Tag Archives: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Young U.S. Women Are The New Face Of Heroin Use

July 23, 2015

Young U.S. Women: New Face Of Heroin Use

Heroin use in the United States (U.S) like in other parts of the world has been predominantly men. The few women found in this category have been those in the inner city, rich and spoilt. However this is fast changing. Within this past decade heroin use has hit a staggering 62%. In 2005 heroin use was reportedly slightly over 1.6% in every 1000 Americans, aged 12 and over. In 2015 however the percentage went up somewhere above 2.6% per a similar number in U.S.

The rate of heroin use doubled that of men in a similar period. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentage gradually increased from a mere 0.8% back in the year 2002 to 1.6% women alone. According to the report, the face of heroin use has changed from a stern faced man in the city unexpectedly to a young beautiful woman in the suburb. The report also indicated heroin-related deaths have hit of 300 percent.

heroin-addiction

Increasing Heroin Use in Women a Result of Pain Killer Prescriptions

The report pointed out different groups in the U.S. that have never been known to use heroin have been lured into the same in more recent times. It indicates a leading group of increasingly heroin users are women, those with higher incomes and private insurance. In as much as the net of heroin use reportedly caught indiscriminately across gender and societal status, many experts agree women have become more vulnerable to the increasingly available substance. Dr Dalal Akoury of Integrative Addiction Institute notes there is more than a double increase in number of heroin-related cases of addictions among women than men lately as opposed to some years back.

The increase of heroin use among women has however been attributed to increased pain killer prescriptions for a number of related complicated medical conditions over time. Various experts argue this happened gradually over time. “I suspect it’s been a more of a gradual thing, because more women have been exposed to pain medication for various problems. They have developed first an opiate addiction then have moved on to heroin,” said Onsrud, a consultant on Addiction Services at the Mayo Clinic.

Form Heroin Task Force to Fight Increasing Use

Various authorities argue the war on heroin use has been in existence for some time, with a few successes however it has continued to increase. In La Crosse County, the officials noticed heroin use was getting out of hand and decided to face it head-on. They formed the little known La Crosse County Heroin Task Force.

“We noticed heroin use had increased as early as the year 2010-2011,” said Al Bliss, then the task force coordinator. However he noted even at that, a lot more still has to be done. “I think we’ve made some end roads at decreasing availability of heroin but it still remains a problem,” added Bliss.

The task force coordinator also said in order to curb the menacing heroin problem, communities needed to form programs more or less similar to the Heroin Task Force so as to get like-minded people working together at attaining a single determined goal. “We need to further educate the community in offering help, treatment, and preventive care; and to conduct a lot of awareness in order to address the comprehensive problem of drug abuse,” he said.

Heroin Use

Substance Addiction Increasing Heroin Use

In a separate interview, Dr. Akoury echoed Mr. Bliss’s earlier observations; she said people suffering from substance abuse are more likely to form a habit of popping in pills. She added they are more susceptible to heroin use. A number of studies and medical reports also support this claim. One commonly cited study indicates alcohol and cigarette smokers have a higher chance of about 5 times their fellows who do not. The CDC report actually indicated 96% of heroin users used at least one more addictive drug. Also, that 61% of the heroin users used at least three more addictive substances.

In conclusion Dr. Frieden, director of CDC empathized with the current state of heroin use. He said: “It is heartbreaking to see injection drug use making a comeback in the U.S.” He said solving the heroin issue boils down to preventing addiction in the first place by hunting down the primary cause, which according to him were opioid prescriptions. “It also means; increasing access to rehabilitation including medications such as methadone or suboxone, cracking down on heroin sales, and increasing use of naloxone to reverse overdose. These are the traditional basics to deal with addiction, hence also key in combatting heroin use,” quickly added the CDC director

For the latest about heroin use in the U.S and the rest of the world please sign up for this year’s August Integrative Addiction Medicine Conference. http://www.integrativeaddiction2015.com is the link to catch with speakers lined up for the event among other possible attendants participants

White Young U.S. Women, New Face Of Heroin Use

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Opioids role in treatment of chronic pains

July 21, 2015

Opioids role in treatment of chronic pains: The careful application of opioids

Opioids role in treatment of chronic pains

Opioids role in treatment of chronic pains. Pain can really rearrange your life in a very miss arable way if you do not take appropriate actions to address it from source.

Chronic pain is a major public health problem, which is estimated to affecting many people globally. It is estimated that in the US alone more than 100 million people suffers from this problem with up to 20–30% of the population globally feeling the same. Talking to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center about the same, you will be very disappointed if you think that there will be some good news. In fact doctor Dalal Akoury MD and also the founder of the facility is saying that with the incidence of associated diseases like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disorders, arthritis, and cancer across the globe, the prevalence of persistent pain is expected to rise in the near future. With this risk of escalation of chronic pain, it is very important that we work very closely with the experts to identify and deal expeditiously with some of the real causes of chronic pains. From the list mentioned above, it is evident that addiction is one of the fundamental causes of some of these pains. Therefore talking to doctor Dalal Akoury veteran addiction experts would be a very good point you are getting concern about your body pains. When you schedule for that appointment today, doctor Akoury together with her team of experts will in the most professional way help you overcome all the avenues of pain in your life. In the meantime with the help of these experts, we are going to focus on the opioids role in treatment of chronic pains.

In the effort of defeating chronic pain, we must be careful not to add more problems to the ones we already have. Doctor Akoury is saying that whereas opioids are powerful analgesics which are commonly used and found to be effective for many types of pain it is important to take note that, opioids can produce significant side effects to the human health including, constipation, nausea, mental clouding, and respiratory depression, which can sometimes leads to death.

Opioids role in treatment of chronic pains: The effects of long term use of opioids

Couple with many challenges of opioids we must take into consideration that any long-term opioid use can also result in physical dependence, making it difficult to discontinue use even when the original cause of pain is completely dealt with. Besides that, from the several studies done, there is mounting evidence that long-term opioid use for pain can actually produce a chronic pain state, whereby patients find themselves in a vicious cycle, where opioids are used to treat pain caused by previous opioid use. This means that when opting for opioids, a lot of balancing must be done lest we land ourselves into even more deeper problems. To add more injuries to that, the statistics available from data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the prescribing of opioids by clinicians has increased threefold in the last 20 years, contributing to the problem of prescription opioid abuse. It is no wonder that a number of people who are dying today from prescription opioids exceeds the number of those who die from heroin and cocaine substances put together.

Opioids role in treatment of chronic pains: Treatment dilemma using opioids

The intensity of this problem is one that is causing a lot of jittery to the health care provides when administering treatment. Actually healthcare providers are in a difficult position when treating moderate to severe chronic pain; this is so because opioid treatments may lessen the pain, but it may at the same time also cause harm to patients. Additionally, there has not been adequate testing of opioids in terms of what types of pain they can best treat, in what populations of people, and in what manner of administration. With insufficient data, and often inadequate training, many clinicians prescribe too much opioid treatment when lesser amounts of opioids or non-opioids would be effective. Alternatively, some healthcare providers avoid prescribing opioids altogether for fear of side effects and potential addiction, causing some patients to suffer needlessly.

Opioids role in treatment of chronic pains: The Future of Integrative Addiction

From the discussion you must have realized that there is a lot of pull and push about this form of treatment. Doctor Akoury and her team have been observing this and are organizing through AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center which is also one of the leading pioneers in natural and holistic addiction treatment, the first ever Educational, Functional and Integrative Addiction conference for tailored to professionals like doctors, counselors, nurses and addiction therapists and all those experts who attend to addicts. The conference is schedule for August 23-25 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This new frontier in Addiction Medicine will be conducted by the most influential group of leading visionaries specializing in the latest advances in natural and integrative addiction medicine, under the theme “The Future of Integrative Addiction”.

Integrative Addiction Conference 2015 mission is to provide prevention education, awareness, options and support to patients and physicians dealing with addiction. You will benefit immensely by attending this conference and together we are going to rewrite history when it comes to handling all matters relating to addiction and substance abuse. Besides that the aim of the conference is for the empowerment of all physicians to be involved in determining their personal “best responses for addiction” and promoting physician/patient awareness of a natural, yet profoundly effective, addiction treatment options that result in you “thriving while surviving” during treatment and recovery. Integrative Addiction Conference 2015 will cover topics such as addiction as a holistic body ecosystem derangement, the interaction between stress, survivorship, pain and addiction, the role of hormonal imbalance in the disease of addiction, the genetic and epigenetic influences on the disease of addiction, psycho neuroendocrine immune restoration essential to reverse addiction as well as new and future therapies in the horizon for addiction treatment including stem therapy for psycho neuroendocrine immune restoration.

This article will not be properly concluded if I don’t share with you on how you can be involved in this conference. Therefore for those purposing to come for the conference, you can seek for more information through the following contacts: www.integrativeaddiction2015.com or call the event organizer Sharon Phillips on Tel: 954 540 1896 or on email all your queries to her on this address sharon@integrativeaddiction2015.com.

Opioids role in treatment of chronic pains: The careful application of opioids

 

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Clinical Trials For Heart Failure

June 6, 2015

What’s Heart Failure?

Heart failure is an intricate clinical condition of symptoms and signs that suggest malfunction of the heart. This is often caused by structural and or functional defects of the heart. A good number of patients have heart failures as a result of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD).

“More often than not, LVSD is associated with reduced left ventricular blood ejection fraction. Some patients have heart failure as a result of a preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF). Whereas the most popular cause of heart failure in the United States (US) is coronary artery disease, many patients have had a myocardial infarction,” Owan TE, Hodge D.O., Herges R.M, et al. (2006).

Heart failure and or related diseases often increase steadily with age, a typical age at first diagnosis being at 76 years. Prevalence of heart failure is even expected to rise in the near future as a result of an increased ageing population. Improved survival of people with heart disease and more effective treatments of the same are more reasons for such increased prevalence.

“Heart failure has a poor prognosis: 30–40% of persons diagnosed with the condition die within a year, after which the mortality rate is less than 10% for every succeeding year. However, there has been better prognosis in the past 10 years. The 6-month mortality rate further decreased from 26% in 1995 to 14% in 2005 and even further now,” Petersen S, Rayner M, and Wolstenholme J. (2002).

“Heart failure accounts for over a million inpatient bed-days 2% of all NHS inpatient bed-days in the US and 5% of all emergency medical admissions to hospital. The admissions because of the heart condition are even projected to rise by 50% over the next two decades, largely as a result of the ageing population,” Hobbs FD, Roalfe AK, and Davis R.C., et al. (2007).

This article provides acceptable and standard practices on adults with heart failures, especially those with chronic heart failures. Such trials entail diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Heart Failure

Clinical Trials For Heart Failure

Clinical trials as well as therapeutic care should take into account the patients’ needs and preferences. A patient with acute heart failure for instance should be able to make or rather should be given an opportunity to make an informed decision about his/her therapeutic care together with the healthcare professionals.

If the patient does not have the ability to make reliable decision about his/her the trials and or therapeutic care, the healthcare professional should follow established guidelines set by the Department of Health on consent and the professional code of practice as set out in the Mental Capacity Act.

Also important is good communication between the patient and the professional. These may be in different forms but a recommended practice involves a written document that suits the patient’s unique clinic diagnosis and can also act as evidence. Clinical trials and therapeutic care given and information communicated to the patients should be appropriate to the latter’s medical history and culture.

Such information should be accessible to people with special needs such as physical, sensory, learning disabilities, and or to those who neither speak nor read English. Family members, guardians and or care-takers should also have an opportunity to contribute in the decisions about the trials and care.

“During clinical examinations, it is important to refer patients with supposed heart failures and or previous myocardial infarction (MI) urgently to have transthoracic Doppler 2D echocardiography and specialist assessment within 2 weeks,” Owan TE, Hodge D.O., Herges R.M, et al. (2006).

“Clinical trials on treatment should measure serum natriuretic peptides (B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP] or N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide [NTproBNP]) in patients with suspected heart failure without previous MI. Because very high levels of serum natriuretic peptides carry a poor prognosis, refer patients with suspected heart failure and a BNP level above 400 pg/ml (116 pmol/litre) or an NTproBNP level above 2000 pg/ml (236 pmol/litre) urgently, to have the 2D echocardiography and assessment within 2 weeks,” Owan TE, Hodge D.O., Herges R.M, et al. (2006).

Heart Failure

Trials on treatment involve offering both angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and beta-blockers licensed for heart failure to all patients with heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction. It is also advisable to use clinical judgments when deciding which drug to use first.

Offer only beta-blockers licensed for heart failure to all patients with the heart condition due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction, including: adults and those patients with other vascular diseases, erectile dysfunction, diabetes mellitus, interstitial pulmonary disease, and or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) without reversibility.

Professionals are also advised to seek specialist guidance to offer one of the following alternatives if the patient fails to respond to treatment despite optimum therapy with an ACE inhibitor and a beta-blocker. They may include: an aldosterone antagonist licensed to handle heart failure patients and an angiotensin II receptor antagonist (ARB) licensed for heart failure.

Clinical trials about rehabilitation should involve a supervised exercise-based rehabilitation program designed for patients with heart failure in groups. While at it, it is advisable to ensure the patient is stable and does not have a condition or device that would immaturely conclude the rehabilitation program.

During the program, you could also include a psychological and or educational component. The program may be incorporated within an existing exercise-based or other cardiac rehabilitation program.

“It should be noted patients with chronic heart failure require monitoring. This monitoring should include; a clinical assessment of functional capacity, fluid status, cardiac rhythm, nutritional status, cognitive status and a review of medication; including need for changes and possible side effects, serum urea, electrolytes, and creatinine. Also, when a patient is admitted to hospital because of heart failure, the professional should seek advice on their management plan from a specialist in heart failure,” Petersen S, Rayner M, and Wolstenholme J. (2002).

Lastly, patients with this kind of heart condition should generally be discharged from hospital only when their clinical condition is stable and the management plan is optimized. The timing should take into account patient and career wishes, and the level of community care and support.

integrative addiction conference 2015

Dr. Dalal Akoury, M.D., M.P.H. is a family physician with a wealth of knowledge and years of experience in integrative medicine. She will highly be of assistance.

Also, don’t miss an opportunity to learn and interact with professionals during this year’s Integrative Addiction Conference 2015. For more information, visit http://www.integrativeaddiction2015.com. The conference will also deliver unique approaches to telling symptoms of addiction and how to assist patients of addiction.

Clinical Trials For Heart Failure

 

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Benefits of A Healthy Microenvironment

June 1, 2015

The Importance Of A Healthy Microenvironment

MicroenvironmentThe environment is one of the most important factors of influence in the disease triad. The environment can be defined as the biological and physical factors and the chemical interactions that influence the life of a living organism. In the case of human beings like you and I, our environment refers to all the living and non living things we interact with and the chemical interactions that influence our lives. The living component of the environment includes all our neighbors, our domesticated plants and animals and the wild animals and how we interact with them. The physical component of the environment includes all non living things that influence our life like rainfall, sun, rocks and many more.

It is therefore clear that the environment which is our surrounding has a direct bearing on our lives. Just how does our environment influence diseases that attack us? In order to effectively answer this question, we need to remember the components of the environment and consider them as possible risk factors for a disease. We are exposed to several risk factors of diseases that are physical, chemical or biological components of the environment. For better understanding, consider an environment with poisonous gas, constant flooding and mosquito infestation. In this risky environment, the chemical component that is a risk factor for disease is the poisonous gas. The physical component that poses risk is the flood and the biological component that is a risk factor to disease is the mosquitoes. The environment also influences alterations in the way we behave in response to the risk factors to which we are exposed.

What is a healthy microenvironment?

An organism exists in a larger environment whose definition is given above. This larger environment is sometimes referred to as macro environment. However at times interest may be only on the immediate surrounding which is relatively small, effectively isolated and characteristically differs from the larger environment. For example if we are to consider a family living in a city environment, the conditions of their house could be different from that of the surrounding. Individual members of the family might wear clothing of different levels of cleanliness. All this makes the micro environment.

At the lowest level microenvironment would refer to the environment in and around the calls that make up our bodies. At the cellular level, our bodies carry out billions and billions of chemical reactions that are aimed at maintaining life. These reactions alter the composition of the environment within and around the cells of the body. Even in spite of all these reactions, the body has to maintain internal conditions that are relatively constant and stable. The body therefore undergoes a process of self regulation that helps it to restore the balance after it is shifted by normal biochemical reactions and daily stresses. A healthy microenvironment is thus one in which the body’s self regulating capabilities function well and thus the environment in and around the cells is well balanced thereby discouraging disease from taking hold.

Maintaining a healthy microenvironment

It is of very great importance for every individual to maintain a healthy microenvironment in order to prevent and control diseases. So as to make this importance stand out, we need to answer the question of how disease takes hold in our bodies.

Disease occurs in our body due to the failure of the body’s self regulating mechanisms due to physical, chemical and emotional strains and stresses pushing this system out of balance.

Some of these stresses include toxicity and poor nutrient intake. A naturally balanced and healthy microenvironment is very hostile to disease factors.

Maintaining a healthy microenvironment not only helps in preventing diseases but also helps in controlling diseases that have already taken hold.

An example of a micro environment in our body is that of bacteria in our gastro intestinal tract. These bacteria benefit us in several ways. They metabolize nutrients that we cannot digest and convert them to important end products. They also control the assembly of gut associated lymphoid tissue, they modulate proliferation and differentiation of the gastrointestinal tract lineages, they train the immune system, and they regulate angiogenesis and modify the activity of the enteric nervous system. Owing to the vast important physiological and immunological roles of these microorganisms, it becomes clear that maintaining a healthy microenvironment within the gastrointestinal tract could go a long way in improving their function and thus boosting the body’s ability to fight disease.

MicroenvironmentAnother example of microenvironment is that of antimicrobials in the mucosal surfaces of the female reproductive system. This microenvironment is effective in protecting the body against bacteria, viruses and fungi. Maintaining a healthy microenvironment in the female reproductive system would thus go a long way in solving the problem of sexually transmitted diseases that have been world’s worst nightmare.

It is therefore evidently possible to control and prevent majority of diseases of mankind through maintaining a healthy microenvironment that boosts the body’s immunological functions. To achieve this, we need to feed on unadultered nutrient rich foods, breath oxygen rich air and drink purified water which will help in providing the needed elements and clearing toxins and thus maintain the body’s microenvironment in a state that prevents disease from taking hold.

For more information about bone marrow transplant and stem cell transplantation, visit www.awaremednetwork.com. Dr. Dalal Okoury has years of experience in integrative medicine and will be of assistance.

Integrative Addiction Conference 2015

While at it, visit http://www.integrativeaddiction2015.com to learn about the upcoming integrative addiction conference 2015. The conference will deliver unique approaches to telling symptoms of addiction and how to assist patients of addiction.

The Importance Of A Healthy Microenvironment

 

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Pros and Cons of Suboxone

May 25, 2015

Problems with suboxone treatment, pros and cons of suboxone therapy

Suboxone

There has been an increase in prescription of opioid painkillers in the US, this phenomenon got me worried and backed up by a recent study that verified that the use of safer alternatives to pain management has been on the decline.

In recent years there has been a growing awareness in the medical community about the pervasiveness of pain. This awareness has corresponded to a sharp increase in the use of opioids and abuse with so many people involved in the use opioids for non-medical purposes.

One of the biggest disasters associated with this tremendous use of opioid painkillers is their potential to cause addiction.

Addiction to any drug substance be it medicinal or not is a very serious issue with extremely adverse socio-economic impacts in human populations all over the world. The move to try and help addicts recover from this societal demon is thus a noble one. Many addiction treatment centers have been set up in line with this move. Different medications are today in use in the world over and research is still ongoing with the aim of developing the most effective medication for addiction treatment. One such drug being used today in addiction treatment is suboxone.

What is suboxone?

Suboxone is a brand name for a prescription medication that is a combination of two drugs; buprenorphine and naloxone. Buprenorphine belongs to a class of drugs called opioid partial agonists which help relieve symptoms of opiate withdrawal. Naloxone on the other hand is belongs to a class of drugs called opioid antagonists which reverse the effects of narcotics. one of the most powerful narcotics isbuprenorphine is a narcotic, it is so powerful yet it has a potential o be addictive. it was approved for treatment of opioid addiction in 2002 in the United States.

This drug can be combined with naloxone to make Suboxone and be used to help addicts to fight opioids like vicodin, heroin, OxyContin, and hydrocodone. Naloxone has ability to block opioid receptors in the brain and trigger sudden withdrawal symptoms when injected. For treatment, Naloxone is added as deterrent to prevent addicts from injecting Suboxone. When taken as a pill, naloxone is not absorbed into the body.

Problems with suboxone therapy

When it was first released in 2002, suboxone was hailed as a major advance over methadone. But millions of but later there were millions of literature critiquing the use of this drug as it has faults as were thought earlier.

One of the biggest challenges associated with suboxone treatment is its being overprescribed and misused.

Over three million Americans with opioid dependence have been treated with Suboxone. This drug has been successfully used to help addicts but it has high potential of being abused.

A report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found a ten-fold increase in the number of emergency room visits involving buprenorphine. Slightly over half of the 30,000 hospitalizations in 2010 were for misuse and abuse of buprenorphine.

How many died from buprenorphine overdoses is unknown, because medical examiners and coroners do not routinely test for the drug.

For a drug addict, the most uncomfortable, painful problem of their addiction is withdrawal. If they can somehow control their urge to delve back into the drug and endure the side effects of withdrawal, then they can successfully complete their addiction recovery and gain their freedom from use of drugs.

Suboxone is so popular with addicts that it has turned into a street drug – to be bartered or exchanged for money, heroin or other illegal drugs. According to one estimate, about half of the buprenorphine obtained through legitimate prescriptions is either being diverted or used illicitly.

Drug makers are well aware of the potential for misuse and abuse. Orexo, the maker of menthol flavored Zubsolv, is selling the tablets in single dose “blister” packaging designed to reduce accidental use by kids. Another maker, Reckitt-Benckiser took its Suboxone tablets off the U.S. market and currently sells Suboxone in individually wrapped film strips. However experts have it that no amount of preparation and packaging can outsmart a determined drug abuser.

The potential for abuse and diversion is however not reason enough to call for a stop in treating addicts with buprenorphine, according to a commentary published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine that calls for a “balanced approach” to the drug.

The other major challenge associated with suboxone treatment is that it is causing its own epidemic of addiction. Patients undergoing suboxone treatment could overtime get addicted to the drug and show withdrawal symptoms when they try to get off its use.

Advantages of suboxone

One of the primary advantages of suboxone for addiction treatment is the fact that buprenorphine’s partial agonist quality prevents it from triggering respiratory depression -and thus overdoses.

Its other advantages include:

  • It isn’t met with stigma as with methadone.
  • It can often get to a stabilized dose within the first or second day.
  • It has a better safety profile.
  • It may be easier to come off than methadone.
  • It is longer acting than methadone so it may not require daily dosing.
  • Its side effects are less than those of methadone.

 

SuboxoneDisadvantages of suboxone therapy

Though suboxone is considered an advance in addiction treatment over methadone, it has its disadvantages. Some of these disadvantages include:

  • It may fail to fully satisfy cravings or inhibit withdrawal symptoms for those with high tolerance.
  • Dose adjustments may b more difficult.
  • It is also likely to cause a precipitated withdrawal.

Addiction is a societal menace for which support is required in fighting. That’s why we at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are committed to availing help to addicts and offering them a place to call home. It matters not what kind of addiction you are wrestling with, just call on Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) today and begin your journey to victory against addiction.

Problems with suboxone treatment, pros and cons of suboxone therapy

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