Category Archives: addiction

Cocain use

Crack cocaine abuse and the health consequences

September 7, 2016
Crack cocaine abuse

Crack cocaine abuse and the health consequences can be controlled by taking preventive measures

Crack cocaine abuse and the health consequences: Modes of administration

The history of cocaine is well known and how it affects the good health of our societies. Crack cocaine as it is commonly known is a very powerful addictive stimulant drug that when allowed to settle in anyone’s life, the consequences can be very devastating and frustrating. Whichever way you look at it, crack cocaine is poisonous to your health. According to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury MD, the illusion that cocaine is beneficial remains just an illusion. The naked truth is that no single advantage can be attached to this drug says doctor Akoury. As a matter of fact crack cocaine abuse is a serious threats to humanity.

The powdered hydrochloride salt form of cocaine can be snorted or injected as a solution of water. And when we talk of crack cocaine, it means that, this cocaine base has not been neutralized by an acid to transform it into a hydrochloride salt. When that is done, this form of cocaine comes in a rock crystal which can be heated to produce vapors, a product which can be smoked. The term “crack” therefore refers to the crackling sound produced by the rock when it is heated.

How is cocaine abused?

According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, crack cocaine abuse is in most cases considered in relation to the mode of its administration. There are three main routes that are commonly used for the administration of crack cocaine:

Snorting – this is the process of inhaling cocaine powder through the nose, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues.

Injection – in this case cocaine in mixed with water and the solution is then injected into the body using the needle to release the drug directly into the blood streams.

Smoking – this involves inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs, where absorption into the bloodstream is as rapid as by injection.

Even as we progress into the discussion, it is important to note that, the mode of administering the substance doesn’t in any way reduce the danger. The consequences remain the same with the risk of addiction and infection by other serious chronic health complications like contracting STI’s. Besides that, the following are some of the experiences that users of crack cocaine will face:

  • The intensity and duration of cocaine’s effects, which include increased energy, reduced fatigue, and mental alertness, depend on the route of drug administration.
  • The faster cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the brain, the more intense the high.
  • Injecting or smoking cocaine produces a quicker, stronger high than snorting.
  • On the other hand, faster absorption usually means shorter duration of action.
  • The high from snorting cocaine may last 15 to 30 minutes, but the high from smoking may last only 5 to 10 minutes.

Finally and in order to sustain the high, a cocaine abuser has to administer the drug repeatedly. That is to say, crack cocaine is often abused in binges taken repeatedly within a relatively short period of time, at increasingly high doses. This is very dangerous and the sooner you enroll for a recovery program the better. You can always call doctor Dalal Akoury for more professional advice and treatment on this journey of recovery.

Crack cocaine abuse and the health consequences: Modes of administration

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ageing skin naturally

Consider quitting drug abuse for a flourishing beauty

September 7, 2016
Consider quitting drug abuse

Consider quitting drug abuse for a flourishing beauty that is natural and flourishing

Consider quitting drug abuse for a flourishing beauty: Give up cocaine use

The wise say that “keep reminding them even if they know.” This is powerful and how I wish that the constant health posting we are making on this link are adding value to your life and that of your family. For a while now we have been addressing issues surrounding substance abuse and in all the discussions, we haven’t seen anything good about drugs. And what is worrying is that even though this piece of information is now consumable by many people, drug related conditions are still on the rise. One of the most disturbing conditions is the way cocaine is rearranging peoples’ faces and transforming their lives negatively. Until when will we chose to consider quitting drug abuse? Doctor Dalal Akoury a veteran addiction experts in amazement says that even though the pain is evident and the victims can see for themselves the damage caused by cocaine addiction on the mirror, they are still very much hooked into their addiction.

As disturbing as it is, this is what we want to discuss in this article while focusing on beauty and how cocaine and stimulant induced skin picking. Before we settle into the discussion, I want to share with you an experience one of the patients went through and this is also a representation of what many addicts are also going through.

For the purposes of confidentiality I will refer to the patient as Commitment. After abusing cocaine for some time, one day he stood before his mirror and he dint like what he saw. What was before him was an increasingly common and distressing indicator of excessive cocaine and stimulant use. Skin picking was the problem. He spent several hours before the mirror squeezing and tweezing as the smallest of spots becomes a painful wound. Hair pulled out, bugs under the skin, insects or mites in his clothes and house. We are going to rely on commitment’s experience to shed some light on this extremely upsetting, hidden behavior, examining the chemistry behind it, why it happens and the role cocaine and other stimulants have to play. This is a discussion you don’t want to miss but in the meantime you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury the MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. She will be of greater help to you in all matters relating to addiction and beauty. Before we get to the discussion of Cocaine and stimulant induced skin picking, it is important that you consider quitting drug abuse because cocaine for example induces psychosis and foraging.

Consider quitting drug abuse for a flourishing beauty: Cocaine induced psychosis and foraging

Chronic cocaine or crack use can result in cocaine induced paranoia (CIP) and coke-induced compulsive foraging (CICF) type behaviors. ‘Compulsive foraging’ covers a cluster of cocaine induced behaviors of which skin picking is just one. Another ‘foraging disorder’ is when coke users hunt for hours for specs of cocaine around a place where it was once used (also called ‘surfing’). Food deprivation or hunger increases the probability of foraging responses and because it’s an appetite suppressant, coke can make users vulnerable to malnutrition thus continuing foraging behavior. Skin picking is a foraging response and you need to consider quitting drug abuse not just for a flourishing beauty, but also for your general well-being.

Consider quitting drug abuse for a flourishing beauty: Give up cocaine use

 

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stem cells

Stimulant induced skin picking

September 7, 2016
Stimulant induced skin picking

Stimulant induced skin picking can be controlled effectively at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center

Stimulant induced skin picking: Cocaine abuse

Stimulant induced skin picking due to excessive and abuse of crack cocaine has become more common as more people use crack disorderly. This has necessitated the sudden increase in negative health issues linked to this habit. Professionally in the medical understanding stimulant induced skin picking is seen as a compulsive foraging response (CICF – ‘cocaine induced compulsive foraging’) but the compulsion to skin pick has also been called psychogenic excoriation, delusional parasitosis, self-inflicted dermatoses, dermatillomania, formication, or hypoesthesia; which is quite surprising considering that there has been so little research on the subject.

Stimulant induced skin picking: Characteristics of skin picking

The features of skin picking may include excessive scratching, picking, gouging, lancing, digging and squeezing of normal or slightly marred skin. Even though the whole body can be involved, commonly the most picked areas include; fingernails, face, lips, scalp, arms and legs. This is made possible because drugs like cocaine, methylephenidate, phenelzine amphetamine and anticholinergic drugs often produce increased nerve activity tactile sensations like burning, tingling and crawling (worms under the skin) that can lead to skin picking. So while it is clearly a chemical reaction to the drugs you’re taking, it can be closely linked with psychological issues such as extreme anxiety or childhood trauma.

Stimulant induced skin picking: So why do some people skin pick excessively, where others don’t?

Studies suggest that it’s a coping mechanism for dealing with emotional pain. Physical pain distracts the individual and can help to alleviate feelings of guilt through self-punishment. Many S-P’s (skin pickers) report increased levels of tension prior to skin picking and a sense of relief or satisfaction following the picking. Some experience an altered state of consciousness whilst picking resembling a dissocialized state. However, lack of pain during picking episodes may also be related to opioid dysregulation. We can see elevated levels of B-endorphin in S-Ps, because pain, in this case through self-injurious behavior, leads to the release of B-endorphins, which in turn leads to the release of tension.

Stimulant induced skin picking: Crack cocaine

Doctor Dalal Akoury who is also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center registers that cocaine increases the activity of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the automatic nervous system associated with pleasure which is important for reinforcement of behavior. However, for reasons we don’t have the space to go into, too much use of cocaine can lead to a lack of dopamine in your system, which in turn leads to mood and anxiety disorders. S-Ps often suffers from one or more of the following conditions:

  • Agoraphobia
  • Bipolar disorder (manic depression)
  • Body dysmorphic disorder (hated self-image).
  • Dysthymia (depression tendencies)
  • Eating disorders
  • Kleptomania (compulsive stealing of objects) and
  • Major depression
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder
  • Panic attacks
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Trichotillomania (hair /eyelash/body hair pulling)

Beside the mention conditions, some studies have also established that more than half of the individuals with serious skin picking conditions also reported a history of body rocking, thumb sucking, knuckle cracking, cheek chewing and head banging. Along-side with all these, skin picking also causes a lot of anguish. Like for instance, the victim can feel embarrassed and this may lead to shame and even impaired social functioning and in some cases people withdraw altogether from social activities and confine themselves to their home. Some people also experience medical complications as a result of skin picking, like ulcers, infections, permanent discoloration and scarring. Remember that too much scratching leads to open wounds and sores and when this is combined with injecting, infection can travel from the skin to the blood, causing serious illnesses such as septicemia or endocarditis. And that should be an incentive for you to schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury for a more professional medical approach.

Stimulant induced skin picking: Cocaine abuse

 

 

 

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Strong central nervous system stimulant

September 7, 2016
Strong central nervous system

Strong central nervous system stimulant that can destroy the brain system and the well-being of the body

Strong central nervous system stimulant: Crack cocaine

Without missing the words, cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant that raises the levels of dopamine. Doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center explains that this is a brain chemical which is associated with pleasure and movement, in the brain’s reward circuit. And since dopamine facilitates communication in some brain cell commonly known as neurons, which are released by neurons to respond to signals like the smell or taste of good food and then it is recycled back into the cell that releases it which in return will shut off the signal between neurons.

Cocaine acts by preventing the dopamine from being recycled, causing excessive amounts of dopamine to build up, amplifying the message, and ultimately disrupting normal communication. It is this excess of dopamine that is responsible for cocaine’s euphoric effects. With repeated use, cocaine can cause long-term changes in the brain’s reward system and in other brain systems as well, which may eventually lead to addiction.

Strong central nervous system stimulant: Health consequences

There is no doubt that cocaine abuse impact on health negatively in very many ways. Doctor Akoury explains that among many other consequences, the following are outstanding:

Being a strong central nervous system stimulant, it can also cause headaches and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain and nausea. Alongside that, it is worth noting that since cocaine tends to decrease appetite, chronic users can become malnourished as well.

Strong central nervous system stimulant: Effects associated with mode of administration

Even though the dangers remain the same, it will interest you to note that these modes of administration of cocaine (smoking, snorting, injestion and injection) can produce different adverse effects including the following:

  • Regularly snorting cocaine, can lead to loss of the sense of smell, nose bleeding, problems with swallowing, hoarseness and a chronically runny nose.
  • Ingesting cocaine can cause severe bowel gangrene as a result of reduced blood flow.
  • Injecting cocaine can bring about severe allergic reactions and increased risk for contracting HIV and other blood-borne diseases.
  • Binge patterns of use may lead to irritability, restlessness, anxiety, and paranoia.
  • Cocaine abusers can suffer a temporary state of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which they lose touch with reality and experience auditory hallucinations.

In conclusion doctor Akoury is making emphasis that it doesn’t matter how it is administered or the frequency of cocaine use, in all these users can experience acute cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies, such as a heart attack or stroke, which may cause sudden death. Remember that most cocaine-related deaths are often as result of cardiac arrest or seizure followed by respiratory arrest. All these can be brought to manageable levels if we all pool together and begin doing the right things. You may not know conclusively what to do and that is why doctor Akoury founded this health facility to help you stay healthy. You can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury and together with her team of experts they will professionally offer lasting solution to your individual conditions.

Strong central nervous system stimulant: Crack cocaine

 

 

 

 

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stem cell therapy for dogs

Managing panic attacks in cancer patients

September 5, 2016
Managing panic attacks

Managing panic attacks in cancer patients require professionalism and care

Managing panic attacks in cancer patients: This attack can be life threatening

Careful consideration should be taken in managing panic attacks in cancer patients since it can be an alarming symptom of anxiety. According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury MD, panic attacks can happen very suddenly and often reach their worst in just about 10 minutes. The victim may seem fine between the attacks but is usually very afraid that they will happen again. The following are some of the symptoms of panic attack.

Managing panic attacks in cancer patients: Symptoms of panic attack

  • Shortness of breath or a feeling of being smothered
  • Running heart
  • Feelings of dizziness, unstable, lightheaded, or faint
  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • Feeling as if they’re choking
  • Quivering or trembling
  • Sweating
  • Fear of losing control or “going crazy”
  • An urge to escape
  • Impassiveness or tingling sensations
  • Feeling “unreal” or “detached” from themselves
  • Chills (shaking or shivering) or hot flashes (may involve sweating or facial reddening)

If a person is having any of the first 5 symptoms or any five for that matter, it can mean an urgent or life-threatening condition. In this case the presence of a doctor would be required right away to attend to the patient if someone unexpectedly has any of these. It is also very important to note that these symptoms can be signs of other, more serious problems such as shock, heart attack, blood chemistry imbalance, collapsed lung, allergic reaction and many other chronic conditions. Therefore it’s not safe to make an assumption that they are panic-related until are diagnosed and confirmed by a doctor.

Managing panic attacks in cancer patients: What to do

  • Check with the doctor to be sure that the symptoms are caused by panic and not another medical problem.
  • Stay calm and speak softly during a panic attack.
  • Sit with the person during panic attacks until he or she is feeling better.
  • Call for help if needed.
  • After the panic attack is over, encourage the person to get treatment for the panic attacks.
  • Provide transportation to treatment if needed. The person may be afraid that a panic attack will happen while driving.
  • The ideas listed under “What to do” in the section “Anxiety and Fear” may also be helpful.

Managing panic attacks in cancer patients: Do not

  • Minimize or make light of the person’s terror or fear.
  • Judge the person for feeling scared and acting strangely.
  • Try to talk the person out of their fear or other feelings.
  • Hesitate to call the doctor if you have questions about what’s happening.

Finally for us to win the good health back, we must ensure that we change our attitude towards anxiety and fear more so when it comes to handling cancer patients. Everything we do will matter a lot in the healing process of the cancer patients. Therefore seeking for treatment in good time and from experience and qualified doctors will be the best you can do for yourself. Doctor Dalal Akoury is one of such professionals you can contact for any health conditions you have that is cancerous. Make the best decision today and schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury for a life changing treatment that will give you your life back enjoying it to the fullest.

Managing panic attacks in cancer patients: This attack can be life threatening

 

 

 

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