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How Profitable Is It To Create Natural Addiction Clinics?

There are lots to benefit from when an addict decides to get treatment from a natural addiction clinic. To begin with, most of these natural addiction clinics are also holistic meaning they not only focus on treating the symptoms of addiction but focuses on whole person healing that entails correcting all the defects that might have been caused by the prolonged use of the drugs of abuse. This is just another great reason that make addicts go for natural addiction clinics as opposed to pharmaceutical prescriptions that may only address the issues of addiction related symptoms and cravings but will not focus on achieving whole person healing by healing the parts of brains and the entire nervous system that have since stopped coordinating well for optimum health of the addict. The profitability of natural addiction clinics is peaking in some parts of the world while in others it has already climaxed due to the embrace with which the addicts have welcomed the exceptional ability of nature’s healing powers. Today many addiction patients will prefer to get attended to in a holistic rehabilitation center that advocates for natural addiction treatment. This has led to the mushrooming of different natural addiction centers, some of which have stayed till now offering beneficial addiction treatments to addicts while some that sprang up with the sole aim of reaping big profits have disappeared. What does this tell us? Okay, creating a natural addiction clinic can be very profitable but you as a doctor needs to be more concerned with the wellbeing of your patients than your drive to enrich yourself. AWAREmed Health and Wellness and Resource is an example of an establishment that advocates of natural healing as they are holistic, this facility has remained till now because it was created with a mission to avail the best alternative treatments to patients battling some of the most common diseases that patients find a nightmare to treat such as cancer and addiction. This establishment is a living testimony of how profitable an establishment that advocates for natural healing can be profitable when founded on the stones of care and love for patients as well as laced with unending quest to avail better and safer treatment options to patients battling addiction.

addiction Clinics

Natural addiction Clinics can benefit all addicts

Another reason that has made natural addiction clinics more popular is the fact that these clinics are well equipped and are always founded by integrative doctors who are experienced in addiction treatment and hence know the extent to which specific drugs or substances affect the person and which option of treatments can best yield the much needed result.  the natural addiction clinics employs some of the traditional addiction treatments that are known to be effective and goes a long way in achieving whole person healing as opposed to treatment of just symptoms and calming down some of the common side effects of drug withdrawals like depression and anxiety. There’s no requirement for attending these clinics except that participants must deeply desire sobriety. However, most participants have been through a traditional rehab program and not had the success they desired. Natural addiction clinic programs are considered alternative types of treatment because they don’t follow the traditional model, which focuses on psychotherapy, 12-step programs and other support groups but focuses on all the benefits that can be drawn from the nature’s natural healing powers to help heal an addict with minimal or no side effects at all.

addiction ClinicsThe natural addiction clinics incorporate the use of herbs and specific diets to help restore the balance in the brain chemistry and quell cravings. The natural addiction clinics are not only for those who are addicted to drugs and substances alone but also for those with behavioral addictions like gambling, sex addiction and even pornography.  Natural addiction clinics may offer such services as nutritional counseling, psychiatric support, massage, yoga, Tai Chi, herbal therapies and adventure-based therapies that cater to all manner of addictions, both behavioral and substance related. These centers also have staffs who are vastly experienced in handling addiction cases. They can also customize treatment to suit every patient’s condition belief and preferences all in a bid to restore the mind the body and the spirit. The fact that the natural addiction clinics are home for all addicts further opens great avenues for qualified doctors who opt to create natural addiction clinics.

Another factor that makes natural addiction clinics preferable is the environment in which most of them are located, natural addiction clinics are not mostly established in busy town centers but on the mountains, or by a lake or the ocean. The setting is usually peaceful and idyllic in order to promote healing. Most holistic addiction doctors believe that locating these clinics in such places helps the patients to connect with nature which further helps them to recover even faster.

Offers variety of treatment options

The extent to which a person is affected by drug use will warrant the type of treatment that he gets, it is also good to note that different people will react to a given treatment differently and this is why a specific treatment that worked for a given addict may fail to work for another addict. This is why most natural addiction clinics avail different treatment options that addicts can benefit from. Some of the traditional approaches to healing like meditation are god for an addict but if for some reason you are not comfortable you are often given the freedom to skip the session. It is your determination for sobriety that shouldn’t run out.

Finally, even if creation of natural addiction clinics were to yield supernormal profits, it is good to stay within the focus which is to avail better healing options for all addicts. Dr. Dalal Akoury of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource center has championed the use of integrative medicine in healing addicts for years; find her at Myrtle beach, South Carolina.

How Profitable Is It To Create Natural Addiction Clinics?

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Striatum Methamphetamine Toxicity

Methamphetamine Toxicity in the Striatum

The striatum is a crucial part of the brain. This part of the brain plays very important roles but it can be adversely affected by the use of stimulants and other drugs of leisure. Substances such as cocaine and methamphetamine produce their primary effects inside the brain by boosting the presence of dopamine which is a neurotransmitting chemical that activates the pleasure-producing neurons contained within the limbic system. As stated above the limbic system includes the hippocampus, along with several other brain structures. According to the results of two separate studies published in 2008 in the Journal of Neuroscience and Biological Psychiatry, the presence of either cocaine or methamphetamine alters normal adult neurogenesis inside the hippocampus and damages this region’s ability replenish its neuron supply.  It is no longer news that methamphetamine intoxication causes long-lasting damage to dopamine nerve endings in the striatum. However the mechanisms underlying this neurotoxicity are not yet known but oxidative stress has been linked to it.

methamphetamine

 

Microglia are the major antigen-presenting cells in brain and when activated, they secrete an array of factors that cause neuronal damage. Astoundingly, very little work has been directed at the study of microglial activation as part of the methamphetamine neurotoxic cascade. It has been report that methamphetamine activates microglia in a dose-related manner and along a time course that is coincident with dopamine nerve ending damage. Through tests done on mice scientists have discovered that prevention of methamphetamine toxicity by maintaining treated mice at low ambient temperature prevents drug-induced microglial activation. MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) not only damages dopamine nerve endings and cell bodies but also  causes extensive microglial activation in striatum as well as in the substantia nigra. Contrastingly, methamphetamine causes neither microglial activation in the substantia nigra nor dopamine cell body damage.

Dopamine transporter antagonists do not mimic the effect of methamphetamine on microglia. Hyperthermia, a prominent and dangerous clinical response to methamphetamine intoxication, has been also ruled out as the cause of microglial activation. Together, these data suggest that microglial activation represents an early step in methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity. Other neurochemical effects resulting from methamphetamine-induced overflow of dopamine into the synapse, but which are not neurotoxic, do not play a role in this response.

Methamphetamine use on the rise despite effects

The use of methamphetamine has been on the rise despite the fact that it is a powerful stimulant drug that has adverse effects when abused as most people do. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported recently that abuse of amphetamines, including designer drugs such as methamphetamine and 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, now exceeds that of cocaine and heroin on a global scale. This presents no sign that its use will decline any soon. Past researchers were able to establish a fact that methamphetamine causes persistent reductions of function in dopamine nerve endings of animals and humans. Methamphetamine neurotoxicity has been under intense study for over 20 years, but still there is much that still remains to be learned about how this dangerous drug causes damage to dopamine nerve endings. The theory that revolves around oxidative stress has been at the top of the speculations. Drug-induced oxidative stress is an attractive construct that can account for many of the effects of methamphetamine on the dopamine nerve ending such as inhibition of tyrosine hydroxylase activity as well as reductions in the dopamine transporter and the vesicle monoamine transporter. This may even be an early event that leads eventually to methamphetamine-induced apoptosis. However, the source of the reactant species that mediate methamphetamine-induced damage is not known.

methamphetamine

Due to their crucial roles they play in mediating the mediating damage to the nervous system, Microglia has attracted considerable attention. Immune like in many ways  these interesting cells become activated by damage and then transmigrate to sites of injury where they can secrete an array of factors  like cytokines, prostaglandins, nitric oxide, and superoxide that are known to have detrimental effects on neurons. However, the role of microglia in methamphetamine-induced damage to the dopamine system has received little attention. In 1994 a researcher, Bowyer and his colleagues noted for the first time that methamphetamine resulted in activation of microglia in striatum of treated rats. These investigators concluded that microglia were increased in response to nerve ending damage and were not apparently a cause of it.  Recently, another research was conducted to give an in-depth analysis of the effect of methamphetamine on striatal gene expression. Numerous genes linked to microglia were activated significantly within hours of methamphetamine intoxication, suggesting the possibility that microglial activation occurs earlier in the methamphetamine toxic cascade than previously thought.

Today there are researchers who are building on the initial analysis of methamphetamine and report the pharmacological characterization of microglial activation by methamphetamine in striatum. As mentioned before, striatum is an area dense in dopamine nerve endings and is known to be targeted for damage by methamphetamine. Microglial activation coincides with the onset of methamphetamine-induced damage in striatum and the extent of this effect is related to the degree of damage to dopamine nerve endings. Numerous nontoxic effects exerted by methamphetamine, such as inhibition of the DAT, increases in synaptic levels of dopamine, activation of D1 and/or D2 DA receptors, and hyperthermia, cannot explain methamphetamine-induced microglial activation.

Finally, this is still a dark area and there is need for more literature so as to establish the mechanism of methamphetamine toxicity on the striatum. Needless to say, Drug abuse, addiction and independence are problems that people grapple with every day. These problems need to be treated effectively through integrative medicine. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an expert at this.  Call her on (843) 213-1480 for help.

Methamphetamine Toxicity in the Striatum

 

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Molecular Mechanisms of Methamphetamine Induced-Neurotoxicity

Methamphetamine is a stimulant that is also highly soluble in water and affects the CNS most. Categorically it fits in the group of synthetic drugs chemically related to amphetamine but it has more adverse effects on the Central nervous system than the parent compound. Abuse of these illegal psychostimulants has become an international public health problem, with an estimated 14 to 52 million amphetamine-type stimulant users worldwide, exceeding the total number of cocaine abusers and second only to the number of cannabis abusers. This number has continued to rise in spite of the fact that much has been done to publicize the adverse effects these amphetamine related stimulants are linked to. Meth or speed as known in stimulant use circles exists in different forms like powder, tablets and capsules. It can also be found in a purer crystalline form.

It’s dangerous why is it used?

Just like most stimulants or drugs that are known to induce euphoric feelings, methamphetamine is also taken for similar reasons for example; to induce euphoric feelings, increased sense of well-being, increase energy and to calm anxiety. Being a powerful drug its effects are felt immediately after the use but these effects can last for long hours. They may be accompanied by acute adverse effects such as increased blood pressure and heart rate, which may cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain, resulting in cerebrovascular accidents, stroke, and death. Methamphetamine also produces hyperthermia, pupil dilation, flushing, tremors, trismus and bruxism, muscle tension, loss of appetite or anorexia, and loss of pleasure in food intake which further leads to deterioration of the user’s health.

methamphetamine

Effects of Methamphetamine

Being an addictive drug, after a prolonged use the users may develop tolerance. It’s most common symptoms after a prolonged use include; temporomandibular joint syndrome, dental erosion, and myofacial pain. Long-term use also produces lack of appetite, weight loss, accelerated aging, nose-bleeding problems, nonhealing wounds, tooth decay and fracture known as “Meth mouth”. Psychiatric symptoms include anxiety, depression, increased aggression, social isolation, psychosis, mood disturbances, and psychomotor dysfunction. Long periods of high consumption can cause paranoid psychosis. Other symptoms of chronic methamphetamine use may also include; deficits in attention, working memory, and decision making. Most addicts are stuck in the use of meth as a result of the withdrawal symptoms which include the following; irritability, fatigue, impaired social functioning, and intense craving for the drug. Researchers have given evidence that the negative neuropsychiatric consequences of methamphetamine abuse are due, at least in part, to drug-induced neuropathological changes in the brain. Although the exact molecular mechanisms of neuronal body loss are not known, there is evidence to suggest the coexistence of different types of cell death, including apoptosis and necrosis ; indicated by the morphology of neurons stained with hematoxylin-eosin.  Growing evidence exhibits that methamphetamine and MDMA induce an increase in lipid peroxidation and DNA oxidation as well as increased levels of oxidative stress markers such as hydroxyl radical producing neurotoxicity. Methamphetamine increases expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (nNOS)/ neuronal nitric oxide synthase (iNOS ) indicating increased synthesis of neuronal nitric oxide, which combines with superoxide radicals to form peroxynitrite which is a strong oxidant and a major neurotoxin . Induction of nNOS/iNOS by methamphetamine or MDMA  constitutes part of the mechanism of methamphetamine damage, as selective inhibition or genetic inactivation of nNOS and overexpression of cupper zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), an enzyme that catalyzes the dismutation of superoxide into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide, prevent methamphetamine neurotoxicity . Even though methamphetamine increases iNOS expression in the striatum , there is no basis for supposing the involvement of glial nitric oxide in methamphetamine-induced toxicity, but it is interesting to note that mice deficient in iNOS have increased resistance to methamphetamine-induced dopamine neuron damage.

methamphetamine

The neurotoxic effects of methamphetamine on the dopaminergic system are accompanied by activation of astroglia and microglia in the same areas  being strongest in the striatum, the area with biggest toxicity. Glial cells are not activated in the nucleus accumbens, which is not much damaged . In mice, glial activation in striatum and in substantia nigra occurs shortly after methamphetamine administration, as indicated by a significant increase in Mac-1 ;a marker of reactive microglia 24 hours after methamphetamine exposure and prominent increases in GFAP ; a marker of reactive gliosis in response to injury occur within a week  after treatment . The extent of these glial reactions correlates with the observed severity of neurotoxicity.

The dopaminergic system is also involved in this toxicity, as demonstrated in various mutant mice in which inactivation of dopamine transport, dopamine D1 receptors or D2 receptors affords a significant protection against methamphetamine toxicity. Administration of THC prevents dopaminergic toxicity after MDMA, a similar amphetamine derivative to methamphetamine, by CB1 receptor stimulation which is present in striatal medium spiny neurons. All these receptors are involved in different aspects of learning processes that became affected by the chronic use of methamphetamine or MDMA.

Finally, Drug abuse, addiction and independence are problems that people grapple with every day. These problems need to be treated effectively through integrative medicine. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an expert at this.  Call her on (843) 213-1480 for help.

Molecular Mechanisms of Methamphetamine Induced-Neurotoxicity

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The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Workouts for Strong Bones

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis. Good sporting exercise are very useful in restoration of healthy bones

Gradually osteoporosis is killing our bones and we may not notice it until it is very late. Having discovered that, the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are working round the clock to ensure that this trend is changed and that people are able to regain the mass of their bones. This is a facility which was founded by doctor Dalal Akoury primarily to create health awareness in various medical disciplines. Doctor Akoury is on a mission to help the helpless find their own natural inner healing power to help them take charge of their lives and destiny. At this facility individual patients are empowered to adopt doctor Akoury’s style which is focusing on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. Therefore in our topic today, we want to look at the weight bearing exercise for osteoporosis and how people can be empowered to naturally get rid of this situation from their healthy. Now the best approach would be to venture into meaningful exercise which is able to turn the tables round from osteoporosis to healthy bones. We can therefore try weight bearing workouts that stresses bones and muscles slightly more than your everyday life. We are going to be discussing some in this article, but it would be advisable that you consult with your doctor first to be sure that the workout you choose is safe for you. It is only then that you may want to consider from the following trends.

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Tai Chi

Tai chi a form of relaxed, smooth and flowing moves that builds both coordination and strong bones. According to a study reported in Physician and Sports medicine it was found that tai chi could slow bone loss in postmenopausal women. During the study the women who did 45 minutes of tai chi a day, five days a week for a year, enjoyed a rate of bone loss up to three-and-a-half times slower than the non-tai-chi group. Their bone health gains showed up on bone mineral density tests.

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Yoga

According to a study reported in Yoga Journal it was established that there was an increase in bone mineral density in the spine for women who did yoga regularly. From the slow, precise Iyengar style to the athletic, vigorous ashtanga, yoga can build bone health in your hips, spine, and wrists the bones most vulnerable to fracture.

Standing poses like Warrior I and II work the large bones of the hips and legs, while poses like Downward Dog work the wrists, arms, and shoulders. Both the Cobra and Locust poses, which work the back muscles, may preserve the health of the spine. Yoga also sharpens your balance, coordination, concentration, and body awareness and thus helps prevent falls.

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Brisk Walking

One fitness trend that never goes away, walking is still hugely popular among women and a great way to revamp your bone health. A study of nurses found that walking four hours a week gave them a 41% lower risk of hip fractures, compared to walking less than an hour a week. Brisk walking is best, but you can adapt your speed to your current fitness level. Walking is free, and you can do it anywhere, anytime, even when you’re traveling.

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Golf

Maybe you’ve always thought golf was for old folks people who could no longer do “real” sports. If this thought ever crossed your mind, then you need to think again. Just carrying that golf bag around 18 holes, and swinging the big clubs to drive the ball long, add up to a lot of upper-body work. And all that walking, and chasing balls lost in the rough, means plenty of work for your hips and spine. It is therefore obvious that golf gives weight bearing exercise a whole new name.

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Dancing

The current dances like the hottest trends in salsa, samba, Lindy hop, rhumba, East coast swing, foxtrot, and tango. They can enable your heart pumping in more ways than one, and build strong bones while you’re at it. Besides, you may want to try other activities like aerobics, kickboxing, or step class at your health club or local Y. New classes emerge every few months to keep members motivated. A lot of them now combine strength training with dance or step moves and will perk up your balance as well.

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Hiking

The work of weight-bearing and the impact as your feet hit the ground can increase bone density, especially in your hips. It’s just like walking, and then some. You’ll get even more impact on those bones if you’re going uphill or downhill, and that can improve bone health even more. More impact on your feet and legs translates into more bone density.

And with hiking, boredom is never an issue because you will be constantly meeting and socializing with new people, as well as expanding your horizons as you experience new landscapes.

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Strength Training

Lifting weights, using the weight machines at your health club, or doing calisthenics, are forms of strength or resistance training. You’re working against some form of resistance whether it’s a set of “free” weights, your own body weight, or weight machines to stress a sequence of muscles and bones. Strength training at least twice a week is needed to stimulate bone growth.

Every gym has a trainer who can design a workout for your legs, back, shoulders, and arms one that’s right for your fitness level and can rally your bone health. Finally it is always said that patient pays. The bone-building phase in young adults at its speediest takes three to four months, and it may take a lot longer if you have osteoporosis or are older. So you won’t be seeing big changes on any bone density tests after your first week of working out. Bones change slowly and this should not worry you because they do change.

The Weight Bearing Exercise for Osteoporosis: Workouts for Strong Bones

 

 

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Dopamine and Norepinephrine Contributing to Addiction?

Dopamine and Norepinephrine and Their Contribution to Addiction

Dopamine and norepinephrine are very crucial neurotransmitters whose functions can never be underestimated. These are some of the most crucial neurotransmitters in the body. In particular, dopamine has very many functions in the body but to many people it is famous for its good feeling effects that it is always identified with but this should not be the case as it has functions beyond the mesolimbic pathway. In the brain dopamine plays such roles as: It plays a big role in starting movement, and the destruction of dopamine neurons in an area of the brain called the substantia nigra is what produces the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Dopamine is involved in the frontal cortex in executive functions like attention and feelings among others. In the rest of the body, dopamine is involved in nausea, in kidney function, and in heart function. Though only relevant to most people when it comes to such aspects as motivation, addiction, attention or lust, dopamine is a crucial neurotransmitter that also does vital functions in different pathways. Therefore dopamine should not only be limited to the mesolimbic pathway. A pathway which starts with cells in the ventral tegmental area, buried deep in the middle of the brain, which send their projections out to places like the nucleus accumbens and the cortex.  the levels of dopamine is naturally controlled by the brain, for example when a person engages  in pleasurable activities the brain will increase the level of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, however during addiction the dopamine signaling in this area is changed. For any drug to have any pleasurable feeling to the user then the level of dopamine must be increased and this is what causes euphoric feelings that drug users will do anything to achieve.

Dopamine

Dopamine depletion and cocaine addiction

Despite one of the most dangerous drugs of pleasure, cocaine has remained to be one of the drugs that are highly abused worldwide. Cocaine works in such a way that it targets the dopamine which is a neurotransmitter related with euphoric feelings. When taken cocaine will cause a surge of dopamine extracellular in limbic areas, specifically, nucleus accumbens it is this surge that causes euphoric effects cocaine is known for. It is the euphoric properties of cocaine that lead to the development of chronic abuse, and appear to involve the acute activation of central dopamine neuronal systems. Dopamine plays a key role in reward system and stimulation behavior. However, when a person uses cocaine for a long time his neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine alterations will eventually occur. Dopamine depletion is hypothesized to result from overstimulation of these neurons and excessive synaptic metabolism of the neurotransmitter. It is this depletion of dopamine that may underlie dysphoric aspects of cocaine abstinence, and cocaine cravings.  With many research findings on cocaine relations with dopamine, it is clear that cocaine addiction stems from the depletion of synaptic dopamine in the mesolimbic dopamine reward system, leading to a dysphoric withdrawal state that drives cocaine seeking to restore dopamine to normal, drug-dependence level.

After using cocaine for a long time, your brain will be conditioned to use cocaine in order to raise cocaine to the required levels and this result in addicted brain that can’t function without taking cocaine. At this stage it will be hard for an addict to quit using this drug as every time you try to quit all the withdrawal symptoms will set in thereby causing addiction and dependence thereafter. These cravings contribute not only to addiction but to relapse after a hard-won sobriety especially when the addict encounters triggers.

Norepinephrine and Drug Addiction

Norepinephrine is a very vital neurotransmitter in the brain that is also one of the most abundant in the brain. It is important for such roles as selective attention, general arousal, and stress reactions in challenging environments. Norepinephrine has been implicated by several studies as a key mediator of drug reward for three primary reasons. First, the noradrenergic pathways support intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) and modulate drug-induced changes in ICSS threshold. Secondly, the biochemical activity of psychostimulant drugs includes blockade of Norepinephrine reuptake and enhancement of Norepinephrine release and thirdly, compounds that interfere with Norepinephrine synthesis or signaling influence drug self-administration. The idea that drugs of abuse act via the endogenous reward systems in the brain first arose when psychostimulants such as amphetamine and cocaine have been found to alter support intracranial self-stimulation thresholds. One interpretation of these results was that Norepinephrine mediates the effect of psychostimulants on support intracranial self-stimulation, because these drugs cause Norepinephrine release, block Norepinephrine reuptake or do both.

Dopamine

In a 1970s research done by Davis WM and Smith SG in a study titled: Catecholaminergic mechanisms of reinforcement: direct assessment by drug-self-administration, it was found that catecholamines were important in the mediation of opiate self-administration. in this research, a series of experiments showed that depletion of Norepinephrine and dopamine with amphetamine , a drug which is known to inhibit tyrosine hydroxylase prevents or attenuates the self-administration of morphine in rodents and in nonhuman primates as was shown earlier by Pozuelo and Kerr in 1972.

Finally, Drug addiction is a vice that should be fought by all means that is why we at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are committed to availing help to addicts and offering them a place to call home. We offer NER Treatment and Amino acid therapy that are the most effective approaches to addiction treatment and recovery. You call on Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) today and begin your journey to victory against addiction.

Dopamine and Norepinephrine and Their Roles in Causing Addiction

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