Category Archives: Dr. Dalal Akoury

Addiction and Mental health

May 2, 2014

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment

Addiction

Your mental health can be affected by addiction and substance abuse, but wait a minute, did you know that event like team building could help you overcome some of these problems?

For people with dual disorders also known as “dual diagnosis”, the attempt to obtain professional help can be frustrating and confusing. They may have problems arising within themselves as a result of their psychiatric and alcohol and other drug (AOD) use disorders as well as problems of external origin that derive from the conflicts, limitations, and clashing philosophies of the mental health and addiction treatment systems. For example, internal problems such as frustration, denial, or depression may hinder their ability to recognize the need for help and diminish their ability to ask for help. A typical external problem might be the confusion experienced when individuals need services but lack knowledge about the different goals and processes of various types of available services. Other problems of external origin may be very fundamental, such as the inability to pay for child care services or the lack of transportation to the only available outpatient program.

Historically, when patients in alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment exhibited vivid and acute psychiatric symptoms, the symptoms were either unrecognized or observed but miss-described as toxicity or acting-out behavior or accurately identified, prompting the patients to be discharged or referred to a mental health program. Virtually the same process occurred for patients in mental health treatment who exhibited vivid and acute symptoms of AOD use disorders.

Mislabeling, rejecting, failing to recognize, or automatically transferring patients with dual disorders can result in inadequate treatment, with patients falling between the cracks of treatment systems. The symptoms of psychiatric and AOD use disorders often fluctuate in intensity and frequency. Current symptom presentation may reflect a short-term change in the course of long-term dual disorders. Thus, even when patients receive traditional professional help, treatment may address only selected aspects of their overall problem unless treatment is coordinated among services including AOD, mental health, social, and medical programs.

As a result, the treatment system itself may be a stumbling block for some people attempting to receive ongoing, appropriate, and comprehensive treatment for combined psychiatric and AOD use disorders. Thus, treatment services for patients with dual disorders must be sensitive to both the individual’s and the treatment system’s impediments to the initiation and continuation of treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment Systems

People with dual disorders who want to engage in the treatment process (or who need to do so) frequently encounter several treatment systems, each having its own strengths and weaknesses. These treatment systems have different clinical approaches.

Addiction and Mental health-The Mental Health System

Actually, there is no single mental health system, although most States have a set of public mental health centers. Rather, mental health services are provided by a variety of mental health professionals including psychiatrists; psychologists; clinical social workers; clinical nurse specialists; other therapists and counselors including marriage, family, and child counselors (MFCCs); and paraprofessionals.

These mental health personnel work in a variety of settings, using a variety of theories about the treatment of specific psychiatric disorders. Different types of mental health professionals for example, social workers and MFCCs have differing perspectives; moreover, practitioners within a given group often use different approaches.

A major strength of the mental health system is the comprehensive array of services offered, including counseling, case management, partial hospitalization, inpatient treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and a variety of residential programs. The mental health system has a relatively large variety of treatment settings. These settings are designed to provide treatment services for patients with acute, sub-acute, and long-term symptoms.

  • Acute services are provided by personnel in emergency rooms and hospital units of several types and by crisis-line personnel, outreach teams, and mental health law commitment specialists.
  • Sub-acute services are provided by hospitals, day treatment programs, mental health center programs, and several types of individual practitioners.
  • Long-term settings include mental health centers, residential units, and practitioners’ offices.
  • Clinicians vary with regard to academic degrees, styles, expertise, and training.
  • Strength of the mental health system is the growing recognition at all system levels of the role of case management as a means to individualize and coordinate services and secures entitlements.

Medication is more often used in psychiatric treatment than in addiction treatment, especially for severe disorders. Medications used to treat psychiatric symptoms include psychoactive and non-psychoactive medications. Psychoactive medications cause an acute change in mood, thinking, or behavior, such as sedation, stimulation, or euphoria.

Psychoactive medications (such as benzodiazepines) prescribed to the average patient with psychiatric problems are generally taken in an appropriate fashion and pose little or no risk of abuse or addiction. In contrast, the use of psychoactive medications by patients with a personal or family history of an AOD use disorder is associated with a high risk of abuse or addiction.

Some medications used in psychiatry that have mild psychoactive effects (such as some tricyclic antidepressants with mild sedative effects) appear to be misused more by patients with an AOD disorder than by others. Thus, a potential pitfall is prescribing psychoactive medications to a patient with psychiatric problems without first determining whether the individual also has an AOD use disorder.

While most clinicians in the mental health system generally have expertise in a bio-psychosocial approach to the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders, some lack similar skills and knowledge about the specific drugs of abuse, the bio-psychosocial processes of abuse and addiction, and AOD treatment, recovery, and relapse. Similarly, AOD treatment professionals may have a thorough understanding of AOD abuse treatment but not psychiatric treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-The Addiction Treatment System

As with mental health treatment, no single addiction treatment system exists. Rather, there is a collection of different types of services such as social and medical model detoxification programs, short- and long-term treatment programs, methadone detoxification and maintenance programs, long-term therapeutic communities, and self-help adjuncts such as the 12-step programs. These programs can vary greatly with respect to treatment goals and philosophies. For example, abstinence is a prerequisite for entry into some programs, while it is a long-term goal in other programs. Some AOD treatment programs are not abstinence oriented. For example, some methadone maintenance programs have the overt goal of eventual abstinence for all patients, while others promote continued methadone use to encourage psychosocial stabilization.

As with mental health treatment, addiction treatment is provided by a diverse group of practitioners, including physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, certified addiction counselors, MFCCs, and other therapists, counselors, and recovering paraprofessionals. There can be a wide difference in experience, expertise, and knowledge among these diverse providers. As with mental health treatment, most States have public and private AOD treatment systems.

The strengths of addiction treatment services include the multidisciplinary team approach with a bio-psychosocial emphasis, and an understanding of the addictive process combined with knowledge of the drugs of abuse and the 12-step programs. In typical addiction treatment, medications are used to treat the complications of addiction, such as overdose and withdrawal. However, few medications that directly treat or interrupt the addictive process, such as disulfiram and naltrexone, have been identified or regularly used. Maintenance medications such as methadone are crucial for certain patients. However, most addiction treatment professionals attempt to eliminate patients’ use of all drugs.

Addiction and Mental health-Similarities Treatment Systems
  • Variety of treatment settings and program types
  • Public and private settings
  • Multiple levels of care
  • Bio-psychosocial models
  • Increasing use of case and care management
  • Value of self-help adjuncts.

Many who work in the addiction treatment field have only a limited understanding of medications used for psychiatric disorders. Historically, some people have mistakenly assumed that all or most psychiatric medications are psychoactive or potentially addictive. Many addiction treatment staff tends to avoid the use of any medication with their patients, probably in reaction to those whose addiction included prescription medications such as diazepam. Many staff lack proper training and experience in the use of such medications. In the treatment of dual disorders, a balance must be made between behavioral interventions and the appropriate use of non-addicting psychiatric medications for those who need them to participate in the recovery process. Withholding medications from such individuals increases their chances of AOD relapse.

Because of these variances in administering addiction medication you need to specifically take the lead role in offering addiction treatment. Dr. Dalal Akoury Founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is the expert you need. She is offering her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to other physicians and health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars. Contacting her would be the beginning of your journey to truly successful and fast addiction recovery treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment

 

 

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

Drugs that can harm the Immune System

April 30, 2014

Drugs that can harm the Immune System-Their negative effects

Immune system

Help indeed, drugs which affects immune system are toxic and addictive, if affected seek professional help

We have in the past articles discusses the significance of immune system to the human body. As a center for protecting the body against injuries from pathogens and substances, it is very important that we get to know some of the drugs which may injure this center (immune system) and take precautionary actions to ensure that the fabric of immunity is safe. For-instance flu is rarely deadly, but even though this is true, pneumonia which kills comes as result of flu making it a serious point of concern. It is therefore necessary that prescription and over-the-counter drugs be seriously considered on the list of things that could potentially make people more susceptible to having a flu that morphs into a deadly pneumonia. The following are some of the drugs for consideration:

Steroids these are drugs from corticosteroids to anabolic steroids, suppress the immune system that defends against bacterial and viral infections such as pneumonia.

Chronic stress creates greater susceptibility to infection because it raises cortisol levels. Cortisol is a steroid hormone released by the adrenal glands that has many side effects when it’s chronically high. One side effect is that it reduces inflammation. This may appear good but at the same time it suppresses the immune system. Chronically high cortisol also disrupts blood sugar balance, often leading to high insulin, obesity and sometimes, diabetes. With these illnesses weak immune system is disastrous.

The most common route of steroid drug use, particularly in children, is through asthma inhalers.
Most asthma inhalers contain some form of synthetic steroid. These steroids help reduce the airway inflammation associated with asthma, but at the same time can reduce the ability of the lungs to fight bacterial and viral infections.

Steroid drug abuse among high school and college athletes is common. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 1 – 6% of high school athletes use steroid drugs to enhance their performance. This amounts to potentially hundreds of thousands of teens with suppressed immune systems who are more susceptible to viral and bacterial infection.

Steroid drugs such as prednisone are widely prescribed for people with painful inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, and for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and lupus. They are also prescribed for those with organ transplants to suppress a rejection response by the immune system.

Even the regular use of cortisone creams for arthritis can raise cortisol levels enough to suppress the immune system.

Drugs that can harm the Immune System-PPI Heartburn Drugs that Suppress Stomach Acid
Proton pump inhibitors or PPIs such as Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec powerfully block the secretion of stomach acid. This has the effect of reducing heartburn and nausea, but it also blocks one of the body’s main defenses against bacteria and viruses. According to a 2004 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 70% of the hospitalized patients in the study received a PPI or other stomach acid-suppressing drug within hours of being admitted. The study showed that patients who were given PPIs had a 30% higher risk of developing pneumonia.

Drugs that can harm the Immune System-Statin Drugs to Lower Cholesterol
A medical group in Switzerland found that organ transplant patients who were taking statin drugs (e.g. Lipitor, Mevacor, Pravachol) did better than those who weren’t taking the drugs. Laboratory studies showed that statins did indeed suppress parts of the immune system, and the authors concluded, “This unexpected effect provides a scientific rationale for using statins as immune-suppressors, not only in organ transplantation but in numerous other pathologies as well.”

Drugs that can harm the Immune System-SSRI Antidepressants
The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant drugs (SSRIs) such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil increase serotonin levels and in so doing also give the immune system a boost. This boost can be the good news or the bad news. According to expert researchers this boost can push the immune system into autoimmune disease, where the body starts attacking itself. These types of immune system over-reactions are also implicated in the “cytokine storms” that can create deadly inflammation in the lungs.

Opioid Drugs
Both short term and long term use of the pain killing opioid drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, fentanyl, codeine and morphine block the immune system’s ability to attack viral and bacterial invaders. Some pain killers drugs such as Tramdol combine an opioid with acetaminophen (e.g. Tylenol), further compromising the immune system with acetaminophen’s toxic effects on liver function.

Acetaminophen
Acetaminophen (e.g. Tylenol) is very hard on the liver, the body’s major organ of detoxification. A simple dosage mix-up, such as giving a teaspoon of liquid acetaminophen vs. a dropperful can cause liver damage, particularly in children. When the body is invaded by a virus or bacteria, the debris of the battle is processed through the liver. A compromised liver cannot effectively remove toxins caused by infection.

Drugs that can harm the Immune System-Fakegrances
Fake fragrances, also known as fakegrances, such as the air fresheners, scented laundry soaps and personal care products, candles, and most perfumes are not drugs, but for many people they are certainly lung irritants and are thought to be a major cause of asthma in children.

Fakegrances often contain dozens if not hundreds of chemicals, many of them extremely toxic. Fakegrances remain unregulated in the U.S., the justification being that the toxic chemicals are present in such small amounts that they are not harmful. However, constant exposure through scented personal care products, wearing fakegranced clothing, sleeping on fakegranced sheets and living with air fresheners in the home and car, certainly has an impact on the lungs. There has been an explosion in the use of hand sanitizer gels, all of them containing fakegrances.

Drugs that can harm the Immune System-Strive for Immune Balance
The truth is this a journey you do not want to disengage in owing to the vitality of immune system. It will not be wrong to say that immune system is undisputed tool for good health and sine we both love life we have a duty to make sure that it is well maintained. I suggest that if you’re taking drugs of any kind, make a list of their brand names and generic names, and take an audit of each to a certain if they suppress the immune system. This knowledge is very important to you irrespective of whether you need to stay on an immune-suppressing drug or not, you will still need to know how it’s affecting your body.

All of us want a balanced immune system, which is best achieved by an overall healthy lifestyle which includes wholesome foods, moderate exercise, good sleep and stress management. Besides all these you will need to be inconstant touch with an expert to help you keep the promise. This is effectively available at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury. With her you will be cared for professionally while focusing on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE. Welcome to AWAREmed and experience the comfort of living life to the fullest.

Drugs that can harm the Immune System-Their negative effects

 

 

 

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

Addiction Energy is it Positive or Negative Energy Center!

April 29, 2014

Addiction Energy-Choosing Positive or Negative Centers

Addiction Energy

If it is addiction energy messing up your life you need to worry less and channel your energy into seeking help from the experts

A center is considered integrated when there is a balanced experience of the dualistic qualities of that center. This means we have learned to recognize and accept both the “positive” and “negative” poles of the duality, incorporating them into a basically positive experience. No large amount of avoidance and suppression is occurring, and previously suppressed energies have been cleared. Addiction Energy is a missing element in many drug addiction centers. If we cannot realistically say that we have learned to experience the negative pole in a harmonious way, at least we have learned how to accept it and work with it constructively – for example, through processing.

Addiction Energy-We become addicted to the positive because we are unwilling to face the negative

Un-integrated we become addicted at various levels of experience. We become addicted to the “positive” side of any one dualistic experience because we are not willing to face the “negative” side of its duality. We seek to escape to the positive side, often not even realizing that both sides are dependent on one another for their existence. Addicted Energy is dual in nature, we need to become more aware of the duality of Addiction Energy.

However, because of the nature of dualism, the more we try to experience the positive, the more we also generate the negative. We become frustrated. We attempt to suppress the intensifying negative with more experiences of the positive, and the Addiction Energy cycle builds. Addiction can occur not only at the Sensation or Nurturing levels, where it is normally recognized, but in all centers. We develop a deep hunger for a particular need, but no matter what we do to try to satisfy the hunger, it remains or even becomes worse. Addictive behavior is also known as “compulsive.”

Addiction Energy-Addiction requires psychic energy

Each addiction can be related to a certain center of consciousness. Addiction is the result of an Addiction Energy imbalance in that particular center. The center is blocked and does not experience the normal energy flow of a healthy center. The center is blocked because of our suppression. Through the avoidance of feelings in the center, we create the block. To maintain the block requires energy, energy the addiction supplies. All addiction provides an extra supply of energy, taken either from external sources or from the body’s internal reserves. So to better treat addiction we need to understand the Addiction Energy.

The cravings that arise for a particular object of addiction are learned. Through experience, we learn that energy can be obtained from a certain source and used to maintain the block. When the block begins to weaken, because the suppressing energy is getting low, we begin to get glimpses of exactly what we are suppressing, and we experience discomfort, anxiety, depression, and so on. We then seek the addictive experience once more, to gain the energy required to maintain the block to the feelings. The feelings are re-suppressed, over and over. Because the suppressed feelings will continue to build, the suppressing energy also must keep increasing, resulting in the extraordinary means that must be used to provide the energy. We enter the expanding cycle of addiction.

Usually we are addicted to a center’s complement to the negative experience. However, we also can escape to another, usually higher, center and draw energy from there. The higher center will suppress the pain of the lower center. Thus, if we experience anxiety from an un-integrated Survival center, we could attempt to suppress it by becoming compulsively addicted to wealth and security, but we also could suppress it by compulsive seeking in any higher center, such as sex, power, love, even creativity.

Addiction Energy-Breaking Addiction

This is most difficult for many addicts, funnily enough addicts do appreciate that they have a problem but many times it just end there. Taking the next step always becomes a problem. It is therefore necessary for addicts to know that the first step in breaking addiction after acknowledging that you’re addicted is to understand how it works. When you know why you act compulsively, you weaken the power of the addiction greatly. You must stop yielding to the addictive experience. Process the addictive urge as well as the feeling that you are suppressing with the addiction. Self-processing can be the main approach because it is individualized and easy to own. Nevertheless we have some other approaches, such as therapy, group support, or medical support in cases of chemical dependency which are equally helpful and can help you make meaningful progress towards getting well.

When you confront feelings related to addiction, you meet your demon (addiction) head on. By doing these you must realize that you are clearing all accumulated negativity in your system; all you need to do is to proceed patiently and gently as well as sensibly as you can. You must not demand too much of yourself, nor should you yield too easily. The delicate balance, the sense of making steady progress, must be established. As you learn how to work on yourself, you will acquire new tools that will help you tremendously. You will be able to cleanse negativity that previously compelled you to act in addictive ways.

In conclusion dear reader, you know the kind of center of addiction you may be suffering from or that of your loved one. Reading and doing nothing would be a great disservice for you and to your loved ones. You can impact positively by seeking the help of experts in this line. At AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury who is the founder and MD of the facility, you will meet a team of professionals who will care for you and administer treatment to you while putting emphasis on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE.

Besides being the founder of this facility, she is also offering treatment to other physicians and health care professionals globally through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars. Any qualified professional can now be a part of this truly successful and fast addiction recovery treatment. Remember you can only live this life once and you can’t afford to let this opportunity slip away. Grub it and live your life to the fullest.

Addiction Energy-Choosing Positive or Negative Centers

 

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

Restoration of Immune System to heal addiction

April 28, 2014

Restoration of Immune System to heal addiction-Drug and Alcohol Addiction Wreak Havoc

Immune System to heal addiction

Immune system is an asset to keep by eating healthy food and physical activities. This will also help heal addiction

The body of a human being is a compound of many vital organs performing different functions that help keep the body well and healthy. The success of these functions is normally based on the total elimination of any substance that may work against these functions. When the body is functioning well we say the immunity system is strong. So what is immunity? It is the ability of an organism to resist a particular infection or toxin by the action of specific antibodies or sensitized white blood cells. We need to restore our immune system to heal addiction. The white blood cells are the defenders of the body from attacks by diseases however substance which weakens the body’s immunity does so by attacking the white blood cell. We will through this article be discussing majorly the proper healing of addiction through the restoration of immune system.

Your immune system is like a finely tuned orchestra whose purpose is to defend your body from unhealthy insults from the world around you. Like an orchestra, your immune system contains many different instruments that work harmoniously together with one goal, protecting you from foreign insults that can cause damage to your body. And, like an orchestra, the different parts of your immune system must be present to play their part at the right time, and then stop when they have completed their function. The main parts of your immune system to heal addiction are the immune cells, the structural barriers in your body in which the majority of these cells are localized, and the specific messenger molecules that call the cells to action or tell them to stop.

The cells of your immune system are found circulating in your bloodstream or in the lymph nodes, which are located throughout your body; therefore, the immune cells themselves are spread throughout your tissues and can travel quickly when called upon. This way, your immune system is positioned so that it can minimize the entrance into your body of foreign invaders that can cause infection and disease and can quickly respond to any invaders that do manage to gain entrance into your body.

Restoration of Immune System to heal addiction-The foundation for defense

Your immune system also relies upon specific structures in your body that provide a foundation for defense. The most important structures are the barriers between the inside of your body and the outside. These barriers keep unwanted organisms and molecules from entering your body where they can do damage. Since your skin is in contact with the outside world, it is probably not surprising that your skin is an important barrier; however, it is only one part of your defensive barrier. Your gastrointestinal tract is actually the largest barrier between you and the outside world. Restore your gut and your immune system to heal addiction.

Restoration of Immune System to heal addiction -The soluble factors

Your immune system also includes molecules called soluble factors. These are molecules that can recognize when your barrier has been compromised by a foreign invader or toxin and then try to heal the area of damage and remove the insult from your body rapidly. Factors such as the complement cascade, a complex group of proteins, can form an immediate response to an insult. Your immune system also can deploy signaling molecules, which are soluble factors that send messages to the immune cells located further inside the tissue that has been compromised, or into your bloodstream. These messenger soluble factors call immune cells to the site of damage and activate the cells, bringing them in full force to the infected area. These messenger molecules are called cytokines. So we need to restore our immune system to heal addiction.

Your cytokines not only signal immune cells to take up action, but they also often promote an inflammatory response. The inflammatory response at a site of infection is one way your body secludes, or walls-off, an infected area. For example, if you have ever had poison ivy, or gotten a rash from eating a food to which you are allergic, you may have noticed the signs of inflammation — redness and swelling — surrounding the affected area. So, when we talk about the immune system, it is not one organ; it is really the types of immune cells, structures, and soluble factors, like cytokines, which are present throughout all your organs that constitute the immune system. And, your immune system gets help from your inflammatory response.

Restoration of Immune System to heal addiction -Addictive substances

Having understood the proper functionality of our immune system it will be necessary that we take a moment and look at some of these substances that work against the well-being of the body and causes addiction. While there are some serious consequences, the impact substances have on the body can extend much further. Consider how these illicit substances commonly associated with addiction can impair health of regular users:

Cocaine

From a basic standpoint, those sniffing cocaine on a regular basis will likely cause severe damage to their sinus cavities. This repetitive aggravation can heighten risk of developing cold or other circulatory issues. While seemingly minor, these health issues can be indicative of a much larger loss of strong immune response. A 2003 study found that cocaine use can limit the production of IL-6 cytokines, a “hormone of the immune system” that plays a major part in prompting recovery when the body is damaged. We should avoid cocaine to restore the immune system to heal addiction.

Opioids

Opioids that come in the form of prescription drugs are commonly marketed as medications tailored to help improve the health of patients experiencing chronic pain. While these pills may be able to relieve pain under strict use, these medications are highly addictive and can lead patients to use them on a regular basis. Regular use of opioids can impair daily function a great deal, but what many may not notice is a progressive decline in immune response. Therefore we need to stop opioid use to restore the immune system and heal addiction.

Alcohol

This is the most abused addictive drug globally and we are all aware of the dramatic health consequences of drinking even in non-alcoholic scenarios. For instance, drinking is often identified with the unpleasant side effects of nausea, vomiting, slurred speech, impaired movement and headache. However, those who abuse alcohol regularly or binge drink could be doing a great deal of harm to their immune system.

Noting that many alcoholics struggle with binge-drinking, it is important to learn what long-term damage is being done to the body beyond blacking out. Exhaustion as a result of binging on drugs or alcohol can be a significant cause of illness. When a person binge drinks, they may cause their body to go into toxic shock from the large amount of alcohol in their bloodstream.

Restoration of Immune System to heal addiction -Healing the Immune System

From this discussion it’s clear that immune system does a lot for us to keep us as healthy as possible, but in order to be in our best state, it is imperative that we do everything we can to protect and heal our immune system, in other words the restoration of immune system to heal addiction is a must. While enrolling in an addiction recovery can be a great way to spark this healing process and create a healthier and brighter future, the choice of the expert and facility can be a challenge to many. As for you my dear reader this won’t be a problem because you have doctor Dalal Akoury the founder and MD of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. At her center you will be attended by highly qualified and caring professionals who will focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE. It will not matter the problem you have whether you are an addict or your immune system is the problem, this is the place to be and you will have your life back. Restore the immune system to heal addiction cannot be easier here at AWAREmed.

Restoration of Immune System to heal addiction -Drug and Alcohol Addiction Wreak Havoc

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

Drug addiction and the brain

April 25, 2014

Drug addiction and the brain-Effects of dopamine on addiction

Dopamine

why dopamine-producing drugs are so addictive is that they have the ability to constantly fill a need for more dopamine.

In the previous article we stated that dopamine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, meaning that when it finds its way to its receptor sites, it blocks the tendency of that neuron to fire. We also noted that it is strongly associated with reward mechanisms in the brain. That aside new research on the brain is showing that addiction is a matter of memories, and recovery is a slow process in which the influence of those memories is diminished.

Further studies have also shown that addictive drugs stimulate a reward circuit in the brain. The circuit provides incentives for action by registering the value of important experiences. Rewarding experiences trigger the release of the brain chemical dopamine, telling the brain “do it again.” What makes permanent recovery difficult is drug-induced change that creates lasting memories linking the drug to a pleasurable reward.

Drug addiction and the brain-Brain circuits

Addiction involves many of the same brain circuits that govern learning and memory. Long-term memories are formed by the activity of brain substances called transcription factors. All perceived rewards, including drugs, increase the concentration of transcription factors. So repeatedly taking drugs can change the brain cells and make the memory of the pleasurable effects very strong. Even after transcription factor levels return to normal, addicts may remain hypersensitive to the drug and the cues that predict its presence. This can heighten the risk of relapse in addicts long after they stop taking the drug.

Knowing more about how addiction works in the brain has not yet given us any effective new treatments, but it has suggested new possibilities while providing a better understanding of how the available treatments work. The hardest job will be finding substances that lower the risk of addiction but do not interfere with responses to natural rewards. So far there is little evidence that any one type of therapy works better for addiction than another.

Drug addiction and the brain-Brain Chemistry

It has been demonstrated times and again that drug addiction is a powerful force that can take control of the lives of users. In the past, addiction was thought to be a weakness of character or just misbehavior, but in recent decades research has increasingly found that addiction to drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine is a matter of brain chemistry.

Experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, says that the way a brain becomes addicted to a drug is related to how a drug increases levels of the naturally-occurring neurotransmitter dopamine, which modulates the brain’s ability to perceive reward reinforcement. The pleasure sensation that the brain gets when dopamine levels are elevated creates the motivation for us to proactively perform actions that are indispensable to our survival for example eating or procreation. Dopamine is what conditions us to do the things we need to do.

Drug addiction and the brain-Neurochemical reward

Using addictive drugs floods the limbic brain with dopamine taking it up to as much as five or 10 times the normal level. With these levels elevated, the user’s brain begins to associate the drug with an outsize neurochemical reward. Over time, by artificially raising the amount of dopamine our brains think is normal, the drugs create a need that only they can meet.

For instance, when a drug produce increases in dopamine in these limbic areas of the brain, then your brain is going to understand that signal as something that is very reinforcing, and will learn it very fast so that the next time you get exposed to that stimuli, your brain already has learned that reinforcing instantly. Over time, the consistently high levels of dopamine create plastic changes to the brain, desensitizing neurons so that they are less affected by it, and decreasing the number of receptors. That leads to the process of addiction, wherein a person loses control and is left with an intense drive to compulsively take the drug.

According to experts the reason why dopamine-producing drugs are so addictive is that they have the ability to constantly fill a need for more dopamine. So a person may take a hit of cocaine, snort it, it increases dopamine, takes a second, it increases dopamine, third, fourth, fifth, sixth. So there’s never that decrease that ultimately leads to the satiety. Addiction has to do with the brain’s expectations. An emerging idea is that drugs basically hijack the brain’s normal computational enjoyment and reward mechanisms.

For example let’s say you’re happy about a great chocolate ice cream and over time you learn to expect that the chocolate ice cream is really great and you have no more dopamine released in expectation of that when you receive it. Nevertheless if you take an addictive drug you can never learn to expect it because the drug itself will release an extra kick of dopamine. And when that happens, the value of that drug keeps increasing because now you’re learning that wow my expectations were violated, therefore this must be much more valuable than what I thought before. So what ends up happening is that dopamine system gets hijacked by these drugs.

It must be noted that there are other components to addiction like genetics and age of exposure which is why not everyone who takes drugs becomes an addict. Approximately 50% of the vulnerability of a person to become addicted is genetically determined, and research indicates that if a person is exposed to drugs in early adolescence they are much more likely to become addicted than if they were exposed to the same drugs as an adult.

Drug addiction and the brain-Take away

One of the key functions of the neurotransmitter dopamine is to create feelings of pleasure that our brains associate with necessary physiological actions like eating and procreating. We are driven to perform these vital functions because our brains are conditioned to expect the dopamine rush that accompanies them.

Addictive drugs flood the brain with dopamine and condition us to expect artificially high levels of the neurotransmitter. Over time, the user’s brain requires more dopamine than it can naturally produce, and it becomes dependent on the drug, which never actually satisfies the need it, has created.

AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury is a facility run by experts headed by doctor Akoury, for proper care and healing of whatever kind of addiction and whatever the level of addiction you need caring experts who will focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome. This kind of treatment can only be found at AWAREmed. Reach out for help and get your life back with real professionals.

Drug addiction and the brain-Effects of dopamine on addiction

 

 

 

 

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin

  • Recent Posts

  • Blog Categories