Tag Archives: Morphine

Psychoactive substance heroin opioid

June 3, 2016
psychoactive substance heroin

The psychoactive substance heroin opioid. Every puff of the substance has serious health consequences

Psychoactive substance heroin opioid: What is heroin?

The psychoactive substance known as heroin is a type of opioid drug which wears many faces. This is so because it is partially manmade and partially natural. It traces its origin from the morphine. Morphine is a psychoactive mind altering substance that occurs naturally in the resin of the opium poppy plant. If you were to describe this substance, one will have to depend on how it is made and the content of the ingredients in the mixture. With those noted, it is possible to mention the color and the appearance of heroin which can either be white or brown powder or a black, sticky substance called “black tar heroin.”

As things stand now, the psychoactive substance heroin opioid usage is taking a ne new dimension where it is becoming a preference for people abusing prescription opioid painkillers. Some of the notable painkillers include oxycontin and Vicodin. According to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, doctor Dalal Akoury is registering that many people are opting for the use of heroin in place of other opioid painkillers because its accessibility and affordability. They are also motivated with the fact that heroin equally produces similar high experience but at a much cost effective value.

Psychoactive substance heroin opioid: Usage of heroin

Heroin like any other stimulant is administered into the body through smoking, injection or snorting. It is injected with a needle when a solution of heroin powder is formed with water. Besides that it can also be snorted through the nose and smoked in the same way ordinary cigarette is smoked. It is increasingly becoming evident that many young people are using heroin in place of prescription opioids. If something is not done now, then we will be raising a generation of addicts and the future of our nations and communities will be very bleak. Because of this need, doctor Akoury in her establishment, is offering addiction treatment solutions tailored at transform each individual’s life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to find their own inner healing power. Dear friend you can’t go down with heroin with this great opportunity. We want to encourage you to seek for help early so that you can have your life back in a more professionally way with doctor Akoury today.

Psychoactive substance heroin opioid: How does heroin affect the brain?

The brain is be biggest casualty each time heroin is abused. Meaning that, when heroin enters the brain, it react immediately by converting itself into morphine and then binds to molecules on cells known as opioid receptors. The receptors are mainly located in areas of the brain and in particular those areas involved in the perception of pain and pleasure. This therefore means that regular usage of heroin will cause changes in the functioning of the brain thereby resulting in tolerance, dependence and finally addiction.

Psychoactive substance heroin opioid: What is heroin?

 

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Types of Opioids and Their Uses

October 4, 2014

Type of Opioids, Their Uses and Side Effects

172468400_80_80Opioids are drugs that many people cannot do without. They are essential in hospitals as they are the most effective drugs that can be used to aid the pain patients. Diseases such as cancer are synonymous to pain and in some situations going through the treatments will be very painful and therefore there is need for a drug that will work in different ways to curb the pain that may be disabling to the patient. Chronic pain in itself presents a torture to the patient and without pain relievers, such pain may cripple a patient. The opioids are not news to many years; people know them some as dangerous drugs that should never have been created in the first place. While to many they has become very valuable essentials that they cannot survive without- the pain patients (and even addicts). However, people are not always informed about the given types of opioids.  The opioids are mostly classified according to their source. There are opioids that are naturally extracted from the poppy plant and used without designing or any other further processing. These will fall under natural opioids.  Opioids may be extracted from the poppy plant but then is further processed. This group is referred to use semi-synthetic opioids while there are some that are some opioids that are processed in the labs. The opioids falling in this group are known as synthetic opioids.

The naturally sourced opioids

The natural opioids are those that are naturally available from the poppy plant. After extraction they are not further processed in a manner that will deplete their contents. Some of these natural opioids are used as pain relievers in hospitals.

Here are examples of the opioids;

Morphine

Morphine is naturally extracted from poppy plant. It is the most dominant opiate in the poppy plant. It was the first active ingredient that was extracted from the poppy plant. Apart from morphine there are also other alkanoids of different types that are found in the opium. The major source of morphine is a chemical extraction from opium.

Despite its use in hospitals for pain relief in patients with intense pain, morphine has a high potential of addiction, tolerance and psychological dependence which develops very rapidly. However psychological dependence takes a little bit longer to develop and may take several months. With morphine, tolerance to respiratory depression and euphoria develops more rapidly than tolerance to analgesia.

Thebaine

Thebaine is naturally available in small quantities in opium. It is also known as Paramorphine. It is white, crystalline, slightly water-soluble and poisonous alkaloid.  The Thebaine-Constituent of Raw-Opium is normally between 0.2% and 1.5%. However higher amounts have been reported. It is not used for therapeutic or recreational purposes, but is converted industrially into a variety of compounds such as oxycodone, oxymorphone, nalbuphine, naloxone, naltrexone, buprenorphine and etorphine.

In the past thabaine was believed to have no properties that were like those of morphine. However there are many studies that have found that thebaine has a considerable potential for dependence both psychological and physical when used in large doses for a long period of time.

Codeine

Naturally extracted from the poppy plant, codeine is used in hospitals as a narcotic pain-reliever and cough suppressant. It functions similar to morphine and hydrocodone. Moreover, when taken a small amount of codeine is converted to morphine in the body. However the mechanism of action of codeine is not known but just like morphine, codeine binds to opioid receptors in the brain. These receptors are important for transmitting the sensation of pain throughout the body and brain. Codeine increases tolerance to pain, decreasing discomfort, but the pain still is apparent to the patient. Despite its ability to suppress coughs and enable pain tolerance, it has the following side effects, noisy breathing, sighing, slow breathing with long pauses between breaths, drowsiness and blue colored lips.

Semi-synthetic opioids

This is a group of drugs that are naturally extracted from the poppy plant but are further processed before they are used. An example is heroine.

Heroine

Comes from the opium poppy but is further processed. When pure it is a white powder that has a bad taste. Some heroin is dark brown, and black tar heroin is either sticky or hard and looks like roofing tar. It has pain relieving properties. Unlike most pain relieving narcotics that are accepted in most states when prescribed by doctors, heroin is illegal in most countries basically because it is highly addictive and has quite grave side effects. Some of the withdrawal symptoms include; sleeplessness, bad chills and sweats, muscle pain, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Synthetic opioids

These are opioids that are made in laboratories. They include;

Methadone

Methadone is used as a pain reliever and as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs and is only available from certified pharmacies. This drug helps reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms that are suffered by heroin addicts when they stop using heroin. Some of its side effects include; rapid heart rhythm, severe dizziness and chest pain among others.

Oxycodone

This is an FDA approved drug for use in pain relief as well as suppressing coughs. This drug is a strong pain reliever and works better for both opioidsmoderate and severe pain. It increases tolerance to pain hence eliminating discomfort. It also causes sedation. May cause very severe side effects when mixed with alcohol. Cases of death have been reported.

Fentanyl

Fentanyl is an opioid medication that is used for anesthesia to help prevent pain after surgery or any other medical procedure that may result in moderate or severe pain. It is injected in the muscle or in the vain through IV. It is mostly used before surgery. Side effects include severe dizziness, drowsiness and impaired reactions.

Finally, you need more information to stay away from dependence on alcohol and drugs as these have crippled societies and that is why here at AWAREmed we are dedicated to finding the best solutions to addiction and dependence on substances. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is always in the mood of helping any patient to be addiction free. Do not hesitate to call on her for help in managing any sort of chronic pain or any type of addiction as well as other diseases.

Type of Opioids, Their Uses and Side Effects 

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Heroin Addiction, Creating Understanding for Treatment and Recovery

June 2, 2014

Exploring Heroin Addiction: Basic information and history

heroin Addiction

Victim of heroin addiction abusing the drug

Heroin addiction is on the rise. Heroin can be found as a white or brown powder, or as a black sticky substance. It is classified as an opiate, which stands for drugs that are naturally or synthetically derived from the flowers of the poppy plant. Heroin is synthetically extracted from Morphine, a naturally occurring substance derived from the seedpod of the Asian opium poppy plant.

The street heroin, also known as “black tar heroin”, appears black because of the impurities added to it during its production, known as “cuts”. These are mostly sugar, powdered milk and even poisons such as strychnine. Most of these do not fully dissolve and can cause a clogging of the blood vessels that supply blood to the vital body organs when injected.

Heroin was synthesized to assist the addicts recovering from Morphine, it being a “non-addictive” substance. Unfortunately, it proved to be even more addictive than Morphine.

Heroin has various street names which include; H, Horse, Smack, Brown Sugar, Dope, Skunk, Skag, White Horse, China White, Mexican Black Tar, White Horse, Nose Drops, Hell Dust, Thunder and Junk.

What is Heroin addiction? How Heroin is consumed?

Heroin is normally injected, inhaled by sniffing or snorting and smoked. All of these methods ensure that the Heroin is absorbed into the brain at a very high rate. It is this high rate of absorption by the brain that causes Heroin to make changes in the brain that later result in addiction. The Mexican Black Tar kind of Heroin is mostly injected because of its consistency.

How Heroin addiction affects the Brain

In its independent state, Heroin is a harmless drug. But when it reaches the brain, it is converted back to Morphine. It is then bonded to the molecules in the brain known as opioid receptors. These receptors are normally located in the part of the body involved with pain. This, combined with its analgesic nature, result in the user feeling emotional and physical pain and aches reducing. Also because it is sedative in nature, the users have reported experiencing feeling a warmth, relaxing feeling of detachment and less anxiety. These effects appear very quickly and that is why the users describe feeling a “rush” of euphoria suddenly engulfing them, making them feel “high” and relaxed.

After these initial feelings, the users feel drowsy and experience a clouded brain. These feelings can last for a very long time. Also because opioid receptors are located in the brain stem, which controls the critical processes of life like blood pressure and respiration, users experience a slowing down of the basic body functions like breathing and heartbeat.

Heroin Effects and Heroin Addiction

After the user has experienced the initial surge of emotions, there follows a wide range of body reactions. These include; shortness of breath, constricted of pupils, dry mouth, sudden changes in behavior or actions, droopy appearance, hyperthermia, vomiting, nausea and sedation.

Within hours of these effects fading, the user will crave for more Heroin and if they fail to administer it into their system, they will enter a state known as withdrawal. This state is characterized by symptoms such as restlessness, muscle and bone pain, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps known as “cold turkey” and kicking movements known also as “kicking the habit”.

Pregnant Heroin users risk spontaneous abortion, low birth weight and eventually the infant may be born with physically dependent on heroine, suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). This is a disease that infants get infected with, making them withdraw from medicine. Though recent studies have shown treating opioid addicted expectant mothers with buprenorphine which is a medication for opiod dependence can reduce NAS symptoms.

As a result of heroin addiction, a state in which the body cannot function without the drug in its system, and tolerance- a state in which the body requires a higher dosage of the drug in order to function, heroin addicts may develop certain behavioral and physical changes. These include; infection of the heat valve and heart lining, disease of the kidneys, abscesses and skin infections, liver disease, a risk of contracting HIV, constant runny nose, lying among others.

Treatment of a heroin addiction

Heroin addiction can be treated through various ways including therapy and medicinal. In medicinal use, the inpatient program is recommended compared to the outpatient program which should be applied after a patient has completed the inpatient program. Example of medicinal is by use of buprenorphine and methadone. These work by binding to the receptors as heroin though weakly, so a user can slowly reduce dependence on the drug. There is also the use of naltrexone. This blocks the opioid receptors so the drug cannot reach, though patients normally have a hard time using this drug. There is also the use of naloxone albeit during emergency treatment of heroin use.

Where therapy is applied, contingency management is often encouraged and patients can earn voucher points for each negative drug test. These points can be later exchanged for goods.

In cognitive-behavior therapy, the patients are taught stress coping skills and learn to modify addiction.

Getting the right Treatment through experts: Dr. Dalal Akroury

Heroin Addiction expert

Best Addiction Treatment Education – Helping Addicts Recover

Due to the seriousness of heroin addiction cases as a threat to life, it’s of great essence to only choose qualified addiction experts and professionals like Dr, Dalal Akoury of Awaremed Wellness and Resource Center. When all the aspects of addiction is addressed and proper treatment employed, success is eminent. Dr, Dalal’s treatment focuses on the restoration of the body, the mind and the spirit to bring a wholesome transformation of life of the addiction victims.

If you need addiction training that touches on all the genetics and epigenetics of addiction, then Dr. Dalal is the right expert to offer this. Their addiction training also focuses on physicians wanting to become addiction experts.

Exploring Heroin Addiction: Basic information and history

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