Substance Use Disorder Treatment with Nervine Herbs

February 27, 2015

Substance Use Disorder Treatment with Nervine Herbs

The basic knowledge of drugs is that they are substances that interfere with the normal functioning of the body. This therefore means that after using some drugs and substances a person’s behavior will be altered by the substances he has used. However it should be known that there are far more damages that drug and substances use cause to an individual health wise. Substance use disorder, also known as drug use disorder, is a condition in which the use of one or more substances leads to a clinically significant impairment or distress. In this context contrary to common knowledge that substance can mean any physical matter, the term substance here is used to mean drugs. Substance Use Disorder refers to the overuse of, or dependence on, a drug leading to effects that are detrimental to the individual’s physical and mental health as well as the effect on other people’s welfare.

The diagnosis of substance abuse disorder has improved treatment of patients. Before his approach to treatment of addiction related cases, doctors used to treat addiction and other clinically significant abuse as separate issues but with substance use disorder diagnosis, doctors can simultaneously treat both addiction and non-addiction related dysfunctional substance abuse in patients. the rule of this approach of treatment is that the doctor will identify the specific cause of problems to an individual for example if a person is alcohol-related issues then he Is termed to suffer alcohol use disorder while a person suffering from cocaine is termed to be suffering from stimulant use disorder.

Nervine Herbs

a person suffering from any substance use disorder will exhibit at least three and at most eleven specific symptoms related to the use of the substance with the most prominent examples of these symptoms being substance cravings, an inability to curb substance intake, the development of tolerance to a substance’s effects, serious life disruptions that stem from substance use, use of substances in clearly dangerous circumstances and devotion of significant time or resources to either using a substance or recovering from substance intake. However, people affected by the minimum number of symptoms have mild substance use disorder, while people affected with many or most of the required symptoms have major or severe substance use disorder but all of these people need substance use disorder treatment in order to be free from the effects of the drugs they are using.

Treatment of substance use disorder with nervine herbs

What are Nervine Herbs?

The Nervines are herbs that are very essential in supporting the nervous system. The nervines may work as tonics and to create a mild calming effect. The tonic nervines may include the Skullcap and the oat tops while Catnip and chamomile can be used for mild calming of the nervous system. Apart from these two categories there are also nervines that work as strong sedatives on the nervous system, they may include the Hops and the Valerian among others. Generally the nervine herbs are used to relieve nagging muscle tension and spasms, circular thoughts, insomnia, and the occasional worry that has become a part of day to day life. Some of these herbs provide multiple nervine actions, such as Skullcap which relaxes the muscles, helps calm worried thoughts, and nourishes the nervous system. Others such as Oat Tops, are not necessarily relaxing to the physical body, but help restore and support healthy nerve functioning when taken on a regular basis.

The nervous system is Composed of the all the nerve tissues in the body and plays very critical roles in the body. They are composed of the nerve tissues that receive stimuli and transmit stimuli to the nervous systems and to initiate responses. The central nervous system consists of the brain and the spinal cord and functions as the points of collection of all the nerve impulses. This is how the nervous system works; the sensory nervous system receives the stimuli, the central nervous system interprets them while the motor nervous system initiates responses.

The nervous system are very vital in the body and so they ought to be performing at optimum always, however due to some of the substances that a person may use such as drugs and alcohol the communication between these nerve tissues may be tampered with leading to rise of some complications in a person . Therefore there is need for the entire nervous system to replenished, relaxed and strengthened and nothing does that better than the nervines. The nervines are herbs that are specifically for the nervous system. They correct all the defects in the nervous system as well as strengthening the nervous system.

Nervine Herbs

Here are some of the useful Nervine Herbs

Catnip – this nervine is a very gentle sedative that is used in solving insomnia related problems. Some drugs may often leave the user with sleeplessness after along use. Catnip could be the answer. It’s also good for headaches.

California poppy – this herb has anti-anxiety, sedative, and analgesic properties. It’s used to promote relaxation in those seeking rest from nerve pain.

Passion flower – This stunning plant offers anti-spasmodic power and is helpful with tension headaches, occasional nerve pain, nervous restlessness, and restful sleep. Good for many symptoms of substance use disorder.

Lavender – Calming herb that is often used in aromatherapy applications for its mild calming action. This herb is uplifting hence good for low moods. It is good for mild anxiety and improves sleep quality. For persistent depression use lavender with holy basil and damiana.

Finally, Here at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center we are committed to availing help to addicts by availing some of the most integrative approaches to healing an addict. We advocate for natural healing to all kinds of addiction. In case you are struggling with addiction just call on Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for help.

Substance Use Disorder Treatment with Nervine Herbs

GABA Metabolism in the CNS in Addiction

February 14, 2015

GABA Metabolism in the CNS in Addiction

What is GABA?

Known as Gamma-Amino Butyric acid, it is an amino acid that performs functions of neurotransmitters in the brain.it is the most abundant neurotransmitters occurring in the central nervous system (CNS).it acts as an inhibitor of transmissions in the brain thus in the process calming down activities in the nervous system. It is found as a supplement in which it acts as a natural tranquilizer. It has been shown to increase levels of human growth hormones thus is very popular among body builders.

The Neurotransmitters Question

The brain is made up of millions of cells. Communication takes place from one brain region to another through neurotransmitters. Neurons are individual cells of the nerves that make up the nervous system. They serve as the wiring for the body to transmit information form one region to another. The electrical signals generated are transported through the neurons as a single impulse. Ones the impulses reaches the end of the neurons, it is transmitted to the other cell through neurotransmitters.

The central nervous system consists of the spinal cord and the brain. The two consist of neurotransmitters which pass from one end of the neuron to another. The peripheral nervous system which is made up of nerves that run to the rest of the body. The nerves transmit chemical signals from one neuron t adjacent gland cells and muscles.

GABA and glutamate are the most abundantly occurring neurotransmitters in the nervous system. The two are in abundance in the cerebral cortex which is the region where interpretation of sensation takes place and thinking occurs. The ending of the neurons are made up of sac like structures which are filled with neurotransmitters.

GABA

When the chemical and electrical signals reach the end of the neurons, they trigger the sacs to release neurotransmitters to act as a bridge between one nerve cell and another. The spaces called synapses act as a bridge through which signals pass to the other cells. On reaching the other neuron, the neurotransmitters attach to the cell receptors. This triggers the electric impulse to move from the end of the nerve cell neuron to the other cell completing the message transmission and triggering and effect.

Role of GABA In the Brain

It is formed in the cells of the brain from glutamate. GABA acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter which simply means that it blocks nerve impulses in the brain. On the other hand, glutamate from which GABA is formed is an excitatory neurotransmitter. When it binds to cells adjacent to it, it activates them to send impulses throughout the brain from one cell to another. GABA instead of telling the brain to activate and send impulses, it tells it he opposite. It stimulates the brain not to send nerve impulses from one cell to another.

In the absence of GABA nerve cells tend to activate more often sending signals regularly. Disorders associated with anxiety such as headaches, addiction, panic attacks, Parkinson syndrome, cognitive impairment and seizures are all linked to low activity of GABA.

It naturally hinders nerve impulses transmission from one cell to another. It brings about a calming effect in the process. The best way to understand the significance of GABA is by understanding the effects of caffeine on the brain. Caffeine acts as an inhibitor of the release of GABA. When the levels of GABA are low in the brain, more nerve transmissions take place. This leads to the sensational feeling that one gets when they takes coffee. This feeling is as a result of activity of glutamate with less GABA.

The reason why, caffeine does this is simply because other molecules tend to bind with the neurons near the site where GABA binds with these neurons. This is exactly the way that basic tranquilizers like barbiturates and Benzodiazepines work. They increase the effects of GABA in the body which in turns inhibits the transmission of nerves.

GABA Metabolism

It is synthesized in a metabolic path known as the GABA shunt. The first step in GABA formation uses a-ketoglutarate that is formed from metabolism of glucose in the Kreb’s cycle. Afterwards a-ketoglutarate is processed by a-oxoglutarate to form glutamate. In the final process, the glutamate undergoes decarboxylation to form GABA through the glutamic acid decarboxylase enzyme. Like other neurotransmitters, GABA is stored in the synaptic vesicles of the brain and is only released when depolarization of the presynaptic membrane takes place.

GABA

GABA and Addiction

Alcohol consumption leads to loss of coordination of the motors as well as sedation as other high levels of inhibitory transmitters do. Studies therefore show that GABA effects contribute to some effects of alcohol in the brain. Past studies show that, GABA as an inhibitory neurotransmitter is affected by alcohol consumption. Continuous alcohol consumption leading to addiction lead to decline in GABA receptors found in the brain and his reduces the ability of the neurotransmitter t bind with cell receptors.

In this case, the body is forced to find ways to compensate for the declined levels of GABA neurotransmitters. These effects are responsible for brain function changes that lead to things like dependence and alcohol tolerance. When one withdraws from alcohol, the stimulating effects on the neurotransmitter disappear. The body has very few GABA receptors needed to balance the effects of excitatory neurotransmitters. Because of this the brain has too many excitatory nerve signals being transmitted. This translates to psychological and physical effects of alcohol addiction and withdrawal.

Dr. Dalal Akoury has years of experience with patients of addiction and other health conditions. This enables her to provide wise counsel to patients who may be going through certain health conditions. Many of these patients have gotten better and they now bear witness to her god works. To become part of this community and to receive regular health and awareness tips that will befit you, visit www.awaremednetwork.com today.

GABA Metabolism in the CNS in Addiction

Neurons and Neurotransmitters

June 12, 2014

Neurons and Neurotransmitters-The Brains of the Nervous System

Neurotransmitters neuron is a specialized nerve cell that receives, processes, and transmits information to other cells in the body.

The body of a human being is presumed dead when the brain stops functioning. This is because all the functions of the body are controlled by the various segments of the brain. Majorly the nervous system is responsible for the body’s control and communication network. While discharging this function in humans, they do so in three ways and that is to say that they:

Senses changes both in and outside the body-the sensory function.
Interprets and explains the changes-the integrative function.
Responds to the interpretation by making muscles interact and glands secrete hormones or other chemicals into the bloodstream-the motor function.

The nervous system itself has two main parts:

The central nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord which acts as a control center.

The peripheral nervous system includes all other nerve elements. All these elements connect the brain and spinal cord to muscles and glands.

Neurons power their functions

It is important to note that the body of a human being is made up of billions of cells which are ordinarily the basic unit of all living things. This also applies to the single-celled organisms like the bacteria which can perform the basic functions needed to sustain life. These basic functions may include gathering energy from food, reproducing and producing waste materials. Looking at the cells, nearly all of them have three parts which are:

An outer wall also known as membrane
A nucleus that contains essential chemicals
A body of clear fluid called the cytoplasm

Plants, animals and human beings are multicellular meaning creatures with many-cells. Of these cells billions of them are specialize in certain specific functions. For example, some cells would become:

Part of muscle tissue and help us to move.
Other cells make up organs, glands, blood, veins, arteries, and bones.

Neurotransmitters cross the gaps between neurons

For it to effectively serve its three functions, the nervous systems which includes the vast circuits of delicate cells which are very much elaborately interconnected and in fact the brain, spinal cord and nerves all over the body are all made up of one kind of cell. These are the nerves cells and they are also known as neurons and as had been indicated that the brain of human beings has billions of neurons. Now the question you need to ask yourselves is does your spinal cord and all the nerves that fan out from the spinal cord to your glands, organs, and muscles.

The specific functions of the neurons are to allow your brain to learn reason and be able to remember things. Through these activities the body responds and adjusts to changes in the environment. These changes are also called stimuli, they will set off impulses in our sense organs like: the eye, the ear and other organs of taste and smell and sensory receptors located in the skin joins, muscles and other parts of the body. Now having listened to all these it is important to note that every time you feel something including the effects of a drug, know that millions of neurons are firing messages to form one another.

Each neuron may have thousands of branches that connect it to other neurons and these branches are called dendrites or axons. Dendrites carry messages towards the cell body while axons carry messages away from the cell body to another neuron. Axons can extend as long as four feet in humans and in some animals even longer.

In the beginning it was believed that axons and dendrites simply run through the body continuously like a wire but letter on a space was discovered between each axon and dendrite. This space in known as a synaptic gap or synapse and it is the space between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite of the next neuron in a nerve pathway. This gap is negligibly small and it is about one millionth of an inch, it is that small.

Research finding originally believed that electrical impulses jumped these gaps like electricity does across the gap in spark plug but this theory has been ruled out as it is now known that this was never true. It is the chemicals which travel across the gap and not electrical impulses and these chemicals are also neurotransmitters.

A number of chemical building blocks for neurotransmitters such as amino acids come from the kinds of food we eat meaning that our bodies have the ability to manufacture or produce neurotransmitters. Neurons offer a storage package for neurotransmitters known as vesicles which are located very close to the endings of each axon. They (neurons) synthesize some neurotransmitters right in the vesicle while other neurotransmitters are synthesized in the body of the cell and transported to the vesicle. Most of the addictive substances have the ability to change the effects of neurotransmitters on neurons. We will be able to better comprehend how these substances work when we get to know about neurotransmitters and how they act as chemical messengers

Neurotransmitters meet three criteria

Neurotransmitters are molecules-groups of atoms joined by a chemical bond which act as a unit. For them to be called neurotransmitters a molecule must meet the following three criteria:

The molecule must be present and evenly distributed in the brain meaning that the molecules must not just concentrate in one segment but must spread out among different types of neurons and across all segments of the brain that have different functions.
Chemical criteria that is to say the enzymes which help in creating the neurotransmitter must be available in the brain. An enzyme is a catalyst protein which speeds up chemical reactions within the body. It is also important that these enzymes be available in areas where the neurotransmitters are found.
The criterion of mimicry assuming that we inject directly a neurotransmitter into a section of the brain known to contain certain neurons, this injection should be able to imitate the effects of electrically stimulating the same neurons.

Neurons and Neurotransmitters-The Brains of the Nervous System

Tag Archives: Central Nervous System