Health Center

Lately, when I’ve been interviewed about smoking cessation, the host will usually ask, “Isn’t nicotine addiction the reason most people are not able to successfully quit smoking?” They are surprised when I tell them nicotine is not a real addictive substance because it doesn’t have the characteristics of an addictive substance. The drive or compulsion to smoke cigarettes is strictly psychological.

The interviewers are surprised because addiction to cigarettes (nicotine) has been used as a rationalization as to why it is so hard to quit smoking. The truth is, nicotine does not present the characteristics of a physical addiction. The real cause of the difficulty to simply quit smoking cigarettes is the Psychological Smoking Mechanism. If you stop cigarettes and don’t remove this mechanism, you will continue to be a smoker who isn’t smoking right now. It is the real reason why the smoker, after being off cigarettes for weeks or months, is compelled to start again.

In this article, I will discuss the dynamics of true physical addiction. You will see that nicotine doesn’t fit in this category. In part 2 of this article, I will discuss more specifics that demonstrate how nicotine is not a true addictive substance and how the Psychological Smoking Mechanism is the real power behind smoking. Read more…

Despite what you may have thought, alcoholism, like all addiction, begins in an area of the brain called the reward pathway.

The brain is composed of neurons that pass electrical and chemical signals across the brain’s synapses. Neurons come in different shapes and sizes which enables them to communicate in a variety of functions; when the neurons fire in a series from one area of the brain to another it creates a pathway. Read more…

As a writer and also a sort of addiction-ologist I cannot help but observe and reflect on the division of our nation as it pertains to Michael Jackson. The overarching question seems to be should we revere him or should we condemn him? Was he a Semi-God, or a monster? And the whole climate of confusion, as well as the depth of mourning, harks me back to the age of 9 and the death of Elvis Presley. I can remember foggily asking in those sad days…How could this be?

And I can see that it is a question we are all asking again.

And if you expanded this question it might sound something like this… “How could someone so talented, so gifted, so powerfully able to touch human beings have come to this?” And the very way that we were touched by Elvis Presley and later by Michael Jackson seems to indicate a depth of humanity in both that is starkly contradicted by their behavior.

So how do we reconcile this seeming contradiction? We look here and we look there. We split up and take sides. Demi-God-ers face off with Monster-ites. We argue amongst ourselves. Those who want to deny and forget the monstrosities condemn those who want to deny and forget the greatness of The King of Pop. And the same also happens in reverse.

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Drug addiction is a serious problem. The medical community now views addiction as a disease or illness because it has both mental and physical effects on the abuser. Detoxification and rehabilitation are often necessary methods for treating the problem, though it depends on the nature of the abuse. If the problem is severe, long term drug treatment is often required to help someone recover and remain drug free.

Long term programs can be very helpful to someone that can’t quit on their own and can reset to both a residential setting as well as an outpatient ongoing environment that provides counseling and support. They are comprehensive programs that include several elements. At a rehab facility, each program is customized to meet the needs of the individual addict and contain both group therapy and individual meetings with staff. There are also people that have succeeded in overcoming their drug problem by attending narcotics anonymous meetings and regularly attending in order to not slip back into old patterns of abuse.

Individual psychotherapy is also responsible for some people being able to remain consistent in staying drug free. Some say that long term drug treatment outpatient care is the foundation of any successful program. The recovering addict receives a broad range of testing and medical attention. Drug abuses causes a lot of damage to the body and regular checks are necessary to ensure that serious issues are caught, treated, and monitored as soon as possible. Outpatient programs also include any medications that may be needed and monitoring their levels and use.

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When someone is passing through a process of recovery from a certain addiction, their dreams are vivid and intense. This happens because their function is always protective. All dream messages try to protect the human conscience of the dreamer from their wild and primitive side, besides trying to cure them from mental illnesses already provoked by the invasion of the wild anti-conscience into their conscious mind.

We see dreams because we need protection and guidance. The unconscious mind that produces our dreams is a natural psychologist and psychiatrist who knows exactly what is happening inside our brain and psyche and gives precise directions to our human conscience, in order to save it from the absurdity contained in the biggest part of our brain, which didn’t pass through the same process of development of our human side.

This is why all dream messages contain very important information for the human side of our conscience. This is something that we can verify in practice by translating our dreams according to the scientific method discovered by Carl Jung, which I simplified very much, after continuing his research.

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Opiate addiction is an insidious problem that has plagued society for centuries, but perhaps never more so than today. A two-edged sword, opiates can heal or destroy.

An opiate is any drug derived from the opium poppy plant. The main opiates are morphine, heroin, and codeine.

Thebaine and papaverine are also opiates. More commonly we see opiates in their synthetic forms: oxycodone (OxyContin, Percodan), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and hydromorphone (Dilaudid). Darvon, Demerol, and Methadone are other synthetic opiates. The majority of these drugs are used medically for pain management.

Opiates are particularly effective in suppressing pain and reducing anxiety. In sufficiently high doses, they can produce a euphoric state. For this reason, they are often used as recreational drugs. Psychological and physical dependence leading to addiction is common in frequent opiate users. The body quickly adjusts to the use of opiates such that increasingly larger doses are needed to produce the same euphoric effect. Overdosing, sometimes resulting in fatal respiratory failure, occurs when addicts take more than their body can handle.

Most opiates can be swallowed, snorted, smoked, or injected. Intravenous injection is the preferred method of longtime addicts as this method produces the quickest, most intense high. It is also a method accompanied by increased risk of infectious disease.

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Introduction

Substance abuse among nurses has not been fully documented, but it is estimated that about 10% of the current nursing population is addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, with about 6-8% of those having a serious enough problem that it interferes with job performance.

Specifically, nurses as a population seem to be prone to addiction to prescription medications more than to alcohol or illicit drugs, as compared to the rest of the population. This may be due to the fact that they have easier access to prescription medications than does the general population. It’s also heartening to note that once in treatment, nurses are much more likely to remain sober and to avoid relapse or return to abuse than the general population is.

What causes substance abuse among nurses?

As a population, nurses tend to be highly caring individuals who have chosen to devote their lives to others in a caretaking role. Unfortunately, however, nurses who abuse drugs and/or alcohol seem to come from families that have had significant emotional turmoil, resulting in low self-esteem, and a struggle to “make things better” by becoming an overachiever and falling into unhealthy caretaking roles of other troubled family members (such as “taking care of” alcoholic parents, as one example). As an illustration of this, one study has shown that up to 80% of nurses come from families with at least one alcoholic member.

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“Just Say No” as the popular anti drug campaign goes is one of the most difficult things to do for a person looking for some respite. The drugs don’t talk back, they don’t leave you, they don’t use you are some of the popular disbeliefs that drug users harbor, making it a dangerous addiction. This article deals with understanding the causes of drug abuse, symptoms and signs and some treatments that could be of use.

Causes of Drug Abuse:

• History of mental illness: drugs are sometimes used by people with mental disorders and in some cases even worsen already existing mental illness. They can even create new illnesses.
• Family History: it has not been completely ascertained that genetics and environment play an important role in drug abuse, but if you have a family history of addiction then you are at a higher risk of abusing drugs.
• Physical Pain: illegal drugs and pain medication, like heroin taken without any medical supervision can become addictive.
• Peer Pressure: one of the largest reasons is peer pressure, as if you are with people who are doing drugs then you are tempted to and many times pressured to try these drugs.

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We all have seen the scenes from the King of Reggae with his ever present ‘co-star’ in many of his interviews. In one of his famous moments he calmly turns and says ”Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.”

Many years have passed since Bob Marley said these words and high levels of addiction to pot along with the many health dangers that it poses have proven that by no means will herb be ”the healing of a nation.” One thing he did say correctly and thousands of drug and alcohol rehabs are evidence of this is the fact that ” alcohol is the destruction.”It should not be taken for granted that not just alcohol can destroy one, but any drug, habit and tendency that compromises a human being of clear reasoning and stability of self.

The use of pot usually begins in teenage years, with teenagers trying to be a part of a group to identify themselves with some popular trend. As they evolve, many step into the light of maturity and shed certain behavioral patterns, but in many instances take the use of pot into their adult life. The result of this have been higher statistics in drug rehabs of addicts trying to overcome their addiction to marijuana and the chain effect of this has been more broken homes, dysfunctional human beings and utter sadness.

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Health for the addicted person is many times considered a liability. Whether your concern is health for an opiate addiction, alcohol addiction, methadone addiction or some other addiction, your health should be considered an asset in steps toward recovery. Your health should be your greatest asset. If you are a drug abuser or are addicted, then your asset is not as valuable.

By putting drugs in your body you are making toxic investments in to your most valuable asset, your health. Think for a moment about the health issues that may arise from an addiction problem. The list is long. You may develop any of the following as consequences of drug abuse or use: HIV, Hepatitis C, skin problems, liver problems, tooth decay, bone problems, venereal diseases and a myriad of other health issues.

There is no way to address health of an addict as a single solitary problem. Your problem may be different than the problem someone else may have. However, there are usually many similarities that may be resolved in the same manner even though they demonstrate different symptoms. The root cause may be the same. For instance most people gain weight when they enter methadone maintenance but there are some that lose weight. Same root cause i.e. methadone. In both situations metabolism is changed. In both situations the same product is the solution.

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