Various health complications of Heroin abuse

June 5, 2015

Various health complications of Heroin abuse: Short and long term effects

Various health complications of Heroin abuse can be corrected if treatment is sought in good time

While looking at the elaborate information about heroin addiction in our previous article, we noted that various studies have established the undoubted prevalence of heroin addiction in this generation. Doctor Akoury establishment of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center has been taking the lead role in creating awareness about the scourge of addiction and most importantly offering lasting solutions to the victims. This is the spirit that every other organization should have and meticulously implement for us to have a vibrant healthy and economically productive society. Because of the addictiveness nature of heroin, the various health complications of heroin abuse are very indiscriminative and everybody is vulnerable in equal measures. With the help of professionals from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury, we are going to explore with a view of understanding some of the effects of heroin abuse in our health.

As we had mentioned before that there are three major means of administration of heroin into the body with injection being the most predominant, it has also been established that soon after injection or inhalation and heroin crosses the blood brain barrier. And while in the brain, heroin is converted to morphine and binds rapidly to opioid receptors. With these done abusers will typically report feeling a surge of pleasurable sensation, a “rush” which now brings us to the understanding of some of the short term effects of heroin abuse.

Various health complications of Heroin abuse: Short-term effects of heroin abuse

“Rush”
Depressed respiration
Clouded mental functioning
Nausea and vomiting
Suppression of pain
Spontaneous abortion

The intensity of the rush is a function of how much drug is taken and how rapidly the drug enters the brain and binds to the natural opioid receptors. It is important to note that heroin is particularly addictive because it enters the brain so quickly. With heroin, the rush is usually accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in the extremities, which may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and severe itching. Doctor Akoury further explains that after the initial effects, abusers usually will be drowsy for several hours. Mental function is clouded by heroin’s effect on the central nervous system. Cardiac functions slow. Breathing is also severely slowed, sometimes to the point of death. Heroin overdose is a particular risk on the street, where the amount and purity of the drug cannot be accurately known.

Various health complications of Heroin abuse: What are the long-term effects of heroin use?

One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin is addiction itself which is a chronic, relapsing disease, characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, and by neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain. Heroin also produces profound degrees of tolerance and physical dependence, which are also powerful motivating factors for compulsive use and abuse. Other long-term effects of heroin abuse may include the following:

Addiction
Infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and C
Collapsed veins
Bacterial infections
Abscesses
Infection of heart lining and valves
Arthritis and other rheumatologic problems

The common denominator with all addictive drugs is that their users will become their prisoners. In the same way heroin abusers will by and by spend more of their time, energy and resources in obtaining and using the drug. And once addicted and are now prisoners of drugs, their primary purpose in life will be to seek for the drug and use it disorderly thereby making very significant changes in their brains. Besides that as they continue abusing the drug, physical dependence develops with higher doses of the same. This will then cause the body to adapt to the presence of the drug and withdrawal symptoms occurring should the drug use be stopped abruptly. When we talk about withdrawal, it is important to note that this can take place even within few hours from the last usage. The following are some of the symptoms of withdrawal restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold sweats with goose bumps (“cold turkey”), and leg movements. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after the last dose of heroin and subside after about a week. However, some people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months. And even though heroin withdrawal may never be fatal to healthy adults, this may not be so with unborn children in the womb, it can cause death to the fetus of a pregnant addict.

When using heroin, it is important to note that the continued use of this substance may lead to the user being addicted to it. And this happens; many addicts will have to endure many of the withdrawal symptoms to reduce their tolerance for the drug so that they can again experience the rush. In the past explains doctor Akoury, physical dependence and emergence of withdrawal symptoms were believed to be the key features of heroin addiction. However studies have revealed that this may not be the case entirely, since craving and relapse can also occur weeks and months after withdrawal symptoms are long gone. We also know that patients with chronic pain who need opiates to function (sometimes over extended periods) have few if any problems leaving opiates after their pain is resolved by other means. This may be because the patient in pain is simply seeking relief of pain and not the rush sought by the addict.

Various health complications of Heroin abuse: What are the medical complications of chronic heroin abuse?

Finally medical consequences of chronic heroin abuse include scarred or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves, abscesses (boils) and other soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Lung complications (including various types of pneumonia and tuberculosis) may result from the poor health condition of the abuser as well as from heroin’s depressing effects on respiration. Many of the additives in street heroin may include substances that do not readily dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys and the brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs. Immune reactions to these or other contaminants can cause arthritis or other rheumatologic problems. And of course, sharing of injection equipment or fluids can lead to some of the most severe consequences of heroin abuse – infections with hepatitis B and C, HIV, and a host of other blood-borne viruses, which drug abusers can then pass on to their sexual partners and children. With these explanations, it is only prudent that if you are struggling with heroin addiction, then you need to seek for immediate treatment which can be done professionally if you schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. Up on receipt of your request they will slot you in for treatment and help you all the way to reclaim your life back professionally and confidentially.

Various health complications of Heroin abuse: Short and long term effects

Alcohol Abuse Linked to Esophageal Cancer

January 21, 2015

Alcohol Abuse and Esophageal Cancer

Alcohol abuse has become prison walls to many people, needless to mention economies are crippled because of this societal vice that has made many people incapable of even fending for themselves. Apart from the whole known fight with alcohol addiction and its related consequences, alcohol abuse has also been identified by researchers as a cause of different cancers. Unfortunately alcoholism is not very easy to quit especially without professional help. Many people who try to stop alcoholism have to give in to the cravings for alcohol. Some may also be pulled back into alcoholism due to the withdrawal symptoms that may be hard to deal with. However hard dealing with alcohol addiction can be, there are numerous ways that medics can use to help an addict break the chain of addiction and help him reduce his chances of falling victim to certain cancers. One of the most important factors that will determine whether the addict will succeed in the fight against addiction is the willingness and commitment of the addict to put up with every advice of the doctors. If you are abusing alcohol and you haven’t seen the need to quit it, I guess you should since it has been linked to many different cancers. One of the cancers that alcohol abuse has been linked to is the esophageal cancer. You may not know much about it but it’s good to note that just like any other type of cancer, esophageal cancer is not lenient at all and so you should carve your path and walk away from this disease.

In this article we will look at how alcohol causes these two main types of esophageal cancers; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA). In the past it has been known that tobacco smoking is a leading cause of different types of cancers including esophageal cancer but recently research study reports have also indicated that excessive alcohol consumption increase the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Today, esophageal cancer (EC) is the 8th most common incident cancer in the world and, because of its high fatality rate, ranks 6th among all cancers in mortality. It is not surprising, therefore, that the etiology of EC has been investigated for over a century. Based on clinical observations, Craver in his Clinical study of etiology of gastric and esophageal carcinoma in 1932 and Watson in 1939 list excessive use of alcohol and tobacco, low socioeconomic status, poor oral health, and consumption of hot drinks as risk factors for EC. These two scientists even cited past research papers on EC etiology published to back up their findings. In particular Craver cites a 1920 article from Argentina that suggests maté drinking as a risk factor for EC.

Alcohol consumption has long been known to be a major cause of esophageal cancer in most areas of the world just like tobacco smoking which is known by many people as a huge cancer risk. Classic ecologic and case-control studies by Tuyns and others in the 1970s and 1980s in his study Cancer of the esophagus: further evidence of the relation to drinking habits in France, established alcohol as a strong cause of esophageal cancer in many countries, and showed that alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking interact to increase esophageal cancer risk in a multiplicative manner. IARC has classified alcohol drinking as a known cause of esophageal cancer.

Generally, it has been found that excessive alcohol consumption is a cause of esophageal cancer however alcohol abuse increases the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma than it does with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA), but these are just different sides of the same coin-esophageal cancer. When used in excessive amounts (3 or more drinks per day), alcohol has almost universally been associated with an elevated risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; it typically increases risk by 3–5 fold. In contrast, there is little evidence for an association between alcohol drinking and esophageal adenocarcinoma. However, the majority of the case-control and cohort studies that have investigated this association have found no overall relationship between alcohol consumption and esophageal adenocarcinoma, or have found relatively weak associations between alcohol and esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Nevertheless there has been some sort of controversy on this issue as some researchers have opined that some studies have suggested that only certain types of alcohol may be have effects on esophageal adenocarcinoma. for instance in this study; Obesity, alcohol, and tobacco as risk factors for cancers of the esophagus and gastric cardia: adenocarcinoma versus squamous cell carcinoma, done by Vaughan TL, Davis S, Kristal A, Thomas DB in 1995, the reports suggests that drinking wine may reduce risk. However no other study has come up to support these findings.

Esophageal Cancer In the past the link between alcohol and cancer was not easy to establish since alcohol itself does not bind DNA, is not mutagenic, and does not cause cancer in animals but there are mechanisms that have been known that has since helped to establish the link between alcohol abuse and increased risk of certain cancers. One of these mechanisms is that it is converted to acetaldehyde which is harmful as it causes DNA alteration leading to gene mutation which escalates risks to cancer. Alcohol is also a solvent to other mutagens and also causes nutritional deficiency.

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.

Alcohol Abuse and Esophageal Cancer

Yeast Infection And Weight Gain

January 6, 2015

Yeast Infection Can Contribute To Weight Gain

Yeast infection is a common condition in women. Over 75% of women today have experienced at least one type of yeast infection in their lives. Not to say that men don’t get yeast infections. It’s just that women are affected by it more than men.

Today over 70 million Americans have yeast infections. Only 30% of these statistics are men. This clarifies that women are the victims of yeast infection in most cases.

Yeast infections starts with a fungus infestation. The fungus thrives in the gut. It produces toxins into the blood. These toxins are associated with fatigue and dizziness. They affect the thyroid causing a hormonal imbalance.

This hormonal imbalance is what causes cravings for things like sugar and alcohol. Well, it is common knowledge that these two are associated with weight gain.

Antibiotics are very common in our households. What you don’t know is that they cause yeast in your body to over grow. Eating a refined diet may also contribute to an overgrowth of yeast. Refined flour especially wheat flour and sugar feed the bacteria causing them to grow. Another bacteria overgrowth causing factor is the increase in stress hormones in your body.

yeast-infections

What is Yeast?

Normally yeast exists in the human bodies. Candida albicans is the common yeast that exists in our bodies. Yeast infection occurs when there is an over growth of Candida albicans.

It normally exists among good bacteria in the gut. They live together and maintain an optimum balance. The useful bacteria play a role in digestion of sugars and making of vitamins which are useful in human nutrition. Some bacteria form lactic acid which protect the body e.g. guts from yeast infection.

Candida thrives in the body in places like the digestive track, mouth, vagina and skin. It lives in harmony with other bacteria and yeast. Antibiotic are the major triggers of yeast overgrowth. The moment you start taking antibiotics disrupts this harmony and the balance that existed.

The useful and bad bacteria in the body are destroyed. However, antibiotics do not affect the yeast. When good and bad bacteria are destroyed by antibiotics it means the competition is over. Yeast can now thrive and this causes it to over grow.

The growth is facilitated by the refined sugars we take in our diets. They feed the yeast contributing to its growth. The antibiotics destroy even the bacteria responsible for production of lactic acid which counteracts the growth of yeast. The growing yeast therefore affects the tissues of where it thrives e.g. the intestinal walls.

Yeast Overgrowth and Weight Gain

The overgrowth of yeast has direct effect on weight gain. It leads to bloating that causes an increase in belly fat. This affects women most.

A woman may be cutting out calories in her diet and taking only a few yet she still gains weight. This may be hard for people to believe. However, she may be on a diet but the food she is eating containing sugars and carbohydrates may be contributing to this weight gain.

As seen refined carbohydrates and sugars act as food for the yeast. This causes an over growth of yeast in the body. Let’s take a case where she is on antibiotics. These destroy the good and bad bacteria that keep yeast in check. The yeast is therefore able to grow without competition. Adding a carbohydrate and sugar diet to this equation makes weight loss next to impossible even on the stickiest calorie diet.

The build-up of toxics combined with bloating causes a decline in the functioning of thyroid. This leads to a decrease in metabolism which eventually causes weight gain.

Yeast overgrowth creates a strong craving for sugars and carbohydrates. The carbohydrates in the body build up into fat that is stored in the tissues, a major cause of weight gain.

The yeast overgrowth also causes a considerable overworking of the immune system due to toxics. The toxic overload leads to chronic stress. Studies show that chronic cells lead to an increase in levels of cortisol. High levels of cortisol make it difficult to lose weight because of the chronic stress in the body.

yeast-infection

Managing Yeast Overgrowth

Diet: The best way of managing yeast overgrowth is to stay clear of refined sugars and carbohydrates. Also keep away from fermented foods and dairy product. These will only accelerate the yeast overgrowth.

Probiotics: these refer to good bacteria. They boost nutrition. When introduced into the body they enhance the balance of bacteria and yeast that had been lost and yeast growth is minimized.

Avoid Exposure to Chemicals and Medications: chemicals such as pathogens which are found in our homes in form of paints, perfumes, and paints should be avoided. Also stay away from medications such as antibiotics and birth control pills which cause yeast to over growth.

AwareMed is the best place to learn more about yeast over growth and its effect on weight gain. Dr. Dalal Akoury will provide more expert opinion on this and other health issues. This is the kind of knowledge you won’t find anywhere else. Just visit www.awaremednetwork.com and experience change today.

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Combatting Cold Sores during the Holiday Season

November 5, 2014

Combatting Cold Sores during the Holiday Season

Cold-sore-triggers Holiday seasons are the time to come together among several families. Those married couples who work far apart are able to join together with the rest of their families at home or take the time out to go camping or just touring around.

The main idea here is coming together. For many fathers whose jobs are highly involving, this is the time to show your kids that daddy love.

You want to carry your kids around, peppering them with kisses often- time for cementing that paternal bond!

The problem is that it becomes hard to combat infectious diseases at such moments. If a research was to be done to assess the situation, hardly would anyone want to have such diseases during the holiday seasons. Reason is simple: it becomes so difficult to control them.

How do you show your love when you cannot mingle freely with them? How will you put them close when at the same time you wish to protect them from contacting the infectious virus you are fighting? At the end your entire liberty is stifled and you find yourself at a fix, especially in the Western cultures where the show of affection is mostly through close body contact.

Menace of the Herpes Virus

Infection by the herpes simplex virus in the middle of your holiday season may be catastrophic. Hanging around your family with your lips, mouth and/or your gums full of sores may not be very comfortable. You will be experiencing painful small sores on the same organ you wish to use to demonstrate care to your loved ones.

The most difficult part is that a person suffering from the herpes labialis can easily transmit these viruses through simple act of kissing or even from sharing the same cup of coffee or glass of a drink. Adults will generally transmit the herpes virus to their spouses and siblings through the simple body fluid– saliva.

If not approached carefully, an entire small family may end up being infected with the virus within a very short span of time.

Treatment and control

Good news however, is that this infection is curable. It has varieties of treatments available that can temporarily alleviate its symptoms. A number of over-the counter creams may be used to control the virus so you do not have to make a mess of your holiday season. With such a cream option you can be certain to get well just right before commencing the holiday celebrations with your family.

cold-sore

Considerable amount of caution is necessary when dealing with this viral disease. Stress is one of the most dangerous conditions that may antagonize recovery from cold sores in your holiday period. Stress usually releases harmful toxins that impedes the body’s normal workings.

As a patient of cold sores you are likely to suffer anxiety that is related to the attack whose effects are likely to overwhelm the immune system. This way the body may respond to healing process ineffectively. It is thus recommended that you avoid by all means actions or circumstances that may increase such stress levels or that may make you depressed.

The idea is: keep calm and give room for your immune system to perform its work. It will be easier that way to gain full recovery on your efforts to combat the condition.

Combating cold sores also involves ingesting essential nutrients including vitamin E, vitamin C as well as Zinc oxide. Vitamin C may always have adverse side effects and should therefore be consumed under clear instructions from your physician.

Meanwhile, it is highly recommended that you exercise as much as possible and change your eating habits to favor the fight against the disease. Nascent oxygen is one essential requirement and adequate exercises will help you with just that.

Combatting Cold Sores during the Holiday Season

Lyme disease And Addiction: Understanding The Connection

June 1, 2014

Lyme Disease- Introduction and History

Lyme disease alert

Lyme disease, by definition, is a bacterial infection that humans contract when they are bitten by an infected deer tick. It’s caused by a spirochete whose scientific name is Borrelia burgdorferi. In Europe, the disease may also be due to another bactreia, the Borrelia afzelli. The disease has in most cases been branded the “Great Imitator” due to the fact that its symptoms often confuse with those of several other diseases. An individual with the disease may be affected in the joints, heart, skin and the nervous system. Lyme disease is not contagious from one infected individual to a non-infected person as the infection is spread through infected deer ticks.

The infection develops in two phases. The first phase often identifies as a red spot that appears to be expanding at the spot where the bite occurred. The spot is often noticeable for between three and thirty (3-30) days. In some cases, flu-like symptoms for example, headaches, tiredness, joints and muscles pain are experienced.

If the infection goes untreated after the first phase, it may develop into a more serious and chronic type, months or years later. The chronic type, every so often described as chronic Lyme disease, may trigger symptoms identical to those of chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia.

Lyme disease surfaced in 1982 from a research done in Lyme, Connecticut, where the infection was first identified in some children as rheumatoid arthritis. With time, it was revealed that deer ticks are the carriers of the Lyme bacterium that caused the disease. The ticks acts as vectors which transmit the disease whenever they bite humans. In discussing Lyme disease and addiction, we will try to identify the connection between these two conditions and see how Lyme disease has a possibility of driving one into addiction.

As you already understand that Lyme disease is a bacterial infection, its link to addiction probably comes in how the disease is treated through administration of antibiotics. It’s now evident through research that antibiotics overdose or abuse may lead into addiction. But first, let’s discuss the symptoms of Lyme disease and its treatment.

Symptoms of Lyme disease And the Connection to a Possible Addiction

Lyme disease affects different body parts as it develops. First, the bacteria enters the skin and body at the point where the tick bite occurred. This point becomes reddish with time, and as the bacteria moves away from the bite, it leaves an expanding reddish rush which resembles “flu-like” symptoms.

The disease is medically assessed and described in three identified phases:

Early localized disease with skin inflammation
Early disseminated disease with heart & nervous system involvement, and sometimes incudes palsies and meningitis
Late disease which features motor and sensory nerve damage, brain inflammation as well as arthritis.

Early in the first phases of the illness, say after days to weeks of the bite, a rush develops on the skin around the area of the bite. Sometimes and in a few victims, a special ring called the erythema migrans, develops and resembles a bull’s eye in a dart board. In some, the rash goes unidentified. As the skin becomes red, there may be accompanying symptoms like muscle and joint stiffness, generalized fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and a headache, all of which may be confused to a viral infection.

The redness may disappear in about a month even without any treatment and the effects of the bacteria spreads in the body, causing abnormalities in the nervous system, heart and joints.

In the later stages, severe symptoms are witnessed and may include:

Inflammation of the heart muscle leading to abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure
Nervous system develops facial muscle paralysis (Bell’s palsy)
Abnormal sensation due to disease of peripheral nerves (peripheral neuropathy)
Meningitis
Confusion
Arthritis, or inflammation in the joints

Researchers have realized that anxiety and depression are also common with people experiencing increased rate of Lyme disease. This makes this condition a possible addiction source as these two conditions are similar to those of withdrawals.

The link between Lyme disease treatment and addiction

An infected Human Hand

The treatment of Lyme disease demands the use of antibiotics to fight the bacterial infection. Also, some of the symptoms of Lyme disease sometimes include swollen glands of lymph nodes which are very painful. As such, administration of pain relievers might be necessary. With the fact that narcotic pain relievers are the best, their use will be encouraged in such situations. Most of these drugs are addictive.

As Lyme disease mimics several other diseases’ symptoms, it’s commonly misdiagnosed in its chronic state for other diseases and as a result, wrong antibiotics given. The effect of this is that wrong antibiotics are introduced into the body which creates antibodies for the antibiotics. As a result, there is a possibility of resistance to antibiotics developing. Another factor in this perspective is the fact that most antibiotics are administered to treat infections that are rather viral than bacterial.

In treating Lyme disease, the administration of antibiotics depends on the level or stage of the infection. If strong antibiotics are used in the early stages where any mild antibiotic would get rid of the infections, the possibility of resistance to antibiotics increases.

Whenever there is resistance to antibiotics, there is a likelihood of overuse or abuse (excess drug intake) to treat the condition as the effect of the drug diminishes. The body begins to tolerate the effects and thus demands for more or stronger pills (which is one way in which addiction develops).

Finally….

Addiction is a serious condition that threatens life if left untreated. As such any condition that may force one into the path of addiction, irrespective of the form of addiction, is fatal and should be minimized in all ways possible. As such and with the fact that Lyme disease is likely to be confused with other diseases, there is a pressing need to consult only trained and well experienced professional doctors, like Dr. Dalal Akoury of Awaremed. With her vast experience in the medical practice, she has the right mix of skills, knowledge and experience to offer the right treatment for Lyme disease and addiction.

Be it that you’re a physician or a patient in need of a life transforming addiction treatment, Dr. Dalal Akoury provides training and treatment in all aspects of addiction- the genetics and epigenetics of addiction. She’s an expert in all addiction treatments, including NAD and NADH treatment for addiction. Get in touch for her life-changing treatments and training.

Lyme Disease- Introduction and History

Tag Archives: Infection