments, artists, footballers etc. this is enough evidence that marijuana cannot prevent development in people as it used to be argued.
  • Marijuana is not a gateway drug – contrary to the belief that smoking marijuana will lead one to using other drugs; researches have indicated that the person who uses marijuana first, using the other drugs is a correlation but not causation. It goes ahead to explain that if a person smokes hard drug first, the chances of smoking other light drugs like cigarette which are harmful than marijuana are low. This means marijuana is really a good thing.

How are experiences of people from countries where marijuana is legalized?

Some research have been done covering the areas where the marijuana usage has been legalized. The amazing finding was that most of the people were positive about the laws of legalization of the weed. For instance, the research done in Colorado through voting, the result showed that 54% believed the legalization of marijuana was really a good idea.

Is Marijuana Getting Stronger?

Related articles
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

  • Recent Posts

  • Blog Categories