IF FOOD BE THE MUSIC OF LIFE – Feb. 25, 2022 – Covid-19 remained the predominant reason for ER visits among kids – particularly among children too young to be vaccinated during the Omicron wave, when visits for that age group increased. There were also increases in visits related to behavioral health conditions among children five to 17, including self-harm, drug poisonings, socioeconomic and psychosocial concerns, and – among adolescents only – symptoms of mental health conditions and substance use. “The results point to the importance of increased awareness for health concerns that could arise due to delayed medical care…
Author: Leonard Buschel
IT’S ABOUT TIME – Feb. 24, 2022 – Snapchat says it’s making changes to make it harder for kids to buy drugs on its platform, and it has to do with how “friends” are recommended on the app. An NBC News investigation published in October found that Snapchat was linked to the sale of fentanyl-laced pills that killed teenagers and young adults in over a dozen states. Virginia did not have any confirmed deaths in that report. However, there were warnings from the Drug Enforcement Administrationthat drug dealers are marketing to teenagers through popular social media apps, selling drugs…
VIDEO – ALONE? NO WAY – Feb. 22, 2022 – “Each time we create a map our screens are filled with new discoveries and objects that have never before been seen by human eyes,” astronomer Timothy Shimwell of ASTRON and Leiden University said in a statement. “This release is only 27% of the entire survey and we anticipate it will lead to many more scientific breakthroughs in the future.” “We’ve opened the door to new discoveries with this project, and future work will…post-process the data with 20 times better resolution,” Durham University scientist Dr Leah Morabito added. more@CBSNews
SHOPAHOLICS UNITE! – Feb. 25, 2022 – “Retail therapy” can get confused with “shopping addiction,” but these terms have different meanings. During retail therapy, you are in control of your spending and feel satisfied with your decision to buy or not to buy. Shopping addiction makes you want to keep buying things, even if you know you shouldn’t. Buyer’s remorse—a sense of regret after making a purchase—usually follows. About 6%–8% of shoppers are compulsive buyers.2 There is a fine line between retail therapy and shopping addiction. Here are signs that retail therapy may be going too far:34 Spending excessive time…
A FOUR LEAF CLOVER – Feb. 25, 2022 – Having grown up familiar with alcoholism, binge-drinking and using recovery coaches in her own life, Joanne wanted to add to the chain of recovery by forming a specialised programme for struggling women. Joanne spoke with MyDerry to discuss her own experience with alcohol and establishing the Sober Coach. She said: “ I’ve gone through my own journey in relation to alcohol where I struggled with binge drinking. On a night out, I was never a one or two kind of person and I drank to get drunk. “Having grown up with…
THE GOOD DIE YOUNG – Feb. 25, 2022 – Hunter Lee Clemons died on Feb. 10 “after a long battle with addiction,” his mother, Christy Couvillier, wrote in his obituary, according to CBS affiliate KLFY. Sharing “the truth about his death” was so important for his family because “silence would mean Hunter’s death was in vain,” Couvillier wrote. “But if one person’s life is saved by his story, we would tell it a million more times,” she added. “We know the pain of his suffering. We know the pain of our own suffering as his family, and we know…
HALF A DOZEN OF ONE, SIX … – Feb. 26, 2022 – Before I begin though, to explain the automatic thing my legs do most mornings, I’d like to ask “What is your biggest dream?” A doctor acquaintance of mine recently asked me that question. He was serious. He then went on to tell me his wife had just said her biggest dream was to lose the 40 extra pounds that had planted itself on her thighs since COVID had caused her to stay away from large gatherings. “It came in uninvited,” she went on in explanation, “With no…
VIDEO – GAME OF GROANS – Feb. 24, 2022 – Harington says that when some people find out that he’s playing the role of Henry V, their first thought is of his Game of Thrones character Jon Snow. While he admits that there might be some similarities at first glance, he says that resurrecting Snow is “definitely not what we’re going for.” Because of the modern staging of the play, it’s in “an alternate universe, if the monarchy were still in charge.” Harington noted that he was “very keen not to do swords.” There’s an element of me always…
THE VEXED GENERATION – Feb. 18, 2022 – This is the way I frame a lot of the talk about happiness on the podcast: Our minds lie to us. We have strong intuitions about the things that will make us happy, and we use those intuitions to go after that stuff, whether it’s more money or changing circumstances or buying the new iPhone. But a lot of those intuitions, the science shows are not exactly right — or are deeply misguided. That’s why we get it wrong. I know this stuff, but my instincts are totally wrong. After a busy…
TEARFUL ACCEPTANCE – Feb. 28, 2022 – Michael Keaton was teary-eyed as he accepted the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Award for best male actor in a television movie or limited series. He won the award for “Dopesick,” which tells stories of people and families struggling with opioid addiction while focusing on PurduePharma, the company that developed and promoted OxyContin. more@Twitter
AUDIO – WHEN? – Feb. 25, 2022 – “This settlement represents real accountability,” said North Carolina state Attorney General Josh Stein, who helped negotiate the deal. Stein noted that most of the funds are earmarked for health care and drug treatment programs designed to ease the opioid crisis. “There will be people alive next year because of the programs and services we will be able to fund because of these settlement proceeds,” he said. None of the companies acknowledged any wrongdoing for their role manufacturing and distributing large quantities of pain medications at a time when opioid addiction and overdoses…
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET – Feb. 24, 2022 – “We’re in what is now becoming known as the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic. The first wave was the over-prescription of analgesics like oxycodone, morphine and hydromorphone, which led to dependence and a false sense of security in terms of using them,” Olive said. ”This dependence led people to turn to street heroin. From there, it’s evolved into problems with fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid drug that is so potent that it’s life-threatening at even very small doses.” As a result of the pandemic, there has…
ISN’T REAL LIFE IS SCARY ENOUGH? – Feb. 19, 2022 – These psychotic episodes usually subside after a few days, but may persist for years in up to 15% of users. While the link between amphetamine misuse and psychosis has been known for many decades, it’s not clear exactly what the magnitude is of this risk or how effective rehab is at successfully weaning users off the drug. To try and find out, the researchers drew on information supplied to the Taiwan Illicit Drug Issue Database (TIDID) and the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) between 2007 and 2016. The…
GOING THE EXTRA 8 MILES – Feb. 25, 2022 – Elton John has been living sober for over 30 years. And in that time, the Grammy-winning artist has been able to reflect on his life before and after he found his sobriety. “I am a survivor,” John confessed in a 2019 interview with Variety. “I’ve survived a lot of things. Life is full of pitfalls, even when you’re sober. I can deal with them now because I don’t have to run away and hide.” “I have a confrontation problem which I don’t have anymore because I learned if you…
A FAILED SYSTEM – Feb. 22, 2022 – Dr. Insel, 70, who left N.I.M.H. in 2015, calls the advances in neuroscience of the last 20 years “spectacular” — but in the very first pages of his new book, he says that, for the most part, they haven’t yet benefited patients. His book, “Healing: Our Path From Mental Illness to Mental Health,” is not an indictment of the science to which he devoted much of his adult life. Instead, it chronicles failures in virtually every other element of our mental health system, including the ineffective delivery of care, the…
THAT’S A LOT OF TEARS – Feb. 26, 2022 – “This was not only a clever attempt to try and smuggle in narcotics, one I haven’t seen before, but also time consuming to wrap narcotics into these small packages, designed to look like onions,” said Sidney Aki, the Director of Field Operations in San Diego for US Customs and Border Protection, in a statement. The 1,197 packages of methamphetamines, packed among real onions in the back of a tractor-trailer, were shaped into small globes with a white covering, weighing 1,336 pounds and valued at $2.9 million. The stash was discovered…
VIDEO – NO TIME FOR MANICURES – Feb. 24, 2022 – Among gamers and parents and even within the medical community, there’s disagreement about whether gaming addiction is real. Either way, the WHO’s designation could provide a boon to Kim and other businesses like hers. Dozens of consultants operate in the U.S. alone, as well as an assortment of apps, camps, self-help books and treatment centers. A diagnosis of addiction is based on a series of symptoms, according to the WHO. They include a lack of control over the impulse to play video games, a tendency to prioritize it at…
A GLOBAL OBSESSION – Feb. 23, 2022, – Many people’s lives are characterized by similar obsessive-compulsive behaviors. People can be addicted to work, sex, food, power, wealth, possessions and so on. Any external source of stimulation that can cause a change in the chemistry of the brain can (potentially) constitute the basis for the development of an addiction. If we define addiction in terms of its behavioral patterns, rather than societal perception, it is clear that the pandemic of addiction is far more pervasive than commonly understood. In fact, some addictive behaviors, like shopping, are not only acceptable within society…
EXAMINING THE CHARGES AGAINST 4 MEN CONNECTED TO ACTOR MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS’ DEATH – Feb. 28, 2022 – Twenty years to life. That’s how much prison time 39-year-old Irvin Cartagena faces for allegedly causing the death of acclaimed actor Michael K. Williams on Sept. 5, 2021. Williams died of a fentanyl overdose and Cartagena was caught on surveillance camera handing drugs to him the day prior. The actor was found dead by his family in his Brooklyn penthouse, wearing the same clothes he donned in the video. Three of Cartagena’s cohorts, Hector Robles, 57, Luis Cruz, 56, and Carlos Macci,…
“We know what we are protecting: the country, the land, the future of our children.” —President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine
VIDEO – ON THE EDGE – Feb. 17, 2022 – In another video with a kaleidoscope style filter, Lottie danced around to the theme song for Euphoria. The HBO drama stars Zendaya and follows a group of high school students struggling with drugs, love and money. The series was recently criticised by he anti-drug organisation D.A.R.E. for ‘glamourising drug use and sex’. Another video saw Lottie quipping that when she’s dating someone she wants to listen to sad breakup songs, joking in the caption: ‘I’m unwell’. Lottie’s clips come after she shared a video lip-syncing to someone else’s…
VIDEO – DOCU ROCK-U – Feb. 15, 2022 – An intimate portrayal of methamphetamine addiction in the Czech Republic, Europe’s largest producer, through the life of Lenka, an addict of over 20 years. Lenka’s elderly parents rely on her for social care and labour on their land, while she relies on the drug to fuel all that is required of her at home. Beyond her home life, her relationship is breaking down and her dealer has gone awol, forcing her to make some painful decisions. The country has a long and complex history with the drug, which started gaining…
VIDEO – MONEY IS ADDICTIVE – Feb. 11, 2022 – A doctor known for his expertise in treating alcoholism and drug abuse faces decades behind bars after he was convicted of helping bilk insurance companies out of millions of dollars. Dr. Mark Agresti was one of four defendants accused of using a sober home in West Palm Beach, and the people receiving treatment there, to make millions. A jury in federal court convicted Agresti of 12 counts of health care fraud. Prosecutors said Agresti and three others cheated roughly 80 insurance companies out of more than $31 million. more@WPTV
VIDEO – GOING BACKWARDS? – Feb. 12, 2022 – Opioids can be an important tool in treating severe pain from cancer, surgery and serious injuries. But they also can be addictive — even when used under doctors’ orders. Beginning in the 1990s, some drugmakers, insurers and pain specialists called for wider use of the drugs for more common ailments like backaches and arthritis. The push was tied into the marketing of drugs like OxyContin, which were billed as less addictive than other opioids. When U.S. overdose deaths began skyrocketing, prescription painkillers were identified as a big reason. Governments tried…
VIDEO – LIVES TO HELP OTHERS – Feb. 15, 2022 – “Pain pills, cocaine … the one that took me the furthest down was meth,” said Dykes. Dykes continued to struggle with addiction even after her son Addison was born in 2006. Addison was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). It’s a progressive muscle weakness disorder. She said it was hard for her to go to his appointments because it was too much for her. “I would have to get messed before we went to even handle it,” Dykes said. She couldn’t face the truth that she had a…
WHAT A RELIEF, FOR SOME – Feb. 15, 2022 – Drugmakers in the 1990s marketed new opioids as less addictive and pushed for wider use among patients. “We overdid it with prescription medications – we were kind of sold a bill of goods by pharmaceutical companies that told us, no, these things are not addictive,” said Bryce Pardo, associate director of the Rand Corporation’s Drug Policy Research Center. In reaction to the rising opioid overdose crisis, new rules in the late 2000s made it more difficult to prescribe the drugs – and around the same time, overdose deaths from illicit…
TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS – Feb. 15, 202 – Burnout, as it is defined, is not a medical condition — it’s “a manifestation of chronic unmitigated stress,” explained Dr. Lotte Dyrbye, a physician scientist who studies burnout at the Mayo Clinic. The World Health Organization describes burnout as a workplace phenomenon characterized by feelings of exhaustion, cynicism and reduced efficacy. “You start not functioning as well, you’re missing deadlines, you’re frustrated, you’re maybe irritable with your colleagues,” said Jeanette M. Bennett, a researcher who studies the effects of stress on health at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. But…
CATHARSIS – Feb. 16, 2022 – Her parents, Gary and Judy Stoefen, have written a book detailing her successes and challenges in hopes that it will steer others from a similar path. The couple, who met while growing up in La Jolla and now live in Rancho Bernardo, will be signing the book, “Lisa’s Light: A Story of Triumph and Tragedy Over Drug Addiction,” at Warwick’s bookstore at 7812 Girard Ave. in La Jolla at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 20. The book, published in 2020, carries the message that “no one is invincible to addiction,” Gary said. Not even Lisa,…
AUDIO – POWERFUL – Feb. 12, 2022 – “At this point in time, there is no recognized diagnosis of ‘pornography addiction,’ and there is no evidence that pornography is inherently ‘addictive’,” Joshua Grubbs, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Bowling Green State University who has primarily studied addiction, told Newsweek. Nicole Prause, a data scientist and founder of the Liberos sexual research organization, said that “while it is clear some people are upset about their pornography viewing and deserving of help, pornography viewing does not follow an ‘addiction’ model.” Mateusz Gola, an associate research professor at the…
VIDEO – ALIVE AND WELL – Feb. 18, 2022 – “I found a psychiatrist and he over-prescribed me,” she said. “He over-prescribed me with one medication that one of my friends takes for 10 milligrams and he gave me 20 milligrams a day. And then he gave me three milligrams of Xanax a day, so my body got dependent on Xanax number one, and number two I over-dosed.” She continued, “I didn’t mean to at all. I over-dosed on this one medication called Propranolol. And I took Benadryl with it and for some reason, I ended up in the…