Pros and Cons of Suboxone

May 25, 2015

Problems with suboxone treatment, pros and cons of suboxone therapy

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.

Disadvantages 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

Sexual Abuse, Rape and Female Sex Addiction: The Link

May 18, 2015

Role of Sexual Abuse and Rape on Female Sex Addiction

Sex addiction is real and today very many people are enslaved to its chains, rummaging through life looking for all and every viable point of egress from this monster but to no avail. The reality however is that of all those who are already victims the fight against it is just as fierce as any other against other known addictions. it is quite unfortunate that the dangers of sex addiction or the very existence of this phenomenon is still overlooked, this is probably because most the people affected by sex addiction are women who are not ready to expose themselves as sex addicts and look for help; the society can be blamed for this, women have been associated with all the wrong reasons, called derogatory names in relation to their sexuality so it no surprise that most of them will endure all the problems that come with sex addiction in silence. It is quite unfortunate that most of the people who are sex addicts do not even know that they are suffering from sex addiction. There are various causes of sex addiction but sexual abuse and rape have been linked to sex addiction as causative agents.

sex addiction

Though overlooked, sex addiction is a real problem that has been here to stay and will continue to cause nightmares to many people. Statistics has it that between 10% and 17% of people aged between 20- 35 years struggle with sex addiction. The frequency of sex addiction is said to be at 3% generally. Past sexual misgivings of a person may lead to sexual addiction, therapists, healers and doctors have all noted the clear correlation between sexual abuse and sex addiction. If a person got raped at a younger age, the incident will make him incapable of differentiating between healthy sexual relationship and unhealthy sexual relationship. as opposed to what many people think sexual addicts are not engaged in the act for the sake of pleasure they can get from, therapists have taught that these addicts do not even enjoy sex but use it to help numb their painful feelings that may stem from past experiences. Though the major causes of sexual abuse are sexual abuse and rape, the availability of free porn sites on the internet has fueled sex addiction. many people are able to log into these porn sites and watch the videos which further corrupts minds into believing that compulsive sexual behaviors are in fact a ‘virtue’ to be highly upheld. These videos depict sex as an act that is not borne out of love and care but rather out of compulsion.

Sex addicts may exhibit the following symptoms

Sexual thoughts that is obsessive.
having multiple sexual partners
prioritizing sexual intercourse even at the expense of the daily work
inability to stop or control the behaviors
linking sex to pain, most addicts believe sex have to be endured
having intercourse with prostitutes and minors
Quest for dominance and control in sexual encounters
feeling remorse or guilt after sex

Sexual abuse and rape are leading causes of sexual addiction.

When a child is raped, the emotional baggage will continue to haunt her for a long time into her adult hood. This trauma often leaves the mind craving for something to make up for the emptiness and feelings of bitterness that follows when a person has been sexually abused. To self-medicate most victims will turn to sex as a therapy and this compulsive sexual behavior will become a part of her life. According to Doug Weiss, a therapist and executive director of the Heart to Heart Counseling Center, 80 percent of sex addicts have been sexually abused in the past and the emotional baggage still haunts them. These vies are also echoed by Mark Schwartz, psychologist and former director of the Masters and Johnson Institute in St. Louis, Missouri. He has observed that many people coming forward as sex addicts have been abused assaulted or raped. Dr. Schwartz opines that when a person has been raped or put through any other act of a sexual abuse in the past, she will fail to trust in other people and become more susceptible to turn to sex addiction as a manifestation. however he points out that this failure to trust people readily that makes people predisposed to sex addiction has also been shown by individuals who were neglected by parents mostly as a result of divorce or when the parents were engrossed in their professions and failed to spend time with the children.

sex addiction

It has been known that imbalances in the naturally occurring chemicals in the brain like the serotonin and dopamine can contribute to sexual problems but the relationship between these hormones and sex addiction have not been established. This according to Mayo Clinic may be because the research into the neuroscience of sex addiction has not been conclusive for the links to be drawn and established. However it has been found that these chemicals are lower in children who were sexually abused in the past and so they have to use their own bodies and sometimes food to help them boost their levels of these crucial hormones especially serotonin.

today very many people are suffering from sex addiction, the biggest problem that comes with sex addiction is that many addicts are not ready to accept what happened in the past and live in the present, most of them feel that they are to be blamed for what happened to them and hence not willing to open up and seek help. Here at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center we have enlisted sex addiction as a real threat that can only be treated through integrative medicine. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an expert at this. Call her on (843) 213-1480 for help.

Role of Sexual Abuse and Rape on Female Sex Addiction

Why are Stem Cells Important?

May 3, 2015

What are stem cells, and why are they important?

Stem cells are very special, powerful cells found in both humans and also in other animals. Stem cells are the precursors of all cells in the human body. What makes stem cells special is that they are regenerative and malleable. They have the ability to replicate themselves and to repair and replace other tissues in the human body. Some tissues, like skin, need constant renewal, which could not take place without skin stem cells. Other stem cells repair damage to the body’s tissues, for example, rebuilding damaged or degenerating muscle tissue. New research also indicates that stem cell malfunction or damage may be responsible for certain cancers and even muscular-degeneration diseases like Muscular Dystrophy.

Stem cells differ from other kinds of cells in the body. All stem cells have three general features that make them different from other body cells. These features are: they are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods. They are unspecialized and they can give rise to specialized cell types. Stem cells are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods. Unlike muscle cells, blood cells, or nerve cells which do not normally replicate themselves, stem cells may replicate many times, or proliferate.

The stem cells have a unique ability to divide and become more specialized cells forming cells like bone, blood, or muscle. It is this ability that makes them attractive agents in many areas of medicine. They can therefore be used to fight very many diseases in the regenerative medicine. Another advantage of stem cell therapy treatments is that autologous stem cell transport is made possible. This means that a person may be treated by doctors harvesting the stem cells from the patient and having the stem cells reimplanted into the same patient after finding out what was lacking in the patient. This reduces risks of infection as well as rejection which are helpful to the patient.

Importance of stem cells

the stem cells are very important cells in the body and have been since targeted for treatment of degenerative diseases. They have been called the center pieces of regenerative medicine. Medicine that involves growing new cells, tissues and organs to replace or repair those damaged by injury, disease or aging. there ability to proliferate into other cells of the body like the bone and muscle tissues have made them a priority in treatment of various degenative diseases like aging and even osteoporosis among others. here is how stem cells work in treatment of various diseases.

Rejuvenation– the stem cells can be used in rejuvenation process. through rejuvenation the bodies healing ability is boosted. Typically, the body is programmed to naturally repair itself that is why after you get a cut you can stay without going to hospital but still get healed within a very short time. However there other crucial organs that when damaged do not easily get repaired. When the body’s cells cannot get differentiated to give rise to new healthy cells and heal the damaged cell then there is a problem. According to Mayo clinic the cells that were once thought of as terminally differentiated including the heart, lungs and nerves which are more specialized are able to remodel as they possess ability to self-renew. However researchers are still working to come up with strategies through which the ability of these cells to self-heal can be enhanced.

Replacement– here the stem cells can be used to replace the damaged cells.in degenerative diseases like osteoporosis the damaged tissues can be replaced with fresh stem cells that will proliferate into more functional bone issues and relieve the system of the damaged tissues. the stem cells can be transplanted in autologous manner where the stem cells will be harvested in the adipose or the bone marrow and be used to replace the affected cells in organ. with autologues stem cell transplant the issue of donor is not a problem neither are there issues of rejection nor the need for immunosuppression .

Regeneration- Through regeneration the stem cells are delivered to diseased tissues or organs, where they will ultimately restore tissue and organ function. This can be done through cell-based therapy or by using cell products, such as growth factors. Bone marrow transplants are an example of regeneration. Regeneration aims to awaken cells that are not functional or have malfunctions. With stem cell therapy there is hope for affordable healthcare solutions that heal the body whole without life threatening side effects.

Stem cells are a cutting edge

Stem cells are capable of self-renewing giving rise to several copies of themselves. They also have the capability of shifting shape and changing type, therefore they can be used to form the cells that are damaged and restore the functions of the damaged tissues. The stem cells can be used to replace the cells that have malfunctioned due to structural damage. The amazing part of the stem cell differentiation is that when a stem cell divides both the daughter cell and the parent stem cells have the potential to differentiate into different cells or to still remain as stem cells. Owing to this ability of stem cells to differentiate into more specialized cells, they can rebuild lost blood vessels, reverse scarring, regenerate damaged nerves, and bring back the healthy you.

Stem cell therapy has a lot to offer to patients, Visit us at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Centre at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) an expert in integrative and regenerative medicine will be able to help.

What are stem cells, and why are they important?

Antibiotics in Foods is a Health Risk

May 2, 2015

Are The Antibiotics In Your Food And Your Meet Destroying Your Health?

Antibiotics The common adage that whatever you eat affects your health comes in handy here. we are supposed to be eating foods that help in building our bodies and laying a fortress that is not easily passed through by diseases, however with everybody having eyes fixed on the financial gains he can reap from the foods he grows it has become rather common to find that our foods are grown with enhancers that are at the end of the end of the day very dangerous to anybody eating them.

It is estimated that 99 percent of farmed animals in the US raised for food are raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). In fact, 80 percent of the antibiotics used in the US are used in agriculture. This enough to show you that the meet eaten in the US is highly concentrated in these antibiotics that eventually may turn out to be more dangerous than beneficial to us.

CAFOs are costly to your health

These foods may be easily available and priced affordable but when you take them after some time you will realize that the price at which these foods like pork, beef, egg, dairy and poultry are sold in the supermarket isn’t a true reflection of what they cost you. Most of these animals are raised like inanimate objects; they do not have even space to move, they do not see the sunlight, they do not get a gasp of fresh air and they have no clean place to sleep. theirs is to eat and eat until they are mature to be sold, eating boosters that they may mature faster, but after they are eaten for a long time is when the problems may set in.

The CAFOs are not very beneficial to you. if there is anybody who benefits from the CAFOs then only the farmers of these animals and the few involved in the industry are but the consumers stand at a loss and its quite unfortunate that while CAFOs have mastered the art of growing profits, they’ve overlooked the basic natural laws that govern growing animals and this culminates in huge health risks on those consuming these foods.

When antibiotics are used in an uncontrolled manner as has been used in the US agricultural sector they lead to an antibiotic-resistant disease. Approximately 25 million pounds of antibiotics are administered to livestock in the US every year for purposes other than treating disease, such as making the animals grow bigger faster. this are ways to maximize profits often hidden within these line ‘boosting food security ‘but the bitter reality is that those antibiotics, and even worse, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, are transferred to you via meat and even through the animal manure that is used as crop fertilizer.

According to Dr. Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, associate director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is even bigger problem than antibiotics simply being left behind in your meat as it’s a practice that is promoting the spread of antibiotic-resistant disease.

“The more you use an antibiotic, the more you expose a bacteria to an antibiotic, the greater the likelihood that resistance to that antibiotic is going to develop. So the more antibiotics we put into people, we put into the environment, we put into livestock, the more opportunities we create for these bacteria to become resistant.” Dr. Arjun advises.

The genes that make the bacteria resistant is often shared by other bacteria, therefore the drug resistant bacteria that contaminate your meat may share these genes with other bacteria in your body making you more susceptible to sickness. Drug-resistant bacteria also accumulate in manure that is used in the fields to grow crops and enters waterways, allowing the drug-resistant bacteria to spread far and wide and ultimately back up the food chain to us. Therefore we are exposed to this risk and it is now more than just eating the beef, the pork or the poultry.

CDC links antibiotic-resistance illnesses to food

Antibiotics In America alone antibiotic-resistant bacteria infect 2 million people every year. these infections leads to death of 23,000 Americans every year but this is nothing in comparison to the estimation of the UK prime minister David Cameron that by 2050 antibiotic resistance will have killed 300 million people, with the annual global death toll reaching 10 million. This is really a big reason to worry.

CDC has also linked antibiotic-resistant illness to food. The CDC reports that 22 percent of those illnesses are caused by food especially the foods that are sourced from CAFOs.

The composition of your microbiome is somewhat like a fingerprint. It’s unique to you but, unlike your fingerprints, highly impressionable and constantly changing. As reported by Scientific American: “The ecology of the gut microbiome may trigger or contribute to a variety of diseases, including autoimmune disorders and obesity, research suggests. Factors such as early environment, diet, and antibiotic exposure have a lot to do with why people differ from one another in the composition of their microbiomes.”

Generally when your gut flora is unhealthy, then you will be predisposed to many health problems therefore eating these foods that may culminate into antibiotic- resistance illnesses are a big leap into a haven of illnesses that eventually causes many deaths. The CAFOs generally are harmful to your gut health and so are other foods that are genetically engineered to enhance growth and pump in more profits.

There is much more to the foods we eat than just getting full and equipping your body with the needed nutrients. The foods may also cause you diseases. These foods related illnesses 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.

Are The Antibiotics In Your Food And Your Meet Destroying Your Health?

Stem Cell Therapy and Osteoarthritis of the Elbow

May 1, 2015

Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis of the Elbows

Osteoarthritis is a disease that many people are suffering from and is one of the diseases that are not very easy to treat. According to Mayo clinic, Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting millions of people worldwide. It occurs when the protective cartilage on the ends of your bones wears down over time. Although osteoarthritis can damage any joint in your body, the disorder most commonly affects joints in your hands, knees, hips and spine. Osteoarthritis of the elbow is also common. This disease often begins gradually but worsens with time. However till now there is no conventional cure for osteoarthritis. even those medicines that are used to mitigate on the symptoms of osteoarthritis none of the conventional treatments addresses the damage that is caused on the joints neither is there any avenue in the mainstream medicine through which the cartilage erosion on the elbow joints, knee joint or any other joint can be done away with. most of the time a person who is suffering from osteoarthritis of any kind is told to stay active, maintain a healthy weight and use other available treatments to help mitigate on effects of the disease; reduce the joint pain and function.

Due to the absence of mainstream treatment for osteoarthritis, patients have been facing untold horror of a lifetime. This inconvenience and pain that osteoarthritis patients have been put through as a result of this vacuum in the medical field, researchers have been working on different issues to come up with the best treatment for this disease. Researchers have mostly centered on the need for tissue regeneration therapies as this will be the only viable approach to healing the eroded cartilage on the joints. The erosion of cartilage on the elbow joint is the major characteristic of osteoarthritis of the elbow.

The bone diseases have been a major problem in the field of medicine with osteoarthritis being the major culprit affecting about 27 million people in America. Some of the common risk factors include increasing age, obesity, previous joint injury, overuse of the joint, weak thigh muscles, and genetics. In the past patients of this disease had no hope of ever breaking its chains but with recent studies on mesenchymal stem cells, a lot are changing in relation to the way doctors treat bone diseases. Stem cells have been used for the treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta, hypophosphatasia, osteonecrosis of the femoral head, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis of the elbow.

Today there are several hospitals that offer treatments to the joint diseases. Shoulders, knees, and hips joints are amongst the most common. However, there are other areas that can be treated with stem cell therapy are thumbs, toes and wrists. People who are active golfers, tennis or racquetball players, and avid bowlers may experience more pain from overuse of the elbow joint. Mild to moderate osteoarthritis is one of the main causes of a painful joint. This explains why most NFL players have gone for stem cell therapy to correct defects in their joint injuries.

Stem cell therapy for elbows may be an ideal nonsurgical alternative for those who suffer from elbow pain because of injury or pain related to osteoarthritis, or muscle sprains and strains. Traditional surgery for the elbows can be difficult because of the complexity of the joint, and it often requires a painful, lengthy rehabilitation process to restore the full range of motion. Before making the leap into a surgical procedure, you need to consider having a stem cell treatment as that may have better results.

Mesenchymal stem cells in joint disease and repair

Osteoathritis The mesenchymal have been known for their unique abilities. They are able to form other body cells and tissues and so can be used to replace the worn out tissues at the joints. Apart from their ability to form new cell types that can replace the worn out cartilage, the mesenchymal stem cells have a potential for articular cartilage regeneration, however this favorable research is centered on surgical implant of the stem cells. Now doctors have found that for the treatment of generalized cartilage loss in osteoarthritis, an alternative delivery strategy would be more appropriate and that is injection therapy. The advantage of the injection therapy is that there will be no need for any surgery.

The adverse effects of osteoarthritis can never be overemphasized, those who have fallen victims know much of the nightmares it causes, and the pain that these patients have to endure can never be overlooked. The research surrounding an effective treatment for osteoarthritis has yet to find an approved pharmacological intervention, biologic therapy or procedure that prevents the progressive destruction of the osteoarthritis joint. Stem cell injections for osteoarthritis can help maintenance healthy tissues by acting as repair cells or to reduce inflammation. The injection of Mesenchymal stem cells has produced promising outcomes in preclinical models of joint disease. It is hoped that the use of stem cell therapy in treatment of osteoarthritis of the elbow will be of help to those already suffering from the disease.

Finally, degenerative diseases like osteoarthritis have debilitated many people. In spite of the fact that it has never been treated in the past, it is hoped that with stem cell therapy, osteoarthritis will be a treatable disease. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an expert in integrative medicine and a founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Center located at Myrtle Beach South Caroline. Visit her for more information on most lifestyle diseases.

Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis of the Elbows

Tag Archives: United States

Pros and Cons of Suboxone

Problems with suboxone treatment, pros and cons of suboxone therapy