Easy to Swallow, Hard to Accept – April 9, 2019 – Researchers from Tufts University say they found no association between the use of dietary supplements and a lower risk of death. The study analyzed data from a larger health and nutrition survey conducted from 1999 to 2010. More than 30,000 participants ages 20 and older answered questions about dietary supplement use. Results showed people who got adequate amounts of vitamin K and magnesium lowered their risk of early death, and those who got enough vitamin A, vitamin K and zinc had a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease.…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Where’s Mama? – April 14, 2019 – his new insights into psychological diseases and earned him a Nobel Prize, and who used his entire $400,000 award to create an academic prize in memory of the mother he never knew, died on Saturday in Manhattan. He was 93 … Their discoveries offered new insights into disorders linked to errors in cell communication, such as Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and drug addiction. Dr. Greengard’s research described how cells react to dopamine, an important chemical messenger in the brain. His work provided the underlying science for many antipsychotic drugs, which modulate the…
ESSAY: by Jane Galloway – April 10, 2019 – A couple of years ago I wrote the book I wish I had had when I was going through all of that- “The Gateways- the Wisdom of 12-Step Spirituality- A Universal Path for Living a Life That Works” (available wherever books are sold). I learned so much over the years, and after I finally got sober and got into school to study Addictions Recovery Counseling, I learned about the physiological effects of alcohol and drugs and counseling the family of addicted persons and crisis intervention and referral. And I learned too,…
The Liquid Killer – April 6, 2019 – If alcohol is affecting your life and relationships — you find it’s hard to control how much you drink or you depend on alcohol to get through the day — you may be among the 17.6 million adult Americans, 1 of 12, who have an alcohol-use disorder, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. That’s the medical term for what people commonly call alcoholism. The council reports that 7 million children live in a household where at least one parent has abused alcohol or is dependent on it, and…
Bad Crank – April 5, 2019 – Kim is 47 now, and she has been chasing normal her entire adult life. But the more she kept using, the more what was normal slipped further and further away, until eventually, Kim stared through the lens of a camera at a police officer taking her picture, telling her to turn to the left, then the right. “It really tricks you,” she says. “It’s like, you’re doing the drug that’s causing the problem, but it’s numbing you out from the problem it’s causing.” While the country’s attention has been focused on prescription opioids…
What’s wrong with this picture? – April 10, 2019 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received reports of serious harm in patients who are physically dependent on opioid pain medicines suddenly having these medicines discontinued or the dose rapidly decreased. These include serious withdrawal symptoms, uncontrolled pain, psychological distress, and suicide … Rapid discontinuation can result in uncontrolled pain or withdrawal symptoms. In turn, these symptoms can lead patients to seek other sources of opioid pain medicines, which may be confused with drug-seeking for abuse. Patients may attempt to treat their pain or withdrawal symptoms with illicit…
In Memory – April 11, 2019 – Clear in her work, Barbara felt that if, as humanity, we could integrate newly emergent scientific, social, and spiritual capacities, we would have the ability to transform ourselves and our world in such a way that we’d move beyond the current global crises we face today, and could bring about a world full of potential. As Evolutionary Leaders Council members, I only had the pleasure to interact with Barbara a couple of times via email and Zoom meetings. It was even in those brief interactions that you could see such a light in…
It Works If You Work It – APRIL 13, 2019 – Openness to Learning Score for group with high inner and outer confidence: 87 Score for unconfident group: 68 Score for outwardly confident group: 79 Ability to Set and Achieve Goals Score for group with high inner and outer confidence: 70 Score for unconfident group: 43 Score for outwardly confident group: 68 Self-Motivation Score for group with high inner and outer confidence: 81 Score for unconfident group: 40 Score for outwardly confident group: 50 Self-Esteem Score for group with high inner and outer confidence: 88 Score for unconfident group: 42…
SCARY SHIT – April 12, 2019- Police in upstate New York are warning of a dangerous fentanyl-laced marijuana combination that was recently confiscated in a Walmart parking lot. According to an Associated Press report, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office confiscated the marijuana in the town of Thompson and it tested positive for fentanyl. It is the first time fentanyl was found in marijuana in the area, the report says. Full Story @ DailyGazette.com
Nothing But Net – April 12, 2019 – The life of the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA draft had been whittled down to nothing more than a shell of an existence. Oden huddled in a dark house nearly 10 years after that triumphant moment, isolated, with alcohol-induced bulimia. Oden, then 28, would stare at the television screen, watching clips of the player drafted No. 2 behind him, Kevin Durant, now a league superstar. The tears would flow. He would watch the old NBA YouTube clips of himself, knowing he shouldn’t. He would sob. Full Story @ IndyStar.com
New Book, Old Story – April 13, 2019 – On July 4, 1934, a 30-year-old New York-based writer and publicist named Marty Mann got staggeringly drunk at a party and fell from a balcony. She nearly died, fracturing her leg and breaking her jaw, and spent the next six months in traction. In the hospital, with her jaw wired shut, she begged friends to smuggle in whiskey so she could drink it through a straw. A hard drinker since her early 20s, Mann kept on boozing because she didn’t know how to stop. Tired of constantly being drunk or hungover,…
A Better Needle – April 13, 2019 – Susan Murphy of Fall River, an AcuDetox specialist and a licensed mental health counselor, said studies have shown that people recovering from substance use disorder can benefit from ear acupuncture. Murphy said many addiction programs nationally have been using ear acupuncture for years. She claimed it can help people with addictions to drugs, alcohol or cigarettes have decreased withdrawal symptoms, stress, anxiety, depression, cravings, insomnia and relapse. It can also help increase focus, self-esteem and relaxation, among other benefits, she said. “I’m looking forward to how I’ll feel after,” said Shenik Fonseca…
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Deadly? – April 13, 2019 – Kratom was a cause of death in at least 91 fatal overdoses in the United States from July 2016 to December 2017, and 152 tested positive for the substance in a postmortem toxicology during that time period, health officials found. Only 44 deaths nationally were previously known, according to The Associated Press. A February study also found that poisonings reported from taking kratom soared more than 50-fold from 13 in 2011 to 682 in 2017 by tracking phone calls about kratom exposures to poison control centers. Full Story @ USAToday.com
Going in Reverse? – APR. 12, 2019 – Sober homes have had a rough few years lately. They can be helpful for some folks recovering from addiction, providing drug-free environments where the newly sober can get away from old triggers while finding social support. But several recent and devastating investigations have found that unscrupulous sober homes maintain low standards and bill insurance companies astronomical amounts for offering little to residents; the worst operators are facing long prison sentences for assaulting residents and giving them drugs. Full Story @ PSMag.com
They Had a Dream! – April 11, 2019 – Drinking to oblivion has no place in those four behavioral characteristics, so it became a lifestyle that helped Thacher stayed sober, even though the group’s purpose was not designed with alcoholism in mind. One day, in November 1934, shortly after Thacher found a God could help him stay sober, his longtime drinking buddy Bill Wilson was on an epic bender that would eventually land him back to a hospital or sanatorium and Thacher was, uncharacteristically, on the wagon and in good health and spirits. At the end of any bender, health…
Weapons of Mass Distillation – April 5, 2019 – It should come as no surprise, then, that data pulled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and analyzed by the Delphi Behavioral Health Group revealed that service members consume alcohol on more days of the year than any other profession. Close to 27,000 people across 25 different industries responded to surveys on alcohol consumption during the period of 2013 and 2017, with the average person reportedly consuming at least one drink 91 days per year. Full Story @ MilitaryTimes.com
The Few, The Strong, The Proud – April 10, 2019 – During the 1990s, Robert Downey Jr. spent most of his drug addiction in the public eye, but has kept his sobriety since 2003. Lena Dunham celebrated one year of sobriety in April 2019. Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe admitted that he used alcohol to cope with fame. Colin Farrell celebrated 10 years of sobriety in 2017. But he checked himself into rehab in 2018 just as a preemptive measure. Rob Lowe has stayed clean for 25 years, “Being in recovery has given me everything of value that I have…
Evidence Based – April 10, 2019 – “Indivior obtained billions of dollars in revenue from Suboxone Film prescriptions by deceiving health-care providers and health-care benefit programs into believing that Suboxone Film was safer, less divertible, and less abusable than other opioid-addiction treatment drugs,” said the prosecutors.The U.S. government badly misread the science around the drug as well as the company’s efforts to promote it, according to Howard Pien, Indivior’s chairman. “I couldn’t be prouder of the work Indivior does to fight the opioid crisis,” he said in a statement published on the company’s website. “We wish the Justice Department had…
Not Dope – April 8, 2019 – The letter quotes Cummings as saying of his drug team: “If you follow the headlines, we have already seen the impact they have had… on stock prices with regard to drugs. I mean, it has been astronomical.” The letter omits the rest of the sentence: “saving the taxpayers money.” In the edited quote, Cummings seems to be bragging about an “astronomical” impact on drug company stocks. In the context of his statements before and after, he seems to be saying the “astronomical” impact is on taxpayer savings, which justify giving his committee more…
Good Luck Collecting – April 11, 2019 – “Our goal was justice for Zachary and we got it,” Gold said. In September 2014, after his discharge from a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt, Peterson checked into a Sovereign Health facility in San Juan Capistrano to receive treatment for his lingering drug addiction and mental health problems. Peterson suffered a foot fracture on Oct. 26, 2014, while playing basketball, but the Sovereign staff did not notify a doctor until nine days later, when he was prescribed 60 Tramadol pain pills, according to court filings. Full Story @ OCRegister.com
The times are a-changing – April 4, 2019 – Today the 29-year-old office administrator is a candidate for Allegheny County Council, doing the door-knocking, hand-shaking work of someone seeking local office in the Pittsburgh area. At a gathering of Democrats at the Warehouse Pub & Grub, she flashes a bright white smile and wears a blue blazer, jeans, and sleek black running shoes. “A lot of people give me shit because I wear sneakers on the campaign trail,” she tells a candidate for school board, as they commiserate about the endless miles walked. “What do they want me to wear?”…
Springtime for Opiates – MAR. 25, 2019 – Sixx has not announced when the musical will begin, but he’s working with organizers in an effort to spread his powerful message. The artist and his collaborators aim to bring the show to numerous cities — and not just the major markets. “What we’re doing with this musical, at Nikki’s direction actually, is … how do we take it not to just 20 cities? How do we take it to 100 cities, even little ones where this epidemic is worse?” says Allen Kovac, the manager of Mötley Crüe. Sixx recalls a book…
Girls Gone Mild – April 10, 2019 – “Today I’m in the miraculous position of being one year sober. I’ve done a lot of cool things in this life, but none has brought me the peace, joy and lasting connections that being part of a sober fellowship has (not even all girls camp. Sorry, Bunk Kingfisher.),” Dunham captioned a photo of herself giving a thumbs-up to the camera. “Life is full of problems, but the cool thing about this one is that there is a solution: in every city, in many countries, you can find a group of people who…
Life Goes On – April 6, 2019 – Sitting on her couch recently in Minneapolis, McInerny recalls those early days after losing Aaron. As she talks, she looks at a wall-size photograph of the two of them holding their young son, Aaron’s adoring gaze forever watching over the bustling living room, so full of life. Just then, McInerny’s husband, Matthew, walks in holding their youngest child, who they affectionately call “baby.” Her 6-year-old, the one who calls Aaron “Dad” and Matthew “Matty-daddy,” runs in dressed like a shark, and she laughs. Two teenagers, Matthew’s kids from his first marriage, coordinate…
Control Issues? – APR. 2, 2019 – But sobriety, a term that generally refers to the total abstention practiced by people in recovery from substance-abuse problems, doesn’t quite tell the story. What some have been quick to characterize as an interest in being sober might actually be more like a search for moderation in a culture that has long treated alcohol as a dichotomy: Either you drink whenever the opportunity presents itself, or you don’t drink at all. Many Millennials—and especially the urban, college-educated consumers prized by marketers—might just be tired of drinking so much. There isn’t any great statistical…
A White Russian Roulette? – April 5, 2019 – “There are no protective effects of moderate alcohol intake against stroke. Even moderate alcohol consumption increases the chances of having a stroke,” said study co-author Zhengming Chen from the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford in a press release. “The findings for heart attack were less clear-cut, so we plan to collect more evidence.” Full Story @ CBSLocal.com
In Her Healing Footsteps – April 6, 2019 – “We realized that she had a drinking and prescription drug addiction,” Ford-Bales said. “We came together as a family and did an intervention on her. We were lucky — she chose to go to treatment. Not all people who get intervened on make that choice.” … “Until we have a magic pill — and I don’t think there’s ever going to be one for this problem — alcoholism and chemical dependency is always going to be an issue,” she said. “Yes, it is a genetic issue with some people, but not…
Doing it the right way… – April 5, 2019 – Dawn Holland, founder of an organization that provides sober living houses for women, was named Woman of the Year by the Bend Chamber of Commerce Thursday evening. Bend Chamber’s Women of the Year awards recognize women in several categories. The Lifetime Achievement award was given to Peggy Carey, who was the first director of cancer services for St. Charles Health System and more recently became director of strategic initiatives at J Bar J Youth Services. Full Story @ BendBulletin.com
Gee whiz, you mean it hasn’t been? – April 5, 2019 – But after a bruising budget battle, Cuomo and the state Legislature left the issue undone as they scrambled to balance the state’s books, pass a congestion pricing plan for Manhattan and make reforms to the criminal-justice system. Advocates will now look to push lawmakers to pass a law to legalize marijuana in New York by the end of the legislative session in mid-June. Opponents, meanwhile, now have more time to mobilize and try to beat it back. It is unclear which way the debate will fall as New…