Category Archives: addiction

Risk Factors of Breast cancer

July 28, 2014

Risk Factor of Breast cancer -Role of alcohol

Breast cancer

The risk factors of breast cancer can be life threatening. We must be positive and prevent breast cancer from our life.

Breast cancer normally is forms in tissues of the breast and the common type of breast cancer include ductal carcinoma, which instigates in the lining of the milk ducts a thin tube transporting milk from the lobules of the breast to the nipple.

The other type of breast cancer is lobular carcinoma, which instigates in the lobules (milk glands) of the breast. Invasive breast cancer is that has extended from where it began in the breast ducts or lobules to adjacent normal tissue. Breast cancer occurs in both men and women, although male breast cancer is rare.

Risk Factor of Breast cancer – Connection between alcohol consumption and cancer

Researchers while studying particular enzyme established that a biological molecule that accelerates chemical reactions commonly known as CYP2E1. Their findings offer a possible target to improve outcomes for patients in the later stages of the cancer disease. This enzyme has been implicated in various liver diseases associated with alcohol consumption, Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD), as well as diabetes, obesity and cancer.

The objective of the study was to understand why an enzyme known to function mainly in the liver was found to be profoundly present in some types of breast cancer tissues. The study also wanted to explore what other activities this enzyme might have that regulate the development of breast cancer and their findings established that the enzyme breaks down various molecules within cells including alcohol. The by-products of this metabolism include reactive oxygen species (ROS), occasioning in something called oxidative stress, in normal physiological conditions this aids cellular functions, whereas when concentrations of ROS are high or oxidative stress becomes chronic, cells can be seriously damaged.

Previous studies have also shown that the enzyme is most strongly expressed in early stages of breast tumors rather than more developed tumors and scientists believe that it contributes to the progression of breast cancer. The study, published in Breast Cancer Research, found that depending on the stage of the breast cancer, high levels of the enzyme can help cells survive during stress. It was also found that inhibiting the activity of the enzyme in cells with high migratory potential promoted cell migration a process linked to cancer spreading known as metastasis.

Risk Factor of Breast cancer – Causes and risk factors

Up to now it is still not very clear the causes of breast cancer and as a result of this it may be difficult to say authoritatively why one lady may develop breast cancer and another may not. However the risk factors are known, some of these can change the likelihood that someone may develop breast cancer. There are some factors you cannot do anything about, but there are some you can change. For example:

Alcohol

Your risk of developing breast cancer can increase with the quantity of alcohol you consume regularly. Research shows that, for every 200 ladies who regularly have two alcoholic drinks daily, there will be three more ladies with breast cancer compared with those who do not drink at all.

Age

The risk of developing breast cancer progresses as you get older. Breast cancer is most common among women over 50 majority of these ladies have been through the menopause. 8 out of 10 breast cancer cases occur in women over 50. All women between 50 and 70 years of age should be screened for breast cancer every three years as part of the NHS Breast Screening programme.

Genetics

If you have close relatives who have had breast cancer or ovarian cancer, you may have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. However, as breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, it is possible for it to occur more than once in the same family by chance.

Most breast cancer cases are not hereditary. However, particular genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, can increase your risk of developing both breast and ovarian cancer. It is possible for these genes to be passed on from a parent to their child. If you have, for example, two or more close relatives from the same side of your family who have had breast cancer under the age of 50, you may be eligible for surveillance for breast cancer or for genetic screening to look for the genes that make developing breast cancer more likely.

Previous diagnosis of breast cancer

If you have previously had breast cancer or early non-invasive cancer cell changes contained within breast ducts, you have a higher risk of developing it again, either in your other breast or in the same breast again and so you need to be in constant touch with your doctor for review.

Previous benign breast lump

A benign breast lump does not mean you have breast cancer, but certain types of lump may slightly increase your risk of developing it. Certain benign changes in your breast tissue, such as atypical ductal hyperplasia (cells growing abnormally in ducts) or lobular carcinoma in situ (abnormal cells inside your breast lobes), can make getting breast cancer more likely.

Breast density

Your breasts are made up of thousands of tiny glands (lobules), which produce milk. This glandular tissue contains a higher concentration of breast cells than other breast tissue, making it denser. Women with denser breast tissue may have a higher risk of developing breast cancer because there are more cells that can become cancerous.

Dense breast tissue can also make a breast scan (mammogram) harder to read because it makes any lumps or areas of abnormal tissue harder to spot. Younger women tend to have denser breasts. As you get older, the amount of glandular tissue in your breasts decreases and is replaced by fat, so your breasts become less dense.

Overweight or obese

If you have been through the menopause and are overweight or obese, you may be more at risk of developing breast cancer. This is thought to be linked to the amount of estrogen in your body, as being overweight or obese after the menopause causes more estrogen to be produced.

Being tall

If you are taller than average, you are more likely to develop breast cancer than someone who is shorter than average. This may be due to interactions between genes, nutrition and hormones, but the reason is not fully understood.

Risk Factor of Breast cancer – Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is associated with a slightly increased risk of developing breast cancer. Both combined HRT and estrogen-only HRT can increase your risk of developing breast cancer, although the risk is slightly higher if you take combined HRT.

It is estimated there will be an extra 19 cases of breast cancer for every 1,000 women taking combined HRT for 10 years. The risk continues to increase slightly the longer you take HRT, but returns to normal once you stop taking it.

Finally because of the many addictive risk factors you can seek help from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care where focus is on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE

Risk Factors of Breast cancer – Role of alcohol 

 

 

 

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The Neurobiology Of Abuse, Addiction And Chemical Dependency

July 27, 2014

What is neurobiology?

Neurobiology is the study of nervous system cells and their organization into the functional circuits that process information and mediate behavior. Neurobiology is different from neuroscience, since neuroscience is much broader and looks at the study of the nervous system generally. Neurobiology focuses on the study of neurons, which are cells that are specialized to receive, propagate and transmit electrochemical impulses. Scientist have identified that in the human brain alone, there are over hundred billion neurons.

Is there any relationship between Abuse, Addiction and Dependency?

There can actually be argued that all these are related in one way or the other. In this case, the main condition which can be triggered by all the others is addiction. For instance, when a person develops a chemical dependency, it becomes impossible for the person to survive without taking the drug. This makes the person to make the drug part of his/her life. The prolonged usage of this drug will eventually result into addiction of the person by the drug.

On the other hand, looking at what abuse is, it is the usage of drug for a purpose other than the intended use of the substance. It can also be defined as the improper usage of a drug, whereby if it was a prescription drug, the patient uses it the wrong way and not the way the doctor recommended. This may result to drug resistance and thus the person will be required to use higher amount of the same drug if in future it is to produce the equivalent effects as before. This with time results to addiction to the drug and consequently the person will not be able to live without the drug.

How do drugs work in the human brain?

Most addictive drugs work by altering the way the brain works. The effect of the drugs that addicts look for (especially stimulants) occurs by alterations in the brain to trigger pleasure. One drugs get into the brain, they tap into the brain’s communication system. Once they are inside the brain’s communication system, they disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive and process information. The following are the ways through which the drugs work in the brain;

  • Imitation of the natural transmitters – natural transmitters are the chemical messengers in the brain. Due to the similarity in the chemical structure between drugs and these neurotransmitters, the drugs are able to false fully activate the nerve systems and hence make them send abnormal messages through their network.
  • Overstimulation of the reward system – this occurs by flooding the circuit with dopamine., which is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, motivation and general feelings of pleasure in the body. Almost all the drugs abused are able to activate this system, especially the stimulants. This is why the users of such drugs frequently want to use them due to the pleasure they get from the drugs’ use.

How does the process of addiction entail?

Drug addiction is not something that happens overnight. It is a process that relatively takes a long period before a person becomes an addict. This period will though vary from person to the other. The common changes that will occur in the human brain before addiction occurs are discussed below.

  • Brain adaptation – with time, the brain adjusts to the surges in dopamine by decreasing the number of dopamine receptors available. This will reduce the functioning of the reward system circuit. This results to the drug user having now to take higher amounts of the drug substance in order to attain the effect they could easily attain before after just taking a little of the drug substance. This effect is the one termed a tolerance, and the drug user at this stage is said to be tolerant to the drug.
  • Other than the dopamine, there will be other changes in the brain – the prolonged abuse of drug substances lead to damage in the brain chemical system, including glutamate and the neurotransmitter that influences the reward system circuits and also the ability to learn. Impairment in the brain can occur sometimes, especially when the optimal concentration of glutamate is altered by the drug abuse.
  • Trigger of conscious memory systems- the abuse of drugs can trigger the conscious memory systems. From psychology, conditioning is a way of learning. In this case, the environmental cues such as certain people and places may become associated with the drug and hence trigger uncontrollable cravings if the individual is exposed to these cues, even when the drug itself is not available.
  • Addiction – this is actually the step in which almost all the other alterations in the brain leads to. The brain imaging studies of drug addicted persons have indicated that changes in the areas of brain that are critical to judgment, decision making , learning and memory and also behavior control. This seeks to explain why addiction occurs, since these changes are likely what drive the drug abusers to seek out and take drugs compulsively, even when they have negative effects on their bodies.

Finally, I wish to remind you that addiction is curable and you just need to seek the qualified professional to help you out in the recovery process.

Is there any relationship between Abuse, Addiction and Dependency?

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NAD and Addiction Pain Treatment

July 27, 2014

Is NAD The Best Treatment For Pain?

Nicotinamide Adenine DinucleotideIn every treatment, the aim is always to provide healing to the patient within the shortest time possible and at the same time ensuring the medication remain friendly to the patient and doesn’t have harmful side effects. Contrary to this expectation, some of the medications used to solve the patient’s health problems seem to pose some danger to the patient. This danger could be in the form of side effects or addiction.

The problem of side effects has arguably been addressed in many cases and the cases are minimal and if any, they are those unavoidable and can be explained by the opportunity cost laws. To address these medication related problems, ways of proper choice of medication have been sought. One of the problems whose solutions have been sought over time is the medication free from addiction to the patient.

How can pain be cured without addiction?

Pain is normally a complex condition to treat and therefore there are many treatment options to choose from. The bad news though is that some of these (medication) methods have been proven addictive to the patient and at some point if addicted, the patient will not be able to stay without taking these medications.

The best way to safely manage pain is by choosing a method of treatment that will not result to be addictive in the long run. Is there such a method? Yes, there are methods which scientists have proven addiction free. One and of course the most effective in treatment of addiction is the NAD treatment.

What is NAD?

NAD is an abbreviation which stands for Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide. It is a metabolic co-enzyme which occurs in our bodies in two compounds; NAD and NADH. These enzymes are the ones responsible for all the activities in our bodies. NADH is used for improvement in mental clarity, being alert, concentration and memory as well as in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease from a person. This molecule is normally formed from vitamin B3 (niacin).

What is NAD energy deficiency?

Every human body requires energy for survival. This energy doesn’t exist naturally, and thus it must be made available in our bodies by the biochemical processes within our bodies. NAD is a co-enzyme which acts as the power plant in our body and if it is low in our bodies, there will be obviously a metabolic energy deficiency. This metabolic energy deficiency is normally referred to as NAD Energy Deficiency (NED). This deficiency in NAD can result to many diseases related tot it such as: – Chronic fatigue, Depression, stress anxiety and variety of other illnesses. This means that one of the best way of treating pain or chronic fatigue is by raising the number of NAD compounds in the body to ensure that there is no deficiency. This will consequently ensure that there is sufficient supply of metabolic energy required to cure the pain.

Why does NAD treatment not cause addiction?

NADAmong the known medications which cause addiction to the patient in the long run, are the medications which use drugs. NAD treatment enjoys the fact that it doesn’t use drugs in its treatment. This is actually what makes the NAD treatment preferred by many people over many other treatments which makes use of prescription drugs or over the counter drugs to treat pain. Unlike these other treatment methods, NAD is a natural treatment method which uses the principle of body’s ability to heal itself if the necessary conditions are maintained. The condition in this case is by ensuring there is no deficiency in NAD and thus the ensuring all body’s activities are correctly taking place. This is due to enough generation of energy (Metabolic energy) by the NAD co-enzymes.

How safe is NAD treatment?

Many researches have been done on NAD therapy to determine its effectiveness and effect in the treatment. Scientists have found sufficient grounds through these researches to conclude that NAD therapy is very safe for treatment of any human being. An advantage of NAD treatment is that it is a natural energy supplement which also generates cellular energy. This energy may also help you in the following:-

  • It may act as a potent antioxidant and a free radical scavenger since phagocytes normally use NADPH as a source of their energy to destroy pathogens in the body. In this case, it will protect your body from free radicals and to prevent sicknesses and damage. Another important task that NAD plays in your body is that it protects your cells from DNA damage by genotoxic particles.
  • NAD plays a role in enhancing your moods and emotional balances since these co-enzymes are found in the brain. They perform this task through synthesis of the neurotransmitters which are important for maintaining a positive state of the mind.
  • Another benefit that you will get from NAD therapy is that it increases the mental clarity and alertness. Research has shown that brain uses 10times more NAD energy than any other body organ.

Looking at all these benefits and there is no addiction when one uses the NAD TREATMENT FOR PAIN, there is every reason to now conclude that this is the best treatment method for pain.

Is NAD The Best Treatment For Pain?

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Amino Acids in Fighting Addiction

July 26, 2014

Amino Acids Aid in Treatment of Addiction

Addiction to drugs has been on a rise over the last century. It has therefore been a concern all over the world to develop medication which would address this problem. Through researches many prescription drugs were developed and many of them have proven to cure addiction. Another concern which has of late arisen is that some of the drugs that are given to us (patients) by doctors as prescription drugs have also turned to be addictive. A good example of these drugs is the opioids which are meant to cure pains. This has prompted need to device medication which can cure any kind of addiction, either resulting from legal and illegal drugs or over the counter drugs. One of the treatments which have proven effective is the amino acid treatment.

What is amino acid?

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. These acids are responsible for building the cells, repairing tissues, also responsible for the production of enzymes not forgetting their role in the mental health. Research has shown that about twenty percent of a human body is made up of proteins.

It is important to note that, although proteins are vital in the human body, the body cannot obtain them directly from the food. These dietary proteins must be broken into their constituent amino acids which the body then uses to build the specific proteins that it needs. In this respect, we can conclude that it is the amino acids rather than protein that are essential nutrients.

amino acids

Why are some amino acids referred to as essential?

There are basically two categories of amino acids. These are the Essential and non-essential amino acids. Yes, they are referred to as essential because the body needs them in plenty but it cannot synthesize in sufficient quantities to satisfy the nutritional requirements for good health and thus they must be included in our diets. On the other hand there are other amino acids which are regarded as non-essential because they do not have to be included in our diets since they are not required in plenty by our bodies and also the body can synthesize enough for itself.

How does amino acid cure addiction then?

Like we mentioned earlier, Neurotransmitters are made from amino acids which is the building block of proteins. The brain nervous system is almost entirely regulated by amino acids and their biochemical companions, vitamins and minerals. In this respect, before we look at how amino acids cures addictions is important to note that there are key neurotransmitters which are affected by addiction and needs to be restored to their normal state for the person to recover from drug addiction, and be free from craving and anxiety during the period of recovery. Amino acid treatment plays this role by restoring the affected neurotransmitters to their normal conditions. These neurotransmitters are responsible for good mental health and they include: – Serotonin, Catecholamine; GABA; and Endorphin. Amino acids in the treatment of addiction address the tyrosine pathway, the glutamine GABA pathway in the treatment of addiction, Tryptophan pathway, Serotonin and Melatonin Pathways, Taurine IV for
addiction

What is the Role of cofactors and coenzymes in Amino Acid treatment?

Let’s start by understanding what cofactors and coenzymes refer to. Cofactors refer to non-protein molecules which are required for effective activity of Amino Acids. These cofactors can be organic or inorganic substances. The organic cofactors are the ones referred to as Enzymes. In this case therefore, enzymes can be seen as protein catalysts that are responsible for lowering the energy barriers of many biological reactions. They do this by lowering the activation energy of the reaction that they catalyze and this allows the metabolic reaction to occur faster that it would under normal temperatures.

What makes cofactors important?

Just like we have mentioned above, the cofactors will catalyze the reaction ensuring sufficient metabolic energy generation. One of the notable important cofactors is the metal ions. These include ions such as Magnesium (Mg++), Potassium (K+) and Calcium (Ca+). These cofactors bind the enzymes and participate in the reaction by removing electrons, protons, or chemical groups from the substrate. In reactions which involve oxidation-reduction, coenzymes remove electrons from the substrate and then pass them to the other molecules. Habitually, the electron is added to a proton to form a hydrogen atom before it is passed on. Through this way, coenzymes serve to carry energy in the form of electrons from one compound to the other.

Is amino acid treatment safe?

Yes, amino acid is a very safe treatment of addiction since it involves providing the body with all what it requires in the process of addiction recovery and allowing it to cure naturally. This treatment seeks to restore neurotransmitters to their initially healthy functioning state that they used to be at before addiction. This gives the patient a permanent solution to addiction. Another advantage of using amino acid treatment is that it ensures that the patient is free from craving effects and unlike some addiction medication methods which leaves behind addiction effects in the long run, amino acid treatment is not addictive. With all these advantages we can now conclude that amino acid treatment is a safe and a recommendable method of addiction treatment.

Amino Acids Aid in Treatment of Addiction

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Reality of Drug Abuse

July 26, 2014

Reality of Drug Abuse – When Drug Abuse is ruining your life

The reality of drug abuse. Are you not aware of the dangers of drug abuse? Drug abuse has no respect to anyone.

Drugs are poisonous to the body and are not good for human life in any way. All that drugs can do to one’s life is to ruin it and destroy. If drugs are this destructive what are you doing about it? Don’t you think the time to face the reality has come? Take a moment and reason within yourself how it’s practically impossible for you to own up to what you’re doing to yourself, particularly when it gets to drug abuse. It’s seemingly too easy to engage in justification, finger-pointing, playing the blame game or just ignoring the truth.

The moment drug abuse is ruining your life you will not be able to be in the comfort of repudiating the facts: You’ve slid downhill just about as far as you can go. How do you face reality? What are the signs that drug abuse has nearly done you in? Is there anything positive you really can do, now that you feel like you’re a lost cause? The answer is an undisputable yes. The very first thing to do is acceptance that there is a problem which needs fixing. This then gives you the willpower to take further recovery action which may include the following:

Reality of Drug Abuse – Take Stock of Your Life

This will open your dark days in drugs and believe me it is not anyone cup of tea, it will be emotionally and socially painful when the reality descend on you. For instance you may notice that you succeeded in destroy yourself. Despite the painful reality there is hope of turning the tables and begin transforming your life. By now I believe that this moment of reflection has given you enough reasons why this is the best decision you are taking and so let us list just a few in case you need reinforcement for making this drastic change in your life.

Reality of Drug Abuse – Getting your health back

Is there anybody who doesn’t want to be healthy and live a good life? You were then but now your refreshment time has come and you are going to put all the past addictive experiences behind you greeting each day with smiles of abundance of health without the pain brought on you by chronic drug use. You must resolve to do what you can to regain your health. If you’re now in a debilitative state or end-phase disease, you can still take steps to make your quality of life better for your remaining days.

Reality of Drug Abuse – Mend relationships with your family

Your actions during the period you were using drugs may have caused you the joy of being with your family and friends and by now their hearts are broken and some may have even written you off their lives you must make a mend with them because no one wants to live a life empty of the love and support of those closest to us, even if we have our differences. Family should be able to raise above all that. You will appreciate that in this category your drug abuse and addiction has cost you dearly and you may be afraid or even unwilling to go through the difficult challenge of mending relationships. Yet, you still want to, somewhere deep in your psyche. Be encouraged this is only difficult but not impossible it may take longer than you think but peace will prevail once more. The key is to have this as a goal, and then work toward achieving it once you’ve become clean and sober again.

Reality of Drug Abuse – Reclaiming your job

Anyone who’s a drug addict knows full well that working and career don’t mix with the never-ending pursuit of the next fix, the next high. All you think about and all your actions revolve around your drug use – scheming to find, borrow or steal money to obtain your drugs, angling for where to secure them, using, getting high, coming down from the high, and beginning the cycle all over again.

Likely your job was one of the first things to go once your drug use began affecting your performance and attendance, as well as your appearance, interaction with co-workers and boss, and your overall manners. Getting back into gainful employment should be one of your goals after you are clean and free of drugs, since you cannot support yourself or others or make any meaningful headway in recovery if you are poverty-stricken.

Reality of Drug Abuse – Make something of yourself

Somewhere along the line you gave up on your dreams and instead you relegated yourself to something less than, to living in the shadows, to only getting by. Do you have idea why that took place?

  • Did you grow up in a dysfunctional family, constantly browbeaten and ridiculed, humiliated so that you felt like you were worthless and no-good?
  • Were you physically beaten, sexually abused, and neglected to the point of having to fend for yourself?
  • All this can and does put children at serious risk of falling prey to the lures of drug abuse.

Nonetheless because you are picking up the pieces you can come back from all this. You can make something of yourself once again. It will take a great deal of effort and the help of professionals to build your self-esteem don’t lose focus it can be done. You have to choose to try. It is not just a worthwhile goal but it is essential to achieving all your other goals in sobriety.

Reality of Drug Abuse – Financial security

The effects of drug addiction on your finances are one which is very much noticeable due to the sudden change of your lifestyle. It is common with most if not all drug addicts to be reckless with their spending on the supply of their substances until they are completely penniless. When they become penniless they begin to use their properties in exchange for the drugs, then lying and stealing from friends, family members or even strangers. Any available money would be used to finance the drug needs. This is the reality of your life as an addict but now that you are choosing to be sober and have your life back, financial security will be very important. Achieving this may not be possible easily without hard work and immense discipline. You will have to draw a plan of action even as you seek help from someone who can give you the best action plan. With good plan you will get back on your financial feet and live on the positive side of life.

Finally as you consider these options it will be fair for you to be in constant touch with an addiction professional who will be of help to you professionally on this journey of addiction recovery. Doctor Dalal Akoury has been a medical doctor with vast experience of over two decades in the line of addiction and her services will be very helpful to you for real tine addiction treatment in the most natural way.

Reality of Drug Abuse – When Drug Abuse is ruining your life

 

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