Neurochemical roots of addiction

July 5, 2017

Neurochemical roots of addiction needs to be identified and corrected

Neurochemical roots of addiction: The depleted GABA

For a long time, various forms of addictions have been taken to be just as a result of social problems and sometimes even decisions or choices we make in life. Yes, this may be true but we need to take a moment and look into this problem more critically to find facts about the neurochemical basis of addiction. Doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President, and founder of the AWAREmed health and wellness resource center says that it’s good that modern addiction medicine now recognizes that substance dependency of any kind is a disease process of the brain that features lowered dopamine and glutamate neurotransmitter levels. Importantly, as more legitimate research is done in this field of addiction medicine whose experimental basis is beginning to gain ground, models of neurochemical roots of addiction in the future may also feature lowered levels of GABA as the disease progresses. To understand this neurotransmitter (GABA) it will be necessary that we try to define some of the terms associated with it and appreciate the roles and functions of GABA in totality.

The use of GABA

Because of our unique DNA and the way that each of us metabolizes drugs, each of us may have different amounts of GABA in the brain but we are still considered to be operating “normally.” Unfortunately, there are no accepted medical tests to determine if we have too much or too little GABA activity. It appears that people who are nutritionally deficit and dehydrated often have problems with the operation of GABA in their brains. Since almost all of our patients are nutritionally deficient and dehydrated when they arrive at our facility, we have always implemented the addition of GABA to the IV therapy given to patients. The purpose is to provide a more natural boost to the GABA in the brain and to allow the calming effect of GABA to make the detoxification process more comfortable. Let us now understand how GABA operates by defining these terms.

Neurochemical roots of addiction: The neuron

A neuron is another name for a nerve cell.
Nerve cells float in the fluid.
Each neuron has an axon a thread-like part of the cell that sends signals from the cell body and a dendrite a part of the cell that receives signals from other neurons.
The neurons are not touching and the space between the cells is called the synapse.
Electrical signals are sent through the synapse to a receptor, a place on a cell that can produce a certain effect like the production of adrenaline if someone is frightened.

Neurochemical roots of addiction: The central nervous system (CNS)

The CNS is composed of the brain and the spinal cord.
The CNS transmits signals to the rest of the body using chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters are stored in vesicles—hollow sac-like structures inside the cells.
These neurotransmitters carry a message from a neuron to receptors on another neuron.
The action of the neurotransmitters on the receptors has been likened to a key being inserted in a lock.
When the key is turned the lock opens and the neurotransmitters activate the receptors which in turn create an effect in the body.
Then many of the neurotransmitters return to the releasing vesicles to be used again.

Finally, you can always talk to us by calling doctor Akoury on telephone number 843 213 1480 to help you with any concerns you may have.

Neurochemical roots of addiction: The depleted GABA

Central nervous system depressants

April 11, 2017

Central nervous system depressants can be very disruptive to the brains functions

Central nervous system depressants: What are depressant?

It is amazing how drugs abuse can accumulate so many names. And irrespective of the name used, their effects in human life still remain the same. We want to discuss the depressants which are also known as central nervous system depressant besides other street names like barbs, reds, red birds, pennies, stories, yellows, or yellow jackets, candy, downers, sleeping pills, or tracks, A-minus, or zombie pills. Central nervous system tranquilizers derail the normal activities of the brain and even that of the spinal cord say doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President, and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center which is a health facility founded with the sole objective of offering addiction solution to the suffering communities and the globe at large.

From her experience of over two decades in this profession, doctor Akoury agrees that medical doctors often prescribe depressants to people who are anxious or are just struggling to get quality sleep. This is a common practice and nothing is wrong with that. A depressant, when taken religiously as prescribed by the doctor, are beneficial to patients. However, when central nervous system depressants are abused or used wrongly, the consequences can be very severe. Doctor Akoury reiterates that when depressants are misused, dependence and addiction are inevitable risks. As individual users continue abusing these prescription drugs either by taking someone else medication or just taking your own inappropriately to get high, all the other chronic health conditions that are associated with drug addiction can easily attack such users.

As we continue exploring the effects of depressants, it is important to note that, these drugs can be divided into three primary groups: barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and sleep medications. Each of these groups will equally cause harm if not used appropriately. Careful attention needs to be taken in ensuring that the right prescription is used and the doctor’s instructions followed religiously. In the meantime, if for whatever reason you did not follow instructions well and you’re now suffering from its addiction, all is not lost. You can still get your life back if only you can schedule an appointment with doctor Akoury today for professional guidance.

Central nervous system depressants: How are depressant abused?

Depressants usually come either in pill or capsule form. They can be abused in different ways including some of the following:

Taking someone else’s prescription depressant medication.
Taking a depressant medication in total disregard of the doctor’s advice.
Experimenting with or taking depressants just for fun or to get high.
Taking a depressant while under the influence of other drugs.

Central nervous system depressants: How do depressants affect the brain?

Most depressants affect the brain by increasing the activity of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), a chemical in the brain that sends messages between cells. The increased GABA activity, in turn, slows down brain activity. This causes a relaxing effect that is helpful to people with anxiety or sleep problems. And like with other drugs, taking too much of GABA activity can be very harmful. Finally, you can avoid all these harmful effects by seeking help from the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center today and you will not regret having done so.

Central nervous system depressants: What are depressant?

Strong central nervous system stimulant

September 7, 2016

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:

Blood pressure
Cocaine compresses blood vessels
Dilates eye pupils
Heart rate
Increases body temperature

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

Central nervous system depressants

August 15, 2016

Central nervous system depressants and a balance neurotransmitters for good management of your health.

Central nervous system depressants: What are depressant?

It is amazing how drugs abuse can accumulate so many names. And irrespective of the name used, their effects in human life still remain the same. We want to discuss about the depressants which are also known as central nervous system depressant besides other street names like barbs, reds, red birds, phennies, tooies, yellows, or yellow jackets, candy, downers, sleeping pills, or tranks, A-minus, or zombie pills. Central nervous system tranquilizers derails the normal activities of the brain and even that of the spinal cord say doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center which is a health facility founded with soul objective of offering addiction solution to the suffering communities and the globe at large.

From her experience of over two decades in this profession, doctor Akoury agrees that medical doctors often prescribe depressants to people who are anxious or are just struggling getting quality sleep. This is a common practice and nothing is wrong with that. Depressant when taken religiously as prescribed by the doctor are beneficial to patients. However when central nervous system depressants are abuse or used wrongly, the consequences can be very severe. Doctor Akoury reiterates that when depressants are misused, dependence and addiction are inevitable risks. As individual users continues abusing these prescription drugs either by taking someone else medication or just taking your own inappropriately to get high, all the other chronic health conditions that are associated with drug addiction can easily attack such users.

As we continue exploring on the effects of depressants, it is important to note that, these drugs can be divided into three primary groups: barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and sleep medications. Each of these groups will equally cause harm if not used appropriately. Careful attention needs to be taken in ensuring that the right prescription is used and the doctors instructions followed religiously. In the meantime if for whatever reason you did not follow instructions well and you’re now suffering from its addiction, all is not lost. You can still get your life back if only you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury today for professional guidance.

Central nervous system depressants: How are depressant abused?

Depressants usually come either in pill or capsule form. They can be abused in different ways including some of the following:

Taking someone else’s prescription depressant medication.
Taking a depressant medication in total disregard of the doctor’s advice.
Experimenting with or taking depressants just for fun or to get high.
Taking a depressant while under the influence of other drugs.

Central nervous system depressants: How do depressants affects the brain?

Most depressants affect the brain by increasing the activity of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a chemical in the brain that sends messages between cells. The increased GABA activity in turn slows down brain activity. This causes a relaxing effect that is helpful to people with anxiety or sleep problems. And like with other drugs, taking too much of GABA activity can be very harmful. Finally you can avoid all these harmful effects by seeking for help from the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center today and you will not regret having done so.

Central nervous system depressants: What are depressant?

http://www.awaremednetwork.com/

Understanding nutrition in drug addiction recovery

August 30, 2015

Understanding nutrition in drug addiction recovery: Sustaining the fight of substance abuse

Understanding nutrition in drug addiction recovery will go along way in bringing the problem of addiction to manageable levels.

If you are one of the many individuals across the globe that is struggling with drug addiction and almost losing hope, this blog is for you and we are also very much available for you at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. This is a weight lose facility that was primarily established by doctor Dalal Akoury (MD) and one of the most respected addiction expert across the globe. For more than two decades now doctor Akoury and her team of experienced experts have been offering solutions to vary many people and they are not about to stop until this scourge is completely eradicated from our lives. Doctor Akoury acknowledges that there are very many ways of fighting this ware and one of them if through good feeding habit. This is what we want to discuss on this article under the topic of “the understanding nutrition in drug addiction recovery process” we therefore want to request you to stay on the link and get the best nutritional ways of eradicating the problems of addiction from your life and that of your loved ones.

If you have been with us on this link then you will agree with me that this is not the first time we are making comments about this mode of addiction treatment and for that reason, it has been known since time immemorial that individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) usually have significant vitamin and mineral deficiencies. This has cause a lot of investigations to be done by various experts in the past decade, more so to more so with a view of finding out the alterations in both neuro-circuitry and nutrition-related hormones in the SUD population to better understand eating behavior during drug use, recovery, and long-term abstinence. Doctor Dalal Akoury says that the connections between nutrition behavior and addiction recovery have important implications that are not frequently addressed in clinical practice.

Understanding nutrition in drug addiction recovery: Food Addiction

We all need food to keep the body moving. The energy we get for the food we eat enables the body to discharge its function optimally however highly palatable food can stimulate endogenous opioid release and trigger dopamine activity in the brain. And for a better understanding, palatable foods are those processed food that typically contains added sugars, salt, and fat. According to recent studies there is evidence that indicates that depict dopamine circuits as a major site of convergence where metabolic/hormonal and visceral sensory cues interact to regulate eating behavior by way of a “gut-brain dopamine axis.” Nonetheless in many cases, food addiction over the years has been associated with binge eating disorder as well as obesity. Given that weight gain following abstinence from drugs is a source of major personal suffering, there is a pressing need for a more detailed understanding of the effects of drug addiction on dietary intake and that is what with the help of experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center wants to highlight on as we progress into the discussion.

Understanding nutrition in drug addiction recovery: Disordered Eating

Drug abuse is a risk factor for eating disorders and from an expert point of view there is clear evidence that this is both influences genetically and environmentally. Doctor Akoury is reporting that it is very important to appreciate that when it comes to weight complications, even a remote history of SUD can negatively impact weight loss in adults and adolescents. Sobriety time has been positively associated with increased sugar use. Substance abuse linked to low distress tolerance can lead to excessive consumption of food. Like in one of the studies, it was established that nearly 40 percent of women in SUD treatment met criteria for an eating disorder most commonly binge eating disorder followed by bulimia nervosa. Men in SUD treatment reported bingeing and the use of food to satisfy drug cravings during the first six months, with weight concerns and distress about efforts to lose weight during months 7 through 36

Understanding nutrition in drug addiction recovery: Addiction and physical health

According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, the most substantial health burden arising from addiction normally lies not in the direct effects of intoxication but in the secondary effects on physical health. Doctor Akoury says that there are clear evidence supporting the fact that food and drugs are competing for overlapping reward mechanisms. It therefore means that when the immediate crisis of substance abuse has been resolved, there is a likely compensatory increased drive for food intake to achieve weight recovery and a likely overshoot, leading to increased adipose

Gluttonous food consumption may be due to “rebound appetite” in the wake of the hypothalamic suppression from drug use. Making healthy food choices after abstinence has been achieved may be very challenging. Sobriety is associated with new emotions, anxiety, and uncertainty. It is easy to seek a predictable and comforting response from food. This may lead to overeating, relapse, compromised quality of life, and the development of chronic disease. Besides all these it is equally important that we address the impact of caffeine and nicotine abuse because they are highly addictive substances that can perpetuate substance-seeking behavior. And along-side with that, the impact of stress and adequate sleep should also not be ignored, as they too can have profound effects on the endocrine and reward systems. Given that individuals with a history of SUD are at higher risk for developing food-intake-related dysfunction, there is a substantial need for nutrition interventions in addiction recovery, and very importantly the services of registered dietitian nutritionists will be very vital in the treatment process.

Finally, according to Anecdotal reports it was suggested that most treatment centers allow unlimited or excessive amounts of highly palatable foods to patients. However, while food restriction can lead to relapse, over-indulgence can perpetuate the cycle of addictive behavior and contribute significantly to healthcare burden. The best intervention appears to lie somewhere in between these extremes, which will require additional clinical expertise in treatment settings. The need for firm commitment to intervention protocols as well as ongoing supervision is warranted for successful program implementation in residential treatment facilities. Therefor if you or any of your loved ones is struggling with any form of addiction, our office is always open for you and you can walk in any time or call us on telephone number 843 213 1480 to schedule for an appointment with our team of experts and all your addictions concerns will be readily and professionally addressed.

Understanding nutrition in drug addiction recovery: Sustaining the fight of substance abuse

Tag Archives: Central nervous system disease