Drugs and the Brain

What You Should Know about Oxycodone

April 7, 2020 / Drugs and the Brain, Oxycodone, Research/Trends/Statistics

Oxycodone is the active ingredient in a number of prescription opioid painkillers, including Oxycotin and Percocet, which are used to treat moderate-to-severe pain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is one of the most common opioids (along with methadone and hydrocodone) associated with overdose death. Every day, over 1000 people go to the emergency department for misusing opioids, and over 14,000 die a year from overdoses (stat from the year 2014). How Does Oxycodone Work? Oxycodone acts on the central nervous system by blocking receptors involved in pain induction. Through its interaction with the opioid receptors, …

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Meth Use Accelerates Aging

April 6, 2020 / Drugs and the Brain, Methamphetamines

Methamphetamine is a toxic drug that destroys your body and ruins your appearance. Meth users often have pot-marked faces due to acne or picking scars. Meth use leads to decaying of the teeth and poor dental health. But what is most notable is that the bodies of meth users appear to quickly deteriorate, a condition that many have described as accelerated aging. The Effects of Meth People initially start taking meth because they enjoy the feeling they experience: the inducement of euphoria, reduced appetite, heightened arousal, and decreased fatigue. But these effects are only short-lived. Eventually feelings of anxiety, paranoia, …

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What Are the HALT-ernatives To Drug Use?

April 7, 2020 / Drugs and the Brain, Research/Trends/Statistics, Sleep Hygiene, Sober Living

It can be easy to get into the habit of pushing aside concerns and replacing problem-solving behaviors with substance use or other non-constructive methods of coping. We all get used to behaving in certain ways in response to stress; in fact, after reacting to a situation the same way a few times, our brains program the reaction as an auto-response. When this auto-response is self-destructive, such as using drugs and/or alcohol, our problems can actually begin to amplify and lead to uncontrollable drug use. At this point, a professional may need to step in to help reprogram the brain, disrupt …

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The Importance of Mindfulness in Recovery

April 7, 2020 / Drugs and the Brain, Holistic Care and Treatment, Mental Health, Sober Living

What Is Mindfulness? Mindfulness is the psychological process of paying close attention to and accepting experiences in the present moment with compassion, without judgment, and without acknowledgment of the past or future. It is thought that focusing on the present allows for individuals to increase their perception of self, which allows them to develop strategies for self-management and coping. This way of thinking also reduces the stress associated with regretting the past and being anxious about the future. This concept originates from Buddhist philosophy, as it is one of the seven factors of enlightenment that brings a person to the …

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Six Reasons to Quit Caffeine During Drug Addiction Recovery

April 6, 2020 / Drugs and the Brain, Nutrition, Research/Trends/Statistics, Sleep Hygiene, Sober Living

To gain control over addiction, it is important to remove all drugs from your system that affect neurological signaling, which includes caffeine. Although caffeine is commonplace and not considered to be harmful in most cases, it is an addictive substance that can cause its own set of health problems such as upset stomach, sleep disorders, and anxiety. Two Dreams recommends that people undergoing alcohol or drug addiction treatment cut out caffeine in addition to alcohol and drugs for a number of reasons, some of which are listed below. Exception: we do allow our residents to have a shot of caffeine …

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Alcohol is Bad for Pregnant Women

April 6, 2020 / Alcohol, Drugs and the Brain, Medical Consequences, Research/Trends/Statistics, Women and Drugs

The children’s rhyme makes it seem so simple: first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in a baby carriage. Of course this perfect image isn’t always a reality. The hope and expectation is a happy, healthy, bouncing little baby in your arms, but what happens when something, God forbid, goes wrong? Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can lead to many different issues that can hurt both mother and baby, and we strongly urge pregnant women to seek treatment if needed. For decades there has been published advisory information stating that alcohol is bad for pregnant women. A government …

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Neurostimulation for Drug Addiction: Therapy of the Future

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Drugs and the Brain, Mental Health

Neurostimulation is being investigated as a tool used to treat many neurological disorders, like depression, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and addiction. For most of these conditions, neurostimulation is considered an investigational treatment not yet proved as a viable therapy or covered by health insurance.   Approved Neurostimulation Therapies There is substantial evidence that the neurostimulation technique called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is effective in treating major depression, although no health insurance plans currently cover it. However, research institutions such as John Hopkins are using it to help with treatment-resistant depression, and The Royal Australian and New …

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Can Neurostimulation Prevent Nicotine Cravings?

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Drugs and the Brain, Research/Trends/Statistics, Tobacco/Nicotine

Only 6% of the 1 billion individuals who try to quit smoking are successful for longer than one month. For this reason, it can be argued that the current tobacco secession tools are inadequate and that there is a need to develop better products/methods to facilitate secession. One of the challenges with quitting any drug is battling cravings. When a person is exposed to certain environmental cues, for instance seeing others smoke or being in a place where the person used to smoke, the urge may return. In response to this issue, researchers are developing neurostimulation techniques that may help …

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Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia: How Painkillers Can Paradoxically Cause More Pain

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Drugs and the Brain, Heroin and Opioids, Pain

What is opioid-induced hyperalgesia? Opioid-induced hyperalgesia is the occurrence of increased pain sensitivity in response to opioid administration. In other words, taking opioids in excess and/or for a long period of time has been known to lower the individual’s pain threshold so pain seems worse even if the opioid dose is increased. This phenomenon is often associated with opioid tolerance and opioid inefficiency.   What is the difference between opioid tolerance, and opioid-induced hyperalgesia? “Tolerance” suggests that the drug has progressively stopped causing a pharmacological response, but that the issue can generally be overcome by increasing the dosage. “Opioid-induced hyperalgesia” …

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Do Gateway Drugs Exist?

April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Drugs and the Brain, Prevention, Young Adults/Teens/College-Aged

Robert L. DuPont, Jr, MD, made the term “gateway drug” famous in his book Getting Tough on Gateway Drugs: a Guide for the Family. DuPont observed that youths at his clinic often engaged in alcohol and tobacco use before proceeding on to marijuana use. He thought that psychological barriers prevented the use of hard drugs and that once a person started frequently using certain soft drugs, they would move on to using marijuana and eventually progress to other illicit drugs as well. This book started the conversation about soft (or legal) drugs leading to the use of illegal and controlled …

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